Elder Taylor 28-Nov-2011 - Transfer 3 Week One

   

Hello how was the trip back to California? It's good to hear that everyone in Washington is doing well; I'm glad you got to meet with everyone. Well transfer calls came in Saturday and I'm staying in Mexico for at least three more weeks. The reason for the possibility for the short transfer is that Elder Solomon goes home on the twentieth.  Anyway this week was a mad rushes every where.

Monday we went to Columbia for Zone P-day it was a small turn out but half of the zone was there and it was fun. We left about an hour early so we could make it back to Mexico, so we could change back into shirt and tie to go visit some people who had been seeing the missionaries before the area had been closed.

Tuesday we went and saw Danielle and Justin who were preparing to go out of town for thanksgiving; they did want to talk to us so we shared a little bit about FHE and scripture study as a family and set up a time to see them this week. That evening we met up with Elder Banks and Purcell in Kingdom City and went on exchanges; Elder Solomon went down to Fulton with Elder Purcell and I went back to Mexico with Elder Banks.

Wednesday Elder Banks and I continued to visit those who had been talking to the missionaries before the area was closed. We went to see one family Jeff and Rachel who had talked to the missionaries for quite a while, and we knocked on their door I don't think I've heard any one so excited to see us. They excitedly invited us in and we talked about the previous Elders and what they remembered. It was great they recalled most of what they had talked about and even requested copies of the family proclamation and the plan of salvation pamphlets, which we happily gave them. After talking for a few more minutes we left them with an invitation to church and they said we could come back anytime.

Thursday was good; for district meeting we met down in Fulton and went and did some service for a sister in the Fulton ward. We a few hours moving gravel, splitting wood, and clearing brush before we all headed back to our respective areas. We spent the rest of the day talking with members and getting to know the ward.

Friday we went around and tried to visit those that were still in town and people we had been referred to. On the way to knock on someone's door we met a man named Lee. Lee was a great guy he invited us in and we had an awesome discussion about the bible and the book of Mormon. All went well he said he would take a look at lds.org, mormon.org, and read the book of Mormon; unfortunately he's moving to Portland this week so we won't be able to meet with him again. Visiting more people after that took us till eight where we had to return and have dinner then meet with the Zone leaders who were coming over to blitz our area. Elder Larsen and Elder Harris arrived about eight thirty where we planned out Saturday.

Saturday we went down to Auxvasse and the four of us met with Brother Saxon for correlation meeting and talked about how the ward and the missionaries should be working together. After the meeting Elder Larsen and I went around in Mexico and tried seeing a combination of less active members and people who we had contacted earlier in the week.

Sunday was great. After church we went over to talk with the Prince family because we wanted to talk about having an appointment with Joann at their house. It was amazing not a minute after we showed up Joann came over and knocked on the Prince's door. We were able to sit down and talk for about five minutes, but it went well Joann told us that something had come up for our appointment this week but we were able to arrange to meet next week. This upcoming week looks like it's going to be busy as well, but that’s a good thing.  How’s work going this week? Hopefully it'll slow down around the holidays. Anyway tell Seth hello for me and also to check his email because mine got the spam bounce. Have a good one.

With Love,

Elder Zach J Taylor

Elder Taylor 21-Nov-2011

Hello how are you doing? This week has been good.

Monday was fun, after we finished all of our normal p-day activities (laundry, mail, shopping, etc.) we got a call from Sister Prince who asked us to come over and help them paint their fence. So we went over and helped them paint and chatted about the area and who we could go and talk to.

Tuesday was great. We went over to talk to Danielle and Justin again who let us in, but they we sucked into some video games. However, it went well we started off talking about theirs games and somehow brought it around to the gospel blesses families and how family home evening centered around a gospel principal would bring them closer together. Afterwards we went and met with Joann at the Prince's and we had a really good conversation about Prophets and the Book of Mormon. Sister Prince sat in and participated in the conversation and talked/bore testimony of how the Book of Mormon had helped her in her life. Joann said at the end that she would read and pray to find out if what we were saying was true and said we could meet with her again this week.

Wednesday was a lot of busy work to prep for the rest of the week.

Thursday was district meeting at which the zone leaders were there. It was interesting Elder Solomon gave training on how to use the area book.

Saturday was odd, but we did have another great discussion with Danielle and Justin about the family and church. That afternoon we decided to go and visit Christina who we hadn't seen for a while because we couldn't get in contact with her. We found her at home and had a really great conversation about church and how the church meetings go and how the ward functions. We gave her the time and address of the church and she said she would try to be there.

