CHattahoochee and turtles galore!

1. Elder Lott exchange! Elder Lott is a strange kid but we got to have him over for an exchange and it was super fun! We talked to a lot of people and had some interesting experiences- sometimes he's an odd kid. Every time he was left alone in our apartment he would just stand on a piece of furniture, like our table or chair or anything... hahah he's odd but we love him!

2. the zone leaders slept iover and i lov ethem! they alwasy inspire me! elder crook is someone i have know for a long time since the begginging of his mission! but hes an awesome kid! its always fun having sleep overs!

3. On our drive back we ran into an army of turtles! It was crazy I have never see so many in 1 place... too bad they are illegal to play with :( there was easily over 100! 

4. This week was Book of Mormon week! We passed out the most so we get the gold plates for a transfer! Basically they are steel sheets painted gold! Super cool! But we passed out 157 for three companionships! So it was insane! We had tons more than everyone else! Flood the earth! 

5. Austin is a guy we met who is a preacher for a church but he's like 21 and was just walking around. So we walked with him for 2 hours and taught him half the lessons and now he is going to have us over and feed us dinner. He is super nice and it seems like he has some genuine interest so we will see! 

6. Dale Hunter! He is the guy we got in a car crash trying to see last time! We had to teach him in our car since it started to rain. His house wasn't clean and his neighbors nice but 90 pound pitbull was running around us! So we had a lesson sitting in our car but it turned out pretty good! and he looks like he has some interest!

7.  I had a really rough week with Elder Hildbrandt this week- it was almost to much to bear. I was just getting sick of his pride and attitude about the area. And his comments about things that I cared about. I fasted and prayed and really needed to know what I needed to do better. We had a companionship inventory where everything blew up and we didn't go work for almost a whole day since the spirit wasn't with us. But this morning all I said "I hope you know I don't hate you and I'm sorry for my attitude. I have pride issues" He replied with a quick sorry also but it was truly a great feeling, a feeling of the atonement working in my life and helping me forgive. The atonement is real! That is for sure!

8. Had a missionary fireside and I was asked to speak at last minute! It was a farewell to prepare for my homecoming I guess! It was fun and I talked a lot about why I served and the importance of the Book of Mormon. I shared my favorite Book of Mormon missionary scripture, Mosiah 28:3 3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

9.  Just a good week all around I'm grateful for it! Love you all! and I guess I'll see you soon! Still not sure how I feel about that!

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

zone leader sleep over

chattahoocee?

the mathis family!

so here is lake smeinole and we found tons of turtles! see all those things sticking out of the water at the top that look like sticks? yeah they are turtle heads!

Confirmations and Enduring To The End

1. Super cool-- Brenda asked me to confirm her, Christian and Tyler! That was awesome! I'm grateful I was able to do that part! But I wish Elder Peel was there to help out! Oh well! Me, the bishop and Jake Mathis all did it. But i had to yell the confirmation since there was no microphone! Not very conducive to the spirit! But hey, we did it! Just a blessing!!!

2. Not trunky! So everyone keeps asking me if I'm trunky (means my trunks are already packed) but I'm not. I'm really not thinking about it at all. It's kind of crazy since it's something so close! But I really just haven't even stopped long enough to hit me! I guess it will hit me when i get to tally in a few weeks but we will see!  But I can't stand missionaries that are trunky and give up their last months so I made myself a promise I would never be like that!

3. Lincoln and Melanie! So we had a really good lesson with our ward mission leader this week. A family fed us and then we taught them... they might be a little bit of stoners.... they had a few bongs and it was interesting having dinner with reggae in the background but its all good I guess! But it was a really good lesson and they loved what we had to say! And it's also cool when investigators feed you! I've only had a few do that so far but I appreciate it! So does my belly!

4. We had a super good lesson with the Clements on patriarchal blessings! Brenda ate it up and is going to make an appointment with the bishop soon! we suggested it would be great for Christian because he is a senior in High school this year so he will have a lot lot of big decisions in the next few months! 

5. Christian. This kid has only been a confirmed member for 1 full day and the ward is already trying to get him on a mission! He is so solid though! That's another reason he needs a patriarchal blessing! But he is the only young man that's anywhere close to going! So we are working super hard with him to get him going out there! 

