Today is my eighth month in the mission. Didn't realize that until just barely. This week was super awesome. We talked to a ton of people this week because our area is now small enough to bike every day. It was fun and tiring but we've made a lot of progress this week.
This week started out with an exchange with an elder from Peoria named Elder Towle. He's super chill and we had a fun day of biking and finding out our dinner calendar was lost in the shuffle of transfers. So we at 5:15 on bike in the most far distant corner of our area, which is only like 2 miles if I'm honest but we were super late (15 minutes late) for dinner. I'd say it was exciting but writing it up it sounds super lame. We also raked someone's backyard that day if that makes the day sound a little more awesome.
Then there was Wednesday. We were going to have dinner with one of my favorite families mainly because one of the 7-year-olds plays Pokemon and that's all I talk about over there but anyways we had dinner with them. As we walk to the door (with our bikes) she walks outside holding her keys. We knew immediately that she hadn't the slightest idea that she was feeding us. It's the end of the month and Phipps and I are both broke so we do what any missionary who is super hungry would do. For our dinner hour, we tracted members houses for meals. We finally met a member who was home who thankfully fed us microwave quesadillas and apple slices so we helped them move furniture.
We also had a zone service project this week, and it was awesome. We picked oranges. For almost two hours, maybe three. I met a caterpillar while I was picking fruit, we were bros. For the last part of the day I was working in the ladder, all the high reaching fruit was then within my reach. It was a good day.
Zone meeting also occurred, and I was tasked with the great responsibility of teaching other fellow comrades and compadres about planning. I was teaching a discussion. Which means I had to stand in front of a crowd of people and then forget everything I was going to talk about and then start sweating like a pork link in a 24-hour i-hop. I'd love to tell you that didn't happen but it did. I forgot everything I planned about planning and started creating my own humidity dome in the relief society room where we met. But I did get across that good planning is made up of BIG goals and small goals. Small goals help you achieve big goals.
But I also wanted to share something that I think is amazing. This is something that I've learned from the MTC that never ceases to make me thing "that's cool." So the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about the process the scriptures call "Enduring to the End." The cool thing about this process is that it changes us. The change is possible because of Christ.
The process is having and acting on Faith, which is what faith is is acting on your belief in Christ, and then repenting, which means change, which is also the action that faith motivates us to do.
Faith motivates us to repent or change. Which makes us worthy to be baptized or to make covenants which are promises with God.
After we're baptized we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which helps us to have more faith- to help us change more- to make us more worthy of the promises we have made with God under His authority that he's given to the modern day prophets so that we can have the Holy Ghost as our companion because God wants us to feel close to him constantly.
The process of enduring to the end is loving this gospel throughout our lives.
Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Have an awesome week everyone!
Elder Taylor Gray
Pictures
we have a huge zone
zone service project
I stole Elder Taylor's tag so I could have a picture with my first name on a tag
my district
biking
us and a young young convert named Bradley, he's a stud. I usually just talk with him about the gospel or about Pokemon.
