A Few Short Words

Car.

By.

Bird.

Is.

Get it? A few short words? Haha... Anyway.

Not a whole lot of things happened this past week, unfortunately. Obviously, and most importantly, Elder Bushman left Redlands on Wednesday and I got Elder Hevner as my companion. Yup, that makes four companions in one area. Pretty much unheard of. I just love the Pioneer ward so much that I don't care how many companions I have here.

We did find a new investigator this week! Her name is Natie and she's pretty cool. She's somebody who is honestly looking to grow closer to Jesus Christ. One of our recent converts, Elizabeth, is on fire when it comes to missionary work. She's always trying to find more people to bring in to the gospel, and that's how we were introduced to Natie. Hopefully she will be progressing soon!

Other than that, it's just been great staying here. I'm actually pretty used to showing a new companion around the area now that it just seems natural to do. I really like Redlands.

Well, loyal fan club, (is it okay that I call you that? It's been a while) enjoy this upcoming week. Because you can bet that I will! 

-- 

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

The last few photos with Elder Bushman.

A freaking HUGE pizza. Really delicious too

To Some it Might be Strange

It's not often I have quite a bit of time to write a big ol' email to all of you! It's kind of nice, actually. So I'll take this opportunity right now.

This Tuesday, like every Tuesday after the first Thursday of the month, was zone meeting! Being a zone leader is way better than a district leader, if not for any reason but you have to train during a meeting only once a month, compared to once a week. Party bonus! Elder Bushman and I trained on Companion Study, which took a lot longer than we were anticipating. Then we had the two Sister Training Leaders in the zone give a training on asking inspired questions. It went pretty well.

That day we also had our weekly Book of Mormon study. The only person that has been consistent in attending that is Donnie, a recent convert in the ward. That class is great, we hold it at a member's house and then we read from the Book of Mormon. It's super cool being able to talk about it and learn from each other. It, so far, has been one of the best ways to read the Book. I think tomorrow we are going to finish 1 Nephi. Good stuff!

There was a part of the day on Wednesday that was kind of a joke. When my companion and I got the Cruze we have it was jim dandy. After a week or something like that we had to fill the front left tire with air. Then a few weeks later we had to do it again. This last time instead of just filling it with air we were told to take it to the Chevy dealership. We waited in some seats in the sun for about 2.5 hours while we were waiting for them to patch up a hole that a nail had made in the tire. That was kinda silly. But now our car is all fixed, so it's wonderful. And they gave us a free car wash, so what am I complaining about?

There was one day this week that was such a bummer! Elder Bushman and I had a handful of lessons lined up. We were excited to have a good day. As the day went on we had appointment after appointment cancel on us. That was pretty hard, because even the people we had chosen to visit as back-ups weren't home. So by the time dinner rolled around we weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. But we kept on trucking. After dinner, though, we did have a lesson with a less-active woman happen. So it was a good thing to end on a good note.

Trying to meet with investigators is always a hassle. There are a few of them that we set up tons of appointments, but they always cancel them. We did have one lesson with an investigator name Lucas. He only had 30 minutes and actually timed it, so we only taught about the Pre-Earth Life and mostly just talked the rest of it. Lucas is really cool. Definitely one of the coolest people I've taught.

If you have any questions or comments or words of encouragement and advice, feel free to email me! I would most indubitably enjoy that. Or write me. Both my email and mission office addresses are on my blog. Pleas take advantage of that!

Enjoy your week, ya'll!

-- 

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

Elder Browning and Me. Elder Browning goes home next week. ): He was in my first district, my district leader at one point, and served as the Zone Leader of the other Redlands zone.

Elder Summerhays holding all of the plastic bottles that we recycled today! We $28 for it.

Redlands: The Best

A couple of really good things happened this week. While I was on exchanges with Elder Maynes we were able to teach one investigator who is super hard to meet with. Her name is Jeannie. She's was a former who in all honesty is ready to be baptized if she just comes to church. We committed her to come this upcoming Sunday. She doesn't have an excuse yet, so I'm sure hoping she comes.

Another thing I think is amazing is that our investigator, Lucas, who has a hard time believing in Christ, is asking us to come meet with him and he wants us to give him commitments. Especially ones that involve writing. He's a writer and prefers to write things. He says that will help him out better than other ways. So I think that's a pretty cool way to leave commitments.

New Year's Eve was pretty sweet. The Rich family had us over and we did some fondue. That was some good stuff. Tons of fun. It was also really nice going to bed at 10:30. Kind of weird that I've done that now for 2 New Years in a row.

Missionary life is as good as usual. I hope your regular life is as sweet as my missionary life. Honestly, missionary life is hard to beat. Good luck with that!

--

Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor