Elder Taylor's Homecoming

This is Zach's dad -- I want to thank each of you for your friendship with Zach.  He is returning home this Friday, Oct. 28, after serving a mission for 2 years.  For those of you who are in the Las Vegas area, after Zach speaks in Church in Sunday, Oct. 30, we will be having a little get-together at our house, beginning about 1 pm.  If you need directions or our address, please leave a comment and we'll get it to you!

Kurt

October 24, 2011

So this is my last email to you all because sadly my 2 year mission is coming to an end. I will say that I have loved being engaged in the service of the Lord these last 2 years and plan to make it part of my life for the rest of eternity. I cannot believe this is the end of my opportunity to serve a mission. I will cherish this experience I have had always and forever. I encourage each and every one of you that are considering serving a mission to just do it! I can promise you if you do you will be able to find yourself. If you serve with all your heart, might, mind and strength you will be able to see your potential as sons and daughters of God and you will find GREAT joy in helping others see that. I have said I love it over and over and its because it is a one of a kind experience to develop your relationship with God.

So last Monday we went down to Lawrence so we could take pictures of the KU basketball court and to play b-ball with those elders. We went to and got a picture. We walked in through some side doors and took our pictures then we went to the front and realized that it said "the court is not open to the public today" I was glad we had already got our pictures so we left. Then we went and played basketball at a free, open gym. It was really fun! Tuesday was goodish. We had to go help some other elders out because one of them was sick and they had appointments. I stayed at the house with the sick elder and I got to read in the book of 3rd Nephi! It was awesome I learned so much! Wednesday we have a tradition of having a fish fry at some members house at the end of the transfer. It was really good and fun! Some elders had made foam swords so we went outside and beat on each other a little bit. I was team Lamanite and E. Bryner was team Nephite. We got to pick teams and it was good. They won the first time and the second time was go until you quit and our team won because we just hit them as hard as we could. Thursday not much happened but we did copy everything down that I knew so E. Bryner could use it when I left. We also taught a young girl and set a baptismal date with her brother that came. That was really cool! We found out our 18 year old investigator on the football team doesn't want to meet with us anymore so that was sad. Friday we had district meeting and it was my last one so some of the elders tried to make me "trunky" with that but it didn't work. It has been really easy for me to stay focused because we just want people to get baptized and develop testimonies. I love it! Saturday was just a crazy day. We had an extra missionary with us because his companion had to go be trained on how to train a new missionary. Sunday was good. They had me say the opening prayer for sacrament meeting and then the bishop stood up, who I haven't talked to too much, and announced it was my last Sunday. He started tearing up as he expressed his gratitude for my service. He told the ward that if they wanted to say anything to me that this may be their last time. I felt really good about my mission at that point. I felt good about my service here in the Colly Creek ward. I love them with all my heart! We then had dinner at the Jones' house. They are super cool! We got one of their girls to rap... it was sick!

Well everyone that was my week. It was short... I wish this week would have lasted longer. I love my Lord and Savior. I have come to know Him more intimately these last 2 years and I am very appreciative of it. Please do all you can to improve your relationship with Him. I love you all!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

 KU basketball court

The Lawters came and took us out to dinner on Friday night!

October 17, 2011

So I am going to be able to see a lot of you soon and I am running out of time for emailing today. I am going to just tell you of an experience we have had this week and last week. Last week for a district meeting we decided to do a training on attitude because this particular district was full of bad attitudes. It wasn't a normal training though. We came into district meeting with really bad attitudes and wouldn't really talk to anyone. We gave one word answers. We also had a "argument" in front of them. It went really well. When we did our annoucements we just breezed through them and asked if anyone had any questions. When they said no we told them good and sat down. Then I made sure they didn't have any questions and said I had a question for them. I asked them "how do you all feel right now?" The answer was "like there is tension in the room" We then told them there was. Pointed out that it was created by just us two. We also let them know that we had a great week but out bad attitudes overrode that emotion in us and affected everybody else. It was sweet! We have been able to see a change in them since we did it. 

We also had what we called "A Crusade of Obedience" this week. we got word that some of the elders in the zone were listening to unapproved music. So we drove an hour to go talk to them. We left Topeka at like 9 PM so we were out late. He was pretty honest with us and then he told us he had given some more unapproved stuff to some other elders, one of which was in our zone. We crashed on some other elders couches. Then the next morning we had to go retreive the unapproved stuff the next morning. Our mission president told us to do this. So we called it our "Crusade of Obedience" It was tiring but fun at the same time. I was glad I was with Elder Bryner for that, he helped me keep my cool and not freak out at how dumb they were being.

I love you all!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

October 10, 2011

Hello everybody! Another great week I hope! I sure had one. So last Monday we got to go to Independence and play basketball down there with a bunch of other Zone Leaders because we had Zone Leader Council. It was really really fun because we made sure that the ones who were good at basketball came to play and our assistants were there and they are good so that was fun. I was really sore afterwards. Tuesday we had a good meeting. I was asked to give a 5 minute talk. We are all asked to prepare them then the mission president's wife, Sis. Keyes, picks who gives the talks. E. Shepherd, who I came out with, and myself were picked. We then came home and we were able to see a lady we have been trying to contact for a while. She came to the door and said "I am not interested any longer." I asked why and she said "I have done some research on the internet and I have talked to some friends and I don't think it is for me." I love her and her family and I knew that this will bless her family beyond her understanding so I wasn't leaving until we got to sit down with her. We repeatedly attempted to get inside and we didn't get in until our 3rd or 4th attempt but we got in. We were able to resolve her concerns and now we have a church tour set up with her this coming Tuesday. As we left her house we were walking back to our car and we got yelled at by this guy. We went and talked to him and now we are teaching him! He was kind of drunk when we first taught him but after he wasn't.

Wednesday was good. We got in contact with another potential investigator who we have been trying since May. She has had LOTS of problems in her life that have gotten in her way. She said she is really interested and she could feel the Spirit everytime we came to see her. We were so excited and she said that she would be willing to be baptized. We had a good day and that was the highlight of the day. Thursday we went and helped a part-member family build a shed. That was pretty fun and he gave us pizza after. We also got to see one of our recent convets and her son. It was really good! We got to teach the drunk guy who yelled at us. He wasn't drunk this time and he was still interested. He is thinking about baptism as well. That night we went on team-ups and we commited someone else to be baptized. I feel so comfortable inviting people to be baptized right now I wish I would've realized how easy it was earlier on in my mission. It is our whole purpose out here. To invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. BAPTISM BY THE CORRECT AUTHORITY is the key thing. It is one of the 4 saving ordinances we need. It is the first and gets us started on our path. I love helping people get baptized!!!!!!

Friday was good we taught a couple of people. We had a great dinner with the Fisher family. They wanted to feed me steak before I left, I wasn't opposed. It was very very good!!!! They are a great family. We saw a miracle that day as well. All of our appointments fell through that day. We were a little down but we were trying to find someone. As we were walking a lady yelled to us  and asked us for help. We taught her on the way and now we will be teaching her in the future. We also found a less-active guy who wants to share the gospel with a lot of people around him! Miracles!!! That is something else I have come to know is that there are miracles every single day. It depends on if we are looking for them or not. We will see what we look for, why not look for evidence of the Lord in our lives which will in turn make us happy? Saturday was BUSY we were going from 10 AM until 9 PM constantly. We got to do some service for a organization here and I got to drive the golf cart and give people rides from their car to the event. It was fun! Sunday was good. I bore my testimony for the last time. We also bought matching ties for our companionship and a 10 year old boy in the ward. His family made fun of E. Harmon and I when we matched so we got someone in that family to match with us. They didn't make fun of us anymore lol. We also got to teach Tracey, our 18 year old investigator, he is so cool. I hope he just sees how much the Holy Ghost can really help him. Today we will be playing basketball with the whole zone!!!!

I love you all and I love the Lord. I feel honored to be able to dedicate my whole life for 2 years to him!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

October 3, 2011

Hello everybody! How are you all doing? I hope you are doing well because we have a great opportunity to be here on the earth. I love the time we have to learn and to develop our faith.

So last monday was a whirlwind of action. We played some soccer and that was cool. After all the sports we had dinner then an appointment on the other side of town, then we had to drive across town again to go to our FHE family. It was busy but our first appointment after dinner cancelled because they had strep throat. Our FHE went really good! I love the Davis family. I don't know if I told you last week but we went to the Independence Visitor's Center with them a week ago Saturday. They loved it and it helped them learn how to appreciate their family even more.

Tuesday was good. We got to see our recent convert and her son. He has said he isn't interested but he sits in all of our lessons and listens to us. He is done for we decided. He is going to get dunked! We got to see his wife and she wants to be baptized she just works a lot so we are not able to see her consistantly. We did service at the zoo and that was great, specially since they took us out to eat afterwards to thank us for everything we have done. I felt very happy because we tore apart 2 exhibits and built them again. Not to mention all of the plants we have planted throughout the entire zoo. We also got to see Cliff later that night and that was really good. He got out of the hospital and is feeling better but a little upset because it didn't work.

Wednesday we had district meeting. This district leader took the time to make this practice session amazing. He called in a bunch of members and had them play as investigators. He then split the missionaries into their companionships and made it a competition to see who could commit the most to baptism. Myself and the district leader were the observers to make sure everything went smooth. Our companions were together and they won. I have a great companion. We worked really hard that day and tried to talk to as many people as possible. I wasn't that "great" of a day until we went to our recent convert's house and their cousin was there. She has seen the change in them and wants that for her and her family! God rocks! We then watched the Joseph Smith DVD with Tracey, our 18 year old investigator. He loved it. Thursday we had a ok day. That night we had a team up and he was amazing! We got to teach 2 families and one of them said they would be baptized. We didn't set a date yet but we are going to the next time we go by and see them. They will take a little more time though.

Friday we had district meeting in Lawrence and it was alright. We have got to figure out how to change people's attitudes. I have been converted to the school of thought that if you have a good attitude you will have good results. I believe it is one's mental attitude at the beginning of a task not one's mental capacity that will greatly influence the outcome in a task. Attitude is everything! We helped our RLDS investigator clean her house. Oh we took another big step with her and we gave her a blessing! She use to not let us pray but not we got to give her a blessing. She is progressing slowly.

Saturday was great because we got to see General Conference! I love hearing from the prophet and apostles. I feel very uplifted and rebuked at the same time. In some talks I felt like a turd after but others I felt good. I love the Lord's correction! We got to have lots of investigators watch it. It has opened them up and made them want to progress towards baptism. Remember our recent convert's son that listened in our lessons. Well he asked his wife if she would be willing to take the journey towards baptism with him! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miracles wrought by the Lord through His disciples! I love it!

Today we are going to Independence because we have a meeting there tomorrow and we don't want to have to wake up early or arrive late tonight. We are going to play b-ball! I am excited since we can't get it here in Topeka. I love you all and want you all to remember the Lord is in control. Follow the Spirit and you will be able to find joy! 
Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

September 26, 2011

Hello everybody! Another great week! Monday we had a bad p-day. Lots of miscommunication which lead to nothing being played.... that was a little frustrating. We had a good day though. My companion is very good at teaching people when we first talk to them. We did that with 2 people on Monday. We also had our first FHE with the Davis family. They liked it -- I hope they see that it can be something simple and they can figure out a way to include thier little kids.

Tuesday was a good day. We had some appointments but they fell through, I have come to see that there are a lot of flaky people in the world. It is hard to see people who would like to improve their lives but through their own destructive behavior they deny themselves what they really want. It creates sadness and the search to fill that hole with something -- drugs, alcohol, immoral behavior, and many other useless things that the world teaches will bring us happiness. Being a third party, it is easy to see that the so called "happiness" only lasts as long as there is a cigarette to smoke or alcohol in your flask -- as soon as that runs out one gets cranky and depressed. That goes to show that it isn't happiness -- it is just pleasure. That is why the gospel is something that everybody can have. It helps us to enjoy the journey we are all on to get back to living with our Heavenly Father. I love that the gospel can truly bring joy that lasts to our lives. It will last us for eternity, which sounds a lot better than until your flask is empty. I guess that would sum up my entire week. I really just learned about the joy there is in life and God's plan for us helps us find that joy and continue to use it throughout our lives. We had some interesting experences this week with some elders that were not getting along and it was because both were being prideful. That is something that will frustrate God's plan for each and every one of us. He requires us to be humble and trust in Him, not ourselves, which I am glad for because I have seen myself make all the decisions and it wasn't good at all. I testify that Jesus is the Christ, that He loves each and everyone of us. As long as we come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit we can enjoy the blessings of the atonement. That requires us to humble ourselves and put our pride away. I love Him and will serve Him until I drop! I love you all and hope you find the same joy in the gospel that I have.

