"This will be the death of the Hobbits!"

[Title refers to this scene in The Fellowship of the Ring.]

25 November 2024

 大家好！Hey Everyone!

Yup . . . we got slapped in the face by winter. It dropped about 10 inches of snow on Saturday, and as we were on our way to dinner on Sunday, we saw the temperatures were -18 Celsius which is about -3 Fahrenheit. Needless to say, there was a lot of shoveling and a lot of time in the car.

This week did bring a few funny moments:

• We had a lovely dinner with a family of unusual names including Porsha, Rope, and Chevy.

• During a visit on the reserve, two kids came running in front of our car as we parked, and by the time they reached the house, one of them had a severe wardrobe malfunction when their pants suddenly dropped to the ground.

• Had a funny conversation with Elder Kim about Ammon & Spiritual Gaslighting (See Alma 18:21-23)

There were actually a lot of interesting conversations this week! The Zone Leaders came to Cardston and did a sort of exchange with us on Friday, and discussion topics included the eternal destiny of Mars, the malicious plotting of McDonald’s, and more silliness. However, Elder Kim still wins this week for the most thoughtful ideas! Here’s the gist:

An egg hardens under the same pressure that makes a potato soften. People are similar under pressure: it can weaken us or strengthen us. The mission has increasingly appeared to me like a giant pressure cooker—there is so much pressure physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. This kind of pressure can bring out character in someone that is extremely difficult to see in normal circumstances. I’ve seen missionaries who were really nice, neat, good kids at home, but when the pressure mounted they started disregarding all sorts of guidelines that would have helped them be happier. I’ve seen missionaries who wasted lots of time and opportunities making dumb decisions in the past, but when the pressure mounted they stepped up and became great examples and people influence. It’s important to realize how we will react to pressure.

If you feel under a lot of pressure, I’d suggest you think about receiving a priesthood blessing! One of the great gifts of the restored gospel is the authority of God through the priesthood that blesses all men and women on the earth! And if you have received a Patriarchal blessing, I’d encourage you to look at that! Elder Kim said he has started to study his blessing every fast Sunday, and I think I’m going to join him in that! Those are just two things you can think about this week. I promise as you frequently study your patriarchal blessing, you’ll make better decisions in your life, and as you seek blessings in time of need, you will feel more of God’s enabling power and strength.

Stay warm everyone! Don’t let the snow come in as early as we did! Love you all!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

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

goofy deer

goofy swarm of birds

goofy footpri– …what the!?

video and pic of an epic horse we met on the way to a visit

Believe it or not there is a car a few yards ahead of us in this snowstorm

Other exchange photos

Bangers for Bangerter

18 November 2024

 大家好！Hey Everyone!

This week was Epic! And by that, I mean mostly Thursday was epic, but all the other days were good too!

Highlight of the week was when Elder Bangerter came to the mission! He’s the one that gave an awesome talk in April 2024 General Conference about foreordination. He came to zone conference for this mission and told us all that it would be a day of great revelation, which it was! . . . I just haven’t deciphered some of it yet, haha. He had some fascinating stories about his mission and how rainy it was, and about a motorcycle gang member who made a full 180 after being baptized, and about his ASU religious studies professor who roasted a girl for disrespecting the name of Joseph Smith. It was a really fascinating experience!

Elder Kim and I performed a musical number of “O My Father.”  And there was a looong period of silence before Elder Bangerter finally stood up to the pulpit and said one of the sweetest things ever! “Elders, thank you for making this chapel a temple.”

He also gave some clarification on “working from centers of strength” and how important that is in the church and in the lives of missionaries. . . which basically means we might have to reevaluate our group of people we’re teaching *gulp* but we will get it figured out! [Editor's note: this was counsel to focus "finding" efforts in geographical areas where friends can easily come to church and have member support, not the furthest limits of the area.]

