No such thing as coincidences, right?

1. So we had a great week this week! The best part was our lesson with the Clements! It was another spiritual experience! So that was very good! We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ! The spirit was there and then a distraction! lame... but then after a few minutes we would get it back so it was good! Overall it was a great lesson and one to remember!

2. The reason it is memorable is we committed Brenda (the mother), Christian (the nephew) and Tyler (the 9 year old son) to baptism on Feb 15th! That was way cool! It was powerful experience and Brenda said she would try her best to make it to that date!

3. Last cool thing: We thought we just picked a good date but it was interesting. It was the day that her father had passed away, some could say that's a coincidence but I know a little better than that! The spirit definitely helped us pick out that day! It was great! So i guess both sides of the veil are working on this one!  

4. Last thing: Mark's father who is a recently activated member made me tell the story of the mission president putting me in Marianna and then Sister Smith, his wife, moving me out, then me magically floating back to Marianna. They all told me the reason I kept floating back was to teach their family! Super cool experience! No such thing as coincidences, right?

5. We are working with Matthew Clements who is a less active young man who I got close to the first time I was in Marianna! We are going to start to read the Book of Mormon with him! Turns out he still has the Book of Mormon I left with him my very last day in Marianna! No such thing as coincidences, right?

6. I got a phone call from an Alabama number and it was super random.. so I answered it and it's my good friend, George Rogers from Monroeville, Alabama! We talked for a few minutes it was good hearing from a good friend like that. A nice surprise! 

7. I taught district meeting on the Book of Mormon using a lot of talks form Ezra Taft Benson! Oh man that's one good guy! He knew his stuff and I hope we all use the Book of Mormon like he said we should! If not, we need to start! 

8. We caught two raccoons with a bunch of less actives... I wish I took a picture but I didn't... they looked so nice like in elf when he tries to hug it... but I bet you they were mean and they just looked nice in a cage! 

9. We have a recent convert in the ward and she loves feeding us... but she also loves making creations... this time it was a soup with a little of everything... lots of greens... it was kind of hard to swallow but Elder Peel and I got it down just fine! 

10. Not too much more to say but it was good week and I am excited for this upcoming week! Adventure is always out there

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

PHOTOS: 

me elder kent sister dyer and sister mathison on our way home form GA

me and the monroeville crew: parsons, browne, peterson, payne pearson, hatori 

don't forget about this bad boy! trade off picture!

Apostles Are Cool!

1. Elder Anderson of the quorum of the 12 apostles came to our mission! And that's a big deal especially when you have a huge mission like ours! The first time in recorded history or at least in the two years I have been here that we were able to all get together! So that was way cool and it was amazing having such a close experience with an apostle. It's very rare to have something like that happen and I doubt it will happen again in this mission for a good while so it was cool I got to be there! 

2. He talked a lot about a lot of different things, one big one was this scripture D&C 78: 8 Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.

He talked a lot about being accepted of christ and what we can do more to be accepted of our savior! So it was way powerful and a  really good scripture! It's amazing how many good scriptures are out there, I just haven't found them all yet!

3. He and his wife talked a lot about honesty! They said that one of the first qualifications of the spirit is honesty. I think his wording was honesty is a prerequisite of spirituality! So I liked that! We need to be honest always! 

4. Elder Anderson was pretty darn funny for an apostle! It's a unique environment; it wasn't conference so he had to stand up there and speak but he walked around and cracked jokes about the hard parts of missionary work! So it was humorous but funny because he was joking about our lives and the things that happen daily!

5. Mission Song! We got to sing it all together! I had a handy voice recorder and decided to record it! the quality isn't the best in the world but its alright! As we sang and started to sing about the spirit it was amazing you could feel the spirit rush in! I've already listened to it about 100 times! It also was tough for me. I cried most of the time realizing how little time I have left and watching Sister smith cry and President Smith stand up and lead us, just feeling the love they have for us and  how much I love them! 

