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Well what's up everyone! It's Elder Baird here back with a new and exciting email! What could be better than that??? I would say nothing. Other than the hike I just went on, and the Zone baking I'm going to right now.
So let's see how much Spencer can write on the train! On your marks, get set, go!!!
So Monday, I'm writing a song with Elder Pond. He's playing cello, I'm playing piano, we are going to arrange first Noel and Canon in D for the Christmas concert. So that will be nice!
Also my Taiwanese mom bought me a ukulele (づ ●─● )づ so that was awesome! Freaking love Kelly! So that's lit.
Tuesday. Not a lot of stuff happened other than all the missionary work we did. So that was fun. I love me some missionary work! Things are moving pretty smoothly which is way nice. Couldn't ask for much more. We had a great District Council so that is cool!
Wednesday we had English group. We had a new friend come! Actually 2! So that's awesome! However one of them we met on Tuesday, and he's super cool! He's from Japan which is lit, but he doesn't speak English or Chinese very well... But that means that when we meet with him we need to find some members that speak Japanese so that then they can talk! So that will be cool!
Thursday
I went on exchange with Elder Broderick!!! Oh my, what a missionary. For those of you who haven't been following along at home, Elder Broderick was my MTC companion. We were also quarantined together.
I have lived with this man for 11 weeks, and I finally was able to go out and do missionary work with him!!! So that was awesome! We saw some really cool miracles and we just had an awesome time! We hit the streets hard, got some setups, got some new friends, shared the gospel, visited members, ate some food, did some pushups, and called it a day.
Friday
We had a lesson and then exchanged back to our original companions. Then I went to a Buddhist funeral. And let's just say that was an experience. They literally sang one song for an hour! It's like a prayer and scriptures mixed together.
Why were we at the funeral you may ask?
Well, one of our members is Buddhist. Don't ask how he's still a member and Buddhist, it's a long story and I don't have that kind of time. But his dad sadly passed away at 98. Seems like a solid time to go. But he invited us and the bishop to the funeral.
Before the funeral though this member/friend/Buddhist had to read a 20 minute scripture for every year his dad had been alive.
Ladies and not ladies, that is 98 twenty minute scriptures. I'll do the math for you. That's almost 33 hours of scripture that he had to read! Guys! That's more than a whole day! I don't know why but I think they believe that you have to do that before they can go to their heaven, or hell? I don't understand the whole afterlife thing.
So anyways, after listening to this monk sing a scripture for an hour our friend had to go do this bowing 拜拜 scripture reading thing that was something. And then everyone was going to go worship him, so we left.
It was an experience.
Then we had another exchange that night! So many exchanges.
Then Saturday we played some frisbee and my exchange companion Elder Hsu lost his phone! So we prayed, looked, looked some more, called it, called it some more, and finally someone picked up. Turns out the phone was at the nearby police station. So we quickly went and grabbed it and all was well in Zion. Or at least Taiwan. Or at least muzha. So yah.
Our day was really tight so we did all of our studies and then headed over to a different chapel to get ready for the baptism!!! Yeeeeee!
Which brings me to the question. What does it take to have a bad baptism?
Friend arrives 30 minutes late? Still a good baptism.
Friend brings dog with them to the Baptismal service? Still a good baptism!
Friends clothes don't fit him? Still a good baptism!
Not enough water in the font? Still a good baptism!
Someone didn't give a talk? Still a good baptism!
The person baptizing forgets the words? Still a good baptism!
There's no refreshments after because @ladyrona don't like no ice cream? Still a good baptism!
So, what does it take to have a bad Baptismal service? Obviously a lot more than that! Because despite everything it was soooo good! And I'm so grateful that brother Wang is now a member of Jesus Christ's restored church! What an amazing blessing for him!
Sunday! Our friend was confirmed and given the Holy Ghost! Who wouldn't want the Companionship of the Holy Ghosts? I know I do! Then we had lunch with a different friend and a member. Then we went home to plan and do some studies. But we took a nap because we were exhausted!
But we overslept!! So that was awkward. It all ended up okay so that's fine. We just missed a little bit of language study but that's life.
Anyways that's about all time is allowing for today!
Love you all!
Elder Baird
Something about socks:
Eternal families.
What could be better than that? At first thought maybe some things could be. I guess it would depend on your family situation. But eternal families in eternal love and happiness? Now I don't think there's much that can beat that.
On my exchange with Elder Broderick we had a lesson with a part member family. And we were teaching the plan of salvation. And as I testified of the power of eternal families the spirit was so powerful. I was tearing up and the non member dad was completely attentive! He was loving it!
After the lesson I went up to him and was like "eternal families are such an amazing blessing. And your family needs it."
And he was like "I know."
So hopefully Elder Broderick can get this family together! But it was just so cool to testify of such an important truth and have him pay so much attention!
Eternal families are amazing guys. Make sure that when you've got your own family, you make it a priority to make it an eternal family!
Pictures!
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| Christmas tree + new helmet |
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| Chicken head |
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| Great view |
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| The bridge gang |
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| I don't know how this picture happened. |
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| Cool view |
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| Awesome culture |
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| Baptism! |
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| Frisbee mornings |
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