If you knew, you would be happy

I figure I haven't told all you much about the people my companion, Elder Saxton, and I have been teaching. Before I get in to much else, I would love to tell you about these wonderful individuals first.
First I would love to tell you about Donnie. Donnie is an awesome investigator that Elder Saxton and his previous companion found a week or two before I got transferred in to the Redlands. I just came in and taught him most of the lessons and guess what. He's getting baptized this Sunday! How cool is that? The cool thing about teaching Donnie is that he already knows and believes all the things that we teach, so it's more just like telling him about it and him agreeing with us. Sunday will be legendary.

We've got these other investigators, a couple of girls named Kaitlyn and Olivia. They've been taught by the missionaries for almost a year now. They're mom is a member, but they don't come to church too often. The stinky thing is, is that they and their family are actually moving today. They're going to a different place in Redlands, so hopefully where ever they go they missionaries will be awesome and be able to help them.

Another person that we've actually been visiting with is a recent convert named Elizabeth. She and her husband were baptized in March, I think. The sad thing is that Elizabeth was diagnosed with cancer in January and she's just been battling it out for a while. She starts radiation here this next week. It's really cool going over to teach her because she is just a funny person. Pretty sarcastic.

There are other people that I've met and taught a stray lesson to here and there, but for the most part there's not other people that Elder Saxton and I have been consistently working with. We've got a few people who are pretty cool, so hopefully more will come out of us meeting with them.

So here are some highlights of the week. On Wednesday we had a Zone Conference. I actually really enjoyed this one. It was mostly about the nuts and bolts of missionary work and not entirely focused on the doctrine. It was mostly about how we can work with members more because that is the best way to do missionary work. It was also sweet because two of the other zones that showed up were the San Bernardino A and B zones, so that means that Elder Bushman and Elder Alba were there too. It was too legit to quit.

On Saturday the Chaffee family, some of my favorite people I've met out here in California, drove down to Redlands from Phelan to go to the temple and then take Elder Saxton and me to breakfast. It was so much fun! We went to Denny's and really just had a great time. It's really fun to see people from earlier in my mission.

Another day President Van Cott picked us up to interview my companion. We went to his house and after the interview was done we spent some time playing pool with him. It was awesome to spend some casual time with my mission president. I really enjoyed just having an informal conversation and what have ya with him. I'm glad he's my mission president.

Well there you have it, folks. The updated story on the life of Elder R, Sage Taylor.

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

The Blessing of Health

I feel like I've got to make up for last week. I didn't write too much, even though I guess most everybody seemed to enjoy the simpleness of it. I'll make sure to expound a wee bit more about my journeyings here in Redlands, California.

To start off, Redlands is actually the place I wanted to get transferred to. I thought it would be super cool to say that I served in Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino and Redlands. Three cities that have/had missions named after them. Now that I've got all three of them under my belt, I don't really have a care as to where I go, if I go.

My companion, Elder Saxton, is an awesome guy. He's 6' 3", which means he's the only companion I've had that is taller than me. He's been out for 7 whole months now and is from Midvale, Utah. He and I get along pretty well. We enjoy ourselves pretty much the whole day. 

I've got roommates now! I've only had that one time previous, in the Tongan ward as you may recall. Elder Summerhays and Elder Weaver are my roommates names. They cover the East half of the Pioneer Ward, while Elder Saxton and I cover the West half. It's kinda different splitting a ward, but so far it has been really neat.

The work here in the Pioneer Ward is actually pretty plentiful. On my half of the ward, anyhow. What's really neat is that the apartment that the 4 of us moved in to is right in the area of where all of our investigators are, so my companion and I usually just walk to all of our appointments. Woohoo!

This past week wasn't the best week ever, mostly just because Elder Saxton was sick and bedridden. He had a pretty gnarly cold or something, so he slept a lot. We still managed to do a little bit of missionary work, we taught a couple of investigators, but for the most part I was in the apartment. It could have been worse. I could have been the sick one. I'm glad that my companion is now feeling better.

Hopefully next week I will have a totally awesome story to share with all of you so that you will be totally shocked at how awesome the California Redlands mission is. Prepare to be amazed.

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

Poor Time Management

As the title suggests, I don't have really any time to write this email. Sorry that it's going to be brief.

Redlands is awesome! I am really like it here. My companion, Elder Saxton, is a really good guy and I think I'm going like being his companion.

We've got a bit of work going on in our area. Not a ton, but I like a challenge! 

I'll certainly write more next week. I'm really sorry this is short. I love you all!

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Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

My Last Week in San B

It's official. I'm getting transferred once again. To be honest, I'm actually pretty excited. I'm really not nervous like I normally am before getting transferred because this time I know exactly where I'm going and who my companion is. So here's the skinny: I'm getting transferred to the Pioneer Ward in Redlands. My companion's name is Elder Saxton. I'm stilling going to be District leader, and I've got a companionship of English elders, Spanish elders and a companionship of sisters. It looks like I'm going to have a fairly large district this next transfer. I'm way excited.

 

This past week could have been a lot better. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't something to write home about. Yet I will anyway. We didn't have much opportunity to teach people. We taught our awesome investigators, Mike and Tina, at our ward mission leader's house. I think they're ready to be baptized. We just need to actually invite them for them to do so.

 

I had a pretty good time on Friday. I got to go on exchanges with my zone leader, Elder Dean. We had a pretty good time in my area. We tried hitting up some old potential investigators. We had minimal success. We got to teach a lesson that day to a recent convert named Gio. He's a pretty cool guy. We also got some bomb pizza at this place called Golden Pizza. Elder Alba and I got pizza from there almost every Friday. I'm gonna miss Golden Pizza for sure.

 

Well, I've got to go get packing for transfers on Wednesday. You will totally be hearing how Redlands is in a week. I bet you can't wait, huh?

 

Stay awesome, my friends.

-- 

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor