April 23, 2015

This has been such an AWESOME week. sister Chirstiansen and I are headed to DC today to see the cherry blossoms, so in order to save time and still let you know about all the awesomeness, I'm going to just give you a lot of pictures. Okay? Okay. 

We went to the Manassas Battlefield last preparation day with the sisters from the Manassas 2nd ward (we're in Manassas 1st). It was SO gorgeous and so much fun! We just walked around and read signs and took pictures.

The trees here have EXPLODED!!! Popcorn is popping everywhere and it is so beautiful! Spring in northern Virginia is incredible. 

I'm sending a random assortment of other pictures, too. Sister Christiansen's mom sent both of us Easter candy! (I don't like Easter candy all that much, but its the thought that counts, right?) 

The Blodgetts are a couple in their late 20s who just moved back out here from BYU and who had us over for dinner on Sister Christiansen's birthday on the 2nd. We had chicken enchiladas. They're having us over for my birthday, too! Kirk and Spock are political candidates. 

We had a Sister's meeting for all the sisters in our Zone. It was wonderful. We went and saw Vivian Sims again! If some of these pictures didn't come through, I'm really sorry. I'm having wifi issues. :P

The most exciting thing this week was, of course, the baptism!!! Patricia and her husband Antonio cried pretty much the whole time. Raphaella was a combination of excited and nervous, but you could tell she was feeling the Spirit too. They are such a special family! Patricia wrote down her testimony and showed it to us in Relief Society yesterday. It nearly made me cry. I have absolutely LOVED working with these three special people. They have already made it their goal to go to the temple in a year and be sealed as a family. I'll still be on my mission, so I can get permission to go with them! It has been such a privilege and a blessing to teach this family. They are so faithful and wonderful. Any of the fears they have had in this process have been healed by their incredible faith. We have a sign-up sheet that goes around Relief Society every Sunday for women who want to come on splits with us to put their names on. Patricia turned to me when it came by and asked me if I thought she would be able to do it. She was concerned that her English isn't good enough, but I assured her it was, and that we would love to have her with us sometime. She was very excited, and added her name to the list. I am just so happy for them, I can't even contain it!!! We have discovered that there are SO MANY Portuguese speakers in our ward. Two sisters are from Brazil and one served her mission there. Antonio's home teacher served in Brazil and so did Raphaella's primary teacher. The bishop served in Portugal, so he speaks Portuguese as well. This was definitely the right time and the right place for Patricia and Raphaella to join the Church, and for Antonio to come back. It couldn't have been better. :) 

April 20, 2015

Thank you for sending pictures!!! Sam didn't send any. But she is totally GORGEOUS. Holy cow!! Jacob is a goof. These made Sister Christiansen and I laugh. Your letter from last week was HILARIOUS. I had to read half of it out loud so that Sister C. could appreciate how funny my mother is. :) 

My mission president doesn't have any problems with boyfriends joining in on Skype on Mother's Day. And I do want him to be there. He felt awkward asking you about it, but I told him to ask anyway. Be prepared. He'll probably cry. He sent me the cutest email for my birthday telling me his whole thought process when we first started hanging out and then dating. He's a really great guy. I hope you all like him, because I'm planning on keeping him. 

I can't believe Jacob is almost done with braces! I swear he gets bigger in every picture.

I love you, Mom! 

Baptism

Manassas April

April 6, 2015

  I feel like I don't have a lot to talk about this week. So forgive my short email. This week we had exchanges. I stayed here in Manassas and Sister Christiansen went with the Sister Training Leader (STL) to her area. I realized in the 24 hours that I led out the area that I'm actually really competent and also that I have no idea what I'm doing. At the same time. It was a great experience, though. In another 6 weeks Sister Christiansen will likely leave, I will be done being trained, and I will probably be leading out the area. (AHHHH!!! HELP!!!) Sister Christiansen says that she has total faith in me and that I'll be fine in another 6 weeks. Hopefully she's right! :) While we were on exchanges, Sister Harris (the STL with me) and I went to a sorta sketch neighborhood to meet with a girl Sister Chirstiansen and I had met last week. She wasn't there, but we talked to her brother and his friend. They were fascinating people. They started out by asking us questions mostly to be dorks (they are both 17 year old boys, so...), but the friend eventually started to ask legitimate questions. We gave them both copies of the Book of Mormon, Chastity pamphlets, and we also gave the friend a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and a For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. He was SO excited about getting all of them. It was really kinda fun. The girl we were going to see had forgotten about our meeting with her, but her brother told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon we gave her NON-STOP with her grandma. So we're pretty excited. 

