By word of mouth,we will witness to the south the Lord has work for us to do!

A busy week in Marianna!

1. This week we did something that is super rare in this mission because we are so darn big! We had a mission conference! But we are still so big it was only half our mission! But still, it was so great seeing old friends and catching up, and then we had a General authority come speak to us! Elder Pino he was a great guy from Venezuela and spoke 90% of the time through a translator because he wanted us to have the experience. We also have a mission song, that's where the subject comes from, and man it is such a great song! I wish you all could have been in the room with 150 or so of us singing, the spirit was there and man it was strong! Most of my count down has to do with that day but thats alright, it was an awesome day and I learned so much from it!

2. Sister Smith started the meeting with a beautiful talk on King Benjamin's address from the Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. She told us of the how King Benjamin prepared everyone temporally and spiritually. They were all in the right place and he had prepared himself. It goes on that they listened to what he had to say, they did more than hear what was said but they felt it because of the spirit! Then they were changed and desired to act because of what they had felt! That is what we all need to do, we need to prepare ourself for revelation to listen with our ears and hearts and once we do that and recieve we have to go and do! So we have to follow through! I had an experience in following the spirit. I didn't want to follow the prompting and I kept putting it off but I finally did what i was supposed to and felt so much better about this hard thing I had to do! The spirit will never lead you astray.

3. President Smith then talked to us all about goals. This year our mission goal is 450 baptisms. that is a lot for missions in this neck of the woods, but that is totally fine. We have to have 213 baptisms to meet that goal, which is a lot it the 3 months we have left. But that is alright! He told us about the assistant to the president who had been with president Jensen when they had set that goal. Elder Norton, who was that assistant, said "President Smith you should have been there and felt what I felt. You would know the Lord has 450 people for us to baptize" President Smith then went on to say the word "can't" will not be used in this mission, and that the goal is totally obtainable if every missionary is obedient and has all their heart, might, mind and strength on the work! I know its true so here it goes 3 months and 200 souls that need to come to Christ!

4. Sister Pino then spoke about humility! That we should not boast in our ability, but in God! She read us Alma 26:11-12  "11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." All our confidence should be in God because we can do all things through Christ, who gives us strength! I know this is true. We are just grateful to be worthy to be tools in the hands of the Lord (number 9 goes really well with this).

5. Elder Pino then spoke about a lot of stuff but i will focus on two main points! The first thing he talked about is becoming a missionary, not just being one. He said you will truly know if you became a missionary when your mission ends! That will be the true test if you still wake up on time and study the scriptures and do all the important things missionaries do, without the rule book or a companion telling you to do it! That made me think a lot about motives. Why do i study, why do i wake up at 630 every morning? Is it because I have to or I get to do this while i am serving a mission? It really got me thinking a lot!

6. Elder Pino then talked about our mission call letters! How they are so unique but they say the same thing! they all have different dates and names and for other people different missions! But the rest means so much also! How we need to devote all our time to the Lord leaving behind all other personal affairs! That we are one recommended worthy to be an official representative of Jesus Christ! Man that is a huge deal right there! As a 19 year old being able to represent Jesus Christ, kind of huge shoes to fill! But very important shoes to fill! I now cherish my call letter and i think every missionary should have a copy of his/hers so they can remember the promises that are in those letters

7. Mark and Brenda. I have talked a lot about them but they are just awesome progressing slowly but surely! we watched the movie The Restoration with them and had some technical difficulty and then their 7 year old, Tyler, said why don't we pray and then it will work! So we did and it worked! That was great! During the movie their 4 year old even kept saying "i really like this movie", I thought it was very funny! But at the end Brenda the non-member said she would start to read the Book of Mormon from the start to the end! So that is very good! I hope the best for them!

8. Rachelle is an investigator and was at church on Sunday! She made it and loved it! The members treated her so nicely even though she had a very rough past. She was bombarded with hugs and smiles so that was great, she said she really enjoyed it and was looking forward to the next sunday! So ill let you know how it goes with her! 

9. During church we watched a talk from President Uchtdorf from April of 2010 titled "you are my hands". It was such a great talk telling us that we are the way the Christ has to do his work. He probably doesn't need us but we are the way he has chosen to do his work! How great is that responsibility that we are chosen to be a tool which is his hand! We are so blessed with that! Here is the link if anyone wants to watch/read it! http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/you-are-my-hands?lang=eng 

10. Bishop Sims gave such a great thought on how much easier our callings and everything would be if we had a clear picture of eternal life. How it much harder we would look if we could see the end of the road. how full the temples and chapels would be if we could all see the end. i challenge you all to think about that question, are you doing enough? Are you going to have to worry at the judgement bar about the things you didn't do but should have, your sins of ommision. I hope not! I hope I hear "well done, my good and faithful servant"

Love you all Elder Taylor

Do you remember the 21st day of September?

So I thought I would start with some oldie music for all you oldies out there! I hope you enjoy it! I had a great week this week but an amazing sunday! It was one of the most spiritual and edifying meetings that i have been in! It was just fantastic and i will tell you all about it! First though, a little spiritual thought to kind of go with trails.

1. I was reading Alma 17:5 and it really touched me. This is talking about the best missionaries in the Book of Mormon and probably the world, and it is saying even their mission was really hard! It reads, " 5 Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit." This is a comfort to me that even though we all go through life and some look so much higher or better then us. we can see that they still had trials. It is like the army of Helaman they were all righteous young men and did what they were supposed to in Alma 57:25 it says that "[to] the joy of our whole army, there was not one a soul of them (the 2000 stripling warriors) who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds". Even the righteous are hit and attacked by the adversary but i think that it is perseverance and diligence that separates them from the average Joe they get up use the atonement and are made better through it their trials. Trials are blessings, they make us better if we use them how God wants us to. I am so grateful for the mountains that i have had to climb and i look for the next one ahead of me.

2. Mark and Brenda are the awesome part member family that I mentioned last week and we went back and gave them an awesome lesson! Mark said something great that i really like. He said that he loved our visits that he is a very busy guy with a really busy life. but he said he was really excited that we were coming back that after our first visit. He said that he never really gets excited about much but he loved the good feeling that we bring into his home! So he invited us back this Tuesday! They have lots of potential and i am very excited to see where this leads to. I can tell they will be a very strong family in the gospel, I am just so very blessed to help them in that journey to the gospel. 

3. Rachelle is another lady I talked about last week. We had an awesome lesson with her and her member boyfriend. She said that the first time we showed up there was a white light around me and Elder Farris and that she knew right then that we had something very important to give to her! So i am very happy about that and hope she continues to feel the lobe she has felt as she meets with us.

4. I have been on my mission for 6 MONTHS!!!!! Man that is so crazy, I feel like it was just a few days ago i was in the MTC and now look where I'm at in Marianna teaching the gospel and training! Sp that is awesome! It is a missionary tradition to burn a tie when you get to 6 months so i did that on Saturday night! Sadly my companion wasn't the most camera talented so i didn't get any pictures of the actual burning, but i got a pre-burn picture! The 6 on the tie is made out of some super flammable stuff a member taught me to make.. I won't say what it is cause i don't want my mom to worry! but it worked great! happy 6 months!

5. We went to a funeral at a church on the black side of town. one of the sisters' investigators had a family member died so we went with them. Man did we get some bad stares walking in, but after a while they all loved us! It was a super cool church and they all talked about how their faith in Christ is what they should focus on during this time of trials! But man do i love their songs! It is really fun to sing with drums in church! But don't worry, i am not going to convert cause they have a really cool rockband!

6. Brother McDaniels, our high councilor, gave an awesome missionary thought in priesthood. he is a Sergeant in the Army and told us that he received a call during sacrament that one of his soldiers had died, and his job was to call his mother. He said he was about to leave church but instead he stayed because he felt like he should. So he did and told us he was comforted by the spirit and he said that he knew if he did not have the spirit with him he could not have made the call. He then challenged us all to bring people to church so they could feel the same spirit that he was feeling! Man it was so great, Ii could feel the spirit so strong as he spoke. 

7. President Parker of the stake presidency spoke to us on sunday about home teaching. It was great. He told us we should not look at it like an assignment but a privilege that we get to do this. The Lord has let us prune a part of his vineyard for him. That as we home teach we are personally accounting to  the Lord for what we do. We should home teach because of love for the people not cause of the calling. He went on to say that home teachers should be your best friends, those people that you call in the good or bad times! The ones that you can say "hey guess what!" or say " i need help". I challenge you all to be those home and visiting teachers!

8. President Bess, the stake president our stake, the Dothan Alabama stake, came and talked a lot about home teaching and it was really great! He told us a story about the best home teacher he ever had. Before this guy, Eddie Roy Harrison, was a member, his wife was one and they went to general conference. His grand daughter wrote the prophet at the time and said that he had to meet her grandfather! So Gordon B. Hinckley took time out of his schedule to talk with her grandfather. This act of love by the prophet is why he joined the church. He then became an amazing home teacher, who was also a great friend. he didn't know a lot about the gospel but he cared a lot and that is what matters

9. So we received a referral this week and it is going to be awesome to teach it. Well here is the deal... the people who want to learn more are from Guatemala and speak a Mayan language called Mam, which is nothing like Spanish. The guy who speaks this language can speak Spanish and a little tiny bit of english so he will translate for us. But man this is going to be a really interesting experience, I guess I will be praying very hard for the gift of tongues! 

10. This was one of the greatest moments of my mission so far. We have been working with a less active family a lot! And we have been going over there almost every week! They love the missionaries but they have a little boy that is 7 and will be baptized in December. The grandma and mother asked me to baptize him in December. T almost teared up in the middle of church it was great. but the little kid, Teagan, was so excited and wanted me to baptism him so hopefully i get that chance!

 I love you so much and pray for you all!

Love, 

Elder Taylor

6 more weeks of Marianna!

I will start off on a spiritual note this morning! This week I have been studying on Hope (every week i choose a new christ like attribute and learn more about it). I never realized how important hope was! First comes faith, then comes hope, then charity, which is the most important of all other attributes to have (1 cor 13 & Moroni 7). We must have hope for eternal life, and to posses that hope we have to realize that today's pains are just a way station on the road to eternal life! I love it and i hope you all can be hopeful in your life!

1. So I guess this morning i went outside and saw my shadow like a groundhog case there are 6 more weeks in good ole Marianna! I'm actually excited-- by the time this transfer ends I'll be almost 8 months in! Crazy stuff! Time flies when you serve the Lord! But I'm excited that i will get to finish training Elder Farris and get to see some of my new investigators progress!

2. We had an awesome lesson with a part member family! It was great! Mark and Brenda Clements are their names and they are really good people! Mark was a deacon but that is as far as he went. But now he is 33 and married with 2 kids so he sees how important church will be. He says that every night he prays with his kids and knows that prayer and Christ are very important in their lives! So we taught about families and Christ and it went awesome. The wife loved it so we are really excited to go back and talk to them again this week! If they are as solid as they seem they will be awesome church members in no time!

3. Rachelle is an investigator that we found last night! She seems to be awesome we had an awesome 1st lesson with her. She is dating a member and told us that she was looking for the true church cause every church she has been to so far was a liitle off! So we told her that we could help her find that church which is the church of Christ! She has had a really rough past and a lot of trials but she is looking to get past them all and find Christ in her life so hopefully she understands we have what she needs!

4. Peanut boil was awesome! A peanut bol (southern pronunciation) was a ward  social that we had. Early in the morning we picked peanuts for a few hours and then they boiled them all day! By 530 they were as tasty as tasty can be! It was a very interesting taste, not like peanuts you get from ball games! Much softer. I cant really describe the taste but they were good! President and Sister Smith came for the day and i think they enjoyed it! But it was a great event we had about 200 people, which was a huge crowd!

5. Bradley Entress. I have talked about him a few times and man he is an awesome guy! We visited him and he was so grateful to have us out with him. He is one of the most humble people i have ever met! He is great ,he is also getting ready to go to the temple next month and is so excited for that! You have never met a more enthusiastic guy! He just loves the gospel and tells us how blessed he is to have received it!

6.Primary program! man little kids are the missionaries of the church! we have never had to open the overflow in our chappel before and it was open with extra chairs it was aweome! it is so cuter seeing the little kids stand up there and preach the gospel i know for sure the spirit is stringer with little 8 yearolds than anyone else! atleast when they sit still and listen! my favorite part is the song 'childs prayer' man that is so awesome i love it one of my favorite church songs! it is not fair the primary has all the fun songs!

7. Elder Bott is our District leader and man he is a great guy! I got to go on a trade-off with him and it was just awesome and we did so much. That was the day we had an awesome lesson with the Clemets! He is a great kid but he is sadly moving to be a district leader over in tallahassee so I'll miss him but I have learned a lot from him!

8. Sister Vicki Baker is an awesome lady in our ward! On Monday she called us up because she knew we had no food that week and she fed us every single night! It was so nice and generous of her to help us out the way she did that. And also she owns a bakery so we got some pretty darn good sweets to go with it so I loved it! Might have to let out my pants now though! 

9. There is a great video I want you all to watch! It is based on Henry B. Eyring's talk from a few conferences ago and I love it! It is on http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages and it is called mountains to climb it is great example to over come trails and how we should look at trials. I hope it helps someone reading this letter cause it helped me a lot!

10. So to end on a funny note, I have  a nick name in this ward! Only the older crowd might get it but my name is Opie Taylor! Like from the Andy Griffeth show! I thought it was pretty funny but hey, they say they give names only to the missionaries that they like, so that is a good sign right??

Love you all Elder taylor

Wake me up when September ends

Don't worry I am not dreading this month, just what I though the subject should be. It's a song!

1. Elder Farris is a great guy, he is so musically gifted it is crazy! He can play any song on the piano with only hearing it all the way through the chorus once, it is insane! But he just got a guitar mailed to him and man he jams hard on that also! He is way good! I told him to play I know my redeemer lives and he played it right there never having played it before! If that is not a god given gift i do not know what is!

2. Me and Elder Farris got to go on a trade off with the zone leaders and Elder Call came down and spent the day with us. He is an awesome guy! I learned so much from him! He is such an example of what kind of missionary I want to be as I progress through my mission! He told me I was heading in the right direction and that I was the perfect fit for training Elder Farris because he is a little "corky" which is very true! It is amazing how patient i have become over the last 6 months. and I'm grateful that i have become more patient because you need al ot of that to train an 18 year old! But still I love it!

3. Randy Whiteman is a guy we have been teaching for almost 3 months now! He practices Scientology.... so don't see too many of those in the bible belt and it is super interesting, but last Monday when we met with him I realized his progression! At first he wouldn't let us share anything! Now he is in 1 Nephi 20  and reads about 3 chapters a week; it is awesome! pPogress is progress no matter how slow! It was just noteworthy this week to see how far Mr. Whiteman has come since he first started! 

4. Unfortunately we had another funeral for a ward member. We have had 6 in the last 6 months so it's been a tough time for the ward, especially the relief society! But it was a beautiful service for sister Sherri Smith. She had Parkinson for about 30 years so it was a good thing. but it was just great. A sister who was very close with her gave a talk about how much Sister Smith meant to her it was one of the best funeral speeches/ talks on the plan of salvation i have every heard! Man it was amazing! another super spiritual part was as they rolled the casket out the side door the sun was shinning so brightly on it and as it went through the white curtain hanging from the door with the sun it was so bright an beautiful and knowing that she was returning to her father that gave her life! makes you appreciate the plan of salvation especially Alma 40!

5. Brother Jim Smith was Sherri's husband and man did I learn so much from that man! He was totally grateful for her passing because he knew she was in a better place and now without all the medical problems that she had! He also served his wife faithfully for all 30 years she had that disease, he never left her side! Always watching her, especially when it got worse and she was bed ridden he took care of her so well it was amazing! It taught me lessons for when i get married (a long time away mom!) but how much i should care for that poor girl i trick into marring me ;) But also as we visited with him he gave a referral who was a hospice nurse for his wife. He said that now that his wife is gone he said that he promised to the lord that he would be a devoted servant doing whatever the Lord asked! He is a great man who has so much faith!

6. Lorenzo Johnson is a less active member that we have been working with for a long time, but man is that guy insightful. He is one of the most spiritually in tune men that I have met, it is awesome! He talked to us a lot about temptations, which was interesting topic! He read to us James 1: 2-4 which talks a lot about that and how temptations are to try your patience it really got me thinking. I have become a really patient person in the last few months but i have realized that the adversary has been trying to tempt me to try my patience. It also talks about how we should rejoice when we receive trails because it is God giving us an opportunity to show our strength or make us stronger, which is an amazing principle!

7. The Nelsons are a LA family we have been working really hard and really long hours with, but they are so awesome! They talked also about trials. At one point they all lived in a tent, that's how poor they were! They said that the Lord blessed them with a roof, family and food. So they go around sharing the message of Christ with everyone, just trying to be good Christians wherever they go! They truly love each other. They have showed how families as imperfect as you can get can still be homes filled with christ and love! 

8. Brother McDaniels was a visiting speaker in the ward this week and he just did an amazing job! He talked about the parable of the 10 virgins, how we always needed to be ready! He then related the oil in the lamps to being worthy and having a temple recommend! Because when that day comes, when we need to go to the temple and the Lord is returning all those who can help you get to that point ie: bishops, stake presidents will be with the Bridegroom (Christ). He also talked about being bold in missionary work! He said that as a missionary he was so bold he invited the arch bishop of Dublin to church, but he lost that after his mission! So his challenge was to be bold go out there and invite them to come to Christ! As simple as coming to the primary program or a ward social! Expose them! I loved his talk, he is a great guy!

9. A not so top ten was I got sick! The sister missionary in the area, Sister Mckenzie was sick so I went to give her a blessing and 12 hours later I had the same thing as her! Man it was no fun just, a really bad cold! Couldn't walk more than 10 feet with out getting tired but don't fear, I am healthy and back to work!