6. Had a super good lesson with Brenda Clements! In the eyes of her mother in law it was a break through! We were talking about faith a lot and she has a problem believing that scripture is actually God talking through prophets so we talked about that and finally I read to her Moroni 7:13 which talks about how everything that is good and inviteth and enticeth is of God! So that was way good! The spirit was there and she loved it; she said it was enlightening! They are so close! I hope they have a date soon!

7. We had a back to back trade off with the Bainbridge elders and it was an adventure! And we had district meeting in Barinbridge which is in Georgia! So its official I have slept in all four of the states in this mission: Georgia Mississippi, Florda, and Alabama! But it was a fun two days of craziness!!!

8. Elder Lott is one of the Bainbridge Elders and he's from Cache Valley and he's a great missionary and super funny! He had me laughing all day. It was a fun trade off and I super enjoyed my time wit him, he was super nervous taking over his area for the day with me, the district leader! But that's alright, everything turned out to work out just fine! 

9. We had a super crazy p day last week! We had a missionary dodgeball game in Dothan! But the rest of the week the right side of my body was way sore! It was crazy fun! We brought a less active member, Matthew Clements, who was someone I worked a lot with the first time I was here. So that was good being with him! and he came to church this Sunday so that was really good!

10. It was just a good week of seeing friends that Ilove and feeling the spirit! I'm so grateful for my time remaining here in the FTM 

Give em heaven! 

Elder Taylor

BUSY, Baseball, Fleeces and Linedancing

1. I finished the Book of Mormon! I think the 4th time on my mission.. maybe 5th but I always finish on Monday.. it's weird... but its still true! This Book of Mormon I marked anything to do with pride in red and humility in blue so it was lots and lots of highlighting! But its crazy the power of pride, you can trace every sin back to pride so watch out for it! Super good experience!

2.  Sister Maryjane Nelson, a member of the ward gave a great talk this week and used the acronym BUSY Being Under Satan's Yoke. We get busy and forget the things that we need to do! We need to focus on the things that matter most like prayer and scripture study! think about that next time when you say I'm too busy for church! 

3. We had a joint district meeting up in Dothan with the Dothan district! It was super fun I got to teach with a missionary that is like a mission legend! Everyone loves Elder Hawker! He goes home in a few weeks so it was a cool experience. We talked about church tours and then role played them! It was way powerful and I was in charge of the role plays. It was a great experience! 

4. Lorenzo Johnson is a member of the ward that is less active but he is so awesome and loves the Bible! He talked about a lot of different things but the big thing was to pray for your enemy. That always confused Brother Lorenzo and he was thinking about it and came to this conclusion that you pray for you enemy because the reason this person is your enemy is because they are being attacked by the real  enemy which is satan. I thought that was super cool and hopefully it makes sense to you! 

5. Sister Dyer one of the sisters is brand new and going through a hard time so we got to give her a blessing right now! I love exercising my priesthood I don't think there is anything I enjoy more then giving blessings that are truly directed by the spirit I'm grateful for the many opportunities I have had to do that! Sister Lay of the senior couple said it was so perfect and exactly what sister dyer needed! #spiritforthewin

6. I got to meet a pro MLB player this week. Jeff Mathis who played for the Angles and now plays for the Marlins lives in our ward so we got to go out there talk with him for an hour or so. It was so cool he was just throwing out names for all these big name players and how he knows them. It was way cool! He also had a picture of him tagging out A-Rod at home to save the go head run in one of the last playoff games played in old Yankee Stadium! Way cool!

7. Elder Peel got his wisdom teeth out this week... so we didn't do a whole lot. I was in the apartment while he slept for 2 days! Not fun! We survived though! I listened to some good talks!

8. From one of those talks I found a new set of great scriptures Judges 6: 12-7, 36-40 this is talking about Gideon and how he is called to destroy the Mideanite armies. The lord tells him he can do it and he has the faith to do it but he asks for a sign not to help him build faith but to confirm the faith he already has. So he ask for his fleece to be wet with dew one night and the next night he asks for it to be dry! Both nights it happens! The Lord gives us fleeces or miracles not to build our faith but to confirm it! It has happened to me time and time again! I'm grateful for it! 

