I'm 19!!!

Hey everyone i am officially big ol 19!!! That is awesome. I'm so greatful for all the letters and emails and well wishes ! got ,so thank you. I love you guys and am so grateful for such great family and friends at home!!! 

So this was a really rough week to begin with!!! About Wednesday morning at 2 I found out that i had gotten the stomach flu from a bunch of kids in the ward!!!! So let's just say that was the worst two days i have ever had!!! Me and my compion where bed ridden for 2 full days!! We could not get out of bed at all!!! It was horrible oh goodness!!! So that lasted til about Thursday, then things started to look up a lot!! 

We got out there and worked and Troy, our investigator, has a new baptimal date!!! He will be baptized July 6th! That was so cool having him commit to be baptized because i will be here and he was so excited about it!!! I loved it!!! Anyways, that was awesome and one of the highlights of my week!!! 

The other highlight was defiently the huge worldwide broadcast that the church aired! It was awesome and on my Birthday! Nothing like hearing a prophet and 5 apostles speak on your birthday!!! It was so awesome I loved it!! It was the best Birthday present ever!!! There were such good talks and anyone who got to go knows how great it was. It was a world wide pep rally for missionary work! I learned so much!!! I liked alot from it so i'll share a few short thoughts real fast! 

Neil A. Anderson said that we are imperfect people doing a perfect work! That really got me and i liked it cause it is the truth! We are so imperfect so but we are doing the Lord's work so it is perfect!!! Elder Nelson said, "if we act in love we should not be afraid of offending a friend by inviting them to come to hear the lessons!" So i send that out as my challenge to you all that this week you, out of love, invite someone to hear the gospel. They will never be offended!

So I'm going to start doing something a little different  I'm going to be doing a top ten every week, just like a late show count down of my week so that it is alittle more interesting!

1. I'm not throwing up anymore!!! being sick is horrible!!! 

2. IM 19!!!!!! I'm not the "baby" missionary anymore!!!

3. I got to go to the awesome conference and hear all these awesome speakers!

4. I'm not being transferred!!! I'm staying in Marianna for at least 6 more weeks

5. One of my new companions came out with me! He's waiting to go to Brazil but still an awesome guy!

6. Yes i said one of my compions, im in a threesome now! We will see how that is

7. I got a bunch of awesome birthday gifts and cards! So thank you!!!

8.  Troy is getting Baptized!!!

9.  I got to see one of my friends during the broadcast! My friend Spencer from school!!!

10. Bishop Sims made an awesome Birthday dinner! fried catfish and Hush puppies!!!! oh goodness all yall have not lived till you have tried Bishop Sims catfish!

So i love you all and hope for a great week coming up! I'm excited for alittle bit of change with a new comps a new district and a new mission president! It will be really fun to see what will happen. I love you all! 

ELDER TAYLOR

Here is a photo we got from Bishop Sims Sunday night. It said: ELDER TAYLOR'S BIRTHDAY SUPPER. CATFISH, HUSHPUPPOES, CHEESE GRITS. 

I'm almost 19!!!

I'm almost 19!!! Crazy I'm not the little tiny baby anymore!!! And ! am glad!!! It's funny, everyone is always inpressed to hear im only 18 but then they just call me  a baby but thats alright!!! This week has been a trial of faith!!! Last Monday almost exactly I started to feel under the weather and by Wednesday I was totally sick. It wasn't fun! Thursday to Saturday were just not good at all and I could barely get out of bed i was so sick!! A darn cold in June!!! What is going on?? But I worked as hard as i could and tried to get out there and work on Thursday and we had a pretty sucessfull week with all things considered. But don't worry, I survived and am ready to get back out there and work harder than before!!!

We had a really good lesson on repentace the other day and one missionary said something that really got me. He said that "repentance is but homesickness for the soul". I had to think about it again, and it made sense. When we truly repent we are tring to get back to that presence of our loving Heavenly Father! I thought that was awesome and kind of changed my concept on repentance.

We had that big zone conference last week and i still had things i wanted to share that i just thought were totally awesome! One of them was a quote by Elder Holland. It said, "If you are not an obedient missionary then the words will choke in your mouth". That's a big one cause it says countless times that if you do what you are supposed to then the words will be given to you in the very hour you need it, but that is if you are being an obedient missionary. Exact obedience is something i have learned on my mission that has now started to bless me so much and I am grateful for that! 

