December 25, 2011

We got to talk to Reid for two hours on Christmas Day! He sounded really happy! He can't believe he is on the downhill side of his mission. He has made 3 of his 4 calls home! 

December 19, 2011

I asked Reid for a picture of his Christmas tree, his response--"I totally forgot to get that for you. I knew that you would want one. Alright, imagine a hodge podge looking tree with popcorn on dental floss, random orb ornaments, mulit-colored lights,cans of Dr. Pepper/white Coke cans and a Jackalope figure on top :)

The mission saw fit to give us a car! It is a Pontiac Vibe and we are very happy with it. This week we had a mission Christmas devotional. We had a guest speaker come and present some of the archaeological research that he has been working on in the Yucatan. He presented the evidences that he has found the Christ came to the Americas. He first taught us some basic Mayan symbols, like how a cross (like the Red Cross sign) signified (from our understanding of their writings) the "tree of life/love of God". It was amazing and I really felt the Spirit testify that these people knew Christ and sought to follow him. That was probably my favorite part of the week. I wish that you could have seen it. 

Aside from that we had fun caroling with the ward to some less actives. We had a great lesson with a less active lady named Tammy Nosse and she had a wonderful Spiritual experience that told her that she needs to go to the temple.

December 12, 2011

Elder Lloyd and I continue to enjoy our time here in Laramie. Things have been a bit odd having a 5th dude in the apartment, as none of us like getting hypothermia from our showers. That said, I have enjoyed Elder Dayley's sense of humor. He is the only person that seems to e able to give Elder Lloyd a decently hard time and he takes great pleasure in that . Elder Lloyd doesn't mind it, but it is rather satisfying to see them throw down every time they talk. 

The work moves ever forward here in the Lord's vineyard and this week is not exception. Well, that is if you don't count Terri. She is not keeping her commitments and we are fairly sure that we are going to have to drop her. I don't know what is holding her back. We are running out of tools to give her and we have been instructed to drop those who do not progress. It is sad, but we are going to give it one more try.

Kristie is doing well. She has been reading and says that everything we have taught her thus far is some thing she agrees with. Her husband, Bruce, was surprised to know that he is a member of the church! We are going to work a little more on getting him committed to do the things that Kristie is doing. If they progress together they are more likely to succeed. 

We found a new investigator this week. Toto Pastrano has apparently met with missionaries in the past and was very welcoming.From the teaching record we have, he has been taught everything many times and all that has held him back is his less active Jehovah Witness wife. His English is a little rough, but he understands us and my history of working around Latin folks helps me to understand him through his thick accent. We are not sure how we are going to be the ones to overcome the roadblocks that have stopped him in the past, but I have faith that the Lord will help us according to His will.

I deal with all kinds of dirty people. You get used to the smell of their houses after 20 minutes or so. We see this one less active family every week and the place reeks of cat urine to such a degree that it makes my eyes water the whole time. What is better is they have a pack of 5 dogs that have never seen a particle of soap in their lives. They like to make your pants a different color by rubbing against you. I leave feeling like I did what I was supposed to do but dread the idea of returning. It is really quite the experience.

We have a Christmas tree now! Not that the others have thought about what it is going to take to make the thing look like it should. This is going to be a funny experience.

December 6, 2011

You never said how your Thanksgiving was. It was an interesting day. We had lunch of traditional sorts in the institute with the single that stayed in Laramie. It was odd to be in a church style building for lunch but ping pong and pool before the festivities was fun. We then had a traditional dinner with the Hepworths and I got to talk to the owner of Liberty Arms. He is the Hepworth's grandfather and he said that he makes the best revolvers in the world. I got to geek out by asking him about the manufacturing methods that they employ and it was clear that not a soul besides he and I had any idea what we were talking about! I got to inspect one of the pieces that he keeps with him to show off and I was impressed. After we got done with dinner we went to the Anderson's house to eat pie as a district. We visited Grandma Thompson, a lady in our ward that adopts all of the missionaries that come to Laramie and is super wonderful and then we ended our day. It was a good holiday....I mean proselyting day. :)

It has been blastedly cold here in Laramie and too slick to ride our bikes so we have been walking. I have been enjoying my time here in Laramie and am glad I get to stay with Elder Lloyd. With the addition of the Sherman Hill ward, we will definitely have enough work to keep us busy. We would have gotten a car had the sisters in Cheyenne hadn't wrecked it. The mission is supposed to be getting some trucks in January and we may get one of those. (His momma sure hopes so. I hate that he is out in subzero wind chills.)

Now some success from this week.

Kristie Bormann is really something. We had what was probably one of the best first lesson experiences that I have ever had with her and Bruce. The Spirit helped us to answer the questions that she had and she had a very good understanding of the concepts that we taught. She obviously comes from a Baptist background, but as we neared the end of the lesson the Spirit overcame me and filled me with what I needed to say. It gave me the power to testify with authority and conviction. It helped me to do exactly what she needed me to do and by the grace of God, she felt the truth and recognized that it was the Spirit. The last concern was that she would not know what to tell her family because they are all very Baptist. I gave her the promise that the Lord would help her and she now seems to be progressing rapidly. She came to church and stayed for all of the meetings. We are blessed to know them and I am confident still that they are one of the reasons I am here.

Not much else to report other than the fact that Terri Carroll is slipping further from the path she knows she needs to walk and could use some prayers that the Lord will speak to her again and help her to feel that she can do what He asks of her. 

Elder Taylor :)

Elder Lloyd

Still silly!

Laramie District

Really?

Laramie becomes a ghost town during the holidays. That is not the best thing for missionary work. It was a bit frustrating to have everyone gone, including members. Things seem to be getting back to normal, but I am dreading Christmas if that is what is going to happen again.

But not everything was bad about losing a lot of our normal visits and the like. We contacted some new people and are very hopeful that we will be able to help them. The Bormanns are a part member family that we had never tried before and when she answered the door and welcomed us in we were more than a bit taken a back. He was found by the missionaries when he lived in Texas ans it seems as though he went inactive almost immediately. She has talked to missionaries in the past and was a bit turned off by them. She was more than willing to meet with us again and thanked us for being normal people! There may be hope for my social skills after all.

