Elder Taylor Boyd

Hello,

I’ll write a hand written letter back to this today or tomorrow when I finally have time. I’ll also send my SD card home w/ all my pictures. I didn’t have time to print out the new pictures, so there’s a ton. I’ve also got my plane ticket from houston to utah in there as well.

Friday we went and had some apple pie w/ Harris and Royston. I also asked how Hno. Ellett lost his arm and we finally found out! I saw a girl from my summer FHE group at the temple….kind of crazy that she’s married. Saturday, I got a letter from Clark, but his handwriting was too messy to read it. I’ll be trying to write one back if I can finally figure out what he’s trying to say. We had a district party that night in our room too and I think we ate that pie you sent me. If not, I don’t remember what we did at all. Sunday, we had a great devotional about 9/11 and saw the Music and the Spoken Word special about it. I also gave a talk in sacrament meeting 15 seconds after they announced it that day. Somehow, I completely knew I was going to give it before they even announced it. I had my exit interview and it seems like all the things I shared w/ Pres. Shumway turned in to his sacrament talk. Monday, we went to the field and played volleyball. There was a really cool sunset. Tuesday, Elder Ballard spoke at the devotional! It was awesome! I can’t believe so many apostles have come to speak. From what I’ve heard, Pres. Monson is supposed to come speak on the Tuesday after I leave…

It was a great devotional filled w/ things that I felt were really geared towards exiting missionaries so it helped a lot. I sent a letter to “The Clan-Mother” as well. It was interesting. We cleared up some grammar that we were unsure of during language study and it really helped. We went to the field for soccer and I actually scored. I was the only one to score on our team, the only other goal came from someone on the other team that accidentally scored for us. Wednesday, we got to host again. I helped a lot of new missionaries and one of them was from an island north of Fiji. He spoke some crazy language. They’re doing planned power outages here for some reason and he lived in temp. housing in the basement and the lights were out there so we were getting his stuff and people were running around all over the place. It was like a bomb shelter. It was tough because he hardly spoke any english. Thursday, we had another district party and ate tons of stuff. We all got so much food this last week. It was our last day w/ Hno. Ellett and he taught us the phrase “DOn’t quIT!”. We taught an MTC teacher at the TRC about receiving revelation through the BoM and his review of the meeting was amazing. We really helped him w/ real problems in his life and were able to help him get things in his life figured out and what to do. We also got a special edition of the Ensign that is BoM themed for October. I think Pres. Monson is coming to talk on Tuesday about this Ensign. Friday, we had in-field orientation. It was long, but tons of fun. There are these training videos of lessons/teaching appts that we watch all the time and the missionaries that have been in these videos were our teachers. They’re like MTC celebrities. I talked to an Elder from Spain at lunch and we came to a point where he didn’t understand my English, so we switched to Spanish and we understood eachother and had a real conversation. I decided after orientation that I think I’m going to like contacting…but we’ll see in a couple days. I realized that this gospel can really change your life and its worth it to change your life for the gospel. I got a package from you guys and I love the ties and pictures! Oh, and I finished reading the BoM the other day!

Love you all,

Elder T. Boyd

I found out there is another video they have at the temple and I finally got to see it last week.

We’ve been learning all the different types of subjunctive this week and its really confusing. I know how to use it, just not when…I’ve been trying even harder now to speak Spanish and it’s really been paying off. Hno. Pace came back one night and was our substitute, it was really cool. He made up an investigator from China who didn’t know anything and it was really difficult to teach. I got a letter from Autumn with a picture of Mikey in it!!! He looks so big now, he’s adorable! Elder Johnson was called as district leader on Sunday so that means I was the only one that never got a leadership position in our district during the MTC. It’s funny, because our dist. presidency was freaking out that I was going to be upset, but I was more worried that Elder Johnson would’ve been upset if he wasn’t DL. He seemed pretty annoyed before when he wasn’t, but he’s gotten better. We got to see Mountain of the Lord. It’s a really good movie and I want to watch it all the way through. We sang to the oldest district and so now we’re officially the oldest. Elder Tucker and I received the robes of the oldest district and lots of “vain traditions” that get passed down when you’re the oldest. But, In my opinion, I think it’s really good because all the traditions are centered around serving others. Like just yesterday, we shined shoes for people. so, just 5 seconds ago I got my flight plans. It looks like I’m leaving from slc @ 9:48 Sep, 19 to atlanta. It looks like we arrive at 3:35 p.m and leave at 5:53 p.m. and get in to Panama at 9:10. Then theres a random flight to Miami Oct. 20, but we’re probably not going on that. I think it’s just for technicalities. It also looks like I’m the travel leader…thanks for the leadership position Pres. Shumway……..