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

September 19, 2011

So this last week was really good! We were able to teach many people and contact lots of other people that we haven't been able to see in a long time. Just this morning we ran into a young man that we have taught and wants to be baptized! So we are excited for that. We have ran into many people in the library so that is really exciting!

Last Monday we played basketball and it just wasn't the same. There is nobody in the Topeka area that has basketball skills. When I am the best one by far you know that the game is struggling. We had FHE with the Davis family but they cancelled it. Tuesday we went to the Zoo and that was fun. Then we went on exchanges with Kaw Valley elders. I stayed in our area with E. Brilliant. He is different than I am but I like him. He is a good teacher. We were able to find 2 new investigators so that was pretty exciting. The highlight of Tuesday was running into a lady that was baptized into our church when she was younger and now her daughter is looking for a church so we are going to start teaching her.

Wednesday we had district meeting and it went very good. We were able to set some goals and learn how to lesson plan better and why it is important. It was good for lots of us to see and realize the importance. We then didn't see too much happen during the day. We taught Joyce and her son was there. We have seen many strides with him. He is coming around it is really great to see the spirit working with him! 

Thursday we had another good day. We taught this lady on the street. We couldn't decided if she was drunk or just tired. We also question if she is a prostitute or not. I know that those are all harsh things to say but she was a VERY interesting person. We had dinner with the Dawsons and we got to teach her daughter! It was cool because she came to her mom's baptism and was interested in a church tour. We also found 2 new people at Shawnnicka's place. We had to call our mission president to get some guidence on them. Friday was a very slow day. We didn't teach one lesson but we had a couple of member referrals so that is hopeful.

Saturday started off really bad. First off it was raining and I hate the rain. Then we had been asked to help someone move, which I like to do, but it was really far away and we burned TONS of miles. First they weren't there so we had to go to an appointment on the other side of town then we had to go back and it wasn't organized at all. I also got poked with some needle so that is a little scary. Come to find out it is a sewing needle so I will be ok. We had a miracle on team ups that night. We had an appointment with an investigator and we knocked on her door and she didn't answer for a long time. We stood there for a while trying to figure out where to go and she answered! She is looking for a family oriented church! We told her that this church is centered around the family. So we feel like she is very very promising.

Sunday was a regular day at church. We had a miracle with dinner. While we were there. The 17 year old daughter asked us how long we will be there for. She had invited a friend from school over and he was curious about the gospel. We stayed there and he is so GOLDEN! We are excited for him. He also plays football so I am excited because maybe we will be able to go to one of his games.

So that is it. Another week of God putting people into our path. We are so blessed as missionaries and I know that God lives and directs this work. He is happy when we, his children, are happy. He has a plan for each one of us. I love the happiness that comes from him.

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

September 12, 2011

Hello everybody! So it feels like a really short time since I have emailed you. I am glad to report on an interesting week.

Wednesday after I email you we went to see our baptismal candidate, Joyce and Bradley. It went really well. She studies out of the Gospel Prinicples book taking notes and writing questions down. It is sweet! She is ready for her baptism. Bradley on the other hand is a crazy 9 year old boy so he just has the basics down. We then went and picked up our tire. It was nice to not be driving around on a donut. We had been since the previous Saturday. We then had dinner with our recent convert and broke the news that E. Harmon was leaving. She was very sad. We then taught 2 more of our baptismal candidates, Sayble and Kaelend. Sayble is the grandaughter of a member. We taught her with 2 other girls her age, one a member and one not. The one that isn't wants to be baptized she just needs to come to church. We then were able to say good bye to some more people. I also got a call about my new companion. He has a medical condition that I don't know how to explain and I don't know that it is my place to say. So I was told we would need to drive down to Wichita and be there with him until he got out and then drive back up.

Thursday morning we drove down to Wichita and met him at the hospital and then E. Harmon went to get on the transfer bus. It was sad to see E. Harmon leave because he is a great missionary and this ward and myself will miss him. E. Bryner is my new companion and he is from Sandy Utah. He is really cool and funny. I am going to love serving with him. So at the hospital we just talked a lot. I got hungry so I went down to the cafetiria to get some food. When I came back up 2 sisters were visiting elder bryner. It was cool because one of them goes home with me so I got to talk to her. The doctor told him he could leave as soon as he kept food down. He kept it down since 2 o'clock so he tried to get out that night but they said no. I stayed the night at some other elders place. E. Stapley's place, E. Bryner's old companion and a good friend.

Thursday he got out of the hospital at 2 o'clock so that was really good. While we I was there I just slept that day because I was very tired. We went and E. Bryner packed his stuff and we drove back to Topeka and went to dinner. We had a good dinner and then we went to teach the Davis family and Kaelend. Kaelend is excited about his baptism! He is very ready.

Saturday was a very very very stressful day. We had 4 baptismal interviews for our investigators at 12 and that went pretty good. Then afterwards we had something come up with one of our recent converts where she just got EXTREMELY stressed! She needed someone to talk to so we listened to her and talked about the holy ghost with her. She said she felt better about everything. We then had to go fill the font at the other church building because ours was booked up. We found out the other one was too but we filled the font anyway. So when we got there the small little metal door that is over the faucet for the baptismal font was locked and nobody has a key. So our choices were either to break the door or find another way. I found a screw driver and saw that there were some screws I could take out. So I did and took off the whole door covering frame and all. We needed to get this baptism done so I was willing to do whatever it took. I was also a little stressed at that point. We had the baptisms and they went well. Joyce was good. We thought it would be difficult with her because she is always in a wheel chair but everything worked out. We just had E. Harmon and I there and I baptized her. Bradley was all over the place and wanted to stay in the font for everyone else's baptisms. E. Harmon got to come back to the baptism so that was really cool! So we had 4 people baptized on Saturday and it was amazing to be part of that miracle.

Sunday was good! The confirmations went well and the ward handled the fact that Joyce couldn't get up to the stage well by having them in front of the stage. We had lunch with our baptist minister investigator and then did numbers. They took FOREVER because we have 2 new district leaders. We then went to dinner. It was really good. After we saw one of our district leaders and went over his responsibilities with him. He is very stressed and his motor runs a little tighter than most. It will be a good learning experience for him. This morning we all got hair cuts so that was very nice go get.

Well I love my mission and I love you all!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

September 7, 2011

Hello everybody! So I couldn't email on Monday because it was Labor Day and Tuesday we had too much going on so today is the first day we had some free time. This week was really good! We had lots of things to do. On Monday night some recent converts threw a birthday party for me and made cake. It was really really good.

Tuesday we had that appointment with the girl we keep running into at the library and she didn't show up. It was a little disappointing but it is her choice. We then went to teach our RLDS investigator. It went pretty well. She hadn't seen E. Harmon in our last couple of visits so she was happy to see him. We then went to get our oil changed. It took FOREVER!!!!!! We ended up getting a rotation, oil change, and 2 tires replaced. It took about 2 hours. I am not looking forward to having down time because I don't know what to do with it. We then had dinner at Cliff's house. It was really simple because we requested that it would be. We just wanted grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was delicious! We then had our appointment fall through so that was disappointing again.

Wednesday was good. We found 3 new investigators! We taught one and her name is Carley and she is really golden. We had dinner with Sis. Dawson and she made hot wings so you know that it was good! We had an appointment with a young lady and while we were there her boyfriend was on the X-Box. It was really annoying because of how distracting it was. She had asked him to turn it off but he wouldn't because he was online. So that lesson wasn't very smooth at all. Then we went and taught Bro. Davis' nephew, Kaelend. He is still very very solid!

Thursday we had Zone Leader Council. It was really good to see all those people again. So in this meeting we talked about musical instruments and if they should be approved or not. The thought is that if someone has one they feel like they can play whatever type of music they want, approved or unapproved, and by doing so it is a double standard. So we came to the conclusion that everyone who currently has an instrument may keep it but only play it on P-day and only play hymns. You are not allowed to buy one if you don't have it already because they are becoming a distraction. We also read the talk by Elder Packer about worthy thoughts and music. We then came home and taught Joyce and we invited her and her grandson to be baptized. They accepted! We have also seen a miracle in her son. He use to just play his game and not show any interest in us but now he listens to us.

Friday we had district meeting and it went well. We went on exchanges and I was with E. Christensen. We taught Carley and she accepted everything we had to say and we invited her for baptism. She accepted! We had Sis. Davis with us and she was very good. We then went to dinner and that was bomb! Then we found a new investigator and she just invited us into her house to teach her. It was really cool. That night we wrote a Declaration of Independence from the mission to the Assistants as a joke. E. Christensen wrote it and it was really good!

Saturday we had a busy day. Which started out with our tire popping.... ugh. So we put the donut on and went on our way. We exchanged back. We had a busy day though. Appointments at 12,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6:30 it was crazy! A few fell through but 5 held. It was a really busy but fun day. At dinner we met their daughter who had just graduated from the LDS business college. She was a little bit awkward but it was funny. We then we over to our recent converts house and it was drama. After it all cooled down we got to teach their brother and he was a really down to earth guy.

Sunday was a good day. We had 2 investigators at church. We had the 4 baptisms we are suppose to have this Saturday announced and then realized that we hadn't talked to the building scheduler.... After sacrament I quickly walked up to her and first complimented her and offered her some candy I had. She laugh and I am sure that it softened her up so she didn't yell at me. Just kidding she was cool with it but it turns out we have to use the other building. We taught all of our baptismal candidates that day and one said he wanted to wait for his mom to be baptized which is good. We had dinner with the Shields family and their daughter was there. This is the lady who is trying to talk me into dating one of her grandaughters and now the mother of those grandaughters is at her house while we are eating dinner. It was funny cause she told her daughter that she wanted me to date her grandaughters. It was also awkward but whatever the whole mission is awkward.

Monday was a really good day. We had tons of people at basketball because it was Labor Day. We had enough for 5 on 5 on 5! Way fun but very very tiring. We had a good dinner and got to see Cliff afterwards.

Tuesday we had our first 2 appointments cancel on us. We then went to a place to get out tire fixed because our Car Czar was very picky about prices so we went to a member who would help us out. We then went to teach Carley again and we had Sis. Davis with us. Carley didn't want anything to do with us because she had been fed anti [NOTE - Zach is referring to "anti-Mormon" material]. It was really disappointing. We got in the house but she had a huge wall up. We are going to try to stop by again later this week. We had dinner with the Davis' too! It was really really good and we had a quick lesson afterwards. I love them! We then got transfer calls that night. I am staying in the Colly Creek ward but I will be serving with E. Bryner. He was just with one of my favorite missionaries and he says he is really cool so I am excited. It is weird to think he is my last companion.

Well I love you all!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

August 28, 2011

Hello everybody! How are you doing? I am doing very, very well. We had an amazing week and we saw the Lord's hand in everything. So last Monday was really good and we got to play some very good b-ball. I bought a KU jersey because it was on sale for $30 dollars – every other one I have seen has been $50-$75 so it was a good deal. There are 3 of us here with jerseys now and it is E. Harmon, E. Kamalu, and me. We all really like b-ball so we wanted to be on the same team and we played really well. We had dinner that night with someone from our bishopric and it was really cool.

Tuesday was pretty good. It started off with some zoo service and that was very fun. We planted and did mulch. It was fun because the other elder I was planting with and I made it a competition to with another set to see who could get the 6 plants planted first.... we won of course, just messing but it was fun. We went on exchanges with the Sherwood elders and I went with E. Powell. He is a really good elder and I was excited to be able to work with him again. We then had an appointment with the girl we met here last Monday and it went so good. She wants to get baptized! She also had her brother and his fiancé come and sit in the lesson with us. It was a miracle to be able to see her and see her wanting to bring her family in with her. She is married and her husband didn't come up so we are not sure if he likes us or not. We then went to see our RLDS investigator and she is doing well. This time we tried to keep the appointment very short and just taught from the Bible. It went very good! The spirit was there and there wasn't time for the spirit of contention to come into the meeting. We then had dinner with a lady from our ward. She made it a surprise birthday party for me! It was really cool. She is a vegetarian so we had burritos without any meat. She also got a cake for me and that was very good. She had 2 of her non-member friends over so that was the best birthday present she could have given me. We were then able to see our recent convert and teach one of the girls that live with her. She relapsed on smoking again so that wasn't good. We talked with her about setting a serious date and sticking with it. She is committed this time we believe because she picked her own day.

Wednesday we had a district meeting. The A/C at the church still wasn't working on both one side and in the chapel. We went to the where it "was working" but it was still blazing hot. We had a good meeting though. We then went on exchanges with the elders down in Emporia. I got to go down there with E. Steinekert. He is really chill and loves to snowboard. While down there we rode bikes a lot and it was pretty fun. Except the bike I rode wouldn't catch the gears sometimes so it made it hard to go up an incline. We went to this one house and it was funny cause as soon as we walked in we could smell weed. It was so ridiculously strong! It was kind of funny cause I would assume that we couldn't smell it. I also saw a swisher wrapper on the floor so it was defiantly weed. We taught them and it was good they want to know the truth and have been looking for a church. Rode to a couple of other houses but no luck. We then went to dinner and it was a b-day dinner for E. Steinekert, his b-day is one day before mine. It was bomb – we had ribs. So they celebrated my birthday too. We then went on team-ups with the brother and went to another house and they were smoking weed cause as soon as she came out that sent came with her. We then talked to these drunk African-American guys for a long time. They were super funny. One really liked my tie and he asked if he could have it. I told him no. He then asked if he gave me $50 if I would give it to him and I said yes very quickly. He was just joking at that point or he didn't know what he was saying. Either way it was fun talking to them.

Thursday we exchanged back. We then went to our appointment but only the girlfriend was there. She was really cool though. We taught her by just reading scripture with her. It was good. She wants to find truth but she is nervous about betraying her church. We then saw Joyce but it was hard to teach because her granddaughter was in a talkative mood. We had dinner at Cici's and that was fun. There were TONS of high school runners there so it was weird because we got some weird looks. I kind of liked it though cause they were hatin’ so let them hate – haha. Then we went to teach our recent converts, the Davis', and they have their nephew living with them. He wants to learn from us and said everything his uncle has explained to him has just made sense. He wants to be baptized and go on a mission! We also contacted a referral and it was good except our team-up started an argument and that turned the ref off to us. We really wanted to teach him because he seemed prepared. I hope that isn't our last chance.

Friday we had district meeting in Lawrence. It was fun and I learned a lot about becoming a missionary opposed to just serving a mission. It is pivotal we become converted out here so we don't just come back and do the exact same thing – we are meant to change for the better. We came home from Lawrence and had a BALLA lesson with Joyce. She finally came to church a week ago and now she seems much happier. We also brought a team-up/fellowship and they hit it off! It was so exciting! She also wants to be baptized and feels love from us! I am so happy for her. We then had dinner and that was very fun. This couple has 4 kids younger than 8 and they are all crazy so it was entertaining. We went to Walmart after to get some milk but we didn't get any because we ran into that investigator we met at the library, Kelly. She had missed the last couple of our appointments at the church but she asked us to come over tomorrow.

Saturday was... well, we are still alive is one positive from it. Our day looked so promising but we went to teach Kelly and her husband answered the door and said they talked about it and they are no longer interested. We were super confused because we had just talked to her the night before. We then got calls from our next two appointments and they cancelled too. UGH!!!!!!!! So frustrating! We got to help with a move in place so that was good. We then had E. Kamalu come with us because his comp was going back to another area to witness a baptism. It was fun but that day just wasn't our day. Our dinner called and said that our investigator was not going to be at dinner. We went and it was fun. We also got to see a less active lady and her daughter so that was really good. We then taught the Davis' nephew and it went really good. He will be baptized on Sep 10th! So a good ending to a rough day.

Sunday we went to church and it was good. Our gospel principle class was full again. We then taught the Davis' nephew after church again with Bro. Hirschi and it went so good. We had our appointment with the retired Baptist minister. We taught about baptisms for the dead again. We had a really quick dinner and then went to watch the Joseph Smith movie with our recent converts. All in all a good day.

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

So I forgot to say a miracle. You all remember Kelly the girl we saw here last Monday and they got dropped by her husband. Well she was here again today! She came up to my companion and I and apologized for what had happened. She said she was a little embarrassed and she is still interested. She couldn't believe that he would say that. So we set up an appointment with her at our church building. We told her we didn't want to teach her if her husband wasn't ok with it. She said she was going to talk to him about just her learning so that is cool. While we were talking to her this guy sitting next to us started talking to her very loudly. Telling her not to listen to us because we didn't have beards. He said it was a sin to shave because it is something natural but if that is the case then cutting your fingernails is a sin, brushing your teeth is a sin, and cutting your hair anywhere on your body is a sin. He was just a little off his rocker. It was funny though. She laughed at him. But that was it! Love you all!

August 22, 2011

So I just deleted the whole message but I will just tell you that the week went well before Thursday. So the reason I deleted it was because this girl who we have been trying to see and her mom just walked in the Library. So I got excited that we are going to get the chance to talk to them. I meant to click the "save now" button but I hit the "discard" button. But that was a miracle that she would come in the one day that we came to the library and that we got here when we did. We were going to try to come early but we didn't because we had to take care of some things. I know that the Lord told us to do those things because we were going to see this Kelly girl here. She is looking for truth and we are here to offer it. I love my mission! I love the Lord! I love being able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and I pray that I will always be able to be worthy. I pray that each one of you will feel the Lord in your life and the blessings that come from faithful service.

