I have all I need!

yeah the new year is way weird ha it doesnt feel any different ha but im pushin 5 months now ha thats weird! time is goin quick. well for us we sang at christmas lights on new years eve which was awesome, idk if anyone recorded it but you could try and look it up on you tube mesa az missionaries sing at christmas light 2010 i may or may not have been in a small group number too haha. but yeah thats what we did then we had a dinner with all the missionaries so it was cool ha i had a mtc reunion it was great. yes i had dinner with the Dyers and it was awesome we talked about dads and russ' mission and like the differences between mine and theirs and what not it was neat i had a good time. i did get extra cards and stuff for Christmas. I'm very thankful to hear from all of them. you know about the family cards and letters but i got some cookies from pat and dale and i got cards from reeds, wards, harrisons, i got a letter froms snarrs ha i heard from alot of people it was super cool. josh is doin awesome and Lupe is awesome too! they are both soooo solid, ha i told Lupe how you would probably talk to her a bunch cuz she gets to see me more than you. ummm our next baptism is on the 15th of this month her name is martha and she has been investigating for 3 years and is finally getting baptized and we also have that date set for a mom and her 3 kids but the mom isnt doin anything and hasnt come to church so we are going to have to move her date. the kids are great, the come to church and read a little bit. joses was on the 27th which was the saturday.yeah transfer news is this saturday, i have a feeling im movin but i have no idea. i will be able to email so no worries ha just dont send anything directly to the house im at cuz i may not get it.send it through the mission office.haha il let you know EVERYTHING hahahaha. with jose going to the temple just tell him to keep his mind open and he will be fine, its amazing how the lord comforts you with the new things ha. make sure he knows that its symbolic and like to pray and stuff before and like i said just to have an open mind. tell him he wont understand it all the first time, just like you told me basicly. tell him im soooooo proud of him too. gosh im so excited for him. il be out a 4th of my mission when he leaves and almost half when like bub keg and brandon go. how crazy is that? yeah poor pam... if you get a chance to talk to garret or pam tell them im proud of him and tell him to have fun at the mtc not to stress about stuff but to put it in the lords hands. yeah i got Elder Klein's email ha i love him he is sooooo awesome! im sure it has been good to have them there but yeah i think that was the Lords way of kinda weening you ha he took me away and kinda gave you someone close to me and he may take them away now but i think you will be ok. thats awesome that the guys are droppin like flies and heading for the field! ha im stoked for all of them they will love it, i cant wait to hear where they are going. yeah i knew marsh and dana were goin up and he is gonna use my winter stuff so you may want to find that again hahaha but you will all be ok and it will be lots and lots of fun. oh grandpa how is he doin, i worried about him almost more than anyone cuz i was with him alot. he is one of my best friends. potty training sounds good ha im glad that they are doin good with it. so random question and like dont worry about me like freakin out or anything but is sebastion still kickin it? i saw a cat like him the other day and was like huh i wonder how he is doin. well il definately keep sharin my testimony ha i dont have much else and ya know between the gospel, my testimony of it and my family, i'm content and happy! there is anything else in the world that i really need. im so greatful for this gospel and your examples that have helped me sooo much. i love you all and cant wait to hear from you again!

love taylor

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

A baptism, Thanksgiving and baseball!

I LOVED your package thank you ha i totally thought of hunting cuz thats all the things we usually get when we go =) it was awesome! Teaching is goin ok its slowin down people arent progressing. Aa for allowances, we get 115 a month for everything. Tell mom to make the elders bread alot it saves us haha! We ride our bikes everywhere ha its crazy, i love it! So baptisms, I did have one that went through. His name was JOSE haha! Awesome, I know, but all the others fell through cuz of people goin to mexico for holidays... no exciting stories this week but il definately let ya know if i have one. DAD, IM SOOOOOOO JEALOUS!! Canada would be soooooooo fun. You will definately have to tell me how it goes! well cant wait to hear your stories. As for music, i listen off the speakers and we have a cd player so you can send cds if you want ummm morgan did send me the ipod ha and then i sent it back so she could put some more music on it. thanksgiving was good but weird not being home and what not. well we went to Lupes house who is a recent convert for lunch and then we went and hit some baseballs =) that was great and i have pictures haha we ate dinner with the morans and i have a pic of all their boys and stuff. Yes, i write in my journal everyday, i never really promised dad that I would but I kinda promised him in my heart I guess haha he said he wrote every single day and thats what I am doing too! we survived the transfer also ha Elder Paredes is the new district leader too! we eat great ha! Dinner with members every night. ha I make pancakes and all sorts for breakfast and lunch im doin good ha! thats funny that one of the morans added you. bro morans name is franscisco but i doubt it was him it was probably one of his sons, franky jeff or andy. well I'll add some pics for you all haha hope you enjoy. You'll see my buzz, I love it, that way I don't have helmet hair after riding! I love you all sooooo much and cant wait to hear from you again.

