Getting to Know Elder Wood

Taylor Wood - "Woodrow:

Elder Taylor A. Wood is the fourth of six children born to Dean and Allyson Wood, including one older sister, two older brothers and two little sisters. He was born and raised in Delta, but has spent the past 6 months living in Morenci, Arizona with his sister's family where he worked for Phelps-Dodge, a mining company.

When Taylor was little we nicknamed him "Captain Distructo". He loved to play and have fun and the consequences never seemed to enter his mind. He never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings, (that was the last thing on his mind), he just wanted to have fun. Our family quickly learned that "things are just things and Taylor is definitely one of a kind.

Taylor has had a chance to be a leader and has served as President in his various quorums. While working on his eagle project, most of the boys took off to go and play. This was Mom's third eagle project and she didn't even flinch when this happened. Boys will be boys. But not Taylor, he rounded those kids back up and got them back to work.

Taylor's fun-loving personality quickly won him wide acclaim. Raised in a small community he is well-known and loved. He never listened to "labels" other people put on each other, but rather seemed to find good in everyone he met. He has a real talent for not judging, welcoming and loving all.

In high school, Taylor played the clarinet. He loves working with computers and networking them. He enjoys playing games on the internet, and is really, really good at it. In fact, he has been ranked in the top 5 in the world on a couple of his games. His parents were excited to hear that he often reminds those he plays with to watch their language while playing. He sets a good example, and doesn't mind standing up for what is right.

He seldom goes anywhere without his laser pointer. When things get a little slow, or when children are around, he discreetly pulls out his laser and within minutes has children running around chasing the little point of red light, laughing and giggling and wondering where this little magic is coming from. Children love it, teachers hate it.

Taylor knows how to play, but he also knows how to work. When ask to go the extra mile, and do more than his fair share he will. He has a strong testimony and lives his life to show it. He is excited to be able to serve the Lord. (his MSN signature is "Woodrow - called to serve!"

Taylor seldom goes unnoticed. He is who he is - there is no facade. Underneath he is pretty tender but seldom voices his hurts or disappointments. He will turn inward for a while, and then reemerge his usual happy self.

Taylor has decorated his room entirely (meaning every square inch of wall space) with hot wheel cars. He and his dad have been collecting for years.

He is good to govern himself. He has been raised with a lot of freedom because of the wise choices he has made. He is very open with his parents and they have a great relationship. He is "the favorite uncle" and will be missed terribly by his nephew and two nieces.

Although Taylor has done well in school, I think his strength is actually his ability to love people and to focus on the good in everyone.

Going there TODAY!

We went to the temple with Taylor today, 3 Nov 2007. We chose to go to Logan because Mike, Zub and Blaine were all very busy with school. Although they said they would go to whichever temple Taylor chose, we thought we would make it easier for him.

Imagine our excitement when we found out that Josh would be in town recruiting at USU. Kimberly would not be able to make it, nor the grandparents, but we felt this would be the best time.

Taylor wanted to wait until Saturday so that he could attend all of the scheduled networking parties and then after the temple, we would eat and take him back to the airport to fly back to Arizona.

We had a wonderful day and enjoyed each others company, then sadly said goodbye until December when he would come home for the last time before his mission.

I've Got My Call Now!

Taylor received his call dated 9 October 2007. Kimberly called home to tell us it had arrived and we knew we would have to wait until everyone was off work. We planned to open it with the modern technology of webcams, home phone and cell phones. Once we were finally all connected, including: Taylor, Mom, Dad, Candice, Nikki, Mike, Zub, Blaine and Jo, Taylor finally started opening his call - ever so slowly, holding little pieces of paper up to the webcam so all watching would feel the anticipation. Mom types: "Open, Open, Open!" And Taylor pauses to crack a joke. "Just open it," everyone cries. "It is open," Taylor says. "Well then read it already!" The family types: "read, read".

Taylor begins reading: "You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Tonga Nuku'lofa Mission......

You should report to the MTC on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the gospel in the Spanish language. Just kidding! ... in the Tongan language.

The family offered a few comments of congratulations as Mom began researching the mission and gathering information on the needed supplies. After a few minutes the excitement began to settle and the end of the conversation drew near. "I guess we better go" said Mom. "Not yet, can't you talk a little longer?" asked Taylor. It seemed obvious to Mom that Taylor still wanted to talk so the family stayed on the line a little longer. However, he didn't say much more and it had been a long day. It was now after nine and Mom in a rush to get everything done for the phone call hadn't eaten all day. "I'm hungry, I've got to go. Tell me how to spell it one more time." Taylor says "You want me to spell it out, " and types: Guatemala Guatemala City North Mission!! (Reporting to the Guatemala MTC, speaking Spanish).

Mom, who isn't sure how to respond, finally gathers herself to repeatedly exclaim, "You Jerk! Are you serious. You aren't going to Tonga. You Jerk!" Mom later told the family that when she first heard the call to Tonga she wanted to be excited for Taylor, but all she could think of was the movie "The Other Side of Heaven" and that Taylor would get the soles of his feet eaten by rats. In short, Taylor was fully satisfied with the response he received from his cruel little plan.

It turns out that a few months earlier Taylor heard of a missionary who came home at lunch to find his mission call sitting in the mailbox. The missionary opened the call, copied it, changed the location, resealed the call, and set it back in the mailbox for his family to find. That evening as family was gathered, the missionary announced the phony call. His mother burst into tears, "My son is going to Iraq."

Taylor knew the moment he heard this story that he must follow in this missionary's footsteps. And so began the search for the perfect mission call, you know the one that would get the best reaction when announced to family and friends. The days passed quickly, and before we knew it the call was sitting in Kim's mailbox and Taylor still hadn't settled on the right mission call to announce. As the family gathered on webcams and cell phones to witness the ceremonial opening, Taylor was reviewing an online list of church missions. Then an idea popped into Kim's head. She ran the location by Taylor, and he agreed it would do the trick. He quickly scrawled the mission's official name on his hand then joined his anxious family. Holding the call just right, so he could easily read the words written on his palm, he carried out his well-thought out plan.

*Note: If you enlarge the picture of Taylor's hand, you can see the words tonga nuku'lofa written on his palm.

Time to start "the papers"

While in Arizona we took Taylor's pictures for his papers when he is ready to turn them in. We will try hard not to notice that he didn't want to take the time to smooth down all of his hair so he just wet the top, add a few flaming "bangs" and lets get this picture taking job over with.

He can start filling out his papers in September, but we will be more than 14 hours away, so he will have to have Kim and Josh help him along.

His papers will be sent from Morenci because Bishop Carter is the one that will have to interview him and make the arrangements.