All I Can See Is Green

Hello To Everyone,
Well this week has been a mixture of things again. I have really enjoyed this area so far. It is a lot like my last area with a lot of older rich people….but some cool young couples-oh and some cool old ones-too. My area is in the older part of Reno, where my last area was mostly built in like the last 5 years. Some of these home are older than some shoes I own….I don’t really have old shoes so why did I say that….they are older than me I guess…yeah that will work. Well, as I said last week, my new companion is Elder Fechser. It really gets me how people can easily get my name, then they totally stare at his for a a good few seconds and still get it wrong everytime, without fail. The only lady to get his name right was this German lady, and that’s because his name is German.

Well I guess on to what we did this week. It has still been slow pickins as far as appointments go, so that gives us plenty of time to tract and street contact. I love to street contact. It is one of the greatest times to be a missionary. We talk to all kinds of people and gets all sorts of stories. One thing we can do as messengers of Jesus Christ is promise people in the parking lot of the mall or Wal-Mart or any other place, that if they pray to know about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith that they will get an answer. The spirit you feel when you do that is like no other I have ever felt in my life. Anyway, back to the week. We met with this guy named Brian. He and his fiancé are very nice. She is a member and he is looking into the church….They are actually in Boise right now visiting family and getting married. So Connie, if you go to any weddings this week…it might be in Eagle some where…that is the guy we are teaching…his last name is Rapp……so anyway, he is a great guy and is really excited about the church.

Well some other things we did this week: We had dinner with an Area Seventy-that was scary-but not really, he was a super nice guy. His name is Elder Timothy Dyches….in case you want to look up people I have been eating with. We had a good evening with him and got some good insight into a lot of really cool things. We have really just been plugging along trying to find time to meet with our investigators and helping them progress….the nice thing is they all like to come to church so we just need to teach them more and hope that they feel the spirit. Oh, on a quick side note….really this is just for Elder Boland....I had dinner the other night with an Elder Russell who just came home from your mission about six months ago. He said he knew you and that you were in his zone when you got to the field; he even showed me a picture of you as well. That was pretty funny. You were like the tallest in your zone.

Iit really sounds like everyone back home has had a busy week. Mom, know that I am very proud of you for having a dog in the house for more than a few minutes or really even at all. I really liked that Penny would always lick your hand though…that made me laugh out loud. Sounds like Seth had his dream come true with getting the Nike grand tour….that was always my favorite thing.

So Chanel, you had a laundry list of questions you asked and here are the answers…include them in the blog or not:

What is your new address?
3300 Skyline Blvd Apt. 208
Reno NV, 89509
Did you get a cell phone?
No, but I will be checking into see how I can get one.
Will you be moving in with members soon?
Not that I have heard of, but you never really know.
As of today, what is the hardest thing about being a District Leader?
Nothing yet really...Well maybe planning what I will be doing for District meeting tomorrow.
As of today, what is the easiest thing about being a District Leader?
Calling in stats every night. My District is small and that makes it quick and easy.
What is one thing you miss about Elder Dixon?
Well he would always try and scare me by making loud noises, it stopped working after awhile.
What is your advice to Elder Fescher about being a new missionary?
BE YOURSELF.
Can you believe you've been a missionary for EIGHT months?
Yes…but more no…it doesn’t seem that long ago I was home.
How many ties do you have?
Still at about 80 or so…
How many ties does Elder Fechser have?
6…it is really so sad when greenies come in unprepared like that.
What were your meals last week? (ALL SEVEN DUDE!)
Ham and stuff. Soup and Stuff. Pasta and Stuff. Casserole thing and Stuff. Roast Beast and stuff. Had a Sandwich Saturday, we didn’t eat with members. Last night was the best….Baked Chicken and stuff. The Baked chicken had the same taste and ingredients as fried chicken…just baked…it was way good.
What is your new apartment like?
Really it feels like a summer camp cabin on the outside. There are some trees and stuff and weird glass doors. The inside is nice. We have a fireplace and that is pretty cool. Otherwise it is your standard one bedroom, one bath apartment.
How are you getting to know your new area?
It is getting better….not looking at the map that much anymore…but I still use it more then I used to.
What was the funniest thing your saw/did in the last week?
We had lunch after zone meeting with the whole zone and sat around and told funny old stories to each other. It was fun because our zone leaders were in the same stake back home so they know each other pretty well. It is way fun to be around them.
What are you reading in the scriptures right now?
Well I have slowed down but right now I'm in Exodus….it is really slow reading…I just learned how to build the old Tabernacle…problem is I don’t know how big a cubit is.
What is your new favorite spiritual message that you leave with members/investigators?
Well I left the best spiritual thought ever when we were eating with that Area Seventy. It was about the gifts of God and how we are blessed….The scriptures I used are in Malachi and then Moroni 10 where it talks about the gifts of God. It was by far my best one yet.
Please give three random facts about Elder Fescher.
His feet stink at night.
He was a wrestler.
And he is terrible at foosball…..we play during lunch at our apartment office….he STINKS.

Well, as I am running out of time and I don’t have much more to say….oh Chanel those 3 Jamba Juice water bottles were from this Jamba that closed down in my last area and I took one of each water bottle. So that’s that….I just sent that box to get rid of some stuff….I’m sending my memory card today so you will get to see a lot the craziness that was me and Dixon. Well, I love you guys and hope that this letter was much better then last week. Know that I love you and keep you all in my thoughts and prayers…..

Love,
Elder Taylor