Did You Not Tell Him They Were the Lord's Chips?

 [Title refers to this clip from Nacho Libre.]

大家好！Hello friends!

Was it this smoky where everyone else is? We had some pretty dense smoke in Calgary for a couple of days, and then the answer to prayer came with the rain.

Elder Gimenez came to the mission! Here’s basically what he said in 5 words:

          READ PREACH MY GOSPEL DANGIT!

For any who don’t know, Preach My Gospel is basically the booklet of “How to missionary 101,” and it’s a great resource for all Church members and anyone who would like to deepen their conversion to Jesus a little more. Here’s some other cool things that he said, in some incredible Chilean accents:

• YOU are the culture of the mission
• Pray for love-inspired correction (We received a healthy serving this week.)
• Sometimes Joy has nothing to do with Fun
• Be okay with people not liking you. (Jesus had a lot of people that didn’t like him.)
• “Growing toward our divine potential is the purpose of our mortal experience” 🔥
• THE “YES, AND” PRINCIPLE! (Thank you RHS Improv for once again shaping my life.)
• Pray for the gift of smile
• The smart learn from their own mistakes, the wise learn from others’ mistakes
• As soon as contention appears, be like Joseph and RUN! (metaphorically)

Faith in Jesus Christ implies faith in yourself—in your ability to become like Him (Side note: Elder Gimenez insisted that while we won’t be perfect in life, we can be perfect at certain things, specifically those that the Lord asks us to do. Examples he cited were getting up on time, studying, going to bed, etc.)

There was a lot of other stuff that was shared, but that can be spared.

The week was otherwise not really exciting except for Friday when Elder Taylor had a phone call lesson with someone in Africa who shared how glad she was to know about the restoration of God’s church. We also gave a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic to someone this week!

This week’s challenge is to pick one of the above points and figure out how to weave it into your actions for the week. When we know the Why and the What of what we do, we can specifically figure out the How.

Wishing everyone some good rain up here! Stay cool everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

Canada Calgary mission? More like China Beijing mission

Chinese BBQ Pork shop with the Elders (complete with pig mural). That place can’t be legal

Exchanges with Elder Taylor

THAT BABY’S CHROME!!!!

Hudson Hornet??

Tell Me Whyee

 [Title refers to this iconic song by Backstreet Boys.]

大家好！Hello friends!

Enjoy another scuffed email from your favorite ADHD.

Highlights!

• As we tried to stop by someone who didn't answer the door, a guy named Luke pulled up in his car, and he said he was thinking of going back to church! We gave him some details.
• We met Kelcee outside the mall on an exchange. She accepted the challenge to attend church again! She lives in Edmonton, so the fact we bumped into her is cool.
• I got absolutely slapped by said exchange, but now my throat is a little less sore than yesterday.

Elder Giménez is coming to the mission this week! He gave a great conference talk about connecting what we do with the why behind our actions. This week, take a few minutes to think about what you do and WHY you do it. When we connect our actions to the why, as Elder Giménez says, we won't only be doing it right, but we will get it right.

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

Bunch of pictures, invent your own captions!

 

  

 

 

 

 

Kim Possible!

[Title references this Disney TV show.] 

2 June 2025

大家好！Hello friends!

Transfers were this week and the transfer board was one of the most wild ones I’ve seen in a minute: 

I am staying in the same 4-man apartment and same area with Elder Neff for his last transfer.

Remember when I was companions with Elder Kim 6 months ago in Cardston? We are now in the SAME APARTMENT AGAIN!!!! 😱🤯💥🔥🎉 My my my how the turn tables! ….We’re also doing a musical number for Zone Conference. Go figure.

Remember how there used to be 6 Elders in the Mandarin District? There are now 4 :\

Remember when I served in Lethbridge in March? Elder Scoresby is now going to the same area that I was in. (pls pray that Elder Scoresby and I can go back to the Mandarin ward next transfer.🙏We’ve been hoping so for several months now.)


