Holy stressful week but I made it!

Holy stressful week but I made it! its been a rough one!  

1 New missionary number one: Elder Savage! I thought he was going to be a huge rugby player... but that wasn't true. He's the opposite He's a really big nerd that likes magic (a card game), and video games, so it's been a rough adjustment period! But we are making it work! He's also been sick so that hasn't made it easy... not too much work going on!

2. Elder Sweenson is one of the elders that replaced the sisters and boy he is one of the funniest people in the world! He has made this week a lot better with his funny witty comments at the best times! I already love this kid! 

3. Elder Smith. He is also super funny and super cool! He knows a lot of my mission friends so that is really cool having connections like that! It's crazy in missionary work how you make so many friends!

4. Talking about friends, we had transfers down in Pensacola so I got to see a bunch of my buddies, it was so much fun! Brother Jones, a member who took us down to the transfers spot, said that it was like the host of heaven opened up and where ministering to us! Transfers are just so cool, you never feel such great love 

5. So it's been hot as of late. Like horrible. Like every time I go outside I want to die hot... Last week the heat index got to 120 degrees with the humidity, it was horrible! Soooooooooo hot and sweaty! Gross:p The pensacola bay water was up to 90 degrees! A whole bay was that hot! What in the world is happening?! 

6. Donald is our investigator and he has come to church 3 times!!!! So there is good growth there. He seems to be enjoying it but we will see what happens and if he keeps coming! 

7. The Sedricks, a family we have spent a lot of time with lately had an 8 year old with a baptism, and he asked me to give a talk on the holy ghost and stand in on his confirmation! It was super cool of him! HES MY LITTLE 8 year old homie! I love the Sedricks so much!

8. After that baptism, the Milton ward had a baptism of a little 8 year old black girl. probably the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life was at that baptism. Her garndfather took a picture of the new bible movies of Christ holding the children and photoshopped her in so she's standing right behind Jesus! I have never laughed at a baptism but i couldn't hold back when i saw that! It was so cool! Photoshop works miracles! 

9. This has been a stressful week but i have had so much fun it's been crazy. Its' great serving in a ward with two sets of elders! They are way more fun than sisters cause you can actually hang out! 

10. Bill Kranz! We have been working with him for a long time! He has been slowly progressing. But this week we stumped him! He has a problem with the word of wisdom and doesn't like how hot drinks means tea and coffee but we had an awesome lesson on inspiration and following the spirit to get your answers and usually he has a witty comment to come back to us on why he doesn't want to do it but all he could say is... well can't say anything about that! It was such a good lesson, he is just a stubborn old man once he gets over a little of it he will be a great member!

*** Bonus! So this morning i got out of bed at 3 because i had a dream a huge spider was on my bed and about to crawl on my face. By the time i realized it was a dream i was already in the kitchen... it was super weird!

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

TRANSFERS, Blessings and CTR

1. So i just found out about transfers... yeah sooo I'm training for the 5th time yeah and I'm a district leader which doesn't mean too much. Now i have to teach an 1 and half hour lesson once a week.. yeah not looking forward to that! But it will be an adventure! but yeah if i don't finish it's cause i was looking at all my friends being transferred! And me just sitting in a stupor cause I'm stressed again.. its a big responsibility training and it doesn't get easier after the 5th time! 

2. Donald! he was one of the sisters investigators but he got passed over to us. the sisters thought it would be a good idea and turns out it was cause they are both leaving!!! yeah for inspiration! but he's an old southern guy! i wish i could just record a lesson and send it cause he is a little off the rocker! but thats alright! he is still a good guy! 

3. we were out with our appointment falling through and i was just like let's go see the lawrences so we drove over to see them. bro lawrence was super sick and in bed he had kidney stones!!!! Ouch!!! that's no fun he was so gratfeul we showed up and gave him a blessing at the right time! yeah for inspiration!!! 

4. our ward is falling apart! one of the ladies fell on her face and broke her nose and has to get reconstructive surgery! so we gave her a blessing! also her husband was an investigator so turns out  we can't teach him for a while since his wife is recovering... bummer

5. sarah parry is a recent convert of the sisters and she broke her toe! so we gave her a blessing!  it was super cool because on sunday her mom told us that sarah had been super nervous going to the doctors but was fine afterwards! what a miracle! 

6. we challenged brother colagrossi a recent priesthood holder to give back to school blessings to his kids! he was super nervous about it but he did it! and it turned out great! the spirit was so strong so in total we were a part of 11 blessings this week! so priesthood was in use! it's great always being able to access that power! and I'm grateful i had that guidance every year from my dad! 