We had some funny times in Glenwood this week. We stopped by a lady who has left the church twice but asked some awesome questions! (I've been waiting so long for good questions!) We also learned that one of the guys we had planned to stop by has declared himself a prophet, so that's exciting. We also got chewed out by a member for being disappointing missionaries after a friend we were meeting with told us they don't want to learn more about the church. There is some truth to that, and also there is some truth that other people's decisions are not always a result of poor performance.

We got to help out with a Christmas festival on Friday (scary, I know) and it was good. There was a parade and some fireworks! They looked super cool through the fog!

Elder Bangerter was really good at immersing everyone in the scriptures—finding the setting, discussing the characters, the sights, the smells, the sounds, etc. It really made for some more personal impressions! So for you reading this email, I'd invite you to try that practice this week. Open the Book of Mormon or the Bible to a chapter and really think about where you are, who the characters are that are involved, how things feel, look, sound, and smell. I promise, you will gain new insights for your life as you study the scriptures in new ways.

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

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

Christmas festival

Fireworks

Cool Stuff in the Cardston museum

Children's church song. The rhythm reminds me so much of Golliwogg's Cake Walk and other early 20th century “rags.”

Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?

[Title references a quote from Martin Luther, but also this piano concerto by John Adams.]

Well maybe, but they're only good for a few minutes. More on that later.

11 November 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

It has been such an interesting week. Elder Kim came down with a bad flu all week. This ruined our plans to get out of the house, but it gave me a lot of time to think and learn, and here are some things that I learned:

ADDICTIONS ARE OF THE DEVIL

As Elder Kim lay in bed taking intermittent naps, I had a lot of time on my hands. Some of that time was spent on Facebook, reaching out to people about the Book of Mormon, and some of it was spent studying. Too much of it was spent in front of a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle I found in the apartment. I would finish some of my online proselyting time, and then spend a few minutes . . . and I would find after several ignored nudgings that several HOURS had passed! It’s so interesting that something as “harmless” as a jigsaw can lead to a missionary’s destruction! . . . alright maybe I’m being too dramatic, but that’s really what it felt like! I’m really hoping I never fall into a dark rabbit hole like that again that wastes my time, and even worse, wastes God’s time.

As a partial result, I reflected a lot on the past months of the mission, and I kind of wallowed in the mire of discouragement. In falling under the trap of comparison, I 100% felt like I’d failed my mission—I haven’t been finding enough people or teaching enough people, and surely I would fall under some sort of condemnation for being a wicked, slothful, unprofitable servant. Here’s another way I’ve been looking at it:  missionary work is like playing the piano, and I am a performer assigned to bring beautiful music from the Greatest Composer to the world audience. But there's one problem:  I'm just not good at the piano. I hit SO. MANY. WRONG. NOTES. I feel like I study music by Mozart, but what I play sounds like Messiaen. And it’s made me question, “How can God tolerate such a poor pianist sharing His music?”

This is where I started to understand a principle of faith, or the “hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” The truth of the mission is that God does his miraculous work through poor servants. He makes glorious music through broken instruments and amateur musicians. This is the truth, and even though I may not have the eyes to see it, I can put my small seed of hope and trust in the truth that I am not capable of hindering the Almighty from gathering Israel.

I found some more comfort in studying fore-ordination this week. Alma 13 teaches that all who assist in the Lord’s work have been “called and prepared from the foundation of the world.” The Prophets are foreordained to their calling—even prophets like Jonah who willingly rebelled against God. But God worked through Jonah to the salvation of Nineveh from destruction. This story has always been encouraging for me, because surely if God is so merciful to Jonah, who “never really got it,” he will be merciful to all His “broken instruments” and “poor pianists,” who just can’t get the music right.

A story by Elder Baer, you’re welcome. That’s a lot of “me” for one email, so thanks for Baer-ing with me :P

Two things for you to do this week!