This week was alright. We’ve been doing h*cka member work, and the more I meet the members here the more I think, “Y’all need Jesus!” In other words, I hope we can help fulfill some of the needs here. There were some good highlights though.

Our coolest friend here, Kelly, is someone we’ve never seen. We’ve only had occasional phone call lessons, and she always is so grateful for the truths we share. She asked once, “I heard about this guy named Melchizedek, and he seemed kind of important. Do you know anything about him?” Pray for Kelly. 🙏  

Met a dude named Andre, who took a Book of Mormon and said he would read a chapter and we could come back on Saturday.

We went tracting with a kid who just graduated from high school! It was so fun to see how nervous he was knocking on someone’s door. Relatable.

Elder Neff and Elder Kim make me laugh a lot.

I read the most incredible speech by Tad Callister called “Our Identity and Our Destiny.” He explains our relationship with God very well and our potential to become like our Father in Heaven, and he referred to several amazing sources. It made me think about two things that you now get to consider :]

1. What attribute of Godliness can you practice this week?
2. What is a favorite talk of yours? Favorite scripture? Favorite movie? Share that with someone you like! There is great joy in sharing good with others.

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

{so sorry I don’t think I’ll be able to upload any photos until Monday night so good luck!}

"BUT! If you buy THREE completos..."

[Title references this Kid History clip.]

大家好！Hello friends!

I’m afraid to inform you that the more time that passes in the mission, the less engaging my emails will tend to be. The good news is that before you can say "Fiddlesticks," I'll be able to have a real conversation with you. But for now, here's a cool epiphany I had this week and then some cool stuff that happened:

For a while I had this question on my mind, “Why do we need to ask for God's forgiveness?” God wants us to learn and grow and to choose that which is good, so aren't mistakes part of the learning process? Here's what I discovered:

Forgiveness heals the pain of Guilt or Shame.

Our lives are as if we are playing piano and constantly holding down the sustain pedal. Somehow all of our mistakes, good or bad, stay with us in our history and the memories of others, like how the notes of the piano are sustained. What Jesus Christ offers is a way to clear the sustain pedal to purify our souls and our music. When the pedal is cleared, the Great Teacher remembers the wrong notes no more. Whether it be the mists of darkness in sin or simply the veil that prevents the clarity of Godly thinking (“through a glass darkly”), when we ask for forgiveness from God and from others, we can receive true healing and clarity in our lives. So this week try and ask God for forgiveness in all your prayers, and see if that isn't true.

Anyways here's some other fun stuff that happened this week:

• Fay-Ann came to church! We met her for the first time this week, and we had an epic lesson! I was on an exchange with Elder White, who is from the Navajo Nation, and she is from the Siksika reserve here, where he served for 18 months. We also might not be hearing much about her anymore since she lives out of our area, so we need to pass her to a different ward.
• Margaret did not come to church ☹️ but she did come to a church tour! She had some cool questions, and she's the first person I've met who is Catholic and also somewhat willing to learn about the Church.
• Stopped by a member who said, “I would love to see Brother Verboom at church again soon.” Then we stopped by Brother Verboom, and he said, “I've been getting several impressions lately, and…it's time I come back to church.” God is brilliant in the way he leads his work, isn't he?
• Did a bunch of service on Saturday and got to eat some Chilean hot dogs!
• Elder Neff has some nifty tricks with the yo-yo, so a member had us for dinner and asked him to bring it. Little did we know he was the yo-yo MASTER!

Lastly here is this quote to chew on for a minute: “Never has the neighbor suffered so much since mankind got it into his head to save the world” ….don't feel like you need to save the world. Jesus already did that! All you need to do is love God and direct His love to someone.

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

Completos from Franny, our favorite Chilean member

“But the yo yo master did not stop, he just kept on yo-ing”

Elder Morell backing a car through two other cars between exchanges

Exchange pics (some still to come)

CoOl fiELd

 

 

 

 

This Ranch Is Burnin' Me Up!

