September 24, 2012



Lexington North Zone

 

So last Thursday Elder Woehl and I were riding around and we ran into a man at like 8:30 at night and started to talk to him, he didn't really seem that interested, but he allowed us to make a return appointment with him like three days later. I wasn't even sure if we should go to it because a day later we tried calling him to see if the appointment was still on and he didn't answer. So Elder Woehl and I started to head to his appointment like an hour early, just so we can give ourselves some cushion. On the way we ran into like three or four people who wanted to talk to us. They just wanted to chat the breeze with us. So we started to talk to them, but then something told me to keep going, this doesn't feel right. So by this time we had like 30 mins until his appointment and we were only a 5 minute ride away from his house. So to be effective and work hard and not waste time, we stopped and tried a few people who we had seen previous, but they weren't home. So we started to head to his house and we ran into a current investigator. We stopped and talked to her for like 20 mins. And I looked down at my watch and it was 4:10, and something told me that we needed to go to this man’s house. Our appointment was at 4. So I abruptly stopped our conversation with our investigator and we rode to this man’s house. Well when we got there he was home and welcomed us in and everything. We sat down and I don't want to jinx myself, but to make a long story short, so far he is a Golden Investigator. He even came to church yesterday and accepted a baptismal date. So we are praying hard for him!
To switch gears lately, as you know, we have been studying the Atonement. I absolutely love it. And surprisingly enough (or maybe it won't be) I start off with the atonement, and more often then not the studies have ended up on love and charity. I have had to develop these lately with everything that is coming along my path. I haven't been able to receive the attribute of charity, but I am starting to understand it more, and how much it is intertwined with the Atonement. It is so amazing how in the gospel just everything is connected on a simple and deep scale. Wow once again my testimony was just barely strengthened because no man could have come up the restored gospel and have it make sense and have it connect on such finite levels as it does, and still not contradict itself.  I absolutely love the gospel.  Keep up the faith! Living each day to its fullness!

Elder Taylor

 

 





9-16-2012

Hi family and friends.  You asked me questions about Lexington and the area I am currently serving.  Well let’s see, Lexington can be crazy sometimes. There are always people out and about and I have seen more homeless people, drug deals, car wrecks, and police sirens than I ever have before. I can count on one hand how many days have gone by without hearing or seeing an ambulance, a police car, or a fire truck. Today we saw two different fire trucks at like 10 and 3, so that's been fun... (just heard another one at 6:21). This summer is actually the hottest and driest summer that Lexington has had in like 7 or 8 years and actually in July we had a record high of like 7 days in a row being over 100 degrees, that has never happened here in Lexington ever, and yet there is still green here. The grass is still green outside. It’s pretty exciting.



Elder Taylor and Elder Woehl



This past week was a little bit slower than we have had. But once again my testimony was strengthened in the power of fasting and how if we fast with faith in the Savior then he will be able to work miracles. Since yesterday people have just been coming out of the woodwork. I honestly believe that we are going to have a baptism coming up here in the next month. Good things are happening. We have been working with this old man for awhile now. He is so cute and just adorable, and its hard to be stern with him and tell him that he needs to stop procrastinating and just be baptized, but I believe that he will be able to make it, with a bit more praying and allowing the spirit to work in his heart. I heard a saying yesterday in church that started my mind a buzzing. "If people can be talked into the church, then they can be talked out of it" and he was referring to how sometimes we try to talk people into a testimony and it doesn't work like that. The spirit must do the teaching and so it will be a stronger testimony.
yes I have now officially past my hump week, and I still don't know what to think. Its weird to think that I have less days than I have been out and the time keeps getting shorter and shorter, and I don't like it. Being out on a mission has been one of the hardest things I have done and it has pushed me to limits that I thought that weren't possible, and all throughout all of this I have never been happier than in the service of my Lord.

 

Elder Taylor at District Meetings

Teaching at the District Meeting




Knocking on doors with Elder Rich

What missionaries look like through a peep hole:)

 



Pioneer District Elder Taylor, Johnson, Morrison, and Richins

 



Transfer Day August 28th

9-4-12

Elder Woehl and Elder Taylor

I have a new companion, Elder Woehl. He has a testimony and really has a good memory in regards to remembering people and also the schedule that we have that day. He carries the spirit really well with him, but there is much to learn and I hope that we can learn and grow together. There is a reason we are together, and I know that it will be for the good. He is from West Jordan Utah. He actually wrestled in High School. So that is a common thing between us.