Sunday was interesting. Church was good, Brother Saxon our ward mission leader got up in priesthood meeting and challenged the ward to find someone for us to teach and baptize by Dec 20th. After church we spent a good amount of time meeting with members in Auxvasse (I've found its much more fun to say aux-vahs-ay than ah-vahz). Anyway this week looks really promising, exchanges with the district leader Wednesday, Thanksgiving Thursday, and the zone leaders are blitzing our area Saturday, plus we have quite a few solid investigators we plan to see as well.  Hope your thanksgiving week goes well and that you have a great time up in Washington. Tell everyone hi for me. Have a good one.

With Love

Elder Zach J Taylor

Elder Taylor 14-Nov-2011

Hello how are things going?  Just finished week 4 of 6 in this transfer and it was great.

Monday was a lot of running around preparing for the week however we now are able to have fresh bread a couple times a week because I finally went and bought flour and yeast to use with a bread machine I found for five dollars at a thrift store, it’s great. That evening we stopped by Danielle and Justin's and talked with them for a little bit and arranged to come back the next day.

Tuesday was great we went tracting midday on Tripoli St. and about the fifth house that we knocked on a woman opened the door and invited us in. She introduced herself as Brittney and asked who we were and what we were doing, so we shared about the book of Mormon and told her about the church. Britney said she wanted to learn more and invited us back Friday to talk with her and her husband. Later we went and talked to Danielle and Justin we talked about the word of wisdom and coming to church. They really got interested in the discussion and even brought up point and examples we had made in previous visits. We asked them if they would come to church and if we could come over Friday and they said yes to both.

Wednesday was busy we must have walked across town two or three times trying to visit people. While we didn't actually see many of the people we wanted to we did talk to a few people on the street and pass out some Books of Mormon.

Thursday morning was taken up by our weekly district meeting. Elder Banks our district leader presented a really good training on how to give street lessons, which are just share one gospel principle and extend an invitation ton act on it (i.e. read, go to church, talk with us more, etc.). On our way back to Mexico we stopped in Auxvasse and talked with a man named Ben. Ben is a really interesting person with an incredible knowledge of the bible. We mainly talked about the Plan of Salvation and the necessity of the Book of Mormon. It was good we asked him to read some scriptures out of the Book of Mormon and he pointed us to first John chapter five (It’s about those that believe on Christ are saved and is an excellent chapter).

Friday was odd, really odd. First most of our appointments fall through or tell us they are no longer interested, so we went street contacting and met Dakota, Ann, Wilbert and some woman wasn't interested. The first three that we met though filled out the rest of the day and Saturday with later appointments. We talked with Ann about the church a little bit but she had somewhere to be, so gave her a restoration pamphlet and she said we could come back Saturday. We met Dakota on his front porch and after we introduced ourselves he asked a few questions about the plan of salvation which we talked about and explained. After talking to him for a while we needed to head out and he asked us to comeback Saturday so we left him with our number and a book of Mormon and pointed him to Alma 40. Wilbert we met after an appointment that fell through. We talked on his back step about families and he invited us to comeback at eight which we gladly did. At eight we gave him a family proclamation to the world and went over that with him and asked if he would be interested in learning more about the church. He said he was and invited us over on Tuesday.

Saturday was another odd day we spent a good amount of time running between Auxvasse, Mexico, and Centralia to visit everybody. We met with Ann again and talked about God and the Atonement and prayer. She seems interested in the gospel said she wants to go to youth activities on Wednesday. We then ran out to Auxvasse to meet a less active family that go to Fulton. They were really hospitable and said they had been planning on going to church that week.

Sunday was a little slower paced. After church we went out and visited a less active member and taught him the stop smoking workshop. He participated a lot and is really motivated to quit. All in all this has been a really great week.  I hope you guys are doing well and that you get some down time soon. Send some pictures over of the family and i'll see if i can't lay my hands on sd card reader so i can email mine over. have an excellent week.

With love,

Elder Zach J Taylor

Re: Elder Taylor 7-Nov-2011

On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 2:21 PM

James W Taylor wrote:

My sources say:

Mexico, Mo. — at approximately 3:24 a.m., today, Mexico Public Safety officers and volunteers responded to the area between Rock Springs and Ozark Place in reference to a grass fire which had spread to a shed. Responding personnel found a shed in the back yard of an Ozark Place residence completely engulfed in flame. The fire was extinguished but the shed was destroyed. An adjacent privacy fence also received damage. The residents where the shed was located stated they had been burning leaves in the backyard earlier in the evening, but felt they had extinguished the flame prior to going inside. They were later awakened by a neighbor who saw their shed on fire. There were no injuries as a result of the incident. 

