October 26, 2015

Hello! Happy Holloween! (Early, because I won't be writing on Saturday to say it then). This might be my last email from Warrenton. Transfers are on Thursday this week and we get the transfer doctrine email tomorrow night. So don't send me any mail this week, because I might not get it.

 On Monday this past week we had preparation day, and then in the evening, we taught Connie and Peggy how to do family home evening. Peggy was in charge of the treat, and she made us a whole dinner! It was fried chicken, green beans, and potato salad. It was pretty good! We taught a lesson on the Atonement, which went super well. Connie's granddaughter, who turns eight on Sunday, participated in the lesson and really enjoyed it. It is so clear that she recognizes the good feelings of the Spirit, and she wants to have them more. She has asked her mom if she can take the lessons from us, but her mom wants her to wait until she is gets older. She is with her dad on weekends, so she hasn't been able to come to church yet, either. But she had a great time on Monday! After the lesson, we played charades, and it was hilarious! Peggy had to act out "being a missionary," so she picked up her large print Doctrine and Covenants, skipped up to her front door, knocked on it, and then acted out teaching a lesson. It was so funny!

 Tuesday we had district meeting and then picked up Sister Price and went to see Sister Norris. Those two can really talk when they are apart, but put them together.....we were there for hours! It was really good for both of them, though, since Sister Norris doesn't get a ton of visitors and Sister Price loves taking care of people and being a friend. We did manage to squeeze in a lesson!

 Wednesday we met with Angel Davis in the afternoon and our investigator, Paul, in the evening. Our lesson with Angel went well. She is the kind of person who really enjoys having a good discussion, so we went we ended talking about all kinds of things. We talked about a lot of the things that are wrong in the world- like racism, people drifting away from God, pornography, and the disintegration of the family- and how living a Christ centered life and the principles of His gospel help anyone face anything. Christ suffered everything for us (Alma 7:11-13), and He overcame everything for us because He loves us, so we don't have to be alone in our trials. He already went through it, and He know how to get us through it. He knows "how to succor his people according to their infirmities." Our lesson with Paul was AMAZING. Sister Alcántara and I met Paul and Brother and Sister Shannon at the chapel for our lesson. As always, he had questions to start out with. The nature of his questions has changed over the last few weeks. They used to be skeptical questions, asked almost for the sole purpose of argument, but now they have become much more sincere. We taught about the importance of prophets, which is something he has struggled with a lot as we have taught him, but somehow it finally seemed to click this week. Sister and Brother Shannon's testimonies and answers to his questions really seemed to help him. The Spirit was very strong during this lesson. Throughout it, I kept feeling prompted to say a certain thing, or to ask a certain question, and every time I did, what I said seemed to really strike Paul, or cause him to think a little harder. It was such an amazing experience of having the Spirit work through me. Even when I don't know what to say or what an investigator needs, Heavenly Father always does, and He helps me become an instrument in His hands. In the past, we have invited Paul to be baptized, and every time he had said he would if he found out what we are teaching is true, but he believed that could take months or even years. At this lesson, we invited him to be baptized on November 21. After sister Alcántara asked the question, he sat quietly for a moment, and then said, "it could be possible." We were SOOOO excited! Even if he didn't totally agree to be baptized, his response was better than anything he's said before! It was such a great lesson.

 Thursday we went to visit Connie. We taught her about missionary work and challenged her to give some pass along cards to her friends, neighbors, or family members. We role-played with her so she could practice giving a card to her neighbor, and she did a great job! After she had done it, she exclaimed, "that was so easy!" Haha. It is wonderful to see how the gospel has helped her and made her life so much richer and happier. She has a glow around her and she is excited to share the gospel with others. Her 2 year old granddaughter was also there, and she started screaming because she saw a frog. So I caught it.

On Thursday evening we visited a less active woman named Victoria. Victoria is a live-in nanny, and because the parents of the children she takes care of work on Sundays, she hasn't been able to come to church. She was very discouraged when we got there. She was afraid she was about to lose her job, because the parents were cutting back on their hours at work. We didn't really know what to say to help her. A Mormon Message video, called the Refiners Fire, came to my mind, so we played it for her. After watching it, she told us about how she knew that Heavenly Father was there and that she knew He would take care of her. She bore an amazing testimony of faith, and it looked like a burden lifted off of her shoulders as she reminded herself of God's love for her. We didn't even have to say anything. She told us at the end of the lesson that she was determined to come to church this Sunday, no matter what, and asked us to arrange a ride for her. On Sunday, she was there at church, with two of the children she takes care of. She told us that their mother, who isn't religious, had taken the two oldest girls, but purposely left the younger two with her. So she took them to church too!

