Elder Taylor Week 16

G'day again.

So this week we got the third member of our trio. His name is Elder Chynoweth, he hails from somewhere in southern Utah by Bryce Canyon. It's so cool being in a trio, especially with these two. Elder Navas has not stopped smiling for 2 seconds for the whole time we have been together.

My first day with Elder Navas we were riding to sunny bank to GQ and he ran into a pole. Then we were going up the last hill and we looked at his bike and it was just totally wrecked. The gears and everything. So he had an expensive fix. Then we got the news that the missionary Elder Chynoweth was supposed to train didn't get his visa, so I get two trainers pretty much.

We have finally started to teach some more lessons. The finding hours are paying off and we are getting some solid investigators. It's so cool to see the happiness it has already brought them.

It's crazy to see how fast the time flies by when you really work to achieve inspired goals. If you are always pushing yourself then you don't have time to bored or lazy.

Elder Fu had a birthday this week! So we got him a cool little Buddha doll and a cake.

We had hot dogs from COSTCO last night at a member's house. It tasted like America.

I found out Elder Navas was a street dancer in the Philippines, we catch him practicing sometimes when he thinks we aren't looking.

Looking forward to next week and Zone Conference in a couple weeks! We are having an emphasis on teaching so I'm super pumped!

All is well at the old Sunny Bank bus stop! Love and miss you all!

Elder Taylor

Elders Elisara, Tribe, myself, and kishi
  

The mighty missionaries from EMP ward.

Week 15

Can you send this to my beloved followers? #computerprobs #thanksmom

Cheers

Sorry for the late email again, I'm just the new guy and I don't know what's going on yet. I had my first transfer in the field. I am going to miss Elder Tribe like crazy. He is now the new Chinese Training Leader! I think they thought we had too much fun together so they split us up. BUT my new companion is Elder Navas! I have only been with him for like an hour so I don't know much. He is from the Philippines and has like 3 months left. I'm super excited to start working with him.

Last P-day we went to an all you can eat Korean BBQ place. It's weird how they say all you can eat and then tell you stop eating.

I got a little taste of my days in Shenzhen the other day. We were at the bus stop and this old Chinese lady asked us to watch her purse. Then she went in the bushes to relieve herself.

Elder Tian has been learning how to whistle. He is very diligent.

Loving the mission! I am learning so much from all the other missionaries around me. The members here are great and the weather is awesome. Love Eight Mile Plains. 

Elder Tribe and I at the old bus stop.

Elder Navas!

Week 14 The Birthday Boy

Good evening,

I had a great birthday P-day last week. A member came to dinner with us and brought a fancy cake. Then we had a ward council thing and they brought in a cake. I was thinking "yes, two cakes", but the ward mission leader has the same birthday as me. That was a little weird.

We fasted to have a Fab (week) 5 and it payed off! We taught so many more lessons and found so many more potentials. It's such a testimony builder to see a witness after a trial of your faith.

Elder Tribe and I found this little pancake shop, so we have competitions to see who can get the most potentials. The winner gets a pancake. They have cheese and corn flavor and then a coconut and raisin one that is super good. So glad I have Elder Tribe to push me along and sing High School Musical with. He's also one of the only Mandarin Speakers that likes to play basketball, so we get to wake up a little early every morning and go play.

I had trade offs and went with Elder Lunt for a day! He's such a cool guy. We taught a couple solid lessons and got a lot of work done!

We went to my new favorite restaurant while I am away from Cane's. It's called Nando's and they pretty much just give you a whole chicken. It's the best.

Last night we had dinner at the Dean residence. They made us some steak and we had ice cream and custard for desert. After that we went to a family night with one of our investigators and played some fun games. It really helps build a lot of unity with not only the investigators but the ward. They get to see us doing something other than teaching lessons and talking with people at the bus stop.

We are hoping to have another great week! Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes!

Elder Taylor

This is Richard and his beautiful cake. Feat. Elder Tian

Birthday Dinner at our favorite Taiwanese place! Compliments of Elder Tribe. 

WEEK 13

Wasssup everybody!

I couldn't email Monday because our Pday got moved to Thursday so we could go to the temple. I got so many birthday emails and my brain is going crazy right now and I can't remember anything about the past two weeks.

Elder Tribe woke up at 12 to be the first to wish my happy birthday, he makes my heart melt. Then I woke up to Elder Tian telling my Happy Birthday from like 3 inches away from my face. So much love in our flat.

Last week we had our District Meeting with President Henderson. He gives the best trainings. It was about asking inspired questions and turning to the Book of Mormon for all of the investigators concerns. It has helped me so much this week! I feel like all of my leaders and Elder Tribe have helped me improve so much.

Yesterday we were meeting with a member at KFC because the office was full, and I saw this guy that I vaguely remembered talking to. He offered me a chicken wrap so I ate it. So that was one of the best parts of my week.

I was Gq'ing this girl at the bus stop and she a bug crawling on her face, but I thought it would be awkward if I told her so I just let it crawl around. Then it crawled inside of her glasses and she freaked out and it was a little funny and then her bus came.

That was Elder Tribe and Fu from a while ago, I didn't take a lot of pictures this week.

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Elder Tian and Elder Fu in District Meeting. 

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Thank you for all of the Birthday wishes! Love you all!

"If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten."

Elder Taylor

Week 12

cheerio,

Another great week at the old bus stop.

Saturday was pouring rain and we weren't too pumped to go contacting, but then Elder Tribe got super excited about it, and then I got excited about it, and then we threw on some trash bags and had the best day ever. Attitude is everything.

The rain was a blessing because we have them trapped under the umbrella and they have to listen to us, and every sees us doing service. So we love the rain! I'm beginning to learn how to love to talk to people, which is a huge blessing because that's mostly all we have been doing.

I ran into Ray Liu or something, he was baptized by Christian Youse i think. Cool connection?

We had stake conference and President Henderson had a few remarks. It was a good time.

Elder Tian in my flat has the craziest foods. The latest is corn flakes with ketchup and chili sauce. He told me it tastes like chips with ketchup. He eats SO much bread. It's insane.

Last week I failed to mention that we got locked out of our flat. Elder Tribe lifted me up and then I stepped on his face and we got in.

Great week! Missions are life changing!

Elder Taylor

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Week 11

Cheers,

 

I apologize, no pictures this week. Elder Tribe and I have some juicy ones to come though. The big event of this week was Golden Orientation. We stayed the night at a hotel and had heaps of training from President and Sister Henderson. Elder Chase Hansen took us through the 'perfect morning' routine and showed us how it's done.

 

We had an awesome member dinner at the Andrew's residence last night. They really enjoy their pumpkin here.

 

Elder Tribe is still just the best companion I'm ever going to have. I'm getting super spoiled this transfer.

 

We are having zone pday today, so we can't wait for that!

 

I feel like there is so much more to talk about but I can't remember anything.

 

Thanks for all the support! I love all of you guys! Missions are the greatest!

 

Elder Taylor

 

 

Aug.4

Chase Taylor	Aug 4
to me

Hey Mom!

 

Doing so well! Elder Tribe is my favorite! love it here. Ill send some pictures and what not. I didnt take too many. I saw elder hansen and everything. Im just loving it so much! 4 members in my apartment, love the guys. one chinese kid, one from england and then tribe and I. i cleaned the place up. Ride bike a lot. Had a great dinner last night. im in EMP eight mile plains. WE just started a new area so lots of GQing or street contacting. We wait by the bus and talk to the asians.

From Todd to the mission mom: 

Thanks Sister Henderson...this is great.

Our Elder Taylor really loves and looks up to his cousin, Elder Hansen.  I can picture that greeting and big hug.  Having him there is a comfort and confidence boost for our Chase.

I should tell you a quick story...when we visited Brisbane and the mission office back in March as a family, we attended church at the Kangaroo point building on Sunday.  There were 4 mandarin speaking elders there on that Sunday who we met.  One of the companionships had an investigator there and even pulled Chase, pre-Elder Taylor, into the lesson.  We were so impressed by the elders we met and the investigators and new members as well.  One missionary really stood out to us.  Jane and I were talking about him just the other day.  He latched onto to us and we latched onto him just in the few minutes we were together that Sunday....Guess which missionary it was?

Elder Tribe.  Isn't it great how The Lord works and how God loves and knows us individually?  Tell President he is doing a good job following the Spirit as he makes these important companionship assignments :)  It seems like an inspired choice of trainer.

