Now Go, And Be Golden: 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.

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