Yup. Tongan.

Man, this past week has been an interesting one. Leaving Apple Valley, coming to Rancho Cucamonga. That's interesting stuff. Getting called to a Tongan Ward absolutely blew my mind. I can not believe that I'm here.

Being in a Tongan ward means that there isn't that much work. There's just not too many Tongan people to talk to. So most of our days consist of trying to stop by members' houses to talk to them. There has been no success there. I've really only talked to the Bishop and the ward mission leader. Everybody else just gives us money for dinner, so I don't even have much chance to get to know the members that way.

Right now I live just inside the city limits of Fontana. This is kind of weird considering that my area is the city of Rancho Cucamonga, but it's kinda cool too. I live in an apartment with my companion, Elder Allen, and also with the Fontana zone leaders. They are a couple of cool cats, and are pretty funny. Elder Paget, one of the ZLs, was actually in my district up in Apple Valley, so it's cool being around him again. Elder Allen and I are going to be moving some time soon, hopefully. A senior couple is going to be serving in Big Bear, and they need to find a place up there for them to live, so once they move we get to move into the apartment they are currently living in.

Here in the Cucamonga Tongan Ward we have two investigators. They are both white teenage girls, which I think is a little strange, considering we are in a Tongan Ward. I'm more than happy to teach them, but it's been really hard to get a hold of them. I taught my first lesson in this ward last night.

Here's a little bit of something cool, Elder Smith, my trainer, is back in Phelan! I am so jealous of him. He's training there again.

In case you didn't hear, there have been 58 new missions created, and that directly affects this mission. The San Bernardino won't exist any more as of July 1st. In it's place there will be the Rancho Cucamonga mission and also the Redlands mission. 3 zones from the San B mission will be going to the Redlands mission, and all the others, plus the Chino stake will be part of the Rancho Cucamonga mission. Whatever Zone I am  in when this change
happens will determine which mission I end up in.

Well, I'll be seeing you all some day. I hope you're week goes by splendidly.

--
Now go, and be Golden,
Elder R. Sage Taylor

  This is a pig skull that the Lucerne Valley elders found. It's name is Legion, for it is many.

Me and the Johnson Family

Me and the Berry Family

still with the Berry Family

This is Bailey Johnson and me. He's pretty cool. He wasn't at his house while we were, so he stopped by our place so I could say bye. Hence the picture of just us.

Here is a picture of the humongous Valentine's card you sent me. Love it!

Surprise! (Bonus Letter)

Well, I'm emailing you because I can. We came to the library for a second and I wanted to let you know where I am. So here you go:

I am serving in Rancho Cucamonga in the Cucamonga Tongan Ward! Ah! This is going to be totally different from anything else I've done. So far I've met probably 3 members of this ward, and I think I'm going to like it here, it's just going to be a big change.

My companion's name is Elder Allen, and he's only 1 transfer older than I am. He's from Payson, Utah. The apartment I live in right now is actually in Fontana and I'm room mates with the Fontana Zone Leaders, Elder Roos and Elder Paget. We aren't going to be staying there very long, just until they find us our own apartment.

I hope this is enough information for right now. I love you, Mom! 

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

My Last Week in the Valley of Apples

That's right. I'm being transferred. I'm kinda bummed, but who knows where I could be going? That is an exciting part of it.

 

So here's the quick version of this week.

 

Pretty much nothing happened. We tried going to a ton of appointments and they all fell through, which was really disappointing. We took this kid named Taylor with us, who goes into the MTC on Wednesday, to quite a few of these appointments so that he could get a little bit of pre-mission practice in. Well, he really didn't get any because they all fell through. Bummer.

 

On Saturday I was on exchanges up in the Lucerne Valley. That was pretty fun! I was with this awesome missionary named Elder Bevan from Tooele, Utah. We didn't do a whole ton, because Lucerne is a huge place and very slow. We did talk to some drunk people. That was an experience. We also heard some weird Asian chanting some where in the middle of a road. It was cool to hear.

