When it Comes Down to It

You want to know what's awesome? Redlands is awesome!

Let's start off with some good news. Our investigator named John, who Elder Summerhays and Elder Treanor were originally working with, came to church yesterday, on his own accord! We forgot to invite him and he brought himself to church. It was great! John also told us that he does want to be baptized, but first he needs to make some changes.

Here's some bummer news. Another investigator, Rudy, who we had high hopes for, dropped us a couple of days ago. He talked to his pastor from The Door and he more or less guilt tripped him in to going back to that church. Which is kinda weird because Rudy doesn't like that church. But, oh well, if that's what he feels like he need to do, who am I to stop him? We'll see him in a couple of weeks and see how he is.

The work is always progressing. I love love love serving in this ward. It's really cool to be able to go to nearly any house in the ward and actually have an already built relationship with the people. It makes everything so much nicer. I love not having to learn new people all the time.

Here's something wacky. On Saturday night we were near the church and we needed to stop to use its facilities, and as we were parking our bikes a familiar face walked out of the building. It was Brother Mills from the Phelan ward! It was super strange seeing someone from Phelan in Redlands. Needless to say, it was good to see him.

Enjoy Taco Tuesday this week, okay?

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

Apostles are Cool

The highlight of this past week was most indubitably having Elder Neil L. Andersen come to speak to our and the Rancho Cucamonga mission. I got to drive us and our room mates to Rancho on Saturday so that we could have the mission conference. 

First of all, driving through my old areas in Rancho was pretty awesome. It's been quite some time since I've had the chance to go there. Second, it was really great being able to listen to an Apostle speak to us missionaries. Before he addressed us he asked all of us to come shake his hand. Definitely a privilege you don't get too frequently. He mostly talked about the Atonement and how it can help us. It was great. And third, since we were meeting with the Rancho Cucamonga mission I got to see Elder Grill for a little bit! He was one of the few missionaries I even knew from that mission. Totally an exceptional experience all the way around.

Then an added bonus is that Elder Andersen also came to have a stake conference in the Redlands stake. He also gave a great talk there.

Another thing of note from this past week is that it's definitely not winter. At all. And I'm on bike. Like, it's hot here. And I'm on bike. Elder Hevner and I bike to about the farthest part of our area and the people we wanted to see weren't home. Bummer. Since Elder Hevner was pretty tired we just sat on their front porch for a while while he rested. Yup. California gets hot.

Yesterday I really got to see how phenomenal it is to have a member go with you to lessons with investigators. There's this investigator named Lucas that I've been meeting with for a while and normally when we talk with him the conversation doesn't go too much into the spiritual side because Lucas has knack of getting off topic super easy. We set something up with him for yesterday and since it was right after a meeting with the ward, we asked one of the ward missionaries to go with us.

The lesson was completely different than any other meeting with Lucas. He was so happy to have someone there and actually asked us why we hadn't brought him along sooner. It was great to stay mostly on topic as well. Proof that missionary work is better when members and missionaries work together. 

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Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

A Shift in the Force

Let me apologize now for the shortness of this email. It will be mildly lame because of that.

So this past week was quite the change for me. When Elder Summerhays and Elder Treanor moved out, Elder Vanmeeteran and Elder Reber moved in. They are the Spanish elders covering pretty much our ward and a little more. They both are some great elders. No complaints yet.

Like I said last week, we were getting sisters in the ward, and now we do. Sister Lee and Sister Jones are both really good missionaries. I was expecting some stuck up missionaries with no senses of humor, but I was wrong. They are like the least-lame sisters I know. They also seem to be making a positive influence in the ward already. I think this is going to be a good transfers.

Being on bike is also not bad. Our ward really isn't that big, so it's really not too bad to bike. Also, Elder Hevner is noticeably happier now that we're biking around, so there really isn't anything bad about this transfer.

Well, my friends, have a good week. Maybe read some Where's Waldo? books while you're at it. Man, I love those books.

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

Let Me Spin You a Yarn

First and foremost I desire to tell all of you that I am staying in Redlands for 6 (hopefully 12) more weeks. I'm still going to be companions with Elder Hevner. The curveball is that Elder Summerhays and Elder Treanor are both getting transferred and being replaced by Sisters. That's going to be different for sure. You will most definitely be updated in a week's time.

Second and next most Elder Neil L. Andersen is going to be visiting the Redlands and Rancho Cucamonga missions on the 15th of this month. That means that the Redlands mission gets to go to the Rancho mission office and be blessed to hear from an Apostle. I'm excited. And to top it off Elder Andersen is going to visit the Redlands stake on the 16th, so I get to hear from him two days in a row! It will be great!

It was raining like goats and chickens this past week. It was super fun to drive around in. Remember how I sent you a picture of Elder Barker in the rain? This time it was worse! But it was so much fun. The down-side though, was that I was sick this week as well, which really wasn't fun. Members were telling me to go get some rest and so I did. It wasn't the best, but after I slept I felt so much better.

Now I'll tell you something weird about me. This past week I've been talking and moving a lot in my sleep. One night I threw my pillow at my companions and woke him up, but I don't remember it. Another night I yelled a short yell and woke up Elder Hevner. Last night I was talking in my sleep and I was doing missionary work and asking how somebody who hadn't been to church in a long time enjoyed it. There's a little insight into the strange world of Elder Taylor.

We were supposed to have a couple of investigators come to church yesterday, but they didn't. Bummer, right? But we did have two member present lessons this past week, which is kind of a lot for us. We doubled our usual amount. We still be teaching folks and enjoying missionary work. It's the best!

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Now go, and be Golden,

Elder R. Sage Taylor

Elder Hevner, Brother Schmeidel, the guy from Yucaipa we had with us for a day, and me!

A pretty cool Rubik's cube pattern, I guess.

Pretty clouds!