A Little San B Miracle

Probably you just read the title. Probably you're wondering what the miracle is. Probably I'm going to tell you. Maybe I'm not. But why, then, would I mention the miracle if I wasn't going to tell you about it? Maybe just to keep you on your seat. Maybe to make you contemplate what you think to be a miracle or not. Well, let me tell you. It was a miracle.

 

Some background first: Our wonderful mission president, President Godwin, had made a goal for 350 baptisms by July 1st. That time is almost here. I have yet to contribute any number of baptisms except zero to this goal. I was really bummed that it was looking like there was no way for me to help fulfill this goal. It was just that none of my investigators were even close to the requirements for baptism by the time our deadline was up.

 

Now, the day was Wednesday. The time, 4:30 pm. Elder Alba and I receieved a referral for this woman named Sulema throught text message. Normally when I receive a referral in such a manner I prefer to visit this house first to make contact, rather than call them on the phone. This time was different. I immediately called this woman up and set up a time to meet with her the next day.

 

So the next day happens. It is now 10:00 am. We meet with Sulema and she tells us that she has been taught all of the missionary lessons and has already been to Church multiple times. So pretty much the only thing we have to do is actually baptize her. What a miracle! We set a baptism date of the 30th of June. Really the last possible day to baptize somebody in this mission. So this way I will now contribute maybe the last baptism the San Bernardino mission will ever have. How cool is that?

 

Other than that, though, there just isn't too much to inform you about. The other lessons that were taught to investigators this week were actually when I was on exchanges in the San B 4th ward, so I wasn't even present for the actual teaching. Egh. It is what it is.

 

Transfers are tomorrow. That's super weird! I don't even know if I will be transferred or not. I don't know if I'm going to be in the Rancho Cucamonga mission or the Redlands mission. It's all up in the air as of now. Exciting things!

 

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer time festivities, because I know that I sure will! Luv ya <30

-- 

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

The "GREAT" San Bernardino Valley

 The California Redlands Mission building isn't too far from the library. I had to get some good pictures

Brother Phil Timoteo, a two week missionary from Victorville. He was in my district for those two weeks. I went on exchanges with him and Elder Wellisch. Timoteo was a stud!

 I got Sage Rd. so here's Taylor Rd. Now all I need is Russell

How do you say "Bernardino"?

I can not believe that it is already Week 6, the last week of the transfer! I feel like I got here to San B like two whole days ago. I've already been here over a month! It is amazing how time flies.

Pretty much missionary work is tough. I don't care what anyone says, it is hard. To paraphrase Elder Jefferey R. Holland, he says ask why aren't there more people just flocking to the font? Why isn't the hazard in the mission field that of pneumonia? Just being soaking wet from standing all day and all not in the baptismal font. He says that he believes it is because salvation was never a cheap experience. It was never easy for Christ, so why should it ever be easy for us? That is why I am not saddened when things aren't as booming as I hope and that I don't have too many people to teach.

Here is some alright news for ya'll. I told you about Faye last week. Well, she came back to church yesterday! It was awesome. She loved all of it. She is so funny to sit by at church. Faye yells out "Amen!" and "Praise Jesus!" all the time. It is so classic! I'm not sure how much she understands that out church is different from any other church out there, but as for now she's enjoying herself. We are meeting with her again this Wednesday. I'm not sure how well that's going to work because she sure likes to talk. I'll make sure to let you know. Actually, I won't be a part of it. I'm going to be in the San B 4th ward that day on exchanges. Hopefully it will still go well!

Elder Alba and I also just picked up a new investigator, but I actually haven't met him. I was on exchanges in the YSA ward that with my zone leader Elder Marriot. Our new investigator's name is Manuel. I don't know anything about him except he works in Ontario, which is a good 30 minute drive away. That's not in Canada by the way. It is in California.

Man, I have been on SO many exchanges this past month it is nuts. It kind of stinks being the district leader because I've got 4 elders in my district, and zone leaders that I need to go on exchanges once a month, so at least once a week I'm with a different missionary in either my area or his. It gets tedious some times.

I was with Elder Harrison on Saturday. He, like my companion, is waiting for his visa to go to Brazil. He's a pretty cool guy. We spent all day long trying to contact referrals and trying to meet with all of our investigators. We only ended up talking to one guy and his family. They were pretty nice and said that we could come back and teach him and his family. They'd been taught by missionaries before, so this might be good.

A week from tomorrow is transfers! But this time around nobody will know if they are being transferred or not, but will be acting as if they will be. I have no idea what's in store for me. Whether I stay of go I will be happy.

Thanks for everything, dearest friends and family!

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

To Whom it may Concern:

Do you ever get that feeling that you want to say something but you're just not sure what it is? That's kind of the feeling I have right now. I wish I could tell you of all the wonderful miracles that have been happening here in the San Bernardino 1st Ward, but that many things just aren't happening. Some pretty neat events have taken place, but the work side of things is seriously lacking.

Last Tuesday I trained in yet another District meeting. I felt like I was beating a dead horse. As a good District leader I planned out my trainings for a while and prepared to teach them. I found out a little bit before District meeting started that we were going to be meeting as a zone for a little while. Guess what? The Zone leaders trained on exactly what I had planned on, which was Sacrament Meeting attendance, for 30-45 minutes. Then I had the opportunity to pretty much teach the same thing, but different. I felt kinda dumb making 7 other Elders sit through the same thing they just listened to again. But tomorrow is Zone Meeting, so I don't have to plan for anything! Haha.

