WEEK 8 BURNABY: #blessed

Guess who's... back again...

Welcome back ya'll. Life's good, Elder B is still balling up here in the great beautiful BC. This week has been really awesome, or as some would say #blessed. I got to go on mega playdate with Elder Fankhouser. And we balled. It was a full two day playdate, so we had some fun.

Started Wedensday and got shipped off to Coco. We went and played Simpson bowling on the arcade. I won. Obviously. Went and taught a lesson to Hannah and Bobby about the priesthood/oath and covenant. Lowkey never learned how to teach it in Chinese, but as always the spirit carried. It was fire. Then went and played basketball. I got put on the team with all the chinese shu shu's and we balled. We actually cooked, it was pretty lit.

 

Thursday came along, did the ordinary missionary things. Had lots of fun, then got taken to Thai food by a member. And Holy. So blessed. Took me back home, so so good, and got mango sticky rice. Then we went to "English Class". At least that's where we were supposed to go. Instead we hung out with Li and Ao Yun Guang. Who is the cutest chinese kid ever. Hes three and knows how to skate and carries a hockey stick around with him wherever he goes. So I just played hockey with him for an hour. It was pretty lit.

Friday was litty. Had a youth ativity and played badmiton. Then had our weekly ping-pong / pickleball activity. I'm progressively becoming more and more Asian. Taught a lesson. Just livin the blessed life as a missionary.

Taught English class on Saturday, it's actually such a fun time. Its starting to become one of my fav things to do as a missionary. Cleaned the church. Got taken to McDonalds HQ and had lunch. Now it's HQ so the foods gotta be extra good right? yeah. no. It's just McDonalds, it was perfectly ight. Good milkshake though. Then we finished of the day with.... knocking. So fun. Went to a refferals home, not interested. So went to the neighbors home. A lady with a cane poised ready to whack opened the door. Kept telling us she was going to whack us, but told us to come back later sooooo... success?

Jesus day came around. Vincents back from Cali, so hung out with him at church. Taght come follow me. Balled out. Livin life. Yesterday we had interviews with P Vinny. Such a blessed dude. I'm lowkey so grateful for President and Sister Vincent. Such inspired and joyful people. That nigth we were doing comp study, and talked to two chinese people and both were interested. Miracle? I'd say so. So I decided to cook. Salmon, mushroom, garlic, onion, alfredo pasta. It was honestly the best thing I've cooked so far. I've got family and friend discounts so don't worry. Just hit me up.

Another blessed week. Hope ya'll are having just as much fun as I am. Cus life is blessed. The more I'm here the more I realize that. Even when things are going rough, take a moment and think blessed. See the miracles God puts in your life everyday, cus He does. Go down to the simple. Did you eat. Blessed. Did you sleep on a bed. Blessed. Did you take a shower. Blessed. Are you alive. Blessed. Does your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Love you. Blessed. (yes they love you, very very much)

Have a 'blessed' week

8-0 babyyyyy!!!

Top 10

Ohh how much I love Thai food

Catching W's everyday

Feelin' cute, might delete later

Day 1

New friend unlocked

WEEK 7 BURNABY: RAH, RAH, RARARA, RAH, RAH, RARARA, RAH, RAH, RARARA, GOOOOOOOOO COOUUGGAARRSS!!!! 💙💙🥶🥶🥱🤙🤟

They said it would never happen. They said it wan't possible. They never believed.

...

But I said otherwise. I never had a doubt. I preached it from day one. I had faith. And they did not disappoint.

...

Saturday was probably the best day and the worst day of my entire mission. Nothing will top it (until next year ;) The whole day, I couldn't keep my focus of the game, it was the day. We spent the whole game at a memeber meal. Which was very delicious and an awesome lesson. Then we got home. My finger hovered over the facebook app. The comps gathered around. I pressed it. And joy filled my heart. 7-0!!! Another dub, another day pretending on watching Utah fans cry. The church is true ladies and gentleman.

This week has been really awesome though. Even though I miss college sports, there's plenty more of it in two. But like I've said many a times before, I love the life of a missionary. Gave out a couple BOMs this week, which was pretty lit. Met a lot of people, and had so much fun.

This super old sweet guy named Huang took us out to lunch/dinner. (He's old so it took us about 30 minutes to walk to the end of the mall, hes so blessed though) Hes probably one of the happiest guy I've met though, and he took us to a really nice resteraunt. When he got the check he was like "ohh, too cheap", even though it was actually really expensive then proceeded to give us like $800 dollars worth of brand new clothes. SO blessed! Hes actualy such a sweet soul.

