Elder Taylor 30-Jan-2012

Hello how's it going? Hope you've had a good week. I'm still alive out here in Mexico and doing well.  This week has been busy which a good thing is.

Monday we went with Brother Chapman to visit his friend Marci and her kids. We talked with Marci and her family about the restoration and it went really well.

Tuesday we went and did service at the senior center here in Mexico which was fun; we were able to meet and talk to a few people there.

Wednesday was odd we went on exchanges with Fulton at noon, so I was down in Fulton with Elder Wells. Unfortunately we didn't get much done because Elder Wells forgot he had a doctors appointment in St Louis, so we spent the rest of the day doing that; which was alright I got to wait in the waiting room and write in my journal for half an hour.

Thursday I stayed in Fulton with Elder Banks this time and we went and talked with James who is meeting with the missionaries in Fulton. We talked with James about the commandments and he was really open and accepting.

Friday got back up to Mexico and went tracting.

Saturday was DLZL (District leader/ Zone leader meeting) in Columbia, so I and all the other District Leader companions (DLC's) got to go off and study. Talking with other missionaries is always fun though. After that Elder Humphrey and I went back to Mexico and Tracted, we're kind of in the finding people who are interested mode right now so lots of tracting.

Sunday was good we were able to find a few people after church who invited us back next week. This week looks good exchanges with the Zone Leaders Tuesday and then interviews with President Clark Thursday, so it should be a busy week.  Anyway hope all is going well over, there tell everybody hi for me. Have a great week

With Love

Elder Taylor

Hi Dad 

Elder Taylor 23-Jan-2012

Hello how's your week going? Hope the weather is better than has been over here. Started in sixties went to seventy then dropped straight to the teens and twenties now back up to the thirties. Anyway, it’s way fun.  This week was interesting. P-Day we went out to Columbia for Zone P-day to play capture the flag with the zone. Then Elder Humphrey had DLZL that evening (just some meeting for the zone and district leaders) and then had leadership train in St Louis on Tuesday/Wednesday, so I stayed in Highlands and worked there for a couple of days. Working in Highlands

Tuesday and Wednesday was fun I was with Elder Hanson and we went and visited some formers and less active members in the area.

Thursday Elder Humphrey and I were back in Mexico and after district meeting went tracting and ran around to try and contact some people we have been talking to.

Friday we met with Chad for a little while and we were invited back Wednesday for lunch.

Saturday was busy work we had let the area book fall behind so we spent some time updating that and tracted some more.

Sunday was odd Church in Mexico was canceled because of icy roads but we got told by the Zone leaders to go down to Fulton and attend sacrament and Sunday school there. The trip down was less than eventful, but attending church in Fulton was good they had their High Priest group leaders speak on accountability. Later in the day we saw Quinn someone we tracted into. The meeting went well he seems interested in the Book of Mormon and knows some people in the church.  Anyways this next week looks like it will be a good one. Hope you all have a great week.

With Love

Elder Zach J Taylor

Elder Taylor 19-Jan-2012

Hi everybody sorry for the late/short letter this week. On top of MLK day

Monday Elder Humphrey had leadership training

Tuesday/Wednesday in St Louis so I was over in one of the areas in Columbia MO.  Anyway last week was pretty good.

Monday was P-day and I whittled my thumb though that’s almost healed now.

Tuesday we tracting and talked with a lot of people who invited us back.

Wednesday we contacted someone named Debbie, who had previously talked with the missionaries before and was still really interested, so hopefully we'll be able to talk with her.

Thursday was all the usual meeting though I got to meet Elder Adams and Elder Horlacher who had reopened the Jefferson City area.

Friday was mostly trying to prepare for the meetings this week.

Saturday was a lot of tracting, but it went really, really well. We were able to talk to quite a few people who were interested and invited us back.

Sunday we visited Keith who we have been talking to for a while now and are good friends with a few people in the Ward here.   Hope things are going well for you all. It’s good to hear that the emergency prep is going well. Tell Seth hi for me and to keep pushing forward. Have a good week.

With Love

Elder Zach J Taylor

Elder Taylor 9-Jan-2012

Hello how have you been? 

It's good to hear that you all got some time off. Bummer to hear about the dry rot hopefully that hasn't spread too far along the house.  This past week has been good.

Monday we went to Columbia for Zone P-day and got lost two or three times.

Tuesday we tried to visit some people but ended up tracting at the end of the day.

Wednesday we found some people who had been reffered to the missionaries who lived out on country roads, so went out and bought a gps to find them. Unfourtunatly the people wern't home so we'll have to try by later but the gps was well worth now we don't get lost anymore when traveling outside our area or on country roads. Tracted some more in the afternoon and met some interesting people.

Thursday was had the usual meetings, but we were able to talk with Josh and his dad in the evening and start the new member discussions with Josh.

Friday was tracting actually most of the week was tracting because we need to find more people to talk to, and we have had some success there.

Saturday we talked with Chad who had previously talked with missionaries. Chad is a pretty interesting fellow he is on the police force (yes he did show up to put out the shed) and says he believes in the church. That evening we got transfer calls I'm staying in Mexico for another six weeks with Elder Humphrey and Elder Humphrey has been made District Leader.

Sunday was church and studies and prep for the rest of the week, and we found out we have to go to Jefferson City because the appartment needs cleaning before the new missionaries get there Wednesday (Jeff City was closed for three weeks).  Anyway this week looks pretty good. Tell Seth to email me or send some snail mail it would be good to hear from him. Hope you all have a great week and say hi to everyone for me.

With Love

Elder Taylor

Elder Taylor 3-Jan-2012

Hello and happy New Year. Sorry I’m late writing the library was closed

Monday so I get to email today. How is everybody doing? It's good to hear that Seth is talking to the Missionaries.  This week was really good.

Monday everything was still closed so we went down to Fulton and played basketball with them.

Tuesday Elder Wells from Fulton came up to Mexico and we tried to follow up with people that we had contacted previously.

Wednesday I went down to Fulton and spent the day with Elder Banks, our district leader while Elder Humphrey and Elder Wells were up in Mexico. Elder Banks and talked to a man named James about the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. After the discussion I was able to get a hold of a man named Richard whose son Josh we have been trying to teach. We were able to set an appointment for Thursday afternoon.

Thursday we were able to meet with Josh and Richard, Richard's girlfriend Lisa and here daughter Rebecca also joined us. We had been able to meet with Josh once before at his mom's house Josh's mom is an active member of the church and Josh has been going to primary since he was old enough to attend. Anyways with the Discussion we talked about the Restoration and Lisa and Rebecca were asking more questions than Josh. Richard also listened in and provided a few answers to some of the questions that were asked. At the end of the lesson I extended a Baptismal initiation to Josh, not however for the Jan 7th as I had previously thought to, which would have been really fast paced discussions but owing to the fact that he has been going to church for quite some time Elder Humphrey and I thought it was an appropriate date. However something made me give the invitation for the 31 Dec and he accepted because he had wanted to be baptized for a while, but the great thing was is his dad also agreed to be baptized on that date even though everyone in the room knew we were way rushing it. So we set up the next two discussions for Friday at the same time and for Saturday before the baptism, and then I started thinking what the heck did I just do?

Friday we continued through the discussions with Josh and talked about the Plan of Salvation, and just as the previous discussion Richard, Lisa, and Rebecca sat in and participated and helped Josh with the path he wanted to walk. After the lesson Josh went through the baptismal program he and his mom had set up; his cousin Jake would be baptizing him and his Uncles, Bishop, and a few Brother's in the ward would stand in the circle for the confirmation with me give the confirmation.

Saturday we spent cleaning up the church, setting up chairs, and cleaning/filling the baptismal font before our discussion with Josh. We talked with Josh at three about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Lisa and Rebecca were there to, and I think the support of Richard, Lisa and Rebecca really meant a lot to Josh. At Four Elder Banks came up from Fulton and did the Baptismal interview with Josh. I about socked him when came out and said that there were some things that  needed to be covered again, and then said "Just Kidding" and you could tell that Josh was in on it because he kept his face straight the entire time. Any way the Baptism was great pretty much half the ward turned up for it, and Richard, Lisa, and Rebecca were there for Josh as well.

Sunday was pretty calm in comparison with Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  I hope you have a good week and please remind Seth I heard him say that he was going to try and start emailing me. Hope everything goes alright next week.

With Love

Elder Zach J Taylor