WEEK 79 TAIPEI/TIANMU: Don't look at the problems and think why; look for the opportunities and ask how

Wow. That was a fast week. Like way fast. And now we are almost half way through the month. Well for me I am halfway through the month! That's what you get when you live in the fuuutttuureeee! 

The weather is pretty great tomorrow. 

Also how great is that quote? My president sent it to me in his email to me when I was like, "yo my area is really hard presi boi. What should I do cuz I got no clue man!" 

And then he sent that to me and I was like rekt on. Pretty cool stuff. 

But actually it really impacted me and totally changed my outlook on my mission and President must be really in tune with the spirit. Cause that was straight fire to my soul. 

So yah. We had a great P-day last week. We ate breakfast with the Coffeys who are a senior couple and it was so awesome! They are going home soon and they gave us a lot of advice for after the mission. 

Totally don't need that advice. I've still got soooooooooooo long. 

Then I ate something that destroyed my intestines. Like both of them. 

Then we had new missionaries come that we had to get setup and all the stuff. 

Then on Tuesday we had a looot of meetings with people in the church Facebook team. Like almost 3 hours worth. One of the guys we met with was like, here is the whole earth's numbers for finding. 

And I literally saw all the stats for all the missionaries in the whole world. 

And guys we are KILLING IT! Like so freaking good! 

We had another meeting where President basically did all he could to convince the guy that they should give us more money for advertising. And they said yes! Chaching! 

Then I deleted all of the footage from our most recent fireside.... That was awkward... Don't tell President... He doesn't know yet. 

I learned that backing up your information is really really really important. 

Those two things aren't related I promise. 

Wednesday was a good day. Why? 

Cause I'm a missionary BOI! And so that means it is good. 

Oh yah also we had zone Conference which totally kicked like a cleet to the shins! Leaned a ton from it and Sister Peterson made fruit pizza! What!!?? 

Then in English group I pretended to be Tony Stark (the resemblance is striking) and everyone else was tour guides taking me around Taiwan. It was pretty dope! 

Thursday. Good push day = good personal study! 

I read through my journal from the MTC and in it I saw that I made a goal. 

Well. I made the same goal a couple weeks ago. 

It's crazy to see how much I have changed since the MTC but there are still some things that I struggle with. Like I've had this goal for 18 months now (I'd be home if I were a sister (yikes!)) and I'm still not all the way there. And that is just life though

But I do know that I have improved and that means that I am using the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life!!! Yay! 

Then I opened the Book of Mormon and I was just overcome by the beauty of the book. Like I just sat there and the only thing that was in my head was, "Wow this book is beautiful" and I started to cry. And as I sat there pondering on the beauty of the book I felt like Jacob 5:71 was just staring daggers at me. It talks about how the end is near and that we have to be diligent. And that really resonated with me. Not the end is near part. 20 weeks is a long time folks. But the cry for diligence. 

All in all it was just an amazing experience. 

But guys. This is a book. I remember one time I was just struck by the thought that the Book of Mormon is literally just a book. Like my math book. Like my fantasy books. Like a Brandon Sanderson book. It's a book.

And yet it has the power to change our lives and give us eternal life. Its pages are the keys to unlock the mystery of God. 

And it's just a book. 

With the power to change you. 

I'd recommend reading it. 

Anyways after I was like slapped by the spirit for a while we went to the office and started setting up for an interview we were going to film. We were kind of nervous because we had never done this before but it was soooo fun! 

We had like two cameras, 3 different mics. Lights. A mixer. And it just fell so flipping professional and it made me feel really cool. 

So we interviewed a convert to the church about her experience and it was super cool. Stay tuned for the video sometime in the next year. 

Then we went to the Samsung store and had them reset a phone. 

Also, weren't flip phones like so twenty years ago? Why has Samsung brought them back... Do they really think that will work? 

Then we got a new toilet bowl lid because why not! 

Then Friday I forgot to write in my journal.... 

But we did our weekly planning and had a great bonding time with my companion which was awesome~~! 

Then we looked around for LAs. Found some people that moved. Found someone that died...it happens more often than you would think. Age does that to you. She's an active member now most likely. We can hope. 

Saturday I went on exchanges with the Elder Pond again! This is like our 4th one which is pretty nice. I'm starting to know his area better than my own. 

But we talked to a guy who set up with us to meet again and he was really nice and from Malaysia and those two things aren't mutually exclusive and so that was cool! 

Then we had soooo many lessons because Danshui is on fire! Even though it is water... We call it the Flier. (if you know the reference email me) But it felt so great to teach that much cause our area is not doing a lot of teaching right now. But we are working on it! 

