Conference Weekend

Thank you family for that excellent report! This General Conference completely blew me away as always. I wish it could be General Conference every week. I really enjoyed all of the talks, but a few hit home more than others. I really like the ones from Elder Holland and President Monson just because they are my favorite, but also because what they talked about was exactly what I needed to hear.  Also Elder Utchdorfs talk was amazing. Also the Last one by Elder Christofferson really stood out to me. The one that I am going to point out was the one by Elder Neil L. Anderson and how his talk was entirely upon missionary work. He talked about miracles that happened during Christ’s time, and then also during the early church. He then went on to say how we are still seeing a miracle unfold right before our eyes. It’s just another testimony of the lowering ages of the missionaries. That is something that really struck me was that even though sometimes I don't see the immediate results of my effort, I still know that there are Angels on both sides of the veil who are here to help pull me up and strengthen me. He then went on to stress the importance of member missionary work. It’s so hard sometimes to get members excited about sharing the gospel and so it was great to hear an apostle stress the importance of member missionary work. Anyways its been great to be a part of the surge of missionaries and its extremely exciting. We are getting another set of missionaries here in E-town and that’s something that has never been done. The Lord truly is reaching out his hang and hastening his work.  It’s a bit sad however, that this last General Conference will be the last General Conference that I will ever have on my mission. It was somewhat depressing. I have really enjoyed being a missionary while listening to conference because I have been able to feel the spirit communicate to my spirit.

Also another interesting fact is that I have been able to personally meet 5 of the speakers who spoke. Elder Perry, Elder Cook, Elder Christoffel Golden Jr, Elder Porter, and Elder L. Whitney Clayton. So that was really neat to hear from them over the television. I am so very grateful for living revelation to help guide us and direct us in these days. I truly am grateful for revelation that God can give to each of us when we are living worthy. That story of mom remembering my password was nothing short of a miracle and tender mercy from the Lord. He truly is watching over us. He cares about each and every one of us and knows who we are and what trials we face. He allows us to go through those trials because it will help us to learn and grow. The purpose of life is so we can become like our Heavenly Father and at the present rate (without challenges) we will never get to our ultimate goal. We need to be stretched and put under pressure. Just as a coal who has potential, when its put through millions of years worth of pressure and heat, can turn into a diamond we too can be turned into something greater than we can even imagine. Heavenly Father loves us enough to allow us to be put through pressure, heat, and time to come out on the other side a refined and priceless treasure in his hands. It’s hard but we must catch the vision of eternity and what it means to be spiritually minded. We have this big task ahead of us, but we can't start on the task without taking the first step. Alma 37:6. "By small and simple means" We can one day become great if we just start small and stick true to our covenants. We must remember who we are, "Child of God."

Lately I have learned a lot and am still learning a lot. After our baptism we had last week, we literally had 7 of our investigators drop us. That family that I told you about last week actually ended up dropping us that night. We think they might have gotten anti-ed but oh well, we just have to keep moving forward. We will keep working hard and trying to diligently bring souls unto God. 

Love you all!!
Elder Taylor

April 1, 2013

This last week we were able to pull in another baptism. Her name is Amy and she is a little 9 year old. It was great! I would have a picture for you all, but I don't have my camera on me and the present time. I still have my camera and its up and working great, I just forgot to take it with me this morning to go emailing so it’s still in the apartment. We had been teaching her for about a month and she was someone who just basically fell into our laps so that was a tender mercy from the Lord. We are actually starting to work with this family of three that we found last week. They ended up coming to church and so the only thing that might be a hold up is that the parents aren't married. We have a lesson scheduled for tonight. They have a daughter who is about 15 who was the main reason why we found them. She had been coming to mutual for about a year now and finally Elder Wood and I stopped her a few weeks ago and talked to her, so we finally stopped by her house this last week, and taught them. We are looking forward to good things coming from them.

Tonight after our appointment we actually have to drive all the way to Louisville for an all day meeting tomorrow with President Woodbury. Monthly Zone Leader Councils are always fun. We are trying to rush and frantically put together numbers and our report that we will report on tomorrow. Basically what the report is, is how the Zone did last month as compared to the month before and why that is. Also what we are going to do as leaders to help the missionaries 

Elder Anderson is a good missionary. I can't remember if I have told you this or not, but he comes from a family of lawyers and so he is really good with words. Sometimes he just sits there a picks my brain, at first it was annoying, but now it’s pretty fun because it makes me think and really helps me understand more. It makes me really think before I answer so I would be dang near right to say now I'm actually starting to think before I speak... hahaha finally! ;). Well anyways, we have a lot of stuff to do, but just so you all know, yes we did get taken care of yesterday. The Stake president's wife cooked us dinner and we ate with them. 

Love ya!! Elder Taylor

March 25th, 2013

Hi family! To answer a few of the questions first, Elder Anderson is from Monticello, Utah (All of my companions except for one has been from Utah). He is a really good missionary and both of us are zone leaders together. He has been out about 15 months. So that’s good that we can share the responsibility. So why I'm hoping for is I stay a zone leader for 3 more months and then after that I get sent to a bike area and become a regular missionary for the last 3 months of my mission. Being a Zone Leader is fun and it stretches me, but it gets frustrating sometimes because there is so much work, other than proselyting, that demands our attention. We only get like 3 days out of the 7 to fully proselyte. Even those three days are kind of hindered with some meetings that we have to go to. But I will do what the Lord wants me to do and go where he wants me to go. So that was fun to hear about the little family visit that took place, and I'm happy that Grandma and Grandpa are still alive and kicking

Mom,  I really do love that chapter, Alma 26. It truly shows that we can find joy, happiness, and success in Lord if we lean on him for everything. We truly can do all things, and I think that sometimes we get independent and want to do it all that we forget about the Lord and his loving and matchless love that he has for all of us. I started to think about President Woodbury's favorite scripture Proverbs 3:5-6. I often feel like I'm overwhelmed being in this position, but after President told me about that scripture it really made me start to think. I have weaknesses, as everyone does, so why not rely on the Lord for the extra strength that he has promised he will give if I'm humble about it. So I really like that scripture that you brought up mom. 

Yeah Elder Perry is a good one, and most definitely he has moved up on my radar of favorites, probably top 5 now, but my top 3 are pretty set :). President Monson, Elder Holland, President Utchdorf. Those are the three that blow me away every time. Now its probably Elder Perry and Elder cook is up there, but I also really have grown fond of Elder Oaks and how bold he can be. They are all good ones though. My dream would be to meet Either President Monson and or Elder Holland though. I just love Elder Holland and how bold and up front he is. He is the "bull dog" and I have this talk from him that he gave to the missionaries in the MTC and every time I listen to it, it fires me up. It’s actually pretty similar to the general conference address he gave last GC. 
So it’s actually pretty crazy because we have so much that we need to accomplish before this Friday. Apparently we are getting a new set of missionaries here in E-town and since we are the zone leaders, it is up to us to find an apartment for them, and also to draw their area boundaries. It’s pretty crazy and there is a lot that has to go into it. We get to see a whole new side of missionary work other than just talking to people. Hopefully this Saturday we will have another baptism, so that will be good though, the Lord does truly make up and cause miracles to happen.

Love you all!!

Elder Taylor