Well I guess some of you are wondering.....

Hey Everyone,
Well, to start off the letter we had transfer calls. And the good news is I will be staying in Reno and in the same area and have the same companion. So I’m glad to have that happen. We always play a game to find out about our transfer calls. We played musical chairs and it was way fun. We played outside and we had so much fun - I was in the middle of the pack at the end of the game.

Also Monday was my birthday and that was really fun. The Rapp’s, a very cool family, took us out to Red Robin and that was way fun. They got me a tie and a funny LDS comic book. Then the best part was when we went back to their house and they had a cake. They had gone to Deseret Book store and got Mini Missionaries to put on the cake, the even better thing was one was white and the other was black...just like me and Elder Dixon! That was a really funny cake and the pictures we took are really funny.

So the rest of the week was kinda slow - we didn’t really do much. We did have the chance to go to the temple. It is nice, like I have said before, that we live so close to the temple. It is always such a great time to go to the temple. Then I think the best part of the week was on Saturday: we had a baptism! Kyle Yates did get baptized which has been in the works for a while and it was nice to finally have that happen and we are so happy for him. Also, it's great because we are both staying we get to teach him and help him along.

This week had a lot of milestones. One was my birthday, but also my sixth month mark. That was the craziest thing. I can't believe that the last six months have gone by so fast and I hope that the rest goes by slower, I know that sounds weird and crazy but I really do love the chance that I have to serve the Lord. I wish I could just do this all the time. But I guess that’s why they have senior couple missions. I really want to serve one, but I still have a long way to go. And I’m glad that I am. Well I love you guys so much and I hope that you will all have a good week and I hope that I will have more to talk to you about next week.

Love,
Elder Taylor

I looked out the window and what did I see........I'm 20!

Well Hello Everyone,
It is so cool to have your birthday on a P-day, you get to have like almost a real birthday. Today has been a good day. This week however, has been somewhat slow for me. But this next week will go by fast. We have the temple day on Wednesday and then transfer calls are on Saturday night, so this week will be a fast one. It is really nice to have the temple in our area because we don’t have to drive that far. In fact, when we workout in the morning I can see the temple from the weight room. It is way cool.
So this week we saw some crazy stuff. So the other night we were out talking to people at the Wal-Mart parking lot and we saw this guy totally get hit by a car. It was crazy. We were on splits with the Spanish missionaries and we were getting ready to leave. I was walking to the car where Elder Dixon was waiting and then BOOM, this guy totally got smoked by the car. Now let me say it was his (the biker’s) fault. He was wearing dark clothes and going about 25mph in a parking lot. No one was hurt and that’s why I can laugh at it now. The funny part about it is, we totally saw it coming but you can’t react in enough time. Elder Dixon saw it too, and was like, “OOOOOOOOOH, BOOM” when it happened and I totally heard him, and it was really funny to hear.
Then on Wednesday we saw a scary sight. We did service for a lady who is legally blind and can’t really do much. Her yard was bad. There were weeds on the side of her house that went up almost to my arm pits. That is high for those of you who don’t know how tall I am. In the end, we got it all taken care of and now you can walk back there with no problem.
I know the note is short this week and so is my time. I want to thank everyone for their birthday notes and cards. I really do love all of you very much and you are all in my prayers at night. This week will be a crazy one, temple on Wednesday and then we have Transfer calls on Saturday night.

I hope I stay in this area a little longer, but from the things I’ve heard, I may be in a little warmer climate soon, if you know what I mean. So keep me in your prayers this week. I love everyone so much and can’t wait to see what happens to you all this week.

Love
Elder Taylor

Totally Awesome DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!

Well Hi There,
Why, hello there everybody. I hope that all is continuing to go well for everyone. This week was a little long, but it is crazy to think that I’m here typing away again. I hope that Chanél’s Birthday wasn’t too boring without me there. It is weird that Dad’s birthday is the only one I haven’t missed yet. Well anyway, this week was way awesome. We did have Zone Conference and I will talk a little more about that towards the end of my letter.
I do however have a great story I would like to share with all of you. It happened just yesterday. Well, is starts Saturday. We were at dinner with one of our ward mission leaders and he gave us a referral. It had a little background about the lady and that is always nice. We went by yesterday after church and tried to talk to her. She was home, but she is legally blind. It’s ok though-we were told before hand in the background. She is able to see our shapes but that is as far as it goes. Any who, she was talking about how her yard is a mess and that she can’t do it on her own. Well, we’ve been looking for service to do during the day, so we offered to come back and mow her lawn and gather leaves. She was so happy that she started to cry. And she then told us that she had been praying for help to come along for a few days and she thought that her prayers weren’t being answered at all. And then, Knock, Knock, Knock. Here are to handsome young men to clean her yard. I know, I said Handsome. So we set up a time to go back and clean her yard and she started to cry again. Let’s just say that God doesn’t leave us hanging out to dry when we really need him most. We also need to realize that people and things get put in our way to really help us out, like Missionaries.

So we had Zone Conference Friday morning and afternoon. It was awesome as always. We learned a lot of cool things and I’m really excited to start to put them into good use. We also learned about the passing of President Faust and that was truly sad to hear. The great thing about it though, is that our church is set up in a way that there is no need to panic or fret over who will be called next. We know that God has a plan and that the Prophet and Apostles will call the right man. No voting or anything-its God’s will and we have to understand that. But back to what we learned, we were talking a lot about being ourselves-not missionary robots. I started to look back and see that I was kinda doing that. I wasn’t being me. I realized that there are skills that I have, and that is why I was sent to this area. I’ve been sent to help the people in the areas I serve, that I’m supposed to touch someone, and help them accept the gospel, and to do that I need to be ME. This is great because my companion is really helping me do that. Right out of the MTC you have to do everything by the book, and sometimes the book is good. But as it says in Pirates of the Caribbean, “They’re more Guidelines then Rules.” We do need to follow them, but have fun while doing so. If you can’t have fun as a missionary, then that’s just too bad for you. This is the best thing I could have ever done to help me later in life. You learn so many life skills, and with Sister Andrus talking about the importance of Eternal Marriage every Zone Conference you really do get to develop skills for life. Anyway, we also got to go to an Investigator Fireside by President Andrus after Zone Conference. It was in our area, because we have all the big houses in our ward. It is kinda like the houses up Weir Road. They are nice and really, really big. So we went and had a great time doing so. We took Kyle with us; he is getting baptized on the 25th, so not too far off. He had a great time. The whole thing was way cool. All the missionaries there sang Called to Serve and it was totally awesome. Then he taught a first lesson, as always, and it was great too.

All in all this was a great week. Next week will be sweet too. I will have been out 6 months next Tuesday and then My Birthday is the Day before. How much better can it get???? I don’t know. I want all of you to know I love you very much. Hope everyone has a great week and can’t wait to here about it next week.

Love
Elder Taylor

(Note: Miss Five is out on the Deschutes River, so I am posting Elder Taylor's letter...sorry, no frills this week...just makes you appreciate her style, doesn't it??)

Subject: I think that syrup moves faster than this week

Hello everyone,
This week was good. Not too much stuff happened, so I'm afraid this letter may end up being short but maybe not. You can tell at the bottom. Well, on Wednesday day we had dinner with one of our investigators. It was nice. He had promised to do BBQ but he hurt his back and his knee looked like a cantaloupe, which is really big seeing as how he is only like 5'2 at the most. So we had pizza, then we had a great lesson with him. The "he" or "him" I keep referring to is Bruce. Has been looking into the church now for a little bit and the only thing holding him back is his family. Well anyway we gave him a blessing and he is doing OK.

Then later in the week we set a kid with a baptism date. His name is Kyle, and he is a nice kid. We are excited for him to get baptized. He is a foster kid with a Tongan family in our area. There are a lot of Tongan peoples in Reno, they even have there own ward. He had to get permission from his mom who is in jail to get baptized. He did and now we are on our way. His date is on the 25^th of August. So for Kyle we are really happy. He has gone through a lot and the gospel really will bless him a lot later in life.

Yesterday was another long day at church. Fast Sundays are never fast, especially when you have to go to 3 wards and you have meetings that start at 7:30 in the morning. Now I have a lot of respect for bishops and councilors and stuff. It is a hard job to be able to go to all of the meetings and then have to stay awake in sacrament meeting. They all seem to do it well.

Well, like I said it has been a slow week, but this next week will be pretty crazy. We have zone conference and lots of other good things to do this week. Zone Conference is always one of my favorite things. We get to hear from our wonderful mission president and get pumped up to go out and work for the last two weeks of the transfer. Well I do have to get going - I love you all very much. I hope that Chanel has a Happy Happy Birthday tomorrow and that all goes well for every one else. Glad to here that everyone had fun in Boise this past weekend, can't wait to see pictures and other such goodies.

Love,

Elder Taylor