It was a fun time. 

Then Sunday we had stake conference which was suuuuper awesome! I actually learned a lot and President and Sister Petersen both talked and both of them said things that I really needed to hear which was awesome! 

Then after some personal study we went out to Tianmu and I was just full of faith! 

And the first person we meet set up with us and prayed with us and we got a new friend and hit our standard of excellence! 

Then that night after our whole 2 hours in our area we went past a family and I just felt like I had to turn around and talk to them so I did and turns out she had met the church 8 years ago and they set up to meet with us again!!!! Crazy miracles!!!! 

Faith works guys. 

And that was that. Super awesome week. Learned so much. Felt like crap sometimes. Felt on top of the world sometimes! And that is the way that it be. 

I love life! 

And I love you all! Email me cause it's fun! 

Elder Baird

Something about socks. 

How important is your situation? The other day I met little Bai. We went to a less active's house and when he opened the door he was straight wasted. Like really really out. The house smelled like smoke and beetle nut and it was a mess. I immediately did not really want to be there because of just how disgusting it was. You can tell that most of this man's money went to feed his addictions. 

As we try to talk to him (he being mostly incoherent) his 5th grade son comes out with the biggest smile I have ever seen. 

And as we talk to him he was just so incredibly happy like he had no issue with his current life. 

And I realized that our surroundings are not as important as our attitude. And this kid was the proof of it. 

I want that kind of attitude! Don't you? 

BREAKING NEWS:

There's a new way to hear all about Elder Baird time in Taiwan! No longer do you have to scroll back through all my emails during your daily "Have to read something that Elder Baird wrote" fix! 

Thanks to the hard work and countless hours of a mother who is too nice there is now a new way! 

https://elderspencerbaird.blogspot.com/

Click on the link above and you will be taken to an internet blogging platform that will have all my letters and pictures in one place! As well as added pictures and videos never before seen! So there you go! Invite all your friends as well! The more the merrier! 

If you'd like to support the blog please send all your love in the form of a package to the address listed on the blog! 

A weird building

Me and the comp

Pro interview

Pro interview

Dope Asian parade

Mac am cheese that a member gave us!!!

Breakfast with Coffeys

Me and the kid

Zone Conference 

Another awesome quote

Me with the child generator feature 

Meme

WEEK 78 TAIPEI/TIANMU: The ATM ate my credit card.... Yum Yum Yum!

Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, We welcome you today, Hello, Hello Hello

What the hello is wrong with that song? In 12 words 8 of them are Hello. That is so crazy. They really should extend their vocabulary. Like throw in some sesquipedalian words or something. I mean seriously.

I'll probably use that again sometime.

Anyways, let's start out real quick with Monday where I did a huuuuuge hike and it was huuuuuge. Like so uge. 'uge'

The top was all cloudy and super fun. It was a tall hike. Not a long one, but steep! Loved it so much.

Then a member took us out for lunch and we made sure that we got all of our preparation done for the week. Except for buying bananas, I bought bananas on Friday.

Sue me.

Then we moved on to Tuesday like most days do after Monday. I say most because I've gone from Monday to Monday before. Plane rides mate. But anyways Tuesday started out right by getting a text saying our lessons weren't going to show up. Sadness. But then we met with a lady from Salt Lake who talked to us about our Facebook page and she was all like, "Yall are doing really good in the Asia area" And I was like, 'dope, that totally didn't go straight to my head', and then she found out that we was just two lone missionaries in the facebook world and she was lie 'WOWOWOWOWO' and that was crazy.

I think that we may be the only mission in the entire world that doesn't do facebook finding. Like the only one in the entire world.

That's weird... I mean we also have the only open temple in the entire world so *mic drop*

Anyways, then we ran around the office like we were doing important things and then we left to go to District Council. I trained on teaching with your companion in unity, and it went really really well! We all learned a lot and the spirit was there and that is about all I could ask for in my trainings! 

Then we had a lesson with a really really smart guy. And sadly I think he may be too smart for the gospel... But we are going to try to help him! So yeet. I couldn't understand like half of his Chinese it was so advanced. But that is okay. 

Anyways, on Wednesday I learned something cool "Good things come to those who do the right things for th right reasons" Like I feel like I already knew that, but I heard it in a talk and it really resonated with me! 

I know that as a missionary I am doing the right things. I'm obedient and I talk to people, but sometimes I realize that my reason might not be 100% right. Sometimes I'm just doing the work to do it. I'm really focusing on making sure that every time I do the work I am doing it because of my love for God. It's hard to always feel the crazy strong love that I have for God. Like there are times where I am just like " I LOVE GOD SO MUCH!!!!!" And I just feel it in my soul and it's consuming. 

