Oh WOW!

How is it GOING my party people! You know what time it is! ELDER TAYLOR'S EMAIL TIME!

So, this week was really really awesome let me tell you. And of course, we gotta do our weekly breakdown!

So, on P-day last week I discovered that my trainer's dad (Elder Mabey the Elder) and my dad (Elder Taylor the Elder) were in the SAME DISTRICT on their missions! How crazy is that?!? Talk about a small world, am I right?!?!? Anyway, that was really cool but the weather here is very not. Cool, that is. I am no where NEAR used to this humidity and it drives me crazy sometimes, but I am used to sweating a lot from the good old Arizona sun, so oh well. We didn't really do much on P-day, just got me some food! And had a few really awesome and DEEP discussions! My companions are so SMART!

Tuesday was just AMAZING as well of course! We had lots of miracles, because we were able to have a short lesson with one of our friends! He has a hard time keeping lessons short, because he loves to talk so much, but that day we had a short lesson and the Spirit was there too! We also found many more new friends through phone finding! Who knew that calling random numbers was so effective???

Wednesday we had district council, which means that the 7 missionaries in our little area all got together for some training! It was really awesome, but the ride home I had a really, really bad headache. Luckily, I had plenty of chocolate milk and bagels to drown out the pain hahah! We did some phone finding while sitting out on a bench in our little town of Canastota and lots of people said, "Hi" to us! They have missed us missionaries!

Thursday was rather interesting. Most of our appointments were cancelled by our friends, and we thought we had a big meeting in the morning, but we did not at all. So! We went to Sylvan beach! It was SO pretty, and made me think a lot about the beaches in California! Except, no waves, because it was just a lake. It was really pretty there, and we had a good time doing some more phone finding on a bench shaded by some trees! Never thought mission life was so luscious! We also saw some big signs about a cross-New York biking event that was SO cool! They start in Albany, and end up in Rochester! I wanted to join in SO BAD! But, I could not. Our little apartment is close to the Erie Canal, and that's the route these bikers take. We had another lesson with the talkative friend this day, and he had this big smile on his face as he told us he was going to ask God if our church is true, and we just knew that he was feeling the Spirit. We then asked him what he felt like, and he said he had a really warm feeling inside! He said he felt like he had an answer, so more on that soon!! This day, Elder Price came up with the best way to keep people on the phone (don't worry, we never did this). You see, when we call people randomly they hang up quite frequently. And it's usually after we say the words, "we share about Jesus Christ-" *click*. That click is them hanging up of course. So, we have to be creative in ways to make them talk for a few seconds and get invested, like asking them what the best part of their day was and such. Anyway, Elder Price had this idea to say, "we believe in ancient Greek texts and the God presented in them" (this is funny because the scriptures were in Greek at one point) and then he said we would say, "PLOT TWIST!!! We are Christians!'" And of course, it will still go *click* after we say that hahah! All Joe Klong! (thats Tagalog for "just kidding") We love Joe Klong. He is the best. ANYWAY!

Friday we got some really amazing training from our mission president (the old fellow in charge, love ya president!) who told us it was time to go "Full Panama Style"!!!! What that means is, we can't go down a street knocking on every door we see, but instead, we can look up friends from years past, and go knock on their doors, and the neighbors doors! This is because legally, we are not allowed to go "tracting" (knocking every door on a street) due to Covid-19 concerns still present in the area. So instead, we go visit old friends and just show up! He told us, "if I were you, I wouldn't do any more phone finding". HOO. RAY!!! Let me tell you, I was so very happy to hear that news! This is going to be the best! So, we got all excited, and then set plans to do it the next day! This day we went to Mt Hope Park which is SO pretty, but lots of mosquitos!! But it was really awesome! There was this funky pond that when you threw a rock in it, the moss would splash away, and then really really fast just ZOOM back to cover the hole we had made with the rock! I'll send the video we took because it was CRAZY!

Saturday was our first day trying to knock doors! It was AMAZING! I felt like a real missionary! That day we were walking around trying to find old addresses, and this old man in a truck tried to talk to us. Well, we are missionaries and we talk to everyone! So of course we said hi! But it turns out, he spent the whole time trying to convince us that we were out here wasting our time. That a mission is bad. And that we needed to go home and stop our work. That what we were doing would never matter. And while some people would take that really hard, my companions walked away with some of the biggest smiles you have EVER seen! You know why? Because we can testify that everything he said is NOT true! This mission is the best use of our time! A mission brings people blessings, and is good! We need to stay here, and never lose sight of what we were sent here to do! We CHOSE to go on this mission, so we will make it count! I love my companions!!

Yesterday was Sunday, and it was a rather long day at church. But it was fun nonetheless!! On the way home from church though, I saw this one house out of the corner of my eye. And the second I did, I thought, "we need to knock that door". (which we are allowed to do) but I was really hungry, and I didn't want to make us turn around, but every second that passed made me feel SO BAD! I knew that we had to turn around, but I thought, "we can just go later today" but the feeling wouldn't go away! So, I sat. And thought. And thought. We were eating lunch at home now, and I really thought that I could convince myself that I didn't need to go to that house, but it wouldn't stop! So I said, "Hey Elders, can we go to this house when we are done eating?" and my AMAZING companions instantly dropped everything and went to the car! We had to turn around for our masks, but we finally got out to the house, and RIGHT as we got there, the car in front of the house left. We had to make a U-turn to get to the driveway, and I thought, "Lord, I said I was coming to this house the way you asked me to. I will obey, even if that car left". And so we got to the house, and I walked up and knocked. Twice. Finally a lady answered and almost instantly shut the door in my face. But! I felt like I should put a small picture of Jesus on their doormat with our number on it. So I did! Who knows if that will do anything, but I want to tell you all, ALWAYS FOLLOW PROMPTINGS! Please! And I can promise you that you will see so many blessings!

Then today of course, was great because its PDAY! We love P-day, and always will! But yea! I love you all, and want to share this verse with you! It is in the Doctrine and Covenants section 3 verse 10. It says, "But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent... and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work". I love this verse because it shows us that when we start making the right choices, we can start over again and begin to serve! We don't have to worry about messing things up, but instead need to give our best every day and continue his work!

I love you all, and God loves you too! Please reach out with your own stories, because I LOVE a good story!! You are all amazing!!!

Love,

Elder Taylor

God is Good!

P.S. If you desire more stories, let me know!

The Shag (I'll tell y'all about that next week hahaha! It's a peanut butter chicken and chick fil a sauce frito honey banana jelly sandwich of my own design)