Gobble Gobble Gobble......

Hello,
A great big hello, and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope you all got a chance to eat as much turkey and pumpkin pie as I did. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were able to have a dinner with a great family from Denmark. They have been in the states for over 30 years so, yes, they know what Thanksgiving is. I was worried when they signed up that I wasn’t going to get turkey this year. But they cooked some very good turkey and let us enjoy in all the normal thanksgiving traditions. It was nice. We then went to another family's house for the evening….they called in the morning to make sure we had plans for the day and so we went over after dinner to hang out and enjoy Thanksgiving.

Let me tell you about this family really quick though….the husband is a fertility doctor….when I asked what he did for work his words were….”I make celebrities pregnant.” He is one of the top 5 doctors in his field in the nation…..which means……they are crazy loaded. I haven’t seen so many pies and food and just stuff in all my years of Thanksgiving….it was amazing. We basically went and played in their game room with the family the whole night and then their kids played some music for us….their son is in band at BYU and the other son is taking drum lessons so they jammed for like 30 minutes….it was really fun to watch. They are a great family and love to have……..oh and I forgot to say the Dad loves Lord of the Rings….so much that he had a actual hobbit sized house built in his back yard….I’m serious - it is amazing….pictures will come soon….of me with the Frodo cut out in the hobbit house. Oh man it is so cool…..they said we could live in it if the mission president would let us. I don’t think that will be happening any time soon. But I can dream anyway…..Other than that we had a great day….We played a missionary turkey bowl in the morning….my team went 2-0 and won the whole thing….with me as QB….I wasn’t great…we just won and that’s what counts…

Well the rest of the week was pretty slow…we had transfers on Tuesday night…now we have 3 greenies being trained in a zone of 12 people….lots of new missionaries. It makes it fun to learn things all over again though and look back to the time I was being trained….like only 6 months ago. Well, I love all of you and hope that you all had a great turkey day and that the rest of the holiday season treats all of you right. May each of you continue to be blessed for the service you do each and everyday…I love you all and hope that you week goes well…..talk to you in December.

Love,
Elder Taylor

The WEEK that Was............Amazing!!!

Hello,

Hey happy hello to one and all. Well, this has been an eventful week to say the least. I have a lot to talk about and not much time to do it in. First I will start with transfers…..nothing is changing for me and my companion…we will have a few new missionaries in the zone though which is good and bad….I’m starting to be one of the old missionaries now and it is a different change for me. We will have two more brand new out of the box missionaries from the MTC on Tuesday night….one is a sister and the other is a Spanish missionary. So that’s all the news from transfers.

On to more spiritual things: I had one of the greatest tracting experiences of my mission on Saturday. Let me start by saying I don’t like tracting very much, mainly because I hate bugging people in their homes. I was on splits with another missionary in my zone and we were tracting in our zone leader’s area. They (the zone leaders) weren’t there because they were at the hospital get X-rays done. Don't worry, everything is ok with them. So we pick some streets and started to tract….we got to about the 3rd or 4th door and a very nice lady answered the door….the first thing she said to us was…”hey, come in!" Now those of you who are missionaries or served missions know that doesn’t happen….ever. So we went in and she started talking about how she had had LDS neighbors before and how they had been so amazing and stuff like that. Well,we started talking to her and she said missionaries had come by and taught her before. We asked why she hadn’t joined the church after the missionaries had taught her. She said she wasn’t good enough to be a Mormon - that we were called to be better then her….I then told her that she is a daughter of God…we then kept teaching her talking about a lot of different things and answering questions….it got to the point where the companion I was with committed her for baptism…she wasn’t quite sure still what to do…..so I asked “Would you like to pray right now for an answer?” Now, I have never done or said that to an investigator in my whole mission…it was scary waiting for a response. I had to ask her three times if she wanted to pray and had to read through Joseph Smith History about his prayer to get her to realize it was a prayer that would help to know what to do. She finally agreed….we all knelt down and each said a prayer, with us two going first and then her going last….by the time it got to her she could barely pray…the tears were flowing down her face. It was so amazing. The Spirit was there and it was cool. She thought that we had been sent by a member but really it was the Spirit guiding us. It was so cool.

Then early in the week Elder Zwick from the Seventy came and trained us on how to be better people and missionaries….mostly missionaries though. He talked about not limiting our capacity and striving to be the best we can. It was very inspiring to meet him and his wife, we were able to shake their hands and talk for a minute. His wife gave a great training on being able to talk to everyone. This story I think is inspiring for everyone. Their oldest son has handicaps and had seen his little brothers and sisters go on missions. He would always ask when he was going to get to serve a mission. When they were going to pick up their son who was finishing his mission in Thailand. They were able to get their son set apart by an apostle and he was able to serve for 10 days with his brother as his companion. He was able to share his small and simple testimony that he loves Jesus and Jesus love everyone and he wanted everyone to know that. It was so cool to hear that he was willing to share his small and simple testimony with people. Then he was on a plane by himself and he started talking to the guy next to him and asked him where he was from. The man told him where he was from and he said that there was nice temple there…and the he asked if he was member and then why he wasn’t…he told the man to read the Book of Mormon because it made him feel good….oh yeah their son can't read or write….so know that all you need to share with people is your testimony of feelings and it will touch people's hearts.

Know that I love all of you very much and I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and eat a lot of turkey and watch lots of football. Again, I know that the Gospel is true and will bless you lives if you live by its precepts…again I love you all.

Love,
Elder Taylor

Well Here We Are Again...

Well Hey There,
This week has been a pretty slow week for us. We haven’t had too much crazy stuff happen this week. We had P-day yesterday, but as it was Veteran's Day and the libraries were closed, so here we are on Tuesday e-mailing. We had Stake conference last week and it was weird…only going to church for 2 hours is kinda crazy….I am used to between 6-9 hours and two just flew by like nothing. It was nice and very uplifting, always fun to go to conferences and stuff like that. Speaking of stuff like that: We have Elder Zwick from the Quorum of the Seventy coming to talk and train us tomorrow morning and afternoon. It should be really fun.

Speaking of fun things….the pranks war has kinda continued….when I had last told you all about it the sisters had just gotten us really bad….so we needed to get them back….The thing is it had to be classy. So we took cardboard and taped it to their front door….then we filled the space that was left in between the door and cardboard with popcorn….so when they opened the door the next morning it was all over the place. Well it worked out perfect and when they opened the door the plan worked perfectly and the next day they were laughing pretty hard about it. It was probably one of the best pranks I’ve been apart of.

Now to answer some questions…The weather is on its way down to the colder side…..it is very different from home….the sun is always out here and I’m not used to that at the beginning of the Winter….but it is really nice weather during the day and cold at night…Transfer calls are coming up this weekend….but I have it on good authority that I will be here another 6 weeks so no need to worry…when you're training you usually do it for 3 months or 2 transfers. Well Elder Fechser is doing pretty well - he is still a greenie and most of you know that that means but all it sill going well with him. Oh, yes, the ZL’s are still staying with us…it is really fun but sometimes it isn’t….

Well this coming week will be a pretty crazy one. I will have a lot more to talk about next week…..I hope that all of you continue to have a good week and that you all stay safe…..Thanks to all of you for your letters and other stuff like that. I really enjoy getting them even though I might stink at writing back. I love them and hope that you all are doing well. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Taylor

Well What a week.......

Well Hello There,
I hope that everyone has had a really good week and that your headaches from eating too much Halloween candy are gone. Well, speaking of Halloween: this year was alright. Not too exciting. We went and took Sister Smith to the airport and sent her back to Temple Square in the morning and then the new sister came out a little later in the afternoon. She is really cool, Her name is sister Nilsson and she is from Sweden…..really that’s all I know. So anyway, back to Halloween: we then went and did some missionary work….really, holidays aren’t too effective because people are so stressed out they just want it to be the next day. So it was kind of a hard day. But we had a good time anyway….

One thing I should say is that last week the Zone Leaders got into a car accident and so they still don’t have their car back. So we have spent pretty much every day together this week. We are basically in a foursome with them, which is cool….they are two way cool guys…one of them is Elder Wells (if you look at the temple pictures, he is on Dixon’s left). So we drive them around and help them do stuff….just thought I would throw that in there so you understand all that happened this week.

Well, we had Zone Conference this week, so that was way cool. It seems like I hadn’t seen President Andrus in like years. I had a good interview with him. It is a little different being a trainer and district leader. So it went a little longer then normal but it was good. He gave me words of encouragement and a little glimpse into what the future holds for me a little bit down the road…after training and stuff. It was weird to hear him say stuff like that. Then he gave a great training on how missionaries need to work with members more and also better. Start with the bishops and work your way down from there. So the word I have for the Bishops or Stake Presidents who read this letter…..Help the missionaries out….and then get people to teach in your home….you are the example to many…if you lead they will follow….

Well, I look back and this was a good week. We have a good week ahead and then the transfer is almost over and then who knows what will happen next. Well I hope you have a good week and that all goes well. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Taylor