Author: Elder Taylor

Yeah, we really did take a hike. This morning. Up a small mountain. It was good fun.

Anyway, this week has been pretty good. It wasn’t quite as amazing as last week, but still rather enjoyable. We had Zone Conference on Wednesday, which was very enjoyable, even though we did get a little rebuking (for not talking to enough people on the street…). But yeah, good stuff has been happening.

For instance, we found three new investigators this week! That’s a big thing in this area. It was pretty neat. So, yeah… Now we’ve got some more stuff to do. Oh, that, and we decided to take up walking. We took a five mile walk on Tuesday morning in the name of saving miles. It worked out pretty well, and I was able to work on my tan a little bit. It was especially nice because the temperature has been coming down, and it’s usually only hitting 95 or so now.

Oh, yeah… Also, Elder Machuca came home this week. For those of you who didn’t know (which would include most of you), when I was home I went out with the Spanish missionaries covering my area quite a bit. Well, one of them just came home. I happen to be serving in his home ward. Anyway, it’s pretty neat. He’s willing to help us a ton, too.

Apart from that, not too much has happened. Oh, yeah… One of the members just got married, so we went to the wedding. That was fun.

But, yeah… I’m just about out of stuff to say right now. Everything is going well, the shoulder is holding in there and not hurting anywhere near as much anymore, and… Well, yeah… Good stuff is going on.

Everybody have an awesome week!

Why hello, everybody! This week has been spectacular, I have to say. You see, we’ve had quite a few good things happen. First off, I believe that I mentioned last week that we were going to have a baptism on Saturday. Well, it turned out that her daughters also decided to be baptized, so we got them (Ana, the mother, Andrea, and Paulina) interviewed and everything, and they were baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. It was great stuff.

For the baptism, we had decided to do a musical number, which turned out to be amazing. Elder Robinson played the guitar and we both sang, including a little bit of harmony that we made ourselves. It turned out to be a great musical number. On top of that, we both gave 5-minute talks, and I ended up baptizing the younger girl. It was kind of weird, because I didn’t expect to do it, and then when they showed up (about 5 minutes before it was supposed to start), they asked me if I would go ahead and do her baptism. Anyway, it was pretty exciting.

On top of all of that, it was also a big enough baptism that we had to move it from the Relief Society room to the chapel. They invited all of their friends and everything, and it was a great thing.

We also had a great activity this week in the other branch. They called it the ‘Noche Hispana,’ and they had tons of dancing and good food and a bit of good ‘ole music, too. Anyway, it turned out to be a great activity. One of the most exciting parts was that one of the little kids from the branch borrowed first E. Robinson’s camera, and then mine, and took a total of over 200 pictures of the event. He enjoyed it, and some of the pictures turned out looking pretty decent, so we didn’t mind.

Apart from all of that, the week was decent, and would have been worthy of mention even without the baptism and activity. We taught a decent number of lessons, more than we’ve taught since I came to this area. So, that was great. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to keep it up.

Anyway, that’s about all that I can think to write right now, so I’ll go ahead and finish up. Everybody have a great week!

That there quote is from good ‘ole Groucho Marx. I thought that it was funny, so I used it.

This week has been pretty jolly good. We’ve done quite a bundle of exciting things, and we had one of our investigators tell us, quite randomly, that she would like to be baptized this upcoming Saturday. Anyway, it was quite the pleasant surprise, I have to say.

In completely unrelated news, we had transfers this Thursday and took a trip into Scottsdale to give a ride to an Elder that was going home. We stopped at several other missionary apartments on the way back, just to say hello. One of the apartment complexes, in Phoenix, has a huge common room for any residents, along with a full-blown theater that anyone in the complex can use. So, they told us that they’ve taken investigators to their own theater to show them church movies.

We also had a Mission President’s fireside last night, which was good fun. I participated in the double quartet that sang. It was held in the oldest church building in all of Arizona, which is an absolutely incredible building. I suspect that it was at one point a Catholic Mission. It was great, I have to say. It’s also the only church building that I’ve seen with a courtyard in the middle.

