Christmas Call!

1. The best part of this week was Christmas and being able to call home! It is always good to see family! And we also had a surprise visit from a bearded man! Not santa but Brady Jestice, my cousin! I love my family so much and am so grateful for all their influences in my life. It was crazy hanging up that call and thinking i would never skype them again on the mission but i would see them pretty darn soon! Little things keep showing up about how much time i have left and it's pretty crazy! But I'm working hard till the end!

2. I am super grateful for all the love and support i got from my family and friends. Thanks so much for all the christmas cards/ packages and swedish fish.. i still have a few fish left... not many though!!! 

3. Christmas Eve! We got to see President and Sister Smith for a few minutes. They were dropping off supplies!!! Which was awesome! And then we got to see Elder and Sister mills who are an awesome senior couple that go home next week! Sister mills is the sweetest lady in the whole world! I love her! But we got to say good bye to them so that was super nice and they delivered a package so i was not complaining at all! 

4. we had Christmas dinner at Danny Sims' house! It was way good! Nothing like some good southern food! His wife made both of my favorite deserts, pecan pie and banana pudding! So I had to have some of both! You can never go wrong with too much sugar!!!!

5. Mark and Brenda Clements! They invited us over christmas eve and Christmas night and we had a good talk with them and established our expectations and talked about what they need to do! It was way good. They think they are so far but they are soooooooo close they just need a little faith and they will be there! So that our next project!

6. Christen, Brenda's nephew, is also taking the lessons and is super close. It was way cool, he was texting us and telling us how he wants to get baptized! He just has to work out a few things and he has read the whole gospel principles book! So that is awesome! 

7. Tyler Marks' almost 9 year old son wants to get baptized really bad also! The one thing he wants is his dad to do it! His dad is super nervous about getting the priesthood (he's a deacon) but its' been really good motivation for them to go forward. #yeahforkids!

8.  Lego party! Christmas day we were at the Clements and Evan, Mark and Brenda's 4 year old, was trying to get his 1000 piece lego set set up! So we were enlisted into a lego army! It's hard to tell a 4 year old no! But we built some space ships and a museum in the process of being robbed complete with robbers, cops and a helicopter!

9. I got a sweet watch that is definitely a highlight! Pictures soon hopefully! love you mom and dad!

10. I'm just grateful to be serving the Lord this Christmas season! it is such a blessing! the lord has blesses me so much and I'm am so incredible grateful to have spent this time serving. It makes me realize how much it means, especially as I near the close. But i know there is no place in the world i would rather be than here serving the Lord, only here could I make the friends I  have and done the things to make me the man that I  am this day. The mission is such a blessing! 

I love you all, 

Elder Taylor

Sam & Elder Peel with Sister Smith's Car: 

Inspired Homecoming!

1. got to say a lot of byes to a lot of good people! Fairhope was a fun place and there are a lot of super legit member there! i also got to say bye to a bunch of the missionaries i got close with while serving in Fairhope so that was a double plus! Goodbyes are always sad but that's alright

2. We left in the middle of district meeting to drive Elder Miller all the way to Tallahassee so that was crazy! It was a super long drive! Elder Miller was going home but because of the holidays he had to leave a day early. But we got to see a lot of the friends that he made on the drive so that was cool! I got some food so i didn't complain

3. I dropped Elder Miller off, said some byes to friends that i had that were going home, sister dyches and elder cooper two missionaries i love and respect a lot! So that was sad but i was happy I could say bye to them! 

4. Then I was companions with Elder Swenson for the day! That was way too much fun! I love Elder Swenson. we went to Chipotle and then met up with some tally missionaries and did splits! Because of the time change we couldn't go to bed till an hour later and then at 524 am Central time i get a text saying i have to call a set of missionaries who need to be transferred! so that was crazy!! They were not happy when i called them because they thought they got to stay together after the mission... sad day... I also woke them up super early! But it had to be done! oh well! 

5. I was hanging out at the mission home with Sister Smith, the mission presidents wife and I heard she loved j-dawgs so I still had a huge bottle I couldn't use the whole thing in 3 months so i made a small bottle for her! She was pumped and gave me a super big hug! It was way funny! I wasn't expecting her to hug me but hey its tough being the favorite!

6. Got to transfers and it was super nerve wracking because everyone saw that both set of mobile zone leaders got whitewashed... everyone was nervous! Elder Riddle one of the good friends of my mission came up to me he was the mobile north Zl and i was the south and he was super stressed because it looked like we would be comps... but we didn't! We liked each other too much to be comps! So thats good it didn't Happen! But i was excited because the ZLS got moved up to Atmore, super small town where there is nothing going on... but i would have gone where the Lord needed me!

