Author: Elder Taylor

I figured that I’d write this week about something rather exciting that happened to my companion. Yesterday we got a call at around 10:30 from an Elder Ashton, who is currently serving in the ward where my companion’s brother lives in Phoenix. He called us to inform us that Elder Marquardt’s brother was given a free-agent contract for the NFL, and he has signed up to play for the Cincinnati Bengals for two years. It’s pretty awesome, I must say. So, yeah… My companion’s brother is going to be in the NFL.

Anyway, in other news, this week has been pretty good. The work goes well, though we still haven’t quite been able to set any baptismal dates with anyone. But hopefully that will come soon. We’ve got people that are progressing toward baptism, we just need them to take the final steps toward it.

We also had an awesome Zone Conference this week, though we were kind of called to repentance on some things. Sis. Bassett (the wife of the mission president) talked for about 30 minutes about how we need to make sure that we’re looking and acting the part of being representatives of Jesus Christ, in language, grooming, etc. Anyway, it was pretty exciting.

Other than that there wasn’t too much exciting this week, except that while we were eating with some English members we heard two loud ‘bang’s, to which they immediately perked up and said, “That’s the SWAT team!” Anyway, the SWAT team was performing a raid of some sort just down the street, and we stepped outside for a few minutes to see what was going on. It was pretty exciting, though kind of disturbing that the people knew that the sounds of what I suppose were flashbang grenades meant that the SWAT team was there.

But yeah, it’s fun stuff. We’ve been keeping plenty busy with a lot of stuff, but not too much of it is incredibly exciting. Of course, doing missionary work is quite the awesome thing, and I’m enjoying it quite a lot. Life is good and the Church is true.

I reckon that’s about all that I have to say for this week. Enjoy!

This week was pretty exciting. Despite having tons of meetings (1 on every day of the week), we managed to teach more lessons than we have in the past 4 months. That was pretty cool. Sadly, however, no one that we taught came to church. So, that was rather depressing. But hey, what can you do? We certainly tried to get people there, it just didn’t work out.

Anyway, the week was still good. We’ve got some people progressing (though somewhat slowly) toward baptism, so that’s at least something to look forward to. We’ve come across some new obstacles with a couple of investigators, but with some work we’ll be able to overcome them so that they can be baptized.

Yesterday morning we decided to make waffles, so we invited the other missionaries from the ward over to the house we live in for some waffles. It was fun. Plus, we got to watch the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast, which is something that we don’t get to see very often. Anyway, that was pretty fun.

But yeah, I think that just about does it as far as anything exciting goes. Other than that, there’s not too much to report, so I think that I’ll just go ahead and close. Life is good, and the Church is true.

So, this week has been pretty much amazing. In the picture at the left, you can see what happens to be the wedding and baptism of a family that I taught 2 areas ago. They finally decided to take the step to get married and baptized, so it was a pretty awesome event. Plus, all the missionaries that had taught them were there, so that was pretty cool, too. Anyway, it was really fun to be there for it.

We also had transfers this week, so that was fun. We now have 2 ‘Hermana Lopez’es in one companionship, so that sometimes gets confusing. But hey, what can you do? I figure that figuring out a solution is the only solution.

Ok, sorry for that confusing sentence. I thought it sounded kind of cool. Anyway, it’s been a fun week. We had some exciting meetings on Saturday, two in a row. In the first they gave us breakfast, which consisted of some wonderful things that I haven’t had in quite some time, ableskeevers. If you haven’t had them, you absolutely must try them. If nothing else, they’re quite a bit of fun.

But yeah. As far as the work goes, we’ve been making some progress with several people, and they’re slowly getting closer to baptism. Hopefully we’ll be able to have some baptisms coming up soon, though as of right now we don’t have anything solid set. But hey, we’ll just keep on working, and all will be well.

But yeah, that’s the news. The only other thing that I can think of to say is that we had a pretty awesome game of Ultimate Frisbee today, which turned into a sort of water fight between some people toward the end. I think that I got hit the hardest, as everyone seemed to gang up on poor Elder Taylor. ’twas a sad thing.

Anyway, that’s it. Have an awesome week!

Ok, so, to tell the truth, there really wasn’t any flaming bag of poop. But there was a bag of poop in our car this morning. That was pretty exciting. It’s all part of a long story of sabatoge and revenge, involving leather air fresheners and secret combinations. Mostly, we’ve just been involved in a war with some of the sisters in the zone, and one of them is going home tomorrow, so they made their last-ditch attempt to get us back this morning, by placing a bag of poop in our car. But it seemed to disturb them more than it disturbed us. We hardly noticed it, and when we did, it was easy enough to throw it into the garbage can, but apparently the sister dry-heaved three times while putting it in there.

Apart from that, this week was pretty much good all-around. We had a fun experience where we were trying to talk to some elderly hispanics, and it was incredible to see their attempts to get rid of us. They both just turned their backs and acted like they were ignoring us, and mostly it was just really entertaining.

