Elder Baird's Something About Socks: WEEK 10 HUALIAN: Sorry, the old Elder Baird can't come to the phone right now... Why? Cause he's dead. Also his phone doesn't have a sim card. Also the new Elder Baird is basically Asian. And the new Elder Baird is kind of losing his mind. Wow this is a long subject line... I wonder how long I can make it? Maybe I can put a whole email in the subject line one time... Maybe...

Well HEEELLLLOOOOO everyone that is not reading this super close to when I send it because it's like midnight over there.

Oh wait.... Did I say over there? Oh yah, I did. That's because, if you didn't know, I'm currently in the country of Taiwan!

Wow, don't even know where to begin... Um, its going to have to be a little shorter today, which is sad. I was going to just try sending a bunch of videos of my day, but I haven't figured out how to make it work... So maybe next week I'll have figured it out. For now today will just be brief... Maybe...

So as you all know if you read my earlier emails, or just above this paragraph. I'm in Taiwan! *insert cheering and just general cacophony here* woot!

So yes, I got on a plane. Flew a long time. Landed. Went to bed. Woke up. Had a cool little fireside thingy. Went to the chapel. Sat in some meetings. Talked to the mission president. He's great. Then I got my new companion. His name is Elder Nelson. Then I said goodbye to my old companion. Then we got tickets for our train (our area is called HuaLian which is about a 2.5 hour train ride from Taipei). Found out that our train left in 20 minutes. Missed our train. Got on a new train a little while later. Then sat for 2.5 hours on a train. Talked with my trainer. Learned about the area.

Then we got to Hualian and waited for like an hour for someone to pick us up from the train station. So we talked to a couple people around there... And that is when I started to realize that I don't know this language... At all... Went and ate and then went to the apartment. Went to bed.

Then we got up did some studying , did a little bit of teaching. Some planning. Some good stuff. Saturday we did english class and let me tell you, asian toddlers are just tooooo cute. More studying and talking. Same with Sunday. Except church was just so confusing. Very confusing. Just cause I don't know chinese. Like I didn't get anything. So that was hard.

Now onto some spiritual stuff and cool things that happened.

So we meet some random guy on Saturday night and started to talk to him, we then proceeded to invite him to church which was just like weird. But, we invited him, and then he said yes. So we were like cool. But didn't really think a lot about it. But then he showed up! So that was way cool and then we are going to meet with him later this week. He probably didn't get church just as much as I did, but probably for different reasons...

On the way home from church we meet this old dude, and he was just funny. Old people in Taiwan are just funny. He was like "Hallo, you two are from what church, o that one over there, I go to that church next week, here's my phone number. Good bye"

So yah, we will see if we are able to meet with him again.

Hm... In all honesty. I have no clue what is going on. This is hard. That is kind of all I know right now. It's hard. Two years seems long right now. But, I have felt Heavenly Father's love for me through this, and so even though this is so hard, I have seem so many little miracles that I love. So yah, this is good. I'm excited to get things under my belt. But right now it's just kinda hard. But that is how it is. I love it!

I love all of you, Thank you so much for the support and Prayers!

-----------------

Thanks for talking,

So here is my affirmation.

I, Elder Baird, Have been called by a Prophet of God, set apart to represent Jesus Christ, and have been given authority to act in His name. How great is my calling!

As I strive to go about the Lord's errand, I will show my love for him through

- Exact Obedience

- Developing the Character of Christ

- Remaining Focused on my Missionary Purpose

- Maintaining the Constant Companionship of the Holy Ghost

and

- Rendering Service and Teaching Others.

Every day I will repent and improve. Through these actions and a daily pursuit of these goals, I will be able to become more like Christ. This will I do so I can be 'a chosen instrument in the hands of the Lord'.

For, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel" (Joseph Smith).

-----------------

Two vids: https://photos.app.goo.gl/SFYUU5iJPpSjnSLh9