1. We had a zone training where we got to spend time as a zone and with the stake president. The stake president is an awesome guy! He is just different and he told us to be different! That is how you get people interested .He said that when he would go tracting or knocking on doors in his mission he had a different approach than any other elder in the mission. He said he would knock and ask " do you know me?" They would respond "NO!" they had never seen him before he would then quickly reply " well do you know Jesus Christ" they would say "yes!" and his final reply would be " well Christ sent me as a representative to your home today and he wants you to get to know me!" He said people would be shocked when he would do that but because he was different people liked him! He was still himself when he was in missionary mode, so I am trying to apply that to myself even more!
2. He then told us a story about prayer! As a kid he was very poor and had no money. One winter they had no food to eat so his dad, a city slicker, decided he would go hunting! So he buys a gun and a license and says a prayer with faith that God would provide meat for him and his family to eat, and off into the woods he heads! After hours he sees something moving along a ridge above his head which he climbs up to! There was just a few torn up trees nothing else but then he heard a roar and looked up and about 50 yards away was a bear and he was in between the bear and his honey tree! So he gets his gun as the bear stares him down and decides to charge! He fires and hits it while falling back on his butt in the mud! The bear fell down the hill, he thought he had just scared it off but as he reached the base he saw the bear sitting straight up against a tree stump the bullet which he thought had missed went down the bear's throat and down his spine and out his belly button; a perfect shot! The moral of this story is have a specific prayer because God answers specific prayers and non specific prayers! He said his dad after that experience never prayed for just meat but a dear! So be careful when praying you will get your answer, just not in a way you expect it!
3. The zone leaders then talked about finding people to teach and they talked about pools where we can "fish"; there are ways to find that are more effective and less effective. Less effective would be tracting, more effective would be member referrals and part-member families! But he then said there is one pool that is locked from us right now. That pool is the spirit world! They then said that the church has sent 12 missionaries to go work in that field this year alone, which is a sad but humbling fact. It is our job on this side to find those who need to accept the gospel so that their deceased families can have their ordinances done for them! It was such an interesting concept that as we work through family history we will have the spirit on helping us and encouragement given to our investigators from the other side of the veil by deceased family that is eagerly waiting to accept this gospel! Family history is real and does work!
4. There was a quote by David A. Bednar that helped me this week and I hope will help you! He is talking about revelation and when we do receive a prompting and how we can discern that from our own thoughts! His answer to this was "everything that invites and entices us to do good and be good is from God" I really like that we don't know when our thoughts persuade us to do something but if it is good and is moral, then it is from God!
5. Oh man, Iron Bowl! I envy all you who got to watch that! But boy was that a weird thing! The city was a ghost town during that game! You could see tumble weeds brushing through town! It was crazy! We had to come back home 'cause no one wanted to talk and there was no one to even talk to! But it was a good game! The second counselor in our branch presidency is the only Auburn fan in the Branch and boy I had never see that guy smile so much in his life! People in Alabama love their football! War eagle! ( that means go auburn! mom) The quote of the day came from Bro Fralick, the guy I was just talking about. He said "God must be an Auburn fan cause he made the sun orange and the sky blue!"
6. Thanksgiving was a crazy day! We had 3 dinners! The first was at Kenny Roy Johnson's at noon and consisted of boiled peanut (YUM), coon and sweet tators (gross) deep fried turkey (yum) and the best Pecan pie you ever did have! I was missing something great when I didn't eat pecan pie at home it is so good! It is also awesome, pecan trees are everywhere they fall and you just grab a few and crack them and man those are the sweetest snack you can get! Dinner two was at the Cosper's (a family in the ward) we had turkey and dumpling which was so good and chocolate pie! Then we had a huge feast at Marion Johnson's and by the end of the night you couldn't pay me to take another spoon full of anything! I have never been so full in my life, it was great!
7. We did a service project for a member of the ward , Joe Gregson, who hurt himself a few weeks ago. We helped pull all his corn! It was a good little job, the weeds were as high as the corn stalks so we were all scratched up when we were climbing through the weeds to get that corn! It was good hard work! I'm grateful for machines who do that work now and weed killers! That was some good work but so much fun! It was great service, I have truly learned that when you are in the service of your fellow man you are also in the service of your God! Joe was so grateful but on Sunday he said he could tell some city slickers were helping because there were a few pieces of corn stock in the big bin of corn!
8. We got to spend Sunday with some members, one was buck lane! He is the funniest guy you will ever meet. We sad around with some of his family for a hour or so and he was laughing telling us stories and having a good time! He is so positive and always looks at the bright side. It is great to see this positive recent convert that wants to do anything he can to help this church! He also has the cutest 8 month old ever! babies are the best!
9. Things missionaries are grateful for! Mail, members who feed us! Members who drive us, members at all, referrals, food, tracting, jackets, bug spray, ties, friends, sweedish fish, did i say mail yet ;) awesome families, teaching, the opportunity to serve, the gospel, The Book of Mormon, Most importantly Christ! Without him we would have nothing! Just a few things I was grateful for this Thanksgiving season.
10. This is my challenge to you all in this busy time of the year! Take time to watch this video and remember the true reason of Christmas! It might not be the day Christ was actually born but we celebrate the fact he was born! Remember Christ as you get busy! And give a gift to someone this season like these kids, a gift without a price tag! I promise you will have a happier and more joyful season!
I love you all and grateful for you!
Elder Taylor
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