So this last week has been a bit tougher one. Trying to adjust and also getting dropped by two of our baptismal dates was hard. So with that happening it brought to my memory a conversation that I had a few weeks back with one of the assistants and he said something to me that made me start thinking. It was right after Elder Golden visited the mission, they came and dropped off a few packages, and we started talking and somewhere along the conversation it got brought up that I worked extremely hard, I just wasn't doing it the right way. So it made me start thinking, well what is the Lords way. The Lords way is following the spirit right? Becoming sanctified, so as to allow the spirit to help me make certain decisions in my life. So I started a special fast, and have fasted periodically since then, on how I can follow the spirit and do the work in the Lords way. I fasted and prayed more earnestly and harder to know what I needed to do. And it has been three weeks since that has happened and I have received little bits and pieces to my answer all along the way, but yesterday my answer was given to me almost in full in a priesthood blessing. But I'm going to back up for a few. See this last week was pretty tough and it was tiring and we had little success and as such my name was brought up in a conversation between the Zone leaders and the Assistants. The same exact assistant saying the same thing that he had earlier (that I was working hard, but wasn't doing it the right way) and I'm hoping that it got brought up because they want to help not criticize, but anyways. So yesterday one of the Zone leaders came up to me and asked me if everything was ok and was wondering if he could help. So we sat down and had a really good and deep conversation. Afterwards he asked me if he could give me a blessing of comfort and counsel. So he did and in this blessing he said many things that could have only come from the Lord one of which he blessed me that the trials that are going on at home will all be ok. He has no clue what is going on at home with dad. Also it was expressed that the Lord is pleased with my effort and to keep working the way that I have been. So that was a testimony building experience to gain a stronger testimony of fasting and of priesthood blessings.
Well family, my time is running short, but I love you all!
Elder Taylor

8-27-2012

On Wednesday we were able to witness a miracle. I fasted because I just felt the need to fast and also I needed added strength going into a baptismal interview that I was to conduct for a baptismal candidate in my district, but it turns out the interview was cancelled and rescheduled for the next day. So I went throughout the day still fasting hoping that something will happen. So the day came and went at a pretty normal pace, nothing too exciting happened and I ended my fast at six. That evening we had an appointment at 7:30 and this appointment was a pretty solid one and so we brought a member with us. We showed up at the door and she said that she was having some family problems and that now was not a good time. So I'm thinking to myself, this stinks both of our scheduled appointments today (the baptismal interview and the one at 7:30) has fallen through. So we get into the car and the member asks us what our backs up plans were and so I looked into my planner and looked up our backup plans and for some reason they didn't feel right. I look at Elder Johnson was like, hey what the heck lets go see this guy who we dropped off a BOM to like a week earlier, so we drove clear across our area to this man’s house and he wasn't home. So we drove a little further and stopped at a potential investigator that we had, but she answered the door and said that now wasn't a good time. So by this time it was 8:15ish. My first thought was, there has to be someone here who is ready so let’s go tracking. Then my second thought was, no this member has some homework to do so we can just turn around and drive home and by that time it will be 8:30 and 30 mins isn't too bad to cut short and also we will give the member 30 extra mins of reading time tonight. So I sat there for like 5 mins just contemplating in my head what to do. Then all of a sudden I hear myself say, let’s go down Colorado road. Colorado road was about two blocks away and so we turned down that road and as we starting driving down it I remembered a referral that this area had received like 8 months ago that lived on Colorado road. So we knocked, and she came to the door and invited us in. We found out that she has some medical problems, but she has a strong testimony in the Book of Mormon and also Joseph Smith. The reason she has not been baptized yet is because she has commitment issues and also she is afraid to go to church with her medical problems. So it was cool to see how everything just lined up in order for us to find this girl. We hope that we will be able to work through her problems, and see her into baptism. Well I will at least, seeing as I am still going to be in Lexington. Then we had another miracle this week. The baptismal interview that was cancelled and then rescheduled for Thursday actually ended up getting baptized on Saturday. So we invited a bunch of people to come to the baptism, and only one person showed up. The preacher from the other church that we have been getting close with. He showed up and he loved the service, he had a lot of questions. Questions that we answered as best as we could, but he said that he loved it.
Now I am going to switch gears and talk about trials. I am grateful for the chance that we all have to go through trials and times in our lives where we feel humbled and our dependence on the Lord grows more and more. As I started to write my mind reflected back to a scripture in Ether 12:27 "If men come unto me I will show unto men their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." This last week was a really bitter sweet week and once again I was humbled. I am hoping and praying that this is a good enough humbling experience to last me for a while, but probably not, I can be pretty prideful. Anyways our top progressing investigator, the one who was set for baptism on Sept 15 dropped us yesterday actually. So that was a hard pill to swallow and I am still trying to swallow it. She was doing so well and ready and on fire for her baptism date and then her mom talked her out of it. It was one of those, pinch me now, I am dreaming right?! But she explained how she wants some time to think about it, and if she still wants to get baptized then she will wait for a year or two. So we have experienced both ends of the spectrum this week.
Elder Taylor