IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!!

Hello,
So I promise that I am not that trunky. Well this week has been a pretty good week. We have had a lot of things going on this week and a lot to do. I must say though that this week was so amazing for a lot of spiritual reasons and then just having fun on top of all of that. You know me…if you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying….I mean if you aren’t having fun then why are you doing it? So we have just been keeping it real around here.
Well where do I start? Last Monday is a good place: we had a meeting with my most amazing investigator ever. Her name is Katie Beck and she has Down Syndrome. The best part is that she is so excited to get baptized and so scared at the same time. She didn’t want to do it until she knew she could plug her nose….now when we talked to her about it she just plugs her nose…it is so cute and funny. She is so sweet and I am so glad that I will be here for her baptism. It is going to be on the 18th of this month…so like a week before I get home. So I will be excited to have that last little blessing from the Lord.
Wednesday, that brought one of the best baptism services I have ever been to or been a part of in person. I can only think of one other that may have been better…but I wasn’t there. Anyway, David Edwards was baptized and it was such a great service, but like all greatness there are hiccups along the way. So I will start the story there. We got the church to fill the font at about 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and no one was there, which was good. We had made the phone calls needed to get the Chapel and Relief Society room for the baptism…the font is in the RS room and we wanted the Chapel for how many we thought would show up. Well as we had about 20 minutes before the service started, the Chapel was full of all these youth and a projector….I guess word didn’t get to everyone that we needed that room. So now we had to go a set up enough chairs in the RS room for everyone who was going to be there in the next few minutes….well like super men, Elder Hanson and I came through, and we had just enough room for the 70 people that came to see David get baptized. It was such a great service. The best part was that his non-member parents came to support him. I was so glad to see them there. Quick note….when a church has one of the signs that says maximum occupancy such and such number….you can’t fit that many….that room said 113….we were sweating 70…still it worked out great. A ton of youth came and it was so great. This was the first baptism for the Deer Springs ward in 18 months….that is a long time.
Then I didn’t think that that could be topped (and really it didn’t) but, on Saturday Elder L. Tom Perry of the 12 apostles and Elder Neil L. Anderson of the presidency of the 70 came and spoke to all the missionaries here in the Las Vegas valley. Before I talk about how cool it was to shake an Apostle's hand, the elders in the Las Vegas West mission, my mission, are SO much cool then those gomers on the east side of the valley. So - meeting Elder Perry was so cool, and he is really tall. He spoke to us for about 45 minutes about becoming better teachers. It was such a cool meeting. Sad thing was that it was such a short meeting. I could have listened to him all day. I must say a testimony, in person, of an Apostle is so amazing. His whole countenance changed. It was a very powerful experience. Then later that night he met with all the stake presidents, bishops, and ward mission leaders, and basically kicked their butts into gear. It was so cool to see yesterday the excitement on everyone’s face that was at that meeting. I really think that things will start getting better around here: more teaching, more baptisms, and more fun. It was an awesome weekend.

So here they are the answers to the 15 questions about Elder Hanson:
How many brothers and sisters do you have? 4 brothers.
What is your favorite thing to do? Snowboard.
What is your favorite food? Anything but pizza.
What is your favorite book? 5 fingers.
What is your favorite candy bar? Milky Way
What is your favorite cookie? Snickerdoodle
What is your favorite sport? Football.
What is your favorite Primary song? My Heavenly Father Loves Me.
What is your favorite temple? San Diego.
What place would you like to visit? Brighton, Utah
What is your favorite thing about your mom? She is a straight shooter.
What is your favorite thing about your dad? He is a really good role model.
What is your favorite thing about yourself? My ridiculously good looks.
Do you like to sing? Only in the shower.
Do you like to dance? Only with girls.

Well, there you have it. I hope that everyone has a great week and know that I love you all so much. I can’t believe that it is February 2009 already. This never seemed like it would come but you just can’t slow down time. Oh, just a quick shout out….My Cards…you boys did well, it just doesn’t go your way sometimes…you never gave up and you played hard to the end…Congrats to the Steelers, the first 6 time Super Bowl Champs. Cardinals in 2010 Baby! Well I love you all. McKay, Congrats Dude that is some of the best news I have heard all week. Don’t worry man, I’ll be bring home some ties for you to take…you’ll have the best collection in all the land. Well have a good week everybody.

Love,
Elder Taylor