We taught a lesson w/ the Family Proclamation and it went really well. She ended up sharing it w/ her neighbor and because of it, we found out she isn’t actually married, so they’re working on that now. Elder Tucker and I put a pot of flowers in between our desks as a nice little center piece that we found in a lost and found box. Hno. Farnsworth of our branch presidency and his wife thought it was a nice touch to our classroom. We didn’t get mail on monday because it was labor day, so we got piled w/ stuff on Tuesday. I got an apple pie from you guys and Elder Tucker has a chocolate cake, so we’re going to have a district party in our room later. We got a new district and 3 of them are going to Columbia, SC. I got to be a new missionary host and I hosted for my friend from college, Deej. It was sweet! I’ve only seen him one other time since he’s been here though. Alright, well, I’m out of time, I’ll talk to you later and I hope the flight plans help you out with whatever you have in mind! Love you all!

On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 2:13 PM, Taylor Boyd <taylor.boyd@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hola!

So Saturday night we learned how to use preterite in Spanish so now I can half way talk about stories. It has actually helped a lot with teaching progressive investigators. My roommate Elder Parkinson got these huge cupcakes twice from Cocoa Bean or some place from 2 of his aunts and he gave Elder Tucker and I some. They’re some of the best I’ve ever had! Saturday morning we didn’t have a teacher for class but our district was still really productive. We pretty much got caught up w/ all the stuff that we were behind on because we have had so many substitutes. Then Hna. Olson got back that night and we finally got to meet our real teacher after 2 weeks! She’s such a good teacher though and we’ve learned so much since she’s been here. She had been in Spain for a couple of weeks and it turned out that on her way back she got robbed in Spain and got in to a car accident on her way home, so she didn’t have a drivers license, her apt. key, or a cell phone. Since she finally came back, we got a new progressive investigator.

I finally got some pictures printed out so I’ll send some of those home today.

We had fast Sunday and missionary conference and a fireside all on Sunday. Our district got to usher during the conference. It was a really good conference and I took TONS of notes during it. We had a district leave on Monday for Concepcion, Chile so we sang them a hymn in Spanish. Elder Parmer and Hollingsworth were also leaving for the Guatemala MTC on Tuesday so we sang to them on Monday. We also taught Esteban also.  It was so different teaching him outside on a bench rather than in a cold, cramped classroom. He does all the things we ask him to do, he reads, he prays, but whenever we ask him if he has felt that the Spirit has confirmed anything to him, he says he doesn’t know despite how much we go over how to recognize the spirit and the importance of praying with real intent. He even recognizes that the Church and Book of Mormon and baptism are all good, but he just doesn’t know if they’re true. It’s kind of frustrating because he has been an investigator for 10 years and hasn’t figured it out yet.

We had a devotional on Tuesday by Cecil O. Samuelson of the 70, he’s also the President of BYU. He ended it like 20 minutes shorter than usual and the prayer that an Hna. gave at the end was super long and definitely made up the difference. I bet half the people there fell asleep during the prayer because it was so long. It was definitely up there in the big, long general conference prayer category. Afterwards, we had a district meeting to discuss the fireside and I was afraid that it was going to be a really awkward meeting where we just go around in a circle and just bear our testimonies after we share one little thing about the fireside because it was so short, but we had Pres. Shumway’s wife’s dad in the meeting w/ us and he definitely made all the difference. We read 1 Timothy 4 together and shared something about every verse in it since it’s so packed w/ stuff. He also shared stories w/ us about his mission in England about a million years ago and how he has recently met the children of the people or even the actual people that he taught the gospel to way back when. One of the stories was that he taught this girl who was 15 and last year he was sitting in the MTC cafeteria and her and her husband sat down in front of him and they talked for 3 days at lunch because she is now serving a couples mission. He had so much to share with us. The 2 Elders left to Guatemala Tuesday afternoon. I got that package from you guys too! Thanks so much! I’ve only had 1 bottle of rootbeer so far, but that’s already more soda than I’ve had since I’ve been at the MTC. I’ve just been drinking water and I tried a soda a week or so ago and it was disgusting but rootbeer is ALWAYS good! Thanks!