9. Sarah Grace Mathis is a 5 year old that belongs to Jake and Brooke Mathis! They are a super cool family that had us over for dinner this week. But after church this Sunday Sarah Gracee was crying and squealing and I was like whats the matter Sarah Grace as she and her dad walked past me and all she did was give me a hug and keep walking! Jake laughed at my awkwardness but it was adorable! 

10. A quote by Mark Sims, the bishop! He's a Sims so he doesn't always have a filter! "I hate line dancing, I blame line dancing for the reason there is homosexual marriage in america today!" haha you have to love it! 

Love you all, 

Elder Taylor

Testimonies and Interviews!

1. Had a great lesson with Mark, Brenda and Christian Clements! And I guess we can include Tyler now since he is 9 today... he's an investigator now! We watched Jeffery R Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon which is super powerful! It brought the spirit strong so that was a good start! Then we talked about Neil L Anderson's talk from last conference and how he challenged us all to find scriptures from  the Book of Mormon that we know to be true and to share them often. So i read alma 7:7-11 and talked about the atonement! Evan the five year old said "oh man I like chapter 7,  I think thats my favorite." It was super funny! But way good! Mark's favorite is 1 Nephi 3:7, a classic!

2. At the end of the lesson I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and it was way good! I went on to talk about how after I left Marianna the first time I always prayed about the Clements family because they meant so much and had so much potential! I told them when ever I meet a missionary that left Marianna I would always ask them if they knew Mark and Brenda and how they were doing. I just really love that family! And turns out even when they weren't taking the lessons Brenda would always say oh man that Elder Taylor was a good kid, wasn't he! So it's cool they were thinking about me!

3. The coolest part of this story is Mark bore his testimony this fast and testimony meeting and talked about what I said in our lesson. He said he knew the Book of Mormon was the word of god and that the church is true! #awesome!!!! He then said that me talking about how I prayed about his family and was concerned about them meant so much to him and that he knew there were great people here because of that! #followthespiritforthewin! That was way cool! Mark's dad is a recently activated member and he gave me a big thumbs up and was so happy to see his son up there! 

4. Tyler, Mark's son stood up there last and bore his testimony also and it was so sweet! You could tell he was feeling the spirit and didn't know what to do cause he was crying and trying to figure out why he was crying! It was just a great family experience.

5. We had a great zone meeting this week! We have great zone leaders over here! Giants compared to me! Even though one is like 5"8! The last part of the meeting was about our call as missionaries we read various articles one was the vision of Christ by Orson F. Whitney. If you haven't read it... read it: (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/03/the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng) Super powerful! Then he read through a call letter saying our names the spirit was strong and it was great! Great zone meeting!

6. We had a crazy night Wednesday night because in our little apartment the assistants and the Dothan zone leaders slept over! It was way fun but we were up way too late! But I just love having some good late night talks!

7. Mark Sims is the bishop we went over to his house and that's one country boy! He's really crazy! It makes life fun! Throughout the night the subjects ranged from poop to how china is the devil! He made a comment how he wanted to go see china which one of his witty kids replied saying they were the devil and he said "hey I wouldn't mind poking around hell al ittle bit to see what its like" haha it was a night to remember!

 

8. Interviews with president... we talked a lot! I had a pretty good long talk with him so that was great. I love that man so much! It's crazy how much he cares! He always wants what is best for you! I think its way awesome! He told me how I was a leader for any position he put me, we talked about the horrible job missionaries have done with keeping up the apartment and area book and how I was just the guy for the job. He looked at me and said, Elder Taylor you're a problem fixer. A lot of missionaries go home and I won't give an endorsement or recommend to but I know with your work ethic you will do great and i will recommend you to anything! So that was way cool! I love that man!

Sorry I'm out of town (time) but i love y'all! Have a great week!

Elder Taylor