Two Years and Two Weeks

the past two years and two weeks surely has gone by faster than i could ever imagine. haha, i never planned on going on a mission, when were the times you "were worried i wouldn't go?"
thursday-parrrtttttyyyyyyyy
friday-marc and me go skiing
saturday-byu basketball or jazz game
sunday-paaarrrrrtttttyyyyy
monday-find job, enroll in institute, find wife
our investigators are doing well, none of them came to stake conference, it was really great, elder smith from the 70 came and spoke, the adult session was really good too, it was directed at the brethren quite a bit, talking about being good fathers, how long does it take to plan a wedding? you want grandbaby #2 a year from now?
so thursday, im not sure what time i am being released but what if we went to the salt lake temple as a family after you pick me up and then go eat?
what i was going to talk about ties in pretty easy to PMG, should be a good time.
well, i love you and i will see you thursday
elder taylor call

Valentine

didn't get the packy saurday, hopefully i will today.
i'm really glad that you were able to go to chris's homecoming, i always thought i would be able to go to his and some of my friends from the MTC but...stuff happens and missions change, i'll be looking forward to seeing them when i come home. chris told me that eric had changed his life around and was preparing for a mission. if he was to leave in the next 10 days before i get home i would kill him haha.
i have an idea of what im going to speak on for my homecoming so if anyone asks tell them i already got it figured out.
tanks for inviting president and sister robbins, hopefully some of my other mission buddies will be able to make it. did you invite elder taylor? do you still talk to his mama?
hmm..glad i won't have sawdust on my feet after i get out of the shower now...

answers:
salem is great, i love it. if i wouldn't have served here my mission surely wouldn't have been the same, definetly one of my favorite areas. i gave my farewell testimony is church yesterday since next week is stake conference. hopefully in 2 weeks people will think my joke will be funnier than they did yesterday.
this week our progressing investigators are Adam and Fred. We've been teaching Brother Calloway for a while but yesterday was the first time he'd come to church. He's black and we're pretty sure he's gay..
sister fry didn't want to meet with us anymore, she wants to go to her daughters non-denominational church.
i'll be mailing you next week, don't worry. preperation day is on tuesday.
im gonna kiss everyone on the lips at the airport :) hahaha

so on wednesday elder glenn called us and told us about a man that works for one of their investigators. his name is ronnie and is really depressed and likes to drink. they said he normally doesn't answer the phone so we'd have to catch him at his house. well, he called him right after that and he answered. he said he'd be interested in meeting with us to call him tomorrow. well the next day we called him a few times and no answer. our appointment fell through with Garrett so cameron leneave (came home in december from the provo mish) took us to go see ronnie. we were able to teach him a little and we set a return appointment for saturday. saturday we had a real good lesson, brother baker came with us, he was a mental health counselor so he was able to talk to him and help him with the trials he is going through in his life right now. the Lord is sooo good to us.

elder taylor call

Numbers

our week was pretty good, we didn't really have the numbers to show it
but we found some new people to start teaching and i know the Lord
will bless us with better people to teach after dropping those who
aren't willing to progress in the gospel. we taught adam benson this
past week and we have more of a formal lesson with them wednesday so
hopefully we will be able to set him with a baptismal date and help
him towards their goal of being sealed in the temple.
i'll renew my recommend in my final intervew, its not good for very
long so i'll have to meet with the stake president pretty soon upon my
arrival home.
my suits are doing well, im getting one dry cleaned today and then the
other next week. my normal pants are pretty worn out and im not sure
if i will bring those ones home.
i hope you don't want me to kiss you on the lips, no crying...
i know i am doing what the Lord wants me to be doing and I know that I
along with those around me will be blessed for my sacrifice and my
decision to be obedient throughout my mission. The Lord is sooo good
to us.
elder taylor call

Highlights Dis Week

highlights dis week

1.Wednesday was my last zone conference when i started off i said, "well this morning i was thinking about it and it was 2 years ago today that me and my two best friends went snowboarding together for the last time." then talked about some other stuff. i never got an email about my homecoming talk so i know what i'm gonna talk about.
2.we started teaching adam benson and wednesday we are having dinner and a lesson and his house. hopefully we'll be able to set him with a baptismal date.
3.I love fast sunday, saturday night i weighed 197, sunday morning 195, and sunday after church 193. and it's really great spiritually too, i spoke in church a few weeks ago about the blessings of fasting combined with prayer.
i love you all