7. i had a trade off with elder whitney a missionary from milton! and murphy's law came into effect! yeah bad. funny story everything fell through it rained on us and my tire popped 3 times that day (6 times this week!!! what the heck is happening to my bike!) but it was so much fun regardless! Elder whitney is a great missionary and we are too alike so we laughed and laughed and laughed the whole time!! it was so much fun!

8. to keep me going through my murphy's week was this quote by Spencer w Kimball! "When we can't chose our circumstance the wise thing to do is to change our attitude about the circumstance! we cant change it might as well just change and get moving forward! 

9. Phinly! pronounced (fin-lee) She was an adorable little girl at a lesson! we taught this family obedience and gave them all CTR rings to remember to chose the right. but the youngest we didn't want to give it to because she was 3 and i was afraid she would eat it but as we were getting ready to leave! she came up to me and said in her little 3 year old  voice "can i have a wing pwease!" oh it was adorable her dad said we could so we did! i'm glad we weren't the bad guys!

10. sister smith the aunt of phinly and her other 3 sisters was giving them advice all night! and she is the funniest lady i have ever meet!!! she told them " boys are dirty until your 30" and " when life gets too hard just quit" haha don't worry she doesn't teach that to everyone she is just a comedian! if you knew my dad then you have someone to compare her too!

Love you guys and I'm excited for the adventures this next week! Pray for me!

Old Friends, Baptisms and Stuborrn Stumps

1. So an awesome thing happened this week! A family i taught in Monroe got baptized!!! It was super cool, I got to skype Steven and Deseray before the baptism and talk to them for a while and meet their brand new baby Micah! Deseray was 8 months pregnant when i left! But it was so cool to see the change in them and their desires as they got close to baptism it was just a testimony that the gospel is true and it changes people which is awesome!!! I'm grateful for them! It is also cool that the missionaries teaching them are Elder Peterson and Elder Farris, two missionaries that i trained! Imagine that! Small world! 

2. Bill Crowder is a new investigator we have for this week. It's crazy he has been married to a member of the church for 47 years! He was recently sick and almost died because of heart problem and his grandson who is serving a mission right now in Japan asked him to take the lessons! So he is finally feeling better and ready to take the lessons! so that is awesome! He is a rough cowboy i brought up that my sister had a Tennessee Walker and he went off for 15 minutes on a horse rant about a fair they have every year in Tennessee. He loves horses it is pretty funny! But he is a great guy and he is realizing all these misconceptions he has had about his wife's church are just him not understanding.. so we already set a few things straight! So we will see where we can get Bill!

3. Kathy-  I talked a little about her last week! We sat down with her and had a good meeting. She struggles with the concept of authority but she is trying so hard to understand it and find the truth! We challenged her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon so it went well. She told us that she really does want to find the truth!

4. We have been trying to talk to everyone! It's so hard sometimes because it is so easy to come up with an excuse to not talk with someone!!! But we have been working super hard on it! And one day this week we talked to 23 people, it was awesome! You never know who the lord is preparing if you don't talk to them!!!!

5. We got to pull stumps again! Yeah for digging in 94 degrees with 80 % humidity! So much fun.... it actually was.. we were at the Sedricks and last time i was there i promised  their kids porter 8 and logan 9 that i would jump on the trampoline with them so we got to have a little fun! All work and no play is never a  good thing right?! at the end of the day Brother Sedrick was so grateful he said thanks a million times! And i wore sunscreen this time mom!

6. I realized a mission just confuses you when you are deciding what you want to do with your life! ITS THE TRUTH! Bro Sedrick is a marine helicopter pilot and that has gotten me thinking.... he gave me some good ideas and said he would write a recommendation for me if i decided to do that! So who knows, right?

7. A missionary came home from the Pace ward this week and he said something that i liked. He said a mission is like a game and Urban Meyer, a football coach said about football games "THEY ARE WON AND LOST IN THE FIRST AND LAST FIVE MINUTES OF EACH HALF." So as I close in on the figurative last 5 minutes I'm being sure to work hard. I don't want to be like Alabama last year playing auburn and give it up with 2 seconds (**disclaimer: i was obedient and did not watch that game even though i know a lot of missionaries that did, i only heard about it) 

8. I'm out of time... love you guys!!!!

9. We got exciting news. We heard that in 3 weeks a general authority is coming to the mission Craig Zwick of the seventy is coming! It's intimidating though because he wants to interview and role play with missionaries! so I'm a little stressed but it should be fun! 

10. Our ward mission leaders house got attacked! One of his daughters came down with lice! So for three days they were combing hair and washing clothes! Brother Summers the dad just laughed because he is bald! 

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

Skyping with Elder Peterson, and steven and dessire!!!