Thanks for all you do, your sacrifice to be there and your loving and leading these fine missionaries and the work in NE Australia.

All the best,

Todd and Jane Taylor

He has arrived.

Dear Taylor Family,

We are delighted to report that your son, Elder Taylor, arrived safely at the mission home in Brisbane, Australia!  (It was especially fun to see our good assistant and your relative, Elder Hansen, greet him with a big hug).  Your son is an impressive man and filled with the missionary spirit; we are thrilled that he will be serving with us in this great mission.  We will be watching over him in all his labors while he is here.  Elder Taylor has an excellent trainer, Elder Tribe, and they will learn much serving together in the Eight Mile Plains Zone.  

You should be receiving an email each week from your missionary, and he should be receiving one from you as well.  Though they are immersed in the work, they do miss home, and a loving letter from family is comforting and reassuring. We are grateful for your support of us and as an expression of our gratitude and appreciation, we have created a webpage for you to follow: australiabrisbanemission.com.  We will post pictures of our missionaries and will do our best to capture all that is happening in our mission; especially the missionaries' joys and successes as they labor in the Lord’s vineyard. As they email us pictures of their baptisms, we will post those as well.

We are so happy and humbled to be able to serve the Lord along with your son, Elder Taylor.  Great blessings are in store for not only your missionary, but family at home as well.  We know that you will experience marvelous blessings as you support your son while he serves the Lord honorably and obediently on his mission.  We pray for the Lord's blessings upon you, your missionary and his other loved ones.

Love,

President & Sister Henderson: Australia Brisbane Mission

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Week 9

Ni hao,

So I'm leaving to Australia in 2 hours! Couldn't be more excited. We had an awesome last week. I packed up my notebook and everything so I don't have any of the good stuff. 

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Yesterday our district had a musical number in front of the whole zone, which is packed with Mandarin speakers now. Yes, I participated. There was even a part where it was just me and Elder Andelin and like 3 other girls. I'm super pumped about that cause I would have never done that in a million years. 

We had in-field orientation and this Elder did all the Phineas and Ferb voices. That was cool. They pretty much just got us pumped to get out and taught us how to plan and work with members. 

We had our last district devotional yesterday and the Elders gave the Sisters blessings and it was super spiritual and awesome to be able to do that. We've been with each other for like 8 hours a day the past 9 weeks so it's sad to see everyone go to Taiwan (except Sister Aldous, she is going to Boston until her visa gets here).

Speaking of visas... I have no clue how in the world I got my visa on time. It's one of the biggest tender mercies I have seen. I turned it in like 4 weeks ago and they usually take like 3 months to get. So thank you for all of the prayers!

I can't wait to go speak some Chinese and spread the gospel!

Thanks for all the support!

Elder Taylor

Pictures: 

Sorry, this one is a little scandalous, don't mind Elder Young.

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Elder Perkins, my homie. 

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On his way to Brisbane!

One of Brooke's friends saw Chase at the airport and sent this to her...bless her! 

We haven't heard anything from him yet, but know his flight landed safely.

Heading to Australia!

flight around 6pm. leave salt lake to la. then la leaves at 1145. i will call around then.

CHASE MISSION ADDRESS

Australia Brisbane Mission PO Box 348 Hamilton, QLD  4007 Australia

Week 8

Howdy

The flight plans have arrived! We should leave on May 28th for Brisbane! I asked for an update on my visa and they said that if I don't hear anything, then it's good news. So I hope I don't hear anything. I saw Ally's friend Shaley Sato in the cafeteria and I guess we are on the same flight to Brisbane! I'm kind of sad to be leaving though. I love having all the other missionaries around and the sick devotionals twice a week. 

Not too many new arrivals that I knew this week. Alema Stone is the only one I can think of. I did get to talk to my buddy Payton Dastrup for a few minutes in the medical office.

Our district had the special opportunity to have a catholic priest come talk to us and see how we learn and whatnot. He was a funny guy. He asked how to say the church's name on my tag and then I forgot every Chinese word I ever learned. So I just mumbled something. It's not like he can tell the difference anyways. 

Since the gym is closed we have to go outside every morning for gym time, and it was horrible because all the volleyball games would have so many people. But this past week  we've been able to play two on two and it's probably been the highlight of my whole mission. It's so much fun. We play with Elder Okensen from China and my roomie Elder Andelin and then another kid. Super fun. 

I've been blessed with the best aunts (and Mom) in the world. I get all these super cool packages like every other day. Aunt Lizzie sent a hug bag full of chips and queso. My district is convinced it's manna from heaven. And i got this sick belt from aunt heather a couple weeks ago.

Sorry, not a ton of pictures this week. More queso.

Week Seven

Hey y'all,

So just an update on the visa and whatnot. The Medical was sent off last week, and I'm one of the first ones they have done electronically so they don't know exactly how long it will take. The rest of my district should be leaving the 28th though! Everyone is super excited. Last Monday we cleaned the temple again. Fun fact for ya, it has 28 bathrooms and we cleaned all of them. After the temple we skyped this member from Taiwan for TRC and it was very humbling. On Tuesday Elder Andersen came to speak to us, I forgot my notebook in the classroom, but I'm pretty sure it was an awesome devotional. I read this talk called the 4th missionary. It changed my whole outlook on the mission. I don't think it's an actual talk, but it's from a mission president or something. It just talks about giving up our own will for the Lord's will. It's like 25 pages long. There is an Elder Christensen that came in this week and I guess his sister is with Ally in Sweden, so that's cool. Yesterday we had a devotional in the Marriott center by Richard I. Heaton. He talked a lot about charity and how important it is to teach by the spirit. That's all I have to say about that. 

The first picture features my name tag in characters. The next is Elder Reading and me, with a can of Vienna sausages. 

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Week six

Ni Howdy,

Super cool week at the MTC. So, we were hosting again, and I'm waiting for the car to pull up and I saw Brent Collier in the passenger seat! The other new arrivals are Gabe Smith, Hansen Williams, Andrew Bartholomew (?), and Kelly Martindale! I love seeing how happy all the guys are here. Last P-day we got to clean the temple. I thought they would have us vacuum or something, but we went up to the celestial room and started tearing out the carpet and scraping the floors, so that was a fun 3 hours. So for TRC there is usually a member in the room that you share a message with. When we looked through the door this week there we two guys, and one of them was not a member! So we got to teach an actual investigator in Chinese! Such a cool experience. And yesterday during testimony meeting i was able to bear testimony in Chinese without thinking about what to say beforehand, which is such a confidence builder. I think that all of the Medical checks I did in China were for nothing because they are having me re-do it all here, but it was fun to run through all those Chinese hospitals, (right Mom?). There is no word on my Australian Visa yet, so we are praying that it gets here on time. 

Ever since Aunt Pam sent me those chips and queso my whole district has been craving it everyday, so we announced Thursday chips and queso day. The 4th of July here was super awesome. We had a couple musical numbers, and then a little devotional. After that they had us watch 17 miracles. Then we went outside to get ice cream and watch the fireworks! Just a great week overall! I miss you all!

Happy Birthday Boston, love ya kid. 

Elder Taylor

My sick 4th of July outfit. 

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Week five

Hey y'all,

So for the big Tuesday devotional we had D. Todd Christofferson come and speak about charity and the worth of souls. It was a crazy good talk. The highlight of the week was probably "Hosting" the new missionaries! It's so cool to hear all of their stories and get them started off on the right foot. As i was finishing up hosting one Elder, I walked passed Spencer Murphy! So good to see him! I also saw Taylor Slade and Michael Pace from Mountain View! 

So I just wrote down notes of all the cool stuff that happened to me this week. Here they are:

We were coming back from the district sand volleyball game and Elder Reading wanted to run down this hill like on "The Sound of Music". So he starts sprinting down the hill and then just eats it in front of everyone. It was super funny and he pulled it off like a champ. 

The missionary name tags make a sweet kazoo noise. 

We were sitting outside and then a bird pooped on Sister Grahams paper, i guess it was a warning shot because like 2 hours later she got bird poop on her arm. 

One of the newer Elders with the crazy accent has the funniest quotes. We were coming back from gym and said something along the lines of "It's hotter than a popcorn fart out here."

Elder Andelin left some milk in the room for like 2 weeks and it got super nasty and gross. We showed this kid and he started dry heaving. 

We get like half and hour extra to prepare on Thursdays because our service leader guy lets us go when we are finish early instead of sending us somewhere else. So when we get back we can take triple showers. We stand in the middle shower and turn the side showers so the water goes into the middle stall and it's super nice. 

We set a goal to speak no English for Thursday and Friday of last week. It was so difficult haha. But it helped us a ton and it was super cool to see how much chinese we know. 

I was sitting down for the devotional last night and Cannon Cowley came over to say hello! Is it bad that i was glad he had visa issues? He looks like he is doing so well! I only got to see him for like 2 seconds and then i think he went off to west campus. 

And a big shout out to Momma, Sister Meinzer, and Aunt Pam for the packages!

Sister Meinzer, the cookies were amazing! Elder Meinzer is doing awesome as well! It's so good to see him around!

Aunt Pam, the whole thing of chips and queso was gone in like a second, it was soooo good! I'm so excited to see Chase in Australia!

I'm halfway done with the MTC! Still loving it! our lessons are getting better everyday! Another District is leaving tomorrow, so that makes us the oldest Mandarin group, which is super awesome. 

That is all.

Elder Taylor

(The nasty milk in our room)

(The super delicious queso we ate from Aunt Pam)

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(My favorite Elder, Elder Andelin) 

Week four

Well hello again, 

I just had another great week at the MTC! All the new mission presidents are here and there is a rumor going around that President Monson will be speaking to us tomorrow. So we are all super pumped for that! Janice Kapp Perry came and gave the devotional last night and it was the most exciting devotional we have had here. She sang a family song and some new lyrics to As Sisters in Zion. Her husband was really fun as well. For Pday we had another Zone sand volleyball game and that was a blast. The district that left last week passed us down a ton of nerf guns so we had a crazy war with Elder Salazar and his zone. I saw McKay Meinzer! One of best buddies from Utah! He's doing great and learning some Russian I believe, so good luck to him. And i forgot to write about last week but i saw Yuri Burkinshaw  as well(I don't know how to spell his name). I'm so happy for all of my friends leaving. So I had a really cool experience at the temple this morning. We went to do an endowment session, and afterwards I said a prayer and got ready to go. Elder Reading was still praying so I was just looking around the room and I was prompted to go pick up the Book of Mormon. I opened up and started flipping to where I last read, but i got to Alma Chapter 29 and i got the strongest impression to just stop and read it. It answered almost all of the questions I had just asked in the prayer like 2 minutes before. It really strengthened my testimony on acting on the promptings i receive. I'm so grateful for the spirit that is not only at the temple, but at the MTC! Miss all you guys! 

I'm still working on making the pictures smaller.

That is Elder Larsen, who gave me the awesome tie.

Elder Reading and me after the sick Nerf war.

Elder Reading and me after the sick Nerf war.

week three

Howdy everybody!

Another great week at the MTC! My thoughts are scattered so this letter is going to be all over the place. So on Tuesday we had a devotional by Quentin L. Cook and he told us about not feeling capable and how important the spirit is in teaching investigators. The district above us leaves at 3am tomorrow morning. So sad to see them go, they are a super fun group of guys. I got a super sick nasty tie passed down to my by Elder Larsen. Ill take a picture tonight and put it up next week or something. On Saturday we had a TRC (I don't know what that stands for) where we teach an RM or a member or something about whatever they want. We got two ladies from Taiwan and one of them had a cut on her finger and asked us for a blessing. I'm so grateful that I had some experience giving blessings before that! Our Chinese is getting better and Elder Reading and I taught the best lesson ever a few days ago. I said the sacrament prayer in Mandarin so that was cool too. So Elder Otte in our zone likes to do crazy stuff with his food, this week it was Grape-milk and carrots in his Fanta. Yesterday morning for breakfast they took one bowl and then stacked it upside down over another bowl and put a spoon coming out so it looked like a turtle. Then they made another one and had a pokemon battle. He keeps us entertained. There is this kid from Logan in our district and he has the thickest cowboy accent, he is the funniest kid. We had a district sand volleyball game, that was a good time. Despite many choir practices, I still have the worst voice here! Oh yeah and I saw Todd Russell! I didn't know he was going to be here the same time as me. I'm getting really good at ironing shirts. They said they were wrinkle free, but they didn't mean it. I'm still having the best time ever here! 

The first picture is me with the rock that was handed down to us, the next is Elder Davis, Reading, and Otte doing some laundry. Sorry if the pictures are too big are something. 

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