November 18, 2013

Taylor's warts are finally gone and he has recovered. (See gross picture on previous post.)  He writes this week:

This week has been both hard and awesome! It started out slow because I still could not walk. Once Wednesday hit then I was able to start walking and start working. It was so nice to be able to end the horrible two weeks of not being able to walk! We had ZTM on Friday that was very instructive, they taught us a lot about how we can discern the needs of the investigators. Our zone leaders are super funny, but I don't like them anymore. Specifically because I figured out they sent in a recommendation to president for me to train next transfer. I DONT WANT TO TRAIN NEXT TRANSFER. I am only 3 transfers old, and my trainer is a pile who doesn't do anything. In all seriousness I think I have taught him more about missionary work than the other way around. Which is really saying something because I don't know anything about missionary work haha. Now I figure out that I am probably going to train a brand new missionary in 2 weeks.....WHUUU? I have no idea what I'm doing and I am supposed to teach someone how. 

Anyways...The awesome part of this week was also pretty hard as well but it really strengthened my testimony! I figured out that a member (as we then thought) of our ward actually isn't a member. He was excommunicated. It explains why he said he was always busy when we went out to try and bring him to appointments, cause he was married in the San Diego temple, and went on a full time mission to Brazil. So ya that was a really huge shocker for me because I seriously loved the guy, he was hilarious and he knew the gospel exceptionally well. When I had a gospel question, I asked this guy, and then to figure out he was no longer a member of the church was heartbreaking. I spent a lot of time thinking about it and really trying to get past it, but it really hit me that I make mistakes as well. Everyone does, some peoples mistakes are a little more serious than others, but this guy is going to church every week and trying as hard as he can to come back to the church. I then gained a much greater respect for this guy, cause being humbled to the point of repentance is never the most fun thing, especially for me, I cannot imagine how hard it would be to be humbled enough to try and return after excommunication. Like I said it was a serious reminder to me about the atonement and how lucky we are to be able to repent of our mistakes. I wouldn't be here without it! All in all I look at this guy in a higher standard because of the diligence he has. Yes he made a massive mistake, but I think that when he is able to return, he is going to have a powerful testimony of the gospel, I am really excited for that to happen! 

November 4, 2013

So today marks the two month mark of my mission! I'm pretty sure I have only been out for like 2 weeks so that's pretty crazy to think about! This week has been really slow and boring, I finally got my foot fixed, but it sucks in the fact that I am not allowed to walk for more than 15 minutes a day. So I have been studying all day every day for the past 5 days. It really is not fun! The only good thing is that, like I said I can study and better myself. Now that Elder H is a district leader I can go on exchanges all the time, so we have 2 planned for this week because he knows it will be a long week other wise! 

In other news, I get to go to the temple this month! Elder H's birthday is the 25th and so we are going to the temple on the 26th. The nearest temple is the LA temple, which is like an hour away. I am super excited cause the temple is awesome! I hear that the LA temple is the second largest in the world. Right behind the Salt Lake temple because the Salt Lake temple has a ton of underground stuff.

P-days are pretty boring now because ever since the transfer, nobody comes to the Lancaster Stake Center to play basketball like they used to. I hated basketball but it was pretty fun to hang out with the other Elders in our Zone. Now we come here and email, then go shopping and then home. Not a whole lot of excitement but we are gonna figure something out! The picture I added is super nasty looking, so if you have a weak stomach then don't look. I had to change the bandage because someone stepped on it and I was bleeding everywhere!

I hope to hear from you guys soon! Ill talk to you next week!

-Elder Carper

 

Sorry for the weak stomached.  Yuck.

October 28, 2013

I got the call last Saturday that both Elder H. and I are staying! So I get to be in Rosamond until at least December 10th! So I was pretty stoked, Elder H. is super annoying, he freaking tucks me in every night! Its the most annoying thing in the entire world, here is a picture of how he usually tries to tuck me in. Its super frustrating! This week was slow, we had zone conference on Wednesday and that took unbelievably long. It was nice though, Elder Golden of the seventy came and talked to us. M., one of our investigators is really struggling, her Dad died, and she still has a problem with smoking. Its hard to meet with her because she is unpredictable, and we cant see her without a 3rd party male. We have been biking a ton lately, its pretty fun but Elder H. is not really the endurance kind of person so I have to wait for him ever 5 seconds. The work is coming along pretty well, we are involving the members a lot more. We are passing out BoMs to them like candy and they are passing them out and giving us referrals. I'm happy about it cause it means I don't have to go tracting! That part is way nice! Other than that there really isn't a whole lot to report! Hope to hear from you all soon, talk to you next week!

Elder Carper

 

As a Mom, maybe I should have tried this tactic. :)

Taylor with President and Sister Wilson

Week 5- It is good to get details since they didn't come last week.

In Taylor's words.......

