February 28, 2011

Hey Mom,

        So the good news is that i am still in northern Indiana, in a little town called Plymouth, it is pretty awesome here. It's definitely not as good as Kendallville, but it is still pretty good. I have been blessed with another great companion, luckily I am still not the Sr. companion yet. Plymouth is a really small branch I didn't think that they could get any smaller, but then I came here. We have a stage size building. It is definitely very small. The chapel is about the size of a stake centers stage, it has the dividers that divide it into the class rooms. It is so awesome, I will for sure send some pictures next week of it, it is a hoot. I was really bummed that I was leaving the  BBQ in Elder  Luster's hands but I know that he will be able to do it, he has a wonderful companion with him. They are going to do great.

It is a bummer deal that the legalisation has not been good. It is definitely the talk over here, I guess up in Michigan it is really bad. Right before I left Kendallville the Sonke family was telling me and Elder Luster all about it and they were all fired up about it, I now understand why, Dad will be very good friends with brother Sonke when they come out when I get home. It really sounds like that you are having a lot of fun with the family, sounds like they are growing up so fast, I wish that I could see it, but I know that I am where the Lord wants me to be. It is truly a blessing to be on a mission, it brings much joy in my life to be on a mission. All is going well here in Indiana,  we have 2 baptism dates for march 30.  Earlana and her son Brandon and hope fully we will be able to start teaching her other son Brett as well. Hopefully he will be receptive to the gospel. I love you all

Elder Bair

I sent my address to you though mail. It is 203N 4th st. Plymouth Indiana ,   look up the zip code I don't have it with me, huge area again small branch, full time car;)

Hey if you get a chance can you send me some stamps? i only have about 3 left.

203 north 4th st Plymouth Indiana 46563
 and yes I did write Dad this and last week
.

February 22, 2011

Hey mom,

I am getting transferred, tomorrow.  The BBQ will be on March 19,  I will not be able to attend, it is really crappy thing that I will not be able to be there for it. I hope that Elder Luster won't mess it up. We have both worked really hard on it. I love Kendallville, it has been the best place of my mission so far. I will miss it dearly. But I will go where the Lord wants me to go. It sounds like the weather there has been amazing. It was nice here, we were having 55 almost 60 for a couple days then it got really cold again. It snowed about 5-6 inches last night so it has cooled back down a bunch. Hopefully I will have transfers postponed for a couple days so that I can stay here for a couple more days so I can say good bye to everyone. This past week was amazing, we had alot of really awesome lessons. We were finally able to come in contact with Lynda Webster! She is doing great, she has quit smoking. The Dr is still doing a lot of testing to find out if she will have to do chemo or not. She is still stressed over that, but she still has the desire to be baptised eventually. She is very grateful for the prayers in her behalf. We also have another baptism date. Tami Philo, she is a headquarter referral, she is awesome. She has been meeting with us 2-3 times now and has been keeping all of our commitments, so we committed her to baptism. She accepted the baptism date of March 26, hopefully Elder Luster will work really hard with her and help her receive the gospel. We also had a sweet lesson with the Sonke  family. They are super awesome.  They are determined to come out to Idaho to go hunting and fishing. I told him that I would take them. They are awesome. Our family will love them when they come out. They have a huge black lab named bear, ironic huh, but the dog hates Obama, you can just say Barack and he will jump on you and make you fall over, it is the coolest thing ever. They are a little bull headed with the gospel. They  are those people that just really question everything and they are really hard to teach because we have really simple minds. They have really complex minds, it is amazing at how the holy ghost work's through us. Because some of their questions.... there is no way that I would have been able to answer them with out it. I will definitely keep in contact with them. 

It sounds like everybody is getting married back home, that is awesome. Who did Cade Gilbert marry? I didn't even know that he was off his mission yet? But it is awesome. I will write a letter home with my new address for you all. I love you tons.

