Conference, New Responsibilities, and Redheads!

Great week this last week!

1. So it was sad since i knew i was getting transferred, I got to make my rounds and say bye to a lot of great families! I'm so grateful! There are so many families I got close to in Pace so it was tough saying bye to a lot! Like the Sedrick family! Brother Sedrick is a big tough marine but gave me a hug! It was super cool! I love the Pace ward! 

2. So the two Sedrick boys, Logan and Porter, loved my scripture case! It was just cardboard and duct tape but they believed not a thing could have been cooler than that! So they kept trying to make their own! so i went out and got some sweet Avenger duct tape and made them a box of their own! Porter disappeared and wrote me a letter about how much he loved me and I was the best missionary he has ever had! And then he gave me two dimes to show his love! Love only an 8 year old understands!

3. The Rodgers form Monroeville were coming through town and we got to have dinner with them! I love those people so much! I'm grateful i got to see them! And now I'm in the Mobile stake so I get to see all my Monroe friends at stake conference in two weeks! #tendermerciesofthelord!

4. Transfers were so much fun! It's the first time I got to see a lot of my friends in a super long time! Elder Peterson, one missionary I trained, got made a zone leader! But... i did also! So now instead of being over 6 missionaries, I'm over 24, which is a pretty small zone! But it's going to be interesting and a lot of fun! 

5. My new companion is Elder McKay Miller! He is so awesome! And wait for it!!!! a.... REDHEAD Yeah when the assistant announced it he said its the redest companionship in the mission! It was so awesome. Also because i know Elder Miller and already love him! I'm so grateful I got to be with him!  

6. Fairhope Alabama is where I'm serving! It is soo interesting. It's a small country town that has lots and lots of money! It's super odd. It's not too big but has tons of super nice clothing stores and other nicer places. It's just very interesting! But the ward is awesome! We are part of the Daphne, Alabama ward! So it is a great ward and I'm just excited to be in it! 

7. Being zone leader is stressful! It has been a huge adventure though and has been a lot of fun! I actually have a missionary companion in the zone that I will be able to work a lot with and its extra cool because he is going home in Decemeber! so it will be way fun! I actually get to go on a tradeoff with him tomorrow! The first few days have been busy we had to drive through Mobile to go to a stake meeting since we work a lot with stake laaders as zone leaders. And Mobile is sketchy! It reminds me of LA! 

8. Sam King! Sam is awesome. He is an investigator that I met yesterday.. he is so awesome! He is actually getting baptized this Saturday so that is super cool and I'm excited for that! He is a great kid and wants to do nothing more than serve a mission!!! He is solid! I' excited for him and his future! His dad is opposing it a little bit but he is pushing though. And his mom just died a month ago form huntingtons.. so its a sad time for him but he has found light in the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

9. Conference was so good and I could talk about it for hours! It was so powerful! A member pointed out a super big underlying theme! OBEDIENCE. That is so true, I saw it in almost every talk. The prophets must be trying to tell us something! I received so much personal revelation it was awesome. I love conference!

10. This one is for my mom! I enjoyed Tad R. Callister's talk about teaching the gospel in the home! Especially about his mom telling him he needed to pray daily to be led to the right girl to marry! Don't worry people! I am focused on the task at hand, not getting married!!! Oh thats scary! hah 

I love you all! 

Elder Taylor

Donohoe fam!

Logan Sedrick! i made him and his brother an avengers scripture box and got the best letter from them!

carrol fam

cologrossis!

my favorite family the Sedricks!!!!

Basketball, Bike Tires and Barcelona!

A week full of miracles!!!

1. We had these investigators, The Gainies, that were just going in circles and we never could do anything with them, which is crazy cause they almost got baptized last year. We were going to see them and met their neighbor, Maria!!! She is awesome! she has tons of potential! so we are happy! We taught her twice this week. She has had a rough life but she loves reading about Jesus. She actually is from Barcelona Spain so we got her a spanish Book of Mormon and she was so happy and loves reading it! So we are excited to keep working with her!

2. I went on trade off with Elder Swenson, a missionary in Pace, it was great! I have never laughed so much in my life. He is the funniest guy in the world, I love it!!!! We had a great time, taught a few lessons and just had a ball! I'm grateful we have such great elders in this district!!!

3. We had zone training this week and it was so darn good! Spiritual nourishment to the max! The Milton sister gave a great talk on recognizing and following the holy ghost! The three things we have to do to recognize the spirit more in our life are: 1. have a desire to change, Elder Zwick of the 70 said " if you have the desire to change you will have the spirit" it is desire that qualifies us for the work!!! 2. We need to pray fervently for the spirit! PRAY PRAY PRAY! then you will get it 3. Obey and faithfully follow the spirit! As we do this the promptings will be easier to follow!!! 

4. The zone leader then talked about how we can expand our faith! 4 ways we can do that are: 1. Pray for faith! A common theme I see! 2. Repent daily! Repentance is a positive, uplifting experience! 3. Keep the commandments! 4. Study the scriptures. As we do these our primary answers our faith will increase! It was a great meeting and I received a lot of revelation! 

5. After zone training we had a district leader conference and that was awesome. one of the zone leaders that I love and respect so much told me very sincerely "You are all called of god specifically because you can help those in your area and district. There is a reason you are district leaders and it's because you have a lot to give! So i thought that was super cool! It was way more powerful then, sorry.... 

6. We have been biking around a lot and now I try to say a prayer before we go that we will be led! And bam we got led to a recent convert that totally fell off the deep end and he was super happy to see us! Miracles of following the spirit, am I right? 

7. We helped a family cut bamboo to make walking sticks it was way fun! I wish I had a panda it would have made that job easier! Bamboo can be a pain sometimes though!!! It grows like weeds, especially when you only have super dull clippers!

8. A family that came to church a few weeks ago, The Registers. We haven't been able to talk to them since and we finally caught them at home! They actually wanted to come back to church so that was sweet!!! I'm excited to see what happens and they fed us some beast mode tacos!!! I love tacos! 

9. Saturday basketball! We have started to have a basketball morning and it is actually fun! The only thing that would have made it better is if i didn't stink at basketball but I'm getting better very slowly but it's still better than nothing, right?

10. I now have sweet road bike tires on my mountain bike. The tread on my original tires was just too bad and the guy at the bike shop suggested these! They are sweet and make me feel super cool!! Got to love it, right? 

Love you all! 

Elder Taylor

picture drown by Logan Sedrick the coolest 9 year-old alive we taught primary!!!!

dog selfie

best sign in pace!

Head Banging, Packages, Eyring, and Reality Checks

1. There is an awesome video I'm not sure what it is from but its so darn good! It's a combination of talks on missionary work and the atonement by Jeffery R Holland and this day by Henry B Eyring, both members of the 12 apostles. But Hernry B Eyring talks about not being complacent in where we are at. Although we may do great things for the church it is never okay to say I have done enough, I can rest. We need to look at the Savior's life. Once he preformed the atonement and was crucified he did not go and rest till his resurrection. Through modern day revelation (D&C 138) we see that the savior did not stop; he kept working there was time to be spent and work to be done so he kept going! That is something I am really trying to apply especially as I open the last 6 months of my mission.... 

2. Speaking of last six months, I had a freak out last night! haha it was kind of a reality check because I go home on 13th of March and i realized it was the 14th of september!!! And no mom, just casue i know the supposed date doesn't mean you can start counting down the days! :) I guess that goes for all yall! No day number emails! 

3. Going back to the talk by Eyring, he talked about how he gets complacent. an apostle gets complacent... imagine that!!! That's so crazy but we all can get to that point I guess! He says he has a rallying cry which is "remember him" remember that christ never took a break and as disciples of our savior jesus christ we need to keep moving this work forward and step that isn't forward is backwards!!! That's the truth right there! 

4. Surprise fact: I'm actually in milton right now! Last night i had to go on an emergency trade-off. My buddy, Elder Whitney, was going through a really hard time with the kid he is training elder bovee, he is super duper difficult . A good kid but won't listen at all to anything you say... but it was a fun night! <y mom sent me a package with lucky charms so we had to go borrow milk form the sisters so we could eat lucky charms for a night time snack. #magicallydelcious 

5. My mom sent me a huge package!!! It was crazy and it came on Sunday??? What's happening  in the world? Mail comes on sundays now? But it was a huge package of food! I stuffed all the good stuff! I dare you guys to try and beat it! New contest: let's see who can send me a better package!  Just kidding but thanks so much for the food mom! My missionary budget appreciates it!

 

6. The Milton sisters just baptized the coolest family! The Busby's. It's a dad, Marty, and two kids William 14, and Marty Jr 17. They are so darn awesome. Mow that I'm a district leader I got to interview them! and the two kids love me now! One looked me up on instagram and started to follow me! (i had no part in this it was elder whitney and his companion that were with him when he did it) But just a great family that I'm grateful are members of the church now! 

7. Brother Bill Kranz! He is so great but drives me crazy at the same time. He is living the word of wisdom for 3 weeks now. No coffee and no smoking but now we have no idea what his concern is! He's so close!!!! It is crazy, we will see what the lord and us can do! 

8. We started to do this new thing will we go over to a member's and teach them a lesson and then ask them to find a person to hear the lessons by a date. We went over to the Weeler's a family in the ward on Thursday with a whole game plan to get them to do missionary work. As we walk in the dad says great so we are running behind but we have an investigator coming! First time ever on my mission that happened! But we had a dinner with Greg then shared with him the Book of Mormon! It was super cool sad thing is though he lives in Milton so we will see what happens :(

9. I got to go on a trade off with Elder Smith, one of the Pace B elders and it was great. I always enjoy spending time with other missionaries.. it is so great! But he is a great kid and a great missionary!! It's a blessing about being district leader, I get to work with all the elders in the district! 