We were referred to another part member family by the bishop this week. They have two unbaptized children. The Shannons are super nice and have obviously have been a hang out spot for lazy missionaries in the past. In the lazy missionaries defense, they make it really easy. The first thing that Bro. Shannon did was show us the game room and invited us to play a game of pool. So in an effort to break the ice and get to know them I broke for a game of nine ball. As we talked we learned that they have been on and off active for the past decade, but they love it when the missionaries come and bring the Spirit. It seems the missionaries have been able to activate them in the past. They might just be at a point where they are set up for just that now. We will be going back and are going to ask if we can teach their kids. That way, both the kids and the parents can get involved and we can get them keeping commitments together.

Terri accepted the word of wisdom  without any hesitation and came to a baptism. She is still shaky on the church thing and didn't come this week and we are not sure what more we can do for her. On the one hand, all that stands in her way is a bit of self-doubt and lack of commitment and on the other hand that little thing standing in her way seems huge to her and would make her an instant less active member. What a strange thing. We are going to get the bishop to come to our next appointment but it would be nice if she felt some attachment to the ward. 

And there you have it. I would consider it a good week even if it was a bit slow. 

I love you guys and am glad that Thanksgiving so nice for you all. I look forward to talking to you at Christmas. 

November 21, 2011

Do you have someplace fun to go for Thanksgiving? We have a couple of fun places to go. :)

First off the week went by super fast and I find myself thinking, "Wasn't I just emailing the family yesterday?"

We had a mission this last week and were addressed by Elder Richard J. Maynes of the 1st quorum of the 70. He spoke for almost an hour and half focusing on helping us understand how to be better connected to our purpose. It was something that was intended to help us find more successfully and while motivational he basically said in simplest form, "talk to everyone and try your best everyday and things will work out." I was hoping for a "here's a sure fire way that you can do to find those who are interested in the gospel" but that would be too easy. :p I came away from the meeting with a sense of determination to continue to try and put my best efforts into the work and trust that the Lord will take care of the rest.  

We saw Terri this week and focused on helping her understand the importance of baptism and getting at her real concerns. Try as we might could not find anything other than self doubt and so we tackled it. The Spirit really helped out  and she came to the knowledge that everything would work out if this is really what God wants for her. She is still a little hesitant but committed to work toward being baptized on the 3rd of December. The only concern that we have is that coffee will be a big hurdle and that she will lapse back into a state of, "I can't do it."

Bonnie is slowly becoming more unstable. We have not been able to meet with her of late and she has started sending us texts that are next to utter nonsense. I am not really sure what to do about this development and the heavens seem closed on the matter. it is hard to say it after so much effort and the spirit filled interactions but we may end up dropping her.

We are continuing our work with the less active members of the ward and this week we found an interesting family. Imagine a 90 year old couple that has the most stereo typical old person house ever. they are both super nice but he is as deaf as a post. Adding this little note is what makes this interesting. You see they both want to engage you but because he can't hear you or her he will begin talking in the middle of her thoughts. Now they have a solution for the deaf thing and that is a white board that sits on there coffee table. So I'm trying to engage this old scientist and ask him about his research and Elder Lloyd is trying to carry a conversation with her. I am Writing on this white board as fast as I can asking all kinds of questions and then he gives a loud response and all the while she patiently stops when he is talking. Eventually we get to the end of our meeting and as we are carrying some rocks he wanted to explain to us back to their deck we turn to each other and ask, "how do you share a spiritual thought with a deaf guy?" We brainstormed a little bit but just couldn't come up with anything that seemed to fit. So we ended up asking about who their home teachers were and then praying with them. It was just one of the oddest experiences i have ever had trying to communicate with another being but I couldn't help but laugh at the Idea that that is the way that they communicate all the time.

Aside from that, there was a lot of walking and slipping on the ice that seems to coat Laramie.

I will be thinking of you all as turkey day rolls around. Have lots of fun and say hi to everyone for me.

November 14, 2011

How are you today? Great! : ) Did you remember a picture of your apartment and Elder Lloyd? I will be very surprised if you did! I just found out that I have completely lost my camera cord so I can't charge it or move any files....that doesn't surprise me either. How is Erin doing? Couldn't tell you cause we have lost all contact. Just really haven't seen her.

All right, let's see what happened this week.

This week we had a bunch of less active members that we were able to catch home and the visits went well. None of them came to church, but we still helped them feel the Spirit and are going back so there is still much hope.

Bonnie has lost all hope of custody and as things progress it is clear to me that mental illness must run in the family. She's not dangerous or vastly unstable but she is definitely paranoid and has the strange notion that everyone else is going to and should solve her problems. We moved her to a downstairs apartment this week and she still seems to be progressing, but things like self reliance are going to be an issue and we are going to have to make sure that everything is understood. Still hopeful, just a little wary of the fact that this is going to be a longer process than I thought.

Teri said, "I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet." But she does not believe that she has what it takes to live up to the commitment of being a member of the church. She has a really less active member as a neighbor and that has led to this sentiment. We are going to have a bit of a time working though this with her but I have been learning patience my whole mission so that shouldn't be too big a deal.

I decided to take an inventory of all the fun things that I have been able to do as a missionary and I have been able to come up with a pretty good sized list. Highlights are driving fast on country roads in Cheyenne. Playing golf for the first time and in a funny sweater to boot. Having a super-soaker fight with a kid in a parking lot before dinner. Getting to play some Pink Floyd on the bass with some sweet members. Bow hunting fake animals and playing Angry Birds the board game with my companion. Just to name a few. 

I have been really enjoying my time as a missionary and Elder Lloyd has been a fun guy to have around.

November 7, 2011

How much snow have you gotten? It has been about 6-8 inches each storm but the next day it starts to melt and is gone after 4 days. I bet it is hard to be on a bike in the snow. Just the way the temperature has been so dramatically fluctuating makes it too slick to ride the day it snows, but every day after that is pretty ok.

It has been a good week here in Spring Creek. Chief in our successes this week has been that Bonnie is really serious about investigating and both she and Teri came to church!

We finally got to teach lesson 1 to Bonnie this week and it really tied everything together. Not only did she understand what it meant and accepted our challenge to find out if it is true. We are going to be helping the ward move her to a new ground level apartment this week and are going to focus on helping her her her answer. We are so thrilled to see her progressing.