6. I was talking with Brenda one night this week about christian and how he became such a good kid. cause its amazing he's an athletic kid, super popular and the girls love him! All the young women who never stay for baptism came for that one! But he always cares about including everyone. He's just a  good kid. Brenda is his aunt and she told me that the first night they picked him up to stay with them Christian just wanted to stay up and watch TV, all he wanted to really do was to have Brenda stay with him so she could talk to him. They talked all night, because the people he lived with didn't talk with him, that was when he was a freshmen. It's just amazing how the lord has prepared him and protected him to this point. He will do great things

7. Cold snap! I came to Florida! I don't want it being 20 degrees with 75% humidity! It's horrible and freezing and I think another one is coming soon! I hate being cold... all in the lord's work, right!

8. The District meeting I taught this week was super fun! The last 30 minutes we do roleplays which is acting out missionary scenarios so what we did was I gave out a Boook of Mormon and a few pass along cards and we just played hot potato with them, but we had to contact another missionary in the room with whatever we had and then relate it to the restoration! It was way fun! 

9. My knee is really tight so Brenda has been doing therapy on it! Just working out the tight muscles! It hurts so bad but it feels better after! She was trying to make me cry but I was tough... Mark aka Florida dad gave me a hard time! I mess with mark a lot! But benefits of baptizing a physical therapist! 

10. Last  thing... Dale Hunter! A member met him at the hospital and he totally showed up to priesthood! It was totally random! So we set up a lesson with him! Good job members!

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

The Clements and Their Redheaded Stepchild

1. Brenda, Christian and Tyler were all baptized this week and it was a super big blessing! One of the most spiritual and uplifting meetings I have been too-- it was a great experience! It was a blessing! The ward showed up in full force. we normally have baptisms in a small 12x12 room but that wasn't big enough, neither was the relief society room so we did it in the chapel! It was a way good experience, very powerful! 

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2. So here is a rundown of that day! Super good start was giving Mark the authority to be a priest! He was a deacon and had the priesthood but now he's a priest! His dad who is Joe, a recently activated member got to give him the priesthood! Joe was super nervous and tried to give me the card and tell me to do it right as we were about to start but I said no! So he did it as me and Elder Peel stood in and held a card with the words he needed to say! And joe gave a beautiful father's blessing to his son. It was a great experience! 

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3. Later on that day as they were getting in the water I stuck my head in the hallway and said you guys know I love you right? Christian the teenager just laughed and said we love you too Elder Taylor! It was just a good day! They all made it and it was awesome seeing a family of four being activated and baptized... no experience like it!

4. I gave a talk on baptism because Brenda, now my Florida mom, asked me to! I was super grateful. I talked about how much that family meant to me and about the gift of the holy ghost! I  might have cried a little bit but thats alright; tough guys cry don't they???

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5. President Smith talked to me after the baptism because they were there and he said it was one of the spiritual highlights of his missions! He said it was amazing and he was just so happy to be there. I introduced him to the whole Clements family and he told them it was amazing I got sent back and it must have been for a reason! 

6. Mark closed the meeting with saying thanks to everyone and talked about me and Elder Peel a lot during it! He talked about the first meeting they had with the missionaries I was on of the missionaries and how after the meeting Brenda said "Oh that Elder Taylor such a cute kid, I really like him!" Do that was way cool! So here we go now! Now I'm her redheaded stepchild!

7. In my interview with president he just was talking to me and was so proud about the man that I have become. He said it was so amazing how much growth I have had it was just a really big blessing! I love that man! Oh and I gave him a Taylor traditional orange tie signed by me and he loved it and is letting me pick out one of his own ties! Also when I saw him at zone conference this week he said that he was going to miss me a lot!

8. Speaking of that zone conference, it was super good! We had a good time and now we have black boxes in our car that tell us when we drive too fast... not cool but oh well! Our drive to the meeting was 1:30 the drive home with the box was 1:50 so it slows us down but it's a good safe thing!  

9. Learned a lot like this: "Greatness is a lot of small things done everyday." -President Smith. The craziest thing was going up with my buddy Elder Beckstrom and bearing our final testimonies in a missionary meeting! It's a tradition of the departing missionaries to do it at zone conference. And as me and Elder Beckstrom were sitting up there I put my arm around him and ask "can you believe it's over"? All he said was I can't believe it at all! And it's true, it has gone by fast but I have loved it all!

10. We got to do service for President Akuma who is a member of the mission presidency. He owns a huge dairy! But I'll just have to say cow poop is not the life for me! I love the guy though! It was fun!

11. We helped another member plant some potatoes and it was the funniest little thing. As one missionary dug the whole and anther planted the potato, their pitbull would walk behind us and bury the potato with her nose. It was adorable! Crazy dog!

Love you all!

Elder Taylor

Run To The Roar!

1. Fried food!  We had a dinner with the Cobarts, a family in the ward and they fried everything... it was good and bad at the same time fried zucchini and squash! Not bad but fried eggplant.. not too good... :( 

2. Tuesday we had a lesson with Brenda, our last one before Elder Peel got transferred! It was sad but it was a good lesson we watched waiting on the road to damcusus which is talking about not waiting for the big signs at conversion but looking for the small things. We won't all have a saul paul conversion but we need to look for the small and simple things that confirm our testimony! It was a way good lesson!

3. Brenda told us she completely gave up coffee also! So there we go again! I got her good because she was trying to justify tea and I said well Christ sacrificed a lot for us, what are we willing to sacrifice for him! I learned that one form President Albritton from Monroeville! But it's a true principle we just need to think of that when we are asked to sacrifice anything!!! So that was solid lesson! she is trying her best to make it to the 15th to be baptized so we will see how it goes. It's going to be a cram but she is soooooo close and she can totally do it! 

4. Transfers in the rain! Everyone was wet! We were late and it was just a crazy day! Sad to see Elder Peel go but O got two new companions! It will be way fun with them! Elder Loveland and Elder Hilddebrant- they are both awesome! I can tell already it will be a great transfer!

5. Elder Loveland is a nice young lad form the big city of Blackfoot, Idaho, no one really knows where that is or if it exists! but he is waiting on a visa to go to Cape Town South Africa! He's super funny and had an awesome first tract (see number 6)! But he's a good kid and we have lots of fun!

6. First tract story! We knocked a few doors and then said we were going to give this one to Elder Loveland. So we did. The guy opened the door and he said "Hello I'm Elder Loveland" his response was you aren't an elder you follow a devil and worship a false prophet... haha he just went on and on for a few minutes. We bore testimony and left but it was a comical first door!  

7. Elder Helidbrant hails from the desert city of Saint George where they have red dirt and golf... he's pretty funny! He is a really hard worker! I can already tell he will be a great companion that will help me work hard till the end! Don't worry that was the plan all along it just makes it a lot easier when you have support! 

8. Lincoln! A new investigator who is a referral from a member! Super cool guy. The member gave him Finding Faith in Christ! But his house kind of smelt like maryjane... like it was horrible but everyone needs the gospel, right!

9. We had ward conference this week! Super good stake president was here and he was super inspired and a super great guy! He's going to do great things for this stake! But best part of ward conference is the huge dinner after! Lots and lots of food! I'm going to be fat!

10. Run to the roar! Something Sister Lay told me. She thinks I'm stressed about going home and it's true. But the story is that lions surround a herd. The old lions stand on one side while the young lions stand on the other. Usually the old lions don't have teeth anymore but they stand on that side of the herd and roar as loud as they can, which scares the herd to run directly at all the young lions. But if they just faced their fears and ran directly at the roar they would all be safe. So now I'm here. I'm worried about finishing my mission but you know what... I just need to run to the roar and see the miracles that come from that!

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

me and peel at transfers

me elder hawker and elder mclay and elder egbert and fredrickson

hawkers the one with the food! hes a stud and an example!

our trip with elder lay

Last Six Weeks

1. Found out I will be finishing my mission in Marianna last night. Crazy I only have 6 weeks... it's something I never thought would come but now it is here... I'm excited to sprint to the end!!! 