7. President in a meeting Wednesday morning made some Mariana jokes to me so i got super excited about it. President Smith stinks at keeping secrets. But guess where i got transferred to.... MARIANA FLORIDA!!!!! Back to my first area! I was so excited i jumped up and ran right over and gave my new companion, Elder Peel a great big hug! 

8.  After transfers I went up to talk and to say thank you to President and Sister Smith. She told me a cool story, told me how i was put in Mariana because of inspiration. She told me when they started transfers president moved me to Mariana and said i think elder taylor would love to finish in Mariana, and sister smith quickly said that we couldn't be nice and give missionaries what they wanted all the time! But she said she was amazed as i quickly floated across the trasnfer board to Mariana, she would say we can't do that but by the end of the day i would be back! She looked at me and said Elder Taylor i know for a fact it's inspiration that you are back in Mariana. 

9. Wednesday after transfers i went to the church and everyone was going crazy when they saw me! It was sooo funny! I almost gave Danny Sims a heart attack when he saw that it was me! He was so excited but its cool to go back and see how many people actually liked me! 

10. The one i was most excited to see was Brenda Clements, someone I taught about 16 months ago, she fell off after I left but now she is totally active, just not baptized! So we will work on that the next few weeks! I'm excited and I think its a big reason why i am back here! I'm so grateful! 

11. i sang in the christmas program! it was horrible me elder peel and elder lay the senior missionary are horrible and singing! the sisters sister matihson and dyer were pretty good! they saved the day! everyone in the ward sang and no one can sing so it made it really fun!

love y'all and merry Christmas!!

Elder Taylor

1. elder palu he is the best! elder palu loves rugby! we played when we went to tally!

2. elder lovell was his comp for 5 transfers! he is a boss! 

3. sister coleman nailed me in the face with that volleyball a few weeks ago!

4. the amare family! they are great!

Transfers and Christmas Cheer!

i have a lot to write and little time so here we go!!!!! 

1. Sam got confirmed this week! it was super good the spirit was super powerful it was a great feeling! i'm grateful i was able to be part of his conversion!!!

2. half mission. I got to see a lot of  good friends and it was awesome! lots of people that are going home soon so that was a plus also! i'm grateful for that one!

3. we got to watch Meet the Mormons. It was soooo good it was crazy. I loved it! great movie and if you haven't seen it, go see it!

4. we had a christmas stocking exchanges and my best friend elder whitney got me! and in it he gave me a snow globe christmas ornament with him and me in it! i loved it! he is so cool! #friendsforlife

5. im getting transferred! merry christmas to me right! found out just a few hours ago! it will be good ill be sad to leave daphne but not super sad like some of my other areas so its all good! president smith personally called me to see if i was up for a challenge and told me i'm exactly where ill need to be! so i'm very excited! i love president smith! you can feel love ooze out of that man

6. elder shali trade off it was super fun! elder shali is a convert of 2 years and has a crazy story! he was disowned when he joined the church but he is stud! he has a crazy testimony and is here because the lord needed him! he is also super funny and super down to earth! it makes for an interesting time! ill have to send you the trade off picture next week! BECAUSE IT WAS EPIC!!!

7. Daphne christmas parade! we were in a parade it was super fun and we handed out over 1500 cards. Preaching the gospel with candy never hurts!

8. Sarah Mitchell and Resendia, two investigators came to church and it was epic! Gospel principles was totally full because of all the investigators! super big blessing! but it was a full house this sunday! 

i could go on but i have 7 minutes love you all!

1. naryan family

2. christmas float! 

3. me and elder whitney with my present from him! which was a snowglobe oranement with us in it!

4. me cooper and whitney my favorites!

SAM KINGS BAPTISM and losing a tooth :'(

1. Sam King our super solid Investigator was baptized this week! it was a super good service it was right after church and the spirit was there and it was strong. It was so awesome & such a powerful meeting. Everyone there said that Sam would do big things in his life; it was awesome! Great baptism! 

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2. Sam also bore his testimony about the truthfulness of the gospel and how it blessed his life! It was so good! He is a power house! After that everyone talked about how grateful they were to know Sam and see him with so much faith! I am so grateful I got to be a small part of his conversion!