Teri is struggling a bit and is not sure that she could be a part of any organized religion. We pressed past that concern and are going to try and resolve it at our meeting this week. We are going to go back to lesson one and try and help her recognize her answer. We could use some prayers for her. 

Erin has officially been diagnosed with cancer and her family has pressed for her to move back to Missouri so they can help her through treatment. She has said her mother is completely atheistic and that is basically the rule of the house. She told us the most horrifying story of her childhood. I can't even bring myself to tell you the details. We are going to try to teach her one more lesson before she moves and get an address so we can send the missionaries her way. Sad, but we have done what God needed us to do. 

Other than that, we have been seeing good things with some of the less active members we are working with and had a few at church. We are going to shift our focus to trying to contact LA's and part member families to find more people to teach. Glad that we have the ward behind us. 

October 31, 2011

How is it living in an apartment? SWEET! Living in the apartment is a dream. I mean it may be old and small, but it is our space. I don't feel I have to walk on egg shells so as to keep members happy and living with the zone leaders is just fun. I am dreading being transferred because this is awesome!

Well, it is official. Elder Lloyd is the most cynical person I have ever met. It is a good thing that he is funny about it or he would be a little depressing. I find myself laughing a lot and that is a good thing. I am going to work with him on toning it down a bit with the members and such but I'm not worried.

We are working on art for our walls and it has inspired Elder Lloyd to tap into his creative side. He has never painted  before but as Elder Hirschi left all of his supplies he thought he might as well. He just painted an orange lambda in honor of 3 of the 4 of us loving half-life. It actually looks really cool.

Teri Carroll is still progressing and we found out that the sister we brought to the church tour did not put her off but that she actually liked her company! We tried to get her to set a baptismal date but she feels as though she is not going to be ready for something within 3 weeks. She wants to know what she needs to    repent of and ants to be more spiritual before she takes the plunge. She has little if anything to repent of so lesson 4 is going to be very good for her and we can easily have a double focus of helping her get an answer and teaching her the commandments.

We finally got back in contact with Erin this week. She says that while life has been crazy and super busy that just doing some of the things we asked her to do (reading the  BOM and praying) have really brought her a lot of peace to her in the storm. That said she has at least one storm on the horizon. She has told us that she is going in today to see if she has cancer. We have prayed for her ,but I think that either way things will turn out ok. We are going to try to set up appointments away from the house so she can focus and not feel like she has to be doing things all at once. Wow, I just said I was going to try and get someone else to focus...

Bonnie was good to come to church this week until she had a meltdown this Sunday. She sent us a bunch of incoherent text messages about getting her daughter back and talking to the judge and how her ex is evil and all sorts of clearly emotionally driven thoughts  that all had little connection or traceable stream of consciousnesses. We set up with the bishop to come after church and try to sort things out. When we got there her friend from the ward and the bishop talked their way in and then the bishop turned to us and said that he would handle the situation and that we should go find something else to do. Later, we talked to Sister Browning and all she really told us is that the bishop gave her a blessing to calm her down. I have have gained a new respect for the calling of bishop and still dread the idea of being one. 

Well, that is all that I have for you guys. Thanks for all the love you send all of the time. It really does help.

October 24, 2011

I have a short update for you this week as I was occupied with transfers yesterday and need to get back to work.

I am staying! Elder Hirschi is gone to Westminster and Elder Lloyd has taken his place. He is a 6 foot something and has a very dry sense of humor that has been complimenting mine so far. We seem to be getting along and he is a fairly good follower so I should have a companion that likes to work hard as well.

Teri Carroll come to church this last week and while she only stayed for sacrament meeting she said that she enjoyed herself. She sat in the very back corner, but luckily our RS president came and sat by us. We accidentally invited this super annoying sister to fellowship Teri as we gave her a tour of the building Saturday. I say accidentally because we didn't know that she was annoying and she was the only one who returned our calls. I pray that we will be able to explain to her that it is our calling to teach and that she needs to let us take the lead in that respect. The teaching appointment she invited herself to is going to be interesting. 

Bonnie got to meet with the bishop this week after church as well and he promised  her that he would help her as much as he can. She came away from the experience feeling like part of the community and I feel like she will much more easily progress with his help. It is a wonderful feeling to know he is more fully invested in helping Bonnie in her conversion  process.

Aside from that things were fairly uneventful. Not a bad week but not the most spectacular either. 

October 17, 2011

You should have moved into your apartment, right? You gave me the address, but not an apartment number.  It is a house that has been split between basement and top into two units. We live at the address I sent and are still scraping things together, but it should be awesome to live in. Transfers are this Monday, so I would hold off sending stuff directly just yet. I hope that I get to stay but have this nagging worry about just that in the back of my mind. Only God and the president know at this point. 

Have the members been feeding you well? We are good in that area.

Do you have restaurants like Subway, Wendy's, McD's in your area so I can send you gift cards? All of the above and more! (I was thinking Christmas gifts)

Life is going well here in Laramie and the work is rolling forward.

Teri Carroll is still progressing and it is really encouraging. We taught lesson 2 this week and she was really interested by the plan of salvation. She committed to study the pamphlet and while  we are still working on getting her to come to church she has been reading a lot and praying a bit as well. We have another lesson with her tomorrow and we are hoping to help her to really get committed to coming to church and praying consistently. Elder Hirschi seems worried about it but I feel confident. We will continue praying for her but extras always help.  :)

Dale said that he would be at church yesterday, but was not. He says that he is moving but he has thrown that around before so no telling one way or the other. His mind is still fairly jumbled but at least we are his, "Brothers in Christ." He continues to talk about  a plan that God is calling  him to do where he will be a traveling minister and preach about societal degradation and all that good stuff with a big white board to help him explain it all. (No exact dimensions on the board yet but it seems to get bigger in his mind each time.)  All in all, I think that we have been asked to do the best we can for time before he leaves, but I don't think that we will get to see him though any major steps like baptism.
Erin thought that she may be deployed, but much to our relief she apparently just said she didn't want o to some higher-up and doesn't have to anymore. Strange, but I won't question good fortune. She continues to feel the Spirit as we visit and she has read and prayed. We are going to have to  get her to do both more consistently, but it is very encouraging to hear her talk about her good experiences with the gospel. We have a solid appointment this Wednesday and we are hoping to go over the plan of salvation. That would really help. She has a lot of potential in my opinion.

