Peacock, talks and holes in my pants!

A good week in Florida. We are slowly getting our feet under us and getting to work!

1. I had a talk and talked on conversion! I thought I would have 15 minutes so I prepared all my notes and everything and then last minute they said I had 5 minutes! so i cut a lot out! I was so flustered I lost my talk! So I just went by the spirit and it went great! I felt like it was a great talk! I got a lot of positive responses so that is always a plus! 

2. Our ward mission leader gave us a great talk on perseverance. it was awesome! It was the University of Texas commencement address! You might just want to google it- it's called "adm. mcrowen urges graduates to change the world" It's the life lessons he learned from seal training! If you get a chance, look it up! its great! 

3. We met a less active this week named Leo Williams! He's an old guy and he answered the door and the first thing he said is come on in guys but just so you know, I'm not the best Mormon! haha He is in his 80's. We talked to him about his life and he talked about his wife and it was so darn adorable! He kept saying "excuse me but every time i talk about her it brings tears to my eyes because I just love her so much!" It was the perfect old people love story! old people are so precious! Hopefully ill make it to that point! 

4. I got to give a spiritual though this week in ward council! with ... no time to let me know! The bishop just called on me! so the first thing that came to my head was Moses 6:13 which talks about how Enoch was such a powerful servant of the lord! but before he became this powerful servant he was a man who couldn't talk. But because he had faith in the lord he was able to do so many amazing things! When he spoke mountains moved, armies fled and lions roared! i related it to how the Lord will do that for us as we faithfully fulfill our callings! It was awesome experience because when I started I was nervous but I kept going. I felt the spirit and then it flowed so naturally it was a perfect example of how the spirt works in us! how when the spirit starts taking over its so easy! 

5. We did service for a lady.. there were some bad floods a few weeks ago around here and they destroyed a lot of property! So it was crazy going into a home and the bottom 2 feet of the house was cut out. the sheet rock was just destroyed so they had to take it out! If you were a 2 foot tall person you could have seen the whole house from the front door! It was just cool but sad to see what happens after a storm! Hopefully we won't get a hurricane this year!

6. We saw a wild peacock! what in the world!? I had no idea those things existed in the wild! It was super cool! No super great picture though... sorry! 

7. we have been biking a lot lately! Like a crazy amount. we have been riding so much that I wore a hole through the rear end of my pants! Holy smokes! But that just tells you you have been sitting on a bike for too long! 

8. I did my first turkey bowling last week on pday! I'll be a pro bowler by the time I'm home!

9. i had a major reality check this week! There is a girl in the ward who was graduating and going to byu idaho this year so i was talking to her about it and all. Then she told me she was going fall and spring semester! and i realized that I'll be up there next spring semester! Can you believe that? It was a super big reality check on how little time i have left out here so I better get to work! 

10. So a funny awkward story to end it off! There is a girl in our apartment complex that goes running everyday and I'm trying to be nice to our neighbors so I said hi and then asked if she was going running and she replied yes. Then comes the awkward part. I meant to say "wow even when its this hot?" I instead said, "wow even when your that hot?".... ya awesome awkward moments! So mom you don't have to worry about me getting married soon after i get home cause i can't even talk to girls!!!haha

i love yall have a great week! 

Elder Taylor

Greetings from Pace, FL

So crazy week and no email time.. I'll do my best!!!

1. We had zone conference and President Smith talked about responding to anti mormon literature! Super good talk! He talked about Christ's original 12 apostles and how they were all imperfect! Peter denied Christ, Thomas didn't believe him, and Judas betrayed him. But just cause those three did all that did it make the church that Christ set up not true? No!!! It just means it was led by imperfect people! Same with the restored church! We are not led by perfect people, but just cause one of them did something silly 200 years ago does not mean this church is not true! Great lesson! 

2 President Smith talked about a question. What would Christ say about my area? So we all took turns answering that! One elder said Christ would invite all those home! It's so true, so we need to be like Christ.. do we do what Christ wants us to do? Are we working how he would have us work, or are we not? It really made me think! Great great talk but we are doing what Christ would do if he were here! No pressure, right???

3. Surprise! I got emergency transferred to Pace, FL! haha FL smells way better the AL but that's alright. The missionary here was having really hard time, so Sister Smith suggested to president they send me so they did!!!! Now i know it's the truth, she told me I'm her favorite!!! Pace is a good sized city!  Bigger than anything I've been in before so I'm super stoked about that! But i was sad to leave all my buddies!!! Oh well, I'll see them on the other side! My new comp is named Elder Beahan (BANE!) How cool is that?!