love taylor

I've already forgotten snow!

so i get to email today and do our shopppin and stuff but then we go back out later. ummm we are going to the Morans house which is sweet i love it there, that would be sweet if E' Klein and francis went with you to grandma's too. thats soooooo crazy Jose's papers are in im sooooo excited for him!!! you had his fam over for dinner? thats awesome. i love that you talk with pat and dale ha they are super awesome i miss seein them too. thats so crazy that the snow is that bad like i dont even remember what snow is like anymore hahaha. lol yeah bub and them told me they were gonna come over in their outfits so i already knew lol they are crazy and havnt changed a bit i remember doing all sorts of crazy things like that! ok soooo teachin has been off and on people are bein weird all of a sudden but we find a few here and there. best and worst day honestly i have nooooo idea! there was a day that i was with a couple other elders that sucked cuz we had one elder that was a month older than me in the mission and so he thought he ran the place ugh it was sooo annoying and we got NOTHING done that day it was a joke. best day wasnt really a full day it was more just the 2nd half of the day but we went out and talked to a ton of people and we ended up talkin to a memeber on the street and like idk i shared a story with her and stuff and she kinda started cryin and said that she really needed to hear that and some other stuff and yeah that made me feel super good and the rest of the night was way awesome too. well transfers will be next tuesday but i dont think i will be transfered and neither will elder paredes. ummm christmas i dont really need anything. if you want to all like pitch in and put some money on my card i kinda wanna get a guitar and start practicing again so you could send me my books ummmm no were really all good here umm investigators are good too. soooooo the language.... well it improves everyday but its still rough i wont lie, but its ok ha im gettin there. running we went this morning but hadnt been in a while cuz of different reasons but yeah. thanksgiving is gonna be weird but oh well im doin the right thing, il be gettin up at 630 and it wont be to go huntin this year ha. i miss you all sooooooooo much and i love ya with all my heart i pray for you every day! oh yeah i have a baptism saturday... his name is JOSE! talk to ya next week =)
love taylor

here are some of the Moran family!!

New Pictures!

Well, this picture is taken at 6:30 am, I'm just fixin some pancakes for breakfast! It's either that or cereal! So, its a bummer that i cant go back and forth with emails anymore but its fine like yeah its tough but oh well after 2 years im not gonna have to worry about it. i will talk to you all everyday and when im at utah state i will come home every weekend! i have finally figured out how much you all mean to me.

man thats no good about the huntin! what the heck! where are all the ducks? so some hopefully good news our stake mission leader is into elk hunting and i got to talkin to him and he was sayin how i should come back after the mission and hunt and he would come to IF and duck hunt, so im pretty excited about that. The haircut went fine ha there was no after pic cuz i was in a hurry and had to shower and leave haha IDK whats goin on on thanks giving but i email on tuesday but i get like the actual Pday on thursday. so yeah thats really all thats goin on ha everythings good and im hangin in there ha. i miss you a ton and love you a bunch cant wait til the day i get back and i can shoot somethin with my buddy again!

So, i figured you guys were ready for some pics! haha yeah my lil gecko was fun. the branch served us a "greenie" breakfast. The breakfast was actually good ha didnt taste any different then normal food. It was great! I see Elder (Addison) Rice, from IF, here once in a while! That's pretty cool. This is a picture of our hike with me, my companion Elder Paderes, and the reservation elders, Elder McCole and Elder Davis. we hiked whats called camel back mountain ha which was more of a hill compared to the mountains im used to like deer and elk huntin in haha but it was fun. yeah the cockroaches are nasty ha not a ton but there are some yeah ha i have takin my boy scout days back up and use matches and mesquito repelent to torch them hahaha its pretty funny.the memebers we live with are fine ha we dont really talk to them much cuz we are always out and about but they are good when we see them. well there really arent any fun stories this week ha i did kill some gophers in a guys garden for him though which was fun cuz well you know me. baptism dates UUUUGGGH we were supposed to have one this saturday with hector but his mom cant make it and then he is goin to mexico for a while so he cant until the 8th of january. we have one next week with a boy named jose who is 18 ha and then lets see a lady named marta who is 53 and she has a smoking problem but we set a date for the 8th of january too. the kids mom rodrigo and edgar said no for now but she said she wants us to teach her why its so important and why we want to baptize them so bad. i havnt seen any sites really ha ummm we only get to go to the temple once a transfer so i wont go again until next transfer.i see elder valentine right now hahaha i see him tuesdays cuz he emails here at the library too. funniest thing that happened bahhahahahha ok it was the other night when we were at the moran families house and someone farted and like it stunk so i was like ohhhh come on andy who is one of thier boys and he was like it wasnt me and then his mom was sayin somethin and i heard her say something about ears being hot and so i like reached up and felt my ears but she said who ever touches their ears and they are hot thats who did it andi was the only one to touch my ears hahahhahaha it was great but ummmm worste was probably when we found out we couldnt baptize the boys. no there are spanish wards too but we are in a branch. oh man do i eat enough they feed us a TON! yeah i feel good ha for the most part. the weather is AWESOME does get kinda chilly at night tho ha like 50s maybe. on pdays we clean shop and write letters. sometimes we go do something but the day goes by way to fast haha.i bought a bike from a missionary. i get to see scherbel every so often but not much. thats soooooo crazy about kyliegh ha next time she sees us she better stop or honk or somethin hahah we run at westwood like every morning from about 6 to 7 715ish. but yeah everything is good here hope everything is good there love you all!!!
taylor

Families are so important!

So i will just kinda give you a run down. Well, Monday morning was pretty crazy last week cuz well i cut my own hair. Wow! Sketchy huh? ha! I never in my life thought that i would ever cut my own hair like that. I barely let anyone else cut it! So nothin really cool or crazy happened most the week. Just same old stuff lol! Funny story tho, we were riding down the street on our way home for lunch and there was a guy walking with a bag and so well we're supposed to talk to everyone so i stopped and asked, "Hey can we help you with anything today?" he turns, looks at me and then sticks his hand in my face and flips me off... Wow haha! I wasn't quite sure what to say so i was getting ready to ride away and he like starts yellin at me and gettin in my face droppin the f bomb at me like idk 20 times or more and says a ton of stuff! I thought he was gonna hit me. It was crazy! I don't understand how people can hate us sooooo much I mean really, come on, we are young boys that give up 2 years of our life to help people and share an awesome message. Especially this guy I didn't even say anything about the church, I asked if he wanted some help like come on! haha Some people in this world are ridiculous. Other than that nothin else crazy happened. We have 6 baptismal dates which is super awesome! so we just gotta wait and see if they hold up. Most of them seem pretty good so I'm excited. The kids we are teaching are doin good. They actually are asking their parents if they can be baptized on the 27th of this month. The parents still aren't interested so that is a challenge. So we don't teach the pitcher anymore cuz he moved which is a total bummer but hopefully I'll get to teach him later on. haha to tell you all the people i meet would be absolutely impossible ha I talk to soooooooo many people everyday. The Moran family to be honest, idk why i like them so much they just have helped me out alot ha they help me with my spanish too they are just awesome! yeah i got dads letter tell him thanks. It helped sooooo much! Spanish members are like the only people that feed us and the food is great except they feed you as much as they would feed a family of 12!! It's absolutely ridiculous! ha its a good thing we run and are on bikes. I didn't bear my testimony on Sunday cuz there was a line the whole time but i wanted too. The library is a ways away so we ride with the reservation elders who one of them got here the same day i did and he is from victor Idaho and knows Stuart Marshall. his name is Elder Davis. I learn alot from my trainer, he is pretty good yeah he helps me with the language and its slowly comin. oh I see Addison, i actually saw him this morning at the temple. I got to do endowments for the first time today here it was so awesome. That's so awesome Stuart is doin that for Jose man he is such a great guy! I'm so excited for Jose. I'm SOOO glad you go to the temple every week. Is dad going? If not get him going. I also want you to know that I pray for you all everyday and I put your name on the prayer role at the temple today and I will every time I go. I want you all to know I have a testimony of what I am doing. I know that this is the true church and that only through Jesus Christ and his atonement can we go to the celestial kingdom. I know that in the temple we can be sealed together forever as families by the priesthood. I have finally have found out and know that families are SOOOOO important and that everyone needs to spend more time with theirs. I want you all to know that I love you soooooo much and I miss you. I hope everything goes well this week!

Love, Taylor

Workin' hard!

the weather here is awesome its 80s usually ha and i love it but it makes me think about the whole summer and what not. im working as hard as i possibly can, everynight i come home and im soooo tired i lay down and im asleep. ha the other night i fell asleep kneeling down during my prayer. things are really good here this is strengthening us all and our relationships. like idk im so glad im building those bonds. so families were teaching well we are teaching 2 girls one is 10 and 14 but there mom is less active and were tryin to activate her and then baptize the girls and they are very slowly comin along. were teaching a little boy name rodrigo who is 12 a boy named edger who is 10 and a boy named hector who is 10 too and we are hopefully going to set a date with them tomorow. ummm we are teachin a guy named alberto who we set a date for the 27th with sunday night so things are pretty good we dont really knock doors we usually just work referals and street contacts no the kids arent related and none of the parents are members but the kids love it and want to be a part of it. they come to church every sunday and know alot. alberto is 25 i think and he has some kids but they live with his mom and he works here and she lives in phoenix. im glad klein and them are havin success. on halloween we did what we do every other day haha contact and teach people lol but i actually saw addison yesterday.hahaha yeah its fine bub has my email i can write back but it takes for ever to get there and what not. i miss him and i got his letter, he is such a good kid and im proud of him. I don't have much time so i want you all to know i love you and that this is an important work. i miss you all sooo much. again i love you! have a good week and be safe!

Love, Taylor