DON'T BIBLE BASH!

This week has been so unbelievable hard! Tuesday was just a normal day in the neighborhood, al anyone can talk about is the supermassive earthquake that will hit us soon. I can think of at least 3 signs for sure that point to the earthquake. 1. A member told us she was reading on the news and scientists were saying that the 4.5 in LA was just a precursor to what will hit. 2. We are WAY overdue for a giant earthquake 3. We have been having a lot of severe weather changes which is also a sign for earthquakes. 4. There is an Elder in the Bakersfield mission whose Patriarchal blessing says that he will survive a giant Natural Disaster on his mission. So therefore, earthquake here really soon, I am really excited!

 

Wednesday was the cause of my bad week. It was a really long day and I was feeling really discouraged and very irritated because of the lack of help from our ward. Every appointment we had on Wednesday fell through and we decided to go see a HQ referral. His name was L L, he invited us in, offered water and snacks and then started talking to us. Turns out that he is a preacher at the local Church of God, and thinks he is a prophet. He began immediately Bible bashing with us and trying to prove the Book of Mormon wrong. Of course we defended everything and shut down all of his accusations (like how Ammon smote the arms off the bandits) but he just kept bringing it out. It got to the point where he knew he couldn't prove our religion wrong, and so he started preaching at us and telling us that we don't know anything about religion.

 

(here is the part where I gave into temptation)

 

He tried to show us the name of Heavenly Mother, and the name of the Holy Spirit....I have only wanted  to strangle someone twice on my mission, once when Baptist Bob said we believe God has physical sex with Mary and then with L. My decision was either snap him in half, or destroy his religion. So I decided to destroy him. I pulled out my Bible and I went to work, he had told us everything his religion taught and I proved it all false. I didn't even tie it to the Book of Mormon I just disproved everything with the Bible. After about 10 minutes of me hammering this guy, Elder Lewis (bless his little heart) said that we need to leave and so we did. Of course afterwards I felt absolutely horrible, Elder Lewis was really cool about it and he was about to pull his scriptures out and do the same thing but I beat him to it. It was not a good spiritual experience for me or for Lamar. I still feel really bad and we are going over this week to apologize because he didn't deserve that, even if he thought he knew something like Her name. Which, he thought was Jerusalem, he got confused in Isaiah where it mentions Beulah. It is Hebrew for Married to God. The context it is used in only means that when Zion is in line with gods will, it is Beulah. So he got it confused, and he thought the second coming happened in 1948 when Israel became a country again.

 

Im going to teach you a well known "missionary doctorine." When you bible bash, the spirit will leave you for a certain amount of time just like it did Joseph Smith. For me it usually lasts for a week and that week is absolutely miserable. So that is why this week wasn't very good, my own fault but still. The only good things that happened was I was able to give a lot of service to a non member family that NEEDS to be members. Seriously these guys are awesome! They are the M's and they love us missionaries! It is so great, we did yard work for them for like 3 hours Wednesday and 4 on Saturday. My entire body is super sore and I am loving it! I have a lot of high hopes for that family!

 

Anyways I hope you all have a solid week, I am really hoping this week looks up, I could use a good week! Love you guys!

 

Elder Carper

GC, Mean Feet, Monster Melon

Sorry that I didn't send a big email last week, we only had 15 minutes to email because a member was going to take us jeeping up a mountain. It ended really bad because his ignition broke and so we couldnt go. So that was super lame but we went and played soccer with all the Spanish Elders. I miss soccer it was really fun! Last week was a good week, general conference was absolutely fantastic! I think my favorite speaker over all was president Uchtdorfs in Sunday morning, with President Eyrings on saturday afternoon was a close second. I love his words when he says "if the blessings came right away it would not strengthen our faith" That really hit me, especially the way I look at missionary work. I get really frustrated sometimes when I know I am being obedient and working as hard as I can and nothing seems to be going our way. We are told to expect miracles but not to be discouraged if they dont come. That is really hard to do, so when President Eyring said this, it was like getting slapped in the face by the spirit and hearing God say, "you already knew that." So that was a very humbling experience for me, If there is one thing that I need to drill into my head it is that acts of faith is a process and not an immediate deal. We become better missionaries by striving every day to strengthen our weaknesses and making correct choices. I have the vision of where I want to be and I am a lot closer than I was. It took me almost 8 months to get this far and I have a long way to go. I loved conference. The first thing I wrote down in my Book of Revalations is to actually pay attention to speakers other than the apostles. I kind of zone out and I feel bad haha so I am trying to work on that.

We picked up some more investigators these past few weeks and they are progressing at a steady pace which is good. A few of them are actually rap artists who are trying to bring back the tupac era of rap. When its not just about sex, haters, weed and money but its about philosophy and life. I was pleasantly suprised by some of them, that and I havent listened to any good music in months. The only good music is whats playing in the background at best buy while we email. Right now I think Coldplay is on, but I dont know anymore!

The bad thing about this week was that I got an ingrown toenail removed. That sucked worse than the warts. I was out of commision for like 3 days. I wanted to die, lucky for me Sister W is awesome and made me her special cinnamon roll cake. It is pretty freaking incredible! We didnt get any missionary work done all week and then I finally got back on the bike on Saturday. We found some really cool potentials. One of which is a refferal from the Elders back in Rosamond. I asked what they were doing in rosamond and they said they were doing service for a lady named Billie Stocking. I freaked out Im like do you know Zac Fernandez than? They said they were family friends and have known eachother for years. I lost it I was like " OH MY GOSH I BAPTIZED THEM!" Than they were like "oh YOU'RE Elder Carper" which I dont know why they didnt make the connection, how many Elder Carper missionaries do you know? Bottom line I was really excited to talk to them, they are R and L P. In all seriousness they are kinda scary because he just got out of Prison like a month ago. He is 46 and has been in and out of prison since he was 14. We did the math and he has spent more than half his life in there. He is a really solid potential though and wants to learn what his purpose is in life. He also hates people who are hyppocrytes and so I was excited because most mormons arent! At least Elder L and I arent haha.

 

I got the call on saturday and I am staying for another 6 weeks with Elder Lewis, we were both pretty excited! Elder L is a goofball haha he is awesome. So we had a party because Sister H is finishing her mission, and Sister W is getting transferred so on Sunday all the Ana Verde missionaries came over to our apartment and had Monster Melon. Its just diced watermelon in a bowl full of Monster. Its basically the greatest invention in the history of ever. We had a lot of fun, signed eachothers transfer journals and today have dinner with the Bishop and will say our goodbyes that night. The Elders are staying but both Sisters are leaving. Im bummed cause they would always bring us cookies and brownies! They pretty much owe me because they always call me to give blessings and kill spiders. So its cool, I think that is all for this week, I hope you guys are doing amazing and I hope you have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Love,

Elder Carper

Zone Conference

This week has been uneventful as far as missionary work goes. On Thursday however, we had a zone conference. It was so sick! I love zone conference, 3 zones around us came as well so I got to see some of my buddies! It was really fun, apparently our mission has a huge problem with gossip. It is super understandable because there is a lot of rumors going around between missionaries about missionaries. So as a mission we are cleaning that up. He also gave us a new challenge. The new mission wide goal was to reach 50 baptisms in the month of March. We reached 47, we missed the mark but we had more baptisms than we ever had before. The new goal is that by the end of this next quarter, each area in the entire mission have a baptism, at least one. So we are working towards that. President Wilson is awesome, he sat by me during lunch and we were talking about Utah. I told him I think he should run for President of the United states, I said "you could be king!" He turned to me and said "I already am" with his business man smurk. It was a really funny moment the whole table was laughing!

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder M our district leader. We met a couple cool people, one of which became an investigator. Elder M is from Ammon Idaho, he was really surprised to hear that I knew where that was! A YSA member took us out to lunch to Panda Express. Im not that big of a fan of Panda but its free! For dinner he made me the best chicken I have ever had. He is a way good cook! Elder L claims to be a good cook but he will never cook anything, so whatever haha. We exchanged back Saturday and I made everyone French Toast. I love French Toast!

Saturday we took N to the AP's baptism. He really liked it and became excited for his, we are still working on helping him gain a testimony on the Book of Mormon, but it is hard to help a blind man who cannot read! He is really awesome though! We have correlation on Saturdays and we were talking with our ward mission leader Bro. T. turns out his son has served in Greely on his mission, and a buddy of his is going to ATC school out in Greely, so I was like maybe he knows Mike! Gotta be a small world in the weed center right?

Sunday was a bit of a let down, N is getting ready for a kidney transplant so he has been on dialysis for a while, he didn't come to church. I was really bummed about that. Sunday night was interesting because we were studying with Elder J and Easter, and the sisters just showed up. Elder J and I tried to calm sister W down because she was having a meltdown. We were sitting in J's car talking and freaking Elder Jeppson gets a call from the District leader and leaves. Just leaves Sister Weiman and I in the car, I was so uncomfortable, don't get me wrong Sister W is awesome and super attractive but it was horrible, I lasted about 5 seconds in the car before I got out and pretended like I got a call. She saw right through it but she wasn't mad because she knows how Elders are. I don't get what Sisters problems are, Elders will be pissed for like 10 minutes and then their fine. When Sisters are mean to eachother, suddenly they have insulted their family, their pet fish, their ancestors and the world. It becomes a ball of hatred that I don't understand. Probably never will but Im cool with being simple minded, its easier.

This is how uneventful this week was, the coolest thing all week, was that I found a sandwhich thingy that now only cuts the crust off, but it cuts your sandwhich into 4 puzzle pieces! So I became a peanut butter and Jelly master! Do you like my apron? Sister W made it for me cause I killed a spider in their car. Small and simple means I guess. To her credit it was the freakiest spider I have ever seen. I think Mom would have cried. So I will describe it for her since she didn't have the opportunity to see it! It was green, hairy, and it had like 4 REALLY long legs and 2 smaller ones, I don't get that but it was also a huge spider, it was probably close to the size of my palm. If I ever see one again I will take a picture before I stab it. I didn't want to smash it cause I don't wanna get my shoes dirty, so I stabbed it.

I will let you know more next week! Love you guys!

Elder carper

I Hate Dogs!

This week was very spiritually high and pretty suckish at the exact same time. On Tuesday I went on exchanges with the district leader. His name is Elder M, he came to our area and I went to the YSA area with his companion Elder B. Elder B is actually from Rigby, he was surprised that I knew exactly where that was! We went and talked to some people, it was pretty fun! I met a member of their ward who was 18, she was way hot but had a horrible personality so that was a bummer. She is going to BYU-I in the fall I think, I can't remember what her name was though, I think it was Haley, but it could have been Allison...anyways it was a fun day. Im not sure Elder M enjoyed being on a bike though, he didn't look happy when we exchanged back.

 The next two days were just like any other, we went out to try and find some former investigators, talked to some pretty cool people and did some normal missionary work. The crazy stuff happened on Friday and Saturday. N. called us at noon on Friday saying that he wanted to take a break from meeting with us. He has a lot of things on his mind and he needs to sort it out before he can continue, I asked what it was and he avoided the question. My gut feeling is that he ran into some anti Mormon stuff, so it is an easy concern to address. All I really have to do is say "you would not go to a Baptist church if you wanted to learn more about Catholicism" His doctor is a JW and doesn't like Mormons so that's what our assumption is, we are going to try and meet with him Tuesday though.

That same day I went on Exchanges with Elder J our zone leader. He is freaking awesome, we ended up talking until like 130am about anything and everything. We were talking  lot about apostate groups and how I think that if your not going to work than you may as well go home. Both of us actually decided to go on a 40 day fast. It is not a fast from food, it is a fast of fixing yourself. Each of the 40 days you progressively change things, for instance on day 1, Elder L and I will go to bed at 1030 sharp. Day 2, instead of waking up at 630 we will be awake at 629. So you progressively do these things over 40 days. It is going to be a hard 40 days but it wlll be SO worth it!

Saturday we ended our exchange and Elder L and I went to go visit a former investigator. On the teaching record it says to call out to her from the drive way because if we just walk in the gate, her dog will bite us. So we did everything like we were supposed to, we called out and her father came out to meet us, we talked to the Dad for a little while and the dog was banging on the gate trying to get out. I don't know how it happened but I glanced and saw the lock break, and the door slowly open. So I tried to shut the gate before the dog could get out but it was already halfway out. It squeezed out and lunged at me, I don't know how or why but I punched the dog in the face before it got a hold of my leg. So it only scratched me with its teeth instead of really sinking in. I got it off that first time but it lunged at me again but I was able to put my bag in the way and it bit a hole in my bag. By this time the owner had come out and grabbed it and kept apologizing and apologizing. I was only bleeding a little bit so that was ok. They invited us in and both became new investigators. The Dad and the daughter, his name is A and hers is L. They are pretty cool, so that story had a happy ending. I was really out of it that day because I had a huge adrenaline rush while fighting a dog, so I was totally out of it. I wish I could say it was a manly fight, but Im pretty sure I screamed  little bit, Elder Lewis says otherwise but I felt like I was screaming like a little girl. Im really scared of mean dogs ever since Jaleese got a big chunk of her leg bitten off during a family reunion. If I know the dog is nice than Im ok but if it is mean I get nervous. So that experience didn't help my resolve!

 Anyways this week was good, I hope all of you are doing good! The work here is pretty sweet, the members are awesome. A few members from Rosamond came down and took us out to lunch, they are really cool over there! Love you guys, have a good week!

Elder Carper

We call this the core, Elder Cox, Elder Angles, Me, Elder Gillies

 

Diamond Investigator Mode

So I basically have a man crush on our investigator N. We taught him the Plan of Salvation last Friday and he just ate it up. We committed him to be baptized on March 29th. He is absolutely incredible! He straight up has been searching for the truth for years. The whole time he kept asking really really good questions. He understood everything we said and that it "makes complete sense." He is blind and hasn't even read the book of Mormon yet and he knows its true! At the end of the Lesson I asked if he would pray to know specifically if what we told him was true and if he should be baptized. He prayed and asked out loud in front of us and then was quiet for about 5 minutes. I swear even the most vilest of sinner could have felt the spirit in that room, it was just working in him like I have never seen. He finally looked at us and I asked how he felt, he told us that he "felt really good." We are now meeting with him twice a week and he has come to church every time since we found him. He is already trying to share the gospel with his brothers, and his doctors. This guy came prepared for sure, I could probably show him the baptismal font and he would just dive in! Nelson is so freaking awesome!

Oh in other good news my bike broke! There was a really nice bike given to me by another Elder who is apparently freaking rich because he paid $350 for the bike he gave me. I decided that I would use mine until it broke because there is no point in just letting it sit. So I broke it on a dirt road, I was going way too fast and the forks snapped off. It was all dirt so I didn't get hurt too bad, just a couple scrapes! My helmet cracked though, that was cool! So now my bike issues are over! Seriously the Lord is just spoiling me, any stress that I have he fixes it so that I can focus and get to work. I received an email from the last missionary who was here just completely apologizing for leaving the area as bad as he did. I basically told him that I wasn't angry and that he has probably suffered enough with guilt and doesn't need me to chastise him. He wass pretty appreciative of that. I also felt really good knowing that I forgave someone. Lets hope God was serious when he said that Mercy will be shown to the merciful. That's what Im hoping anyways hahaha

I'm super excited for this next week because we are hopefully teaching a family of 7! That will be like a total sick lesson to teach!  Love you guys, I will let yall know how it goes!

Elder Carper

During Trials Come Miracles

I am going to start off with the bad things that have happened this week, so that this story has a happy ending. On Saturday one of the greatest people in the world passed away. I didnt find out until 8am on the following Monday. I didn't email anybody because I wanted to be able to process my thoughts because I knew I would have rambled on about how much I missed him. I sat in the chapel of the stake center for the next two hours begging my Father in Heaven for comfort. I will say that I didn't feel comforted right away. I was absolutely torn apart and I didn't know how I was supposed to handle myself. I got back on the computer at around 10 and just thanked my parents for telling me, I couldn't bring myself to really talk about how I felt so that is why nobody was emailed last week. It was really hard overall to hear about Papa, I had a lot of emails from family telling me to be strong and that he was in a better place. The one that hit the hardest was Grandma's email. All she said was that he really loved me and he would tell the other temple workers that his Grandson was a missionary in California. It was really hard to read everything but I did and I started feeling better. I hope everybody knows that I really did love Papa. He was the one who really taught me how to ski, he would take me up with his ski class and we would ski all day and he would take me home afterwards. He was also the one who took me on my first mountain biking trip. I remember the time when we got to the top I realized that my rear brake didnt work. So I biked down the path behind the temple with only my front brakes. Needless to say I got torn up pretty good! My Grandpa was honestly rock solid, he biked over to our house from Bountiful because he could. He was a hero in my eyes! I remember being so angry with him when he told the family he was going to Micronesia because I missed him so much when he was in Yap. Needless to say I loved my Grandpa a lot. Right after I got off the computer President Wilson called me up and asked how I was doing. I talked to him a little bit about it and he just kept making sure I was ok. It was a pretty cool feeling that President Wilson cared enough to call me personally.

I was told some other things that I would rather not have to share that also was hard to find out. It felt like all these things were laid on top of eachother and I just couldn't function. I was so torn apart that I spent the rest of the day playing basketball to get my mind off of it. I hate basketball, it isn't fun but it was enough to distract me for a little while. I told Heavenly Father that I didnt want to feel anymore, that I just wanted to become a robot that is incapable of feeling anything. Unfortunately, for me the Lord doesnt work like that haha. My week got worse when I fell on my bike tuesday. I hit a pot hole in the dark and flew over the handlebars onto my head. I ruined both my shirt and pants during my fall. I also screwed my bike up in the fall. I gave it to a member who works on bikes. I told me that The front forks are basically crap, he said I can ride it, but he also said that if I fall like that again on my bike, my forks will snap in half and I could be seriously injured. I just got called to a bike area, so you could say Im a little scared! I cut my shoulder up pretty well too so that was great. I dont know why but I am just brutal to my right shoulder haha. Ok, now we can get to the happy part!

 

The good Part :)

As I said before, I did not feel like the Lord answered my prayers that day in the chapel. I felt horrible because of Papa and completely alone and abandoned by the other things. While I was talking with President I told him that once I can get back to work I will be fine, I won't have to think about anything else and I wont be reminded. Tuesday we got to work and then the bike thing happened. I almost laughed because things were just piling on. It slowed me down a lot because of the pain in my head and shoulder but I forced myself to go back to work. I can tell all of you sincerely that I worked harder this week than I have my whole life. I was still frustrated that my prayers weren't answered and I still felt horrible for everything that happened. Here is where I can get to the good part, because it wasn't until Saturday that I found out the Lord blessed me even before I had ever thought to ask him for it. and turned my week into the best of my mission.

When the age change for the Missionaries came, I was still determined to wait a year and go to college. It wasnt until Trevor Obray's call opening that the idea hit me that I needed to go right away. I told my parents that I wanted to go right after school ended. After I began my papers I started to drift off, I had a lot of doubts of whether or not I could handle being away from home, I wanted to delay everything and wait a year. I was really determined to do it but every single time I prayed about it I got the overwhelming feeling that I needed to leave. The feeling of doubts and inadequacy didn't stop, while I was in the MTC I still had wished I waited, I didn't feel like I was ready for it. I always figured the Lord wanted me to serve now because I will have my whole life ahead of me when I get home, now I have begun to think that I needed to be a missionary during these trials. I dont know how I would have handled everything if I wasn't. Being a missionary gave me the strength and the will to push through everything and continue to pray and gain faith. That alone was a blessing.

The day Papa passed away I was given the amazing opportunity to baptize Billie Stocking and witness the baptism of Zach Fernandez. Being able to have been apart of their conversion story made me so happy! That was an incredible reminder of why I came on a mission, to help people come closer with the person that has made my life amazing. They both are so very special and they deserved what they recieved. I was able to confirm Zach a member of the church yesterday in sacrament meeting. That was also an amazing experience, the spirit was so strong in that room and the Ward really got the good spiritual feeling, they are now beginning to come alive in the work. That was another blessing.

One of the biggest and coolest blessings I recieved this week, was that while everyone at home was at Papa's funeral, I was at the LA temple. Which is exactly where I needed to be. This temple trip was so spiritual for me, different from any other one that I have gone. For the first time the whole week I was just happy, I didn't have anything else on my mind but Papa and the Lord. I was irritating the member I was with because I spent a long time in the Celestial room praying and trying to find things to be thankful for instead of dwell on how sad I was. It really was the most amazing experience that I cant describe in its fullness. It was amazing that the rare opportunity I have to attend the temple just happened to fall on a day I was not looking forward to.

