Monday, November 24, 2008

Man, I think I really have changed....

Hey There,
Well I must say it seems like just yesterday I was sitting here writing you all a letter about the goings on here in little Las Vegas. This week has been a good one….lots if things going on….I just don’t really remember them all. We were just going all the time doing all sorts of different things. The nice thing is that the weather has really been quite nice….the crazy thing was that we had a record high last Monday of 80 degrees. I must say that it really doesn’t feel like it is holiday season….I mean Thanksgiving is Thursday and it will be like 70 degrees….holy cow! So that should be really nice….even though we might not have much time to be outside….as we have been invited to three places for dinner. So that will keep us fat and happy…well at least fat. We also have the turkey bowl….which will pit zone vs. zone down here in Las Vegas…so really it should be a pretty good time.
Well as for things on the missionary front we have had a few moments that were quite memorable. One was pretty funny: we were leaving our investigator's house the other night and as we were getting on our bikes and the kids were running around and then we were riding away…and the mom yelled out….”You guys are black now!” I mean I knew that missionaries really change when they are out, but skin color?? That’s a new one to me. But, hey, any change is good, right? So that was really good. Then we found out that day also that her boyfriend is out of jail now….so that is good, too! They all came to church yesterday. I must say I really love to see the change in people as the missionaries work with them, but as the Spirit works with them even more. This family has come a very long way….they are actually a family. It is awesome to see this change and I really have enjoyed it.
Then I had a very humbling/kick my butt moment this week. I am ashamed of it and the Lord really humbled me. We were out tracting the other day, (and as I have said I really don’t enjoy the whole knocking on people’s door thing), anyway we were out and it was later in the afternoon and now it gets dark at about 4:30 in the afternoon. Well, we were going and I really was not into it, and it was getting dark and I had more things on my mind and didn’t want to knock on doors…to make it worse no one was answering the door…I wasn’t in the best mood. Well we saw this lady and she was on the other side of the road…well she was smoking and just walking around and stuff. I thought in my head, ”Well, she won’t listen or be interested, or she will be rude.” So, I just kept walking and halfway up the next drive way…I heard a voice and it said “Hey, are you the missionaries?” My heart sank and I turned around. Sheepishly I said “yes.” Well, we, of course, ended up talking to her for about 45 minutes and found that she was a member and that she had a four year old daughter that really wanted to go to church. Her mom was in town and had been taking the daughter to church and so we talked about that. Well she was a really nice lady. So now my testimony of talking to everyone we see has grown. I felt so bad, and I had a great conversation with my Heavenly Father that night about it. It was a little moment to me that He really does care about all of His children. Then we had another awesome experience the other night. We were riding our bikes and trying to talk with people. We found this guy, his name is Juan, who was walking and he started talking to us…well we talked for about 30 minutes or so in which time he told us his life story and told us that he knew that God had sent us to be in his path that night. He wants to be baptized the right way, ”...like Christ was...” were his exact words. But he doesn't live in our area. So, we gave him the website info to get the missionaries over to his house and then we got his phone number to give him a call to see if he got a hold of them. So in the end we hope the best for both of these people.
We spoke in Lynbrook ward sacrament on missionary work. It was a sister's missionary farewell. She is going to Korea. Yeah, that’s right, should be fun. The cool thing her family is all converts to the church from the fundamentalist LDS church. She talked a little about that and how it had changed her life to find the true church…great talk - she will be a great missionary….even if she doesn’t know the language. My talk went very well, I had few people come up and tell me that it seemed like I had done that a time or two before. Well I have, I mean when you hit 21 months out as a missionary you start to get the feel of this job. 21 months man where does the time go?! I really don’t know.
Well this weekend is transfer calls so that should be pretty good. Not too sure what will happen, I really hope that I don’t get changed. I don’t think I will as I only have 2 transfer cycles left, so really I don’t think anything will happen. Also, with Thanksgiving this week it should be nice and fun. Well I hope that you all have a fantastic turkey day. Take lot of pictures! I know that I will try to do the same. I love you all so much and hope the best for all of you. Have good one and open your mouths and share the best gift of all, the gospel.
Love,
Elder Geoff Taylor

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The real question is...