Thursday was a good day – we had exchanges with the assistants. I went with E. Lesuma. We went to this ref's house and taught his brother on his porch. It was good! We then went inside and there was no spirit in that house. It was a black hole. The ref wasn't interested and he was miserable. He didn't know where to find happiness. He had tried by knowing everything about cars but that didn't help. He surrounded himself with inappropriate materials and that is not helping him be happier. I wish people could see themselves from our point of view and see the happiness that awaits them in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Saturday was a good day. We saw our recent converts in a little town called Auburn. That pic of "G" with a bunch of ketchup on his plate is on Saturday night. We were then late to give our other investigator a blessing so we ran, literally, to her house. We got there before 9 and we were sweaty and tired. I got the privilege to giving the blessing and I loved it. It is something I can't say much about but I love feeling the spirit. This was a lady we had been teaching for a long time and she never has come to church. She wants to get baptized but she is really sick. We gave her a blessing so she and her family could come to church tomorrow.

Sunday was a busy day. So we were in sacrament sitting next to some investigators. During the sacrament portion we see a head poke through the door. It’s the lady who we gave a blessing, her daughter in law!!!! True miracle right there! The priesthood is truly God's authority here on this earth. I love him and again am grateful to serve him. I love you all!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

 

 "G" and he plate full of ketsup

 After exchanges with the assistants

August 15, 2011

So this week was really busy. We went on 3 exchanges and elder Harmon wasn't in our area for 2.5 days. It was strange. We had a really successful week and we were happy. We taught a lot of lessons we just felt disappointed because we only found 2 new investigators.

Monday was fun. We played lots and lots of basketball. For the last play of the last game elder Kamalu and I trapped elder Harmon in the corner. Elder harmon always tries to throw the ball at your legs when he is in that situation and we remembered that. When he tried to throw it at my legs I moved my leg at the right time and so it just stopped it. I got the ball and made a rather acrobatic shot. 360 lay up around someone. I was happy I hit it or I would've looked like a retard. We then had dinner with the Jones family. It was really good! Their daughter who is going BYU-I is home for the summer so she cooked dinner and dessert. She did a very good job!

Tuesday we did service at the zoo and we carried lots of dirt in wheel barrows and in buckets into the gorilla cages. It was very very stinky and we had to wear those doctors masks. We had fun though. Afterwards we got to go to one of the elders' member's houses and eat a ton of food cause they wanted to get rid of it and who better to do it than a bunch of poor hungry missionaries, right? We went on exchanges and I was with E. Combs, from Henderson, NV, so it was cool. We saw a sweet miracle. This guy was sitting outside and he is engaged to a LDS lady who is just getting active again. She has told him she was going to send us but she hadn't told us. So for us to run into him I thought it was a miracle.

Wednesday we had a funeral to go to of a 2 year old that passed away. It was sad but a very good funeral. We then had district meeting and that was fun. We didn't have much time before our next appointment so we ate Mickey D's.... not my favorite but its all good. We were able to see a couple of people and then we had to go home and have a conference call with the mission leaders. It is always good to hear how other zones are doing. The Topeka zone is doing very good! We are so happy so see them progressing and being consistant.

Thursday we went on exchanges with Wakarusa Valley. I finally went on exchanges with E. Chidester. I served around him in Kearney and never went on exchanges with him in 4.5 months. This was our first time and he is going home very soon. We saw this car in somebody's driveway and the engine had caught on fire and exploded! It was crazy looking. We were then able to see a miracle. We went to this lady's house, Patricia, and she wasn't there but she pulled up as we were knocking. She invited us in and we were very surprised. We talked for a little bit and then all I could think about was Alma 32 so we shared with her the seed/faith anology and it went over with her very well. She told us she had been praying for God's help to "get right" again. She said she had been a church going girl her whole life she just fell out of the habit and she needs help getting back into it. She was very excited to have us over. MIRACLE!!!!

Friday we had a good day. We had to go to district meeting down in Lawrence. It was fun but got started late. I then went on exchanges with E. Lyon. They went well. We got to eat with a cool new family and to see a investigator that we haven't seen in a long time. We exchanged back on Saturday. We taught lots of lessons that day. We also committed 2 girls to be baptized.

Sunday was good. We had 2 of our 3 with a baptismal date at church and 3 other investigators there. The ward is really supportive of us. We also conferred our recent convert with the preisthood. It was really cool. We had a stake preisthood meeting to go to and that was fun. I got to see a member I knew down in Derby there. He moved to Lawrence because he is going to school I was happy to see him.

Well all in all a great week! I love it out here and I really don't want to come home.... sorry mom.

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

August 8, 2011

Hello everybody! How are you doing? I am doing really well.

 

So I didn't bring my planner that says what I did last week. I will try to remember as much as I can. On Monday we had lots of people at the stake center to play basketball. It was way fun! We had some young men there that play on the high school basketball team and they were good so it made things interesting. I am proud to report that I was able to block the tallest one! That was my goal the who time so I was happy when it happened. We then went to a BBQ at Rick's. He is the guy who we help at the zoo every Tuesday. It was really cool. He bought all the stuff so we were very thankful. We had hot dogs and roasted them over an open fire and we had chips and beans. For dessert we had smores. It was lots of fun!

 

Tuesday we had zone leader council in Independence. I got my temple recommend renewed by Pres. Keyes. Also we found out that a man in our zone can now be baptized. He was waiting on First Presidency permission. We were happy and his elders were VERY happy! While I was in president's office for the temple recommend interview he had his transfer board open. The transfer board shows were everyone is going for transfers. Transfer calls were suppose to go out that night so I took a peak. All I could see through the crack was our zone! It was nice. Speaking of transfers Elder Harmon and I are staying together for a fourth transfer! I am super excited! That will make it 6 months together. That never has happened that I know of so it is really cool.

 

Wednesday I cannot remember what happened. Thursday was transfer day. We went and picked up Elder Manoa because he was getting transferred. It was sad to see him go he is such a funny guy. I will miss him. We had Elder Powell with us until the bus came back up from Wichita. It was fun with 3 people. We were able to teach a couple of lessons. We went back to the church at 3 to teach one of our member's grandchildren and that went way good! The oldest one, the leader, told us that she has a hard time believe people about religious things but she likes us and believes us and the other one wants to be baptized for sure! We are so lucky to have people like this to teach. We had a dinner that night that had their nonmember nephew over that we had taught before so that was cool. We also had a sweet team up and went to teach a lady named Lisa and her family. It went so good and she is looking for truth but she doesn't know where to find it. She is ready to accept the gospel.

