Christmas Call 2009

Just wanted to let you all know about Taylor, We were able to talk to him at Michelle's for about 90 minutes. It was fun to her fun him and he is really doing quite well. He really sounded like his old self which was great for us. He was at a members home and had been there all day they came and picked him up about 10 in the morning and had been there for dinner and all, what a great family!
He says his apartment is quite a dump but he and his companion had tried to change it up a bit to make it a bit more homey. Did not work too well but he is hardly ever there so it is ok. They only get to go to members home to eat dinner about once a week so they have to do their own meals and they are pretty sparce. He says he is really going to try and live on a tight budget but not strave. Hopefully that will work. He did say he is freezing so we sent in an electric blanket, sweats, thermals and thermal garments more socks a scarf and oatmeal. yes you heard me right he wants oatmeal so he can have something warm to eat that will stick to his bones. He says you eat almost anything when you are hungry so we sent him some hot chococlate and oatmeal. We could not send to much food this time because of all the things he needed. He does not even have a blanket so we had to get him one as soon as possible. I know it would be easier for him to just buy one but I have extra here and he is not alllowed on his bike till the ice melts and the Walmart is about 5 or so miles away and the grocery store is about 2 miles and it is hard on bikes to buy too much. They are grounded from their bike till the mission President says they can get back on them. In case you did not hear OK had the worst snow storm and cold spell it has ever had this past week. So they are on foot for a while and have to walk to the store and back for this week. They can not e-mail this week because the junior college is closed and they go there for e-mailing so no notes to anyone.
He is right in Oklahoma City on the south side but all letters have to go to the mission home the Mission Pres. is pretty strick about that so we will just send them there. His p-day is Tuesday so we hope to get a letter then. he gets transfered about every 6 weeks and he is not sure whether he will stay here or not and he is so lost out there with no mountains he says he get real turned around so we hope in 6 weeks he gets it right if he has to stay. He told us they sent 12 missionaries out on Monday 8 elders and 4 sisters then they had about 10 or 12 more on Tuesday so his trainer has only been out for about 4 1/2 months. Because with so many leaving they are kind of low on people who have been out there too long. But Taylor is very happy with his compnaion. He is Elder Jackson from Manti. He played B Ball at Snow College and will play football when he goes back so Taylor is happy, his companion is 6' 6 and about 220 they are pretty intimidating on bikes when they say hi to people.
There is another set of spanish speaking elders in his complex and they get along good. There is not a Wendy's close to him sad to say just a McD and taco bell and a pizza place right accross the street which he really likes. He told us he has to teach a lesson on sacrifice on Sunday thanks to his companion and he is getting ready for that. He has had his first door slammed on him and he said it was not too bad so he is handling it ok. All in all he sounds like he is doing ok. It was kind of hard for us to say good bye but he was having a good time so it made it a little easier.
Hope you enjoyed hearing about him.
Love Mom