Friday we had weekly planning, and we spent some time with Kelsey Budd, a member in the ward who is about our same age and makes friends with all of the sisters who come into the ward. We had lunch at her house, and then she let us try her brother's no-handed segue. At first, all I could do was spin in circles, but eventually I got the hang of it. It was SO FUN. I wish all missionaries could have one. We could ride around and go tracting on them! Forget bikes! Haha.

Saturday we had a lesson with Peggy C. We taught a lesson and talked with her about her life. She is struggling with having patience with herself, and has felt like others are judging her. We shared with her Ether 12:37, and reminded her that Heavenly Father knows her and loves her. It really seemed to touch her and help her feel better. She is such a sweet lady!

Sunday we had church! (Duh.) Sister Alcántara and I sang during sacrament meeting in the ward choir. After church we went to dinner with a family in the ward named the Boyces. They are so funny! I can't even remember why, but we were laughing almost the whole time. We shared a message on the Atonement, and how Christ helps us to not just overcome sin, but to have the strength to overcome the trials we face. It went really well. After dinner, we went to visit the Prices. Brother Price gave Sister Alcántara a ukulele last Sunday, and she has been playing it nonstop ever since. She's gotten really good already! She is always playing and singing songs from the children's hymn book--in Spanish. Brother Price and Sister Alcántara messed with the ukulele, and Sister Price talked with me. It was a good visit, and we talked about how Jesus Christ is the center of the gospel.

Sooo, that's it for the week. I hope you are all having a great day and a great week. I love you, but more importantly, Heavenly Father loves you. John 3:16. The Church is true!

Sister Taylor

October 19, 2015

Monday: 
Sister Alcántara got to go to the temple. We can go every six months, and the temple has been closed, so she wasn't able to go when she first got here. She went with a bunch of other sisters, and I spent the day in Gainsville with Sister Chandler. It was a pretty relaxing day. 

 Tuesday: 
We had district meeting this morning. We were ten minutes late, but we brought pumpkin bars that I made (from a bag. Shout out to Betty Crocker) as a peace offering, so we were forgiven. It was a good district meeting. We talked about the Atonement, so there was a spiritual side, and then we played hide and seek and practice-taught, so there was a fun side. We had lunch at a place in Warrenton called Tropical Smoothie Cafe (sooo good) and then went to visit Sister Norris. It was a pretty short visit, because we had a lesson right after and had to rush out. Our lesson was with a new investigator named Tiffany. She is friends with one of the bishop's sons (Jordan) who recently returned from his mission. Tiffany just had a baby and has had a super hard life. We met her and Jordan outside the library and taught the Restoration. She seemed to accept everything we taught, and thought the idea of a modern day prophet was amazing. She has a super strong faith in Jesus Christ and wants to have Him at the center of her life. We are so excited to teach her! We have another meeting with her on Thursday! After dinner we had another lesson with our investigator, Paul. We took him to the family history center and introduced him to Sister Shannon, the family history consultant for the ward. We had a rough lesson with him last week where he had a lot of questions and doubts and was clearly very skeptical, so we were really hoping this lesson would go well. It did! He was super excited about getting into family history, and then we had Sister Shannon share some of her conversion story. She converted from Judaism almost 40 years ago. Her testimony blew us all away. The Spirit was SO strong as she answered Paul's questions and bore her testimony. I actually started crying! Paul was in such a great mood when the lesson was over. The Spirit clearly touched his heart as well. He is meeting more and more members and as he does, and as they share their testimonies, his heart is softened more and more. Everyone pray extra for him! He is getting closer! We have another lesson next week with him and both Sister and Brother Shannon. It should be great!

Wednesday 

Wednesday was pretty uneventful. We had a lesson with a less active named Angel Davis, but that was about it. We did have a fun impromptu photo shoot in the fall leaves!

Thursday
We were supposed to have a lesson at the first counselor in the bishopric with our recent convert, Connie. We showed up to his house and waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. For a WHOLE HOUR. And Connie never showed up. So we we eventually just left and went to find her. She was at her house, so we had the lesson there instead. The reason she never showed up is because her sister, who was her ride, decided that her back hurt and just went home instead of coming to take her to the lesson. We had even called her sister (Peggy) on our way to the lesson to check to see if she was coming, and she said she was. It was so frustrating! Peggy is super sweet, but she does this all the time! Connie said she just feels awkward or embarrassed to call us because she feels like she's disappointing us by bailing because of her health problems, which is probably true, but it's still irritating! Oh well. 

