Happy 18 Months Elder!! Love, Mom

How can it be? Is it really true?
That 18 months have passed, since last we saw you?
After getting dropped off at the MTC
Did you have any idea of all that would be?

It started in Phelan with Smith by your side
He taught you to work and put away your pride
Success was yours, as you followed the Spirit
And learned the Gospel and all that is in it

Then along came Pettegrew,
Who worked hard and worked strong
And taught you the value of getting along.

Next came the Valley, of Apples, that is
Where Jackson and Searle taught you to give
And where you created those Bunnies so sweet
Their color was purple and loved cabbage to eat.

 

Allen and you served those Tongans so big
In Rancho or course, that’s where you two lived.
It’s Rancho as well, where you worked hard with Pyne
Learning to serve well, in rain or in shine.

Next came some changes that few get to have
From ‘Dino to Redlands, your mission was halved.
President Godwin went home but it wasn’t for naught
Because then you were blessed with President Van Cott!

Alba was with you for the next few months
With a fun little layover with Hironymous.
San B may be humble, but things weren’t all bad
As a DL, there were lessons to be had.

 In Redlands was Saxton who is tall at six three!

And Barker, from Clinton, your awesome Greenie.
Still serving the district as their leader so bold
Not your favorite assignment, truth to be told

The Lord blesses those who do as He asks
And you and D. Bushman are companions at last!
Blessed to be Leaders of the Zone you are in
To teach and to love those serving therein

Six months now is all that you have left to go
Will it go fast or will it go slow?
Will you work hard or get trunky and stop?
It all depends on you and things that you want.

The choice will be yours, as it always is
To waste your time there or be about the Lord’s biz

Remember the scripture about how “few are chosen”

Now, my boy, Go and Be Golden!

To Know is to Know

I know you don't want to hear me speak, so that's why I'm writing this email.

Good news everyone! This week Elder Bushman and I found 2 new investigators! Can you believe it? About time, huh? Let's talk about that.

First I'll tell you a little about Austin. I'm not sure if you recall, but when I was companions with Elder Barker there was a guy who stopped us while we were walking down the street. He told us that he really wanted to meet with us. So time and time again we tried setting up meetings with Austin so we could sit down with him and talk Jesus. Well, for whatever reason the meetings never happened.

Elder Bushman and I just stopped by his house one day and set up an appointment with him. Guess what. It actually went through. We took Brad, a young man from the ward who's going on a mission to Ukraine on the 4th, with us to our lesson with Austin. What's kinda cool is that Austin already knows a lot about the Church and most of it is actually true. So we just kind of answered his questions. We're going to meet with him again probably tomorrow.

Our other new investigator is a pretty cool guy named Clyde. I've written home before about Rachel, and Clyde is Rachel's boyfriend. So we've known Clyde for quite a while,  but never actually taught him. We finally had time where we got to sit down and teach him a little bit. So it was way cool to pick him up as an investigator. The sad thing, though, is that now he is in jail. Maybe for 6 months, so who knows what's going to happen with him? If we see him I will be sure to let you know all about it.

Quick side-note. On Wednesday the Reichmanns took Elder Bushman and me to Café Rio for dinner. Totally worth mentioning.

Saturday was pretty neat. We got a call on Thursday from a man from the Palm Desert stake asking if we could have a young man spend Friday night to Saturday night with us. Of course we said yes. So we had Gabe with us for a whole day. We was a pretty nice guy. A senior at some high school in the desert. It was cool to be able to show somebody what it's like to be a missionary.

Other than that things are still going smooth as ever. Every day is a blast. Elder Bushman is helping me be a better missionary. He and I just have fun and get missionary work done. Every week this transfer our number of lessons has gone up. Life is just jim-dandy.

Have a good week, my friends!

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



Gabe with Elder Bushman and Me. That was a fun day



 Some random toys and stuff I've picked up along the way of my mission.
A gorilla and an alien riding a freaking T-rex. It's good stuff



A Shiny Glass Window

There are times on a mission where the missionary must stretch himself. No longer can he sit complacently hoping that the same old thing will get him through this "rough patch." When his regular resources are exhausted, what should the missionary do?

I have actually really been enjoying myself these past few days. It's official that Elder Bushman and I don't have any investigators to teach. Not by any fault of our own, it's just that the people we were teaching decided that they didn't want to be taught any more. I still love those people. I just wish that they understood the importance of what it is that I want to share with them. Hopefully some day those wonderful individuals remember the feelings they felt and investigate once again some day.

There have been some interesting things these past handful of days. First off, my companion and I have been really trying to visit those members in the ward that are in our area. So far it has proven to be useful. There are a couple of less-active families that people in the ward said that we would probably never get in to see. Well, thanks to a lot of factors we have actually been seeing these families a few times. It's really cool. They actually invite us in and we are able to have lessons with them. It's really great. I enjoy getting to know these people.

How often do ya'll watch Mormon Messages? How often do you share them on Facebook or with friends of yours? I love Mormon Messages. If you haven't seen them, look them up on Youtube. Recently Elder Bushman and I have been sharing one of those videos with the members in our ward. It's the video entitled "Your Potential." We've been applying to these members' lives and quite a few of them have been letting us know of the missionary opportunities that they've been having in their lives and the friends that they want to share the gospel with. I love seeing all of these people have these events and desires. It is really great.

On Saturday we had the first Mission Conference I've ever been to. Every missionary in the Redlands mission met together to be trained by President Van Cott, his counselors and Elder Hiam, the Area Authority over this part of California. It was great to receive council and direction from these people. It was also really cool to see how many missionaries I did not know in this mission. It seems like any missionary I had become friends with is either home or in the Rancho Cucamonga mission. It was really cool to see my old companions, too. Like Elders Alba, Saxton, Barker and Hironymous.

Yesterday was nice as well. I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. That was only the second time since I've been out. The last time I did that was in Phelan! Last August. How strange? The poor thing about speaking was that I've had a cold this past week, and my voice wasn't working as well as it should have been. So my voice was cracking and such most of the time, but other than that my talk went pretty well.

Thanks again for all the support I get from all of you! Keep up the good work.


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

 

Elder Bushman holding Brad's chicken




Me holding Brad's chicken





Elder Bushman holding A TON of pumpkins



Sage Boxes. Yup, you can now order me through the internet and get me shipped right to your door step!

Your Potential, Your Privileges - Mormon Message

Service, Service, Service

I'd really like to just let all of you know that my mission is awesome. Yup. You heard it. This past week with Elder Bushman has been legiticus.

I'm looking over at my companion's computer screen, and he's written a freaking novel about this past week. I will be a lot more brief. 

As the title of this letter suggests, we did a lot of service in the past week. If you will recall we helped set up some pretty elaborate Halloween decorations for some families here in Redlands. Well, wouldn't you know it, they needed them taken down as well. So we helped with that as well. It was actually a good time. We spent parts of 2 days helping take down a maze and a pirate ship and a very convincing fake fence. It was really neat being able to get to know the families whose houses were decorated. They sure loved the missionaries after that experience.

We also had an awesome opportunity to serve food as part of the Redlands Extravaganza, which celebrated Redlands' 125th Anniversary. So pretty much I just stood behind a table and gave people a roll to put beef on for a couple of hours. If nothing else, it was a great way for people in Redlands to see missionaries. 

In the work department, it is a lot easier to get stuff done with a Chevy Cruze! For example, yesterday before church we went to see all of the investigators and so forth that we've been working with to invite them to church. Without that we wouldn't have had Latisha come. Already I'm seeing all the blessing that you get when you serve in a car area. I know I've served in two before, but I love it.

Speaking of Latisha, our investigator, she has a baptism date set forNovember 30. I'm hoping that she will prepare herself to be baptized that day. That would be stellar!

Elder Bushman and I had a pretty neat experience the other day. We stopped by the house of a couple of investigators, Rachel and Clyde. They don't have electricity and water for whatever reason, so we met in their house for about an hour with candle light. They've been going through some rough times and we told them that accepting the gospel will change things. We then asked Clyde to pray  and he prayed for a good 8 minutes. It was really neat.

Directly after that we were getting ready to leave, so we jumped in the car and this other car pulled in front of us and backed up so that we could leave by pulling forward. It ended up being a woman that we've talked to a handful of times and she saw us and she said that God led her here. I guess she really wants to meet with us. Hopefully some time soon.

Well, good evening, gents. I hope you have enjoyed Storytime Theatre.

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor