first and second baptisms!

Hey. This isn't really a reply to the last email I sent but it's the
only way I could figure out to send it to everyone in a super easy
way.

I'm pretty short on time because we went to Houston today to get a new
CAR! That was kinda exciting.

Elder Jones and I had our first baptism on Saturday and a second one
on Sunday. They were both kids (9 years old) from part-member families
(slash less active) so that makes teaching them really easy. They
already pretty much believed everything and knew most of it. It's kind
of a nice way to get through the lessons as a new missionary.

Some random things:

Hopefully we will be getting some more new baptisms and very soon.
(and adults.) Transfers are in a week, so Elder Jones will probably be
leaving the area since he's been in Sealy for about 6 months. I really
hope I get to stay. We spent these whole two transfers pretty much
trying to build a foundation with the members of the branch because
they really didn't trust missionaries before. Now all of the work is
starting to pay off and Elder Jones doesn't even get to see most of
the fruits of his efforts! He is a super hard-working missionary and
he really helped change the area. I really hope we can keep it up
after he's gone. We could be seeing as many as 10 baptisms in the next
three months so I'm super excited.

Sealy is a really big area and really rural, it's like 50 miles wide
with maybe 25,000 people living in the whole area. (If you want to see
the size of it on a map, Bellville is the northern edge of the area,
Eagle Lake is the southwestern edge, and Brookshire is the easternmost
city. (I think.)

I used to weigh 157 pounds before the mish. Now I weigh 166. I REALLY
hope it's muscle and not fat but we'll see. idk.

I don't really know what else to say but I would love to answer any
questions any of you have. The Lord is really blessing us a lot. the
mission is great. if you want to become an adult really fast (well, I
guess in some ways. a lot of things are still pretty well provided for
us. it's interesting.) try going on a mission. I can't believe how
much I have changed and how many things that I thought were set in
stone before the mission really weren't. It'll be interesting to see
how things are when I come back.

there's my stream of consciousness for ya.

I hope you all are having a great time wherever you are in life. I love you all.

-Elder Taylor

P.S. Here are a few pictures. The one with Elder Jones and I is with
Bailey, who was baptized last Saturday. The one with Elder Jones only
is with Evan and Ella Cornett, who we baptized and confirmed on
Sunday. Since Evan is 9 and Ella is 8, Ella doesn't really count as a
convert baptism. But we taught her so she sort of does. But she really
doesn't.