Hello everybody!
I hope everybody had a great 4th of July. In the morning we went to our wards pancake breakfast and I ate a ton. We went tracting for a bit then we went to a barbecue. I got to grill the ribs that we had and they were delicious. Later we went to the park and played around with a Frisbee until the fireworks started. We got permission to stay out and watch the fireworks. it was great fun. Other than that not much interesting has happened since last time. Next week is transfers and I will probably get transferred, but it is still up in the air. My trainer goes home next week. He is close enough that he can come down on p-day. So i will be able to see him before he leaves. In our e-mail this week, we were told that in the next six months, half our mission is going home. That means that most of the missionaries out here are really old and about to go home, including me. Most everybody that i know is going home too. It's weird to be here with all younger guys. I'm the oldest missionary in my district. Last week we had a dinner appointments and they had homemade bread. They said that it was really easy to make and it takes about two hours. I can do that in the mornings and bake it for lunch. So today I went and bought a bread stone to bake on. Now all i have to do is get their recipe and I'll be eating a lot of bread. If i was a super hero my weakness would be bread, its just too delicious. Well all I love ya and hope you have a great day!
Elder Tayrien

Hello everybody
Well its currently very summery outside, and hot, very, very hot. Other than that life is good. Brittany Buchwald came to church and now she can be baptized on the 25th. Now we just have to get her less active husband to get to church now too. On the 30th we have an open house at the church and we are supposed to have a bunch of potentials/investigators there. Hopefully they will feel the spirit and will want to continue to be taught. Nothing really exciting is going on, transfers are in 3 weeks and i will probably leave. It's quite possible that I will only have two areas left on my mission. Hopefully they are good. Zone conference was last Friday and was great. We learned about recognizing the spirit in our work. I had been studying that section for the last 8 weeks and a lot more understanding came from zone conference. People are truly inspired when it comes to missionary work. Well, not much going on besides that. I hope you all have a great day. Till next week.
Elder Tayrien

Hello everybody!
I’m back in Ames again. This time in the other ward. It’s like I’m starting all over again! So my companion is Elder Aledo, from California. He is crazy. Saturday we got a referral from a less active member who he brought with him to a lesson we had at his house. We went over and visited him and met Jenny Millhouse. We were there for 3 hours just answering question and promising blessings. We gave her a book of Mormon and she came to church the next day. After church we were out tracting and we got a phone call to come over to see her because all we could tell on the phone was that she was crying and that she lost something. So we waited for some members to come with us and as soon as we walk in the door we see Jenny balling her eyes out. She got a call from somebody telling her that her sponsor for over two years (the person who helps you stop smoking and drinking and stuff, the sponsor) had died in her sleep that night. So we talk with her and calm her down and we tell her about the comforter and she wants to be baptized on May 9th now. So in two days we found a child of God who was prepared and ready to receive the fullness of the blessing of being baptized and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have not taught her a thing but answered her questions and promised blessing and she herself as to be baptized as soon as possible because she sees what is going on in her life and what the gospel can do for her and she wants it. The Lord has used us as an instrument to find and baptize these people the lord has prepared people to put in your path and as soon as you prepare yourself for these situations the Lord WILL put them in your way. We have been fasting and praying to find somebody to teach and baptize and it happened. You also must prepare yourself to help God's children. These people need you and they need God in their lives and the only person they can get it through is you. All the Lord asks is that you be ready and willing. They are prepared are you? Are you ready to give up just a little more, of your time, of your person? when you are ready the lord will bless you, I know because its happened to me and it will happen to you as long as you are ready and willing. Without James we would never have met Jenny because she was very scared of missionaries, she would turn them away every time they knocked on her door. Members are the key to missionary work, we can only do so much missionary work but as soon as you start helping we can do the lords work. Prophets have taught that every member is a missionary it’s time to step up and do it. Talk to your friends, love them enough to share with them the blessings they need and want. Don't ever stop being a missionary because as soon as you do, you stop being a Christian. You stop loving the Lord and you stop loving your eternal family. Nothing in this world can stop you from sharing the gospel except yourself. I love you all and I hope you are doing whats right because it’s right. Smile and remember that you are worth everything in the sight of God.
Elder Tayrien

Well hello,
So it's transfer preparation day again. I'm getting transferred,but don't know where or with who. This last week has been pretty crazy. I gave service at a dairy farm for two days. I got to milk cows, scrape poo, lay bedding, climb a silo, feed baby cows, jump on a dead bloated cow to make it fart, pull barbed wire fence, drive multiple times through a creek and get sprayed by mud, lots of fun. Other than that we did a ton of tracting. We also went to a wedding for a member who married a non member, and when we went to the reception alcohol was being served so we got to laugh at the best man getting drunk. Today we are going over to the members house who got married. They are sisters and one brother, two of them are less active and we help their parents at their farm doing remodeling. If you ever want to lay the real porcelain tile I know how. We also went over to their house for Easter and we taught them how to play a game called mow, so they invited us over to play it again tonight. Hopefully we can get either one or both of the less active siblings back to church. Tomorrow I have to be at the transfer point at 2:00 to hop on and drive someplace. Sorry for the quick e-mail and it will have to be next week again before I can ship that package off, sorry about it all but transfers and leaving my camera in a different area are big set backs. Well, love you all and hope you have a great day!
Elder Tayrien

I'm up in Waukon today, yesterday we came up after church to have church so we can have people come that think its too far a drive to go to Fayette. We got permission to spend the night so we can work up here where we don't normally get to. The computer I'm using to e-mail is smaller lengthwise than one hand and width wise if you cut off my thumb it would fit. So my fat fingers are getting in my way, this is the smallest computer I've ever seen! My left wrist is cramping up already. Last week we didn't do a whole lot besides tracting. Saturday we went to do service at the Drapers farm, we started the grout work on the tile that we laid. It was fun But I'm still sore. I'm not used to being on my knees all the time and stretching and bending in those weird positions. This next week our schedule is packed the whole week. Tuesday we go out with sister Fuhrman, Wednesday is exchanges in Manchester, Thursday is district meeting and Friday is planning and dinner with the Devores, Saturday is service all day again, so thats what we have planned this upcoming week. Well a little bit about my comp. He loves me, a lot. He requested to serve with me and he got it. We get along but he is one of those 'Texans', the self proclaimed fat heads of the the world. Not that I have anything against Texas its just those type of people. But we get along alright, I'm just acting as a babysitter again, actually more like a Mother than anything. But I can kick his butt if he starts getting lazy on me. Well, tell everybody I said hello and that I love them all. Thank you for all the prayers, you have no idea how they help.
Well, bye, and we'll talk next week.
Love, Elder Tayrien

Well I just wrote you a whole long letter and I went to copy and paste it and my stupid finger slipped and I erased the whole darn thing. Angry! So here is a shorter version. Transfers where fine, my comp is fine, I got your package and thank you a lot for it. it's always makes me happy to see a box outside our door. Saturday we gave service at a members house and ended up starting a bonfire and burning stuff, which was fun. Tuesday is zone conference which I hate having at the beginning of the transfer because its always the end of the transfer when your motivation level drops and a kick in the butt by the spirit helps. Well, since I wasted all my time writing you a long letter then letting my stupid fingers delete it I'm out of time. I love you tons and sorry for last week. I wrote and e-mailed but I guess something went wrong. These small town libraries have a TON of technical problems because they are all run by old ladies that are still trying to figure out a microwave.
Elder Tayrien

Hello everybody,
Well its transfers again, I'm staying here while my comp gets transferred. They are doing it in the dark again where they don't tell you anything besides that you are getting transferred. So I don't know who I'm getting or where my comp is going, lots of fun. So I'm anxious to see what kind of missionary I'm getting. This week so far not much has happened. Monday we got back to our apartment from being gone for 3 days while we where up in Waukon working. We are allowed to spend the night at the Branch Presidents house to save miles and be able to work the surrounding area. They also have the sacrament there on Sunday, so all the people that think its too far to drive to Fayette can just drive to Waukon. On Sunday, we had a rain/ice/snow storm so we were not able to go out to tract like we planned or wanted too. Instead we played Skip-Bo for most of the day hoping the storm would calm down enough so we could at least drive to see some less actives, but it didn't. Yesterday the weather was nice, it got up to 50 degrees with a slight breeze then it started to get really windy and cold real fast later in the day. We had a wind advisory all night long and its cold again today. Tomorrow I have to be down by Waterloo at the transfer point at 2:00 p.m., I'm just glad its not earlier in the day. Well, I've got to go, so I'll talk to you all later.
Elder Tayrien

This thursday we are going to the Nauvoo temple with a family we helped prepare to get there. They are going to get their endownments and be sealed together along with their little 5 year old daughter, so I'm excited for that. It's amazing to see these kind of things happen, watching the change in people. We also have been teaching a recent convert the new member lessons. The husband had been inactive for a while and his wife was the one we baptized the first week I was here. They had a still born son and the missionaries here went to the funeral so she is now baptized and he is getting ordained a Priest this Sunday. We go over and teach/fellowship with them at least once or twice a week now. He goes tracting with us and is now doing his own missionary work. With their son's death, they have come to realize what they really need to be doing with their lives. The Husband even said that they had planned to come to church after the Baby was born but they were not sure that they would have because of all the stress of having a new baby. It's sad that it took the death of their child to get them to come to church but the Lord saw what they needed and what they could bear and showed them the way back. Now they are both more happy then they ever could be. They both have a glow about them and we see that they can't wait to go to church every Sunday. His mom had been excomunicated and we are teaching her until she feels like she has repented enough to be re-baptized. Its great seeing the whole family come back to church. Well, I need to get going. Love you all and have a great day! Elder Tayrien

Hello everybody again, so this week has been pretty good. we had another baptism this Sunday and it went amazing. we have both been so tired this whole week, its hard to wake up in the mornings. The weather has been horrible this week and made it extremly hard to work this week so not much got done because its been too windy, snowy, or cold to go outside no matter how much we wanted too. Its hard to stay sane when the weather won't coperate with you. Well lets see what happend this week.....oh on monday my companion got really mad at my Rubiks cube because he couldn't solve it and I was already mad at it so we took it out behind our apartment along with a golf club driver and now its in pieces, all over the place, it was fun. We took video of it and it was awesome. We also spent a lot of time over at a recent converts house staying out of the bad weather. We have helped them a ton because they are filing for bankruptcy which is not fun, so we try to help. They are both doing great and the male member is going to be ordained a priest this coming sunday. They are doing amazing! They want to know and have everything now and they really like missionaries so its good both ways. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Elder Tayrien

Hello everybody!
This last week has been pretty crazy. Sunday, President Talbot came to church in Fayette to interview somebody we are teaching also the day before we had a wedding and it was crazy the whole time! Lots of stress involved. Friday was and awful day because we planned until 2:00 then left and had a poopy day. We went over to visit a less active member that we found and found out that he had been arrested and will spend 30 years in jail for robbing a convenience store when he was drunk. So, working that day was not fun at all. Also, we had zone conference That was all about planning and using our time wisely. It was nice to go to a place with a bunch of missionaries and feel the spirit all day long. Sunday was just as crazy as the rest of the week. The Branch President finally got back from traveling so this was the first time that I was able to meet with him, and I just so happened to make most of the branch mad at me. In PEC before church, we had a huge list of things to go over with the branch president. We had been asked not to do the sacrament by our mission president because it's not our responsibility and that the members should be fulfilling their own priesthood callings, so i brought this up in PEC and made everybody mad at me. At least they're finally stepping up and doing something now. Nothing ever gets done in that meeting at all. It's just a big story time with he members and I get there and have an agenda and want them to actually do something they get all huffy and puffy. I have a job to do and I don't care if I have to step on your toes and kick you in the bum to get my job done, because in the end I will either feel regret or accomplishment. They also talked about home and visiting teaching and about how much more convenient it was to not do it and that they are not the visiting type of people. You can see why this branch is still a branch. Gaaah! I need to stop ranting. Well, all in all I'm having a ton of fun up in Fayette, there is a ton of work to do and lots of people to see, teach, and find. I love you all and hope you have and amazing week!
Elder Tayrien