My mission president, President Jesnsen is so stinking awesome.. I love him so much but I'm super sad that he is leaving july 2nd! That will be really sad to see him go. Anyways, President said two things that really hit me i thought they were just totally awesome!!! The first was "you will go home from your mission prepared for the rest of your life, or you will have wasted the last two years". That is a big thing to say right there!  But i have noticed and i hope everyone who reads this had noticed that i have changed slowly but surely, and I can't wait to see the changes that will come in the next 21 months as i countiune to help others and, my self come closer to Jesus Christ!! The last thing he said that i liked was "If you serve the Lord faithfully with all your heart then he WILL put you in the path of your future spouse". I know my mom probably isn't a big fan od that one but I think it is great cause dating is already a pain! If i work my mission hard then I'll just stumble upon the girl! Crazy! But anyways, that is a LONG LONG LONG time away, so dont get worried i am not that trunky!

Even though I was sick this week we got two awesome new investigators. A new family... they are 18 years old with a 1 year old but they love what we are teaching them they are super awesome!!! So ill keep you all updated on how that one goes!!

I love you all and thank you so much for all the Birthday wishes! any better way of celebrating your birthday then serving the Lord?? ! dont Think so! But Bishop is making squirrel so that a bonus!!! Love you all!

Elder Taylor

Conference

So we had a really good week this week! We had zone confence so everyone came together and President and Sister Jensen talked to us and taught us a lot! It was thier last meeting because they leave at the end of this month, which will be super sad to see them go!!!! I have only been with them for a short little bit but I'll miss them a lot!!!! They are my parents away from home!! 

But anyways, I dont have too much time today cause the lady who works at the libary just got mad at us for taking too much time, even though we are just sitting here writing family! But it's alright! 

One analogy that President Jensen used was mission time is like bailing time! Bailing time is when you bail hay! So to do that, hay has to be just right-- not too long, not too short, not too wet, not too dry, and it is usually a huge investment also! Your money depends on the short period you have to bail that hay! So once its ready it doesnt matter if you are sick or if you are hurt, you need to go out and make the money in that investment! That is exactly how a mission is. We need to go out there and no matter what, we need to do our best because we dont have too much time. 2 years is short and goes by really fast! 

Love you all! Keep the prayers coming cause i need it!

Elder Taylor

2 Kings and 2 Queens

This week was a pretty good one, I dont have much to complain about besides the heat and humidity! but i am surviving! It makes it really tough to get out there and walk around! Riding bikes is the only time you can get any sort of breeze, so i love doing that! 

This week we had zone training again so all the missionaries in the Dothan Alabama stake came together to talk. It was pretty awesome! The spirit is always so strong when you get so many missionaries together in one place! They talked about being obedient on your mission! That it will be so much easier to be obedient on your mission than any other time. Right now i dont have silly distractions! But after these two years, everything will go back to normal! So if i didnt put forth the effort to be obedient for these two years, why would i do it when i get home and have so many better things to do than practice obedience? I never really though of it like that! 

Also, we talked about trials on the mission again! Missions are not supposed to be easy... they are hard and you have to do a lot! A mission is your refiners fire! it is your time to be refined and become the person you are supposed to be! I try everyday to become alittle bit better and alittle bit stronger!

we got to vist some of the older people in the ward this week and that was a pretty cool experience! it puts alot in to prospective. They know alot more than me so i like listening to them! One of them was an elderly guy about 90 years old who converted when he was 30. He said "I have served the Lord for 60 years im now ready to meet my maker". That was just crazy! I hope that some day i can look at death and say i have done my best, i have fought a good fight, and  i wont be ashamed when i kneel before Jesus Christ, i will be able to look him in the eye and say i did my best! but I'm still a long way from that point and have alot!!!!!! of work to do before i can even think about being good enough to say that. But it was all put into prospective by those simple words by Brother Paul Brock. 

I'll end on a funny note this week! We have a guy in our ward who totally called me and Elder Clifford out last week. We have two sister missionaries in our area now, both named Sister King. He said "great now we have two queens and two kings!" ha he bagged on us pretty hard but it was all in good fun! We found out later this week that the guy who said it, wrestles in an ametuer wrestling leaugue. like WWE status! So we got to make fun of "the Deffendor"! 

Anyways, it was a good week. I hope you all are doing great and I love you all! It's always great hearing from yall! 

Love, 

Elder Taylor

Pictures!!!

One included is me, Elder Beackstrom, and Elder Hammond. All the MTC buddies reunited. 

The other one attached is a biiig ant we found! The picture does not do it justice! That was in our room!