[Title references a family inside joke about our tolerance for spicy food.  See also:  "This avocado is spicy!"]

19 May 2025

大家好！Hello friends!

I don't have much for you this week. Here are some clickbait titles you can imagine a video for:

• Met with an inactive Vietnamese lady and her more active next-door neighbor. Very inspired lesson.
• Went on a bunch of exchanges this week. On one of them we had a dinner with a “rich young ruler” who told us how to disprove the Quran. He also said he would read the Book of Mormon tho, so that is cool!
• Knocked on the door of a man who is financially hanging on for dear life. He had great faith in God, and we gave him a Book of Mormon, and he seemed interested. We might stop by again sometime.
• Fog was amazing in Calgary! There were also some amazing rainstorms And Rainbows
• A family from Sri Lanka fed us some incredible Butter Chicken. It was spicy for my companion. I was shocked that I didn't think it was.
• Gave a talk on Sunday about missionary work. Hopefully the ward will help more with missionary work. I also happened to meet with the two people who were asked to speak before I was and canceled.

I had a cool epiphany with the word Probation as used in the scriptures. The definition I found for this said that this is a type of sentence where an individual is given supervision by an officer of law. The goal of probation is to help the individual rehabilitate and reintegrate into society. If he meets with his officer frequently and follows the law, he will have done just that. I think this is a cool parallel for mortality—we are under the supervision of a loving Probation officer who's grand hope is to heal us and help us rehabilitate & reintegrate into His society. We can do so by following His laws and meeting with Him frequently.

Consider this week how frequently you meet with the Lord and how meaningful your interactions with Him are. As you deepen your relationship with Him, you will over time rehabilitate from any ailments and weaknesses you have.

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

Double rainbows & cool landscapes

Late picture from zone conference

 

 

 

 

Chapter 91, in which Elder Baer attends a long meeting and a shorter ceremony

[Title references chapter titles from Winnie the Pooh.]

12 May 2025

大家好！Hello friends!

Today it is raining!!! It's been a long time since we've experienced a good rain, so I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Not a ton of highlights this week. Still looking for people who will keep a commitment. There was a funny moment when we called a Muslim family, and the dad and son were arguing on the other end of the phone about whether or not they believed in Jesus. 10/10 phone call.

Zone conference was this week. . . honestly not incredibly eventful, besides seeing two Mandarin Elders go home. I'm starting to think I won't be in English as long as I imagined.

We got to go to the temple with a recent convert that my companion taught! She was baptized about two weeks ago by Elder Neff. We also saw another recent convert in our ward, who just happened to be there!

Here’s a bold invitation for everyone this week: invite someone you know to a church activity! Certainly there are those who would come to church if the offer were given them. Think about it, pray about it, and God will help you out. Even if the reply is “no thanks,” that's just fine!

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

New District Album Cover

The Temple!

Elder Tang

Automotive Roll Out

[We're not sure what the title refers to, specifically, but here's a related gif.]

5 May 2025

大家好！Hello friends!

We’re almost out of Winter! That’s actually beyond true; we had a few very hot days up here, so I don’t know what happened to spring.

We had a surprise phone lesson with someone named Kelly. She was really intrigued by the idea of a prophet on the earth today. She described herself as a “seeker of truth,” to which I thought, “Boy, do we have a show for you!” We’re hoping to talk with her sometime on Wednesday this week. This is good because our friend Challeah said she doesn't want us to contact her during the week :/

We also met the most nonchalant guy named Dante who came to a church tour with us. He’s getting passed off to the young single adult ward ASAP.

We witnessed an event of biblical proportions during an exchange. Let’s just say it involved two Rolls Royce, a [Dodge Charger] Hellcat and a [Mercedes Benz] G-Wagon all unloading some incredibly wealthy Sikhs (silver silk robes and the whole shebang), some of whom were yelling something like, “Quick! the bus is leaving!” as they all boarded a double-decker party bus.

I also met my third cousin twice removed.