First transfer is almost up! The work here is hastening, especially because of conference! Im super pumped about it, cause we now have so many referals that we do not have any time to go out and tract. Which is great cause tracting sucks. This week I went on exchanges with the zone leaders, he went to davis high. He also made sure that I knew he went to davis high, I just about killed him but I figured it would be hard to have the spirit after I kill someone.... Im just kidding he was pretty cool, we talked a lot about the rivalry and what happens in the games, it was cool to see things from his point of view! We set our other investigator, J., with a date. J. is this super ripped black dude that is a IT guy at the same time, so he is super sick! Our other investigator M. and her family, keep refusing to come to church and so we constantly have to set back their date. Yesterday we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Quinton L Cook. He came to a stake center in Palmdale just to speak with the western half of the mission! He talked a lot about teaching by the spirit. We all got to go up and shake his hand, talk about scary haha. He is way nice but it was super intimidating! We also heard from Rueben Acosta of the seventy. So all of yesterday was just a cool experience in general! Afterwards I got to be in the circle and confer the Melchezidek priesthood on a kid in the Rosamond ward named Dillon. He goes on splits with us all the time and is only a month younger than me! So that was a cool experience, he should be getting his call here within the next couple weeks! Im way stoked for him! One thing that I told my family that I figured out, is that I am not only the only 18 year old in my zone, but I am the youngest person in all of the Bakersfield CA mission. Ya I asked president and he said I was right, so ya Im the baby of the mission! Jokes on them though, I will be going home, less than a month after my 20th birthday! A lot of things happened this week, some super good, and some horrible. But all in all this week has helped me grow, and the hard things needed to happen in order for me to progress and become the missionary I wanna be. No distractions, and being able to have an eye single to the glory of God. Even though its hard, Im really excited to see what the coming weeks are gonna bring! I will talk to you all next week!

Week 4 Update

Monday, October 7th Letter

"Last friday marked the exact month that I have been out! I swear my parents kicked me to the curb yesterday at the MTC. Its crazy how fast time goes by! I have learned a lot about what goes on in missions, a lot of it is truly amazing...while some of it seriously scares me! My mom requested that I tell everybody about the ward I am in. Its basically the best ward in the history of ever. The members feed us like kings, the bishop is Bishop Meyers, he has a 16 year old daughter that my companion is basically obsessed with.......he is almost 20. The people of the ward, like I said, treat us like kings! There are several families from Utah, I dont exactly know why they came from awesome Utah...into Rosamond, cause Utah is way better! I had the opportunity to give my first priesthood blessing this week! That was like the craziest experience of my life! I had no idea why the man wanted one, but as I started the words just came out, I honestly cannot remember what I told him! Its cool to see how the spirit uses us as tools! It is the best feeling! We had ZTM this week, that was awesome, I figured out that I am the only 18 year old in my entire zone of 40 missionaries. Ya Im a boss... It also means that they had time away from home before they came, so homesickness isnt as much of an annoyance to them as it is for me. I love working though! Its so freaking tiring! I can do service work for a member all day...like honestly its easy. Although as soon as I go out tracting for 10 minutes I start falling asleep as Im walking. Its so ridiculous! Conference was the best ever, because for the first time in my life, I actually paid close attention to all 10 hours of conference! My favorite talk was President Uchdorfs in Priesthood session, I could have sworn he said Elder Carper in the talk haha. I also loved President Mckonkies talk about teaching, Elder Christoffersons talk about women. Especially President Monsons talk about his wife. I hope you guys enjoyed conference as much as I did! Its crazy now, because while in High School, Mondays were of the devil! Like I despised mondays, but now I live for Mondays cause its P-day haha. Crazy how that works now! I hope everything is working out for you guys as much as it is for me here! I love being here, its basically the best! "

For the record, Taylor ran from the car; he wasn't kicked out.  The picture from the first post supports this claim. :)

Routine is established!

September 30 Update

Taylor realizes that he didn't have mom and dad on his group address.  We are finally in the loop:

"The work just keeps getting better and better! The goal, is to get so many referrals from members that we don't have time to go out tracting (which is a very inefficient way of finding). The members are still feeding us a ton! I can literally feel my pants getting tighter....ya Im pretty excited about it haha. My new favorite thing is fruit golfing, we have a random driver in the apartment, and then we found a bunch of rotten fruit! So naturally, we went golfing! It was super fun...and messy! Actual missionary work wise, we have had some solid success this past week! We have had 3 new investigators, and we now have 5 investigators with a baptismal date! We were super excited for it! Other than that there isnt really a whole lot to report! I hope you all are doing awesome! Im trying to represent that Utah steeze over here...but when people find out that Im from Utah they laugh at me...and call me a greenie so I guess thats awesome haha! I dont understand how you can have a bad companion, cause me and Elder Howe are the exact same person! Its always so fun! Yesterday while tracting I had to say "Supercalifragilistic Expialidocious" in my door approach! As you can imagine...It didnt go well and the lady laughed and threatened to shoot us cause she hates mormons! Good times right? I really love it here! The weather is cooling off, the people are getting nicer since now not everyone has heatstroke 24 hours a day! "