Farmers Tans

Its been another Hot one in the south! It was very tough but the humidty died down late in the week so i survived. I'm starting to look like a good ole redneck witrh my awesome farmers tan! I'm getting suprisingly tan (not burned mom!)  Dont worry, I wear plenty of sunscreen when i need it! 

So the highlights of the past week! it was a doosie! we have a soild college student who is super interested in what we believe and what we are teaching him. His name is Sam, and he even brought a friend to our discussion! we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, and it is such an awesome movie! It shows the scrafices of the early church and what everyone went though to organize this church! It was amazing how strong the spirit was in that room! You could cut it with a knife! Not that you would want to! But it was awesome, the member there was in tears and shared her testimony followed by mine and Elder Cliffords, and it was just awesome. It went way better than i though it would! i just love teaching this gospel!. 

There is a quote that i found in that movie that i think is so true for missionary work and everything else relating to the gospel! It says, "The Lord calls us in our weakness, but qualifies us for the work". That comforts me a lot as a missionary i look at myself and say holy smokes I'm not even close to being as good as i should be but i know i can try! He really does call us in our weakness but he qualifies us,he strengthens us and makes it so we can do what we need to do to be able to do his work and keep his gospel moving forward! I know as we look up the steep mountain before us and say " wow thats big, but I'll give it a try' the Lord will make it so we can conquer that mountain in front of us! Through him all things are possible! My favorite scripture Ifound is D&C 84:88 and it says "And whoso ^areceiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go ^bbefore your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my ^cSpirit shall be in your hearts, and mine ^dangelsround about you, to bear you up." 

I love this cause it goes along with what i was saying earlier as you do the work you will see the lords had in it! So i challenge you all to do alittle act of missionary work this week!

LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Taylor

summer's a comin!

First off, the summer in the south might be the death of me! Oh goodness it is getting so hot and humid and the bugs are going crazy! They really like the red hair apparently! But i am doing my best to stay away from them but its gross, we have to wash are car anytime we drive it more than 10 miles cause the window is caked with bugs!! This week was my first transfer we didn't get transfered but we got to go to the meeting to help out and see some people! I got to see my two MTC buddies who were down there and that was an awesome reunion! I'll send you all pictures when i get them myself! 

We now have two sets of missionary's in Marianna and its crazy since its such a small town, but it has worked out! The other set is Sister King and Sister King. Apparently President Jensen has a sense of humor! One of the Kings came out with me from the MTC and the other is brand new so they are still shell shocked! They dont have enough trainers for all the sisters that are coming! So the sister king that came out with me called me fat yesterday! I flew out of the MTC with her and she said "my face looks more round now"! haha she totally called me fat in the nicest way possible! Besides that, the King sisters are super awesome and hard workers, the only down side is we have to share the car and it's about to get even hotter!! 

This week was also awesome because missionary work is making sense finally! I'm getting out of my bubble and going to talk to people no matter how awkard it is! but i love that it is starting to click, and im getting much better at teaching! We have a solid investiagtor right now! He is a college student that gave me a ride home in the pouring rain my very first day on the mission! his friend who was with him that day was a member and eventually convinced him to talk to the missionaries! He loves it and is enjoying it so much so i will keep yall updated on what happens with him!

I hope all yall where able to take my challenge and pray about the Book of Mormon cause i finished it this week and loved it! I started on page one the next day!!! 

Last thing for this week, we were talking about missionary work in Elders quorm and one of the things that was said was will there be any people that look at you after this life and say "you knew all this about the gospel and you didn't tell me". That is going to be a tough one to answer!  So every memeber a missionary right! As I'm out here knocking on doors i challange you all to go and talk to someone about Christ or the gospel, a friend or stranger. You all can do it! I love you all!

Elder Taylor

Happy Mother's Day

So this week has been pretty crazy! But we had a strange experience yesterday! We were walking to a member's house for dinner and heard the loudest noise ever! I thought someone was shooting a gun so it freaked me out but it just so happened to be a squirrel that was climbing on some wires touched something he shouldn't have, and blew himself up and a transformer and all the power in 2 blocks! ha so that was definitely something i have not ever seen before! 

This week we have been getting a lot of refferals from that huge provident living expo we had last week, so we have meet a ton of people who want to learn more. I guess all the door knocking and slamming payed off, just not directly! So we have met probably 8 new investigators this week! I'll keep ya'll updated on how they all turn out! 

