September 27, 2010

Hey Mom,

That's the pits that you are so sick; that is not fun at all. This week has been super amazing. Sister Bridenbaugh was baptised on Saturday by her husband, and conferred a member yesterday by her home teacher. She has such a strong testimony... it amazes me. Anyways, the week has been good. I extended 3 baptismal commitments this week and one of them was to a awesome investigator named Greg Stahl.  We foung Greg as a Headquarter Referral from Salt Lake. It was actually for his mom, but he was at his mom's house when we stopped to see her. Greg said that he was not interested, and so we left a number that his mom could reach us at. As we drove away, we got a call that changed our day. It was Greg, and he said that he didn't know why he was calling, but we wanted us to come back and talk to him. So, we made an illegal u-turn and went back to see him. We were blessed to be in his company. We found out that the first time that we had been there, he was dumbfounded and his mouth was not working. He couldn't get the words out to invite us in. The wlole time, he wanted us to come in and talk. As we sat there and talked to him, we found out that he was just diagnosed with epilepsy, this he said, changed his life.

We were able to give him a priesthood blessing and that made his day, and we were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation because he had alot of fears about dying. So that was awesome. We were able to teach him about the Restoration and how the priesthood was restored to the earth today. Then he started to ask if his previous baptism counted because it wasn't done with the proper Priesthood authority. This was a door that opened way up for us and we were able to commit him to prepare himself for baptism and to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was truly inspired to be able to find Greg and to discern his needs in life.

We also went on exchanges with the Assistants on Saturday and it was awesome! I love Elder Davis. He and I taught 14 tracting lessons Saturday morning and were able to commit one young lady to be baptised. She accepted. She was so willing to learn and to read the Book of Mormon. She was fascinated that the Book of Mormon could really change her life. Then on Sunday, we were tracting in the Myers neighborhood and we tracted into thier neighbors, Janet and Mark. They have been praying to find a church that was right for them. There we were; the Lord definitely put us in thier path. We were able to teach them about prophets and how they were called back to the earth today. They said that they were very interested in learning more. It was awesome! We invited them to come and watch conference with us at the Myers's house on Saturday and we could give a lesson before and after it. It was awesome. The Myers's are old, but so awesome. I told them that I would even make dinner for them on Saturday. So I need the turkey lip marinade recipe. Please and Thank you. I love you tons and thanks for everything!

Love,
Elder Bair

Letter From Mission President July 27, 2010

Dear Mr and Mrs Bair
     Your son, Elder Jared Steven Bair, has arrived safely in Indiana and it was a pleasure to meet and welcome him to the mission.  He has a solid testimony of the Gospel and is excited to be doing the Lord's work.  Sister Collins and I look forward to serving with your son during this special time in his life.

     We know Elder Bair will appreciate letters from home, but we discourage phone calls or visits except for emergency situations, and with prior corrdination with the Mission President.  We strongly recommend that you send all mail and packages to his apartment address.  Due to postal regulations, we are unable to forward packages unless they are Priority or First Class mail.

     Sister Collins and I will love, care for, and watch over Elder Bair as if he were our own son.  Thank you for all of the love and support you have given and will give him on his mission.  We know all of you will be greatly blessed while he is serving the Lord.

Sincerely,
Kent H. Collins
Mission President

September 23, 2010

Mom,
    I know that I am a pest, but my scriptures crapped out and I need you to send my green quad set to me. Please and thank you.  I love you tons.  If you can't or if it would be easier you could just put money in my account and I can buy them through the distrabution magazine.  I would rather you send my set.  I love you much.  Love Elder Bair

Sept. 20, 2010: Super Awesome!

Hello Mom,
This week was super amazing. Monday was a great day to start off a great week. So, after we did our laundry and email and all that stuff, we decided to go bowling with the other elders in our district... so that was super fun. Then Elder Crandall and I went tracting and it was super awesome. We tracted into a young man named Mike Phillups; he is 18 and barley legal to teach with out parental consent. We asked if we could share a message and he said yes, so we had a full on restoration lesson with him on his porch. By the time that we had finished, we had to go home for the night. The next afternoon, we decided to finish tracting Mike's street and we tracted into Jayson and Raene. They are a younger couple with two kids; they had just moved in from Florida. We asked if we could share a message and he said no, but his wife said yes. We kinda answered some questions that they had, and then taught them about tithing, the word of wisdom, the restoration, the Articles of Faith, and The Book of Mormon. After we taught them that, then we committed them to come to church next week and to quit smoking! Yeah, that was super awesome it was so cool how the Lord has been putting people in our paths like crazy.

The next day, (this would be Wednesday), we tracted into a lady named Vicky; she knew alot about the "Mormon" church. She has been following them on the TV and on the Internet, so we were able to teach her about the church and how it was restored to the earth by a prophet. So it was super awesome. She also said that she and her daughter had been looking for a Church, and we had just got there after she got done praying to find the real one. So awesome!

So Thursday and Friday nothing really special happened. But Saturday we tracted into a old guy named Jessy Burnes. He was cool. He was like, "Hey Jesus people, come and talk." So we went and had the restoration lesson with him. He was very understanding, but he won't read the Book of Mormon, but he said that he would have it read to him because he can't read. That was super awesome.

After that we were tracting in the "hood" and we tracted into a straight-up-gangster and talked to him for a while. He said that he wants to know were his mom went when she died, so I just busted out the trusty Plan of Salvation pamphlet. It was awesome. He definitely felt the Spirit as we talked to him. At this time, it was getting pretty close to time to go home for the night. As we were walking back to the apartment, we passed two old drunk guys that said we could share a message... if we played a game of horse shoes. So, you know me, I was not going to pass up that. So I can say that I played horse shoes with two drunks! I don't think they remember what we taught them, but it was fun.

Then Sunday at church, Elder Crandall and I both gave a blessing to a member. One was the lady I baptized, Corrina Roy. She had been super sick lately, so it was pretty cool to do that. The other was for a lady in the ward that was getting a divorce and Elder Crandall did that one. So it has been a super great week! I am finally getting to where I am getting lost in the work... it's awesome.

Love you all,
Elder Bair