WOWOW What a treat two weeks in a row. Last night at devotional we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Richard G. Scott. He gave an amazing inspirational talk about the Spirit. He said he took his whole lifetime of spiritual experiences and condensed it into his talk. He then gave every missionary a handout of the bullet points involving the spirit that he covered in his talk. It was amazing. I was already filled with the spirit when he said something that struck me with awwww. He said near the end of his talk... for those of you who are learning a new language I use the power I have as an Apostle of the Lord to invoke upon you and bless you with the gift of tounges. I had never heard an apostle do this before and the room went silent as the spirit just hit us all as he said this. We asked our Branch Pres. afterwards how often he has heard this and he said he has never heard it. It was an amazing experience. I saw Mason after the devotional and he walked up and was all excited about how amazing the devotional was. Mason, Phill and I are going to try and get some pictures together later this week and we are going to try and find nate too, who reports today.

One of my favorite quotes from this week was by President James E Faust, he said, "Where is the wisdom lost in knowledge, where is the knowledge lost in information". I have started reading Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard and the book is amazing, I find myself having a hard time putting the book down. When talked about how we need to follow the savior and then followed with a profound statement that i read over and over, he said, "An interesting thing happens whenever you atempt to place your feet in Christ's footsteps. If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked - loving, caring, serving and obeying each step of the way - one day you'll look up and discover that His path has led you directly to the throne of God. For that is and ever has been His great purpose and mission: to lead us to our Heavenly Father so we can dwell with Him in His heavenly home". What really struck me is how we really have to concentrate on the Savior's footsteps, so much so that we don't realize where we are until we have reached the throne of God. We must lose ourselves in the work of the Lord.

It has begun to snow here, it dumped last night for a few hours but didnt stick to the pavement which is nice. It led to a gorgeous walk up to the snow covered temple to help in the work of the Lord and be filled with His Spirit. .............. It is the third missionary in 3 weeks from our zone to go home. They are all great people and this is a tough and strenuous work. It is exciting to know though that in 3 weeks i will be out in the field. The District right infront of us has to stay and extra 2 weeks because of Visa issue. Visa's have been a problem for a lot of Elders here. We had the interesting experience earlier this week to meet with some missionaries who had been out in the field. They were going to Mexico, but by the time their 9 weeks were up at the MTC they had not yet recieved their visas so they were all temporarily reassigned to other missions. Some went to LA some to Oakland and Denver. As it turned out their visas took 2 more months. So they finally got their visas last week and so they were all flown back to the MTC for a week to prepare because some had been in english speaking missions for the past 2 months. One night they came into our class and talked about the experience and showed us a demo lesson. It was amazing!!! and they had only been out 2 months and they were speaking Spanish almost fluently. It is amazing the things you can accomplish when you learn by the Spirit. 

Anyway another week has come and gone. Let Brenda know i replied to her letters and am mailing out my letter to her today. It is hard to keep up on letters sometimes. The time flies by as I engage myself more fully in the work I have been called of God to do. I would just like to end with a short quote from Elder Richard G. Scott's testimony, "I know Jesus lives, because I KNOW HIM" Let us all strive to have the same relationship with our Heavenly Father and His son, for it is through them that we can obtain exaltation and enternal life in the kingdom of our God.

Love,

Elder Jolly

October 20 letter

I have decided to edit out names for the sake of privacy.   

 

 

Well everyone , it has been another great week at the MTC! Time is just flying by now, the weeks feel like a few days and we just take short naps in between. Elder ---- and I now have a new companion in our companioship.. Elder --- from Sterling Utah, his companion was sent home and so we asked to take him into our companionship. He is an amazing elder. He has a work ethic like no other, I would say it would compare to that of Mason's. He never stops working.We had a devotional yesterday and guess who spoke!!!!!! Elder Russell M. Nelson, yea an apostle came and spoke!! He and his wife spoke about missionary work. He talked about how we have the sacred responsibility as missionaries to take care of our converts, even after our missions. He said when we are out teaching we need to smile and be happy that way people realize the joy the Gospel brings. We must put Jesus first and humble ourselves because having character is better than being one. He talked about inspiration and how as missionaries we are entitled to recieve inspiration on behalf of our investigators but we must be looking for the clues so we dont miss it when it comes along. Over all the talk was amazing! This week I had this question on my mind that had really been bringing me down and i had not been my usual joyful self. One day in class our teacher said each companionship needs to pray about someone in our zone to teach and pray about what they should teach them,. Our new district leader elder ----- came up to me and said he and his companion Elder ---- would like to teach me. They went into a quite room and prayed for like 15 mins as to what they should teach me. When i sat down with them, they opened up to a scripture and read it to me. The scripture was exactly what i needed and I was immediatley overwhemled by the Spirit, I began to cry and they read the scripture and bore their testimony to me. There was no way they could have known what i had needed because i had not told anyone what was bothering me. It was only through the spirit that they could have recieved such divine inspiration pertaining to what i needed to hear. I know that as missionaries we are entitled to that same inspiration as long as we diligently seek it and put our faith in the Lord. It is when we have done all that we can that the Lord steps in and helps us when we can go no farther. It is in those moments when we have given it our all that our Savior Jesus Christ carries us. I love this Gospel, I love the joy and peace it brings to me in my life. I want to share that with everyone i come in contact with, for I am a representative of Jesus Christ and this is his work. I love you all and I love the letters i recieve. Stay true and stay strong.