Bonnie is having a rough time with life right now. She is being denied all contact with her daughter at this point and we have just learned that she is harassed by thugs sent by her ex-husband on a consistent basis. She says the police ignore calls. I am not really sure what we have found here and while we only have one side of the story, two things are certain: She is convinced of their reality and while it tears her up that her daughter is being kept from her, she intends to fight. We have been trying to strengthen her faith in Christ and help her access the power of the atonement with a focus specifically on the gift of the Holy Ghost and how much that can help her . I think that she is getting it more and more. Hopefully, she will be able to come to church soon so we can get her this gift,which, in my opinion, would be the best thing in the world for her right now. 

Aside from that, we are continuing to get referrals and to find on our own. Things are well and I hope they stay that way.

Love you guys. 

October 10, 2011

How do you like not living with members?  I have yet to  experience it. We are still at the Heath's place. The good thing is that the stake has found us an apartment in the middle of our area and we will probably be moved in by the end of week. It will be very nice to actually live where we work. It is a house that has been split into two apartments. We will live in the upstairs and a Mexican family is in the basement level. The stake will furnish it for us. 

Reid says it is 1010 Steele Street, Laramie 82070 but didn't give an apartment number. 

We continue to have wonderful success here in the Spring Creek ward. Bonnie is continuing to recover, which is great and she has really appreciated our support through this process. But that is the least of my exciting news.

We found a new investigator since I last reported. Teri Carrol is another lady that we found while letting the spirit guide us in our finding efforts. Elder Hirschi was the one being guided this time and it was an awesome experience. When we knocked on her door and started talking to her topic after gospel topic came up and she was very receptive. Ultimately she expressed interest in learning how to build a realtionship with God and we set up an appointment to come speak to her more this last week. At the appointment we had just about the best first lesson that has ever been had and she understood everything. She told us of an experience of looking at nature and thinking, "if there is a God then this is probably a sign from him." I took the opportunity to explain that the way that she felt was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost and that it was the season that she felt that about the display she witnessed. She said that she had never thought of the Spirit like that and was impressed at it's simplicity and knew that I had spoken the truth. She committed to read, pray, look for the Spirit as she had felt it before and to be baptized when she found out for herself that the gospel is true. It was fantastic. I would appreciate a prayer or two on her behalf. 

Dale is the other investigator that we found the week before last and has become more interesting  since we first found him. At first, I thought he was just another drug burnout of the 70's but he was willing to meet with us. I knew that we had to give him a chance. Our presentation of the first lesson was a bit strange, to say the least. He has had a lot of evangelical doctrines thrown at him all his life and that has confused his thinking such that anytime he had the chance he would talk in circles about mostly true things concerning the gospel. He has some misinformation and an interesting way of communicating it and I am not sure he totally understood our explanation of the restoration. Between his crazy long haired, hick look, the fact that his house smells like an ashtray, and his ranting it is hard to focus to say the least. But we had a really good lesson Saturday. After listening to another gospel circle, I felt impressed, "read 2 Nephi 32" So we did, and it hit every point that he had been trying to convey to us. He said that it was the word of God and that it was amazing to see it put so well right before his eyes. He was not only willing to say that the whole Book of Mormon was true, but he said that he would study it and compare it to the Bible. 

It is awesome to have the guidance of the Spirit. It has been wonderful to have His help in this work in even greater abundance. 

October 3, 2011

Our favorite part about General Conference is knowing exactly what Reid is doing and having the chance to sing with him. We feel very close to him.

It is time for the weekly update! Things continue to be fantastic here in Laramie. We found 2 new investigators this week and at least one of them is an interesting story.

We were not really sure what it is that we were supposed to do with 20 minutes before a dinner appointment, so I sought some inspiration. All I got was, "go to LaPrelle Park." I was a bit confused as I wasn't sure how useful it would be to go to a park that is always empty, but I trusted it and so we biked off. As we were approaching the park I saw a lady loading dirt bikes onto a trailer by herself. Now she seemed to me to have the situation  in hand, but was told to help her, so I did. I'm not sure I really helped as she handled it almost by herself but we got to talking and after a little bit she asked us a question She wanted to know if our church had daycare services. We explained primary and told her it was on Sundays. To this Erin said, "Well, I've never been to church in my life but I want to start going. How do I get started?" We had not brought up the gospel in any real sense but she was so prepared that she just decided to bypass that formality. We told her about the when and where and suggested that we set up a time to come back and more fully explain things to which she agreed. When we came back for the appointment with some members, we heard her vacuuming and listening to the radio turned way up. We pounded on the door to no avail. So we tried back a few times that week and finally caught Erin at home. After setting up her Halloween decorations at 8:00pm we set another appointment. This time it came through and we had a great lesson as she cleaned her garage (the whole time). I think the coolest thing about this slightly strange scenario is why she let us come back in the first place. Erin explained to us that it was strange for her to let us talk to her at all. She doesn't like many people and that she does not know but said that when we rode up that we brought a weird feeling with us. She said that it was like a peace and happiness that felt like something she had been looking for. our ward mission leader explained that that was the Spirit and we told her that she could have that feeling with her at all times. She simply said that she would like that and agreed to have us back and read/pray about the Book of Mormon.  But that would be too easy, now her phone number has changed and we are going to have to get in contact with her once more but I am assured everything will work out.

Bonnie has had her surgery so hopefully she will be able to come to church sooner rather than later. She is still happy to talk to us and we are confident that things will continue to go well with her. 

General Conference was so refreshing. I wish that we had the chance to have that kind of experience a lot more but then again that might make it less special. Regardless, I had a lot of questions answered and I feel ready to take on the challenges that are ahead.

September 26, 2011

Laramie is still fun to be in. Melissa is still progressing wonderfully and has make it to the commandments lesson. We are going to go more slowly through them and focus on her looking for her answer as they are going to be out of here by the end of the week. I am sad that they are going to be leaving us but I am glad just to have been a part of this. I am sure she will make it and that the are well on their way to becoming an eternal family. That is the most rewarding feeling of all.

I have been working on finding people to reach using pure inspiration to be directed to the places that we have needed to be and so far it has been nice to have turn by turn directions to those whom the Lord is preparing. In short, we have been finding a lot. Well, maybe not hundreds of people are interested, but we have only had to knock a few doors each time to find individuals that are ready to receive the gospel. It has been wonderful and I have felt on at least half of of the occasions that I have felt impressed to do it that it was Elder Herschi's turn to receive the direction that we needed at that time. At first he was uncomfortable with the idea, and to be honest, I don't blame him, but he has become more and more on board as time goes on which is cool to see. I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but perhaps my faith was not strong enough to implement it in the past. All I need to know is that it has been working and finally finding doesn't  seem like a useless endeavor.

Life is good here in Laramie and I have faith that it will continue to be such.

Thanks for the prayers and the love. I will keep sending them your way as well.

September 19, 2011

All is well in Laramie. Well, mostly that is. Herschi has been sick the past few days which has been kind of a hang up and my wrist has decided that it wants me to remember it was broken twice. Needless to say it has been a bit annoying with me having to ride the bike on handed and Hirschi being too tired to do it at all. :p But, it is not all bad news.

We have a really awesome investigator by the name of Melissa Burke. She has been married a short time to a returned missionary and came to church a few times before anyone was aware that she was not a member. So our bishop invited her to take the lessons and she agreed. WE met with them twice this week and so far she has been keeping all the commitments we have left her. She says that she will be baptized when she finds out that the gospel is true and has already mentioned that she feels good being at church. We are really excited about working with her knowing that her husband is strong is a blessing. She will be having their first baby Sept. 28. The bad news is that her husband is going to be deployed to Kosovo for a year the 1st of October, she plans on going to stay with her family in Arizona for the month of October and then coming back to Cheyenne to be with his member family. 

Bonnie Sebastian is doing as well as her circumstances allow. She is the lady we found last week and it was pretty interesting how we did it. I felt like we really needed to find someone who needed our help and so I prayed for guidance. It was then that the Lord inspired my thoughts and essentially gave me turn by turn directions to her housing complex. After we arrived, we knock on a few doors with no luck, but as we were walking by her door she came out and I felt strongly impressed to go and speak to her. After a little while she told us about all the things that were going wrong in her life and we were able to turn the discussion to things of a spiritual nature. She invited us back and so far we have  been seeing her twice a seek with a wonderful fellowshipper. She physically cannot come to church at this point because of her massive hip degeneration,but she has said many times that she would love to come after her surgery. Because of her challenges all of our lessons have been about the atonement. She has been reading alot from the Book of Mormon and I can see that she is feeling the Spirit more and more. It is exciting to say the least and we are so happy for the chance we have to help her. 

September 12, 2011

I asked Reid some questions:

Do you have a car? No, but I have sued for one. Not sure that I will get it though.

Do you have an apartment? As soon as the sisters move out of it!

How is it being in charge? Stressful at first, but now that I have taken the time to think about what I actually have to do, it is no big deal. I just have to plan a 1.5 hour long meeting once a week.

What is the ward like? The good thing is that the ward has not had missionaries for 6 months and they are excited to have us/desperate to keep us. In short, they are motivated to help us!

Have you finished The Articles of Faith? Haven't started. I have been slowly working through The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and it has been fascinating.

Success! Has been a bit odd to have so many things to do, but I like being busy. The Washington Park ward was just dissolved and the stake's boundaries were redrawn, which means we have lots of people to see. We found a lady that has decided to investigate the church and while there aren't many details,  Bonnie could use our prayers as she has painful hop degeneration and is in a legal fight for custody for her daughter. She really needs the gospel and I feel she is one of the reasons I was sent here. Plus, the ward has been giving us support and a really solid referral, so in short, life is good in Laramie.

September 5, 2011

Laramie, Wyoming

Big update to write about this week. Lots of craziness has been happening here and I guess I should start off with the good  news. Sister McHugh is still very strong and on track to be baptized. Unfortunately Jose's son is back in jail but he things that is the best place for him. He still wants us to meet with him and his wife which is very encouraging and we are very hopeful that he will continue progressing. We had some good visits with less active members and we are happy that they are back on the path to church. The funny thing is that we aren't going to see any of this play out because Sunrise has been closed... crap. I am not sure what exactly happened, but despite my efforts to tell the president about all of the good things that have been happening in the ward, he has decided to pull the full time missionaries out of the area. Not to say all our work will be for nothing, it's just that now the ward mission leader is going to have to set up all the appointments and missionaries from other wards are a backup resource for him. 

This is a bitter sweet moment for me. On one hand, I love all of these people that I feel the Lord had guided us to and I will miss them. I fear for their progress because I will not be there to help direct them anymore. On the other hand, I have been praying that the Lord would whip the Sunrise ward into shape and get them to actually start doing things. I am not really sure what to think at this moment, but I have confidence that the Lord will not abandon his children. 

Well here is the news that is giving me stress at the moment. I have been called to serve as the district leader in Laramie and I will still be with Elder Herschi. Despite how weird it is to be moved to the same place with my current companion I am glad for it because I love working with Herschi and he has served in Laramie for most of his mission and he knows everyone there. We have been asked to re-open the Spring Creek and Washington Park wards and we are excited to get things moving. 

I know I did the will of the Lord in the Sunrise ward and I cannot but feel that it has been a miracle to see what has transpired happen. I am nervous, but I have felt the Lord help me already and when I have the Spirit, I cannot fail.

August 29, 2011

I asked Reid if he was doing well and he said,"Not just well, I am living the dream."

It was another good week for us here in the Sunrise ward. We got to teach Jose again and it was awesome! He understood the plan of salvation and when we we asked him if he believed it, he said that it was so simple and straight forward that he just knew it was God's plan. He has a social anxiety because of a stroke that he says would make him uncomfortable at church but that he would work on it. 

No lesson with Sis. McHugh this week but she came to church yet again and was happy as always to see us. We are going to meet again this week and she is on a steady path of progress, which is great. 

