Taylor Patterson - Reno, NV Mission

Hey!  This week was pretty interesting. I was in a trio with the zone leader and my companion so that was a super interesting experience. Next week is transfers, but I already know I won't be getting transferred because that's not what our Mission President does hahaha. I'll probably be in Ely for a good six months, but that's totally okay because the members here are pretty nice.    So some cool things happened this week. We went on splits with members from the ward on Sunday and I went tracking with the man I was placed with. As we were driving out to go meet some less active members I didn't look at our area book and just wanted to go fully by the spirit. So I was prompted to go to this house where the guy in the car said the person moved, but I was like well I still should go try it. Then this lady answered the door I told her who we were and asked if she had any interest in learning more about Jesus Christ. She smiled so big and said yes ...

Hey everyone,   Okay so this week was a lot like the last. It's still a culture shock being on a mission, but it's also another culture shock because Ely and Lund Nevada are the most rural towns I've been in. Lund is almost like the town my mom grew up in, but even smaller hahahah. I saw a marijuana farm and that was pretty interesting.   This Friday though I went on exchanges with the zone leader. So an exchange is where we switch companionships for one day and I go to his area and his companion comes to our area. And that was super fun! We did 6 hours of service and man I sure love service because the look of the peoples face when your done is all you need. And during the day this lady who was radio silence for a month and a half finally decided to text my zone leader, Elder Monks back. So we went in without a lesson plan and I had a huge promoting to share a scripture and the scripture I shared was 2 Nephi 31:20 and it was the same exact scripture her s...

Hey Everyone!! Another week has gone bye here in old Ely Nevada! Nothing super interesting happened this week, but I've gotten to meet some pretty cool people!  We went to Lund and White River Nevada twice this week to work with some l ess active people. One of them showed us his trophy case of all the animals he killed and let me tell you....this man is a serious hunter hahahah he has so many different animals he has killed!  Also he had this old gun in a glass case that was "rigged with dynamite" it had dynamite in it but it definitely was not rigged to blow up if someone broke into it, however, it was super funny though.  After their house we went spent an hour at another house that lives 2 hours from the church and the man told us how he killed 98 rattle snakes out at his ranch this past year and man I was struck in awe hahahah I hate snakes! We also found out the President Ballard from the quorum of the 12 Apostles is coming in September and that'l...

Hey!! Okay so I did not think it'd be this hard for my first week out. Everyone told me that your trainer is going to be awesome and it'll be super fun. Hahahah so all my hope's were way up and then they got shot down when I came out here. This is easily the hardest thing I've done in my life. I miss my friends and family beyond explanation and I've never felt more inadequate when it comes to talking to people. However I have nothing better to do then make the best out of it because when it comes down to it this is the Lords work not mine. So I guess something to lighten the mood.... I was out proselyting and knocked on a less active members door and next thing you know a giant dog turned the corner and I grabbed my trainer and took off. Fun fact you can't out run big dogs so luckily the dog wasn't ready to bite me and just stopped and barked very aggressively at me and then the owner came running out. You can say I was terrified. Also another fu...