Love,

Elder Jolly

oct 15 letter

Well it was another week in the good old MTC. This week just flew by, time seems to be going by faster and faster now. For the devotional yesterday we had Bishop Edgley come. He was amazing!!! He talked about how we are empowered as missionaries and how the missionaries going out now are more prepared then ever. He related a story about how he was having a conversation with President Hinckley regaurding missionary work on Manhattan Island. Bishop Edgley said he served his whole mission there and couldnt baptize one soul, but now the church cant build churches fast enough there to keep up with the growth. President Hinckley just smiled and responded " Well we have a better missionary today". Bishop Edgley talked about how the Gospel is simple and logical and as missionaries we need to keep it that way when teaching. He said one baptism can affect 3,000 people in as little as 5 generations and in 8 generations the number is 30,000. Work is the engine that keeps everything going. If you put in 30hrs or work you will get 30hrs of sucess out of it, so our sucess depends on how hard we are willing to work. My favortie quote from him was regaurding missionary work is, "Faith is the power, obedience is the price, love is the motive, and Christ is the reason" -James E. Faust.

I have noticed my study skills have been improving as I have more fully concecrated myself to the Lords work, the language comes easier, personal revelation comes stronger. I feel my self growing closer to the Spirit. I feel my relationship with my Heavenly Father strengthening. The first counsoler (sp) in our branch presidency gave a talk on sunday about hope and he describes hope as the "abiding waiting desrie for something better.  Love it here, and the joy and peach missionary workd brings.

Love, Elder Jolly

October 6,2010

Conference was amazing. I am no longer on crutches, my ankle is still pretty sore though and I always find a way to tweak it. Elder Burnett said the MTC is like one giant vaccine shot. I broke out it this weird rash the other day in a little spot on my back, so i went to the doctor and he told me I had shingles, Yippie!!! luckly it only stayed in a small patch on my back and didnt spread. I am started to agree with the elder that the MTC is a vaccine shot. The language is coming along great. We had a TRC lesson we taught to 2 spanish people who didnt speak a lick of english and it went really well, we didnt need any english the whole lesson as we explained the restoration, starting from Old testament prophets and going through praying about the Book of Mormon. After we finished the lesson me and my companion were jumping up and down we were so excited at how it went. Of course we then said a prayer and thanked our Heavenly Father, because there is no way our Spanish should've been that good. I think we had a little help, if you know what I mean. Yes I wrote the Bishop back and got a response. I loved conference and my favorite talks were President Uchtdorf's about slowing down our lives and Elder Gong's about temple mirrors of eternity. I went to the temple again today and did a list of initiatories, some of the names were crazy hard to pronouce.  Everything is going great here and I just keep pushing along. Some mornings its hard to get out of bed because I am soooo tired, but I always get up. Got to move the work forward :) I dont remember a time where i have been so tired for such a long amount of time.   I have gotten letters from so many people, including Jones. I am going to take some time today to respond to as many as i can. Everyone in the district including my teachers continue to call me hilarious and very funny. I like to keep a smile on peoples face, as sitting in class for 6 hours at a time can get extremely tiring. Anyways I am super busy and need to head off to do laundry but I love you all. Tell the lil ones I love them too!

Sincerely,

Elder Jolly or in spanish as everyone say (ho-jee)

September 29, 2010

Yea I am getting crazy excited about conference, I am going to join the MTC choir but I didnt report to the MTC in time to make it for the priesthood session. The sisters didnt get to watch womens conference yet, they get to watch it while we watch priesthood. We had Brother Clayton come speak at a devotional, he is in the Presidency of the Seventy. He gave a great talk about Daniel in the Bible and how he inturpreted the kings dream about the stone bein cut out of the mountain and how that scripture is talking about us (the church) in the latter days and how us as missionaries are the ones who are helping to flood the whole earth with the gospel. In our sunday mission conference President Smith talked about caffine and said, "We do somethings because they are commandments, we do others because we have a brain". He said," If you dont get a headache when you quit drinking caffine then you werent addicted so it shouldnt be hard to stop and if you do get a headache then you deserve it". Spanish is flying along, all our lessons are now taught in spanish which is weird to think about because i have only been here 2 weeks. I wonder how good my spanish will be in in 7 more weeks when i leave here. The MTC is spiritually and physically draining, if you dont sleep well one night it screws you up for the rest of the week, but I love it. Yes i got your package, it was lovely except the oil vial was open so it spilled, but only got on the highliters and cover of the hymns cds. It is hard to watch as Elders we have grown close with since we got here are leaving and headed out into the field. We had to say goodbye to 2 districts on sunday so our branch has shrunk from 70 elders to around 40. But we are supposed to get some new elders next week i believe.  Elder Pitcher is from Dallas, well Mickenny technically but close enough. My ankle is doing better, it just makes it hard to sleep sometimes, when i roll over and tweak it. I love to keep class lively and have a hard time refraining my self from saying a few good jokes every once in awhile but my teachers always laugh and love it. Hermana Purziani one of my teachers used to be crazy Catholic and almost became a nun before the missionaries ran into her and she converted. She is awesome and very inspiring. I went to the temple again today and it was as amazing as ever. It is so gorgeous! the flowers are gorgeous and the fountains and well the inside is stunning!!!! Wouldn't change anything for the world. Anyways it is time for me to go eat some food, eating has become like a new favorite thing of mine (like it ever wasnt my fav thing). I love you all! The church is true, always has been, always will be... no unhollowed hand can stop this work... and if they try they will have to deal with me or maybe i will just sick Makenna on them (jk jk). Do whats right and always love the Lord and his work, it is the key to eternal happiness in this life and the life to come.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly :)

