The In"Peru"ving Missionary

  Howdy... Right so anyway this past week we had a surprise meeting issued by President literally one day before it happened. The meeting was to discuss a change that was going to happen in the mission but we of course didn't know what it was until we were there.  We were meeting at a chapel in Harlem so obviously we had to go through Harlem to get there. The subway station that you pop out of on your way there is "125th street".  To give a little bit of perspective on the phenomenal citizens that walk the streets of 125th on Harlem.......... Drugs.  I've always heard about a hypothetical "zombie apocalypse" that might happen to end the world, but I'm here with some good news. They are mostly all contained on that street for some reason.  We haven't had any major problems yet and you probably won't as long as you stare at your knees and walk quickly.  Anyways we got to the meeting and started it out (I played the hymn on the piano yuh) and the me...

Transfers happened.  I'm in the Bronx now.  I'm not sure how best to describe it but it's something like take the "rougher" part of town of every city in America and suddenly boom, the Bronx is born. New Apartment, new companion, new area, pretty much new everything and yet same old work eh?  Except not because "this ain't the Spanish they taught in the MTC". We teach mostly Dominicans here and they have a way with Spanish similar to how mustard has a way with vanilla ice cream.  Very hard to get used to. I thought that I would get right into it, as this will be a bit of a shorter email, but one to get you to the next one am I right? I thought I would share an experience I had about my 3rd day here.  My companion decided that I should try an authentic New York "chopped cheese".  Sounds enticing.   Anyway, we are at the Deli waiting on the sAnDwicHeS when eventually a guy turns around after about to leave the store and goes, Him: "What ...

 Lots to sum up here about the hardest time of his mission so far.

  Well hey hey hey it's that time of the week again, thought I should update you all on the couple of things that have happened in the past seven days.  Transfers were last Monday, so I am training now, a new Elder Jones from Texas, which with the arrival of a new Missionary means that we are once again in strict quarantine for the next week. Unfortunately we are not even in the apartment on Staten Island that will be ours, but instead we are in an apartment in Brooklyn to wait our 14 days before hopefully moving into the new one. However, we have been told that we have the best view in the mission, and I have to agree. I'll put a photo down below.  Being a trainer for the past week has definitely shed light on my preparedness for the rest of my mission. Unlike before, with my other two companions, there is no crutch to lean on when I may not know a word or way to say something. There is not another person to look at when things don't happen the way they should. In fact, ...

  Well I know that it has been a while since I last wrote an email but here I am again. I apologize to those that read my past emails and have been waiting on one, and to those that don't read my emails, you've probably been fine.  I would like to begin with a few large updates. I had the opportunity of baptizing two people this past month, Luna and Jorge. Their story is interesting in that they basically contacted us through their grandma. She was visiting from Mexico and was determined to see her grandchildren baptized by the time she went back. It was amazing to see their progress as we began to teach them. They were pretty much the perfect students, took notes, asked questions, and best of all, preferred English. After talking with President, we found them able to be baptized much sooner than most converts because of the special circumstances that they were in and I baptized both of them last month.  The baptismal service only had 8 people in attendance due to the spe...

 This is to hold a place for the summary.

  Well I knew that the high couldn't last forever.  "This past week was a rough one". This phrase seems to be very common for most missionaries throughout their mission, so I didn't really want to start this one with it, so instead I'll say that these past seven days have been just enough challenge to keep me on my toes.  I think the initial excitement of finally being reassigned and figuring out the mission has worn off at this point. Our days consist mostly of waiting, and although we are out of strict quarantine, we rarely spend more than two hours outside of the apartment. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately this gives me quite a bit of time to think.  I think about the people we teach, those that reject our message, the place where we live, the irritating things about being alive, and other more imaginative thoughts such as what would it be like if I had never left Peru? Or maybe what if I was assigned to an English mission?  I think about how I am almost ...

  If you would have told me when I was sent to Peru back in December, that within six months I would be on a porch on an island in the biggest city in America eating Oreo icecream... Probably would've thought you had a little more than uno al año (Borracho joke).  But by the same token, if you would've told anyone in December that our society was about to be plunged into a worldwide pandemic, they probably would've thought the same.  Well it feels like it's been forever but hey everybody, I am once again el Elder Baird. I was reassigned to the New York City, New York mission, to serve until I am able to go back to Peru, or until my time is over in December of 2021.  My thoughts on the possibility of being sent back to my original mission are confused and wildy different. On the one hand, Covid-19 effectively shut down society as a whole for more than three months and although some places, specifically New York, are seeing a decrease in the amount of cases and are ope...

To hold a spot for Caden heading to and arriving in New York. 

 This is to sum up Caden's 4 months at home before heading to New York.

 This is to hold a spot for recording Caden't homecoming from Peru.