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| Doris & Taylor |
During Taylor's talk he talked about the profound influence Doris's amazing testimony had on him. Doris wrote the most beautiful letters to the Young Men in our ward every time they advanced in the Priesthood. And when Taylor was a deacon he was assigned to put her walker away during sacrament meeting. Every time he took her walker Sister Armstrong would tightly hug Taylor and say, "I love you, Jesus loves you, and Joseph Smith restored the Gospel!" It was these words, heard so often, that planted the seed early for Taylor to serve a mission. He talked about her conversion to the church and how a missionary in England many years ago that visited Doris's family influenced a young deacon in Salt Lake City many years later. Unfortunately, Doris didn't get to see all of the Young Men that she influenced all those years leave for missions. She passed away in 2011. She would be so proud of all of the missionaries from our ward!
After the meeting Doris's grand daughter, who recently moved into the Ward, came up to Taylor and thanked him for the beautiful tribute to her grandmother.
Later in the week I saw a person drive in the the driveway. I mentioned to Taylor, "Do you know who that is?" he said, "No, I don't." I said that is Doris's daughter. She stopped by to thank Taylor again for his wonderful words about her mother. She left a lovely card with some money in it. She said that the money came directly from her mom's account and she knew that her mother would have loved to help support his mission. Taylor was left speechless.
At the meeting where Taylor was set apart as a missionary the night before he left, President Newbold had everyone in the room say a little about Taylor or give him advice. President Newbold was the last to make his comments. He said that a few weeks before Taylor had given his talk in Sacrament meeting he was looking for something in his office and couldn't find it. But he did find a letter that he thought was interesting. He put it aside and didn't think much about it. Again, while looking he found the same letter and once again didn't give it a second look. This evening President Newbold pulled that very letter out of his jacket and gave it to Taylor. He said it was a letter from Doris Armstrong written exactly 7 years ago today, February 26, 2005. She had written it to President Newbold's son who was serving a mission. He read a little of the letter. It was like she was writing it to Taylor. She talked about her love for the Gospel and her conversion.
Wow! Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need exactly when we need it!
Taylor now carries that letter in the pocket of his suit coat and plans to keep it with him to remind him why he is serving a mission.
Lisa
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