The last, most exciting thing to report for the week is that we have determined many people of the Bolejack Clan are interested in hearing the gospel. We are going to take a non-pushy approach to their situation as directed by the spirit. I feel strongly impressed that we have much good work to do with this family and that is very exciting. 

I love you guys so much. It makes me happy that you are all together again and that things are getting back to normal. I will keep praying for you. I praise God at the thought that you are my family.

August 22, 2011

Awesome week for me here in the Wild West. Gretchen McHugh finally set a date for her baptism and that is going to be held on Oct. 1 because her husband is going to be out of town until then. Danny McHugh promised to read all of Mosiah and Alma by the time he gets back and pray about it as he goes. Both are very exciting breakthroughs for them. It is a huge blessing to see them progress. The strange thing is we did not invite her to set a date, she did. We asked her about what she had been learning from her study of the BoM and she said, "Well, I think the theme has been don't wait to repent, I think I need to be baptized." We about fell out of our chairs it was so wonderful. It's moments like these that show me that the Lord is really behind this work and is helping his children draw closer to him. 

We also found a huge part member family living all in one house. The 4 to 5 generations that are living in that house have many different  people that have been prepared to receive the gospel. We are going to end up working with the Bolejack Clan (as we have dubbed them) a lot. We are going to have to sort out how everyone is related exactly, but they are a lot of fun to be with. 

August 15, 2011

Elder Herschi and scary a bird

We decided to tract the towns of Egburt and Hillsdale this week and it was weird. Egburt's 10 or so houses upon closer inspection are mostly vacant. We only found 4 houses that actually had people in them and one of them is a member that we visit all the time. It was actually pretty freaky to walk around an all dirt road town full of mostly battered looking empty houses in the middle of no where. Hillsdale only has about 17 houses but at least most of them are occupied. We found a lady that has been inactive for approximately forever and while she isn't interested in anything gospel related, she did tell us about the one large building in town. She lives across the street from the old elementary school. After it was condemned a man bought it and used it for his residence and a junkyard. After he died, the fire department investigated the contents of of the "house" and found the upstairs was filled with old propane tanks and tires, the gym was filled with cars and the rest of the place had all kinds of flammable things. Instead of making it safe, they boarded it up and told everyone in the town that if they see any signs the building is on fire that they should evacuate. That's right, the whole town! I have some pictures of it and it is pretty creepy to begin, but the fact that the town has a bomb in the middle of it is priceless!

Now on to the good things that happened. We got a referral from one of the members in the ward to teach a girl named Miston Compton that has been friends with their son forever. At the lesson she expressed that she has never really had religion in her life and that at 27 she wants to find out why the Hollings are so happy and try to come to know who God is. So we shared  the first lesson focusing on the nature of God. We asked her  about how she felt about the things we had told her after relating the first vision and she said that she felt that what we had said was true. We explained that she felt that by the power of the Holy Spirit and she began to well up. The spirit was so strong there and it was clear that she was feeling it. After briefly explaining the

Book of Mormon to her she committed to read it every day and then prayed for us. As she offered her simple and heartfelt prayer the Spirit redoubled it's efforts ans she almost could not finish. It was amazing to see and I am thankful that I was allowed to be a part of that lesson.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support you give me. I feel your love and it holds me up.

August 8, 2011

Elder Herschi was in my MTC district so I had class with him every day. I am getting along great with him. He is very obedient and hard working. We have plenty to talk about  and he is going to be a big help in getting the work rolling here.

Well, we have seen more success in finding of late, which is refreshing to say the least, and we are working on pursuing every avenue to get things moving. One of the big things in the way right now is that it feels like this ward is just trying to survive and doesn't have a ward mission plan or a functioning Perry Program. We are going to have to fast and pray a little more, in my opinion, before we truly have all the direction that we need, but that said, things are looking up. The coolest things that we are starting to see is that members are beginning to work on referrals for us and they are getting comfortable enough to reveal that fact to us. That means that they probably trust us enough to teach their friends and loved ones.

We tracted almost the whole town of Carpenter the other day which was interesting. It is harvest time and that meant that a lot of people were away from home working, but you could feel the eyes on us everywhere we went. We had one really great interaction with a man who's brother is a member in another part of the state, but not much interest in learning. Oh well. At least we can say that we tracted a town of 100.  :)

August 1, 2011

We have moved to Sister Murdock's house and it is nice and clean. We have plans to move in a month or less to an even better house that will become a more permanent place for the missionaries as well. I can now officially say I live in Burns, Wyoming population 285.

This is how a typical day goes: Get up and get ready for the day. Study for 2 hours. Try to see specific people or work on things like paperwork until lunch. After lunch, head out and try to visit some less-active member on the way to an area where we may tract or street contact. Community service is another regular activity. Places like food banks or non-for profit thrift stores. Wear going to try and start up member lessons in this ward to get them more engaged in the work and maybe get a few referrals. We have a few appointments here and there which take precedence over all other things. Dinner with a member family is usually at 6 after which we try to visit specific individuals again. We try to be home by 9 so we can plan for the next day and do what ever else needs to be done. 

Today is the start of a new transfer and I am staying but getting a new companion. Elder Hersey (can't spell it yet) is someone I came out with and I think we are going to have a good time together. I am the senior companion and will therefor get to drive! This transfer is going to be 5 weeks long because I don't know why and the next transfer will be 7 weeks long to compensate. Dobronsky is so happy to leave it's a little odd. I like this area thus far and am thinking that there is a lot of good to do here still.

July 25, 2011

I asked Reid how it is going living with the Theobalds and this is his reply:    

I have come to the determination that there is little to nothing I can do to improve the situation and have asked many different people in authority to get us out of that house. I could go through and clean the place and be OCD, but it would just offend them and since I am not willing to exist in a state of sickness, I am left with little other choice.  It seems to be, find a way out on your own or get thrown out. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what they do for us and I know that it would be hard to put up missionaries like this, but at the same time the best of intentions pale in comparison to the smallest of actions. I won't keep saying, "Oh well, better luck next time." It is a good thing that Debronsky makes me laugh more than any other companion.

Let's see what I have in the bag-o-stories. We went to the temple last Thursday and guess what! I was sick the whole time.  I needed Pepto in a big way all night before the trip. (Dang that dirty house) In the morning we decided to risk the long drive down with faith that the Lord would preserve me until we got there. This he did, thankfully. I enjoyed the wonderful spirit in the temple and was able to leave feeling edified. Add to that the fact that I got to go to Deseret Book and Pick up Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Articles of Faith by Talmage and I can say the day was awesome.

We also got the chance to go to  Albin (pop. 120) and basically tracted half the town. We would have tracted the other half but we ran into a minister who was really nice but took a lot of time talking to us. So many Mexicans in that town. It was a good thing that Dobronsky is originally from Ecuador.

Finally, I had a minor emergency yesterday morning. The room I keep all of my stuff in is attached to the swamp cooler and during the night it decided to blow all the moisture from the fog into the room. It wouldn't have been a problem, except all of my paper goods were in there are are very absorbent. Most, if not all of them have the classic wavy old book look going at this point and i was forced to move all my stuff to the basement where I am more in control of the elements. I was furious at first, but quickly realized that it is still just stuff and much like a random hail storm there was nothing I could do about it. I saved the most important things and more importantly, I learned much from the experience.

July 18, 2011

Heat Lightning

Rain has been the predominant feature this week causing all sorts of havoc around here. Apparently, this is the wettest this place has been in ages and it is causing trouble. I about died when I saw the "devastation" brought by a hail storm.  One storm dropped golf ball sized hail and after it knocked a few leaves off the trees and put  some barely noticeable dents in car hoods, it was called a disaster by some. We have been having a good time tracting in the bad weather and at one point we were finally told by someone that there was a severe weather warning  for our area one night. (Maybe a tornado warning, I am not sure) Se we went home and enjoyed the lightning from the porch. It is a very different experience to be able to see so far that you can view an entire weather system and not be part of it. On the really hot days some times a storm will roll in during the evening and then you get a phenomenon called "heat lightning".  Imagine a storm cloud that fill the sky and without raining manages to produce a strobe light effect. That was amazing, but enough about weather. I'm starting to feel old.
We had what I have to admit was the funniest talk in sacrament meeting I have ever heard yesterday. We had our high councilman come to speak and as soon as Dobronsky and I saw Brother Kim we both prayed that he would have a thick Asian accent. Let's just say the Lord came through for us. I can't fully describe how awesome it was to have so many Asian stereo types fulfilled before my eyes, but let's just say we laughed about it all day and talked in accent as much as possible after that! What is better is that despite the madness, he actually gave a talk that was filled with the Spirit. He loves the gospel and it was very plain that he is a great orator in his own language. I'm not sure what the point of this story is but it stood out in the week so I guess it is important enough to tell. All I know is, "there are many good gospel book on A MA ZON .com for 1 cent!!! 1 cent!!!
Speaking of good books, I have recently been eating up Elder Talmage's book "The Great Apostasy" and wouldn't mind getting a copy of his work entitled "The  Articles of Faith." I don't know why his style of writing makes me love to read for the first time in my life but I figure that I should take advantage of the fact. I also wouldn't mind getting a copy of  "Christ and the New Covenant" by Elder Holland.
Looking forward to the temple trip on Thursday.

July 11, 2011

Cowboy Reid

Elder Dobronsky

I am much better this week. Things are starting to roll my way for a change and I am learning a lot about human behavior. We have one family in Pine Bluffs that seems really interested and we are working on setting up a time to meet with them.  Chris and Rochelle are in their mid-30's by my estimates and have 2 sons. We are very hopeful that things will work out for them. A former investigator called us this week and asked to meet again. We have a meeting with her on Wednesday. In short, I think things are going well. I am working on pushing Dobronsky as hard as I can to start really moving things forward buy I have learned from the past that it is more of a slow process to try and help people be more motivated.

I have talked to the Theobalds and think that we have straightened some things out. They now understand me a bit better and I understand them. I am finding ways to deal with the unfavorable and looking at the good. I am working on my relationship skills right now and that feels like invaluable training.

We got to meet the new mission president last week and I am happy to say that I am sure that he and I are going to get along just great. He seems rather laid back and invested in helping us reach our potential. I am glad that he is here and that I feel so comfortable with him. His wife is awesome as well which is going to make things easier. 

We are still just working on getting things here to good. I am still excited about the the prospects here and am happy to be serving. Wish me luck on our exchange with the Nazi zone leader tomorrow. I can't wait to hear about all the little mind numbingly unimportant things we can improve on.

July 5, 2011

I live with the Theobalds. They are a 75 year old couple that are very nice if not out of date people.  He is a gruff old cowboy, if I ever met one, and doesn't say much, nice guy though. She is a fussing old lady that has to be doing something for us all of the time and is not only fairly dim, but also fairly well annoying. I am sure I have offended her on more than one occasion whether I am trying to help her with something, taking the time to think about a task and doing it in a way that is different than she showed me (because I can do things more effectively that way) or just the differences in my "east coast" mannerisms and her "western ways". I am trying, however, to work on the differences. The thing I am finding intolerable about  the housing is that they are pack rats (a crap load of antiques not garbage) leaving us ZERO room for our things and the place is just dirty. I got food poisoning from the dinner we had with them last night and was up into the wee hours puking my guts out. I am starting to feel better as I write this but I may have an issue with the hygiene and a few "Honest" words to say to them. Pray for me.

I spend my days finding, driving, visiting less actives, driving, doing service, driving. Our area is huge. We have been finding people in Pine Bluffs that are interested and are working on setting up times to meet with them. We got to go to the original Cabela's in Sidney Nebraska for Pday yesterday, which was awesome. I got Russ and the boys hats and will be sending those soon. Pine Bluffs had a descent fireworks display last night and you could really feel the small town vibe as a lady butchered the national anthem. 

Actually Pine Bluffs, WY

Reid is not very good at giving me all the details I want... He is actually in Pine Bluffs Wyoming.

Things here in Cheyenne are definitely different than down in Arvada. For one, we cover a small section of the city (a neighborhood to be specific) and then a whole swath of the countryside. We go all the way to the Nebraska border. It is so strange to go from a biking area to a huge car area, but the people are awesome and the bishop says that he want to get things moving here in the ward. He has had reports that we are the missionaries to help him do just that. 