 

Yesterday we had some Stake Conference! That was neat. Nothing too remarkable there, but I liked it. President Godwin, my mission president, spoke for a little during it, and he called this the "Apple Valley, Utah Stake." He had no idea what he did. Elder Searle I just laughed.

 

Well, I'm sorry this was a boring email. I could tell you something cool, but it would probably be a lie. But, nonetheless, stay awesome!

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

 

 

 

 

To Elder Taylor

Dear Brother and Sister Taylor,

My name is Angela Turner and I am in the Phelan Ward. I have been meaning to email you for quite some time. Your son served his first area here in our ward. He is an exceptional missionary. He loves the people and served with a constant smile on his face. He works hard and loves the Lord. What else could parents ask for?

Just thought I'd share what we experienced with your son.

Love,

Angela 

______________________________________________________________________

Elder Taylor,

The Johnson Family Is going to miss you!

 

And the Survey Says...

Not a ton to report on for this week. It's been another one of those "slow weeks." I don't mind, because being a missionary is AWESOME!

 

How about this email we take a look at today and go backward? That would be a cool change of pace, wouldn't you agree?

 

So today has been pretty ballin'. As a zone we hiked these giant land fixtures called Mormon Rocks. They are actually pretty cool. It was fun, too. (Pictures Below). Later we are going to go shopping for our food and stuff. Yay!

 

Yesterday we had church and meetings and things. Church was really good. There was a guy who is leaving in 9 days for his mission in Mexico, speaking. It was a really neat talk and a couple of his older siblings sang the EFY Medley right before he spoke. Sacrament meeting was above average. We also had our investigator Ishmael come to church. This is his third time coming, which means he can get baptized, which his date is for the 23rd of this month. I can't wait to see that happen.

 

Is it bad when I can't remember what we did two days ago? I'm kinda struggling with remembering right now. Ah. There we go. I just remembered that Elder Searle and I went to go talk to all of the investigators we are currently teaching and as we walked past this one house we saw a man trying to bring a couch into his house all by himself with nothing but a dolly. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to do it. So I shouted to him and asked if we could help. The cool thing is that he said yes! That is the first time I've been able to spontaneously help somebody with something. I was a really nice guy and we talked to him for about 20 minutes. What I thought was cool is that his neighbors, who are members, are the only neighbors he knew and he thought they were awesome.

 

Also on Saturday I was able to get my pants fixed! The awesome Sister Berry took a little bit of time for me and fixed three pairs of my pants so that I can now wear them. I'm totally wearing a pair right now! That evening we went to dinner with some members to a place called El Tio Pepe. Kind of below average food, but still, I wasn't hungry afterward.

 

Friday was a good day. First of all, I was on exchanges with Elder Hargraves in the YSA ward for the High Desert. That was the first time I've left my area for exchanges since my first week in Sunset Hills. Second, it was SNOWING. I mean it was really snowing. A lot. It actually stuck to the ground here. I guess it isn't "Utah A lot" but it was "Apple Valley A lot." Third, it was cool just to do work with somebody else for a while and teach lesson to young single adults. I was also able to have In-N-Out for dinner. So pretty much it was a stellar day.

 

Thursday wasn't the most productive day, but we were able to teach Jesus and Leah. Jesus is still looking good for baptism. They are still doing super legit.

 

On Wednesday Elder Searle and I tried to see a ton of less actives. This one house we knocked on there was some guy behind the door that started growling like a dog. That was weird, because I know for sure that it was a person and not a dog. In the house of somebody that was supposed to a member there were some Calvary Chapel goers who just wanted to bash with us the whole time. I refused to bash and just told them to read the Book of Mormon. After that they were really nice to us. It was kinda fun. And that night we had dinner with the Smithsons. Our day was an interesting one.

 

Tuesday was District Meeting. It was also probably one of the best D-Meetings I've ever had. I freaking love my District. We have the Sisters that are serving in Big Bear in our district, by the way. And yes, that is where people are saying that Christopher Dorner is. All of us are pretty darn sure he's not there, but I thought it was cool that my district was on National News. Anywho, not much else went on that day. We taught some less-active family who we are trying to help get reactive. It's not that easy, I wish it was. If they just come to church once I'll be happy.

 

There's my week! I love you all. Transfer calls are this Saturday, so I'm hoping that I get to stay here in Sunset Hills. I freaking love this area!

 

--
Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

 

This is of my district after Sister Stacey's last District Meeting

The rest of the pictures are pretty much of me and others on Mormon Rocks

 

If Voldemort Could Talk

What's shakin'? I can't wait to tell you about all the cool things that have happened since Wednesday. Hold on to your sleeves.

If you remember my last email, I was just about to go out on the town. Well, that night we had dinner with the Smithsons, who are the people whose house we live in. But their brother-in-law was coming to take things out of our garage because they belonged to his dad who was the previous tenant in the house we live in. So we helped him load tons of things, like bar stools and cabinets, on to his trailer so he can haul them to Idaho where his dad lives. We actually ended up eating with the Smithsons for about 10 minutes then went back outside to help move things. Wednesday was a very odd P-day.

Thursday was freaking boss. For lunch we had dinner with our new investigator Sara and her mother. We thought that we were only going to be having lunch with them, but after we were done, Kathy, Sara's mom, asked us what we were going to teach them. So we ended up taking an hour and teaching the both of them the Restoration. It was a pretty decent lesson and Kathy really liked to ask questions. A ton of questions. I mean a lot. And she totally couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that if our church was true and the Pope didn't have the priesthood authority. She asked the same question about 3 times trying to get us to say that the Pope had authority. We just invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so that she could find out for herself. Sara seemed to enjoy the lesson and didn't really have any concerns. Yet. We are actually meeting with them later this week, so we'll see then what they really think.

Directly after meeting with Sara and Kathy, Elder Searle said we should visit this guy named Ishmael to see if we could set up an appointment with him. Ishmael was a referral of sorts from a member in the ward, and Ishmael has actually come to church a couple of times. So we walk over to his apartment and we knock on his door. When he answered he said to come inside. We asked if we could stop by to teach him some time and he said that right then would be as good a time as ever. So we taught him the Restoration as well and he loved it. He said he'd get baptized on the 23rd of this month if he found out for himself if it was true. Then directly after that we stopped by to see Jesus and Leah because we hadn't seen them for a while. We talked with them for a smidge and they told us that they are getting married on March 13, then Jesus will be baptized on the 16th! Thursday was super awesome. And to finish it off we had dinner with the Berrys. So it really was a good day.

Friday was kind of a joke. After our usual Weekly Planning session and good ol' lunch times we taught Jesus and Leah the Plan of Salvation. This time around they totally understood it. It has been awesome to see the change that has taken place in their lives since we first knocked in to them a few months ago. After that we were supposed to have interviews with President Godwin. That was the part that was a joke. Mine and my companion's interviews were supposed to be at 4 and 4:15. So we got to the Victorville stake center at 3:30 and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. It wasn't until about 6 that we got our interviews. Then we didn't get back to our area until 7. Ugh. The good thing about after that is that the Johnsons took us out to this amazing Italian restaurant for dinner, even though it was kinda late for dinner.

We did a bit of service on Saturday. We started off by cleaning the church. I got stuck with window duty. That is totally my favorite duty. Then about an hour after we finished cleaning we helped a family move into the ward. They weren't at church on Sunday, which I thought was a little odd, but they seem plenty nice. Not a lot else happened that day, actually. We did get taken to McDonald's for lunch because there are awesome members in the ward. We also got eat dinner with another one of my favorite families. so I was happy.

I wasn't too big of a fan of yesterday. Not a single one of our investigators showed up to church. There's always next week, right?

Well, that's about all I've got for you beautiful people. Keep on being awesome and blowing up clown balloons with laser beams from you eyes. Yes, I DO know about that. You thought you could keep it a secret from me? Haha!

Seriously though, have a good week.

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor