Happy 4th of July!

Here  are some pictures from last week. Higher quantity = lower quality..

1 We found some cool alien shades at the Church while we were planning.

2 A final picture with President and Sister Mortensen. I'll miss those guys!! Too bad I botched it in the picture..

3 classy tracting picture

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HEY y'all!!!

I hope life is going great for everyone! As I mentioned last week I got transferred! I sure miss College Station, but now I'm actually back in the Cypress Zone! This time I'm in the White Oak Ward and wow! Things are going great! My companion is named Elder Christensen and he is a stud! We saw a lot of miracles this week and we are so excited for the coming few months. There is so much work to do in this ward. I don't know if I have ever been so busy on my mission, and it feels great. In some ways it has been a little overwhelming to see how much needs to be done (for example, it was a little stressful when I found out there are more than 100 prospective Elders in the ward haha.) But we are taking things one step at a time and chipping away at it!

I am still trying to get to know the ward, investigators, etc. but I'm happy to be here. I don't have a whole ton to say this week but let me know if you have any questions!

Love y'all!

Elder Taylor

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Howdy y'all!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last wrote! But things have been going great! I don't even know if I can adequately describe all the things I have learned here or the experiences I have gained. (Last night we got transfer calls and I am leaving this place, so this email is going to be a little sentimental!)

When I first got here the area was dead! (due to the previous elders not doing a whole lot...) It has been quite the adventure to try to build things from the ground up and regain the trust of the ward. We have seen SO many miracles over the past couple of weeks though. Yesterday we were able to have six investigators attending church and set another baptismal date with our investigator Moses! He is from Botswana and he is the MAN!!! Our other date is with a Chinese kid named Hao who is loving the Book of Mormon!! It has been amazing to watch this happen. It has been over a year (at least) since this ward has had that many people attending church, and it has been a long, long time on my mission since that has happened as well. The Lord is working miracles here. It's really sad to have to leave it all behind now that things are just starting to get rolling, but, I guess I have to trust that wherever I am going is where God wants me to be.

In other news, I got to have a root canal on Thursday! That was pretty awesome haha. Actually it was totally painless which is incredible! So yeah, that's not the most important thing but it was great!

If there is one thing I have learned in the past eighteen weeks, it's that more important than what you DO as a missionary, is who you ARE. You could go out and baptize a million people, but if you don't have charity, you are nothing. Just praying and asking for charity will make a huge difference in your life. I know it has in mine. I am nowhere near where I want to be in Christlike  attributes but the smallest adjustment in behavior can change your entire course of life. I am so grateful for the chance I have had to come to know and love the people in the College Station 2nd Ward, and I can never repay the Lord for all He has given me and taught me. I love the mission! And I'm so excited to see what the Lord makes of me with these remaining five transfers.

No pictures yet but we should be taking some good ones today! I'll send them out!

I love all of you!

Elder Taylor

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Hey y'all! Sorry it's been like 3 months since I emailed haha. Things

are going great up here in College Station though!

Well, I guess that's all I have to say, so I'll just send a bunch of

pictures per the request of my dear mother!

(1) Aggie swag

(2) Service @ the Baptist Church feat. grumpy me & a lot of cheese

(3) The unmistakable Kyle Field as taken by my good pal Elder Skelton

(4) A piece of the former World Trade Center surrounded by types &

images of devastation both PHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL

(5) Cool

(6) Expediting

(7) Elder Gessel going to war

(8) The innocent Box Elder High School crew also feat. Elder Gessel

(9) Saw my good friend Elder Mattson the other day, killin' it in

ghetto Westfield. 🥕

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Hey everyone! So... hope y'all had a good 5 or so weeks since the last
time I sent a group email! I'll try to do better.. haha

Well, after an awesome crazy transfer in Morton Ranch with Elder
Stevens, I got transferred up to COLLEGE STATION!! It's a dream come
true! I am in the College Station 2nd Ward with Elder Kelly from
Logan, UT and this place is on fire!! SO many potential baptisms going
on right now! And the ward itself is pretty stellar. I don't know what
I did to deserve being sent to such an awesome place! I really miss
Morton Ranch but I sure am happy to be here!

Here are some pictures from last week leaving the area!

The Radcliffe's took us to Rainforest Cafe for dinner on New Year's!

These are the Mocks with their friend Isa! He's gonna get baptized on the 21st of January! (hopefully) Excuse my lack of selfie skills!

The Kulhaneks! Man I'm going to miss these guys! They were the BEST!!

Nice one Elder Stevens! Haha. He's going to be so happy that I included that one! Miss that guy!

Finally, here is the new district! Elder Kelly is the elder farthest on the right! Tbh this is probably the most awkward district photo I've ever seen!

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Hey y'all!

This week was awesome! Definitely one of the top weeks of my mission.
Transfers happened and i got a new companion, Elder Stevens. He is
from Idaho Falls, has been on his mission for three months, and he's a
STUD!! We have seen so many miracles happen this week. I'm so pumped
for the rest of this transfer. The Lord is blessing the Bear Creek
Zone like crazy!! We're trying to get 23 baptisms in 2 months and we
only have one left.. so now is the time to kill it!

Here are some awesome things that happened this week:

-We found 12 new investigators to teach. Last week we found 0. The
average in Morton Ranch so far has been around 4. We have been trying
really hard to seek inspiration regarding where to tract and the Lord
has helped us find new people to teach every single time.

- We were teaching the Restoration to an investigator named Chris and
man, the Spirit was so strong. We taught him about the Book of Mormon
and he was like "you know what? I need to read this book for 20
minutes a day." Haha. People never do that!

There are more but I'm too lazy to type them all up haha.. but just
know that things are going great! Morton Ranch is exploding, the
members are so fired up about missionary work, and we have had so much
JOY in the past week. I don't know why the Lord is being so merciful
to us. Keep an eye out for baptisms coming up before the end of the
year!!

I love this work and I'm so grateful for this chance I have to serve
God. He has done so much to redeem me and change me from who I was
before the mission. It's such a privilege that He has trusted me and
all of us with bringing that change to others. And I am grateful for
all of your love and support! It means a lot. I really have been
humbled by all that I have heard from y'all and everything that has
happened this week!

Love y'all!

Elder Taylor

P.S. We went to Waffle House!! What more can I say?

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Hey y'all!

I don't really have that much to say about this week, but it was a swell one. I'll just send a bunch of pictures..

The district went to Track 21 last P-Day. It's this place that has go karts, laser tag, etc. and it was so much fun. Best P-Day of my life!!

We also went to the temple this week! It was very sick as always. Oh, and we got to ride with the sisters as a trio on the way there and back! Man it was a once in a mission experience. I know it doesn't seem special to y'all but it was such a relief. Sister Dummer and Sister Pinster are SO chill too! (Even though they look like we are driving them crazy.. Hahaha) The studly guy on my left is Elder Neely from the Bear Creek Ward. Such a good experience all around.

Legendary Katy North District.

Elder Evans goes home in less than 10 days. I'm going to miss this guy! It's been a great transfer. (Yes, we are working hard!) Haha.

Peace out, y'all!

Love,

Elder Taylor