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.