On Thursday we got a new greenie in our district, so we made sure to give him a warm welcome by throwing a party for him. It was glorious, and we bought all the cheap green decorations that we could find. It, I do believe, surpasses a St. Patrick’s Day party in its utter greenishness.

But yeah, I think that just about does it for the news. It really was an exciting week, and we’re looking forward to the baptism that we’re going to have this Saturday. Oh, by the way, the lady that decided to be baptized is named Ana Chavez. I’ve talked about her in the past, she’s the one that was looking for the new apartment. We’re hoping that her two daughters will also decide to take the step when she does. We’ve got an appointment with them tonight to discuss everything.

Anyway, the work goes forth. Everybody have an awesome week!

Sorry, I just figured that I’d try something funny and random for the title this week, so there you have it. If I remember correctly, it comes from Homestar Runner.

Anyway, this week has been pretty exciting. First off, and most importantly, we got transfer news… Anyone want to hazard a guess at what is going to be happening this transfer? Absolutely nothing. Hooray! We thought that they would likely be splitting our area, but it turns out that they’ve decided to wait. So, here we are, hanging out in our own little area for another six weeks. We’re both excited about it.

In other news, we went to a greatly awesome fireside in Scottsdale on Sunday night, where the director and lead actor from the Joseph Smith movie spoke. It was great stuff. I got my picture taken with the actor that played Joseph, but it was on someone else’s camera, so I can’t really post it. They should be emailing it to me shortly, and then I’ll have it, but for now, I don’t. Anyway, it was a great fireside that was related to filmmaking (naturally) and the gospel, and they had a really good connection to draw between supporting roles in movies and in real life. It was very enjoyable.

Apart from that, we’ve been having some success here, as well. We’ve been working as hard as we can, and this week we were blessed with some noticeable progress. The last few weeks were really slow, but we’re thinking that it might be picking up a little bit more again, which will be very good. We had a great lesson with a new investigator, a lady named Esmerelda. She’s got a ton of great questions, and she’s been looking for the right church. Anyway, it was an incredible lesson.

Ummm… Yeah. I reckon that I just ran out of things that I was going to say. So, either I’ll have to think of something awfully quickly, or just wrap it up right now. Let’s see….. Just about there…. Yeah, I think that’s it. I can’t think of anything else right now.

Have an awesome week!

I couldn’t think of a much better title for this week’s email, as per the fact that there are clouds surrounding us just about every night, but the most that we ever get is a puny sprinkle. We can see lightning every few seconds, but it almost never comes near us… Anyway, we always just keep on hoping that it will come. That’s by far the fastest way to have the temperature drop.

Anyway, good stuff is going on, though nothing really exciting happened this week. We’ve just been chuggin’ along doing what we can, and stuff has been happening little by little. I suppose that one exciting thing that happened is that Pres. Bassett called us up on Saturday and asked if he thought that our area can be split. Apparently there’s about 4 Spanish Elders coming in this transfer, and none are leaving. So, that means that he’s got to make two new areas. So, yeah… There’s a possibility that he’ll be splitting the area come transfers in about a week.

Apart from that, I really can’t think of much else. We had a couple of good lessons this week, but we failed to find any new investigators. We’ve made little bits of progress with the Valles family, and we’re still waiting for news on the apartment for Ana Chavez and her two girls.

But yeah, I really think that does it for the week… Sorry there’s not much… Hopefully something more interesting will happen this upcoming week for me to write about.

Oh, yeah… One more thing… The weather is supposed to be cooling down a little bit in the next few days… I heard that it’s supposed to be 96 on Thursday… That’s amazing! Anything under 100 is just about like heaven.

Ok, I’m really out of things to say for now. Have an awesome week!

Sorry that I forgot my camera so I can’t include the picture, but we saw quite the sight this week… A dog being walked… By a treadmill. The owners had tied the leash so that the dog had just about no slack whatsoever, and so it was stuck walking, and walking… It didn’t look like it was having a very fun time, but it was rather funny for us.

