A Missionary's Christmas

Well this week was great!!!! We had a very merry christmas!!!!! Thank you to all who sent me Christmas wishes!!! Well lets see, this week we had dinner with two great families, the Schiezz family Christmas eve and The Graham and wilson Family on Christmas day!!! We really felt the love and it was awesome!!!  All day Christmas we spent it with our district at the church building and we shot a basketball around and we played board games and had a lot of food haha.

 After Christmas we had exchanges and I got to drive for the first time in 4 months!!! haha in a Toyota Corrola. The next day Elder Tapia and Elder Knudson were sick so we went to the Leon Springs area and had to get a tire fixed haha. On sunday we had dinner with the Johnson family and we had some smoked ribs!!! It was a great week!!! 

What the Christmas Call looked like from the Arizona side... (before I started crying...)

Christmas Call.... (with the more personal stuff edited out....)

Taylor:  Hi guys!!!

Everyone:  Hi… Hello…. Hi buddy!  Merry Christmas!

Taylor:  Why do you sound like you’re on the other side of the room?

Eric:  We put you on speakerphone, is that okay?

Taylor:  Yeah.

Christy: Ok, otherwise it will take too long for all of us to talk to you.

Taylor:  Okay.

Eric:  It’s your first Christmas away and you’re missing Brayden’s fabulous morning hair-do.

Taylor:  Sweeeet…. I wanna a picture next week.

Christy:  Okay, we’ll send some.

Brayden:  No.. NO. NOOO!

Christy:  Did you get your package from the post office?

Taylor:  I did. 

Christy:  Oh good, I’m glad… I was worried you weren’t going to get it.

Taylor:  We went to the post office, but apparently it was already on the truck and they were going to redeliver it or something.  And….

Christy:  But did it get to you?

Taylor:  Yeah, it did.

Christy:  Did you open everything already?

Taylor:  Yeah!  J

Christy:  How did we do?

Taylor:  You guys did good.  The beef jerky, that was great. 

(Insert image of 2 bags Duck Dynasty brand beef jerky)

Eric:  Hopefully it’s not all gone already!

Taylor:  It’s not!

Christy:  Ration it out!

Taylor:  I will! 

Eric:  So my biggest question is… what are you eatin’?

Taylor:  Right now, BBQ…..

Eric:  Chicken or brisket or ribs?

Taylor:  Let’s see… uhh….

Eric:  We saw your picture with the Rudy’s… that look liked some healthy brisket right there…

Taylor:  Oh yeah…

Christy:  You like it now?  (meaning BBQ style food)

Taylor:  Yeah.

Eric:  Hear that kids?  We can actually go out for BBQ now…

Christy: Yay, when Taylor gets back we get to go to Rudy’s!

Taylor:  Let’s go to Red Robin…

Brayden:  Red Robin, yummmm……(sung in the jingle style from the commercial)

Christy:  How are things going today?

Taylor:  It’s going good.

Christy:  Do you have a lot planned?

Taylor:  Right now we are just hanging with our district at the church building… we’re just playing board games, eating, shooting the basketball around…. And later tonight we have this big dinner with a family, here at the church again.

Christy:  Wow, it must be a huge family if they reserved the church!

Taylor:  It is.  J

Christy:  So how’s your new ward?  Do you like it?

Taylor:  I do.

Christy:  Do you speak Spanish with people or is it more English?

Taylor:  It’s more English.

Christy:  But your companion speaks Spanish right?  He’s Mexican?

Taylor:  Uh hum.

Christy:  Do you speak a lot of Spanish with each other?

Taylor:  Uh…. Sometimes…

Christy:  I’m assuming he’s fluent in both English and Spanish?

Taylor: Yeah.

Christy:  How long has he lived in Utah?

Taylor:  He’s lived there since he was seven, so….

Christy:  That’s good!  Are you in a car area again or are you on a bike?

Taylor:  I’m in a car area again… I’m getting fat!

Christy:  You’re getting fat?

Taylor:  Not FAT, fat, but yeah….

Christy:  You’re new companion doesn’t like to get up and go running every morning?

Taylor:  Not during the winter, no.

Christy:  Has it been super cold?

Taylor:  It hasn’t been too bad.