    Get rid of whatever addiction you have! Whether it’s the app you spend too much time on looking at everyone else's fictitious lives, or the bottles of soda pop, or the video games, or the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle—whatever it is that’s wasting your time and preventing smart choices, GET RID OF IT! And don’t go back! I promise you that immediate gratification will never bring long-term happiness, and as you throw out whatever addiction of varying degree that might be teasing you, you will have a better week and experience happiness.

    Keep being awesome! Go forward in faith knowing that even when you feel like a broken, out-of-tune instrument, God can share beautiful music through you. Jesus Christ is the ultimate Luthier, and his delight is in instrument repair!

Stay cool everyone! And Happy Remembrance Day!

Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

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

THE FOG!!! :O

Funny things we have found on our driveway. Blessings from heaven!

"Hi Tired, I'm Elder Kim"

This is an all-too typical response from my companion. Classic.

31 October 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

How was Halloween! Or Day of the Dead? Or All Saints Day? Or All Souls Day? Our Halloween was among the most boring days of the mission. Elder Kim and I struggled to figure out what to do all day. We knocked on a couple doors and found no one at home, and we also felt like knocking on doors wasn’t the right thing to be doing that day. We eventually found a service project for the cemetery, so we tried that for a bit. We ended the night at home with the lights out as directed by our mission pres., but we did have a bowl of “treats” for any passers by.

It’s funny how effort and results correlate differently in different scenarios. Last week felt a lot like God magnified our efforts a ton! This week felt like he allowed us to struggle a bit. We made extensive plans to bring our friends from the reserve to Stake Conference—setting up rides, calling friends, coordinating routes, double checking with friends, meeting up with the members, triple checking with friends—and still no one made it. Cowabummer! Stake conference was good though. The stake choir was really trying! The visiting authority had a cool backstory with the Community of Christ! He was a big fan of singing hymns loud and fast, to which I said “AMEN, BROTHER!!”

We had a big volleyball activity on Saturday for the youth that was fun . . . not much more to that.

I've been thinking a lot recently about this painting by James C. Christensen, titled "Gerome Spent His Free Time Daydreaming of Being Reincarnated as a Snake."

The artist said he painted this on a goofy left over piece of canvas, but said, “the more I look at Gerome, the more he speaks to me. I think it’s true that the things we devote our time and energy to are what shape us.”

There have been quite a few times recently where I’ve felt a bit like Gerome (often before 9:00 in the morning). I’ve let discouragement or plain laziness get the best of me and get in the way of some happiness that I could have had. After all, Happiness is not something that we enjoy unless we make things Happen in our lives. Being proactive brings joy! Doctrine and Covenants 88:124 has always been a favorite verse of mine, since it blatantly addresses the procrastination and avoiding responsibility. This week I challenge all of you not to procrastinate! Make a plan or a routine for your days and follow through with it, and when you feel like putting something off, remember the words of the Lord and “cease to be idle.” You truly will find more satisfaction and Happiness as you work to be proactive.

Have a great week everyone! Love you all!

爱你们！


Elder Baer 熊长老

照片：

 

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

District Halloween Doppelgangers

-What the Duce?!

Halloween Snacks by Elder Kim!

 

for trick-or-treaters

nutha landscape

Volleyball youth activity

What is this!? Does anyone know??   

[Answer: it's a disc harrower, used to return crop residue to the soil and to prepare fields for planting. Look's scary, doesn't it?!]

Life Really Can Be as Sweet as Potatoes and Molasses

[Title references this song from Over the Garden Wall.]

28 October 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

This week made me want to barf until it suddenly made me want to sing. Here are some highlights:

• Our mission president surprised us by coming to Tuesday's district meeting and also interviewing everyone afterward. It seemed SO stressful for both the missionaries and the mission president for no good reason, but this interview was the best I've had with him so far, so that's neat.
• We wrote a big apology for a dinner we missed. This was the 4th time in a row the missionaries hadn’t come for dinner, so we dropped off cookies, since they were not home, on Wednesday. On Thursday when we drove past on our way home, I had an inclination to visit again. My companion and I both rationalized not going, but I got up the guts to tell him to turn the car around. It ended up being a great visit! And now we have two more names for other missionaries to contact!
• We performed at a ward supper on Friday! Everyone said they were really touched, even though most of the night everyone looked like they were everything but a fun time (I was pained a bit when I saw so many blank stares in reaction to a dude pouring his soul into the piano, singing “Great Balls of Fire.”)

