March 16, 2015

Dear People I love,

This week was awesome! And seriously exhausting. :) Between the Manassas 1 and 2 wards, we were busy all the time. We had lots of actual teaching appointments, which is always good. While we were in M2 one day, we tried to check on a potential, but she wasn't home. Sister Liu suggested that we knock on some doors while we were there, and we agreed. The first door we knocked on three times before we got an answer. Sister Liu knocks really quietly, so we weren't sure if they had heard, so Sister Christiansen knocked the third time. I didn't want to keep knocking because I figured that they were ignoring us on purpose. I was wrong. The door opened and this super tall guy answered. He told us his name was Ben. We explained who we were and he told us that he had met some missionaries before and that they had helped his wife when her car broke down. He told us that he thought what we do is great. We ended up talking to him and his wife, Julie, who eventually joined us, for about 15 minutes. They are 7th day Adventist, but they are looking for a different church. We told them a bit about the LDS church and asked them if we could visit them again. They looked at each other and Julie said, "we are searching," so they agreed to meet with us again. Yay! 

We got a call on Friday from the assistants who told us that Sister Liu would be going back to M2 and getting a new companion, so we wouldn't be a trio anymore. We went to the mission office on Saturday morning so she could meet her new companion. It was a really fun and crazy week being a trio and covering two areas. Sister Liu was a great example. She always asked people really great questions and wasn't afraid to talk to EVERYONE we came across. It was scary sometimes, but it helped me to improve. Sadly, because we aren't covering both areas anymore, Sister Christiansen and I won't be teaching Ben and Julie. We'll have to ask Sister Liu how it goes at district meetings. 

We had a great lesson with Patricia and her family this week. She fed us dinner (Brazilian food-- so good!!), and then we taught the third lesson to her and Rafaela. Her husband, Antonio, ended up joining us after he got home from work. He is a convert and an inactive member. We talked to him, and he is interested in coming back to church. He is really happy that his wife and daughter are interested in the Church. All three of them came to church on Sunday! After every meeting we would ask Patricia what she thought, and she told us, "I love it!" Even after a very confusing lesson in Gospel Principles about the final judgement! I was afraid that that lesson in Sunday school would confuse her, and I think it did, but she still felt the Spirit. The Elders sat with Antonio during elders quorum, and they told us later that he kept saying how excited he was that Patricia and Rafaela are getting baptized. They are officially on date for April 11th. :) :) :) They are such a cute family. I'm so excited for them. We have a lesson with them this Thursday, and Patricia asked us to come over for dinner again, so we have dinner with them on Saturday night this week too. 

The work is really progressing here in Manassas! The elders had a less active that they had been teaching come to church and a family that they just happened to tract into last week come to church. We had the Giordanos (Patricia's family) and two less actives that we meet with come to church. We also have a meeting with a potential investigator tonight and one with a less active. I'm not sure if I mentioned the family from Ghana that we are teaching in my letter last week, but they seem like they have a ton of potential, and I'm excited to see how things go with them. 

I love you all! The Church is true! I love being a missionary. :) 

Sister Taylor 

1. Me and Rafaela. I was showing her the iPad.

2. Sister Liu, Sister Christiansen, me

3. A snowman on a cow mailbox. We pass it every day on the way to Sister Morris's house. I took this picture and the next day they had taken the snowman down. 

4. Look how many people signed up to feed us this week! On Wednesday we have lunch with a Sister in the ward and on Saturday we have dinner with Patricia. They will send the sheet around again on Sunday, so next week will be better than it looks right now.