I read a cool insight about prayer this week from Elder Bednar. After reading a passage of scripture referring to the spiritual creation of all things before they were temporally made, he explains, “We learn from these verses that the spiritual creation preceded the temporal creation. In a similar way, meaningful morning prayer is an important element in the spiritual creation of each day—and precedes the temporal creation or the actual execution of the day. Just as the temporal creation was linked to and a continuation of the spiritual creation, so meaningful morning and evening prayers are linked to and are a continuation of each other."

If you haven't said a prayer in a little while, take some time this week to start your day off with a prayer! If you say prayers often, think of one way you can link your prayers together! Prayer truly can consecrate all the things you do in a day, and as you maintain communication with your Father in Heaven you will perform higher in all you do each day!

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!
Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

Cousin Thomas

Not Cousin Elder Jang

Sikh rides

cinematic Nose Hill pictures

smoking spigot (proof that anything can be an album cover)

prime navigation

That was totally Wicked!

[Title references this scene from The Incredibles.]

 大家好！Hello friends!

It's been an incredible week!

No friends came to church this week. Nor did we have any lessons with members. Nor did we really find any new friends. That does not diminish the truth that “God is so good,” as many are wont to say on “successful” weeks. My companion, Elder Neff, reminded me of another profound fact, that the most important things in life aren't quantifiable. The influence of character isn't something that can be measured.

So in that spirit, here are some cool people we met this week:

• Sharzi is a Persian lady I met on an exchange who asked for scriptures in Farsi. We found a Book of Mormon in Persian to give to her and bookmarked 3 Nephi 11. She texted us the most profound response ever after reading it! 
• Jordan said he and his brother would be interested in coming to church! It's absolutely bonkers to me that somebody would say that after waking up from a nap, two strangers with acne, talking about strange stuff. Incredible.
• My companion got to baptize someone he taught last transfer!!! She had a very big grin on her face all day.
• A kid on a bike looked at us and exclaimed, “That's my house! What are you guys up to?” His mom answered the door, and when we asked if she wanted to learn about Jesus she said, “Ari wants to learn about Jesus, right Ari?” “Yeah!” said the kid on the bike. A few minutes later he was shushing his friend and waiting patiently for an astounded Elder Baer to give him a Book of Mormon.
• Bumped into Oscar at a big park. He was an inactive member who used to be part of the Mandarin ward! Huge miracle.

There's an epic talk called “Choose You This Day” by Dale G. Renlund that you should definitely give a read! Think about some choice that you've been making that you would like to change.

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!
Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

prarie dog? Gopher?

quick and powerful as a two-edged gearbox

*Insert caption here*

He Is Risen!

 祂复活了！He is Risen!

It's been a good week! Highlight reel is as follows:
- We had an epic lesson with Challeah where she was thrilled about the Book of Mormon!
- Exchange with Elder Murdock! He is from England/South Africa, and he's also cool
- Saw Lamb of God by Rob Gardener (I don't know how we got away with that as a mission, but it was nice.)
- Went Easter Caroling! That was the highlight of Easter for sure! We met some pleasantly surprised people and some very grouchy people. Super fun.

I studied Doctrine and Covenants 76 and it blew my mind! There are several pivotal Scriptures that are often quoted from this revelation, but the entire section is incredible! Give it a read and let me know what you learn. I was particularly fascinated by the verses about ministering and its purpose. The chapters of Jesus Christ's ministry in America are also super good to read after Easter!

Stay cool everyone! Love you all!
Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6 

Donair Dinner [Happy Birthday, Elder Baer!]

Double rainbow! (Double Covenants!)

Easter Caroling!

Sri Lankan Easter Dinner

"There Is No Secret Ingredient"

 [Title refers to this clip from Kung Fu Panda. (Caution:  spoilers!)]

大家好！Hello Friends!

Sorry for no email last week! I'll make up for it with a bunch of nonsense pictures.

Remember that time I was in Lethbridge, and things were starting to go smooth? Not anymore! We're starting over in a new area, but more on that later. First things first:

DAT GENERAL CONFERENCE THO!!