Dare I ask? Were you burning leaves earlier in the evening, and should we contribute to a restitution fund?

Sorry, had to ask the "Dad" questions. 

Love you and again, take care –

Dad

Further investigation points that the shed fire wasn't our fault. True we were burning leaves the day before but there is a ten hour discrepancy between the two fires. The neighbors behind us however apparently had a large wood bonfire at two in the morning where the police showed up and told them to put it out. their fire was much closer to the shed, burned closer to the time the shed burned down, and the fire was moving towards our house not away from (our burn pile was in between the house and the shed).  We had nothing in the shed and no one was injured although I kind of wish we had some marshmallows or something to roast because it took a few minutes for the fire department to get there. Also the landlord wasn't miffed and hasn't asked us or the church to repair or replace the shed; we think he had a good amount of insurance on it. 

Elder Taylor 7-Nov-2011

Hi Dad

Hey Dad, how are you doing? Because it sounds like you are going to be running your self ragged going all over the country in the next few weeks. Sorry that I could' t help you trim the hedge but I know how you feel Elder Solomon and I are in charge of doing the yard work for the missionary hosing in Mexico although thanks to Missouri and Mexico's burn laws we now just have to burn the leaves we've raked up. I'll try and find spiritual thought to send you next week I always enjoy yours. Anyway be safe in your travels and I’ll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Taylor

                                               

7-Nov-2011

Hello how’s it going? Hope you get some down time at work Dad it seems like you've been flying every where recently. Tell Seth to start eating I think I was 183 for about a day also thanks for sending me his email I'll be sure to send him a note.  This week was crazy.

Monday was Halloween and P-Day which was interesting because President said we had to be in the house by seven because of all the trick-or-treaters. So

Monday was pretty much an all P-day which was good because we got a break but disappointing at the same time because we couldn't go and talk to people.

Tuesday was nuts. We were woken up by our neighbor at three in the morning who told us our shed was on fire. So we get dressed and run out and see twenty-foot flames coming out of the roof of our shed and all we could do was watch and wait for the fire department to get there. The fire department came a couple of minutes later and put out the fire only the shed and the fence next to it were damaged, well the shed is now a black circle on the ground. It was interesting two of our investigators were there as part of the police and fire crew. So long story short after multiple phone calls and talking with the fire investigator the fire was determined accidental, no other damage was done, and we are now known in the office as the "burnt up elders". The rest of

Tuesday we spent contacting and tracting and that evening we had Combined District Meeting (CDM). CDM was good we set goals for the zone and leaned how to better use preach my gospel.

Wednesday was a little calmer I went on exchanges with Elder Purcell in Fulton which was good. Apparently the area book in Fulton is terrible so we went about and tried to visit former investigators and talk with them to see if there was any interest. We did meet one man on the street who turned out to be less active only because he didn't know where the church was, and after we told him he immediately hopped into his truck to go find it.

Thursday was fun the district had interviews with President Clark. Interviews were fun while president was interviewing people his Assistants (APs) were giving training on how to do street lessons.

Saturday was busy we helped out at an eagle project for an hour or so and then got a call that a part member family needed help moving a piano in Auxvasse. So Elder Solomon and I met the Fulton Elders in Auxvasse but we were told the piano was still an hour out so we went on splits and Elder Banks and I tracted while Elder Solomon and Elder Purcell went and saw a less active member. Tracting with Elder Banks was fun the first person who invited us in was a Baptist minister. He was kind and open minded and most of his questions about the church were about the plan of salvation. Afterwards we went and helped move the piano, it having arrived while we were working. That evening we talked about the restoration with a less active member who is starting coming back to church.

Sunday was stake conference. Most of the talks were about meekness and the Holy Ghost but there were a couple about missionary work. Afterwards we spent the day with Brother Herring who took us to see some less active members and some non-member he knew that he thought might be interested in the gospel. It went well, went to a nursing home and talked to a couple there about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was interesting even though the couple we were there to see seemed to enjoy us being there because we were someone one to talk to others around us were really interested in the message we shared.  This week is looking to be really good. I hope you all have a good week and thanks for writing me it means a lot.

I love you guys.

Elder Zach Taylor