…And this is when the Spirit of God came into the area like a flash flood from a monsoon storm….

• We got a chance to meet with Cody again!! He hasn't had a lick of alcohol for a few weeks, and he made a goal with us to be baptized at the end of November!!! Please pray for Cody! He’ll need some rides to church for this to happen!
• On Saturday night we met a new Filipino family that had been to church twice. When we knocked on the door, the first thing they said was, “So you come back every weekend, good?” Crazy!!!
• On Sunday we get a call in the middle of one meeting from a lady saying, “Where are you!? I have a friend at church I need you need to meet!” So we raced over there and arranged to meet with Bro. & Sis. Fox in their home with their new friend Diddy. Absolute mayhem of a lesson:  the first 25 minutes was Sis. Fox reading a random Wikipedia article word for word, and then we introduced Diddy to the Book of Mormon, talked over some questions, and NOW SHE'S ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!?!? WHAT!!!

I now have a testimony that Satan really throws opposition in full force when he knows something good is coming. Joseph Smith experienced frightening darkness and power immediately before seeing God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This week seemed at times like a series of discouraging and exhausting events. After another derailed morning on Saturday, I felt really pressed down and all around just horrible. But we stuck it out; Elder Kim and I continued in the endeavor to do something in the service of God, and He shocked us by letting us witness events that were nothing short of divine miracles!

This Thursday is Halloween! It is the evening before the Hallowed Day, the evening when the spirits from beyond the veil are closer to the earth. It also happens to be transfer day for us :P but that's beside the point. The point is that your family who has passed away will most likely be closer to you this week if you let them. Take some time and think of something you can do to remember your family this week: sharing stories, helping them in the temple, or even spending time with family physically here, etc. etc. As we turn our hearts to [our] fathers, we truly can have a “Happy” Hallowe'en!

Also I say this all the time, if you want a GREAT show for the holidays, check out Over the Garden Wall.  [Editor's note:  For our deeper thinkers, Over the Garden Wall is a modernization of Dante's Inferno.]  I think the themes of family and the conflict of good and evil are pretty sound.

Stay warm everyone! And Happy Samhain!

-Elder Baer (熊长老）

照片：

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

Elder Pannell went home for medical treatment! He gave a sweet goodbye to the district.

The chickens did get to the other side!

Cool Landscapes

Dat You Coz?

Honestly what an incredible name

Through It Thick and Thin

大家好！Hey Everyone!

I'm gonna be 100% real with you for a minute:

Sometimes the mission just sucks. We heard several return missionaries make comments about this, like Elder Shipley, who just came back to Alberta from his mission and put it this way:  “Before I left everyone was telling me the mission was going to be super hard, and then I got to the mission field and said, ‘Dang, why didn't anyone tell me this was going to be hard!’”

I think life is the same way. Life is beautiful, but sometimes it just sucks. Sometimes we experience first hand "That awful monster, death and hell." But it's the long and painful stretches of time when we are so beat up that a marvelous thing can happen if we allow it! We can allow Jesus Christ into our lives to make things better. As we make and keep covenants with Him, we allow him to bring power into our lives. And in effect He says to us, “This is super hard. I know because I've been through it. You don't have to do this alone. I'll be here with you. Let's Go!"

In retrospect, I see that Jesus Christ truly has lifted me in times of desperation when I had no one else to turn to but Him. When I felt like I couldn't keep going in the same situation with the people around me, He changed me and He opened my eyes to see tender mercies regularly. He will do the same as you put in the spiritual effort to consistently pray and study His word. He always reaches your reaching. He WILL work wonders in your life!