Anyway, this week has been rather interesting. We had a great appointment with Gerardo this week, in which we extended a baptismal commitment. His response was astounding. He said, “Well, actually, I’ve been talking to my nephew about this, and I do certainly want to be baptized. But, as you know, I have my family in Mexico, and I’d really like them to be here for the baptism.” Anyway, we ended up setting an approximate baptismal date for December, since that’s the soonest that his family would be able to come. He told us that even if they end up not being able to come then (because of visas and whatnot), he will still be baptized.

Anyway, it’s pretty much amazing. He’s awesome, and he told us several times, “I don’t have any doubts.” So, it’s great.

The Valles family is still progressing on their way to baptism, though we may just end up having to push it (and the wedding) back a little bit, because it turns out that her parents will not be able to come for quite awhile. So, actually, the branch leaders are thinking about taking the wedding down to them, in Mexico. Anyway, it was pretty interesting to hear them discuss the options.

Apart from that not too much has been going on. We’ve been doing what we can, but this area just doesn’t leave us with a huge teaching pool.

But yeah, that’s about all that I can think of for right now, so I’ll just go ahead and finish up. Oh, yeah… The shoulder is holding about where it’s been for a long time. So, yeah. Unstable but holding in there. It’s good stuff (obviously it would be better if it were completely stable, but I’ll take what I can get).

Well, this week not too much horribly exciting stuff happened. I mean, it was a good week, but it was pretty much ordinary as far as missionary work goes.

We had our English class on Tuesday night, which was pretty good. I had been having a great time teaching it the last few weeks, but this week was harder, because I was teaching more advanced stuff, and they had lots of questions that were very difficult to answer. I was teaching them how to say, “I am going to…” and whatnot, and they had a billion tough questions. But yeah, it worked out enough. We’re going to review all of that this week.

Apart from that, we also found out that the Valles family doesn’t have to wait for papers and whatnot from Mexico in order to get married. So, hopefully we’ll be planning the wedding and baptism on the same day, either this weekend or the next. We’re really excited about that.

We also have another investigator who wants to be baptized (with her two daughters), but wants to move further away from her father first. (He isn’t very open toward the church, and right now they live right next door) Anyway, this week we had some good progress in finding a possible place for them to live. One of them looks really, really promising.

We also went to the mission president’s fireside last night with Gerardo, with whom we will be setting a baptismal date this week. It was a great experience, and they’ve changed quite a bit with the new mission president. (For one thing, he can speak Spanish… That’s a bonus.) That, and they’re letting more people participate in them. Before, it was only 4 people that got to actually participate in the musical numbers and whatnot… Anyway, I’ll probably be doing something in the next one.

But yeah, that’s just about it as far as the interesting stuff. We also had a Zone Conference that was pretty neat. We learned a lot, which is always good.

I think that’s just about it, so I’m going to go ahead and finish up. Everybody have an awesome week!

Hello everyone! So, this week not much exciting stuff happened. We taught some great lessons, and managed to find 5 new investigators. (That’s amazing for this area) But, on the other side of things, we had (a very dismal) one investigator at church. We’re not sure what happened with the Valles family, because they’ve been there every single week for the past three months… Anyway, we’ll have to see what happened with that.

But yeah, apart from that, it’s been a pretty good week. On Friday night, we happened to drive past a member’s house and realized that there were lots of kids from the branch outside. So, we decided to stop and say hello. It turned out that they were having a birthday party for one of the men, and they invited us to stay for a little while. So, we did, and we had some amazing tacos with some of the most incredible salsa imaginable. Later that night, we were stopping by another member’s house (in the other branch) to arrange to do some service on Saturday morning. It just so happened that a woman from the other ward was also celebrating her birthday, and they invited us to stay for cake and ice cream. So, yeah. It turned out to be a pretty exciting night.

On Saturday morning we did a ton of service, helping members get ready for other parties they were having that night, and also helping Sis. Davis (an awesome lady from Peru) decorate her classroom, which is simply a cleverly disguised garage.

