November 24, 2012

Hey family!!
So just a quick update, I am staying!! ahhhhhhhh!!!! I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I won't give up no matter where I am at though. So I will be here in Lexington for at least 9 months!! That is so crazy, but I love the ward here and the people so I am grateful. I am also thankful to president for allowing me to stay.  Also yesterday at church we had 4 investigators come. That is a record high for me, being that they were all my investigators that I have been working with. I have had 4 before, but two of them were just random show-ups.  . So they weren't really ones that I had been working with closely. I still am working with mike.  Anyways, it was a tender mercy of the Lord to see that much success. Oh yeah and also Elder Woehl is leaving. That’s crazy, so much has happened, and I have seen three missionaries leave, and I will see three missionaries come in. I guess I haven't finished my work here in Lexington.  But yeah just an update, my ankle is doing well, this morning we went and played some basketball and I actually scored like 12 points, so I am able to have some pretty good mobility in it. Also we have a few dinner appointments for Thanksgiving so that will be fun!! Oh yeah just a funny side note, so I counted my tie collection yesterday and I have over 75 ties.... haha I really enjoy trading ties..... :) so sorry this is a short letter, but I am running out of time. I will send you all some photos next week. I am grateful for you all and I love you!!

Elder Taylor and Elder Woehl, Bishop and Son

Elder Taylor and Pastor Mike

November 12, 2012

So you will have to forgive me for lack of fun stories this week, but I do however have a pretty neat testimony building experience. So Friday was a day just jammed packed with a spiritual feast and president came out with this amazing way to tract (which I will explain later) and so we were stoked then on Friday night I had to give a baptismal interview for the Zone Leaders investigator who was set to be baptized on Saturday. During the interview something felt off but however he was answering all the questions to the best of his ability and he was passing off all of them. He was saying all the right answers (except he didn't know what tithing was or who the prophet was, but I explained it to him and he said he would commit to love the law of tithing and follow the prophet so he passed those questions off as well). So I finished up "interviewing" him and for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that he was ready for baptism. See I had an internal struggle because I kept telling myself that who am I to hold someone back from baptism and then to tell him the reason "I am holding you back from baptism because you answered all of the questions right but I don't think you have a strong enough testimony." That would kind of be a horrible excuse because who am I to judge how strong someone’s testimony is, and then to downgrade his small flicker of flame to tell him that his flame isn't big enough. I was like, "why am I feeling this way!!! it’s just my head getting in the way" So I about told him that he was passed for baptism, but right as I was opening my mouth to tell him that, a thought came that this is a spiritual prompting and I know it is and if this is a spiritual prompting and I go against it then I would offend God for going against his will. So I just sat there for about 2 mins thinking of how I would tell him this, and he looked at me a little funny. So to make the silence a little less awkward he took my planner and started to ask me the baptismal questions. He asked me what it means to repent and so I bore my testimony about the repentance process and how we need to repent through the atonement. He asked me a few more questions and then he gave me back my planner and commented on what I said. (Here is where the Lord answers our prayers. After we have been tested and have made up our mind, we have taken that leap of faith and trust the Lord to see us through). As he was commenting on remarks, he said something that stood out to me and I knew that the decision I was about to tell him was the right thing. It was as if the Lord told me what to listen for and how to listen for it. He didn't really say much that would have given it away, but I know that the Lord highlighted about five words that he said, and as soon as he said those words I knew exactly why I was telling him he wasn't ready for baptism. So I asked him a few more questions and those questions just told me more so what the Lord had already told me. So it was confirmed, we are holding off his baptism for a few weeks.

Well, we went into Saturday with just high hopes, and high hopes it was. We were able to find a really neat family from Africa. They didn't understand anything we were saying, but we tried to explain (it took about 20 mins to explain this, practically playing charades with them) that we could get someone who speaks Swahili to come back with us to teach them. And we left a Book of Mormon in Swahili with them and they read the Introduction and invited us back. So we will hope and pray for them, and that we can match up schedules with our brother who speaks Swahili.
It is awesome how much the Lord is really hastening the work. They have said that by march the number of missionaries out in the field will go from 58,000 to 100,000. How crazy is that! The average ward will have two pairs of missionaries in it. (Exception being Utah, Idaho, and few other western states) It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord go forward at such a rapid pace and it is a blessing to live in these days to help out our fellow brothers and sisters.
Love you all family!!
Elder Taylor