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

8-20-2012

So this last week was a pretty hectic week. We had a member of the 70 come and talk to us. It was Elder Golden. He was a really nice speaker and I really had a lot of respect for him. I really enjoyed his 2 hour long lecture that he gave to us. He hit everything and anything. From Obedience to faith to hard work even being clean (thus the apartment inspection). He answered one of my biggest questions that has been plaguing me my entire mission. Often while being out here I have seen many missionaries who find success but barely work for it. They get by with doing just enough, even some of them don't even do enough and still yet they baptize. I have been working my butt off for the past 11 months and why in the heck haven't I had very much success. (I'm not playing a woe is me, or that baptisms are life and death, but it’s still nice to have success) anyways I went into this conference with a question as to how I can improve myself. And the answer came. He said that there are two reasons why missionaries don't find success. Number one is they don't work hard enough, they don't know how to hit the pavement and so when the time comes they don't have the spirit with them. The second reason is that missionaries are working extremely hard, but they are working extremely hard in the wrong direction, they aren't doing the Lords work his way. As soon as I heard that my heart sunk into my belly, but at the same time I started to sing praises to Heavenly Father at the understanding of what I need to do. It goes back to working smarter, but smarter in the right direction. It’s going to be a trial and error sort of thing, but already this week we have started to see the fruits of it with one of our investigators attending church.
Although this week we had a really rough lesson with one of our investigators that we have been seeing for like a month now. He feels that us telling him that his church doesn't have the fullness is us telling him that all of his past experiences of him finding God doesn't matter. We tried explaining over and over that we don't want to take away, just add to that he already has and for him to read the Book of Mormon. He then goes off on how he is seeing all of these miracles in his church and numbers are being added daily and so for him to walk away now would be almost insanity. But for some reason he keeps inviting us back. I don't know maybe the Lord has a way to show me patience or maybe he will be humbled, I don't know. We shall see. But we are starting to find and teach more so it has been a tendy mercy of the Lord to see all of this happening.
Also while we were at the soup kitchen the preacher asked me to pray again and then right after that someone walked up to me and started to ask questions. So that was neat to see the Lord working by small and simple means.

Love you all family!
Elder Taylor

 

8-13-2012

So this past week went pretty well. Although on Saturday Elder Johnson and I scheduled an appointment over in the North Area and so I looked on the map and found the place where we were going, and it didn't look too far maybe four miles, and five at the most. So we started to ride, and ride, and ride... and ride.... and forty minutes later we reached our destination... 7 miles away. Then while we got there, we started to look at the houses and this guy gave us a house number that didn't exist. We were upset. Then right as we were about to get on the bikes I looked down and noticed that my tire had gone flat.... and so that was just a horrible day. But now it’s over and it was an experience to remember and to always get the persons phone number so we can call first. So needless to say we had a good day of exercise that day :) Speaking of which... I weighed myself this morning and any guesses as to how much I weighed??.......... drum roll......... 203.4. yeah buddy! It’s all about over-coming the natural man and curbing that desire to over-eat. So as I had promised before, dad since you are making such an effort to eat healthy, so will I:) This is good, and I love it! My ankle is increasing in strength, this last week I worked three out of seven days with my brace off and it was able to hold under the pressure, so I am getting to be back to full motion again. So yesterday we actually went over to the Bishops house for dinner and as I was walking around their kitchen, I spotted someone that I knew from back home up on their fridge... It was lunch detention Jensen. And to top it off, he is getting married!! How crazy is that. I looked at bishop's wife and was like "HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM?!" and she was like I don't... I know her though. She was in my young women’s quorum a few years back. So we started to talk about how small the world really is :) that was crazy!
Elder Johnson and I are getting along pretty well. I am thinking that I will stay in Lexington at least for another transfer cycle though which is fine with me (this one ends in two weeks! wow!)
Well we are working hard, and I am personally working hard in behalf of trying to become converted and healed. Conversion is a life-long process that we can never be idle about.

8-6-2012

I am extremely humbled by the experience of Porter and his example. Little kids who are without guile, like he is, they see what they see and they say it how it is. There is no covering up or beating around the bush with him. He gets the point out Innocent and pure and there is no judgment or hypocrisy. He boldly declares what he knows to be right. That's the way we all should be. Be not afraid. So thank you Porter for you example. You keep on softening those hearts and being that wonderful missionary that you are :) Be as a little child. Those words are so true.
I am happy to hear of Jessica and her joining together in matrimony between her and Cody. That must have been an important day in her life, and so it deserves all of the congratulations suited for the occasion.

Wow so you saw Brock this week?! That is awesome! How is he doing? How are the marines treating him? Sheesh it feels like it’s been an Eon since I have seen him. I really do miss him, but it’s weird because I see a few similarities between him and Elder Johnson. It’s been pretty cool. Like sometimes I look at Elder Johnson and it feels like dejavue. But then my mind reflects to Brock and I'm like no wonder, that is something that Brock would do. So it’s been pretty fun serving with him. I hope that we get another transfer together. It is midway through this transfer and it seems like it has flown by! I don't even know where the time is going. I feel like some days I should just sit in my apartment so that way the time will go slower, but no matter what I do the time will go by in equal proportions so why not work it to death :) Also I will get no better by just sitting there. So that would make it void and I wouldn't be able to accomplish much.
This week has been way hard trying to get the goals down and working effectively. Like I have done more planning this week and visiting less active members than I have done in a while. Also I have made more phone calls this week to members to try to get to know them than I ever have done. It has helped me to learn and grow and to be able to step outside of the box. Like for example I used to spend all of my time just going out and trying to find new investigators, but that will only get me so far. If I go out looking for new investigators then I will be able to find what I am looking for. I have discovered that if I look for a member present and do my best then we will have a member present. Also if I put in the work to have someone go to church then eventually someone will come to church. But if we find for a baptism, go out looking for someone who is ready to be baptized, not just taught, then miracles will happen. Granted it hasn't happened yet, but we have been able to experience the fruits of steady constant effort towards achieving goals. Like this week we had a possible four say that they would be able to make it to church with us. Now none of them came, but that right there was testimony enough for me to know that we had the potential to get four to church. The Lord was just giving us a little taste of victory that way so we could want it more. Now why is that, when before this week rarely anyone has said that they will come to church? The fact of the matter is that we focused on getting people to church and so therefore the Lord will grant unto us the righteous desires of our hearts, but that isn't without us first putting forth the needed effort. We distributed an adequate amount of time specifically to invite people and to explain why coming to church is so important. A few people weren't even investigators and we talked to them for about 10 minutes as to why they should attend church with us. But that correlated into our investigators realizing the importance of church attendance. Now only imagine if we could do that for baptism. (which is what we are starting to understand :)) so that was pretty intense and I'm still trying to understand the doctrine and importance of setting goals. Weekly planning is the bane of my existence, but President re-emphasized that it will be the difference between success and not success. So I have tried to sit down and plan things out. Which has been extremely hard for me. I was never the one to go by a time schedule or even neatly organized, so this is making me learn and grow. We have actually been working pretty close with this 16 year old and she is the furthest progressing investigator that Elder Johnson has ever been able to teach, so we are extremely happy about that. She is set for baptism in September, the reason it being so far away is that she works on the weekends and so she has a hard time getting off for church. Hopefully she said that this upcoming Sunday she will be able to come. Just have to keep on hoping and having faith.
Oh yeah by the way, covering both areas has been fun! We actually bought a bike odometer to see how far we travel in a day’s time. We average about 17 miles a day and spend over two hours of the day on a bike. So that has been amazing. Other than my bum getting sore, I am loving life with how much activity is offers :) Also yes I did receive Grandmas and Grandpas package that they sent in the mail. So tell them thanks for me!

Love you all!
Elder Dallas Taylor                         

7-30-2012

Whatever the human mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Well here it is Monday again and the time needs to slow down. It’s going way too fast. I was very grateful to hear about all the experiences that have happened. Thank you dad for updating me on how you’re doing. I hope and pray that your health will increase and also that all will go well with the surgery.
So this past week the Zone leaders sat us down and said that President time and time again has said that we are on the brink. We are so close to reaching our goals and potential and we are doing good but we need to do better. He has given us all these trainings on everything from being obedient to how to better approach people, but it seems that nothing is working. They asked us what it will take to push us over the edge, from being an average mission to being a mission that leaves a legacy. So we sat and talked for quite a while and then they showed us this new breakthrough that President is positive will push us over the edge. They asked us how many times we go out for the day just mindlessly hoping that the Lord will put someone in our way. Or how many doors have we knocked not really sure what to say or what we want to accomplish other than getting this person to accept what we are teaching. They said that what this mission is lacking is something that has been in preach my gospel the whole time. We need to go out with a purpose in mind. We need to fulfill our key indicators. Just a little bit of a back ground, key indicators are goals that we set each week. a few of these are gators with a bap date, gators at church, gators taught with a member present, other lessons, and new gators. So they said that President has set a standard of expectation and we need to focus on every single indicator. Not just investigators hoping to get the investigators to progress, but actually going out with a purpose and expectation in mind. Like if we need someone to come to church then go out looking for people to come to church. So we did that on Friday and Saturday we just went out inviting people to come to church. Everybody we saw :) and unfortunately no one came to church but that night we did have a little bit of a miracle, as to we found an investigator and set a bap date with her, and we did that with brother Kopher, our mission ward leader :) The lesson that we taught seemed to flow so nice and evenly and it was directed by the spirit big time. Elder Johnson and I were also able to teach in unity so it just worked exceptionally well. So hopefully if we keep on this track, it will follow through with a baptism. Actually one of the Zone leaders looked at us and said, "I haven't promised anyone this but if you fulfill these standards of expectation for 7 weeks then you will have 3 baptisms." So we are working even harder and more effective. Which is way cool!

So to update, my ankle is doing good. I can actually move around without a limp. I can run fairly well with a limp, but I can still run. So how are the Olympics coming along? I know that they are almost half way over right? How Michael Phelps do and also the USA did supposed new dream team?
Well today we are actually going to over to play some ultimate Frisbee and so that will be fun because it has been awhile since I have played anything other than tennis on P-days. Elder Johnson and I are still doing great. We are having fun and enjoying our time together. Learning and growing as always. It’s weird because right as soon as I feel like what is happening is too great to handle, the Lord reaches down and strengthens me. The Grace and the power of the atonement of our Lord and Savior is amazing and incomprehensible. I am really enjoying getting to know my Savior on a more personal level and knowing what true love is. Knowing the Savior is more than just trying to follow his example, it is the act of becoming who the Savior would have us be, little by little.
LOVE you family!
Elder Taylor.