 

Friday was rough. We had 1 appointment besides dinner and that fell through. We tried a lot of people but they weren't home. We then taught our RLDS investigator and that was... good. She is really stubborn and now I understand when they say hard heartedness and stiff necked. She refuses to believe anything we teach even when we teach it out of the Bible. We had dinner with the Davis family and it was BOMB! She made homemade fried chicken. We also had a wonderful lesson with them about the temple. Their goal is to be sealed in a year! After that we went to one of our part-member family's daughter's birthday party. It was cool that she invited us and she was happy when we came. I love that family.

 

Saturday we had a.... crazy appointment. So we met this guy Homer earlier on in the week and taught him and his friend Gary; we taught them in Gary's house. We had a return appointment with them and when we got there Homer was heading out to the mailbox. He told us Gary wasn't home so we could come to his house. We went in and the first thing we see on the wall is a picture of this girl. She was covered up but it defiantly wasn't kosher. He then spent 10 mins showing us pictures of his family so that was cool. He was acting really weird and fidgety the whole time. We sat down and we were going to try to teach him to pray. So we asked him if he had ever written a letter before and he springs up and says yes do you want to read them. We told him no but he put his composition book into our hands and said read them. So E. Harmon was reading them and then he brought me his will to read so I skimmed that. Afterwards he took the composition book back and then said he was going to read one to us. He read it and it started out "Dear so and so, My name is Homer and I am a substance abuser and addict....." We asked him if that was true and he said yes then we asked what and he said marajuana and crack. We then said alright can we help? He then said wanna see my food? So he proceeded to show us all his food in the house. We sat down and then said we wanted to teach him something so he tried to find his book. He moved some stuff on the table and one was a DVD it was a not so wholesome DVD and E. Harmon saw it so he said alright can we say a prayer because we are leaving so we left. He was trippin on something that whole time and I don't think it was marajuana. We are not ever going back to that house. We also don't know if he was fully accountable so we will just wait on him. It was a fun experience though. We then were able to teach 2 new investigators that had lived with members. We also were able to teach our recent converts.

 

Sunday was good. We had a good fast and testimony meeting. We had our recent converts tell us their sister is struggling so we will be going over there and checking on her. We then were able to go to lunch. It was bomb and it was fun. The Lawtons are sweet! We taught our baptist minister investigator and that was fun. We then were able to see an investigator that we haven't seen in a long time. We helped her resolve some problems. She has been wronged by "church people" in the past. They judged her and condemmed her. We explained that Christ, who is the one who will judge us, didn't condem others while he was here on earth ie the woman taken in adultry. We also got to see another recent convert and she and her family are doing well.

 

So as you can see a fun and spiritual week. I love it! ONe thing I have learned is to appreciate the Holy Ghost. It makes missionary work possible. I love you all!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

 E. Harmon and I on a hot day in a team up's car. The thermometer said 119 for a while.

August 1, 2011

Hello everybody! This week was AMAZING not just for us but for our entire zone.

Monday was good we played lots of basketball and the team I was on was able to win. We then went out to dinner with a single sister in our ward and her 17 year old son. He is going to start coming to play ball with us on p-day. We then went and visited our recent converts the Davis family. They are doing SO good but they just had some questions. Like when can we go to the temple to get sealed! I am so happy they are seeing the eternal view of things.

Tuesday we went to the zoo and tore apart the otter exhibit. It was.... hot and messy but fun. We got to throw lots of rocks around and hit things with sledge hammers so what else could we ask for. We work there with Rick and we are having a BBQ at his house Monday so we are very, very excited. We were able to tract into someone and teach them. We also invited him to be baptized and he accepted! We had some of our other appointments fall through on us but we still had a great day in which we were able to bring others to Christ.

Wednesday we didn't have much going on. We had a district BBQ after our district meeting with Topeka District. It was really good! We had fried fish, peaches, brawts, and twinkies. Not healthy but very very good. We then went and taught a Jehovah Witness man and he is going to get us one of their bibles. We had dinner and then went to a meeting with the stake president and our mission president in which we reported on the last 2 months. It went very well.

Thursday was really good. We were able to fine 1 new investigator and able to teach 5 different investigators! We have been very blessed this week in being able to see everyone we needed to. Friday I was on exchanges down in Lawrence and we moved someone again. Every time I have gone down there we have moved someone and I love it. I like moving people. These people thought they were going to get more time before they had to leave but so it was an emergency. I almost got a huge picture of Michael Jordan out of it.

Saturday was good we were able to see a miracle. We were going to visit this guy who told us to come by. When we got to where his house should have been we realized it was a bad address, we had visited his wife before so we did know where he meant. There was a guy across the street who called us over and said "I have a couple of minutes if you want to talk". We were shocked and said yes. We taught him of Joseph Smith and prayer and it helped him out. He asked us to come back. We then tried the house we had thought the first man lived at and he wasn't home. We walked down the driveway and turned the corner and there he was, with his wife. He said he was happy he saw us because he got called into work. He invited us in and we taught them of the Book of Mormon. We are going back next week.

Sunday was good. We had solid meetings and an investigator came that has never come before! I was so happy. We were on cloud 9 for the rest of the day. We were able to do numbers for the zone and they were astronomical! We as a zone average around 160-180 lessons in a week, which is really good but this week we got 200 and more than 50 percent of them were to investigators! It was a miracle to see that happen. We then taught our Baptist minister investigator about temples. We also visited this girl who has come to church 4 times now and set her to be baptized on Aug. 20th!

As you can see we are being blessed and we love that we are able to help the Lord with his work.

Your Friend,

Elder Zachary Taylor 

Topeka District

Wakarusa District (Lawrence)

 

 

"G" and I, his hair is sweet

July 25, 2011

Hello everybody! How are you all doing? I am doing very good and having a blast out here. We have seen many miracles and know that the Lord is the reason for any measure of success we are having.

  

So on Monday we were able to have dinner with a less active family. It was really cool to be able to eat with them. I think the husband is a convert. We had never met them before so we were surprised that they invited us over to their house for dinner. On Tuesday we were able to have a really good day. We taught a couple of people including the family that was to get baptized on Saturday. It went very good, we just went over the baptismal interview questions. We then went to teach Lloyd and Kim. We just met them on the street and they were very nice and invited us to come over and teach them. They gave us water and opened up our house to them.