4. Since I got transferred I got to go to two zone conferences and it was sooo sooo great!!! I loved it! It was cool to see president teach to the missionaries' needs!!! It was awesome, the spirit that was felt was amazing. He had a great spur of the moment testimony meeting that went an hour late! It was crazy!!! But such an amazing meeting!

5. Sister Smith, the mission president's wife taught me how to sew! Check out the blog! I had time to wait after a meeting and she helped me sew up my shirts. Haha... it was great. I love that lady, she is awesome! 

6. We got to skype home and an awesome family opened up their home very last minute so we could come home! The Colograssis.. they were inactive since 2007 and then decided that they needed to get back so they fixed it all up and got to church! They are so darn solid now it is crazy! You could never tell they were inactive.

7. I got to see my MOM and family! Even though we were in 5 different locations, we were all able to speak together. I love technology! It is so great and wonderful!!!

8. There are so many people in this city. It is bigger than any I have served in before. It is awesome!!! I love it.. we talked to 13 random strangers last week! So that was way cool! It also has two super churches across the street from each other!  There is crazy Sundayafternoon traffic! Haha

9. We have a really big military ward! Lots of Marines!!! It's cool, it's not huge but its almost double what we had in Monroe! There are also a ton of primary kids!!! So it's super cool but really weird that I'm not talking to just old people!

10. We had a ninja squirrel at the library jump out and attack Elder Peterson HAHA! It was so funny! Just jumped out of a blind and got him!!! Nothing great as a crazy squirrel coming for your comp! 

I LOVE YOU ALL and am grateful for y'all! Happy Mothers Day! 

Elder Taylor 

Me and the ladies at the museum I worked at! They gave me a free shirt!

Saying bye to Jason and Dale in Monroe

Ninja turtle! Ya that's how big the turtles get in Alabama! Thats an alligator snapping turtle shell also!

LAST DISTRICT PICTURE

A Short week, so you only get a Top 5

1. So the main reason I only have a top 5 is because we had a HUGE storm come through! The only warning we had was our homie Muhammad from last week said a storm could come through soon! And sure enough it came! Tornadoes, rain and the whole 9 yards! Our area got about 4 inches in rain in an hour, wish we could send it to California! It was crazy! I'm a heavy sleeper, you could roll me off my bed and I would still be asleep but i woke up because there was so much lightning and thunder it was crazy! It looked like I was at a laser show! So cool but crazy! The next morning we went to a meeting and at the meeting we had conference call and heard about the rest of the mission. Apparently a few tornadoes touched down and a few sets of sisters had their apartment flood! But besides that we were pretty safe! President was worried about us he said we had some bad stuff north of us but we made it! 

2. We were told to stay inside for two days and guess what? Where were at it was SUNNY!!! 6 elders were stuck in two apartments for 2 full days and being stuck in as a missionary is the worst! You have no TV to watch or computer so we sat and stared at each other! We actually ended up going to our front yard and played rugby since it was warm outside and then played cards all night. It was so bad, I would have knocked on doors than sit inside for another two days! I got to play rugby though, and I love it so that was cool! Besides that it was lame sauce with no fries!  

3. So cool story. We have a legally blind elder in the mission, actually right in the area below me. When he got to the mission his mom was worried like any mother is but especially since he was blind! His Mom called the mission president at the time President Dale Jesnsen, and asked his opinion. He then gave a prophetic statement and said that as long as he is in the mission he promises that a hurricane will not land on the mission! It's been true so far actualy! We have had a few storms but he has been out for 20 months and no hurricane has come through yet! Crazy story and I know we are safe for 4 more months!  

4. One day walking out of Walmart these guys asked us to support their cause, which was Alabama Teen Challenge. I had a dollar so we gave it and talked for a bit because they thought we were Jehovah's witnesses! They ended up being part of a drug recovery program. It was a program that heavily uses the bible and preaching to help these people overcome drug addictions! One of them was a super cool 26 year old and told me that he was on heroine for 8 years before he came to that program! Both these guys were super cool and friendly and awesome, and loved Christ ever since they started in this program. It is good to see that people were being healed through Christ! It is amazing the change these two made and it is just awesome to know that we can change! 

5. I met a guy who was adopted from Korea when he was a baby and brought to the south! So the product was a korean guy with a southern accent! It is so cool you would have never thought it possible, but it is amazing! 

Sorry its kind of a bummer week.. not too much to report but that's what happens when you get stuck staring at each other for two days! love you all have a great week! 

Happy Mother's Day all you moms out there especially my mom! Love you! 

Elder Taylor