Wednesday we got another new district so our zone is getting pretty full. They’re all going to Central America as well. I don’t remember what any of them look like, so I haven’t really had the chance to talk to any of them. Elder Tucker and I invited our new investigator, Lina, to be baptized in our first lesson and she said yes! That was pretty exciting, but from what I hear, you either don’t actually baptize them, or if you do, you keep teaching the same investigator and they just start having problems with tithing or the word of wisdom. We have no idea what to teach her now because we haven’t been taught what to do after they say yes! We also had Esteban say yes, but he is definitely going to be a lot trickier.

Thursday, I finally got the Panama t-shirt I ordered. It’s really cool. We went to the TRC and taught two lessons about how to receive revelation through prayer. We actually did a good job and even held on a conversation with someone afterwards about things that didn’t pertain to missionary work! I’m actually getting better at basketball too and I schooled some kids yesterday. Hna Olson helped us w/ Esteban and I think we know what direction to go in now. Well, I have 10 seconds left so i have to go! Love you, BYe!

This week both of our teachers left and one of them is getting married…but it turns out he was only our substitute. Our REAL teacher is Hma. Olson who is in Spain right now revisiting her mission and will probably be back some time next week. We’ve been having new substitutes every day and I kind of like it because they teach you what they think is the most important so you get a lot of new gospel related knowledge in the class room, but we haven’t been learning too much spanish in class. We had one teacher who taught us the doctrine of Christ….which is the exact same as our missionary purpose. But, she explained things really well and made it more applicable to us in our teaching. Another sub we had was going to teach us spanish, but he ended up giving us a stress management lesson.

I gave the opening prayer in sacrament meeting. We got to go to the temple on Sunday as well. There was a devotional again and we got to watch Joseph Smith, the Restoration.

My companion Elder Tucker sprained his ankle on Monday playing basketball so I’ve been doing a lot for him. It was pretty bad, but he’s already walking without his crutches and taking the stairs. He’ll probably be able to get a shoe on it by tomorrow. I busted my lip open the same day playing basketball.

We had a devotional on Tuesday by Gerald Lund, the guy that wrote The Work and the Glory and others, about hope, faith, and a bunch of other stuff…I took notes, don’t worry. We gave Elder Tucker a blessing the night he sprained his ankle and it was kind of weird having 3 guys surrounding someone in a chair in our pitch black room in our underwear. It was a good experience to give a blessing though.

I bought myself a cool pen because those are the kinds of things that bring me joy now I guess. We also got a new district and one of the kids is from Westfield, but I don’t know who he is. I memorized the first vision in spanish and one of the kids in my zone gave me all his candy to do it since he is leaving for Chile on Monday.

I’ve ordered some pictures, so they should be here Monday or Tuesday so maybe I’ll be able to send some home in my next letter. Thursday we taught at the TRC and we were expecting to do 3 contacts in Spanish and set up appointments w/investigators then teaching one investigator the first lesson in English for 40 minutes, but it ended up being 2 lessons to members completely in Spanish for 20 minutes each. So it was definitely different teaching members instead of investigators, especially since the first guy we taught had no idea what was going on.

Querido Familia,

I don’t remember exactly where I left off on my last letter and I don’t have a whole lot of time to write so I’m going to keep things short.