     The other notable thing that happened this week was Conference weekend!!! Which was the same as Easter weekend. How cool is that?! I LOVED Conference. As always. I'm really excited to go back and read the talks. Especially Saturday and Sunday morning sessions. Those two were my favorite sessions. Our investigators who are getting baptized this coming Saturday (I'M SO EXCITED!!!) watched all of Conference at home online. We got a text from them after the first session on Saturday that was so sweet! It said, "We are watching the conference and it is simply beautiful. My husband's back is better, I think the medicine is finally doing good. ((His back has been giving him a lot of grief lately-- he has arthritis in it.)) We know that your prayers are helping too. So I want to say thanks for you and Sister Taylor because you are angels in the face of the earth. Jesus bless you forever." I just love Patricia! I'm so excited for them!! 

Anyway, I love you all!! Have a great week. The Church is true!!! 

Sister Taylor

Happy Easter to you too, Mom! 

Sister Christiansen's mom sent doubles of everything, so I have plenty of Easter candy. DON'T SEND ME CANDY. Unless its chocolate. We have SO MUCH accumulated from all the sisters of apartment #522 past. As always, I enjoy reading your email. Papa sends me a short email every week and he always says something funny. You two have similar humor in some ways. This week he told me that because of the water shortages in the West, the Mormon church would no longer be doing baptisms by immersion, and would be switching to sprinkling by holy water. He cracks me up. 

It seems like Sam is having a lot of fun with her friends these days. And she's clearly a hot commodity. TWO proms?!?! Wow. I'm not surprised though. She is sweet and gorgeous and talented and funny and wonderful.

Your stories about Jaxon crack me up! Tell him happy birthday for me. I did send him a card with $5 that actually came from you.So feel free to tell him you're welcome. I can't believe he's already 10! 

On the topic of birthdays, mine is coming up, so I probably ought to send some requests. They are going to be very demanding and expensive and hard to find. Ready? 

1. a diamond necklace 

2. the claw of a saber tooth tiger

3. the left eye of a jabberwock 

4. a Bible at least 1,000 years old 

5. a million dollars. 

You could also just send headbands in neutral-ish colors (black, white, dark grey, navy blue), erasable pens, more music (I sent Sam an email a while back with possible artists to choose from. Also, tell her thank you for the CD she sent!!), scripture covers (not like a case, but like cloth-type covers, one for each book), and....I know I had one other thing that I wanted, but I left my list at the apartment. So. I'll just get back to you on that one? Okay. I love you!!!! Have fun in St. George.  

March 30, 2015

1) Panorama of our apartment during companionship study

2) Sunset-ception 

3) This vanity plate takes second place. First place was one that said AHHHHH. But it moved to fast for me to get a picture. 

4) Dead things everywhere! Also, vultures everywhere!

March 30, 2015

Missions are a time warp. Every day feels like a hundred years and three seconds at the same time. I can't believe I've almost been a missionary for 2 months. How did that even happen?!? Craziness. 

The Giordanos are doing so well. They have come to church three times and they believe everything we teach them. They are struggling a bit with tithing. Not because they don't want to pay it, but because they don't know how they will be able to pay it and still have enough to pay the bills. We've been praying a ton for them that they will let their faith overcome their fears and that everything will work out. They are still on-track for getting baptized on April 11th!!! The ward has been so great about fellow-shipping them. They really just blend right in. We were told that in elders quorum, the father, Antonio, who has been inactive for years, kept saying that he is so glad to be back. Yay! 

We found a new investigator this week named Meisha. We were looking for her brother, who Sister Christiansen and her last companion had met weeks ago, but he wasn't there. We ended up talking to her about the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had ever wondered about where she came from, what happens after this life, and what her purpose is here. She said, "All the time!" We told her that the Book of Mormon answers all those questions and she said, "I'm going to have to read this book!" We're going back later this week. It will be the day of exchanges, so Sister Christiansen won't be there. Just me and one of the Sister Training Leaders. I'm kind of nervous. But Meisha is a sweet girl. She told us her grandma might be interested too! 

There is a new Easter video that just came out on Saturday. Its called He Lives. GO WATCH IT. Its awesome. We've been using it in our proselyting as much as possible. 

Transfers are coming up pretty soon, but chances are that Sister Christiansen and I will stay together for at least another transfer, since she is training me. I'm happy about that, since she is so great. She is HILARIOUS. I nearly die laughing every day. Multiple times a day. 

This week I was charged by an animal. We were knocking on the door of a less active, and we heard rustling in the bushes. Suddenly, something darted out and ran straight at me. I squealed and jumped to avoid it, but it hit my shoe and rebounded onto Sister Christiansen's leg before running off past us back into the bushes. It was a mouse. But a  HUGE mouse. Not quite rat-sized, but not your average mouse size. Uhg. 

Anyway, its been a pretty great week. I love being a missionary. It makes me so happy. Some days I think my face might just freeze into a smile. Other days I feel so tired I can hardly function, but its a good tired. Its an I'm-working-hard kind of tired. I love you all! The Church is true!!! 

Sister Taylor