yeah the goodbyes at Christmas were rough, i was good and didnt shed a tear until you all started cryin then i shed a few ha but it was AWESOME to talk to you all and didnt make anything harder at all. its not gonna be long until mothers day and then next thing ya know it will be christmas again. yeah i called grandma and grandpa it was good i didnt talk to them long but i thought they deserved a call too, they sound awesome. i hope everything is good with them i know i kept them company alot so i hope someone is takin my place. i didnt call anyone else ha your probably thinkin id call morgan but no i want to follow the rules and idk i didnt want to make it harder for her. we played basketball, called, ate and talked at smiths and thats about it it was fun. my baptism was definately an experience ha so first we get there and turn the water on but it wasnt fillin up very fast so the baptism starts and someone went and turned the water off so when we went in for the actual baptism the water didnt even touch my knees.... UGH so we tried standin up anyway but his foot came up anyway 4 times later him sitting on the ground and me kneeling we finally did it. it was a cool experience but not gonna lie kinda embarassing. we are workin with their parents now but we shall see what happens im pretty sure the mom will get baptised but the dad we still arent sure about he will kinda listen to us now but we are still workin. best and worst part, idk honestly best was the baptism forsure ummm worst idk there really wasnt a bad day this week.words of wisdom ha idk just tell him to have fun, put all his trust in the lord and to love what he is doin. really thats all i got besides start studyin the book of mormon and what not. so comin and pickin me up idk if we will be able to do that cuz of school... i guess it depends on when it starts. as soon as you can i want you to sign me up for school ha cuz i know im gonna want to extend my time but if i do i wont get to school for another semester and i will go crazy and i definatly feel like im gonna need to start ASAP haha. i knew elder francis would be a hard worker and i know elder klien is too. they are awesome elders. whats happened with joses fam? i can see elder klein bein all crazy bout winning haha he is like me with that kind of stuff, its kinda funny. we are gonna have to keep in touch with them and their families for ever. ha im glad your card finally came i was kinda worried it wouldnt the mail is kinda crazy. im sooooo excited for jose and i hope the temple will be open. he is sooooooo awesome, tell him i am sooooooo proud of him! here is about the same we are teachin a few families and got a new one recently. there is a 16 year old girl that read 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon the first time we left her with one it was awesome and the rest of her fam which is her mom brother and little sister are doin good too. thats really all thats new here i only have like one pic for you tho sorry... i love you all and cant wait to hear from you again.
LOVE taylor

Baptism for Christmas

yeah hahaha that was crazy about Sister Macintosh! she was like one of your moms friends baptized me, he went to mexico is what she said. i was freakin out hahah so was she and then at the christmas party she was like i wanna take some pics for your mom ha so we did and idk if dad has gotten his letter yet but i think i explained that i got a new comp cuz haha long story but yeah got a new comp his name is elder hainsworth he is from columbia missouri and yeah he has been out 19 months. oh good ole russ yeah i talked to him and what not and we are havin dinner with them! im pretty excited, idk about the whole spirit radiating thing cuz i feel pretty normal ha but yeah it was neat. thats cool you talked to troy, how was he doin i feel like its been YEARS since i talked to him. christmas idk the plans were gonna try and call around one but honestly we dont have a place to call yet. if i have to do something il try and use marshalls phone some how but im super excited. the baptism is at 7 that night so that should be way awesome, whats a better christmas present than that? bringing someone to the gospel and helping them make that first step to making it to heaven with their family.COLE BRASSE that is sooooooo awesome im so proud of him! gosh i wont lie that like brought tears to my eyes thats soooooo awesome!!!!!! well idk about all the good bad stuff ha its been a pretty ok week. i did unexpectedly get a new comp but thats fine ummmm we found this lady and her family that we set dates with and they came to church on sunday. idk its been a crazy week. so it rained pretty good one day and haha i loved it like it reminded me of home sooooo much cuz it was foggy to ha it was great and idk ha i love the heat and stuff but like i really do like the snow and rain to i decided. yeah everything is goin good here. I love you all and miss you a ton!
love taylor

Arizona temple lights are amazing!

hahaha lots of questions!! so idk, about our investigators, it was a crazy thing cuz this week we got dropped by a couple people and one of our investigators said she wasnt sure about gettin baptized on jan 8th cuz of alot of things. That was probably the worst thing that happened this week, but then that same night which was last night, we went over to some new people named jesus and rebecca and they were AWESOME! the spirit was so strong through the lesson and it was so great like wow they are definately ready! I tried to call Dyers once but they didnt answer il try again though. ummm 2 of the 3 Christmas baptisms fell through but we do have one for sure. his name is Josh and his sister is a recent convert and yeah he wasn't quite sure in the beggining and what not but now he is all for it. He had a word of wisdom problem but he has completely stopped. I see elder scherbel cuz they our now in my zone but I dont see Elder Rice or Valentine like at all anymore. I have been to the temple lights 3 times but i still have 4 more haha they are great! After the mission I'm bringin you all and Morgan back for them cuz they are beautiful and the spirit there is sooo strong! oh yeah! One thing from the temple lights. I was talkin to this girl and well i wasnt quite sure cuz she had a mohawk and yeah i shouldnt judge but i didnt think she would talk to me but, she did and she had alot of questions and so i answered them. Alot were about the temple and stuff, but i had a book of mormon with me and she said "so where can i get one of those?" and i said "well we can go get one right over here" and then another missionary actually came over and gave me one and she asked some more questions and she brought up baptism and i explained it and what not and how it was important to get baptized by the proper authority. She then said that she feels like what i have been tellin her is true and that she will read and stuff. ha! Then the crazy thing happens, she says if i find out this is true can you baptize me? ha i was shocked i wont lie! i said that i probably could ha and i put my name in the Book of mormon and told her the missionaries she had could get a hold of me at that point, so yeah cool thing that happened! knockin doors wasn't bad we just knocked a apartment complex cuz we had a referal but no apt. # so we were like what the heck and started knockin and we found them and they didnt want us so yeah haha. The weather hasnt been bad here actually pretty nice. I did get your packages they are awesome thank you! We put up the tree and put my presents under and the 12 days pretty clever haha with the scriptures. The food is great, but yes i have had some interesting stuff but it was good so ehhhh, oh well lol im still alive! The language isnt bad but its still rough i cant memorize words to save my life so its tough but im not gettin down on myself. thanks for the address I'm glad your still goin to the temple thats awesome, i know it may be hard but your getting so many blessings for doing it! i gotta run but I'll put some pics on here. love you all!!!
taylor

Look who I ran into @ the temple!! Taylor Smith
Christmas in Arizona

I cant belive that Vaughndavid would get married as soon as i leave! Im happy for him, though! I need some pics of this girl tho, what the heck he can't do that without my approval! Elder Scherbel would say that he is such a "tard" Ha! I love that kid. That's soooo funny elder klein can't cook lol! He is a goof! Man I miss those guys. I hope your takin care of them. They are awesome! I love how they still come over and hang out. Thats funny that KaLee is cuttin hair still she is awesome! I'm glad Morgan came over ha the more the better lol. Thats cool you talked to Scott i was actually gonna have you send me his address and stuff cuz ummm yeah im gonna write him a letter. The 40$ I had to buy a sweater and some stuff and i didnt have the money for it on the other card. I havn't heard where Jose is goin yet!!! ugggghhhhh! I'm goin crazy! You can send my stuff straight to the house though. I don't need any blankets or anything I'm fine at night and what not I was just gettin chilly when we were ridin and yes I know I am a baby haha. I don't need a heavy coat either. So not much happened this week, we do have 3 baptisms set for Christmas day sooo hopefully those will stay. I'm super excited ummm other than that nothin else. Ii did have a mom and a daughter yellin they loved me out their car window as they veeeeerrry slowly drove by and they were blowin kisses too it was rather hilarious. Well I'll send some pics. I love you all sooo much and miss ya, let me know if I can do anything for you! love taylor