On Wednesday we went on exchanges and switched cars with Emporia. They are getting a new car and we are closer to Independence so when it come there will be less miles driven. I went down to Emporia with Elder Meisenheimer. It was really fun we got to see a couple of people. One was named James and he was really funny. We then went to dinner and taught their recent convert. Thursday we switched back and then we were able to see the family that was to be baptized on Saturday. We also were able to go to our recent convert's house and help them. I love it when what you study comes up in  your discussions with people. We also had a member referral and we went to see him and when we got there it was really cool. We were able to invite him to be baptized and he accepted. We found out that he isn't in our area though so we contacted the missionaries that are suppose to be teaching him and we told them about him. They are going to start teaching him now.

Friday was good. We had district meeting in Lawrence and it was really fun. We had an appointment with someone at 9 in the morning but she wasn't there. We went on exchanges with Hiawatha and I was here in Colly Creek with elder Stevens. It was really hot that day! We had lots of fun though. We were able to see Cliff and it was good that we were able to see him because he was down a little bit. Saturday we went to a couple of the wards parties here in Topeka. It was really fun. We then switched back and had 3 appointments then we had to go fill up the font for the baptism. We did the baptisms and everyone's went good. Elder Harmon's person he was baptizing wasn't too keen on going under water so she resisted a little bit and he forced her under because she said she wanted to be baptized so it went well. The person I baptized had 5 names so I was worried about forgetting that stuff.

Sunday was really good! We had 3 investigators at church and then we were able to go and teach the investigator that was going to the other elders. They called us over so we went and he believe Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! We were so excited! We then were able to teach our retired baptist minister investigator with his son and daughter in law. It went well and he is praying about Joseph Smith. We then had dinner at the Jones' house and that was a blast! We had a ping pong tournament afterwards and we, the elders, were victorious a couple of times.

So we are just being blessed as missionaries here in the Independence Missouri Mission. Many miracles are coming to pass. I love you all and hope to hear from you!

Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor

  

Shawnnicka, ShawnTavia, and Ja-amavian at their baptism
 

Ja-amavian and I

 

Jones family

July 18, 2011

Hello everybody! It has been one full week since I have written and I cannot believe it. I really feel like my mission is flying by. Like for example I have been out for....  21 months and I still feel like a greenie, like I am brand new. I cannot believe it has been that long since I began this journey. I am so thankful that I have been able to be out here - I have seen so many miracles and have learned a TON! One big thing that I have learned is that miracles are truly preceded by faithful living. We cannot expect to see a miracle from God if we do not show Him that we are willing to do his work. It is like expecting a store to give you your shopping cart without paying. Now I realize just how stupid it is. As missionaries we are praying all the time for miracles and people to teach. Sometimes we go out and then we don't talk with anybody and we come home and complain about not having success. We must pray as though everything relies on God then act as though everything relies on us but not lose our faith in God. While we put in our work the Lord will put in His and then miracles are brought to pass.

I don't want to go through day by day this time - I would just like to tell you of some miracles that we have seen thus far. So one of the days this week we felt like we were going to get a lot accomplished and we were working to do so. Everybody we saw was either busy or wasn't home and it was HOT outside. I was beginning to get a little discouraged and my companion and I started snapping at each other. I was just praying in my heart that we would find someone who needed God in their life, that was struggling and needed some love. As we were walking we saw a lady sitting under a tree on the side of the road, crying. We went over and talked with her and sat on the ground with her. She was having a very bad day. Her boyfriend and her were in a fight and he had been cheating on her. She felt lost and that she had nowhere to go. We just listened to her and then told her what we do. She said she had been praying to God that he would send someone to help her. We testified that he had sent us and that if she would do the things we invited her to do she would feel happy and find purpose in life. Then one of her friends drove by and saw her. He stopped to pick her up and help her feel better. She said we could stop over later that day and teach her. We immediately started thinking of people to bring with us that would relate. Riece (our recent convert) came to mind and we called her. She said she felt honored we even thought of her. She was super excited to come that night. So we met her on the corner and she followed us and we parked behind what we thought were her apartments. They weren't the right ones so we walked around trying to find the right building. As we were walking it was sprinkling then it began to POUR. I mean not like a storm out west but a mid-west down pour. So it is basically a Tsunami. So needless to say we all got soaking wet and we couldn't find the apartment so we called it a night and apologized to Riece for getting her into that. She was fine with it and said she rather enjoyed it. We then left and she texted us and said as she was driving just a little further down the street she found the building. Elder Harmon and I felt that we needed to go back so we did. We found the building but we were not able to find the apartment. We normally are not this retarded so we didn't know what was going on. We ran into a young woman walking out of her apartment and we asked her for directions. She pointed us to the apartment and then we asked if we could give her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She accepted it and immediately started reading it. She was very interested and we found out she didn't have much of a background in religion. She said we could come over that next day! So I look at that and see that we were becoming weak but we had been praying for miracles and we were out trying to do the Lord's will. He placed the crying lady in our path who invited us back. We then were there trying to see her but the Lord had a rain storm stop us from finding her. We were then prompted to go back and we ran into that young woman that hadn't heard much about God. We are now trying to teach her about who God is.

I know that our Heavenly Father is watching us all and is mindful of all His children. He has a plan of how all of us can come back and live with Him again. We are given our choice in this plan to follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost or we can live according to the weakness of the flesh. As we strive to listen to the Holy Ghost and do uplifting things we are able to feel those promptings more clearly and are able to change not only our own lives but the lives of all those around. As we have faith in God He will bless us and show us miracles. We do not receive a witness until the trial of our faith which means we must show the Lord we are willing to submit our will to His in order to see His hand in our own lives and others. I love the Lord with all my heart and I love that He knows each and every one of us. He love us and will do what is best of our eternal future. He doesn't see the temporary or the unworthy things as even an option for His children. He has restored His church to the earth in order to bring His children back home into His presence. I love you all and I know that I will be with my family forever because of the restoration of the Lord's one true church on this earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We are seeing many miracles like that in our work. We are having a family be baptized either this Saturday or next and they are seeing the gospel change them and they are changing for the Lord. I have had no better opportunity in my life and will continue to further the Lord's Kingdom as long as I can. Until next week keep your head up!


Your Friend,
Elder Zachary Taylor