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