Anyways I kinda burned out my email this week, but here's a good summary:
- A Native guy offered us a handful of bones when we knocked on his door, no explanation.
- Clarence is a new friend who has been inactive but has interest in coming back to church.
- Sister Street met with us on Wednesday and did come to church after a long time of staying home! The members said that was truly a miracle!
- The prelude to Bach Cello Sonata no. 5 in C minor is one of my new favorite pieces of music, along with the St. John's Passion by Arvo Pärt.
- Went to Waterton today and it snowed the whole time. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Take care everyone and enjoy your Harvest!fam
Love you all! 爱你们！
-Elder Baer 熊长老

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

 

[Windows of heaven]

 

 

[Wateron waterfall]

 

[Oh, deer!]

[Waterton Opera House]

 

 

 

 

[Inspiring messages]

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Now It's Time for Silly Songs with Larry

[Title references songs from Veggie Tales.]

14 October 2024

大家好！Hey Everyone!

I'm starting to lose the little Chinese I was able to speak. Language studies have been getting eaten up by other random stuff and I haven't been keeping it up very well. Also a couple people in my district are experiencing a “mid-mission crisis” and it’s been rubbing off slightly *gulp* but I’ll get over it, and I think God will help me and the others get over it too.

Zone Conference happened yet again. Our beloved mission president is still figuring out how to make more interesting training discussions. We found out that the Book of Mormon musical will be in Calgary for a bit at the end of the year. . . sooo. . . that will be fun to deal with. We did a musical number that will be recorded in a couple weeks.  [Editor's note:  we don't think the musical number had anything to do with the Book of Mormon musical.]

We had a fun exchange on Friday with the Zone Leaders and Elder Tang who is also in that companionship. They came and blitzed our area, so we were basically on different sides of the reserve. The side I was on involved a goose chase for some guy we never found, but we did get to share some cool truths with a recently widowed lady. We helped serve some food at a wedding as well. We had a fun time singing some hymns and other silly songs together at night!  [Editor's note:  we don't think Elder Baer meant to imply that hymns are silly.]

I totally failed to remind everyone about the holidays this week! We had Rosh Hashanah a little while ago and Yom Kippur on Saturday. Yom Kippur is a super cool holiday focused on Jesus Christ. Its English name is “Day of Atonement.” The purpose of the rituals in Yom Kippur are to clean the community of sin and reconcile everyone with God. However, Atonement (or At-one-ment with God) is something we can strive for every day! I’d invite you all to find something you can do to develop At-one-ment with God. Whether that involves a friend, family member, or just you and your Father in Heaven, I promise that as you strive for greater unity with God, you will find more peace of mind and you won’t feel alone in what you’re doing.

Carry On! Stay cool everyone!

-Elder Baer (

照片：

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

Hymns

Northern Lights! Crazy!

Temple

[Message for you]

The Wasps

7 October 2024

Hey Everyone

So there I was. . . doing some personal study of the holy writ when I heard a noise. . . and I perceived it not. . . and then I heard it again, a low melodic humming. It sounded faintly like an orchestra, perhaps an overture by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Could it be? It was! The Wasps!! Several of them inside our house by the window!!! But there was no time to take care of them, because we had to go to our District Council Meeting! And so around 3:00, we finally got some time to buy a can of Raid and go back to our apartment, which now had seven wasps inside. So we took a minute to gas out the house and vacuum them all up. We’ve now got our house cleaned out to an average of 3 wasps per day, and we’ve already got the queen in the vacuum so it’s all downhill from here. We found one nest by the roof of our house but we think they’ve been coming from the ventilation system. *gulp* We’ll let you know how the battle goes on the front this coming week.

In other silly news, we helped an old and kind of crazy lady move furniture in her house. We had to be very careful to maneuver around her ultra-realistic-looking baby dolls. . . definitely not horrifying. My companion also might’ve been cursed after stepping into that house, since he had his first asthma attack in 7 years, and his allergies have been going wild in the last couple days. Prayers up for Elder Kim.

