November 9, 2015

Hello! I hope you've had a good three days since I last wrote. Not a whole ton has happened in those three days, but they have been good days.

 On Friday we had weekly planning and we went to visit Lillian Williams aka "Grandma Lillian." She is this cute little 70 year old lady who adores the missionaries. She refers to us all as, "mah kids." It's adorable. She loves to talk. So we go and sit and listen and squeeze in a lesson in between her talking us stories about all the other missionaries who have come to visit her.

 The rest of Friday was basically just street contacting and knocking on doors. Some people were friendly and not interested, some people were indifferent and just stared at us and it was awkward, and some people were pretty cranky and not interested. It was really hard on my poor companion. She just came from Manassas, where every time you go tracting you meet at least one semi interested person, and she hasn't been out super long either. I feel really good just knowing that I'm working hard, but she's struggling because of the rejection. So some extra prayers for Sister Walton would be good.

 Saturday we went to Fairfax to have a Sisters meeting with our sister training leaders and the other sisters they are over. It was so so good. We each talked about our favorite scripture, our favorite part in PMG, and a miracle we've seen on our missions. My miracle that I shared was about myself. My mission has changed me and refined me and pushed me and pulled me in ways I never expected and never realized I needed. But truly on of the greatest miracles on my mission has been what it has done to make me a better version of myself. I still have many faults and weaknesses and shortcomings, but I'm amazed by the change and progress I've made because Christ has been there to guide me through this and He knows what my potential is.

 Sunday was WONDERFUL. Oh my goodness. Last week was stake conference, so we didn't get to have regular church with just our ward. It was so awesome to get to know the ward council, and the ward members in Sunday school and Relief Society. It was also fast and testimony meeting, and there were some truly wonderful testimonies. My favorite thing that someone said was, "that's the thing about big hearts-- they love big and they hurt big." I thought about the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They have the biggest hearts and the biggest love, but I'm sure they also have the biggest hurt when someone chooses to disobey or turns away from the love they offer. Sister Walton and I feel like we've experienced a small part of that this week with the rejection we've faced. We know how incredible this gospel is and how it brings such wonderful blessings. We want everyone to have it, and we know Heavenly Father loves all His children and wants them to have it, which is why we talk to so many people regardless of what they might say. We love big and we hurt big. Also, stake conference is great, but it means you don't get the sacrament for a week. And I really missed that. Taking the sacrament and renewing my covenants this Sunday was exactly what I needed. I felt calmer and more peaceful and more ready afterward. Sunday night we had a missionary fireside. Several recent converts shared their testimonies and President and Sister Huntsman also spoke. I loved it.

 I hope you all had a good week. The Church is true and I love it. I love my Savior and I'm grateful for Him. I know prayers and questions are answered when we ask God in faith.

 I love you!

 Sister Taylor Pictures!

1. Sister Walton and I are bad at taking pictures. This is a the only one we have together so far. Whoops. This is in front of the church. That's the Potomac River in the background.

2. Time lapse of driving home from church.

November 6,2015

Hello Everyone!

 Preparation day got moved to Thursday this week because we had a mission conference, so it has been a while since I've written. But a TON has happened. I said a lot of goodbyes in Warrenton because I got transferred!!! I am now in Alexandria. Whitewashing. The two sisters who used to be in our ward just barely finished their missions and went home, so now we're whitewashing! My companion is Sister Walton, who took my place when I left Manassas. She's super awesome!

 We're on our way back from the temple and the member giving us a ride just got pulled over. Not sure why....oh... Going 25 over the speed limit. (Which actually everyone else was doing too. So.)

 So! Whitewashing. We came in to an area with one investigator who is moving in two weeks and all the less actives the last sisters were working with are old ladies in the early stages of dementia.

 (She got off with a warning. It's all good. No ticket.)

 Anyway, we're whitewashing and the sisters before us didn't...really...actually...do work....As we've talked to the bishop, ward mission leader, and other missionaries in our district, we've realized that not a whole lot has happened in the past few months in is area. So Sister Walton and I have a TON of work to do. Remember how I hate tracting and street contacting and I have never been very good at it? Well, that's basically all we've been doing for the past week since we got here. But I'm getting a lot better at it and I actually enjoy it now! So that's awesome.

 Our first full day here was Friday, which also happened to be the ward Halloween Party/trunk or treat and we got assigned to take pictures of everyone that came. That was awesome, because it gave us a great opportunity to start getting to know the ward members. A ton of them also brought their non-member friends, so it was a really awesome night. We put Kleenex over tootsie pops and drew eyes and a mouth on them to make them look like ghosts to hand out for the trunk or treat. It was a hit. Saturday was Halloween. We went to the adult session of stake conference during the day and then at night we got together with some other missionaries. It's not really safe or a good idea for us to be out tracting on Halloween night. People are expecting trick or treaters, not missionaries to be knocking. So we watched Cokeville Miracle (SO GOOD. I'm not a crier. I cried), played speed (like the basketball game. I ended up in the last three one round!), and dodgeball. It was super fun. The rest of the week we've mostly just been tracting, street contacting, and meeting with members to get to knew them better.

Yesterday we had a super amazing experience. We got an online referral a few days ago, and we've gone to try to check on him several times, but he has never been home. Finally last night, someone answered the door. "Hi! Are you Daren?"

"Umm...no. I'm Ron."

 "Is there a Daren that lives here?"

 "Nope."

"Oh. Well, that's weird. Anyway, we're missionaries from the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....." And we taught the whole Restoration. Ron listened intently, and at the end, he said he believed it could be true. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he told us we could come back. It was so awesome! At the end, he told us good luck on finding the other guy. "This is North Alfred. Maybe he's on South Alfred," he suggested. That would almost make sense. Except we were looking for Patrick street, not Alfred. So we had been going to the complete wrong house and wrong street the whole time, but eventually we were led to meet Ron, and he seems super awesome.

This area is already FANTASTIC. On Tuesday we had a half mission conference. Elder Perkins of the first quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us. He talked about the power of teaching the First Vision as quickly as possible to those we meet. We shouldn't take too much time getting into it. He also talked about how we can turn meetings into revelatory experiences by having questions. He had us write down two questions--a proselyting question and a personal question-- at the start of the meeting that we could have answered during the meeting. Doing that really did make it so much more spiritual and revelatory. I would highly suggest it. Sister Walton and I have been working to apply what he taught about getting right to the First Vision when we talk to people and HOLY COW. It seriously changes everything. So many more people stop to listen to us, and yesterday we had three people say we could come back. It is so amazing. I hope you have all had a great week. I love you all. The Church is true. I am SO grateful to be a missionary. This week I hit my nine month mark and I realized how quickly this has really gone. It moves so fast!