Elder Taylor 5-Mar-2012

Hey everybody how’s it going?

Sounds like things are pretty busy over there. Just to let you know Elder Shivers and I are alright we got some lightning shows but no tornadoes. There were a few EF-1's about thirty minutes to the south though which is a little close for comfort.

Any ways we're doing good and the weather seems to be abating for the moment.

Monday was fun we went up to Farmington and played Basketball up there with the Farmington and Potosi Elders and some investigators.

Tuesday was zone conference which was great we had a really great training from President Clark on how to work with the mission leader in the area and the Branch/Ward. We then had training from the zone leaders about how to look for unexpected opportunities to talk to people which involved tracting the classrooms looking for people. And it was just our luck that Elder Shivers and I ran into President Clark on the first go. It was actually pretty interesting "teaching" President and he gave some really good critique on how we could be better. After Zone Conference we went and talked with Brenda about the Plan of Salvation. Brenda didn't ask many questions and perhaps we should have asked her more, but the discussion went really well and the Spirit was there. We extended a baptismal invitation at the end of the discussion which she turned down, but it was just as well because Brenda expressed some of her concerns and said why she was turning it down while saying she wanted to know more first.

Wednesday was fun we did some service at the senior center here in Fredricktown. We then went to Annapolis and met and talked with people there. We met with a woman named Kelly and her daughters and somehow the discussion turned to the Temple. All-in-all we had a great chat about the temple and rather than the normal bashing I've normally heard about the Temple they were more curious and wanted to know about it.

Thursday after district meeting we met with a couple named Melvin and Jennifer. They are really cool people and have been seeing the missionaries for a while. We had a good discussion about the Old Testament when Moses was talking to the Children of Israel about idols.

We then talked about Moroni chapter six and about how church attendance is important and how it can help us temporally and spiritually. Later that evening we had dinner with a couple named Angie and T.H about the Restoration and the Joseph Smith story.

Friday we had weekly planning and then went to the Temple to help support a brother who had recently joined the church go through the Temple for the first time and get sealed to his family.

Saturday we went to Marquand and went tracting down there. While tracting we met a man named Maursh who let us in and talked with us for quite a bit about the Book of Mormon.

Sunday was good. After church we went around and tried to talk with people we had seen through-out the week while we weren't able to talk with them right then most were willing to set up appointments for this week or the following week.

Fredricktown is great. The area is huge geographically but there are only about twenty thousand people in it. I'm loving the country out here; the people are friendly and willing to talk (sort of anyway) and there's a ton less noise than in the city.

All-in-all I'm doing well. Hope you all have a great week

With Love

Elder Zach J Taylor