Hello Again,

It really seems like it has been forever since I last wrote you a letter. A lot has happened this week to keep us fairly busy. We had some spiritual highlights and some other things that weren’t so high. Mom, when you asked the questions: "What was the highlight of your week and the surprise of the week?" and it couldn’t have fit any better for this week, we really had some good and some bad happen this week. It was good to hear that all doing well and that you are healthy, (well, except mom). It seems that the cold is going around. Elder Degering got it this week as well. It is really nice that some of the members here are doctors and totally love to hook up the missionaries….we are always taken care of…so, very nice.

"What was your most spiritual moment this week?"
Well, hands down would have to be getting to listen to Elder Kikuchi of the seventy. It was really a wonderful event. He talked about a number of different things. He spent the morning part of the conference talking about how we need to be more obedient so that we can better receive the blessings of heaven and he said something that really stuck in my head. He said “Your mission will reflect the rest of your life, if you give 80 percent out here, you will give 80 percent in the rest of your life.” That really hit me - that we need to being giving 100 percent...and that really does set the tone for the rest of my life and that I need to make sure that I am giving all I have all the time. I really have made sure this week to work as hard as I can and every night I seem to be more and more tired….but it isn’t going to get much easier from here….real life is plenty hard as well….we just have to buck up and do it. Then in the afternoon we talked a lot about teaching….the how to’s and stuff like that. It was really good and really needed. We have a lot of new missionaries in the mission and they need to know how to be effective teachers and so do us old guys too! We can always improve what we do each day. They changed our morning program around a little as well. One new thing they added is what they liked to call, "A Sacred Grove of Our Own" where we take time to pray and seek for answers in the morning and to have a really meaningful prayer….and just a chance to communicate to our Heavenly Father. Overall the day was really awesome….I loved the whole thing.

"What was the most surprising moment of the week?"
Well, by far had to be when we went to visit our investigator family this week. We went on the wife’s birthday and took her some brownies we baked for her and to see how they were doing. Well, she answered the door….looking less then happy. After talking for a minute we found out that her husband was in jail….which was weird because we had seen him just the night before and had had a great lesson with the family. Long story short: he got picked up the next morning and was in jail. He has a court date for today and hopefully he will be out and have no more problems. He was put it jail stemming from a May domestic violence charge….this was all before the missionaries started meeting with the family. He missed his court date….because they gave him the wrong one…and so they came and got him and has been in jail since last Wednesday. So to say the least that was the biggest surprise.

Then lets see what happened? I went on splits with our district leader's companion this week. That was pretty fun. We were in their area and I must say it is a lot more ghetto then our area is. Still, the work is the same everywhere. Then on Saturday we helped Brother Stringer get the house all fixed up and ready for their anniversary. It was their 30th yesterday…so we helped him fix things up and be an extra set of hands and stuff like that. He bought her a baby grand piano…and let me tell you she was totally surprised and it was quite the big deal. It really was fun to be kind of handymen for the day. I really liked it actually…I felt very productive….funny side note….Brother Stringers first name is Jeff, and their oldest son is Jeff Jr. so around here they are always saying “Oh, Jeff” or “Oh, Jeffery.” I must say it is really weird hearing my name all the time. Just thought it was a funny side note.

Well I hope that all of you have a great week and that Mom you can get healthy. This week really had been a great one for me….I have really had a chance to reflect on a lot of different things and can’t wait to get this week started and have things get going….although I love p-day….this week is going to be great. I hope you all have a great one and know I love you all so much.

Love,
Elder Geoff Taylor

Monday, November 10, 2008

And the walls came a tumbling down...

Hi there family unit,

Hope that this email finds you all well and happy. This week has been much like the last, I must say. Not too much has really changed. We are still out there working hard and trying to find as many people as would hear us. Yet all is well. We are both healthy, and as a matter of fact I feel
really good...the whole bike riding thing isn't too bad. The area we cover isn't too large since we cover maybe a few square miles and that might be about it. I would say streets but only a few know where they are. Really we have been plugging along. You did say that you want me to go over my whole week in review - and, well, that will take a lot so I will just hit the highlights and hope that this will do.

Monday: Well, we finished up our emails and went and had some football practice. We have the mission-wide Turkey Bowl coming up on Thanksgiving so our zone needed to get together and get our game up, you know what I mean? So, we did that for a few hours and then came home and went to our ward mission leader's home for dinner. SALMON. I must say: I love it now! Weird I know...just like Mom who likes to now have big groups of people over to the house. Anywho it was a nice dinner and we had a chance to sit down and have a great conversation about missionary work. It was a great night.

Tuesday: We had district meeting in the morning and then the same old, same old after lunch. Knocking on doors; dinner; and then home and all the little stuff in between. I mean everyday is about the same: You get yelled at and you have a great conversation with someone. Some
days you have more of one and then less of the other. In the end each day is a wonderful gift from the Lord.

Well I'm just going to skip to the highlights of the week. Saturday was a busy day. We started out by helping the Stringers help us. We helped clean out the apartment in the back and get things ready for the workers to come in when it's time. So we cleaned and moved and organized all the things that were in that apartment...there was a ton of stuff. Then we got to bust down two closets in the living room that really had no place being there...so that was a lot of fun. Then we went tracting with a member in the Deer Springs ward. He lives in a gated community, which we get kicked out of all the time, so that ward has put together the chance for us to go around with members and go tracting with them. Well, this was the first time that we have had the chance since we got here. Let me tell you what though - at first I thought it was going to be so lame tracting with a member who hasn't tracted since his mission like 17 years ago - anyway he did a great job! He was new in the neighborhood and so he introduced himself and then us. It went very well, we have some potential now that we didn't have when we got here and now he has seen that we can work and that we are here to work, but have a good time doing it.
So I think that it was great success and that I had a great time getting to know a few more people.

Earlier in the week we had a lesson with a young man named Tad. We found him tracting one day and he said we could come back. Well we went back and he was there!! This, for me, was awesome! Well, we talked a little bit and found out that he was baptized when he was younger and that he wanted to learn more about the church. So we have started to teach him, so that is really cool. So we hope that he will keep learning and that he will come to church and become active again. That's the goal and that's the plan.

Well Dad wanted to know what daily life was like..We get up and 6:30 a.m., which with the time change has my body all messed up. I wake up at 5:30 a.m. and think it is time to get up and go. So that is hard - plus me getting up at 6:30 hard to imagine anyway. Then we sit around and get ready, shower and get dressed and then we study. I just finished the Book of Mormon again and now I am on the Doctrine and Covenants. I hope to finish it in week or two. Then we study together and that is just about anything but Preach My Gospel, usually. Then we work. Mornings are hard so we try and do less important things and then in the afternoon we tract...that's when the most people are home. Then dinner that is always a highlight! We have eaten with some really cool members here. I hope that I finish it all off here because the members here are awesome. Then we talk to as many people as possible and then head home tired and sweaty and more tired. That's a typical day.

Well I hope you all had a great week, have a great one this week if you didn't last week. Love ya! Stay busy! Open those mouths and spread the good news this great and glorious gospel.

Love,
Elder Geoff Taylor

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Whistle while you work...it makes it better!

Well Hello Family,

I hope that this letter finds all of you healthy and wealthy and wise. This week has been a good one for me and Elder Degering. We were able to find a few new people and hope that all goes well with them, and also we are trying to work with some less active and part-member families. These two wards really haven’t had much missionary success in the past little while, with one ward not having a convert baptism in over 14 months or so. That’s a really long time. So our goal is to find people to teach in that ward and do our best to get people to church and get those members fired up to do missionary work. We are really starting to get to know the area better and we have had a few ward parties so that helps with getting to know the members of the wards as well. The Stringers continue to be amazing and helpful in any way, although this week they had all sorts of family in town. The house sure was full up, and we had a dinner with 16 people on Thursday night. It was crazy! Lots of people, lots of food. Much like the party that you all had this week.

