Wednesday, March 6, 2013

March 4, 2013


Dear Family and Friends,

The missionary program is growing so fast and we have only seen a few sisters from the great influx of missionaries coming in, but the next transfer is going to be a big change. We have 29 new missionaries coming in and 20 of them are sisters. Only 5 missionaries are leaving and 29 are coming in, so that is going to be a big influx that is felt here in the GKLM. About 15 new areas are going to have to be opened in two weeks. 

This last week was an up and down roller-coaster. I would expect nothing less from my mission, and I have come to know and enjoy whatever comes my way. We were on such a spiritual high being able to hear from two apostles (Elder Perry, and Elder Cook) and it was really a spiritual experience  I truly felt the Holy Ghost stir my heart and my whole body was just ready to go out and work. Then yesterday after it was all said and done after we were high on a spiritual experience Satan was able to throw exactly what was needed to test me. Its nothing to big, but it was enough to know that there is a good and a bad working. It was something that just hit me and made me realize that I do have some holes in my testimony, and so I need to go back and make them stronger so I can make my weakest links stronger. So I have been doing a lot of prayer and reading the scriptures. I know I will be able to make them stronger if I do whats right. I have also been reading my patriarchal blessing as well and that really helps me out. So I have been working on my weak links but also at the same time I can't neglect my strong links so that they are forgotten and become weak. I need to continually nourish every tender mercy that I'm given. I really enjoyed this last weekend knowing that I was able to hear from an Apostle of the Lord though it was really an amazing experience  Elder Perry is so funny and he kept on cracking jokes and kept on making everyone smile and laugh. I couldn't believe that he is 90 years old and yet he was getting around like he was a 70 year old. He explained to us how the process of a Prophet is chosen and it truly is inspired of God. The surprising thing is that . Elder Cook also was just a great speaker. 

So the Lord has been blessing us with people to teach right and left. We have been spending a lot of our time in the apartment trying to plan and pull together trainings that will be beneficial for our zone, so as a consequence we don't have nearly as much time to proselyte, and I don't like it. I feel like I am really rusty when I finally do get to talk to people on the streets because it rarely happens because we are planning so much. So anyways this last week we were able to have 4 member referalls and two of them we set baptismal dates with. So it was amazing to see how this truly is the Lords work and he blesses us with success. So lately I have been making more of an effort of recognizing the Lords hands in my life and it really does make one just a little bit more aware of how much he gives us.
Love ya family!
Elder Taylor

Sunday, March 3, 2013

February 25th


Hi family!
So a little update on me, this last week went by fairly well. The thing that stood out to me the most was I was finally able to put my studies to the test the day that I decided to study it. Lately I have been studying Power and Authority (because that is what we are going to train our district on this upcoming week and I want to be prepared) and so on Saturday in the morning I was studying it and what really stood out to me was that as a missionary it is a commandment to teach and preach with power and authority. It hit me pretty hard because I had been thinking that power and authority was something that is achieved over a long period of time and it takes a lot of effort to acquire. Which is true, but its a commandment that the Lord wants us to have right now, so I was able to quickly fix that misconception.

 Then that day we went out tracting and we tracted right into a Jehovah's witness (I have had many bashes and some good, and some bad, but this one was a little different). As soon as we knocked on the door, he comes out with his bible. Before we even introduce ourselves he just starts quoting all of these random scriptures from the bible to try to prove us wrong. Some of the scriptures he used sounded good in theory, and some of them sounded like he needed to be locked up in a looney house, but needless to say he was just rambling off trying to confound us. He wasn't really making sense, but the first little bit we tried to let him see what the truth was through the bible but that got us no where because he wasn't listening. What was weird, however, was that as soon as he started to quote scriptures to us he started to shake a little bit. I didn't think anything of it until about halfway through when I thought to myself, "Why is he shaking so bad?" then the answer came to me. The reason why he is shaking so bad is because its three of us against one of him and he knows that he is getting no where. Right at that moment I remembered what I had been studying and I remembered what I was and who I was called by and I put down the bible and just called him out for being hard-hearted and basically said that the spirit of the Lord has no place in him. Basically I threw down, and I did it in such a way that it even astonished me. I felt like the spirit was there so strong and we were backed up because we had a pure intent, not to disprove his religion like he tried to do us, but to let him see that this truly is the truth in a non prideful way.  It  was a testimony building experience that helped me to see and remind me that I really was called of the Lord.
This upcoming week is going to be a week full of being spiritually jacked. First of Wednesday, we get to go to Louisville for zone conference where we get to hear from President Woodbury as well that is where we have to put on our training. Then on Saturday we will be privileged to go to Louisville again to hear from 3 G.A.S! Its another mission wide conference and we get to meet and listen to Elder Cook, Elder Perry, and Elder Clayton. Elder Clayton is in the presidency of the 70 and Elder Cook and Perry are apostles. I'm so excited. Then on Sunday we are having another opportunity to go to Louisville for a special stake conference where we will get to hear from Elder Cook again. So I'm super excited for this week.

Love ya family!!
Elder Taylor