The lesson Learned

I think that when something we hold close is lost, we as humans have a tendency to do one of two things. Either they instantly look for other things that are bad and they just feel worse, or they involve Heavenly Father. I think that when we do involve Him, He has a tendency to show us the things we are actually blessed with instead of the trials. Before my mission, I tended to do the first action after a trial. It was really hard to be happy. When these trials came I decided to put my burdens on the Lord. This became the best week of my mission. Being able to look back and instead of seeing all the bad things that happened and only seeing the good in all of it has been an amazing miracle. It has strengthened my testimony exponentially of how my Heavenly Father really knows me, that he has been preparing for this time for a while. I know that he really does love us and that he always fulfills his promise in John 14: 14-20
14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever,

17 Even the spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

I know that the Lord means it when he says he will comfort us, we may not see it at first, and we may not find comfort right away. I know he always comes to us and will lift us up when we need him. "I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." -Joshua 1:5

There has been another scripture that has been involuntarily filtered through my mind over the past week. I did not know what it was, but I found it and found an amazing sense of relief and comfort in it. The scripture is 2 timothy 4:5-8

5 But awatch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an bevangelist, cmake full proof of thy ministry.
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

When I finally read this It was really hard not to cry, because I knew that Papa was happy, that he lived worthy enough to inherit the celestial kingdom, that he "fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith." He IS truly an amazing man and I am so proud to be his Grandson.

This has been the most rewarding and spiritually challenging week of my mission, I lost my Grandpa but I gained a greater testimony of my Father in Heaven that I could have never found otherwise. I hope you all didnt get too bored reading this, but I hope you guys know that Im doing well, that I am happy in my mission and that the Lord is really watching over me. I love being a missionary it has brought me the greatest 6 months of my entire life. I love this gospel and the peace and joy it brings people. I am so grateful for my trials, they have helped me come closer to my Heavenly Father.

I hope you all are doing well, and that the Lord can impact your life as greatly as he has in mine. I love all of you and am thankful for all the wonderful letters, emails, and support you show me. I hope to hear from you all soon and hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Taylor Carper

Highs and Lows

I am writing the blog post for Taylor this week.  His email time was spent in shock with news from home.

High:  Taylor had his first baptisms on Saturday, February 22, 2014.  B & Z were baptized.  What a miracle it was since the grandma was on oxygen.  Her sats went down to 60, but she was able to get baptized.  What a great occasion.

Low:  Taylor's grandpa (Scot's Dad) died on the same Saturday.  He was diagnosed with throat cancer right before Thanksgiving.  He was given a treatment plan and pretty good odds to beat it.  He was 90% through his radiation and chemotherapy treatment when the doctor decided he was finished with the treatment.  Poppa had to deal with shingles beside the pain from the treatments and it was time to heal.  He was nourished this whole time through a food tube.  He had a stroke which prompted a MRI.  The MRI revealed that one of the tumors kept spreading during treatment.  The cancer was in his jaw and brain.  We found out on Thursday that he was terminal.  He came home that same day, refused food and water and died Saturday at 7:45 pm.  It was quick, but what Poppa wanted. Taylor found out on Monday (yesterday) by email.

Blessings:  There are too many blessings to list here, but we have been blessed.  While the funeral is in Bountiful on Saturday, Taylor will be going to LA Temple.  What a perfect place to be.  He gets to go to the temple because it is his companion's birthday.  Coincidence?  We know otherwise.  We are so grateful that Poppa didn't suffer any longer than needed.  He lived a great life, and he told us that his parents needed him on the other side. We know that Poppa will help Taylor from the other side.  Scot and I were relieved that we didn't have to worry about how much to tell Taylor because we didn't want to cause worry and distraction for something he couldn't change.  It was easier to just write about what happened realizing that he could deal with it easier then worrying about when Poppa would pass away.  Taylor's mission president and his wife are wonderful and have checked on Taylor and reported to us that he is doing well.

Love,
Elder Carper's Mom