Eric:  How were you faring it up with Elder Morrin, running?  Were you able to keep up with him?

(Elder Morrin ran BYU track before his mission.)

Taylor:  Okay.  He injured himself about a year ago, so he hasn’t been able to do any exercise until recently.

Christy:  Dad looked up his bio on the BYU website.

Taylor:  Wow… okay…

Eric:  Yeah, they have a picture of him on the BYU website.  All the athletes have a bio on the BYU website.

Taylor:  Awkward?

Christy:  Yeah, Dad’s stalking your companion!  You don’t give us a whole lot of details about them, so we gotta get them on our own.

Taylor:  Sorry!

Christy:  You do take good pictures, though!  Make sure you send your full memory cards back to me so we can back them on a our computer.

Taylor:  I’m going to send you some stuff this week in a package.

Christy:  Do you know how to mail a package at the post office?

Taylor:  I can figure it out.

Eric:  We didn’t train him up for that before he left!

  

Eric:  So you live in an apartment with other elders, then?

Taylor:  Yeah, there’s two other elders with us.

Eric:  Are they English speaking?  Are you technically English or Spanish speaking right now?

Taylor:  Kinda both, we have some investigators that are Spanish.

Eric:  You’ll have to make sure you take advantage of your companions Spanish speaking abilities.

Taylor:  I know.

Eric:  Do you ride your bike at all?

Taylor:  So far, no. 

Christy:  So how are you liking Texas now that you’ve been there a while?

Taylor:  I love it.  It’s nice up here. 

Christy:  So do you have any super awesome experiences you want to share with us before we have to get off the phone?

Taylor:  Uh, let’s see…. Before I left Round Rock, I was telling you guys about Elena and how she wants to be baptized, but we’ve noticed that Satan’s been working on her really hard and she feels bad about everything even though it’s not big stuff at all.  The morning that I was leaving to come down to Boerne (pronounced like Bernie), before I left I was able to give her a blessing in Spanish.

Megan:  That’s awesome, Taylor.

Eric:  Wow!

Christy:  Is there a baptism today in Round Rock that was supposed to be happening?

Taylor:  Um, I’m not sure.  That’s supposed to be Elena, but when I texted the elders up there last week, they said they don’t know because Elena’s not sure based on what’s been going on.  Like she wants to, but she doesn’t feel prepared or worthy right now.  But she totally is!  I need to find out if she got baptized or not.

Christy: Oh, okay, so how many missionaries are serving in Boerne right now?

Taylor:  There’s six of us.  Four elders and and 2 sisters.  Our district has two other sisters from another ward.  There’s three wards here.

Christy:  What do most people do for a living that live there?  Do you know?

Taylor:  Um… let’s see… I don’t know… in our ward there’s a lot of old people, so they’re retired.  J  Like half the ward is old people.  Ha ha….

Christy:  Do you have dinner appointments every night?

Taylor:  We have quite a few… but not every night.

Christy:  Do you cook on the other nights?

Taylor:  I make chicken sometimes.  I like to make orange chicken. 

Christy:  Did you get orange chicken sauce from Grandma?  I asked her to send it to you. 

Taylor:  Yeah, I actually opened that box like two weeks ago.

Christy:  I knew you wouldn’t be able to wait!!

Taylor:  No, it was because when I got transferred to Boerne, I had no food to eat.  So I opened their box, because I figured there was food in there.  I didn’t open the card!

Christy:  Was there any food besides the Orange Sauce?

Taylor:  There was Pringles, beef jerky, red vines…

Christy:  Well that’s awesome that you were able to live off it!

Eric:  A much needed survival kit!  How long did you live off that?

Taylor:  I got there Saturday, so I just had to wait until Monday.

Christy:  So do you guys share food, or all get your own?

Taylor:  In my last area, we started the law of conservation, I mean, consecration, (ha ha ha!) so we shared everything.  But here, everyone just buys their own food, which is fine too.

Christy:  What’s the weirdest thing you’ve been fed at a home?

Taylor:  Let me think… I don’t know if I could say weird… but just different.  Our ward mission leader in Round Rock, they fed us this soup that has meat and corn in it.  Dad might know what it is….

Eric:  Menudo?