We had two exchanges this week which went really good. And i went on a lot of playdates. I guess thats what happens when your zone monkey. But it's cool to see how different missionaries do the same work. We also had the chance to play basketball which was soooo blessed. I was lowkey worried about being rusty, but I balled out and had so much fun. I miss being in prime lacrosse shape though. We also started ping-pong finding, which is another highlight. We go to the park in the morning and play ping-pong with all the old chinese people who are absolutely cracked! But it's been so much fun and pretty successful.

Some things happened this week which caused one of the comps to have to transfer to another zone, so the trinity has fallen. It's just me and elder flake, but we ball, and we have so much fun. We've had more lessons and more new friends be reffered to us. So it's been awesome. Vincent gets back this week from Cali, so I'm excited to talk to him again. The lord loves His missionaries. Everday is so blessed and so much fun. So many miracles.

Overeall, blessed week. My coach always had a phrase "this too shall pass" And I've thinking a lot about that. Ever since that last game, I've missed lacrosse soooo much. I've missed that family we built. I miss playing it. So many good memories, and I'll never get that experience again. But it's the same with the mission, it's the same with life. I won't ever play high school lacrosse again. I wont be on a mission again. "This to shall pass". Live in the moment. Live in the now. Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened. Life is so good, and God makes it so much better. Even when life is hard it's good. Cus God gives us miracles everyday. Have fun, be happy, keep smiling. Because at the end of the day, you'll never get that day back. But theres alwasy today. So just have fun. That's the whole purpose in life is to have JOY. 

Peace out ya'll

Go Blue

Go Cougs

-Elder Baird

Keep emailing if you desire. I very much do love it

We are sooo locked

This man is an angel

Best season ever

I promise I won't get fat

More like 'The house of the Lord's'

Did someone say all you can eat Indian Buffet???

Holy aura

WEEK 6 BURNABY: "What's that" "Zhu Jiao" "Bishop?" "No, pig foot" "ohh..."

 中秋节 and 感恩节快乐！！！

Happy Mid-autum festival and a Happy Thanksgiving. Yes. I'm cooler than ya'll. I get two Thanksgivings. So that's pretty flippin lit. Another blessed week. My comps are finally back to normal, so we ballin and we out doing the Lords work in the wild. Lots of miracles and joyful moments. Cus at the end of the day, life is so joyful and awesome and blessed.

Elder Flake has been humbled. Never believed in family history finding, and when we were at the library on Thursday, guess what, he found someone and taught them about family geneology work. Pretty cool to watch. Thrusday night I got to go to the temple. Even though it's for MLC, I'm zone monkey, so I gotta join. Super small temple, but so awesome and beautiful. Go to the temple, cus it's pretty frikin lit. Then friday came and that was MLC, so I got shipped off to do a playdate with Richmond. We ended up doing exchanges that night, and one of my MTC district memeber, Elder Wengert, came back to Burnaby with me and Elder Tai. I balled out at pickleball with my buddy MJ. Then cheffed up some baeutifully amazing salmon alfredo pasta. (Drop 5 starts on yelp if you don't mind)

Saturday was our Mid-Autum Festival celebration, and it was crazy fun. One of our refferals, Vincent, cameand hung out with us the whole time. To start off we did 卡拉OK, (kareoke). And guess who absolutely cooked....yea not me. I wish I could sing. But one of the chinese members said I had to sing hotel california. So I did, stood there very  akwardly for a 4 minute guitar solo, and balled out. It was nice though to do kareoke and here all the contribanded music. So blessed. At that point I was a little worried because only like 12 people where there, and we set up for 90. Then at like 6 o'clock, the flood gates opened and so many people just appeared. We had to pull out more tables and had over 110 people. So that was super super cool. Then we had chinese potluck, which as you can imagine was incredibly delicious, and incredibly questionable food that I put into my body. We had a bunch of other friends show up to, so lots of miracles.

