Elder Baird's Something About Socks: WEEK 66 TAIPEI: Yep!

Hey my friends and family and those who I would probably label as acquaintances or just other people for lack of a better term...

How are y'all doing??? Just wanna give a quick shoutout to all those other missionaries out there who are grinding in the work with me! Especially the newest one my boi Elder Reeeegggeerrrrr. Coming in from the land of Arendelle (or was it the Emerald City?) at slightly taller than me (just slightly I swear) and weighing a certain undisclosed amount of weight units this man is a BEAST. Just gotta say I'm way hyped that he's joined me in this work and great cause for Zion. (Yes I'm a little late, whoops) You'll never regret it, Hoooorraaahhh for Israel!

Also you better know I'm an avid tunneler boiiiiii

Anyways, yah let's get into the week and aaalaalalalallll of the stuff that has happened.

What was the stuff that happened....

Well I quarantined again this week and so that was fun I guess. I'm reading this book called "A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter" and it is suchhhhh a good read. So good. 10/10 would recommend. Actually 10/5 would recommend. It's not actually a book, but it's like an article. 327 pages. I'm almost done. Good times.

Anyways, a lot of this week has been getting ready for our big Christmas concert that is coming up on Sunday. And let me tell you your Boi has been stressssssed out. Like a ton. Cause he is running like the whole thing. All sound. All music. Everything. Prep. I'm ready to give up the ghost. But we had a big dress rehearsal today and it went half decent and I'm feeling a lot better.

It will be on Facebook live so if you want to see me make everyone else sound good then you are welcome to watch! It will be a great time.

Other than those two things, our best thing was probably preparing for our two baptisms that we had on Saturday!!! Both Janet and Helen got baptized on Saturday and it was such an amazing time! Both of their testimonies were just so strong and the love and Joy on their faces made everything worth it. I'd go through another two years of this, more if I had to, just to make those smiles happen.

We literally are bringing salvation to others' souls. And that is beautiful. They don't always quite understand everything, and the great thing about this gospel is that we don't have to understand everything! We don't! I don't understand everything at all. But we just have to be willing to step onto the path that leads to eternal life.

On that, I love one thing that Janet said. As we taught her about temples and what happens there she just started to cry.

Janet's mom had passed away some time earlier and this obviously had left her pretty distraught. Losing a loved one is excruciatingly hard. I remember when my aunt died just how sad that was for me. I was young and didn't understand what was going on, but I do know that I was sad.

The great thing is that I understood the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Happiness. This is God's plan to allow us to all be together again.

We believe that when we die our spirits go to the spirit world. In this place our spirits will await the resurrection where they will once again becoming onc with our bodies, never to be separated again.

Because God is completely fair and just during this time every soul will have the opportunity to learn the gospel, repent, and choose to follow God.

Because of the work we do in the temple (baptisms) these souls have an opportunity to receive baptism which allows them to become clean and prepare to live in God's presence.

After the resurrection we will be able to live as families again in everlasting joy.

As we taught this to Janet she was overcome with emotion and just couldn't stop herself from crying. She was so worried about her mother. Would she be able to see her again? How would she make it back to God?

But all of those fears disappeared because of the gospel.

And that is why I am here. The hope peace and Joy that the message I share brings to people is amazing. Everyone needs this. And that is what the gospel provides. That is why God gave us the gospel. So we could find peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come.

Wow. God's love is amazing.

And yah. That's what I do with my life. Help people to receive Gods help.

Ummmm......

Honestly that is about it....

It was a great week and I love you so much! Thanks for taking the time to read this I'd love to hear from you if you want to write.

Until next week!

(It will be next Thursday cause we have P-day on Christmas)

Bubye!

Elder Baird

Something about socks.

I'm literally just gonna copy and paste this from gospel library. This was from my personal study this week.

Luke 7:9

[December 10, 2020, 11:09]

When I've read this before I've always wondered how the centurion is showing his faith. Jesus says his faith is great, but how?

Thanks to the study guide and some pondering, I've come up with some ideas that I think are just crazy!

The first things is that all of this started with Love, faith is a subset of love. If we don't have love we can't have faith. (Moroni 7) this centurion even had love for those who hated him. (verse 5)

So it started with love. Then came the faith. When he heard of Jesus he had faith that Christ would heal his servant. That was the beginning of faith. But he didn't stop there! It is not by faith that we are saved alone! If the centurion just sat there and was like "I've got faith that Jesus will heal him" nothing would have happened. He sent for him (acted)

And Jesus came as he always does to us in times of need. Now's where things get interesting. Verse 6 "trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof"

Now here's an interesting line. Why would the centurion not invite Jesus in? And why would this be important enough to be in the scriptures?

Well it is.

In the current cultural and political climate of that day, it was STRONGLY discouraged for an Israelite to enter the house of a gentile. This is not something, however, that Romans cared about. They did not care for the traditions of the Jews of anything else on that line. But this man knew that it was 'incorrect' for Jesus to enter his house. He acknowledged that was, and was subservient to that.

This demonstrates and incredible amount of humility. It also demonstrates a willingness to follow the commandments. Now to be fair this was no 'commandment' but it was still a rule of that day.

I do however believe that this is an important part of showing our faith in Christ. Following the commandments is always critical if we are to ask for blessing in our lives.

Next is verse 8. "For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers"

I always read this in conjunction with verse 6 and 7 as a 'worthiness' issue. 'I'm in charge of Roman soldiers who have, more or less, enslaved your people and now I'm asking you for help', is not necessarily the best calling card. One would not have to look far to find a reason for Jesus not to heal this man's servant on account of this man's position in public society.

And while that is a fair point, it is not the one that he is trying to make. "For I also am a man set under authority" (emphasis added). This also is critical in understanding the true intent of the centurion. He is, in this moment, recognizing the authority of Jesus the Christ as the son of God and the holy Messiah. He is recognizing that he has faith to be under Jesus' command and to "[do] this" and do it. He is showing his subservience to God. Another crucial element of faith. Without humility, faith can't profit us anything. For we would not be humble enough to do what God says. How is that faith then?

And thus, we see Jesus' exclamatory phrase "I say unto you, I have not found so great faith". He marveled at this man's willingness to believe, act, and submit himself to the will of God.

This is the importance of faith in our lives.

There you go. Maybe you learned something like I did!