My First Week in Phelan

I'm gonna give you a day-by-day description of my week. Its been nuts.

Monday June 18:

Not much happened other than getting packed for leaving. It was a little sad but I was ready to leave the MTC

Tuesday June 19:

Grill, Bushman and I were all ready to leave when our Polynesian friends all had to get pictures taken with us, which was awesome. After that we got on a bus and headed out to the Airport. On our way we passed the LEHI ROLLER MILLS! I couldn't believe my eyes. When we got to the airport we kinda just waited around for a while, when Elder Bushman went to go call his folks while we were waiting. I decided that I wasn't going to because at that time of day everyone should be working or they were at EFY. We all boarded the plane and went to the Ontario airport. Once we got off there was Sister Godwin waiting for all of us! Soon President Godwin came in, too, and he talked with us for a while until the AP's showed up with a couple of cars to take us and all of our stuff to the mission home.

When we got to the mission home it was really odd, we just kind of hung out. We didn't do much of anything, just played ping pong and talked with each other. We had a little bit of time where we were instructed with some stuff, but nothing too intense. Before we went to bed we played this game where you cut off the top half of a paper bag and try to pick it up off the ground without using anything but your lips. I was terrible at it, but some of the Elders did amazingly well.

Wednesday June 20:

When we woke up it was just more hanging out. I didn't mind that much, kind of just ease all of us in to mission stuff. We had little get-to-know-you interviews with President, but other than that not much happened until all our trainers showed up. Mine was the last one to show up with his temporary companion.

My companion's name is Elder Smith and he is about a head shorter than I am, dark hair and really cool. He's a very laid back guy but very good at getting stuff done. He's a lot like me, he wants to do Graphic Design and likes Pokémon. How odd, right?

I found out that I was assigned to a little area called Phelan, said like "I've got a Feelin'." It's this little nowhere town about 45 minutes north of San Bernardino. Its mostly dirt roads, so we are in a really nice truck. The houses are all spaced apart like 200-300 yards from each other, so we drive from house to house when we are tracting.

That night for dinner we went to the Elder's Quorum President's house, Brother Chaffee. They were way legit and made great barbecue. After dinner we went to the church to play basketball with some of the ward members. I'm terrible at basketball. I had fun, even though I was just kind of the extra guy on the team.

Thursday June 21:

Thursday was kind of a mini Preparation Day. Most of the time we were trying to get to the library to make myself a Mormon.org profile, which I still haven't completed. We also went shopping for yummy food, and I unpacked all my stuff.

This day was also the first time I went tracting. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about it, but after doing it, I really didn't find anything intimidating about it. It was actually really interesting. There are a lot of different people out here. The most memorable guy answered his door without a shirt on and told us he was an atheist. He was really funny to talk to, he wasn't mean or anything, but he sure had an opinion. All the people that I've talked to, in the ward or just out tracting, have all been extremely nice and friendly. I freaking love it out here.

I also met one of our investigators, Lillian. Her life if pretty messed up right now. I don't want to go into too much detail, but she's living with this guy she absolutely hates, and has three children, 5 horses, 11 dogs, 8 cats and nearly 100 chicken and ducks. She's come to church a couple of times and wants to be taught, just not at her house, because I think she's kind of embarrassed by it. We are probably gonna teach her at a member's home this upcoming week.

That night we had dinner at the Gage's home, with the Bairds and Pratts too. All the families were really nice, but it kinda felt like we weren't part of their dinner. Elder Smith said by themselves they were all awesome, but together they didn't seem to want to include us. Kind of odd.

We played volleyball and another ward's building and I found out I'm actually kinda good at it.

Friday June 22:

We focused more on talking to less active members on Friday. We tracted for a little bit, and taught another of our investigators, Jenny. She's awesome, she wants to get baptized but can't right now. We've got to teach her all the missionary lessons first beforehand, but she's also been in jail and is on parole right now. After we teach her all the lessons we can then have somebody interview her and then send a letter to get approval from the First Presidency to see if she can get baptized. I sure hope she can.

The couple of less active members we saw were really nice. One of them and her family all live in this really nice motor home parked behind her sister's house. They were awesome. Another family has two turtles and two tortoises as pets. One tortoise could actually be held in the palm of my hand. Anyway, the one member with the tortoises said that they'll be coming to church now that her husband has a different work schedule, so I can only hope she does come.

We went to eat dinner at the Scott's house that night. So far they've been the people I've liked the most. They were way more my speed and relaxed. They also made Chicken Enchiladas which are superb. I'm loving the food that they make here, its all really normal.

Saturday June 23:

Saturday was completely different. We didn't do that much during the day, just went to a baptism for some kid that the sister missionaries taught. It was really short because the kid was autistic and couldn't focus for more than a minute. Before that we tracted near the church and found a couple of people that might be interested. We haven't followed up, but I'll keep you posted on that.

After not much else happening we went to dinner at the Nelson's home. There's really only one Nelson, and she's dating this guy who isn't a member and has two kids. He's interested in the church and has kind of taken the lessons, but not really, so we sat down and actually taught him the Restoration. He understood it and said that he wanted to believe its true but would not commit to doing anything, That was the most frustrating thing I've done. I kept telling him he had to read if he wanted to believe its true, but he kept coming up with some stupid excuse why he wouldn't. Whatever. I'm sure he'll come around some time.

Sunday June 24:

Going to church in a different ward was good. It was strange being the new missionary because they ask you to do everything, including pray in ward council, then again in Sacrament Meeting, again in priesthood and pass the sacrament. Blegh. Every single person came up to me and introduced themselves. There is no way I remember all of them and their names. They were all super nice and friendly, but its a wee bit overwhelming. I guess that's what happens when you're loved.

A couple of strange things I've noticed is that everyone had some connection to Sandy, Utah, and everyone thinks I'm saying Elder Sailor when I'm introducing myself. Weird.

I ate dinner at the Best's house. That was weird. They are good people with awesome little kids, but every time they started to act like they were having a good time their parents would yell at their kids to shut up and go to their room. It was a "fun free" home.

Monday June 25:

I haven't been doing that much today. I met Elder Clark, who was the guy here before me. Every time I've been to somebody else's house they always ask where Clark is and how he's doing. He's a pretty cool guy and I've got big shoes to fill.

Now I'm here at Phelan Library just writing all of you guys. And I'm starving, I haven't had McDonald's in like a month. I'm gonna try to get some today. Later today I'm gonna go play some Frisbee with my zone.

I love all you guys! Thanks for all the prayers I'm getting. You can all write me an email at r.sage.taylor@myldsmail.net.

Now go, and be golden,

Elder Sage Taylor

The California San Bernardino Mission

Dear Brother and Sister Taylor and family,                                                     

We wanted to write to you and express our gratitude to you for sharing your son, Elder Taylor, with us for the next two years.  We have enjoyed meeting him.  He is a fine young man and we have enjoyed our interactions with him and look forward to many more. 

 We met the arriving missionaries at the Ontario airport.  Elder Taylor, along with nine other Elders and one sister, arrived at the airport about 12:30 Tuesday, June 19.  They looked amazing as they were coming down the stairs - all in their new clothes, white crisp shirts, new suits and shined shoes.  While we were waiting for their luggage, we had a quick visit with each of them.  They were excited and just a little uneasy, (maybe more than a little) wondering what was happening next.  The assistants to the president (AP's) had been driving around the area in a pick-up truck and a van, waiting for us to call them to come and get the new missionaries and their luggage.  We called, they arrived and all luggage was loaded into the vehicles. 

 We left the airport with the new missionaries and a load of chairs in the AP’s truck and went to the Glen Helen Park at the mouth of the Cajon Pass.  I took a sack lunch for the missionaries to eat there. Sister Marilyn Mills, a local historian and sister from the Upland stake, met us there and told the missionaries how the area had been settled. 

 After the experience at the park we took the new Elders to the mission home for a short orientation meeting.  President and I spent some time with them answering questions and explaining our expectations of them as missionaries.  We also let them play ball, ping pong and just relax a while.  That evening we had dinner with them and then showed some safety videos the Church has made for the missionaries on car and bicycle safety.  We then played another paper sack game and a good time was had by all as they competed and laughed together.

 We then had them get bedded down for the night.  Everyone was exhausted and fell right off to sleep after writing in their journals.  The next morning we cooked waffles and put things away while President had an initial interview with them.  About 11 a.m. their trainers arrived and we talked to all of them about the new 12 week training program.  For lunch we cooked hamburgers and hotdogs outside and everyone ate on the patio, played ping pong and just got aquainted.  About 3 o’clock we sent them all to their areas to begin, in earnest, their missionary efforts.  They were all happy to get out in the field to start finding and preaching the gospel.

 We are looking forward to working with your missionary in this most wonderful of experiences - preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in this area.  There is a lot of diversity here.  He will learn a lot about other cultures. We know he will be a fine missionary.  He is a wonderful young man. 

 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either one of us. 

Also, if you do not know, we have a mission blog where I put pictures of the missionaries from time to time.  I don’t have a lot of time to spend doing it, but try to update it every week or so.  I am sure your missionary will have pictures on there as we associate with them and have pictures sent to us.  The address for the mission blog is:  http://sanbmnews.blogspot.com.

Warmest regards,

Sister Godwin

President Godwin

Elder Taylor with President and Sister Godwin

Elder Taylor with his first companion and trainer Elder Smith

Pictures from the MTC

Surprise! Bonus Letter

Today is our In-Field Orientation day, and because of that we have a really long lunch and dinner. So I had to write to my Branch President about the week, and since I had extra time I thought I would write you guys!

Since Monday a lot still hasn't happened. We have, however, committed four of our "investigators" to baptism, which is a lot more than a lot of people can say. We've teaching this one guy, Justin, in TRC and he is so fun to be with, but we've got no idea how to teach him! Whenever we start to talk about something gospel-related he always changes the subject. We've had some really interesting chats, but we can't make any progress with the guy. I'm not sure what to do with him, but we've only got one more chance to teach him before we leave, so I really want to do something.

I didn't know you guys were sending out these emails to people. I think that's awesome. Erika and Paul both wrote me yesterday and said that "it was awesome to read these emails" or something of the sort.

I'm sorry to hear about your purse being stolen. That really sucks. You've got to keep me posted. I hope that you can get reimbursed and such for the camera and the other stuff. Do you have to have another temple recommend interview because it got stolen?

It sounds like you all have had a good time with the family being around. It would be awesome to spend time with ya'll but I can't. Too bad. Tell Jackson Hi for me. I miss that awesome little dude. Have they been sleeping over at our house every night?

I've got kind of a random request. Could somebody either find a copy of the words from the Bad Lip Reading videos or write them down and send them to me tomorrow? Elder Bushman and I have been quoting them, but we can't remember all of them. If you could we would like the Mitt Romney one.

I'm not sure what else to write. If you guys have any questions make sure to ask me them in your letters. It would make this writing thing a lot easier, I'm not sure what you guys want to hear. And Lukas and Isaac, I want to hear from you guys! I loved getting all those letters those first few days, but now I feel all sad.

I love you guys!  Keep up all the good work you're doing!

Elder Rusty Bagoda