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of watching General Conference with several members of the wards we cover. Saturday therefore gave us the great blessing of what was perhaps the best meal I’ve had in the mission, and also what was perhaps the worst meal I’ve had in this mission so far. Both felt like somewhat foreign experiences. The afternoon session was spent at a huge house in the middle of a dirt field with a family that made comments to each other in French. They gave us a taste of some pasta with an amazing sausage and tomato sauce all from scratch! We then drove up to our actual dinner in Glenwood, in a super old house, where we experienced a cool pizza with mushrooms and thick pineapple slices on a soggy bread crust. That was a pretty big switch, but at least they were both homemade!

What was your favorite message from General Conference? There were several good ones that really touched me and answered some big questions. I was especially impressed by several messages that held a message Elder Soares summed up well: “What works for thee works for me.” That really hit me, that if I let go of a few things I want to do “my way” and do a few things God’s Way, I’ll find even more joy from blessings I can receive. Change takes painful sacrifice, but it is well worth the change. I’d invite you all to look back over your favorite conference message and think about how you can use what you learned this week.


Stay cool everyone!

-Elder Baer

照片：

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

Wasps (vacuum)

Service at a kids center

Nest

kittens at an unsuccessful stop by

weird school assembly??

Harvest material

Windows 93 background [does he mean the last-century gray screen behind the ASL signer?] Conference Sunday

 [Cardston at night]

 [Canadian Gold]

 

"You make me tired all over when you talk like that"

[Title references this scene from Support Your Local Sheriff.]

30 September 2024

Welcome to Episode 12 of Bonanza, 2024 reboot.

Quick updates for all of you. I've literally been in a western movie for the past week and a half. Everyone and their mom owns a farm and some horses in Southern Alberta. I have a suspicion that I've met half the cast of "High Noon" already, based just on the accent. The water here still tastes a bit like dirt, so I'm glad its really authentic. I’ve had about 5 pounds of hot dogs in the last three days and more meals with members than I've had all summer, or so it feels.

One of the great characters we met this week was Tinker Tim! Tim is a friend of one of the older members that lives in Glenwood. We were over at Marty's house for dinner, and Tim was just parked outside, so he was invited in. He then started talking a mile a minute about how he had been born again, and was positionally perfect, and God willing, and don't think but pray, and dreams about crying, and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that would always end up about a great big fish that he caught once or something. It was exhausting! That was all that came out of his mouth for all of dinner, and all of the next day when we went to Help Marty build the deck. It was a kind of inspiring experience though! I've never seen two guys disagree so much and still be such good friends!

All of our friends currently live on the reservation, so we’re out there quite a bit. Not many of them can drive, so getting them to church is in question right now. Cody says he wants to be baptized once he’s gotten over his alcohol addiction. We met with Chauncey for the first time, and he says things are tough because the reservation is full of druggies and corruption amongst the Chief in Council. It seems like both of them are looking for a different environment to be in. The reservation also has some pretty mean looking dogs, so that will be fun to get used to. Our area book only records one skinwalker sighting though, so we're pretty sure that most of these dogs aren't Satanic :)

While trying to stop by some older folks in Aetna, we met their son Rodger (he has a Lee van Cleef mustache and all), and he invited us to his home down the gravel road. We were able to chat for a while, and he pointed out the violin that I was carrying around, so I played him a little tune. The next day was an Elders Quorum barbecue, complete with husbands grilling even more hot dogs, and their wives on the other side of the field in the middle of a shotgun skeet shoot. Before I knew it Rodger brought me up, and I was playing for most of the ward.

General Conference is this weekend! General Conference is awesome, because we get to hear from living Prophets and Apostles! This week I'd invite you to write down three questions or concerns that you would like God's Guidance on, and then look for them in conference. I've really found that when I do that, I have a more enriching experience and Hear God's voice clearer.

Stay cool everyone!
-Elder Baer

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

Country Views

Mural

Vid from the road