Apart from that, we had two great lessons last night, one with our good friend Gerardo, who has planned to stay here for a bit longer, as he is now looking for a job. He’s been to church three times now, even though we’ve only had the opportunity to teach him twice. He explained to us how great he feels after going to church, and he’s been reading the Book of Mormon and the Sunday School manual. Anyway, he’s pretty much amazing, and should be baptized within the next month or two.

We also taught a lesson to two young women who have lived here for a couple of years. They are extremely interested, and were willing to read the Book of Mormon and whatnot, but they work on Sunday… So, that makes it hard for them to get to church. Anyway, we’ll have to keep working with them. We’ve got another appointment with them tonight, so maybe we’ll be able to work something out.

But yeah, I think that just about does it for the news. Good stuff has been going on, and I haven’t had as many problems with the shoulder this week.

Everybody have an awesome week!

So, yeah… This week has been pretty good. It’s been different to not have good ‘ole Elder King around, but Elder Robinson is a pretty neat guy. We’ve been having a good time. He’s from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and we’ve been having a fun time together.

Anyway, there wasn’t much too spectacular that happened this week, at least not much in the way of good exciting news. We’ve been having to drop quite a few investigators who just stopped opening their doors to us. It’s no fun at all. But anyway, the Valles family is still doing well, and we’ve got a few more people progressing toward baptism, so that’s good news.

In other news, about the one constant subject, my shoulder isn’t doing well. It’s been half-dislocated twice this week… So, yeah… That’s no fun at all. We’ll just have to see what happens.

But yeah, apart from that, everything is going pretty well. We had some awesome meetings yesterday, though I was pretty darn tired by the time that we got to the end of church. We had some new investigators there, so that was good.

Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! We had two new investigators this week, a couple who are the parents of a lady who joined when she was 19. He is 94 years old and has some serious hearing problems, so we had to shout for the entire lesson. It was pretty great. He loves to talk, so he told us lots of interesting stories. It turns out that he moved here in 1942 to work for the government. Anyway, it’s very interesting. He came to church yesterday with his wife and daughter, but I doubt that he was able to hear too much. Anyway, we’ve got our next appointment with him this upcoming Wednesday, so that will be pretty exciting.

But yeah, I think that just about does it for the news this week… Good stuff is going on, let’s just keep praying that the shoulder stays where it needs to.

So, yeah… Transfers are coming up next week, and on Friday night Elder King got a call, saying that he’ll be headed off to Payson starting tomorrow. He’s going to be the only Spanish-speaking missionary up in Payson, becase there are less hispanics up there than there were when I was there. So, he’ll be working probably at least half the time in the Englis Work. It’s going to be pretty interesting for him, I’ve got to say. He’s really worried about his Spanish, because it’s not the best right now, bt I’m sure that he’ll do ok.

Anyway, my new companion is going to be Elder Robinson, who has been out one transfer less than Elder King. It should be pretty interesting, I have to say. I haven’t really met him, but I’ve heard that he’s a neat guy. So hopefully it should be fun. I’m just kind of sad to have Elder King leaving. It’s been great fun to be with him.

But yeah, in the news for this week, we went to the baptism of a family that I met while in my last area, the Sanchez family. They’ve been investigating for a couple of years, and they’ve had strong testimonies of the Gospel for most of that time. They were just waiting for her divorce to come through so that they could get legally married. So, we went and took the Valles family with us, and it was really awesome. There were enough people there that we couldn’t fit everyone in the Relief Society room, so they moved it to the Chapel.

Anyway, that was awesome. Apart from that, we found an awesome new investigator this week… He’s here on vacation for awhile from Mexico City, and he’s staying with his nephew and his family, who are all members. So, we taught him the first lesson and he told us that he’d read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He also went to church this week and really enjoyed it. Anyway, I’m pretty excited about that.

This morning we played a bunch of soccer with some other missionaries from our Zone, because half of us are leaving tomorrow for other places.

Oh, yeah… And it’s kind of weird for me to be staying while my companion leaves… This is the first time that it’s happened to me, so it seems pretty weird.

Anyway, that’s the news. The shoulder feels extremely insecure, but hasn’t dislocated. So, yeah… We’re still good to go. Keep on praying.

Have an awesome week!