Well, this week really has been full of missionary work. We have a lot of free time as we don’t have very many people we are teaching and so we have spent that free time tracting. I don’t know if I have ever said this, but tracting is my least favorite thing to do as a missionary. I would much rather do a lot of other things with my time, but it is one of those things that I have come to love more. A lot of missionaries out here are really struggling with the normal "finding activities" and so they have really been pushing it a lot lately and I have had time to think about why we do it. First: it is something we are asked to do...so we have to do it. Then: it helps build character. I equate it to building a house…we as missionaries want to baptize people, "The Roof," but without things like tracting, "The Foundation," we can’t hold up the roof, or our teaching pool, so we must do it to keep the balance of the world. We must tract….and lately, as ineffective as it normally is, we have tried to have fun and get to know the people we talk to at the door. Now that I’m done ranting, we did a lot of that kind of stuff this week, "finding activities" as we like to call them. Like I said, we have tried to make them as fun as possible. One of the things we've been asked to do while we are tracting is to hold the Book of Mormon in our hands. Well, I started playing scripture baseball with Elder DeGering, from door to door, it is a fun way to pass the time and a great way to learn more about the Book of Mormon.
As for other things that we did this week: We had our beginning of the transfer zone meeting on Tuesday and we learned that Elder Kikuchi from the Seventy is is going to be coming to do a mission tour next week. I think it will be on Tuesday - so that should be very cool. On Thursday we did service with some other missionaries in the zone, for one of their investigators. We helped them move them to a new house. I was glad to be of help for had we not been there…they may have taken a few days to get it all done! As it was…it took most of the day anyway. Friday brought Halloween and down here we had to be in by 6:00 p.m., which really wasn’t too much fun as the house was empty. The Stringers were at a family Halloween party, so we hung around and had a good time in the house with the dogs and things like that. On Saturday we went to the youth baptisms for the stake. They do this big general meeting and then they split off into wards after the meeting for the baptisms…then they do like a "Music and the Spoken Word" thing where they just read a scripture and then we sang a song. Well when I was showering that day, (and as I have said before, that really is where do my best thinking)...I was thinking if I might see one Bishop Ken Craig. Well, lo and behold! When I walked into the chapel, sitting on the stand looking all bishop-like was Mister Craig himself! Well the meeting started quickly afterwards and I sat there for a few moments, then we both realized who was who. When his ward went to leave he gave me a hug and said to look around for him after it was all over….well we talked, as you heard, and it was good to see him again. Yes, he did say he wanted me to come over for dinner…we will have to work it all out. Still it was great to see him again…finally. Then came Sunday and the wonderful thing that always is…it was good though…as fast Sunday always is.
Chanel had a few questions this week so I will answer those and wrap this baby up.
What did you have for lunch yesterday?
Me: Nothing…it was fast Sunday.
DeGering: Same.

Where do you go for advice?
Me: My mother.
D: The Lord.

Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?
Me: um...Don’t use either?
D: Dictionary.

Have you ever been snorkeling? Scuba diving?
Me: No, you know I hate water.
D: Yes snorkeling, no scuba.

Have you ever been stung by a bee?
Me: Yeah under my chin area.
D: Yes.

What's the sickest you've ever been?
Me: That one time I got really sick on my mission and didn’t tell Mom.
D: Had the flu and a temperature of 104

What's your favorite form of exercise?
Me: Sports…golf…riding in the cart…just kidding.
D: Running.

What did you do for your 13th birthday?
Me: I don’t remember…some party or something.
D: Went and saw Star Wars 1.

Are you afraid of heights?
Me: Sort of.
D: No.

Have you ever taken dance lessons?
Me: No, I wish I did though.
D: Yes, ballroom dancing.

What's the most memorable class you've ever taken?
Me: Marketing 1 with Mr. Resch, best class ever.
D: Building Traits…a construction class.

What's your favorite knock-knock joke?
Me: Joan Toothpaste!
D: He doesn’t have one….sadly.

Well there you have it. This week has been great and I hope that you have a great one this week. Stay busy and open your mouths, and spread the gospel…I love you all.
Love,
Elder Geoff Taylor

P.S. Chanel please don’t ever tell me how many weeks I have left…that would be great. Thanks. Love ya!