I’ve taken a few pictures, but these computers don’t have a place for SD cards, so I’ll see if I can print some pictures and send them home or something. I got to teach the lesson of the Restoration of the Church in English and it’s so hard trying to get things to come out in a logical order and still ask them questions and keep them involved. We had a fireside on Sunday and Tuesday. The first one was by Stephen B. Allen, the guy who makes the Mormon commercials that used to play during breaks in general conference, I think they called it “homefront” or something like that. We watched a lot of them and they were super cheesey but had really good messages and it was an awesome fireside. We got progressive investigators that we teach every day in class Monday so we’ve met with them a couple of times since them. I’ve officially been here a week and the days are going by faster now but it feels like I’ve been here forever. We taught one of our investigators and we ran out of things to say in spanish because we were relying on the book of phrases that we have so I started sharing a scripture with him in spanish for some reason that I didn’t know and I looked back after I finished it and it ended up being about having faith, praying to have a knowledge and confirmation that these things are true. It was pretty cool and then I asked if he would prepare to be baptised and pray to know if the church was true and he said he would. I’m not really sure how I was able to do that in Spanish at all! My companion and I really felt the spirit in that meeting! We went to the TRC yesterday and made contacts with people in spanish and taught the first lesson in english. It was really tough, my spanish is getting a lot better, and my teaching skills are getting there too. Today we get to go to the temple so that is going to be nice because it just reopened. Well, I’ve got 5 minutes to get back to my place so I’d better go.

Hasta luego,

Elder Boyd

Hola Familia!

So my first day in the MTC was crazy and hectic! At the beginning an Elder took me to all the different places, gave me my books, which I already had so I’ve got to do something with those, showed me my room, and took me to my class. I went through a computer orientation and then went back to class. I met my companion, Elder Tucker, and we had class, dinner, and some workshops that we attended. Elder Tucker is awesome. He’s really excited to share the gospel and we have been getting along and working very well together. There were 5 companionships in my district, but now we only have 4 as of yesterday. Elder Tucker and I are separated from the rest of our zone in the residence hall so we’re with 2 Elders who have been here 4 weeks. Their names are Elder Cutler and Elder Parkinson. They’re going to Mexico. They’re pretty nice. So, we have to put up with their zone instead of being with our quiet, well-mannered zone on their side of the floor.

On my flight, I was with a missionary who was going to serve in Pocatello, Idaho. His name is Elder Clegg. One of my friends from college, Elder Hollingsworth, is in my district so that is pretty neat so we have class together and see each other all the time. Since I’ve been here I’ve seen Elder Meehan, Williams, Bentz (from the squaw peak race), and Hardin (another friend from college). The Spirit here is amazing! I love it when my teachers bear testimony in Spanish because even though you can’t understand every word, the Spirit still communicates the power of their message. I hope to have this same quality when I teach others. So we started full days of classes on Thursday and it was such a long day! Getting up at 6:30 wasn’t hard at all, but the day felt like it should’ve been over by lunch because we had done so much and were so productive! Yesterday didn’t feel like it was quite as long, but it feels like it has been weeks since I’ve been home. Yesterday feels like it was so long ago as well.

We met our Branch President, Prs. Shumway, and we had a big meeting in our class. We all introduced ourselves and shared our testimony and why we decided to serve a mission. During the meeting, I leaned over to Elder Tucker and told him that because he did so well, he would be called as district leader..and he did. So I ended up being the senior companion. The only new thing is that we have to get mail for everybody twice a day. It was great getting cinammon rolls from you guys. They’re delicious! I’ve been sharing them with my roommates and my companion.

So far, I have mostly learned to pray, bear my testimony, and meet people in Spanish. It’s still very overwhelming and in a week, the pilot program is going to be introduced and our teachers are only going to speak Spanish! Our teacher already mostly does that though. I haven’t taken any pictures yet, but I definitely will! I actually went to go take a picture in front of the MTC sign, but it isn’t there!! I think they took it down during construction, but if not I’ll look somewhere else for it. I have to prepare a talk each Sunday for church in Spanish because our Branch President randomly selects 5 people to give talks during church so I need to be prepared. I’m going to be talking about Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement this Sunday, so hopefully if I get called on, I’ll be alright. I’m getting better at praying in Spanish and am learning more and more things to say in my prayers. The food here is pretty good, but the bookstore is way over priced! If you could send me some stamps, that would be great! I’m doing my laundry right now, so my companion and I decided to combine ours because we don’t have much laundry anyways. We have a lot of personal study time, so I’ve been using that time to read from the white handbook and memorize the Missionary Purpose by Sunday. I have found so many amazing scriptures since I’ve been here. I want to be like one of the missionaries in my district and be a total scriptorian and just have a scripture reference for everything.

Well, I’m almost out of time so let me know how things are going and what you want me to do regarding mail to you guys and what you will be doing with my mail/if you’re doing a mission blog or whatever. Let everyone know that I love them and miss them.

Te amo,

Elder Boyd