Elder Bair

Febrary 14, 2011

Hey Family,
I am doing great. This week was definitely better than last week. We were able to have a Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was amazing. All the training felt like it was directed around Elder luster and I, it was awesome. President and Sister Collins are awesome. They are amazing. They always make everything better.  They BBQ plans are going great, we were able to print off about 300 invitations and are in the process of getting it advertised in the newspaper and on the radio. It is really coming together; the ward is actually working together... it's awesome.  We were able to be able to find a family to teach; it is a part member family and we will start teaching them on Tuesday. Hopefully it will be beneficial for all. 
So I have been playing the piano alot. Our Branch President lives below us and lets me use his electric piano and I am able to play alot of hymns. I am going to suck it up and play next week in priesthood. Hopefully I don't slaughter it like I think I will. I am pretty sure that Elder Luster is pretty tired of hearing me try to play. But it is something that I do enjoy doing. I wish I would of kept playing as a kid. Oh well. It's kinda a good thing that I still remember alot and can still read notes and that jazz.
Kendallville is warming up alot it was 48 yesterday, and this morning, it was 38 when we woke up. Hopefully it cools back down a little or we are going to be in trouble with flooding. That would good kinda as well... it would give us another opportunity to reach out, give service, and have more teaching opportunites.
It is good to hear that Josh and Diana had a great week in Utah. Sounds fun. Oh, so the temple is going to be built in the outskirts of Carmel and is going to have the ground dedicated in 2013, from what I understand. I very well could be wrong, but if that is the case I will not be here when it is dedicated. I will come back for sure for the dedication.  But other than that, nothing really new has happened this week, the bonus is we are still on the right side of the grass, and the work in moving forward.
I love you all.
Elder Bair

February 7, 2011

Hey Family,
This week has been totally lame!!! The huge storm that came through was really overkill. It is super funny because there is way more snow in Idaho, and everybody here knows what snow is, but every time they have to retrain their selves to drive and prepare for the snow.... it's like they have never seen it before. Needless to say because of the so called "Frightful Weather," we had to stay in our apartments for 3 days of the week. The other three days, Elder Luster and I decided to take a break from teaching, went and bought shovels, and started digging people out. It was a nice change to actually do something manual for once. Even though we were Mexican Backhoes it was awesome, it was a great opportunity to meet a lot of new people and to be able to make some return appointments.
The Branch BBQ plans are going great. We again discussed it with the branch council yesterday morning; they mostly seem to be on board. The ones that do not seem to be on board are the ones that have non member family's, it is a shame that those people are ashamed to share the gospel with those that they love. Romans 1:8 "Be not ashamed," I think that is the right scripture, I could be wrong, but anyways I need Nick Martin's cell phone number. The ward has asked me to see if I could get him to donate a couple boxes of potatoes for the BBQ. I will have to get the phone call approved, but President Collins is a pretty awesome guy... I am pretty sure he will let me. Everything else is going great. The ward is really starting to pull together and actually act like a ward. They are all working together to advertise this whole thing and let their peers and co-workers know and invite people to it. It will be on March 19th instead of the 12th, but it hopefully will be awesome. I will send you a rough draft of the plans, they are pretty good... at least we think so. Everything is going great. We are kinda still sick, but not bad enough to keep us down.  I love you all.
Elder Bair

February 1, 2011

Hey family,
 Sorry I didn't get to write yesterday, the library computers were down, so we got permission to write today. Everybody said that there is extreme blizzard warnings? Ha that's funny, we were expected to receive 8 " to 2 feet of snow last night. We barely got 1", these weather men really do suck. Its funny. Mom, thank you so much for the money for the coat, it was greatly appreciated and I am very warm now. This week was awesome, we celebrated Elder Luster's birthday Tuesday and went to a members home and had a dairy queen ice cream cake. It was awesome. Kendallville is going great! We are super blessed to be in such a great branch. The ward is finally realizing that they are the reason that they have so many less actives and they are willing to actually do something about it. Once Elder  Lusters plan and mine for the BBQ in March the wards eyes have been opening slowly and now we have the full support of the ward in this project.
That is awesome that Dad was able to receive the honorary FFA award. I really wish that I was there for that. Its too bad that Mr. Patten is leaving snake river. FFA will not be the same. I spaced it before I left I was supposed to go to Mr. Patten and become eligible to receive my national degree but oh yeah. I spaced it. Bummer deal.
 Be sure to wish Deisel and Dillon happy birthday for me. That sounded like a riot. But super fun to attend.
Lynda Webster, we still have not been able to meet with her yet, she keeps canceling our appointments and doesn't answer the door when we stop by. I pray that she is doing well hopefully all the prayers in her behalf will open her eyes to the gospel in her life.
Jim Bristow, What a stud!!! he was ordained a priest Sunday and is getting a calling next week. Perhaps a ward missionary? He is still doing super,  he loves the gospel in every aspect in his life. He is awesome. We ended up dropping River and Roxanne, they kept bailing on set appointments and wasting our time. When they are ready for they gospel we will go back, but at this time they are not ready. Everything is going great  and is awesome!!
I love you all.
Elder Bair