November 18, 2013

Hey so I'm going to try and make this as long as I can, but I forgot my journal again and A LOT happened this week. We got 6 new investigators... through hermano cuevas.. Patty, ociel, Victor, Barbara, Gilberto, Ashley. They all have baptismal dates now too! We finished up Rogers lessons this week and we got him interviewed.. He passed!! :) So now he will probably be gettig baptized!!!

Lessons With Tiffany's mom have been going really well! The only thing is that she hasn't come to church yet, So we are going to have a church attendance lesson this week! 

Willcox's missionary work has blown up in the past 9 weeks! Its awesome! we had 11 member present lessons this week, and 23 over-all lessons! Willcox has never seen these numbers, so everyone is kind of in shock. haha including me. It's amazing how much member involvement helps the work. It REALLY does. Get out there and help the missionaries. there are only 80,000 of us.... 15,000,000 of you! we need you! I promise the missionaries in your area could use you. ...

This morning we went bouldering in Dragoon. It was super fun. I scrapped up my arm pretty good though! haha its all part of the fun right? ;) How has everybody been? Keeping busy? reading scriptures??;) I miss and love every single one of you! thank you for all the love and support! it is much needed! until next time, Love you! -Elder T. Alston.  

member little Macho? He's big!!

Found a G4 at the airport!

And the pilots let me go in!!!

Arizona

This is where we were bouldering

battle wounds

November 12, 2013

I think they should let us email every 3 weeks instead of one. that way It might feel like a normal week. haha.

Well, this week, Elder Matiz and I had record breaking numbers for Willcox 1st ward, We had 6 member present lessons, got 3 baptismal dates, 3 new investigators, 26 total lessons.

Monday we played capture the flag in Dragoon again, Tuesday we drove up to Safford, picked up our car, ate breakfast with one of Matiz's old investigators, drove back to Willcox, got a call from a 20 year old super stressed out girl that wanted a blessing, so we drove to her, talked to her for a little while, gave her a blessing, went to Brother Davis's house, drove out to Bonita, taught tiffany's mom the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, and set a bap date for dec. 7. It was a super busy day, but well worth it in the end.

Wednesday we had Zone meeting, Elder Matiz and I were asked to teach the zone how to better teach the restoration lesson. I think it went really well, and everyone had questions so they seemed to have learned something. After Zone meeting, we drove back to Willcox, And Brad Nielson needed help changing the oil in his car.. So of course we helped.

On the way to dinner, there was an older lady sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire. She said she called AAA 3 hours ago, So we told her we could just change her tire in 10 minutes and she'd be on her way. When we were leaving, she tried to pay us, we just said "do something nice for someone else now, that's how you can pay us."

After dinner, we taught Ramon, A refferal from the Cuevas family that Elder Matiz had already talked to when he served in east tucson. We set a date with him for dec 3. but he didnt come to church so we had to push that date back.

Friday we taught Roger, We set a date for dec. 7. but then he said that he might be going to texas for a job, and he wants to be mormon before he goes. haha so we set up another lesson for saturday, monday, thursday, and friday. and then in interviews with president Killpack on saturday, I asked if it would be ok to get him baptized before coming to church 3 times. I told him the situation and he agreed. So now Roger is probably getting baptized not this saturday, but the following! this is the fastest I have ever seen anyone progress. he's almost done with the BOM. And he's reading the gospel principles book, and all the pamphlets that we give him.

The lord really does prep people to hear the gospel, all we have to do is open our mouths and the spirit will tell us what to say. I know thats true. Im just some 19 year old dumb kid. I couldnt do this without the aid of the spirit. I know ALL of you can do it too. SPREAD THE WORD. love you all. have a good week.

 -Elder Taylor Alston

Dragoon

Rattlesnake kill #4 on my mission

sunrise Sunday morning 

November 4, 2013

HOW has it already been a week?? I dont understand time anymore. it doesnt make sense. 

 ok. so tuesday I picked up Elder Matiz. ( who, by the way, was in the colombian army) then we went and played basketball.  I rolled my ankle like a burrito. and it keeps getting worse. but hey. What can ya do? We were told on Tuesday that CC doesnt want to be taught anyomre... lets just say it was a rough day.

Wednesday on the way back from district meeting in Benson, our car decided it didnt want the transmission anymore. So we had to sit on the side of the freeway waiting for a tow truck. then we walked to the other elders house, I had to call and cancel dinner, and we went to the Douglas's house and they gave us a ride home.

Thursday night we had a chili cook off at the church. We were the judges. then we went and helped the Douglas's hand out candy. It was fun.

Friday we biked about 20 miles trying to catch people at home. the fosters fed us lunch, and we talked about Roger ( investigator that they know) We are going to have a few appointments with him this week. saturday night, the Douglas's sons got baptized. They asked me to give a talk on the holy ghost. It went really well.

Yesterday we took the elders quorum presindent out with us, he took us to a former investigators house.... he got taught a year ago, and he wants it again. We are going back on wednesday. We also had an ultimate frisbee game with the whole nolan family. It was super fun. Alright  everyone. have a good week. love you. 

-Elder Taylor Alston.

this is my ankle..haha

Halloween

biking a horse... 

ping pong tournament with ward mission leader