10. I was sleeping this week and I head-butted a wall... yeah it was bad. I broke the wall... i don't know what i dream about but its the second time it has happened, the first time I did it we had a concrete wall and that ended bad...

love yall! 

Elder Taylor

care package goodness!

head-butting the wall in my sleep for the win!

Elder Taylor Weekly! 78?? Can you believe that!!!

1. So last week i told about me rebuking the ward council in the Pace ward and it was awesome! So this sunday we had a missionary fast so that we could all be prepared to do missionary work and the bishop caught on! It was great! The whole ward is now looking for people to share the gospel with! He told us to review D&C18:16 talking about the worth of souls and that we need to open our mouths, talking to our friends! Best part is he said well elders get ready to be busy and work hard! Music to a missionary's ears when the bishop who is in charge of missionary work says that!

2. Mark and Brenda Clements! if you are a weekly subscriber to Elder Taylor Weekly you might recall those names! Even though it was a year ago I started to teach them! They were an awesome part member family in Marianna! When i left they were going strong, but the missionaries that came behind me kind of destroyed the relationship and annoyed them too much! But the good new is a year later that Brenda is now committed to be baptized! Awesome! It's great because I had what I would call a "vision" about that family, the dad specifically! The vision was that he was standing in a white suit, and then i realized that that family would be going to the temple one day! 

3. Bill Kranz!!! He is a guy missionaries have been working with for years! 2 to be exact! And with elder Beahan's last visit we committed him to live the word of wisdom! When we went back we found out that he is "triyng it out" So he has now been two weeks without drinking coffee! I fasted for it that week but I lacked faith! And crazily it happened! Never doubt!!!!

4. I taught my first district meeting and I didn't die! So a district meeting is an hour and a half meeting that I have to teach every week now that I'm a district leader to other missionaries! But I survived my first one! Only a few more to go! I was pretty bold and it went great!

5. Elder Riddle, a missionary I love and respect gave me the biggest compliment! He told me that he has seen a significant change in me the last two weeks he said I was a great missionary before but now I'm a leader! It's always nice to have people compliment you! But he's a great guy, I love him! 

6. Keith Chapman is a country boy and that's the best you can explain him! He's a big redneck! But he gave one of the most spiritual talks last week! It was awesome, he totally opened up and told us how he had cancer and was super worried but the Lord answered his prayers and said everything would be alright! It's amazing when those guys you never suspect to be spiritual giants open their mouths and totally humble you! I actually think its awesome when it happens!!!

7. We had a crazy night! The zone leader sleepover at the other elders 'apartment! So 6 elders in 1 apartment for an hour! Crazy stuff goes down but I love having friends! That is the best part of the mission: making friends, missionaries and members! It is so much fun!  

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

Half Mission, Friends and Fun!

1. We had a half-mission conference and got to meet Elder Zwick of the 70 - one of the nicest guys in the world! He has also the picture perfect smile! He was so awesome we just got to listen to him for a few hours and it was awesome. Here are a few highlights!

2. He told us about his mission in Bolivia which was crazy, he told us how he went to a city with no members that had no fresh water they relied on corn liquor for drinking. So he went to work and built a well and then a ward building. They had to haul supplies over a mountain with donkeys. So his mission was hard and every once and a while a donkey would fall or the work would be hard and he would want to quit but then he would remember a verse in the Book of Mormon from Alma 26:27 "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." So much power but it's so true and I have seen it on my mission as I am ready to turn back is when the Lord gives us that strength. He takes us to the ends of our rope and then gives us more to work with! 

3. He also talked a lot about simplifying when we teach! It was awesome. He told us to use power statements. So we say something short and simple, then we share a personal experience about that and then we both testify in the name of Jesus Christ. It was amazing, as we did a few examples, of the spirit that came into the room! 

4. Working with members! He talked a lot about that because this mission should be baptizing a convert every month per companionship!!! That's not happening right now. He said we need the members so he gave a special fireside for the members and is trying to get them involved and working harder!!! 

5. So I took that advice to heart and called out our ward council. I told them the vision for the area that L. Tom Perry and Elder Zwick have of 1 baptism a month per companionship and then I told them that it was impossible without them. The bishop totally took my side and said they all need to do better! So now every time we go to a member's home we say who do you have for us to teach in your home. Working hard and following up!

6. He also talked a lot about building our foundations. He talked about a building in Salt Lake that has more concrete in the foundation than in the whole building. It actually has 3 times more invested into its foundation. That's how we should be, we should put forth that effort to invest on our testimonies and our conversion!!! It was such a great talk. He is such a great guy, I wish you all could have heard!

7. Half mission is so great because you get to see so many friends. I love missionary friends! If the picture works I'll be sending a picture of me and elder beckstrom who is a stud muffin, and i came out and sister king! I served with two sister kings! I love having missionary friends!  elder beckstorm looks like a glorified being in this!

I'm out of time. A senior couple who is checking our apartment is waiting on us so we have to go but I love you all! 

Elder Taylor