Horse Crap and Painting

This week has been wonderful! Probably one of the best weeks I have had so far! Tuesday, Elder Cox was really really sick. I think he had food poisoning. So on Tuesday we were stuck in the apartment all the day long. Tuesday reminded me a lot of Wednesday, because this time I was the one who was sick. It was wayyyyy too much fun! I was finally able to move Wednesday night. We had an appointment that night with someone who was actually a refferal. The members finally took the opportunity and made an appointment with them and just asked us to show up. It was wonderful! I got to teach without having to find. That was super fun! Thursday was completely filled to the brim with service. We served at a old folks center for like 5 hours and then went and painted a wall for the rest of the day. That was super sick! I forgot how much I enjoyed work! It was nice to take a break from missionary work and do some hard labor! That night was Z and B's interviews, it went decently ok but we had to push their date back 2 days to Saturday the 22nd. Both Elder Cox and I are super excited for it because they are both our first baptisms! Elder Cox has been out for 10 months, I hit my 6 in 2 weeks. It goes to show that fruits will come as long as you are being obedient to the mission rules and working hard! I have been working with B and Z ever since I got here in September and now they are finally ready to make the wonderful covanant of Baptism! :) they have come a long way and I firmly believe they are ready to recieve that blessing and make that covanant! 

Friday was a day like any other, all of our plans fell through and we knocked in Mojavi from 12 to 9 with an half hour break at 6 for dinner. It was a hard and long day but it was very rewarding. Every time that happens, something wonderful follows. Just like last week with our bad day, something wonderful happens at the end of the night that makes up for everything! We had a very spiritual lesson with B and Z. I love feeling the Spirit as I teach, it is the reward in of itself for missionary work.

Saturday was hard as well, we went and gave more service for the same family that I talked about last week, the super crazy one! Luckily there wasn't any drama going on, but the Dad had us muck the horse pens. Do any of you know what Mucking is? I didnt until we mucked for 3 hours on Saturday. Mucking is when you shovel out the crap the horse lays down. This horse has been living in its own crap for 2 weeks, and it got to the point where it had combined with the dirt and so we had to dig up the entire thing. It was about 15 by 30 feet big. So that was wonderful, and I threw away those shoes because we couldnt take them in the house.

The numbers for this week were all zeroes, that makes it sound like it wasnt a good week but it was wonderful. Here is why: Yesterday, the First counselor in our stake came to our ward. He came up to my companion and I and asked how our week went. We both said that it went ok but it was hard because we were both sick, and we just keep knocking doors all the day long and had to deal with a lot of crap, literally . He then asked us how we knew we were blessed. I had no idea how to answer! He went on and said this: (not verbatim)  "If you are being completely obedient, so much so that you can pray guiltless, knowing you did everything you can, then you will never have a bad week. Missionaries too often judge their weeks, and attitudes by the results of the work. More often than not missionaries get discouraged because they think they arent being obedient or working hard enough. So the next time you have a bad week, look back at how obedient you were, and if you were exactly obedient, than you will realize that you had a wonderful week because the Lord is proud of you." I havent ever done that the 6 months I have been here, so It is time to start! This week has been absolutely WONDERFUL :) Im praying that this next week is even better! Love you all, hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Taylor Carper