But a lot of the time I'm just living my life trying to do my best. I don't have those strong emotions all the time. No one does. And so it's hard to make sure that everything I do in my mission is because of my love for God. And I've realized that I'm going to be working on this for the rest of my life. Living life because I love God, not just living because I'm already on this earth so why not. 

These are hard things I think. But I think the only way to do it is to make sure that we are constantly having experiences with God. We are always thinking about him in every thought which is hard! 

Recently I have had an alarm on my phone that goes off every hour that reminds me to pray. And honestly sometimes I'm like "Nope, too busy doing missionary work to pray right now" and I keep going. 

Guys, 

HOW STOOOOOPID IS THAT? How do I not have time to pray while I'm literally doing the work of the person that I'm praying to? 

It's like you at work and your Boss is like, "Hey, come have a seat, I can see your stressed let me help." and you respond "nope boss, sorry I'm too busy doing all the stuff you told me to do to talk to you." 

Silly silly humans we are. But yah I'm working on it. 

Anyways, back to Wednesday.

Then began the longest drive of my mission. Which isn't that hard because I don't drive a lot in my mission. But I'm going to try to explain this in Utah terms so that people understand. 

Imagine you're in Lehi. And you're going to drive to Mapleton. Okay. Except the freeway is only 50MPH and the roads are tiny and there's motorcycles everywhere. 

So we drove to Mapleton (Spanish Fork) and picked up some ond missionaries bikes that they had left there. Then we drove down to American fork (on the 50mPh freeway) and had English group. 

Then we drove up to Provo to pick up some more bikes. 

And then finally home to Lehi. 

And while that doesn't sound that bad. Doing that in Taiwan and a foreigner in the rain is terrifying. Let it be said. Let it be written. 

On Thursday I burnt my cheese melt. Like the cheese turned black it was that bad... Oh well. 

Then we got an order of calendars that we had ordered (as most calendars are ordered) and we opened up 4000 of them and every single one was on the wrong type of paper. 

So we had a conversation with our printer guy. 

Luckily he's getting us new one. So crisis averted. 

Then I worked on a script with a Sister that we are going to film an interview of for our Facebook page so that I can give it to President so that President can give me money to go and buy fun equipment like lights and microphones! Yay! 

Then we drove up to our area and did missionary things (I forgot) 

On Friday I bought bananas. And I bought ink for my fountain pen. That made me happy. 

Friday was kind of rough. Felt like nothing was going right in our area and that I hadn't done a ton on my mission. We basically spent the whole day in the office which just is always hard. Makes you feel off. But I also realized that I hadn't been super focused on my purpose that day. And when you aren't focused on your purpose, you feel like you don't have a purpose. 

Imagine that!!! 

Whoever writes these emails is a genius or something. 

Yah we made a cool video for President's birthday though, and it made him happy so that's all I care about! 

Then on Saturday I tried to take money out of my card. And it wouldn't work. So I went to a different ATM and it was like "bro this is the wrong password" and I was like "you atm machine dude, this is the password I've used my whole life don't tell me that it's wrong" 

So I tried a couple more times and then gave up. Figured my card was frozen or something. 

So my companion spotted me change for dinner like a nice guy. So nice guy. He's a nice guy. 

Then we had a crazy mountain drive. It wasn't as long as the drive on Wednesday. But it was way crazier. We were drivnign all over the mountains in Taiwan and then hiking around in the dark and it was kind of crazy. We were visiting some Less Actives and they lived so up in the mountains. 

And guys it's the jungle out there. So we in the dark walking up to dark house with dark dogs everywhere and oh it ws soooo fun! But terrifying. But fun!!!! 

We didn't fall off any of the tiny roads, so that's a win in my book. 

Then Sunday we went to church like most good missionaries. Then partook of the sacrament like most good missionaries. And then we talked to a bunch of families and they didn't care which was kinda sad. Oh well

Then the finance guy told me to try my card again. So I did. And the machine ate it. 

And that's when I realized I'd been using the code for my at home credit card. Not my mission one. I felt pretty stoopid. 

Then had our fireside and we had a crazy miracle! 

So I'm in charge of the tech for the firesides, mics, cameras, go pros, phones, Facebook lives. And so we were using Presidents phone to do some recording, and he had forgotten to charge it. And so in the middle of the Facebook live it pops up with the 'low battery' now this is no good because we have no way to charge it cause Apple is idiotic and things that if you put the aux and charging female end in the same place then you're fine. So yah. That's whatever. 

But we had no way of charging and 20% battery to last the rest of the time. So I started to get really really nervous. So I said a prayer and was like "Heavenly Father, we need the battery to last for the rest of the fireside. Please make this work" 

And for those of you who know Apple phones. When they hit low battery they go FAST. So after I preyed I was jus tlike, well nothing to do know but have faith. 

And guys. They said the closing prayer, I go to turn off the camera and the phone shuts off. The phone lasted to the very last second!!!! Crazy miracle. God is real. And that is that! 

Love you all! Send me an email! 

Elder Baird

He's out! 

The food

Saying good bye to our old companion, oh yah he moved

My comp

The mountain 

WEEK 77 TAIPEI/TIANMU: Good Things Fall Apart (Pt 2) (Except it's AJR this time instead of Jon Bellion) (And it's 7-11 and not Starbucks)

Well Hello everyone again! For those of you who don't understand the email title, you obviously have not been paying attention to my emails for the past year! You've got to go back and read my email from over a year ago if you want to understand this... Good luck! 

Here's the link to my blog. 

https://elderspencerbaird.blogspot.com/

It was while I was in Hualian. 

So we will start with Monday. Bought a 600 dollar fountain pen. Pretty good stuff! 

Played a little piano cause I love that. And that was it! 

So then we move on to Tuesday. Tuesday was MLC and we talked about a bunch of stuff that we want to change and it was kind of overwhelming even though I don't technically count as part of the Mission Leadership Council cause I just do translating. But still. Gotta a lot to do! 

Anyways, I was feeling a little off and that I wasn't doing good enough and so I prayed for a long time and I felt better! Crazy how that works~~!

Then cam Wednesday. And my people. Wednesday was the day that fell apart. Here we gooooooooo!!! 

So I ran in the morning which was lit. It's been a hot second since I've lived with someone who wanted to run so that was awesome. 

Then we had District council and things just went long so I just was unable to get my whole training done which was a little sad. But we had to end early because we had a friend show up who wanted to meet with us. 

And thus began the oddest lesson of my life... 

So. Just for starting off. It was over an hour and a half. 

And he talked for probably and hour and a half. 

Okay that was an exaggeration for story telling purposes. But he was probably talking for at least an hour of it! And man he can taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllk.. 

Like he can talk more than I can... 

And I can talk a LOT! 

So this man is looking for truth in his life. Which is great! 

But he wasn't willing to learn truth. He speant half the time talking about how missionaries always said that if he wanted to know what was truth he should pray. But he doesn't want to do that. He just wants to find the original Bible and compare it to the Joseph Smith version to see if it was true or not. 

And so I just sat there and felt so bad for him. I was so sad because I just felt God's love fo r him. And the spirit was so strong in the lesson. Testifying that what we said was true. I had never felt that I had taught more with the spirit than in that lesson. Which was amazing! But it was so sad to see his heart too hard to accept it. 

At one point he was going off on Joseph Smith and I just stopped him in his tracts and bore the most powerful testimony of Joseph Smith in my life. I had tears in my eyes as I told this man that Joespeh Smith, a man I have never had the pleasure of meeting yet, was a prophet of God. That he was called by God to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. That he translated the Book of Mormon so that we, right now, can gain a testimony of the truthfulness of these things. 

And that's true. And I saw the Holy Ghost tell him it was true. 

And he just didn't care. 

He told us that all he wanted to do was convince us that we were wrong and so we said, we don't want to convince you of everything. Let's just say a prayer and we can end this now. 

So I'm saying the prayer and praying for him and his life because I really do feel love and sadness for this man. Just hoping that he will one day be willing to accept the gospel. 

And as I end my prayer I said "Please bless Mr. Lee and his......" And I stopped. And I had the craziest feeling come over me, honestly it was super uncomfortable, but it was like 'his wife' and I was like, I have no clue if this man has a family let alone a wife. How on earth would I say his wife if I don't know if he has one or not. Are you sure I should say that? 'yah I' m pretty sure'

And so after a wayyy long pause I said 'Please bless Mr. Lee and his wife's relationship will improve"

After that I ended my prayer. He said thanks and then left. 

I still have no clue if he has a wife or not or if their relationship needs improving. But I do know that God wanted me to say that to him. Who knows why. 

But after the lesson I went outside with my companions and we just said a prayer of gratitude for the spirit in our lesson, because it was so palpable in the lesso even if he didn't care, and a prayer that he would eventually come to the truth. 

And I just cried. I'd never cried over a friend before. But I just KNEW that this was the message for him. And it hurt so bad to see him reject it. 

And it makes me realize how much it must hurt God when we reject him and his teachings. Makes me want to be a better person for him. And that's what I'm trying to do. 

Well since the lesson went so long we didn't have enough time to get dinner before English group. So we just started teaching. I hadn't gotten anything prepared, so we just practiced saying "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" over and over and over again. Pretty fun! 

Afterwards one of the participants came and started playing the piano. And this guy is a legend. He's actually trainging to be a piano professor and is studying his masters in piano performance. 

So in short. 

He's really good. 

So we sat there and listened for like 30 minutes. Eventually I started talking about his life and he shared that his grandma had passed away 2 weeks ago. And that he was really sad and depressed and considering sucicde. 

And it turned into a 30 minute conversation about how the gospel will bless out lives and how if he is baptized he will change.

And so as we were talking I was like, "I'm going to invite this person to baptism. My first time meeting with him. And I'm gonna do it! This is going to be the greatest miracle of my whole mission! This will be the story that I tell my children and my children's children and in every talk I ever give! "

So I asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes!!!!!!!!!!!! 

GUYS HE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I was shocked! I used what President taught us about how to set Baptismal dates and it worked! 

After walking him out the door I just feel on my knees and thanked God for this amazing miracle! 

That's when my companion is like. I think I know him. 

And then my other companion is like, I'm pretty sure I've seen him before. 

Isn't he a member they ask? 

No, of course he's not. What member is that good of an actor! I mean I had him crying as he said he wanted to be baptized! There was no way! This was my miracle!!!!! The spirit was so strong, there is no way it was fake! 

Well

After a few phone calls we learned that he was indeed a member. 

Shock

And that's when I learned that it generally doesn't happen like it does in the stories. Not dating and not missionary work. All super different. 

So yah, I set a new member on Baptismal date! Go me! Rip

So anyways we get home that night and I'm telling one of my roommates this story and how crazy the spirit was even though he was fake and turns out that 5 months ago HE had set the same member on Baptismal Date!!!!!!! 

Crazy...... 

Gotta love the mission! 

So yah that was Wednesday. Crazy day full of the Spirit and odd stuff. 

Then the next day we had a lesson with a friend in her shop, and we put her on Baptismal Date! She really knows that this can change her like, and I'm 100% positive she is not a member XD so that was an awesome miracle. 

I threw down some illegal u turns trying to park

And honestly I just tried my best and so that was good enough! That was basically the day XDXD

The next day, Saturday, I was feeling a little down cause things had just been meh the day before and I don't like meh days. And I listened to a devotional by Elder Uchtdorf for missionaries. And in it he talks about said "The pain stores may look random and chaotic at times, but they are purposely placed for the Saviors masterpeice' and this brought me a ton of comfort and I really felt God's love for me which is awesome!!! 

We met with a friend that night who bought us dinner. Turns our she's not really interested in our message, but she thinks it is super cool that we are so young and out doing this and so she buys us food and chats with us. 

Then we went to a members house and this man is so strong in his faith it's incredible! And his 12 year old son is more ready to be a missionary than I was when I got my call LOL! Legeng family right there! Daily scripture study and prayer in the home can change your family! 

That's true. 

Saturday we had to finish a bunch of things in the office so we just did that kind of busy work stuff. Then we took the train to our area 

We met two people back to back who said they would be willing to meet with us! So that was a miracle! Now we just have to hope that they do!!!! 

I've got faith

Then Sunday we were hoping that our friend who is on Baptismal date would come to church. And this is when the good things fell apart again part 3.

She texts us saying that it was too much pressure and that she thought it would be better if she just stopped meeting with us for a while. 

That was very very sad. 

But this is agency. 

We then tried to find some LAs, but they weren't home. So we took the train home and then got reports ready for the week. 

And that was the week!!!! 

It was crazy! 

And despite some things not going as we planed for them to go, I felt the spirit and the love of God and the reassurance that I am doing good. 

God accepts our efforts. God wants us to try. And so that is what We have to do. Is just try every day to follow him and hear his voice. We've got to get rid of the things that block us from hearing him, and do the things that strengthen the signal. 

I invite everyone this week to do better on one thing to strengthen the signal, and to do worse on one thing blocking the signal. 

Only 1 thing! So easy right? 

But the blessings will be amazing! 

Anyways, love you all so much! Shoot me a message if you're feeling like it! Maybe that is the one thing you can do better on this week! Reaching out to servants of the Lord!!!! 

HAHAHAHA

Love, 

Elder Baird

Don't know how this picture happened. 

Still Christmas!

Awesome view with my companions head

Sometimes you're tired! 

Our Baptismal date friend who we are going to help still!

MLC

This was a year ago! Dang!