February 9 email

Hey Dad,
well this week has been fun, lots of hard work followed by lots more hard work. Tomorrow is zone conference so we have to leave to spend the night in Manchester at the district leaders apartment, so that will be "fun". This past week we went to a dinner appointment and the guy works at a place that makes pig food. They get all the factory reject candy and stuff and they turn it into pig food. So pigs aren't corn fed, they are candy fed. We walk in and he brings us a giant brown bag, its about as tall as Brittany, and it was full of crunch bars. So, we have a ton of crunch bars and nerds rope. The only thing wrong was that some of the crunch bars are white so we just open the package and if its white we throw it away. We dumped them all out and buried myself in a ton of them. The other day we went to a return appointment and there was a puppy pit bull outside. We went inside and see a little naked girl running around, and the dog is jumping all over us. The lady told the little girl to go into the other room with her daddy, then she yells at the dog, TUCKER! STOP! GO OUTSIDE! So the dogs name was Tucker.Ii always tell my companions that my name is something that you name a dog, a horse or a fish, and this just proves that it's a dogs name. The weather has been amazing here, it got up to 36 degrees yesterday and i walked around without a coat on! I'm sick person to think that anything above freezing is warm, heck even 30 degrees feels warm enough to take our jackets off. Our cars fan stopped working one really really cold morning. The car barely started and while driving down the road we find out that the fan doesn't work. So we get to where we are going and i remembered reading a story in the Friend about how a family's car was broken down and the last thing they did after all that they could do was say a prayer and it started to work. So the first thing we did was say a prayer. We left the car and went into a drugstore to wait for the car Elder to call back so we go out and start the car and the fan works! So we where able to work that day because of i. So by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Just remember that no matter how simple it seems the Lord cares and will bless you. Well I've got to go. I love you all and have a great day!
Elder Tayrien

so i got kicked of the transfer wagon in Fayette. a podunk little town in the northeast corner of the state/mission. but we have a car full time, a mazda 3. its really nice, probably the nicest car i will drive my whole life. anyways its been a busy three days. my new comp elder trodder is a pretty nice guy. we also had a baptism (arg spelling) on Sunday so it was nice to actually see one. this little town is a college town and its not very big at all. we have the second largest area in the mission, it borders the Manchester area and covers all the way to Minnesota and Wisconsin. we have a base miles of 1300 a month for our car and we will probably use them all going to all the little towns trying to find people to teach. there is absolutely no teaching pool here. there are no investigators, no potentials nobody after the baptism yesterday. there is another baptism coming up and she is the only other person we have left. so we will be tracting a lot. in one week we plan to beat the record of tracting hours for the mission. the record is 25 hrs in one week and we plan to do 50 hours in one week. but since that's all we have left to do we are going to do a lot of it and do it the best. hopefully we will find a ton of people to teach. these last three days has been a rush to get 10 hours of tracting. the minimum for one week is ten and we had to do it in three days. we are so tired of it already. So we have a lot to do. well sorry for all the complaining and everything, today we have to drive out of our area to shop at a Wal-mart. that's how podunk our town is, no Wal-mart, only a little drugstore with inflated prices, so we have to drive a long time to do our shopping. well not much has happened so now you know where i am, well love you all and have a great day.
elder tayrien

This is Elder Tuck's Dad. I decided to start a blog spot for him to make it easier for family and friends to see his most recent letters and pictures. I will do my best to keep it current, but I can only work with what he gives me to work with. I will start with February's emails and with a slide show of pictures I've received as of today. If anyone has anything to add, just email it to my address above and I will do my best to get it in.