2. Tuesday I had a trade off with Elder Urquiaga from Provo, Utah. I have to say it was one of the most inspiring tradeoffs I have ever been on! It was great! Elder Uriquiaga is a great missionary and I have lots of respect for him! I met him on his first day 18 months ago, so it's crazy to see the missionary he is today. But we had a fun time! Worked hard and talked a lot! 'Til about 2 in the morning!  

3. Ee worked hard and were able to find a new investigator during our tradeoff but we also probably talked to 30 people and gave out 5 books of Mormon! Elder Urqiaga taught me to pray always, even when we need guidance in the littlest thing, it is alright to pray! It helped out a lot! 

4. Miracle hour! That's from 8pm to 9pm! Super tough hour to fill in a country town! We had two lessons planned for that time and they both fell through! So Elder Uriquiga said we were going to find someone solid and we just needed faith! So we went to work for an hour tracting at night! But as we were walking home at 9 we ran across someone walking down the right street who said he felt like he needed to walk the long way home! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he really wants to meet with us! Miracle hour really does mean we can have miracles! Lesson learned! 

5. Oh yeah tracting at night... knocked on the chief of police's door. He almost shot us but he didn't! He only had a flash light and he decided not to pull his gun yet!!!! And then he told Bishop Sims... I guess another miracle during miracle hour!!! Sorry, mom!

6. We also started that day after district meeting going to al ittle soul restaurat on the black side of town... it was super good!! Deep fried ribs and Elder Urquiaga really wanted to try livers and gizzards! so we got them! Gizzards are alright.. livers taste fine but I almost died because of the texture! Gross stuff! But I made it! Almost threw up swallowing the livers but overall not bad! 

6.  Jr. and Sue Clements (Mark and Brenda's uncle) they are basically our grandparents here! They are awesome and a few weeks ago they had their 50th anniversary and took us out to dinner! Haha, one way to celebrate it I guess!!! But we don't mind! We actually felt really bad but they insisted! So we went. Jr. got his wife flowers and the note said "50 years and it's only the beginning". It was adorable. I respect that a lot that they have been together that long! It's a great thing to say now a days! I'm super impressed! Makes me want to have a relationship like that! Like my Grandpa Larry and Grandma Penny! Such great examples in my life! 

7. Mark and Brenda took us to Subway on saturday and afterwards they had to pick stuff up at Winn Dixie! and then proceeded to fill a cart full of stuff for us! It was super nice. We felt bad but they kept filling it up! I love the Clements! They are our Marianna mom and dad! 

8. It's been a great week. A lot of miracles that are too many to number. Brenda is still doing great and recognizing the spirit so that's awesome! I hope she makes it to the 15th so bad! 

9. Sadly Elder Peel is leaving Marianna. It's a bummer because we are finally getting the Clements to baptism but hopefully he will be able to come back and see it! But I'm excited for a new adventure this week! change isn't always a bad thing!

10. I just love yall! I'm working on charity still but I am trying to find the best in everyone and it just makes me happy when I think like that! #blessing

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

No such thing as coincidences, right?

1. So we had a great week this week! The best part was our lesson with the Clements! It was another spiritual experience! So that was very good! We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ! The spirit was there and then a distraction! lame... but then after a few minutes we would get it back so it was good! Overall it was a great lesson and one to remember!

2. The reason it is memorable is we committed Brenda (the mother), Christian (the nephew) and Tyler (the 9 year old son) to baptism on Feb 15th! That was way cool! It was powerful experience and Brenda said she would try her best to make it to that date!

3. Last cool thing: We thought we just picked a good date but it was interesting. It was the day that her father had passed away, some could say that's a coincidence but I know a little better than that! The spirit definitely helped us pick out that day! It was great! So i guess both sides of the veil are working on this one!  

4. Last thing: Mark's father who is a recently activated member made me tell the story of the mission president putting me in Marianna and then Sister Smith, his wife, moving me out, then me magically floating back to Marianna. They all told me the reason I kept floating back was to teach their family! Super cool experience! No such thing as coincidences, right?

5. We are working with Matthew Clements who is a less active young man who I got close to the first time I was in Marianna! We are going to start to read the Book of Mormon with him! Turns out he still has the Book of Mormon I left with him my very last day in Marianna! No such thing as coincidences, right?

