Hey Mom,
i will prolly get your package on thurs. we have interviews with President then. mission office moved because they were renting a spot in an office area and they built an office for the mission in a chapel in vista. our ward is just felicita, named after a major road. i dont know how they decide to name wards. there is a vista 10th ward but here in escondido they name the wards after major roads in the areas.
i dont know if your missionaries have a rule about getting dressed when its raining but here President has asked us to be dressed for study.
first zone leader training was good. we ended up having a very short time which allowed us to just pull the major punches. it was pretty powerful. i got some pictures for you Mom but i really wont be able to send them this week either because we went to the temple this morning. i will do my best for next week but we are scrambling on p days.
the assistants to the Pres. are just that-- assistants. they help him with trainings and supervise the work. they have an area to work in but have hardly any time. i went on exchange with one after zone conference last week. he was my zone leader in oceanside and it was a good time.
so the highlights this week---- we found nine new investigators and set 4 baptismal dates amid 3 24 hour exchanges. it makes time go by alot faster when you are doing a million exchanges. we only have 2 to go this transfer. one of the new investigators named dave we had to give over to the singles ward elders but we had an awesome experience teaching him. he had no background in religion. we taught him at the Church building and had a great first lesson and set a baptismal date. on the way out he kept saying funny stuff like, "i should probably quit drinking, huh?" and "i should probably quit chasing crazy women, huh?" and "i should probably quit cursing, right?" it was funny to see him react and change to what we taught him. he made it to singles ward Church this week.
one of our other dates we have already dropped.
one is a guy named john who we get to keep. he lives alone because his wife recently left him and he drives trucks for Pepsi. we tracted into him and set a baptismal date on the first lesson as well. he is reading alot of the Book of Mormon and is progressing really well. he couldnt come to Church this week because of the super bowl he had to do alot of extra pepsi driving.
we also have been teaching a lady named Skip H**. she is 88 years old and she always jokes that they just gave her a renewed liscence for 5 more years. we set a date with her on the first lesson too. we originally came over because we offered to pull her weeds but when we came back she just wanted to be taught and told us that we could get the weeds later. (which we did.) she couldnt come to Church because she got way sick. keep her in your prayers. she is a fireball, she is really funny to see. the rest of our investigators arent doing anything too exciting.
temple this week was awesome. went to the san diego one this time. it is way cool. have a great week...
Ryan:
glad to hear that everyone is doing well. tell everyone that i said hi. my companion this time is from lindon. we will have to figure out how close you live together. ill ask him what ward he is from. i do enjoy being in a position of influence and getting to work with other missionary companionships. the major drawback for me is that we go on exchanges so often that it makes my head swim. it is kind of like doing an exchange with my companion every other day. it is interesting to see how the Church works on the stake level. (we cover two stakes) have a great week.
BJ and fam:
that is pretty exciting that #2 is coming up so soon. i saw some pics of Gabe that Mom sent me and he is getting bigger pretty quick. good luck with everything!
Candice and fam:
sounds like you guys need a break. good to hear that will is doing well. i look forward to meeting him. tell the kids i said hi.
Love your favorite missionary,
Elder Taylor Barron
3 comments:
I know it's been a little while since you have heard from me, but I have been thinking of you a lot lately! It just seems like lots of little things keep coming up that remind me of missionary work and thoughts of you pop into my head.
We were just in sunny CA. We took a vacation to Disneyland. It was so nice to get out of the Utah cold, and I even said to Kirk "This is what Taylor gets every day!" We had rain too, but we didn't care. It was a ton of fun, spent a whole 5 days in Disneyland and California Adventure. We just never seem to tire of the place!
Since getting back, it's been busy as usual. We've had our fair share of illness. Everyone is recovering from croup right now. We have our fair share of fun too.
Braden is almost done with a 6 week course of ski lessons. He's been loving that and it's been great. Kimmy will get her turn next year. He loves being a deacon and everything that comes with Young Mens. Didn't even complain a minute when he went and collected fast offerings this last fast sunday and was frozen to the bone when he came home! Braden is also stoked that Kirk just got called to the Young Mens Presidency. It will be fun for them to do that together. Kirk is excited about all of it except the camping part :-).
Kimmy and Marissa continue to enjoy their ballet lessons. Candice has been giving Kimmy and Ally some private ballet lessons on Saturdays and they love doing that together. Cute cousins! Both Kimmy and Marissa are super excited that I just got called back into the Primary Presidency. It was only a 2 1/2 year break, but I love Primary, so I'm very excited.
Tanner just turned 3. It's so hard for me to believe it. He LOVED his birthday this year. He kept talking about how he's three now and he's having a birf- day party with birf- day presents. So cute!
Oh my goodness! I just realized something! I think I know your companion! Is his first name Josh? He used to be in my ward! I know his mom really well!! I just read your note to Ryan about your comp being from Lindon, and so I looked back at your other letter that said his name was Elder Miller. I had forgotten that he was in a California mission! That's crazy! He is such an awesome kid!!! Doesn't he go home around this summer? I even attended his Eagle court of honor before he left. No way! You guys will be awesome companions together! His family moved out of our ward, but not far away, and I still keep in touch with his mom through email and facebook. Such a small world!!! Let me know if I'm right about who he is!
Anyway, it's always so nice to read your letters. You sound great and on fire!! I love it! Take care and know that we love you and you are always in our prayers!
Dani
Hey Elder! I missed sending a message last week because we went down to Arizona to see my folks and a friend who is dying of cancer. Then we came home and 2 days later Grandpa had to go to do stuff for BYU Idaho and wanted me to go so off we went again! Just got home Saturday. Had dinner with Dani and family on Sunday, Valentines Day, and also visited Grandpa Stan and Charlotte who are doing great. My folks are good but my Dad is very weak and can't do very much at all. I don't think he will be able to travel anymore. We want them to move up here but I don't know if they will.
You sound wonderful and busy doing great things. I love that you are teaching the older lady and hope she has recovered from her illness. When they are that old, dumb small illnesses can take them so fast. You'll have to keep us updated. You must not ever have time to just sit down! It's great that there is so much interest. Do you ever get asked about Prop 8 anymore?
Well, I will keep this short as I know your time is limited. We love you to pieces! You are doing great!
Love, Grandma Sue
Hey,my favorite Elder, sounds like life for you these days is something like a whirlwind of interesting things. Sue and I had dinner with Dani and Kirk and their family tonight (last night too) and they were so excited about the connection they've discovered with your companion, Josh. Kirk and Dani couldn't say enough good things about him. They will be very excited to see him when he gets home and can report first hand about the things the two of you are able to do together in the mission field. How fun is that? Small world.
It was good to see Grandpa and Grandma Cook. They were anxious to hear how you were doing and glad to know that things were going so well for you. They, too, will be glad to see you when you get a chance sometime perhaps next year.
We're busy as ever at work. Lots going on. Everybody on my team is just trying to keep all of the projects on schedule and done in such a way as to represent the Church appropriately. Last year the nine of us in the communications team completed more than 400 projects. Just keeping track of that many projects through a production maze from creation to completion can sometimes be a challenge. And this year we expect that many if not more. But, hey, we love it. Wouldn't do it if we didn't. It's like being on a mission ourselves. Except, we get paid for it. And we get to do it for many, many years. Not bad. I'm feeling really blessed about it tonight. I guess that's why I'm talking about it.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear things are going so well for you and that you are enjoying your new assignment and meeting so many great people. We love you. We pray for you. We always look forward to hearing from you.
Enjoy every day. It's its own special treasure.
Grandpa Ron
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