Taylor:  No, I haven’t had that yet.  I think the strangest thing was having cow tongue in Mexico City.

Christy:  Did you know what you were eating when they gave it to you?

Taylor:  No.  It just looked like a very thin slice of steak.  It was salty, and then I found out later what it was.  It wasn’t bad, so….

Christy:  You were probably really hungry, right?

Taylor:  kinda. Yeah.....

Christy:  Do people feed you BBQ more or Mexican more?

Taylor:  I’d probably say Mexican more.  As of right now….

Christy:  What’s your favorite Mexican food that you’ve had?  You can’t say rice.

Taylor:  I know!  Hmmm, let’s see, we’ve had some Chimichangas that were pretty good the other night.

Everyone:  WOW!!! J

Eric:  We’re having our local elders over for dinner today.  Gonna make some ham, mashed potatoes, Megan’s making scones….

Taylor:  You should get some of that creamy corn from Rudy’s….

Christy:  Isn’t that stuff amazing?

Taylor:  It is!

Christy:  Crack-corn… that’s what we call it.

Taylor:  It is crack corn! 

Christy:  You didn’t believe us how good it was!

Christy:  So are you having fun?  Are you glad you’re out there?

Taylor:  I am.  I love the mission.  Isn’t it crazy?  In about eight weeks, I’ll have been out for six months!

Eric and Christy:  That is crazy!

Christy:  Brayden wants to know what you do on your p-day.

Taylor:  Well we get up, have breakfast, we have two hours of study, which isn’t that long , (good thing he couldn’t see out astonished faces at this comment!) then we shop, then we’ll play a sport (basketball, or volleyball).  Our zone is too spread out for zone p-days, so we go to another zone’s p-day that’s closer.  Yeah, p-days are fun!

Christy:  Are you getting ipads in your mission any time soon?

Taylor:  We were told next December. 

Taylor:  Tell everyone thank you for the cards and packages. 

Brayden:  I love you!  I MISS yoooouuuuu…..

Megan: I love you, Taylor!

Eric:  We are super proud of you Taylor.  Makes missionary work easier for me.  Friends don’t understand how we can let you go away for two whole years!  

Christy:  We love you!! Ian and I figured out that we could drive to Boerne in a day…. It’s only 930 miles from Chandler on the I-10.  Crazy, right?

Taylor:  It is?  Really? Wow!

Christy:  Yeah, but don’t worry, we won’t come!  We want to, but we won’t! 

Ian:  LOVE YOU!

Everyone:  LOVE you…. Bye!

Merry Christmas!

Well merry christmas to everyone!!!!! So things here in Boerne have not been too eventful this last week. Since there is only two of us we can not get into very many doors anymore. But earlier this week I went on exchanges because my companion got sick and one of the other elders here got sick.   I went to Leon Springs and had dinner with a millionare haha it was sweet!!  Also we had Christmas Conference this week which was soooo good!!! There was a lot of christmas music and a nice bbq lunch and then a talent show!!

So one of our investigators had to be dropped :(  He has a drinking problem and we wanted to stop so we wanted to do a rehab program with him. But his girlfriend is a less active and does not believe in a lot of the gospel so he is super confused about what to do. Also we have a couple that are working with. They are 19, married and have 2 kids. And the wife is super interested in the church but the husband, not so much. So we are trying to get him interested. The other day we were knocking in an apartment complex and we got kicked out haha oh well we will return!!

A Texas Millionaire's home

Deer

I want to get a hat like this one so I can wear it when through the airport when I come home... ha ha!

ET stands for Emergency Transfer...

So the exciting news!!! Friday afternoon I recieved a call that i was getting E.T. on saturday (emergency transfer) so I am no longer in Round Rock, I am now in Boerne. My new address is 125 Crosspoint #4202 Boerne, Tx 78006. So anything that goes to my old address Elder Morrin and Lundstrom said they would bring it down to Christmas Conference on Thursday haha so i should get whatever was sent. But ya I replaced a missionary who had to go home for medical reasons so here I am :) It is in the hill country so it is a little country town!! My new companion is Elder Tapia, he is from Mexico City but has lived in Utah for a long time and we are in a english ward  that has a few spanish members. But on saturday night there was a christmas party so i got nice calm introdution into the area. The members are awesome!!! Although most are older... haha But they all have strong testimonies so I am super excited!!!

 So from Round Rock before I moved haha Elena is getting baptized on the 25th of December! I am super sad that I get to miss that!! I will have more for next week!!!

Here's a picture of my new area with my new comp:

Texas is COLD!!!

Well this week has been FREEZING!!! Luckly my area is all car!! But it is still rough. Friday it got down to the 40's and during the last 3 days it has been at 27 degrees!! My companions and i still get up and run though! ( Elder Morrin ran at BYU so it is not a suprize haha) 

But this week we had a 3 month interview with President Slaughter and that was really cool!! We share a spiritual thought in spanish and he said my spanish was good for the time I have been out so that was sweet!! Right after we had a spanish training and there is a new program that is being made to help us push to learn spanish and it seems intense!! But I am excited to push myself! 

That day we went on exchanges with the traveling assistants so Elder Morrin and I were with Elder Humble. It was a awesome day!! We have been teaching Elena and She has a baptismal date for the 14th! ( Elder Morrin's bday) so we are super excited for that, but we have not been able to teach her for a while :( Angelica is out of town for a while because her mom is getting open heart surgery today so we are praying!! But Jesus and Casandra came to church so that was sweet!!!  We had a few investigators that came to church from the sisters side and our side so it was awesome!! Juanita and Keyla came!! Keyla saw me and started smiling and she walked bu and we did our handshake haha it made my day!!!  So this week Elder Gutke got sick so we have had exchanges with Elder Campbell. I have been going all out for 3 days haha it has been tiring!! Yesterday Eduardo said he can not meet with us anymore. We invited him to church and he really wants to but he doesnt want to tear his family who go to a different church. it was sad. We are hoping for a great week this week though!!

FHE

New Comps in Round Rock

So this week was great!!!! Elder Guthrie went home on Wednesday and that was a bitter sweet moment but i know he is happy at home!! Then we had transfers on Thanksgiving and Elder Morrin and I received a new companion, Elder Lundstrom. He is super positive and loves talking to everyone!! So that was fairly exciting! Right after we had a fairly nice dinner at the Nance's home ( A family that Elder Morrin knew before the mission) and some of their family was there and it was awesome!! Bro. Nance sent a picture to my mom which was awesome, apparently his daughter who is serving in Kirtland, was able to send some pictures through members so he decided to do it for us haha :) also we had dinner at the Bravo's home and some of the family was there and we were able to introduce the Sisters that are serving in Palm Valley Branch. Sister Bravo is actually white and learned spanish through her friend and working at a spanish restaurant and so she is pretty much fluent haha.

  So this week we have been running around trying to find out new boundaries because the zone split and the boundaries have not been announced, but the work is continuing!! So this week we went to Jesus's home and we talked about families. Angelica said they were working on getting married and they were trying to find counseling. We told them we would fast for them which we did and unfortunately they did not come to church because Angelica was feeling sick. Also we have a new investigator who is the mother of a recent convert, Israel. Her name is Elena and she told us she had a testimony of Joseph Smith and she likes the Book of Mormon. The first time we met with her she said no to the invite to baptism. She said she has not always followed God and does not feel worthy. So the second time we met with her with went over the plan of salvation and told her that she is a daughter of God and he loves you. And so we all testified of it and she started crying and she said she wanted to. So the 14th his her date and after wards she gave us a hug and asked for a blessing which was awesome!!!! We also have been meeting with Eduardo and yesterday he told us him and Maggie had an argument about him coming to our church. Which was kind of sad to hear!!! but he says he is reading and praying and we know that he knows the church is true. The volleyball activity every week is very successful and the members love it!!!

Moving Week

So for this week we had Zone Conference and Elder Golden of the Seventy came with his wife and we had the opportunity to shake their hands :) He taught so much and it was a really awesome experince and an honor to listen to a man called of God. Even though it lasted for many hours but it did not feel like it. 

Lets see our investigators.... Gracie. She is a new one who is a friend of the Saucedo family and we taught her and talked about the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. We had her read Moroni 10 verses 4 and 5. After she read that, we could all see the Holy Ghost working within her.. tears came to her eyes and she said she wanted to know. And some time soon she wants us to come by her house and say a prayer with her (she had askedus to come bless her home) but we can tell she feels that this is true so we are super excited for her!!! We have Eduardo and maggie, last night we had a party for Elder Guthrie or Hermano Gonzales planned one and we had a family home evening with them and a few of the members shared really powerful testimonies of the church and how much it has blessed their lives. I think she really appreciated it and we hope she will be more open to coming to church and such. Juanita and Keyla... We have not had the opportunity to see them in a while... she has not answered her phone in a while which worries us....

Also this week I got to go on exhanges with Elder Johnson (who is being transfered already :( ) but I got to ride home at 8 30 in 30 degree weather and rain which was awesome!!!! And all the Next day I was with him in 30 degree dry weather, it was sweet!! After those two days we had zone conference and then we wetre suppose to move on thursday. So we started tossing all the furniture because we were told we were getting all new furniture and appliances and everything. So by that time thursday at like in the afternoon all we have are our beds and supplies. Then we get a call from Elder Upham( a Senior Elder) saying we werent moving... so we are all freaking out cuz everything is gone and we were told we were moving that day. So we ask why and it was for shower curtains and cleaning. So we told him we would clean and go shower at the old one till we got them (which took a day to get) But then we had to get our apartment checked so that took some time and we had to sort through supplies that we did not need because elders had been stock pileing it up haha so we got all that somewhat figured out and we still have to clean a little but the old apartment looks better than before haha. lets see so This week the weather forecast said there was a possibility of snow... hhmmmm haha sweet!! but so far it hasn't  :/

Also we had Stake Conference as well and our stake was split and we have a new ward in one of them, The New Hope ward haha It does not really affect us because we cover both stakes with our spanish branch. Also Elder Corbridge was present with the president of the mission, President and Sister Slaughter. It was awesome!! I also got to witness a mission call opening for one of the elders in our zone. I do not know all the details but he has been reassigned to the Fresno, California mission haha so me and my companions stayed to watch along with the mission president and his wife haha. 

A funny story for the week!!! So when people get transfered, the President calls or the AP's do, so Elder Morrin was joking around with me all afternoon that I was going to get transfered and so whenever a text would come in he would pretend to talk on the phone ( I could see the screen and they were txts) But anyways later he starts talking on the phone and runs upstairs to give it to Elder Guthrie and he started talking and then hung up and told me i was being transfered to Serenada. And i was like what!! i just got here and I love it!! The people and the branch and everything! So later that night, last night, we were at the dinner for Elder Guthrie and I told Angel ( Hermano Gonzales's son who is leaving to Farmington New Mexico for his mission on the 18th) and word spread so all these people are saying goodbye and everything. Then we get home and Elder Morrin gets his camera out and starts filming and I was so confused and then they tell me I was not getting transfered. They had set this whole thing up lol (Hermano Gonzales knows) haha but it was so funny!! but ya anyway that was the week. :) 

We now live at 2410 Great Oaks Drive #702, Round Rock Texas, 78681. I will be here through Christmas, transfers are every six weeks and we are going to have one this week so I will be here unless I have an emergency transfer, but i will let you know if that happens haha. 

I love and miss all of you and I hope you have a great Thanks Giving!! :) 

I spy Rudy's BBQ!

Our new place!

More Round Rock Adventures

Alright so this has been an interesting week!! To get the random stuff out of the way on our way to a F.H.E. we found that their was a high risk traffic stop and that there were guns pointed in the direction we were heading so that was interesting haha. 

On the spiritual side we  are still trying to get Juanita and her daughter to church. It has become very frustrating because both of them are so ready but Juanita just makes reasons for why she cannot.We also met with a young man who has no religious background. His name is Joseph and he is a friend of a member and is a senior in high school. He speaks no spanish but wants to learn, but yeah he was very open and said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon and if it is true or not. We met with Eduardo this week, one time was at starbucks and we got some hot chocolate, although all three of us think there was something else in it, oops!!! But he is ready and we talked about Maggie and how she is doing with it. She just does not want to change and she already has a stressful life as a teacher and all different kinds of reasons haha but then we met with him again last night and he showed us magic tricks and stuff but then we shared with him the Plan of Salvation and where we were before this life and why we are here on Earth. He has interesting point of views but he started to understand. Then he asked us how to become a member of our church. It was sweet!! And his youngest daughter Sophia loves us so we know she will want it if he does. He says he has been praying with her every night and tries to read but has a hard time because he only gets 4 hours of sleep.This week we got to meet a family who was a referral from some other missionaries, Jamie and Luis and they have 5 kids in a small apartment. So we got to know them for a bit and what they believe in. Luis has actually read the Book of Mormon before and went to church in Mexico and this was like 10 years ago so he has a great understanding! Jamie was raised A JW but goes to a different church. But she has a lot of good things going for her and we are hoping that she can see the truth in the Gospel because a lot of what she said are pieces of what we have so it will be interesting!! We left 3 Nephi 11 which is Christ coming to the Americas so we are hoping that they will read it!! This week we were listening to a talk by Elder Holland when he visited the mission and he was talking about in actives and return missionaries should NEVER go in active and after sharing the gospel for two years they should be active and helping progress the work. So if you have anyone who is inactive, I encourage you to help them and try to get them back to church and becoming active again.

   

Missionary Comps ready to go out in the cold

Birthday cake....

What the what?!?

Even missionaries enjoy Star Wars pens that come in the Coco Puffs box

More From Round Rock, Texas

Okay!! Another great week In the Round Rock area :) We are now moving November 21st due to rain delays, but I still need to get the address. 

This week we taught Juanita and Keyla, Keyla understands so much, we were teaching about the pre-earth life and she basically laid it all out about how we lived with Heavenly Father and everything!!  She is so ready!! We just have to get her mom to take her to church!!  We were going to read (in spanish and Keyla sits next to me every time.)  She asked if I needed help haha :) It was cute! Her and I even have a little hand shake that we do every time :)  

Lets see Eduardo loved church!!!  He is so ready!!  But then we had a lesson last night and his wife was present and and she felt a little awkward I think. We invited them to be baptized and she started telling us that they were comfortable in their own church and the Bible is all they need.  We love Maggie, but if she was not there I think he would have said yes. 

On Friday we had a activity with the branch so members could invite their friends to play volleyball. We had a good turnout and A few non members showed up. The same night there was a football game so a lot of people were gone at the High School for the rivalry game. The Round Rock Dragons vs The Stoney Pointe Tigers haha :) 

Also we had a FHE with Jesus and his family and it went well, we talked about the importance of marriage and families. We are hoping the message got across :) 

Sunday we had a primary program with the Brushy Creek ward so there were about 200 kids up on the stand, and as always there are a few entertainers haha :)

White suits coming so nod your head!!!

First Birthday in the Mission Field

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes and gifts that have been sent!!  You guys are the best!!! 

Okay so on November 3rd we were invited to a catholic baptism by one of our investigators whose daughter was being baptized. So we went and somehow he did not tell us that it was a fiesta at his house so I do not know what happened there haha but it was interesting!! 

Also we were given money and a case of Root Beer from my uncle who happened to stop by our apartment when we were not there, which was sad. We were so confused about who it was for because it said Elder Taylor so we had no idea who it was from haha then I remembered that Alan comes to Austin and it said from Alan so I guessed it was from him haha so thank you!!!  

Also I got to be on a bike for two days this week with Elder Johnson, I loved biking!! I can not wait to do it in the future!!! 

And thank you Elise and Alan for the music!! I loved it!! We have a song from the lead singer from Owl city that is about Christ which I like, also the loraites(i think that is right) there is a song called mountains to climb, and a praise to the man meledy that is awesome!! 

Last Monday we had a zone p-day of soccer and I got a nice header haha.  

One of our investigators, Eduardo, has come to church twice and seems interested. He participates and everything and he even bore his testimony during fast and testimony meeting!!!! 

Also one of the members took us to Rudy's the other day haha.  

Here is the legendary Texas sized donut from Round Rock Donuts that mom had delivered to our apartment for my birthday!  I loved it!  I love all you guys!

(Christy Here:  Rudy's is a legendary BBQ chain started in San Antonio... they recently opened a location in Chandler, and we've been trying to get Taylor to eat there FOREVER.  He's not really a fan of Rudy's, so I curious to see what he ate there and if he liked it!)