Well, I left Reading! Week 1, Newark, Delaware

Hey how is everyone doing today? So, sad story, I got transferred and it was pretty hard for me. Just because it was my first area and this is my third companion in 3 transfers. Nuts! And my companion now is leaving home next transfer. SO.... but ya, so here is the story. They call you on Fridays to tell you what the situation is with being transferred, so they called me and told me I was staying so I was super excited and was super pumped caused I loved the area I was in. But they called me Saturday night and told me I needed to leave because on other the new missionaries wasn't coming. I was pretty upset at first. But its all good I just got to realize that's not where the Lord needs me anymore. He needs me here. This area that I am in now is Newark, Delaware. There is a lot of success here. We have 5 baptismal dates just for this transfer I guess. I haven't even been to the house yet so I don't even know what it is like. But here is the Address you can send stuff to,43 Pike creek rd. Apt. 6-c Newark, Delaware. But he doesn't know the area code, so you might have to look that one up before you send stuff.

So ya I don't know, this last week was super good. We had a a lot of fun and we worked hard. The cool thing this week was that we had an investigator named Alex who really wanted to get baptized but his girlfriend didn't really want to get married so its been tough for us to really talk to the girlfriend and stuff. But one of their friends that lives with them got in a really bad car accident and was in the ICU so we asked Alex if we could go and give him a blessing. He said yes. So we went the next day it was so weird he was in the same room that one of our less actives was in that was in a bad car crash. so we went there and gave him a blessing now he is doing a lot better and I did my first blessing in Spanish it was cool. But we got to talk to the girlfriend while we were there and just talked with her. I think that helped her out a lot.

So just a little about my new Companion... his name is Elder Spear! Crazy thing!! He went to Lone peak. I didn't really know him back then, but ya, he went to lone peak. Crazy stuff. But everyone says that he is a good missionary and that he works really hard so I am really glad about that. This transfer could be great that we can work hard and my Spanish will just get better and better. He said that we are not going to speak much English so that could help a a lot with improving. I know its going to be a struggle and tough but its like the only way.

Man, Easter was awesome! I hope you guys had a good one. Ha ha, we didn't do anything special other than his work. I mean now biggie. But ya, it was awesome! We had some good talks in church from what I understood. I got the chance to go up and bear my testimony because I was leaving. I didn't want to at first but I am really glad I did, I only made a few mistakes ha ha. But oh well, that's how i am going to learn. But we talked about the Savior a lot with our investigators it was awesome. How grateful I am for him and what he did for us to feel his love and to live the great plan that was showed for us. I love this work I am so grateful to be out here and to grow so much. I love all of you and hope you all have a good next week. Sorry for the short letter this week. Se will see how this week goes here.

Last week, Transfer 2

Well how is everyone doing? Wow! What a interesting last week for sure. It was defiantly a busy and hectic week. But it was good. It went by pretty fast because we worked our rear ends off. But ya, it's so crazy this is the last week of this transfer already! Who knows if i am staying or going? I hope I stay cause this upcoming transfer is Elder Millers last so I would at least stay for two more. I would love that! We have some baptisms coming up so hopefully those will go through. We have a baptismal date for Anderson this upcoming week. He is so ready. This last time we met with him we went over the baptismal questions with him and it was so funny. He was like " do you think i am prepared?" We were like YES! He has no problem with anything he has defiantly been prepared, but the frustrating thing is that this was Saturday night and everything was just so good! But he didn't show up to church on Sunday and we couldn't get a hold of him. So who knows what happened with that. We are going to try to get in touch with him soon. Also we have Cirilo who also has a baptismal date. We also went over the Baptismal questions too. We moved his baptismal date back to May 1st because he still needs to come to church 2 more times. Also he needs to read the Book of Mormon more and gain a testimony about that and give up smoking, which he only smokes one a day Nada mas. But we have been working with him for awhile, so I hope he continues on and will keep his commitments. I have faith that he will. Also, we had a lesson with an investigator that we haven't been able to see like since I have been here his name is Fabio. If you saw this guy you would be like WHAT?! He is a big Dominican who has a lot of tattoos and looks pretty Thuggish. But we taught him yesterday and the spirit was just thriving. He has such a desire to change, he said he had been reading the Book of Mormon every night! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes and that he wants to make a change, but just doesn't want to set a date because he has a lot to take care of with people before he is able to be baptized! Such a cool lesson

So just a little Crazy story for you this week, which I should have gone to the Hospital for BUT... just didn't want to. So this Wednesday we went down to Philly for the day. We had a language training that day which went really well. I learned a lot and felt really good about my progress with my Spanish. Not to brag or anything, but I feel like my Spanish is a lot better than people's, even some that have been out longer than me. So anyway, we were on our way back from Philly and we wanted to stop and eat in this really wealthy area at just Chick fillet and eat at this really good like ice cream place, so we went to the ice cream place and I got this thing that had ice cream, hot fudge, brownies, and I didn't realize it had nuts. So I was basically finished when I realized it had nuts in it. So I was like, oh well, not that allergic to them, and my throat just itched a little bit but went away. So that night we went to play basketball at the church with some of the members and other missionaries. So after we got done playing my asthma was acting up and it got those nuts running through my system and I had a really bad allergy attack. I couldn't really breathe, I had hives and my head swelled up and I was shaking. It just wasn't good. So we hurry and ran to the Right Aid and grabbed me some benadryl, then called the doctor. But I really didn't want to go to the hospital. He said to run me to the emergency room. I just wanted a blessing, so they gave me a blessing when we got in the room, the shaking stopped and I started getting better from then on. I definitely can truly say there is such a power with the priesthood. It's amazing! But the Doctor said I was pretty Lucky my throat didn't clog and choke me to death. Pretty scary. Well, now I have to carry around an Epipen and he prescribed me a new inhaler. So every things good now. Don't worry mom, I now you probably are freaking out reading that.

But everything is so good. The thing that I have really learned this week was something that could apply to all of us. We have an Elder that is serving in West Reading that is just kind of trouble and doesn't take correction very well from leaders. So just something that has hit me is that usually when someone tried to give me correction before the mission, I would have gotten defensive and I am guessing that is how most people are or can be. But so far, on the mission, I have learned to take correction as something good, to improve as a missionary first of all then to be a better person which goes hand in hand. This experience is amazing. You can't learn these simple principles anywhere else. I am so grateful for growing up in a home where I have been given this chance and to have great examples as parents they are truly amazing people. I love this gospel. There is no doubt in my mind that its true. NO DOUBT!! The Book of Mormon is so true it's blue!!!! Love you all CTR!!!

Week 10, Reading....Como Estan?

Well hey how is everyone doing? All is good here! Man i heard the Masters was great! Heard Tiger is actually playing pretty good that's good to hear he actually can swing a golf club now! I hope all is going good though.

SO this might be a short letter today because we are going to play some golf today! It's supposed to be like 82 today! Finally!! And now that conference is over, we don't have to wear suit coats anymore so that's been nice. So just a few things that have happened this week... we have investigators named Elias & Deborah. They are a little older. But they are like way interested and come to church like every week and get what is going on. But the only big problem is they are not married and he still is not divorced from his previous wife. So it's just hard. We have like 3 investigators with the the law of chastity problems, so that has been kind a of hard. That's the hard thing around here. Also there are so many illegals that don't have papers and there are a lot that are not married because they don't think its anything different than signing a paper. So that's something that we are trying to work with here. But we are working super hard here.There have been a few times where i fall asleep saying my prayer at night. It's super annoying, our beds are not very good but oh well.

But really, I can see the Lord's hand in my life so much, I am getting a lot better at Spanish. There was a time this week where I even forgot that word in English it was pretty funny. But man I am not like looking forward to this summer. I heard it is just miserable with all the heat and humidity. They say you take like 3 showers a day!! Ahhh!

Well, I sent some pictures hopefully they actually worked and you guys can see them. But I got to go Love all of you guys be good! Remember that this is the only true gospel and that Missionary work is not only just for us. There is a lot of responsibility on you guys too, so try to do the best and always be an example in our beliefs.

Elder Taylor Smart

Week 9, General Conference

Como Estan? Well this week was great it is so crazy time is flying by! I am already on my 4th week of this transfer. It's nuts! Where does the time go? But we worked really hard this week when we had the time. Elder Miller got sick for 2 days, so in the mornings I just read the Book of Mormon, I am in 3 Nephi now. I started when I got to the mission. My goal is to finish it by the end of this transfer. I hope all of you have the opportunity to read it. Just as President Monson said in Priesthood session READ IT!! ha ha it's true. Its the most correct book ever, and is filled with so many great teachings, and a great story.

But man, I want to talk about Conference with you guys today. We had the great opportunity of listening to the prophets and apostles the last two days. Hopefully we can all learn and read over the things they talked about. It was a totally different experience than I have ever had, I ACTUALLY PAYED ATTENTION THE WHOLE TIME! So that was probably why. I was able to take something from each talk and hope to apply their teachings in my life. I had three favorite talks that really had an impact on me. President Monson ( of course), Elder Uchtdorf, and Elder Dallin H. Oaks.

First I want to talk about President Monson. He talked about many things in the Priesthood session. But something that stood out to me was that he talked about Temple marriage and how important that is. I can definitely see the difference in people lives here who are not married in the temple. There is just like no joy in the home and a lot of fighting while they are still good people. But it just made me realize there is no other way and there is no other way that i can return to live with him, and I have made the decision now that I am taking the perfect girl for me to the Temple on that day! That is after i serve a worthy and hardworking and focused mission :) She will be a lucky girl though, I must say!

Elder Uchdtorf I loved when he shared the story about the Man who always dreamt about sailing the Mediterranean sea and seeing all of these magnificent places. So he got on the cruise ship and wanted to save the money so he didn't participate in any of the food or all the activities. Then at the end of the cruise he realized that all of it was included that he could have done all of those things. So that just kind of relates to how we have so many activities that we can participate in this life and it's all included. Such as using the temples regularly and living to be temple worthy and all that good stuff. I like to think as a mission as one. When Niel A. Anderson said " The joy of bringing others into the gospel will heavily outweigh anything that you leave behind." Sooo true.

Then for Dallin H. Oaks when he talked about Desires and how we need to turn Desires into actions and all that. Man i wish I had my notebook with me right now because he had so many great quotes that came from his mouth. I learned a lot from that and realized that I need to turn my Desires into actions here on my mission.

Also I am reading this talk I forgot who wrote it but is way good, it's all for missionaries, but it applies for daily life as well. It's called Be the 4th missionary, I encourage anyone to read it.

I just want to say I love this gospel and love being here out on the mission I am learning and changing so much. There is no other place I would rather be. I for sure need to learn so much more and grow. I am not ready for a lot of the things that will happen after the mission that's why I need to be here. I am becoming a man and having fun doing it. I love the Book of Mormon. I love that I get to tell people that I LOVE IT, there is no doubt that it was translated by the power of god through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am so grateful for a living prophet that can lead and guide us today, They are living Scriptures and God's counsel. Love you all!

Elder Taylor Smart