Last week we had a really good lesson in Elders quorum. A recent return missionary came home and shared an awesome quote that he got from his mission president. It said, "His mission was not easy so why should yours be?" That is the truth right there. Jesus Christ had a mission a million times harder. Even though we are doing the Lord's work it doesnt mean it will be all peaches and cream but its going to be tough! I really liked that quote and have thought about it as times get tough.

We got to teach the young men about missionary work and how to just talk to people about the gospel so that was pretty awesome! My favorite was these kids were all goofing off being normal 12-16 year olds and at the end of the hour I stood up and bore my testimony that i knew the book of Mormon was the word of God and I know how fast a mission comes up cause i was sitting in thier place 6 months ago! Because I really was! i told them you need to read the Book of Mormon to know its true! It was cool to see them all goofy then by the time i was done they were quiet the spirit was awesome and calmed them all down, that was an awesome expeirence that I was able to be a part of.

this week i almost finished the Book of Mormon! It is awesome I realized that Moroni really likes to throw it down at the end he really tells you about the important stuff! Moroni chapter 7 in my Book of Mormon looks like a coloring book! It is such a great chapter i challange you all to read that! It talks about what we need to have to endure to the end! We need faith and to have that faith we need hope! But in order to get either of those we need to show that we are meek and lowly in heart! but then Moroni says there is one more thing you need! Charity! if you do not have charity nothing else matters! You could be a saint but without charity it doesnt matter! So charity is key it is something i have been striving to develop ever since I ran into a kid that wasnt very nice to me in the MTC! My charity was tested! But i am working on it! 

I want to leave yall with one last challenge this week. I am finishing the Book of Mormon and will be taking Moroni's promise (Moroni 10:3-5) I challange you all to read and pray about those vereses and ask if it really is the word of God cause i know you will get an answer. So i hope you all can do it in this week and get back to me! Thanks for all the prayers they really do help so keep them coming! I love you all and am so grateful for you! 

Happy Mother's Day all you mothers out there! 

Elder Taylor

** We got to talk to Elder Taylor on Sunday for Mother's Day and he seemed great! Here's a screenshot from our call

"They are Christians!"

First off i heared about the fires in California and hope everyone is safe and doing good! I prayed for all yall! Oh, and a week from Wednesday we get a set of sister missionaries, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Bishop Sims said he raised 4 boys so he has no iddea what to do with a couple 20 year old girls! but all the elderly women in the ward are so excited cause they can finally feed us all!!

This week was super busy for us! We had a huge expo on provident living at our building and the whole county came to check it out. It was all about food storage, do it yourself, disatster prepardness and everyone loved it. But in the front of the gym was the missionaries! We had a huge long booth set up with all these hand out and big displays and everything, even matching table clothes (provided by the relief society of course)! haha But all the women in the ward were impressed with what we had to display! it looked good! MAYBE ILL BE AN EVENT DECORATOR! haha nope... 

Anyways we had hundreds of people unfimilar with our faith come talk to us about our church so they dont think we are as crazy as they think now! My favorite was a lady was walking in talking to her friend about her day, she turns and sees the big picture of Christ and like stopped in her tracks and was like "oh so they do believe in Christ". So that was pretty funny! she had no idea we were even Christians! Elder clifford say 80% of missionary work is publicity and we got a bunch of good publicity this week! it was awwesome! So that produced like a million referrals so we will be busy the next few weeks!

The food of the week! fried okra, taste like fried snot balls! it was gross!!!! deer meat loaf was way good, i liked that one a lot! And then fried froglegs! those were good but not very much meat there! but its amazing how much more food i will try now!

This week during district meeting we were talking about D&C 18 verse 15 It says "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one ^asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!". we talked about how on our mission that one soul isnt an investigator, or a less active member, but ourselves. Never thought of it but how great will our joy be as we bring ourselves unto Christ! So im working on myself constantly so i can be a better missionary cause im far from pefect!

Yesterday was testimony meeting so ill close with my testimony! I know Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he loves us and did so much for us. Without him it would be impossible to return home to our loving Heavenly Father! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and goes hand in hand with the Bible, and as you strive to read and ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon the spirit will tell you if it is true or not. And the best part is you dont have to take my word for it, you can do it yourself. I love this gospel and I love you all! God be with you till we meet again!

Elder Taylor