September 2013 — Personal missionary journal — Senior couple in New Zealand
September 6 — We received the wonderful news from Bishop Maughan that our status on the missionary application website has changed from “awaiting assignment” to “call issued”. We are so excited and blessed. We don’t know how long it will be before the official call arrives in the mail, but we hope we will not have to wait long. We are so grateful to the Lord for this great blessing.
September 13 — Friday the 13th will never again be an ominous day in my life, as this Friday the 13th brought into our lives one of the great blessings we could ever hope for. Susan and I received our official mission call from church headquarters, and we were called to serve in the New Zealand Hamilton Mission, with Charles and Annette Rudd as our leaders. We are to report to the MTC in Provo, Utah on Monday, December 30. I am so excited, grateful, humbled, and full of love to my Heavenly Father. What a sweet and rewarding experience this will be for us as a couple. We have much to do to prepare, but the Lord has worked miracles in our behalf thus far and will continue to guide our steps. Anne, Stewart, Jane, Trevor, and Steven were with us as we opened our call. We talked to Bishop Maughan, President Gagon, Mom and Dad Rudd, Charlie and Annette, and many others that night on the phone. A spirit of joy and gratitude filled our home.
September 15 — We had the opportunity to respond to our mission calls by writing a letter to the Brethren, and here is my response: “Dear Brethren, It is with a heart full of joy and gratitude that I respond to my mission call to serve in the New Zealand Hamilton Mission. My response is “YES, YES”, a thousand times “YES”. I am so grateful for this sweet privilege that is now ours, and I promise to serve dutifully, diligently, and tirelessly. I am so excited to share this great experience with my sweet wife. I know already that I will have the best companion of all the elders serving in our mission. I am ready to serve in whatever capacity and in whatever location that President Rudd and the Lord are preparing for my wife and me. I am humbled beyond expression to know that I will be representing the Savior himself, the Church, and our Prophet and apostles, but I will do my very best to carry the Lord’s love, gospel, and influence to wonderful members and soon-to-be members in New Zealand. We have felt and continue to feel the power of Elder Nelson’s “Wave”, and we feel blessed to be part of this great “surge”. I thank the Lord and all of you for this blessing! Elder Michael D. Taylor.
October 2 — Another miracle occurred as we completed the various medical requirements for our New Zealand visas. We were both required to receive chest X-rays to rule out tuberculosis. I immediately began to worry about this because I have not had a normal chest X-ray image since I was in medical school. I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis all those years ago and my X-ray has always shown significant peri-hilar adenopathy and mild lung field abnormalities. I was worried that this would be a red flag for the doctors that considered my visa application. I was also very concerned because I was still recuperating from a recent head and chest cold. I waited anxiously for the results of my chest X-ray on the day it was taken. After a few minutes, the radiologist came into the exam room with a broad smile and told me that he was a former New Zealand missionary. He said he was so jealous that we were returning to the land he also loved. He told me when and where he served, and then told me that my X-ray was 100% normal, completely free of any abnormalities. I considered this another of the many tender mercies the Lord has showered upon us in the preceding months as we made our mission applications.
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