6. I got a phone call from an Alabama number and it was super random.. so I answered it and it's my good friend, George Rogers from Monroeville, Alabama! We talked for a few minutes it was good hearing from a good friend like that. A nice surprise! 

7. I taught district meeting on the Book of Mormon using a lot of talks form Ezra Taft Benson! Oh man that's one good guy! He knew his stuff and I hope we all use the Book of Mormon like he said we should! If not, we need to start! 

8. We caught two raccoons with a bunch of less actives... I wish I took a picture but I didn't... they looked so nice like in elf when he tries to hug it... but I bet you they were mean and they just looked nice in a cage! 

9. We have a recent convert in the ward and she loves feeding us... but she also loves making creations... this time it was a soup with a little of everything... lots of greens... it was kind of hard to swallow but Elder Peel and I got it down just fine! 

10. Not too much more to say but it was good week and I am excited for this upcoming week! Adventure is always out there

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

PHOTOS: 

me elder kent sister dyer and sister mathison on our way home form GA

me and the monroeville crew: parsons, browne, peterson, payne pearson, hatori 

don't forget about this bad boy! trade off picture!

Apostles Are Cool!

1. Elder Anderson of the quorum of the 12 apostles came to our mission! And that's a big deal especially when you have a huge mission like ours! The first time in recorded history or at least in the two years I have been here that we were able to all get together! So that was way cool and it was amazing having such a close experience with an apostle. It's very rare to have something like that happen and I doubt it will happen again in this mission for a good while so it was cool I got to be there! 

2. He talked a lot about a lot of different things, one big one was this scripture D&C 78: 8 Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.

He talked a lot about being accepted of christ and what we can do more to be accepted of our savior! So it was way powerful and a  really good scripture! It's amazing how many good scriptures are out there, I just haven't found them all yet!

3. He and his wife talked a lot about honesty! They said that one of the first qualifications of the spirit is honesty. I think his wording was honesty is a prerequisite of spirituality! So I liked that! We need to be honest always! 

4. Elder Anderson was pretty darn funny for an apostle! It's a unique environment; it wasn't conference so he had to stand up there and speak but he walked around and cracked jokes about the hard parts of missionary work! So it was humorous but funny because he was joking about our lives and the things that happen daily!

5. Mission Song! We got to sing it all together! I had a handy voice recorder and decided to record it! the quality isn't the best in the world but its alright! As we sang and started to sing about the spirit it was amazing you could feel the spirit rush in! I've already listened to it about 100 times! It also was tough for me. I cried most of the time realizing how little time I have left and watching Sister smith cry and President Smith stand up and lead us, just feeling the love they have for us and  how much I love them! 

6. Had a super good lesson with Brenda Clements! In the eyes of her mother in law it was a break through! We were talking about faith a lot and she has a problem believing that scripture is actually God talking through prophets so we talked about that and finally I read to her Moroni 7:13 which talks about how everything that is good and inviteth and enticeth is of God! So that was way good! The spirit was there and she loved it; she said it was enlightening! They are so close! I hope they have a date soon!

7. We had a back to back trade off with the Bainbridge elders and it was an adventure! And we had district meeting in Barinbridge which is in Georgia! So its official I have slept in all four of the states in this mission: Georgia Mississippi, Florda, and Alabama! But it was a fun two days of craziness!!!

8. Elder Lott is one of the Bainbridge Elders and he's from Cache Valley and he's a great missionary and super funny! He had me laughing all day. It was a fun trade off and I super enjoyed my time wit him, he was super nervous taking over his area for the day with me, the district leader! But that's alright, everything turned out to work out just fine! 

9. We had a super crazy p day last week! We had a missionary dodgeball game in Dothan! But the rest of the week the right side of my body was way sore! It was crazy fun! We brought a less active member, Matthew Clements, who was someone I worked a lot with the first time I was here. So that was good being with him! and he came to church this Sunday so that was really good!

10. It was just a good week of seeing friends that Ilove and feeling the spirit! I'm so grateful for my time remaining here in the FTM 

Give em heaven! 

Elder Taylor