January 14, 2013

Hey family!! So much has happened this week; it’s been way.... exciting to say the least! But that is way cool to hear about Annie, I am excited for her. Alaska will be awesome. Also tell Christopher that I wish him good luck! Tell the Andersons I say HI back!
I would like to ask for forgiveness from Ashlyn, I didn't forget her birthday... I just forgot to write it in the letter that I wrote two weeks ago and last week. HAPPY late BIRTHDAY! My mind has just really been preoccupied with the work here that I tend to forget what day it is back home and then before I realize it, its a week and a half past my sisters birthday. So I will wish Porter a happy birthday now so I don't forget next week.... HAPPY BIRHTDAY porter.

So this last week, as I stated earlier was crazy!. On Tuesday we were able to go into Louisville and have a Zone Leader Council conference, which was long and very much like a meeting. The highlight of the trip however was on Tuesday morning all 14 of us zone leaders got together and played some basketball and also a trash can game. It’s a mix of ultimate Frisbee and lacrosse that's played with a soccer ball. It was very fun. Then after that trip we were stuck for like 3 days in a row in the apartment planning for a training that we had to give to our zone. It was one of those, these are Presidents initiatives, how are we going to get them across and get the missionaries excited about them. So that was fun and we gave the training on Friday. Then on Saturday we were actually able to get out and proselyte some. So I have been a little jumpy and upset about the lack of proselyting time that we have, but I have faith that the Lord will provide people for us to teach and baptize.
On Saturday night however was probably one to never forget. We saw a Less-actives name on the roster and his wife is a non-member so we went over there. His wife let us right in and she was way nice and friendly towards us. She started talking to us and then the husband came in and sat down. Right as soon as the husband came in, the wife stopped talking and left promptly. The husband sat there for about like 2 minutes and we tried to break the ice with him, but he wasn't having it. He wasn't answering any of our questions. Then all of a sudden he asked us the question. "Who sent you here?" and it just blew up from there. So to make a long story short, we sat there for about an hour and a half getting railed into by this old has-been Colonel who was in the army. He wouldn't even let us talk and he would only let us answer the questions that he would ask us in a yes-no answer. The funny thing is, they weren't even questions that dealt with the church, because what I got from his rambling was he had a "testimony" (more like a quarter of a testimony), he had just been offended and hasn't come back since. Most of the questions that he asked had to do with our personal life. I felt so disrespected and my tailbone still hurts from him chewing us out so much. I didn't just want to get up and leave and be rude, but finally that’s what we ended up doing. We kept our cool and peace the entire time, but the man was just so unhappy and angry that he was taking his anger out on us I guess. So that was a fun growing experience

So to tell you a little bit about my companion, is his name is Elder Wood and he is from Orem, Utah (all of my companions except for one have been from Utah- Elder Manzano). He enjoys sports, so that’s pretty cool. This is something that I found out that is way cool is that both of his brothers and his dad are Green Berets. That is way neat. He enjoys standup comedy and really likes to impersonate people. He really does a good one of President Woodbury. It’s the best one that I have seen yet.

To close I just wanted to say a few things to Gentry, Ashlyn, and Porter. You were talking about how going through high school there is a lot of peer- pressure and there is. I was just thinking about the new Youth Theme and motto for 2013 and the theme is "Stand Ye in Holy Places, and be not moved." I have thought a lot about that and what it means to stand ye in holy places. When we think of Holy Places we often think of places such as: Church, Temples, Dedicated sites, the home, seminary, Etc; and you could interpret the motto to mean that we need to go to these holy places as often as possible and spend as much time as we can there. For it is in these Holy Places that the Spirit of the Lord is and it is in these places that we can receive revelation, seek shelter from the world, and gain a stronger testimony. Yes that is the case, but I think that the motto can be interpreted this way, and I hope that this can come across as a humble interpretation and not prideful. We are children of God, we have a divine Potential to become like him and as such everywhere we go should be a Holy place. We need to live our lives in such a way that it is proper to call every step that we take a holy step. We need to live our lives in such a way so that we do not diminish the sacredness and the potential that Heavenly Father sees in us. We need to purify ourselves so that we can say that we are always standing is holy places because the person standing in the place is holy. Be not moved :)

Love you all!

Elder Taylor

January 7, 2013

Hi family! So things here are going crazy!!   I feel so inadequate and like I'm in over my head,  it’s not even funny. I'm in the area that all the mission legends have passed through and right now I feel pretty unqualified to be in this position. I just keep holding on to the saying that, "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called." I am trying, and luckily I have a really good companion who is good at showing me the ropes. I have a bunch more responsibilities. As a district leader I only had to look after 2 other areas beside my own. Now as a zone leader I have to look over 3 district Leaders who each have 3 areas in their District. So needless to say I have done a bunch more planning and trying to figure out how to help all of our areas. Also the Zone leader before I got here baptized everyone that they were working with and so we have like no body that we are working with right now.... UHHHH looks like its starting over from phase 1 all over again. It was good however that most of the ward recognized me and they welcomed me back. It was crazy. They kept saying that it was my first homecoming.

I was a little bit bummed however because Elisabeth, my other baptism while I was here went inactive. So I am going to work hard to get her active. I'm thinking that the Lord is just testing me, but I don't know if Im passing or failing because I feel like sometimes I am miserably failing, but its a good thing that we have the atonement that we can actively use in our lives to better ourselves.

Love Ya,

 

December 31,2012

I'm sitting here in Lexington for the very last time in the Eagle Creek Library. As you all have found out I am getting transferred, and going back to my birth-place Elizabethtown. I actually wanted that to happen. I knew that there was some unfinished business that I had to attend to, and so right as soon as President called and told me, I felt like it was the right place to be. I'm not sure what that reason is, but I do know that I need to go back.
It was really cool, yesterday we started to make rounds and say goodbye to a bunch of people, and we stopped by Pastor Mike’s house and he had lunch all ready for us and told us to sit down and eat. So during the middle of eating we brought up some of our different beliefs and I was able to explain to him our belief on the Pre-Earth life. It interested him quite a bit. He sat back and was like, "I've never thought about it like that, but that's really interesting view to look at things." So it was neat again. Then as we were leaving he told me that if I ever come back to visit, then I have always got a place to visit and to stay. It was awesome. We really have a mutual bond of friendship and its rooted more deep than that. I feel like that last meeting won’t be the last time I see him. Also Rashad says that he will fly out to Idaho when I get off my mission because he wants to come and meet you all.

I learned something really neat yesterday and it’s a topic that I have been trying to wrap my head around for some time now. I know it’s not what I'm supposed to be studying about as a missionary, but it was about how we obtain our inheritance in the Celestial kingdom. It’s done on an individual effort. "For we are saved by grace after all we can do." So if that be the case, what happens when a family is sealed in the temple and a child goes wayward?  Yesterday I learned the importance of keeping your covenants, and if we live truly faithful, we could be the means of "saving" our loved ones.   So much more relies on us, because we have been sealed and have take upon ourselves covenants so how faithfully we hold true to our covenants could have a big swing on the outcome of our relatives. It’s intense!!

Love ya family, have to go pack!
Elder Taylor

12-30-2012

Message from the ward missionary leader Elder Kopher

Your son is being transferred! We will miss him so much in the Pioneer
Ward. He is doing great and in good health! Hardest working missionary
we have ever had! Congrats!