Taylor's first email home: September 22

Hey mom,

 The MTC is great, it is more studying than i am used to though. On the average day we spend about 6 to 7 hours in class and another 3 or 4 hours doing personal and companioship study. Every night i walk back into my dorm and just fall into bed. The weird thing is I love studying so much and the hours in class fly by. I have 2 teachers, Elder Johnson and Hermano Perziani, I would have to say Perziani is definitely my favorite just because of her teaching style. My companion is great... to describe him in one word i would have to say he is a... Jason Carter. We work together really well and haven't had any problems yet. I often also study with Elder Burnette who is in my district. He was a tutor at Kumon for the past few years before his mission so he helps a lot. The first day in class when i walked in my teacher wouldnt speak any english and so i looked at her dumbfounded the whole time. But since then I have learned to pray, bear my testimony, do contacting and I can have friendly conversations in Spanish. After next week it is 100% spanish in the classroom so we will see how that goes. The food here is pretty good although the lines are usually really long. I think i might be losing weight, which i didnt think was possible. I was going to try out for the chior just so i could sing at General Conference but tryouts were the day before i reported, but my companion tells me i actually have a decent singing voice when i try. One of my roommates is from Mesa and he drives me nuts sometimes... You guys said i have a big head, well you should meet him. I try to stay quiet and not bring it up to him but if he keeps is going then i may just strangle him... I mean i guess its ok to hit your roommates or companion sometimes (right dad?). I found out I leave the MTC nov. 17. Some Columbian Elders in our District got delayed because of Visa problems so they have been helping us out and feeding lots of goodies. They left this morning and left me with all their flashcards and extra books. I am going through the Book of Mormon verse by verse in spanish and translating it then looking over in the english one to check my work, it is long and tedious but it helps a lot. I went to the Provo Temple today with my companion and next week we are going to do some Sealings.

Yesterday in my spare time (what little we have, because like every second is planned out already) I listened to Elder Holland's talk from October's conference entitled Safety for the Soul. As i listened to him bear testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I couldnt help but get the chills as the Spirit bore testimony to me of the truthfulness of his words. I decided it is my favorite talk of all time!!!  If you haven't listened to it recently then I invite you to listen to it with the family next monday for FHE. My Branch President is crazy strict, I like it but sometimes he comes off as cold hearted. He always makes sure to teach us about the importance of obedience and how important it is as a missionary. I still havent decided if I like him, but i might as well since he will be my branch president for 7 more weeks.

I am glad things are going well at home, tell Hannah and Eli I love them. Hannah is turning out to be quitet the soccer star, maybe i will have to challenge her to a little one on one when i get back. I hope they are loving school, because they are going to have to deal with it for several years to come. Keep letting me know how their soccer games are going and whats new going on in their lives. I only get to check emails on wednesdays so letters are nice too :) Yea how is Megan's temple calling going? Is she thinking about getting certified to do it in French? Well time is running short and so if i dont get  a proper ending in that is the reason because i have to hit send before the timer gets to 5 seconds.

More on Elder Holland's talk. Me and my companion Elder Pitcher were both listening to the talk at the same time and when we both finished we just looked over at each other with tears in our eyes and smiled, it was all we could talk about for the next hour. The Book of Mormon is true and it was translated by Joseph Smith through the Power of God. No man could write such an inspired book. I loved when Elder Holland raised his voice and said he wanted his testimony of the Book of Mormon to be recorded by man on earth and angels in Heaven and so when he stands at the judgement bar of God he can testify that he knows its true. I know its true too and I hope and pray that one day I can also stand with the same steadfastness when I see my Savior and Redeemer and also Eternal Father in Heaven. Either Joseph went into the grove or he didnt (thanks brother Adams) and the amazing thing is that Jospeh did go in to the sacred grove and saw Heveanly Father and Jesus Christ and restored the Gospel. I love you all and look forward to writing next week.

 

Love,

Elder Jolly

And he's off!

Wednesday, September 15, Taylor enters the MTC, accompanied by Dean.  They had a quick goodbye, and Taylor was off to get his name tag and meet his companion.