Wednesday was pretty great. I got to go on exchanges with Elder Escamilla in to his area for the day. It was a great day! We had service planned, which was helping to roof a building at a local park that got broken into. I enjoyed it. I had never roofed something before. Now it looks pretty good. After that we had a "finding" activity. The youth in the SB 4th ward were supposed to bring non-member or less-active friends to play sports at the church building. We sure played sports, but the only person who wasn't an active member that showed up was the investigator that we walked with to the activity. It was still super fun! I hadn't been around young people for a few weeks and this was totally awesome.

Right after that we had a church tour with that investigator, named Krissa. She is probably the most prepared individual I have ever met, who is ready to accept the Gospel in her life. We just showed her the chapel, the baptismal font, and the Gospel Principles class room and she was just eating it up. She mentioned time and time again how excited she was that she was getting baptized and that she knew the Church was true. It was legendary.

I'm not sure what happened Thursday. Not too much I'm sure. Otherwise it might be worth mentioning.

Friday night was pretty fun. There's this baseball team in San Bernardino called the Inland Empire 66ers. They had a "Mormon Night" on Friday. It just meant that Mormons get cheap tickets and that the Redlands Stake Youth Choir sang the National Anthem. And us missionaries also got to go! It was so much fun! Our ward mission leader, Brother Williams, took us down there, and we actually got free tickets. It was great to be able to just sit and watch a sporting event. The 66ers lost, but the opposing team was the High Desert Mavericks, which is also in our mission, so I didn't mind that much. I was just glad to have a good time.

Yesterday was a very above average day. Before Church started (our ward starts at 1) we got a call from the Spanish Elders, whose Church starts at 9, letting us know there was a non-member wanting to attend Church that day. I was excited! We drove straight to the building, and sure enough, this woman named Faye was sitting in the chapel, all ready to be taught. Elder Alba and I went to go teach her something before church so that she could be an official investigator. We taught her, then she stayed for Sacrament meeting. Unfortunately a member in the ward who is sitting next to Faye said something to her that made her leave the chapel. Agh! The member feels totally bad about it, and wants to help fix it. We set up a time to meet with Faye on Wednesday, so hopefully we will still be able to meet with her and get this issue resolved.

Last night I went back to Phelan for a little while. It was absolutely awesome. The Chaffee's, who I've talked about a bit in past emails home, have a daughter who just turned 8. Eric Chaffee called President Godwin and got permission for me to go up to Phelan for his daughter's baptism. So Elder Alba and I got a ride with Eric's brother, who lives in San B, up to the High Desert. Since Elder Smith, my trainer, is serving in Phelan again, and he and I both play the ukulele, Eric asked if the both of us would play and sing some songs at the baptism. So we played "When I am Baptized" and "We'll Bring the World His Truth." It was so fun and we did pretty well. After that we went to the Chaffees' home to have some dinner and some good times with them. Both were certainly had.

That brings us to today. Earlier today Elders Alba, Barrus, Bird and myself all went bowling for the second week in a row. I did better than I normally do. Out of the 3 games we played my highest was 145. I also got a Turkey. That's what's up!

I'll be writing to all of you, my loyal fanbase, in a week's time. I love you all!


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

Understanding Poetry is like a Nice Glass of Milk

My, oh, my, how two weeks flies!

 

I'm not even sure where to begin! I'm not even sure what to tell you. These past two weeks have been really fun, and really not fun. My area here in San Bernardino, is such a frustrating area at times. We can find some people to teach, but only the one time. We schedule appointments with these new investigators, and then after that it is like they disappear from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. That's what has happened with the last 3 investigators we have found here.

 

This ward ain't much help either. The average age of the members here is probably 65. They never leave their houses and don't know anybody that isn't a member of the church just because they've lived in their house for the past 50 years and have never bothered to meet anybody. It is such a sluggish ward that it is starting to wear on me a bit. There certainly are some great people here, but they are few and far between.

 

Being District leader is certainly something new for me. I spent the first 11 months of my mission being junior companion, when all of a sudden I get to be a District leader and a trainer at the same time. Wow. I got the chance to train in my first ever District Meeting. It really wasn't that hard. Just get up, talk about each investigator, do some role plays, tell my district that when they put forth their effort the will be blessed. The usual stuff. I think it went well.

 

There is the really great guy that I got to meet this past week. His name is Norberto, and he hadn't been to Church for about a year or so. He contacted a bishop in another ward, who contacted his missionaries, who contacted us, so we would go visit him. He is such a stud. He talked a ton about how much he loves the Book of Mormon and how he knows it's true. Then on Sunday he came to Church and bore his testimony, which he said was the first time he'd ever done that. The guy is so solid, I just don't understand why he was never able to come to church before.

 

Even though it was been two weeks, there just isn't that much to tell you about. I'm still loving my mission. My companion, Elder Alba, is a stud. The apartments we live in are pretty ghetto compared to every other missionary apartment I've seen. I'm trying pretty hard to fulfill all of the different roles I've got right now. That is pretty tough to do. I'm excited that on Sunday I get to go to Phelan to attend a baptism. That will be legendary!

 

Here's some pretty strange news. This upcoming transfer nobody will know if they are going to be transferred or not. Every single missionary in the mission is going to pack up and act like they are being transferred. Nobody will know if they are being transferred until President Godwin or the assistant read it from the microphone. That is going to be pretty much crazy.

 

On Thursday my companion and I will be getting a third person. This will be a person who lives in the mission boundaries and will be serving with us for two weeks. It will certainly be something different. I'll be sure to let you know how it is next week.

 

I hope ya'll are doing well. Be sure to stay awesome!

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor