Baptisms, Road Trips & The Smallest Parking Lot Ever 12/12/16

This week was one for the books indeed, perhaps one of the busiest weeks of my whole mission! It started with an exchange with Elder Strong, he's from Alberta! He was here in London with me, we had a great day, were able to meet with Aggie as well as we were able to do some service for her. We exchanged back and Elder Certonio and I had to plan our Zone Council.

We had an awesome lesson with Kim on Wednesday, where we finished teaching her the rest of the Lessons she needed to know for Baptism! We had a dinner with Bethany, and she made a Shepherd's Pie that was made with Normal potatoes and sweet potatoes. It was amazing, you should all try it! After Dinner we had to travel to Brampton for MLC the next day! The night before MLC all the Zone Leaders and the Assistants stay together in the Assistants and the Brampton Zone Leaders house. We were all in the living room when the assistants and the Brampton Zone Leaders came in with 2 packages of Scotch Bonnet Peppers. Apparently the assistants lost a bet so we all watched them eat them, they looked miserable. Unfortunately someone had the bright idea that we should all do it, so we did.... I've never seen so many people drinking so much milk so fast before. That was one of the hottest peppers I've ever had. Still wasn't hotter than the Dadd-Dowlat's hot sauce in Barrie though. 

MLC was awesome on Thursday, we had Brother Gonzales and Brother Littlefield come and visit. They are employed by the church to help train mission presidents. They both served as mission presidents so they travel all over and share training on how to train missionaries. The big focus we had was on working with members to do missionary work and the big one was how to achieve goals. Basically he talked about how to achieve goals one must 1)Set a specific, achievable goal 2)Make specific plans of achieving it, the how, and specifics 3)Scheduling out when it will all take place. It's very simple but he helped us learn a lot, which we took back to our zones to train on. After MLC we also had to pick up the Mission truck and trailer, bucause we had to clean out a missionary apartment. 

 

Friday Morning we woke up bright and early and with our 2015 Chevy Silverado hit the road and headed to Windsor, after quite a trip we got there, got the apartment cleaned out with the other Windsor elders, and then, after 20 minutes of trying to get the truck and trailer out of the world's smallest parking lot, we were on the road again headed to London. We got back to London, had to rush to Kim's baptismal interview, all went well there, then we had to finish planning Zone Council. 

Zone Council on Saturday morning went well, but Elder Certonio got sick at the very beginning. I felt super bad for him, we were getting everything ready that morning and he started to get a migraine, it came on in full swing and put him out for the meeting. I felt so bad for him! He just slept on one of the benches in the chapel while we had the meeting. After the meeting we went to the apartment so Elder Certonio could take a nap, then we had to head to Brampton to take the truck back, we did that, then we got dinner with Elder Wolfley, one of the Senor missionaries, and we were back to London.

Sunday went awesome! We had church and right after church we had Kim's baptism! She asked me to baptize her, and what a sweet experience that was! Along with her Christine was baptized, and Bishop baptized her! Then, we had the London Stake Nativity, which was amazing. The stake puts it on every year, and there were tons of members and non-members there! The spirit there was oh so strong!

 

 

I'm so grateful for this Christmas Season, for the time to remember my Savior! He lives, and he knows us, and he harkens to us to come to him, and follow him! Let us do so this Christmas season!

 

Love, Elder Adam Taylor

Buckle Up! It's Christmas Time 12/05/16

Whelp, this week is the last of the transfer! This transfer is a short one only being 5 weeks long because of Christmas! Can't believe it's 20 days till Christmas, we're full out in the Season now! Buckle up, it's CHRISTMAS TIME! The First Presidency Devotional yesterday was so amazing, I loved how there was such a great focus on the Spirit bringing peace to our lives, That's what stood out to me so much at least. 

This week is going to be awesome, we have a ton that's going on this week! Here's what we're looking at for this upcoming week. Exchanges, MLC, Zone Council, Christmas Nativity, Kim's Baptism, and Transfers. It's going to be a crazy one for sure. Looking forward to it!

I got to go on 2 exchanges this last week, the first was with Elder Smith, he is from Ogden, and he is going home in a week. He is awesome, he is actually a Zone Leader out in Kitchener. We went on exchanges with them because the Assistants didn't have time to go with us or them this transfer because it was a short one so we went together. It was so fun, Elder Smith is perhaps the greatest story teller of all time, and I heard some crazy stories from him. We had a fun experience, that can be a regular thing that happens. We were stopping by a Christian Family from Iraq to give them a Book of Mormon in Arabic, The man, Who's name is George, opened the door and told us to come it. This is a normal thing for their culture. He took us to his living room and sat us down, brought us out some refreshments and went and got his bibles. He spoke about 4 words in English, so as you can imagine it was a short lesson. We read the introduction with him and he told us to come back when his son was home so we could teach him. His son speaks English and Arabic, so we're headed back this week to see them again!

I also went on Exchanges with Elder Prettyman, he's from Taylor Arizona! He's been out for about 6 months, it was fun! We were able to see Kim and have an awesome Word of Wisdom lesson, and then see Fadi! Both Lessons were great! 

It's amazing to see the spirit work as a missionary, for those who have served, but for those who haven't, I want to expain how amazing it is. When teaching, sometimes you literally have a random question come to your head, it's not a booming question, usually it just presses. These questions can change the entire lesson and help you to discover what they are in need of. Here's an example, last week we were in a lesson, planning on talking about Baptism, we were following up on her Book of Mormon reading when the question, "Do you Believe Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God" came to my head. We talked a bit more and then asked, she went on to say how she was still a little confused on Joseph Smith's story. The lesson changed, questions were answered, and we all left edified. Follow the spirit of the Lord, if there is anything I can say, it is that. Remember, it invites to serve, love, guide, uplift and encourage!

Sunday was quite the day, after a great day at church we had to head out to Newbury, which is like an hour away to see an investigator. We got out there, had a not so great lesson, and stopped by a few other people there with no visible results.. we then worked our way back into town stopping by different areas and talking with different people. We went out on "The Rez" to stop by a less-active member. We knocked on the door and hear this super loud growing, and what sounded like a drunken roar. The door opens and this huge man with no shirt on opens the door, looks over us and mumbled a few strange things. He proceeded to shut the door and left us standing on his porch. So there you have it, our short adventure on sunday afternoon full of driving and bad lessons.

I sure love you all so much, and I'm so grateful for Christmas. Christ lives, he was born a humble birth, lived a humble life. He is the King of all, the Alpha and the Omega, and I'm grateful to stand as his emissary. 

 

 

 

Love you all!

-Elder Adam Taylor

Birthday Wishes & BWW 11/28/16

Thank you all so much for the Birthday Wishes! The Birthday was great, we went out and got Buffalo Wild Wings in order to celebrate the day! It was a throw back to the days back home where we'd go get BWW's. 

 

 

It was a great Birthday, we also had an awesome experience! We recieved a call from a guy that lives in Draper, he told us about his Mother in Law who was sick, lives here in London, and she wanted a blessing! Her name is Lorna, and she met with the missionaries in Utah when she was there visiting their family. So we went and saw her, she's awesome! Such a nice lady, with such a strong desire to do what's right. Her husband who we didn't meet is a Professional Martial Arts instructor, so we're excited to meet him too. We're looking forward to letting you know what all happens with Lorna! 

On Tuesday we had Brother Woofenden out teaching with us for the evening, he's an awesome guy! He is from Windsor, and grew up in the church! He knows the Book of Mormon like nobody else I've ever met in my whole life. It's insane! He could quote almost anything from it, besides that he's like a walking encyclopedia, he knows so many random things, we call him Trivial Pursuit. :)

Kim is doing awesome! She is working towards Dec. 10th to be baptized, we had an awesome lesson with her this last week where we went over what all needs to happen for her baptism! She's doing really  well and getting super excited! We also have a man named Hesam who just moved to London, he was baptized about  a month ago in Toronto, he is from Iran. He's super cool. The Farsi Elders Worked with him, he walked into the church one day already knowing the Book of Mormon was true! So amazing!

We did some service for an Investigator this week where we took helped move some things to her Daughters house, when we got there we knocked on the door and they opened the door and a plume of smoke the wreaked of Weed flowed out of the room. Inside was everybody in perhaps the messiest/ dirtiest apartment I've every seen, smoking weed out of a Coke Bottle... I didn't even know you could do that but it was so gross.. haha, oh man, the life as a missionary!

I had exchanges with Elder Chu this week, he is from Hong Kong and has been on a mission for 2 months! 

 

He is in chinese work here in London, so I went with him for the day. We spent the whole day on Buses, which was tons of fun, but I have to give it to all those missionaries who only have buses, I was so tired at the end of the day, and it's hard to contact people on buses. I hope I get to be in a Bus area at some point so that I can learn how to work buses more! We had such a good time, and I learned what it's like to try to teach a lesson in a language you don't speak. I felt useless in the lesson! It was a fun day though, I want to go to Hong Kong someday though, it sounds like such a sweet city!

Because it's the end of the Month, we had to spend our day yesterday doing MCC's which is a terrible monthly report that takes ages to fill out. Glad that's over with, and now I get another month of peace. Hallelujah!

 

The Church's Christmas Initiative this #LightTheWorld It is focused on following the Savior's example and serving others and has some awesome ways to serve each day of this Holiday season. We're so excited to share it with all of London, and I look forward to hearing about how you all can use it as well. There is an advent calendar on mormon.org along with the featured video!

I love my Savior, and his example is far beyond any other. I'm grateful to him and his Atoning Sacrifice. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to serve him, in ways that I never imagined, and I pray that you can all feel his love in the way he truly loves you! 

Merry Christmas

Love, Elder Taylor

Lunch on a P-day