Holy Smokes! I don't know what it was, but this weekend was just an absolutely elite experience! Several messages just shook me like a dog. The music had me weeping! I don't know quite how else to describe it, other than to say the veil between us and the heavens felt a lot thinner the last two days. In one moment at the end of the conference, when the organist was shredding the postlude in the background, I looked at the faces on the stand and in the crowd and thought, “These are the kind of people I want to be with…these are Saints I hope to call my neighbors in Zion.” Thanks for being a good neighbor everyone!

The rest of the week was good:

• Had a goofy exchange with Elder Holland! Providence forever!
• Found Vietnamese Subs in Lethbridge!
• TAUGHT A GUY IN CHINESE! He made an incredible parallel between covenants and the 5 societal relationships in Confucianism! He is incredibly prepared to hear the good news of Jesus.
• ¡¡¡FURAHA WAS BAPTIZED!!! I actually might not have written about her much. Her whole family is from Rwanda and her kids were all recently baptized. We had a member translating in Kinyarwandan for several lessons. She quit drinking, cold turkey, for God! We scrambled to pull a baptism together for her the day before transfers, but miraculously the small group of members there said they felt the Spirit, so I guess it was okay. Elder Ferrin got to confirm.
• I got transferred. Woot. I'm back in Calgary, in a former Mandarin apartment, but not in the Mandarin ward. We're double covering one ward and we have NOTHING in our area book to go off of. Our dragon scroll is blank, so we're doing all of our work by the guidance of the spirit and by the seat of our pants. We did have a cool miracle when we met a lady who said to us “I've actually been looking for a church around here.” *What?!* and then she showed up at church. *Double what?!!* Her name is Challeah, and we found her when we knocked on the doors of an incredible ghetto housing complex. The area has some incredible potential!

EASTER IS ON SUNDAY!! Everyone get your Jesus Jerseys on and your hymn-leader pom-poms, this week is going to be EPIC! Check out the church's Holy week study guide and other resources surrounding Christ during Easter and Passover. These are the greatest holidays ever! I’ll just add my testimony here that I know of a surety that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is THE flock of saints led by Jesus Christ Himself. He truly rose from the dead, so that we could all rise from our pain in this life.

Stay Warm Everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：
 https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

Exchange with Elder Holland

also Elder Holland

General Conference With Spanish Elders

 "Pluto you're rrrripped!"

my kind of ride

paintings at a Bob Ross youth activity

At transfers (featuring Elders Holland, Aniel, and Roberts)

New Apartment before and after our giant cleaning block

Furaha's baptism

Eat, Drink, and be Merry, for tomorrow is P-day

This is what was said after Elder Ferrin and I were battling to see who could eat the most raspberry mousse tarts. I won, but only because he had one more plate of ribs than I did.

31 March 2025

大家好！Hello Friends!

It snowed again, and within three hours the snow melted. It looks like it'll be that way for some time. Here's the futbol highlight reel for this week (you'll just have to imagine the dubstep background music yourself)

• Went on an exchange with Elder Roberts again! I don't know how but he's the only one that can make me laugh by saying stuff like, “Yo, that puppy's dope as freak!” I also had a good time watching him try and figure out how to pack 247 Hotwheels cars into a box to bring home.
• Discovered first hand that serving in the YSA ward is a vacation, not a real mission.
• Zone Conference was this week and it was 6 hours of “You need the Spirit with you, so let's flip to page 181 again and read…” We got some great sweet pork salads tho, and I got to chat with Elder Kim again! As the Tech missionary he drove 2.5 hours so he could watch as everyone's new sim card didn't work and complain about being at the mission office all week.
• Went on an exchange with Elder Koloamatangi! He's a super cool Elder and definitely helped me learn the same thing we knew all along, that I gotta be more confident 😂
• MET A MAN FROM CHINA IN LETHBRIDGE!!! And he came to ¡¡¡Church!!! Maybe there is a reason I'm here after all.
• Got talked at for an hour and a half by a Recent Convert about…the Bible? Church? Hard to say but he said a few relatable comments about church culture is not church doctrine. Amen.

I had some unusually good experiences at members houses! Get this: On Saturday I was fed eggplant parmesan on the mission!!! The family also had purple ribbons on the door that said “He is risen” to which I thought to myself “The church really Is true!” On Saturday we stepped into a home that was covered in either Chinese traditional paintings or James C. Christensen art. They also made some familiar snarky comments, hence the title. Some people here are very cool.

Easter is in 20 DAYS!!! General Conference is coming up this weekend and it's a great way to prepare! I'd challenge you to read a talk from the previous Conference each day this week to get in the groove for conference.

Stay Warm Everyone! Love you all!
Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

[Good friends -- and raspberry mousse tarts]

 [Exchange with Elder Roberts]

 

Engine 2 Is No Longer on Fire

 [Title references this clip from Madagascar 2.]

24 March 2025

 大家好！Hello Friends!

The wind is blowing 22mph right now in Lethbridge. Is it windy where you are?

It was a week of pros and cons, so you know what that means! We’re going to run back the pros and cons list!

Pros

• Our friend named Furaha is ON DATE FOR BAPTISM for April 5!!! We need to change the date because that’s literally General Conference, too.
• Our friend Guyo from Kenya has come to church again, and he came to a baptism with us in another area! He said he likes the people here a lot! We’re working to help him open up to some new ideas about Christianity and scripture and prophets and everything else that he hasn’t heard before.
• I found a computer to type this email instead of letting my thumbs become sore from texting it on a phone.

Cons

• Last week we knocked on the doors of two houses where the people there were interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon. This week we had a hard time contacting them by phone, so we visited in person and found out they aren’t interested anymore and their family members are definitely not interested  :( 
• I was über sick at the beginning of the week. (I should have known when I was starting to feel cranky on Sunday), and then Elder Ferrin got kinda sick. And then Elder Holland got incredi-sick. It was, in fact, not fun. But I suppose nobody can get away with two years of a dry, vomitless mission.

As promised, Here are some good moments from when Elder Gary E. Stevenson made a guest cameo appearance in Calgary. Some of these are from Elder Stevenson and some are from the friends who traveled with Him (Elders Cook, Bennett, and Egbo).

• “You have been assigned of heaven to be in this Mission. I know that the Lord wants you to be where you are right now”
• Elder Stevenson *proceeds to teach the restoration of the gospel in 5 minutes very simply* “The spirit never tires of hearing it. Why? Because it is the plain and precious truths…to introduce the gospel.”
• “You can be successful in the world without developing the attributes of the world”
• “We can feel the healing power of Christ, and the Holy Ghost will confirm it. . .there are many things we need healing from”
• The infinite Atonement is often thought of as infinite in length, not often recognized as infinite in breadth. 2 Nephi 2 teaches of Christ, our purpose, and His role. [Side note, did you read it this week? Just asking for a friend :D]
• Write this in bold highlighted letters somewhere, LIFELONG DISCIPLESHIP! That’s what we’re all looking for.
• “It is not an invitation to be baptized, It is not an invitation to join the church, it is an invitation to come unto Christ, develop faith in Him, be changed by Him, be healed by Him, be cleansed by Him, to receive His atonement more fully in His life.
• “Because of His atonement, mortality works!”
• “If you sincerely extend invitations and promised blessings, I promise God will back you up.”

This actually came from our mission president, whose remarks seemed even more on point in this meeting. “We’ve heard before that we were foreordained to be here…now what?”

Yeah so that’s most of the notes I had down. Maybe one of these will help you prepare for Easter which is in 29 DAYS!!!

Stay Warm Everyone! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老 照片：

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yBaTy1Mc3BcoogrG6

    District at Makisu (more cake was eaten then sushi)

    A picture I forgot from the mission meeting last week. The Ridgeline Elders Reunite!

    Cool notes from Elder Gong