Of course, as most of you know, Conference occured this weekend, and it was pretty stellar, but that’s mostly self-explanatory. I’m sure that all of you noticed for yourselves that such was the case, so I’m just not going to worry about commenting further, since such a course of action would just be repetitive.

We’re making some progress with some cool investigators toward baptism, though it seems like lots of people are trying to avoid us, so that’s kind of depressing. One of our best investigators disappeared, and we’ve not the slightest idea of where to find him. But hey, that’s just what happens. Oh, and some of our other investigators were apparently very close to being deported, but they weren’t, so that was good.

Anyway, it was an exciting week. Oh, and we got transfer news, but my companion and I are staying together, so that’s not horribly interesting.

But yeah, I could keep on writing, but I’ve pretty much run out of time, and I don’t really have anything important to say, so I’ll finish up. Have a stellar week!

Oh, and one other thing that’s pretty exciting… This week the police closed off parts of our area twice. Once they brought in the SWAT team. I think it had something to do with a hostage situation. Anyway, it was pretty exciting.

Well, this week has been pretty exciting. First thing, something that really surprised me, I got my ‘trunky call’ this week. We were just leaving the Visitors’ Center after a lesson and the phone rang. Anyway, a trunky call comes approx. 3 months before the end of your mission (at least in our mission) and it involves them asking you what airport you’ll be flying in to. Anyway, I informed them that I won’t be flying home, because my family is picking me up. So, yeah. It really surprised me, because I hadn’t thought about it at all. But hey, those things happen.

Anyway, this week was awesome as far as the work went. We had our interviews with Pres. Bassett, and along with that we always have our ‘Zone Development Meeting,’ in which we address the problems that the zone is facing. Anyway, it was an awesome meeting, and last night, as we were receiving stats, most stuff had increased by about 50%. Anyway, it was pretty awesome, because it seems like everything is taking off. Plus, we had an awesome week, too, and we were blessed with some very promising new investigators.

Anyway, it’s been a good week. The water balloon fight last week was pretty awesome, though it took less than 10 minutes for our entire supply of them to be exhausted. I got pictures, but I left my card in the car, so yeah… Anyway, it was fun.

There’s not much else in other news. Mostly, life is good. So, yeah. There you have it. The Church is true.

Wowee… This week has been pretty exciting. This week I went a total of four times to the Easter Pageant – twice to work, once with investigators, and once just at the end because we wanted to see the finale of the last night. Mostly, it was pretty awesome. All four nights it was packed, so that was really cool.

Anyway, in other news, we’re preparing for the baptism of an investigator, named Polo. He’s pretty cool, though I’ve only been able to teach him once. Last night we had an appointment with him, though trough a weird sequence of events I ended up doing a baptismal interview for his girlfriend, who is being taught separately by Sister Missionaries. Anyway, it was pretty interesting. But yeah, if all goes well, we’ll be having a baptism coming up this week.

In other news, we’re going to be having a Zone Activity today… A Water Balloon fight. That’s one benefit to being in Arizona… Even in March, you can have a water balloon fight. Anyway, it’s going to be a ton of fun.. We’re also going to be having a barbecue to go along with it, so it should be tons of fun.

Ok, so I guess that not that much exciting stuff happened this week, as I’m running out of exciting things to say, but I certainly enjoyed this week. I’m sure that other interesting things happened, but I just can’t remember them right now. So, anyway, it was a good week.

But yeah, I think that just about does it, since I can’t think of anything else to say. Life is good, the Church is true, and Easter is a good holiday, even if it does make me fatter. I hope that you all had an awesome Easter, and remembered the reason that we have it. Christ lives. I know that. Have a great week.

So, guess what? We spent most of the morning on Friday and Saturday moving our stuff over to our new place of residence. It’s pretty amazing. The Halbert family (who, as you may have guessed, we just moved in with) is pretty awesome, and they’ve been quick to allow us to participate in some of their greatest traditions, like Sunday night ice cream. (Can’t complain about that one)

Anyway, their remodeled garage is just big enough for all of our stuff and a new couch to fit in comfortably. Mostly, we’ve just been really enjoying ourselves there. It’s a good place to be. It’s much better than our run-down apartment, plus we’ve made an arrangement to pay them some money every month and just use their food. Oh, yeah… And this morning, while I was viewing the cereal situation, Sis. Halbert walked out and said, “Since I don’t have work today, I thought I could make breakfast. Would you like some waffles?” Anyway, it was the first time that I’ve had waffles in a very, very long time. And they were really, really good.

But yeah, that’s good stuff. In other news, the Easter Pageant has been good fun. We got to work there two nights, both the Spanish nights, and it’s been pretty stellar. It’s a good performance, and it’s been great fun to be able to talk to people before and after. We get to meet people from all over. It’s mostly just really fun to be there.

Other random stuff that happened this week was having an awesome Zone Conference, setting a baptismal date with an investigator when I met him for the first time, and yeah… I can’t think of anything else for right now. But it’s been an awesome week. The Church is true, life is good, and living with members is superb. Always remember those things. They’ll make your life a happier thing.

“Right then… Good show, carry on.”

Well, as you may have guessed, we’re doing email now on Tuesday because we decided to go to the temple this week, because this is the day that fit in with all the Visitors’ Center Sisters, and it was pretty great. Going to the temple is always an awesome experience.

Anyway, this week has been pretty exciting. Now that I think about it, so much has happened this week that it seems like an awfully long time since last P-day. We’ve had several meetings, met the family that we’re moving in with, worked at the Easter Pageant rehearsals, and a plentiful supply of other stuff that I can’t remember right now. The point is, we’ve been pretty busy with everything.

Among the most exciting things was setting a baptismal date last night. It was an investigator that I hadn’t even met yet. We had set several appointments with him and they had all fallen through because of work or other things. Anyway, last night he finally was able to have a lesson, which we did in the Visitors’ Center. The Bishop and two of our ward missionaries were also there, and it was a great lesson. Anyway, he’s set to be baptized on the 29th of this month.

In other news, we’re getting ready for the Easter Pageant, which starts tonight. It’s going to take place every night except Sunday and Monday up until Easter, and we’ve been assigned several days to work there talking to people and looking for referrals. Apparently it attracts about 80,000 people every year, so it should be pretty exciting. We got to help train the cast on looking for referrals as well, and that was great fun. It should be a good thing. We went one night to be at one of the rehearsals, but we had to go do some baptismal interviews and whatnot, so we ended up missing the majority of it. But it should be fun, so we’re excited.

Apart from that, there’s not that much new news… We’re moving in with the members this Saturday, and we convinced our Housing Coordinator to let us look around the warehouse (yeah, they have a warehouse full of furniture) for new furniture, since what we have is very undesirable. The problem is that we’re moving in to a one-room place, so we won’t have tons of room to spare. But yeah, it seems like a pretty nice place. It’s a modified two-car garage, and despite how that sounds, it’s pretty nice. We’re excited to be getting out of our grimy apartment.

But yeah, that’s the news. Next week should have some exciting stuff, since we’re going to be having the pageant and moving in. So, yeah… There you have it. Everybody have a great week!

To my surprise, that’s the message that I had waiting for me when I logged in to make sure that my application to BYU had been successfully submitted. I expected it to take a month or two to find out, but there it was. So, yeah… I’ve been accepted to BYU. I’m still not completely sure that I’ll be going there, but at least I know that I’ve been accepted. That, and I know that if I’ve been accepted there, I’ll be accepted into BYU-I, if I decide to go there.

Anyway, in other news, the transfer went well. I’m here in my lovely new area, which consists of an entire square mile. Yes, you can believe your eyes. The area is only a mile on each side. Pretty exciting, huh? Also this week, we got a new car, a cell phone, and the news that we’ll be moving in with members within the next two weeks. So, yeah… It really has been a very exciting week.

We’re also actually part of a ward here, which seems pretty weird. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been assigned to a ward. Plus, the area here is approx. 1/24 the size of my last area, which was still a branch.

Anyway, life is going pretty well. We don’t have a ton of investigators here, but several of them are real promising, so that should be good. We were going to have a baptism this upcoming Saturday but have had to postpone it because he didn’t show up to his baptismal interview, which kind of makes it hard for him to be baptized.

Oh, also, being in this ward (which includes the Temple) means that we take a lot of trips to the Visitors’ Center, and we’ve been there for at least 20 minutes every day since I got here. It’s pretty exciting. Plus, having a cell phone is pretty nice.

Anyway, mostly there’s a ton of stuff going on, but I’m running short on time… (Mesa doesn’t give us much time to do emails…) So, I’m going to go ahead and finish up. Everybody have an awesome week!

While I don’t really expect that title to make sense for any of you, that means that I’m getting transferred. You see… In a transfer, there are six weeks. Anyway, sorry, I thought the title was reasonably clever.

Anyway, it’s going to be interesting. I’ll be heading to the Zone right next to the temple, Pioneer Zone. That’s where the vast majority of the Visitors’ Center sisters are, so it will be pretty interesting. My companion will be an elder that just recently left from this district. He’s a Samoan who’s pretty cool.

This morning (as you can probably see in the picture above) we went to Mesa to play good ‘ole soccer with a bunch of other missionaries, and it was pretty exciting. We’ve been pretty busy since then, too, and mostly it’s just been a pretty packed day. One other fun thing that we did was have lunch at In-n-out burger, which most of you know is an excellent place to eat.

Other than that, there isn’t that much exciting stuff that happened this week. The man that was going to get baptized now doesn’t seem very interested, who knows why… But, yeah… That’s life as a missionary.

So is getting transferred, which is always a somewhat relieving feeling, because then I don’t have to continue worrying about how to help those people that really don’t realize how important all of this is. But yeah, I’m reasonably excited for that. We’ll see how it goes. I’m sad to be leaving here, but at the same time, it will be fun.

Anyway, that’s really about all that I can think of to write for now, so I’m going to go ahead and finish up now. I hope that all of you that didn’t write me had an incredible week.