Pine Bluffs is stuck in the 50's and it is a strange town to say the least. Lots of old people, tiny homes with lots of space in between them, a main street with half the buildings empty, a rodeo ground, grain silos in the middle of town and a gigantic Catholic shrine to Mary.

Elder Dobronsky is a great companion. He comes from Reading PA, has a degree in mechanical engineering from U Penn and he and I get along great! He understands what I mean when I say things like, pressure differential, and has an attitude and personality that I am all too familiar with. I love being with an east coaster. It is refreshing to have someone that gets to the point.
Cool story for the week. After dinner with a family on a ranch we got to help them herd the cattle back across a broken fence. Then we watched Brother Risdorfer look at a dead tree in his yard and proclaim, "Well, I guess that now's as good a time as any to get this thing out of the yard." Then this 6'5" monster of a man grips this 17 ft. tree with his dinner plate hands and proceeds to rip it out of the ground with nothing but muscle. Dobronsky and I could do nothing but stand there and stare as the spectacle unfolded. I guess they make them different around here.

Sunrise, Wyoming!

Sunrise is just north of Cheyenne

I am in the Cheyenne stake serving in the Sunrise ward. It is apparently huge! It goes from Cheyenne to the Nebraska border which is where we live. I am serving as the junior companion to Elder Dobransky who has been serving for about 20 months. He says that we have one investigator and a whole lot of ranch land. I have some plans to try and get the members more engaged and the work rolling. My companion has a degree in mechanical engineering and seems very nice, which is exciting. This is going to be interesting. 

Well, it was a bit sad to leave so many people that I love, but change can bring needed refreshment and I am happy to get the opportunity to serve in Cheyenne. This is going to be a good place and I know it. All I can say for first impressions is that Wyoming is just as cowboy as I have heard. So many statues of bronco riding cattlemen I about laughed! That said, I think that I am going to enjoy my time up here.

June 14, 2011

I received this picture of Reid via text Saturday. It made me laugh. :) It said, "We love Elder Taylor"

Alright, here's the story. We have a less active lady in the ward that we had set up to help with service. We were going to sand a desk in prep for staining it and I found the hat in the garage. Of course, I could not resist putting it on and it got a good laugh out of everyone. It seems that even all my service as a missionary has not quelled my compulsions for silliness.

Lancaster and I are hanging out with our zone leader for this week as his companion has been called away to be trained as an AP. It is going to be fun to have a bunch of appointments and he is a super nice guy. I hope to learn a lot. The work is a bit slow but Aryah is progressing and spirits are high so I'm not worried. Transfers are stressing me out a bit but that's nothing new. The Calley's basement is much bigger and nicer and we have loved being there. It is right in the work area, has a pool table, trompoline and the Calley's are great. Not much else to report now. 

June 7, 2011

Today is Reid's 300th day on his mission!  Reid looked forward to the release of the new Portal 2 game. When he realized that he would be on his mission when it came out, he was really bummed. We got it and Haley, Jim and Russ have had a grand time playing. In Jim's weekly letter he was telling Reid about it. This is what Reid had to say, "I have seen it briefly once at a member's house. I saw them playing something and then heard the Portal gun shooting noise and just HAD to look! They said they had not played the first one and I told them they had too, watched for a minute and then wrenched myself away. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be,which is good because that means I may actually be learning to focus. Imagine that!"

The rest of the week was an odd set of dinner appointments not remembering that they were signed up to feed us and us going out to eat (not a bad thing all the time), no one we were planning on visiting was home and tracting just seemed to get lost in the day and therefore not done. We generated some dismal key indicator numbers but after all was said and done, we had a great time this week and tried hard so we were happy.

We got to go to the temple on Friday. It was a great experience and I feel recharged. I got a lot of answers and direction, which was very nice. I hope that you get to go at least on occasion. The Spirit is so strong there it is ridiculous. 

New Home

 

This has been a crazy week. We had Zone conference this we which was good except for the impromptu presentation that Lancaster and I had to give. We gave a training on the Doctrine of Christ and it went as well as I could have hoped for not having the topics to prepare with in advance. The rest of the Conference was inspiring and I left with a sense of renewed confidence in the Work. According to Church studies every member of the church knows some one who is prepared to accept the gospel. We are now asking members to pray to find out who that person is and I will encourage you guys to do the same. We found a former investigator who says she thinks she would like to join the church so that's super exciting and we finally have an appointment to teach Aryah Burk! (granddaughter of some active members in the ward with a less active mother and non member father)

 

On the other hand we have the Bad news... Sarah said that she has been thinking about her life and has come to the determination that there are certain things that she is not willing to consider changing and core beliefs that she doesn't see shifting. As such she felt it would be dishonest to continue to meet with us. I tried to get her to pray about if God is really there but she decline. We left her on good terms and with the understanding that missionaries in the future would stop by to see how she was doing. I'm a bit sad naturally but I have no regrets because I have done everything that I could have done. She has her agency and I respect that.

 

We helped the Bookwalters pack up the rest of their stuff this last Friday in preparation for their move to California which was sad and happy all at the same time. They are in the same scenario that we are which is interesting and they are looking forward to having dad around all the time again as much as we are. They asked me to tell you that they added the french onion/apple chicken sandwich recipe to their family favorite list. Then Brother Bookwalter told me that he expects me to be an AP, his bishop at some point and more. He then laughed and said, "Yeah your going to have responsibilities." I will miss them but it is fun to think that this time the members got transferred instead of the missionaries. 

 

We have a temple trip this coming Friday which is going to be great and yesterday we help one of the priests in the Ward build a shed for his Eagle Scout project. It took all day because the prefab design was so off the wall crazy but we got it done and we felt pretty good about it. Plus the only one to not get a sun burn was me. :p

 

We are moving to another house today. The Calley Family is very nice and they have more space in their basement than the Bishop does so this should be good. Add to that the fact that they live in on the side of the Ward where the work is and you have a very happy set of missionaries.

 

I hope that things keep rolling your way and that you are enjoying life as much as I am. I can't help but be happy as all my troubles are swallowed up in the joy of Christ. He helps me a lot and I hope you feel how much he helps you. I love you guys and pray for you all the time.