elder taylor call

Looking Ahead and Behind

#1 what do you want me to bring home? i've been meaning to ask you that for a while but keep forgetting. i'm thinking that packing light will be the way to go. i'm planning on bringing home 4 or 5 white shirts and shredding all my g's except a few pairs to wear on the trip home...they're all pretty hammered.
the bensons were moved successfully and now are hopefully in our ward...it's a long story...we helped and had a lot of help from the ward as well. we're still working with sister fry, hoping that we'll be able to teach her tonight in her son's home.
how old are the chillens that you teach? does oliver ever come to church?
how much affection can i give owen at the airport? i told merideth that i was going to take the wind from his lungs..kissy kissy...what presents am i shupposed to get him?
5 missionaries come home at the end of the transfer.
elder Mckee, myself, and our ward mission leader spoke in sacrament yesterday as well in the 3rd hour. i spoke about fasting and prayer with brother ron allen and my experience.
no big stories from this week, i'm grateful to have had a mission that was hard. it surely refined me to what the Lord needed me to be.
i love you
elder taylor call

Prayer Answered

Here is another story that was a result of a prayer being answered and the Lord’s will being accomplished through my companion and I.

The past few weeks Adam Benson and his family have been coming to church for all three hours. Adam is a non-member and is married to a member whose family attends our ward here in Salem. The Bensons live in the Cave Spring ward boundary but don’t really want to go to that ward because they don’t know anyone there and his wife’s family attends our ward. A few weeks ago we were told that Adam wants to be baptized and and his family have set a goal to be sealed in the temple. However since they don’t want to go to the ward in which boundaries they live he can’t be baptized.

Every week in correlation with our Ward Mission Leader we ask about him and they’re doing. We’ve been praying and thinking a lot about what the likely hood would be if they had any contracts with where they were currently living and joking about how they should move in with her mom for a few weeks until he is baptized. Sunday morning when Brother Deuterman (our ward mission leader) picked us up the following conversation occurred, Brother Deuterman “ have you heard about the Benson’s?” “no…..” they need raking leaves,….and moving on Saturday.” It was very unexpected to hear him say that especailly when there was no news the night before. We found out at church that they will be moving in to our boundaries on Saturday and we will begin teaching him the following week.

Salem, Mass. Is a pretty crazy place but in Salem, Va never have so many prayers been answered for the salvation of our investigators. I am so grateful for having a loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers and allows us to see His hand in our work each and every day. I’m really excited for the day in a little over a year when the Benson’s as well as the Romagnolo’s will be able to be sealed for time and all eternity in the Lord’s House. Being born and raised in the covenant has been such a wonderful blessing for me and how grateful I am to one day go to the Temple and to be sealed with my wife for time and all eternity.

A Recap

well as promised i will now recap the past events that occurred in the salem area of the roanoke stake of zion

Last saturday sister romagnolo was baptized, i'm pretty sure i sent out pics of that last week.
well all was going great until we got to the baptismal font.
#1 Brother Romagnolo didn't say the prayer the best, he struggled through it, we had to help him a few times during it to say it correctly. Then sister Romagnolo didn't go all the way under the water so we told him that he had to do it again, so he brings her up out of the water and puts her back down (like he's trying to drown her). We then tell him that he has to say the prayer and immerse her again, not just immerse her. So this time he stands in front of the wording on the font so he says the prayer perfectly and she goes under all the way. then after she comes up she says, "well just in case, i didn't go under all the way" then she goes under the water on her own and more or less starts swimming around. it was really great, its important for people to realize that it has to be done correctly and i think it was good that, that happened.

#2 On monday we were invited over to brother seitz's home for family home evening. he told us that his non-member mother was going to be there as well. Sister Fry (his mom) had been taught by the missionaries in the past around the time that brother seitz joined the church (about 6 years ago). so they had been talking and she told him that if there was really a true church that it was the mormon church. so for FHE we watched the Restoration and that was that. Mid-week we texted him and asked him if he had spoken with his mom about the church and if she wanted to learn more. he said that she did want to learn more and he gave us her phone number. we called sister fry who sounded ecstatic to talk with us and told us she had just finished her weight watchers meeting and that it was her birthday...anyway we set up a time to meet with her on sunday, yesterday to begin teaching her. she said that she would be at church and we'd talk more then. yesterday at church was amazing. her daughter inlaw sister seitz spoke in sacrament meeting which was really good then she came to the gospel principles class for sunday school. the lesson was chapter 11 about the life of christ. she was pretty quite during the lesson but then offered to give the closing prayer. in her prayer she thanked God for this church and asked that she would be able to understand what she taught. it was amazing. After church at the seitz's with our lesson she told us about her first lessons with the missionaries how she was able to feel that what they were speaking was true. she then quoted one of my favorite scriptures of all time, john 8:32 (i think) "and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." i about lost it when she said that, the spirit was soooo strong in the room. we're really excited for sister fry and her willingness to learn and to be taught. how grateful i am for people who seek the truth, for it truely sets us free.
i love you
especially owen
bye bye elder taylor call