- 10. Another not so top ten. So this is actually my least favorite thing that's is why it is a negative 10! LOVE BUGS they are the worst thing ever! They serve no purpose but all they do is reproduce and die! You never see a single love bug flying, thats' how they get their name! But their only predator is our windshield and my face when riding a bike! Oh and if you leave them on the car too long they destroy paint and they are so impossible to get off it is crazy! But got to love Florida! 

Love all you and hope you are all doing great! 

Elder Taylor

Pictures:

- Me and Bro Johnson

- Us and the nelsons!

- Me and my ghetto jewels

Our Imperfect Efforts

Great week in Marianna FL, but a very hot one!!! I hope all you youngins are having a good time back and school, and you youngins in heart, not necessarily in age, are having fun with all the kids back in school! I have a really good top ten this week so I'll get started!

1.“When we act in faith in Christ to do His work, He goes with us to serve others and blesses us to say just what they need to hear... what we actually say and actually do may feel a little awkward or not very polished. … But the Savior takes our words and our actions and He carries them through His spirit unto the hearts of the people. He takes our sincere but imperfect effort and turns it into something that is just right, indeed, into something that is perfect.” I love this quote  it is such a testament to all our efforts, missionary and member! The Lord truly does make the difference and delivers our message to the heart of those who need it! I have seen it cause the stuttering little kid that has left has seen the spirit testify of truth as he has grown! 

2. We have been spending a lot of time on the "ghetto" side of town but i love it! There are great people over there just stuck in a poor situation. It is like the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon, these people grow up in the traditions of their fathers thus see that as what is "okay to do" but there are some great people over there that are so humble and are missing something in their life. It is sad though. It is tough for black members to come to our ward cause as they do that they are shunned from their community. So that is not good, but another fun fact is that the black preachers preach out of the Book of Mormon! Our Bishop has said he has been at churches and the preacher will admit it to him but no one else! point is  Book Of Mormon is true! 

4. I got one of the best compliments this week! They said at a dinner I sound like I am from the south! It's official, only took me about 6 months to pick up the language but now I am fluent in it! This was at a dinner where i ate quail also. Man that is a good little bird! Better than chicken, just a little more work to get that meat!

5. I gave a blessing last Sunday and it was great. Her name was Floridalma! She can't speak one word of English! it is amazing she still comes to church! But i gave her a blessing because she had a fever! so since my Moa, which is an ancient aztec language she speaks, isn't very good i gave a blessing in english and the next day we stopped by and she was doing great! Power of faith and the priesthood right there!

6. Elma Sims as i have talked about before had a birthday so we went to her party! She is 92! She was so excited when I walked in, she gave me a big hug and a hand shake that lasted about 20 minutes then piled a plate full of food for me! She was leaving on a 2 week trip and wanted to specifically  make sure I would still be  here when she got home! I will be and she was so relieved! She told me to call her Grandma Sims! She is just adorable and great!

7. Petey Sims is a great guy in our ward. We went on splits with him and it was amazing how much he talked about his mission! I am grateful to be where I am. He went to Belgium! they have about 1/2 a baptism per missionary per 2 years! So i am in a very fruitful vineyard compared to that! And i am grateful from that! He told us how much his mission means to him and the lessons he has applied his whole life. He told us about how he cried when that plane left brussels! and said that is the measure of a true missionary if he doesn't go home after 2 years, he leaves home!

8. We had an awesome zone conference this week and we got to see President and Sister Smith and man, do they love their job! They love us and being missionaries so much! He has gotten about 30 referrals for random missionaries over the last few weeks just by talking to everyone he meets, which is our job! But I guess this car salesman can talk about anything, even the gospel!

9. The highlight of ZC was how to find better! You would never guess the new way they decided to help finding, they said that we need to start using family history! Imagine that! It makes so much sense cause the south everyone loves family and as they experience the spirit of Elijiah that is in Malachi 4: 5-6. but as they do family history they should feel the spirit and want to know why family history is so important! So if any of you wonder why Mormons do so much family history! Ask the missionaries they can help!

10. I'll close with a quote my Thomas S. Monson " wishing will not make it so. the lord expects our thinking. He expects our labor. he expects our testimonies. he expects our devotion" we must go out there and show that we are devoted to christ and are willing to show it through hard work! tracking is inefficient, but as you tract you show the Lord you are willing to work hard and he blesses you i know that from experience! 

Love you all and praying for you all, 

Elder Taylor