May 6th

Captain Moroni, AKA Elder Taylor

Recent Baptism

So to be completely honest, I am having a hard remembering what we did this last week. The mission truly does seem like the days feel like years, the weeks feel like months, the months feel like weeks, and the years feel like days. No we didn't have a baptism this last week, but we are starting to gear up for some future success. If things go great we could have 4 baptisms at the first of June. But if not there will be at least 8 baptisms coming up in the next 4 months that Elder Anderson and I found and started teaching. We have 6 investigators in our teaching pool are really progressing well, and two other gators are having a hard time reading and stuff, but they have felt the spirit and want more of it. You can just tell the look that they have in their eyes when we come over. They want more, they just aren't quite willing to act on it yet, but they will.

So let me tell you a story that has been going on for about a month now. Its about an Inactive part-member family. A little bit of background on this family is that he grew up Mormon and he fell away at like 16. So he went off to the Army at 18 and he has had to go through two deployments to Afghanistan and through it all, he has lost all but a little strand of faith and he really doesn't want anything to do with God. He married his wife who is catholic and they have four sons. So here is where we come into the picture. We knocked on his door and did our little approach and he told us that he used to be Mormon but he politely told us that he doesn't want to have anything to do with us. So I asked if we could at least leave the Savior's peace and blessing on his home through prayer. So he agreed. We said the prayer and afterwards we offered to do any service that he needs and I could tell that flipped a small switch in his head. He declined and so we left.... but we came back to him and his family again, and again, and again. The first few times were a bit rough because they didn't really know why we kept showing up and so it was a little awkward, but the more we came back the more he started opening up. His wife was down right closed off to us, but this last time we stopped by his wife was sitting out in the garage and we had a really good talk with her, she invited us in. We helped him with some of his plumbing, and it was cool afterwards they asked us to teach their kids... So we are now teaching their kids, and she is even somewhat interested. So good things are coming from them as well.

It was funny while we were doing the plumbing he started to cut some of the pipe with an electric blade and it started to shake a lot, so he asked me to hold the above and below where he was cutting, and I did. As he cut through the first bit of pipe there was still water in it, and it squirted me right in the face. He looked at me and asked if I was good I nodded and so he went to town on the pipe. It was awesome my arms were vibrating hardcore and water was spraying me in the face... I had a flash back of getting drug behind Coach Andersons boat having water splash me in the face.

Well I love you family!

Elder Taylor

April 28th

So this last was extremely crazy!  we had a little mini MTC for the youth and basically what it is, is we are paired up with a young man and we take him around to classes on Friday and then we take them out with us on Saturday. We had 26 missionaries in Elizabethtown for Friday and Saturday and we had to find over 40 appointments for all the missionaries and the young lads to go to. So we spent the entire week trying to find LA's and investigators who would be able to help us out. But I was with two young Deacons who taught me a lot. One of the kids his name was Spencer and he was only 12 but he could have already been a missionary, he was that prepared. As we were teaching on Saturday, he was able to explain the great apostasy clearer than I have ever heard it be explained... it completely blew me away. Yeah anyways that was fun on Friday evening we stayed up till 12 and then woke up at 4:45 to go and play some basketball, and it was so fun, but afterwards I was completely tuckered out!

By the way, after holding those snakes, I have really contemplated getting one. The python was completely harmless (until it saw a mice then it broke its little body, it was crazy) but feeding it and everything costs so much, so I will have to wait a little bit for a snake haha. I almost listened to it when it told me to partake of the fruit, but I pulled back at the last second.

 Love You!!

Elder Taylor

Deacons helping Elder Taylor become even a better Missionary!

 

Nathan doing the Haka!

Met up with Elder Johnson at the Mini MTC Conference
 

April 22nd

P-Day in Elizabeth Town



Hey family!! That is so neat that Gentry was able to have a missionary experience with one of her friends. Many believe that we are saved by the grace of God, no matter what we do here on earth.   Except we are saved by Grace, after all we can do. He won't save us if we refuse to change. There is no amount of work that we could do to get ourselves to Heaven, and that is why we need the Atonement in our lives. Christ won't save us in our sins, but he can save us from our sins and that’s the difference. Its the enabling power of the Atonement that saves us because it allows us to climb out of the valley of our sins and climb the mountain of victory to become as he is. Good job. Ashlyn and Porter are getting so big!! Wow!! thats so crazy, it just blew my mind.

 This last week was awesome. We are seeing so many tender mercies from the Lord it is incredible and it has come in a point of my mission when I have needed it the most. Yesterday we ended up getting 5 investigators at sacrament meeting breaking my record and next week we are expected to hopefully hit double digit numbers and that's not even wishful thinking, it’s more than possible. Right now we are teaching two families in particular and both families have two kids above 8. It’s just crazy and I'm loving it and its all because of Heavenly Father. Lately I have felt extremely humble and inadequate in everything I do, even more than at the first of my mission. I have never had this happen to me, but then to see the investigators just fall into our laps is even more humbling and shows me whose work this really is. One of our investigators is a part-member and is 17 years old, his mom fell away when she was like 20ish and now she is 40. Anyways he is surrounded by a bunch of bible thumpers Baptists who give him anti all the time. He has come across so much anti its crazy. He has almost gotten into every single anti there is and he is still interested in what we share. He has such a level head on him its awesome, but he so random as well its funny. He gives us one of his anti-questions that he has and as he is asking us the question he starts to answer his own question and so it comes out as a half question, half statement. The other day after we addressed some of his questions he looked at us all leery like and said, " It sounds good, and you all seem the most convincing this far, but I'm not sold... yet! But at least you all get into the meat of stuff instead of just scratching the surface" So he is really a level headed thinker who is looking for truth and recognizes it when it comes.  

Haha funny story that I just have to tell, we were driving to hodgenville (The birthplace of Abe Lincoln :)) and we saw a turtle in the middle of the road and (remembering what happened to me in pioneer when Elder Hart put a turtle in my bathtub) we picked it up and took it home with us. We went into the other elders apartment and put him in the bathtub and named his optimums prime. So we have had another member of the family. It was pretty funny to hear them as soon as they found that a turtle was in the bathtub, they called us and were like, "we have the best Zone Leaders ever!!!" It was great. Also on Friday we went to a BYU-Idaho Symphonic band in Louisville. That was neat but at the same time weird seeing my past (BYU-I) and present (My mission) coming together. Anyways I enjoyed it.

Well family I have to run!! love ya!!

 Elder Taylor

 

April 15th

Investigator with 8 snakes

Elder Taylor Teaching the Reptiles of the Earth!

This last week has been a hectic/ crazy week. I'm still trying to decide what has transpired. I guess to start off, last week Elder Anderson and I basically had no one to teach so we decided that we were going to ask for referrals from everyone that we meet. We have been doing that and this past week we ended up getting 10 referrals from members and non-members alike. To top it off we built up an entire teaching pool in just a week’s time. We basically had no one to teach on Monday and then yesterday we ended the week off with 14 new investigators. So we have been able to see the Lords hand a lot here lately. One of the new investigators that we picked up owns like 8 snakes and these snakes aren't just the normal garden snakes that you see every day. All of the snakes that he has can grow up to about 30 feet in length. He has one named Mary Jane and she is already like 6 foot in length. Like the third time we went over there and he brought her out and I taught the restoration lesson with her curled up around my shoulders... It was the craziest thing ever. Elder Anderson had like a 3 foot snake curled up around his arm as well. It was so cool.

Love Elder Taylor

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