Sunday came and miracle day came with it. Our friend Vincent texted us at like 10am saying he was at church. And we were like that's the englilsh ward. Then he texted us and was like, ima go grab luch, but I'll be back for Chinese ward. And we thought to ourselves, lit. So I got to sit with him through sacrament meeting, then he came to EQ. After church he was like what's next, and we were like uhhhhhhh... Choir Practice? and he was like perfect. Then after choir practie he was like what's next. and we were like  uhhhhhh..... Scripture Study? So we ened up doing "scripture study" that may or may not have turned into a lesson. It went super well. Then after that he was like what's next? and we were like sorry we actually have an appointment. So safe to say, he might enjoy it. But we've kept in contact with him, and he seems super interested. We also had 2 more friends come to church, but church was in english becaues of high council talks, and they seemed kind of put off by it. So please pray for them, that they might have the desire to come back.

Then we got blessed with two thanksgiving meals. One on sunday, and one on monday. Sunday's was at the Foxes again, so blessed, so much food, and soooo good. Monday was at the Lo's which was a Chinese thanksgiving, and so delicous as well. Did I eat pig foot, yup. Did I enjoy it, sure. So many fun new foods. Than today we did another temple trip, so blessed, and got taken to an all you can eat Indian buffet, again, so blessed. We just got back from SFU, which is a university campus where we met a friend. And boy does it make me excited for college. Mission first obviously, cus like, no homework, and a lot more fun. But college will be lit.

Shoutout to the Cougs. Ima be reppin blue this Saturday, keep them in your prayers , but like they gonna win, so it's chill. But look for the little things. Everyday God will put something small that brings you joy. MMM's, mini m&ms. jk. Many Mighty Miracles. It's not just us missionaries that recieve daily miracles. We all do. Just look for them. Be grateful for everything that you've got. And find the amazing joy that life gives.

Love Ya'll, hit me up and tell me what's up with your life

Elder 白

My name is Elder Baird. I'm one with the trees.

They love to see us comin'

The Foxes can't stop me

I can hear Mariah breaking through

WEEK 5 BURNABY: Wrapped in a blanket, passed out on the bed

Another day, another victory for the og's. This week has definitely been... interesting? Both my companions have been dead sick. So they sleep while I kinda bum out. Let's just say, the house is very clean, I've gotten way to much sleep (no such thing as way to much sleep on the mission), and I've become pro chef. Lowkey cooking literally and metaphorically. Guys, let me tell you, I can cook. We actually eating like royalty, so so blessed. But this week has been super chill and good, it's provided us ways to do different types of missionary work. 

Thursday we had our first lesson with Jason. He's a really great kid that has such a good spirit but isn't allowed to get baptized cus of parent problems. So praying for him, because I really want him to get baptized. He is so ready. Then thrusday came and I got sent on a playdate that night with my MTC comp elder Taylor and his trainer elder Fank. My comps were still dead so they sent me away to do work. We got to teach english class, and it was awesome. So much joy and laughter with these people. It was really amazing and awesome.

Friday came along, and can you guess it, more sick companions. But today they felt better probably because we got invited to a memeber meal with this lady named Karren. She took us to this super super boujee resteraunt. I got asian lobster, and let me just tell you, it was immaculate. So delicious, but like super expensive. So blessed and grateful for her and the meal. We also had our weekly pickleball/ping-pong activity. And guessed who cooked again.... all the asians. But I'm getting there. 

Then comes general conference. And holy do I love watching general conference as a missionary. I would recommend all to go on a mission just to watch conference. (Go on a mission, but not just for that reason) But it was so spirit filled. It's crazy, before I couldn't stay awake during it, but the two days of conference I came out with 13+ pages of notes, and a smile on my face. Then sunday night came and we got invited to the famous Foxes house for dinner. Again, so blessed. Absolutely incredible food and way to much food. But hey, no complaints.

Yesterday was the first day my comps were semi-functional. Congrats to them. We met up with a friend named Zack, ate good food, and hes just like me. Fresh out of high school and full of teenage teenager things. So we got along, taught a baller lesson, and had so much fun. Today, we also got taken to hot pot by some members, so so so blessed. Unlimited food, and very limited stomach space. I'm working on it, ya'll wont recognize good ol' elder baird when he gets back, cause he bulkin and gettin buff. 

Life is good. Life is great. Life is blessed. I loved Elder Godoy's talk - "No complaints. Only smiling faces, and grateful hearts." This is why I love life. The gospel of Jesus Christ and through His atonmment I can do that. I can smile. You can smile. So please, no matter what's going on in life, try on a smile cus it looks good on you. 

Elder Baird wishes the best, life is blessed. Go make somone else's life blessed

(I miss my MTC mom, cus I don't take anymore pictures, but I'm doing my best)

Straight w of pres's

This is what really got me through the week

Like I said, so blessed

This place is straight gorg