3. Sam's dad attended the baptism and it was perfect! Brother King was totally touched by the spirit! He cried the whole time and every speaker cried. It was just amazing how strong the spirit was and how much it meant to everyone there!

4. I lost a tooth this week! Or more correctly, it was stolen from my jaw! I had a tooth that was broken so I went to the dentist and he ripped it out of my face! Nothing like having a huge gaping hole in your face, right?! But it was super cool, I told him I was the son of a dentist and he was like yeah it would be pretty crazy for you to have dental insurance right? I said yeah and he's like well I'm the son of a dentist also so don't worry about it I'll cover you because I know how you feel! So that was super cool of him! #dr.harrell is a boss!

5. I hope you all saw the 1st presidency Christmas devotional last night. It was super good! Remember the true meaning of Christmas and how this time of year we should focus on the Savior! 

6. We had MLC on wednesday over in Crestview. Nothing too exciting but next month is going to be crazy! Huge surprises coming but I'm not allowed to tell you guys, sorrry:( But you will find out in January! It will be awesome!!!

7. Two trade-offs this week! #1 was theodore with elder Huntsman! It was super fun elder Huntsman is a great missionary and has come into an area with no success and has helped bring 4 BCDS! He is just on fire it is awesome! It's so awesome how much a good attitude and work ethic can influence an area! 

8. We had a meeting in Mobile so we got to eat at Chipolte! I love food! Except when you have a giant hole in your mouth and rice gets in it! 

9. Tradeoff # 2 was crazy with Elder Howard it was super random and all over the place and it was down in Foley! Foley is just a bunch of trailer parks apparently or at least that's only where we went. It was a little sketchy but it was fun!!! 

10. Sister Debbie! She is great she had a stroke and lives in a nursing home but she gave us  a Christmas present yesterday when we went to see her. We both got a satsuma! It was super nice of her because she has almost nothing but it was super sweet of her!

i love you all!

Elder Taylor

#sharethegift

1. He is the gift! you all should know about it if not look it up! #sharethegift! http://www.mormon.org/christmas 

its is super good and super powerful and helps us all remember what the real reason for Christmas is!

2. Turkey bowl! nothing like some good football to start off your Thanksgiving day! It was super good had a few touchdowns! Just wished it was rugby instead! 

3. Thanksgiving dinner number 1!! w]We had dinner at the Atwoods It was crazy! 3 types of turkey, smoked, deep fried and then just baked! Everything was super good! I love food! haha but that was way good but we headed straight to dinner number 2

4. Dinner 2 at the Amares. There were only 6 of us and they had a full turkey and a full ham.... so lots of food! Brother Amare made the turkey and was very adamant about the herbs he put on the turkey. I think he just likes the word herbs cause he said it 100 times! It drove sister Amare crazy but it was a little funny! After dinner we gave  one of their kids a blessing and then sister Amare talked about what she was grateful for and she talked about her conversion and her opportunity to be sealed to her family

5. Sister Amare's condensed conversion story- She was like the meanest investigator ever, if you were 1 minute late she would lock the door and not let you come. She was super cynical about her approach and was trying to disprove it, however something kept drawing her back to it! So she kept going back. finally after some concerns were discovered blessings given she opened up and was just on fire after that. Her husband not so much, he threatened to divorce her if she got baptized! But faith won! A few weeks later he was baptized also and then a lttle down the road they were sealed! Happy day!!! 

6. Bishop Nimmer game the lesson this week. He talked about the 80/20 diet and how some people think you can eat good 80% of the time and eat bad the other 20% of the time. he related it to the gospel and asked us all to think about if we are 80/20 members of the church. Do we do good 80% of the time and sin only 20%. It's a good average but is it what the lord expects of us? 

7. Bishop Nimmer baptized his daughter after church! It was super good and super powerful! the spirit was there. I love attending baptisms! 

8. After church we also had a linger longer! I love food, like stated earlier! But boy they had some banana pudding... yeah it was awesome! There was a tub full and was gone when I went back for seconds..:( 

9.  We found two new investigators this week which was super good! Don Abbit and Issac Huston so hopefully they progress! They both have super good potential but i guess we will see right! But we biked like 100 miles this week! Which wasn't bad when I was back in pace but we haven't biked at all here so i almost died! 

10. Last is Chris Avera! haha he is a less active and he's a little crazy. He thinks he's a ninia and also that he will be in the zombie apocalypse! Yeah he's a little out there but it makes visits fun right! what's life with out a little crazy?

love you all

Elder Taylor