Friday 
We had a lesson in the morning with a less active named Peggy (different Peggy). She has a lot of anxiety and has had a really rough life. We felt like we should help her so that she can go to the temple. At our lesson, we helped her set some goals to make changes in her life so that she can get there. She was excited and happy that we thought she could do it. We've been meeting with her almost every week since I got here, and even though she still had a long way to go, it has been neat to watch her testimony of the Savior grow. 

Saturday 
We had a zone finding activity. Except it was a zone service finding activity. So instead of just regular tracting, we tracted to look for service opportunities. Everyone got assigned a different companion for the day. I went to Haymarket with Sister Palmer. We  looked for service to do for FOUR hours, and we didn't find anything. No one even opened their doors to tell us no! ONE guy opened his door. We told him we were just out looking for service opportunities and he told us he was Catholic and tried to close the door. We insisted that we were just there to do service and could we do any kind of yard work or anything? He got sort of offended and said his yard was fine, he did it himself, and then closed the door. Awkward. So even though it was a total bust for us, I got to know Sister Palmer, and she is a super sweet missionary, so it was fun! 

Sunday 
We had church! That was about it. We had dinner with a family named the Seeleys. They have us over for dinner every Thursday, but felt bad because we didn't have a Sunday dinner, so we went last night too. They are such a great family. They live on a farm, so the food is always fresh, and Sister Seeley is a great cook. They have a daughter who is fifteen, and she is so fun to talk to. She definitely had fifteen year old disease. Everything is a HUGE deal and there's a lot of drama about boys and friends and all that. I just want to give her a hug and say, "don't even worry about any of it. It all goes away," but I remember being fifteen. She'll still feel the same anyway. But she's a cute girl and she loves to talk with us, which is totally validating. 

That's about it for this week. I love you all and I hope your week was good. :) The Church is true!!!! Christ is our Savior and he loves each of us personally and perfectly. Never forget how loved you are. 

Love! 

Sister Taylor

On our way out to go to dinner, we ran into the Anguanio kids and this deer. It already had the bandana on when it wandered into their yard, it was pretty cute. Also, I have no idea where that face I'm making came from.... 

October 12, 2015

This week has seemed suuuper long. Usually every thing goes really fast, but every so often I get a slow week. Nothing terribly exciting happened. Except that we got FOUR referrals from members of the ward. That basically never happens. We got two from the bishop's family and two from a family we had dinner with last night! We've only had time
to try to check on one of them, though, but she wasn't there. We talked to the bishop's son (who gave us the referral) and he said he would try to set something up with her for this Tuesday.

Other exciting news is that we have a new ward mission leader! He is excited, but also very humble, which is great, because he will rely on the Spirit to fulfill his calling. He and his wife are both such wonderful people. It should be great!

Sister Alcántara and I went on exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leaders. It was so fun! I got to go to Gainesville with Sister Chandler and Sister Alcántara stayed in Warrenton with Sister Donato. The only problem was that neither of the sisters who would be in Warrenton for the day have US licenses. Sister Alcántara is from Peru and Sister Donato is from the Philippines. Warrenton is a HUGE area, so cars are not optional. We spent all the day before and the morning of exchanges calling members of the ward trying to find rides to our appointments. It took us FOR.EV.ER. to find people who could
help us, but it eventually worked out. Miracles happen! Sister Chandler and I had a great time in Gainesville. We visited some less actives and an investigator who is getting baptized later this month. We also had dinner with a family that has a daughter who plays
the trumpet! We had so much to talk about. :)

On Friday we did service with the whole zone. We helped out at a farm type thing. This lady is working on setting up something kinda like Thanksgiving Point, but more farm-y and more as a charity. They're going to donate the food they produce and also have workshops to help people become more self-sufficient. Something like that. So we moved
big wooden pallets and fed chickens and stuff like that. I'm still sore! But it was super fun and I got to hold a puppy!

Oh! Funny story from yesterday. Sacrament meeting had just barely ended and we were heading off to gospel principles class, when the Sunday School president, Brother Hayward, approached us and asked, "Sisters! Are you ready to teach the 13 and 14 year old class today?" That was the first we had heard about it, so we weren't ready at all!
Apparently the actual teachers needed a sub, but somehow forgot to call us to ask if we would do it! Brother Hayward thought that maybe they had called someone else, so while he went to go check, we pulled up the lesson and looked over it. We came up with a plan in less than ten minutes, and when brother Hayward came back, we told him that now we were ready to teach the class. It was on "inviting others to become more like the Savior," which is basically what we do all day every day. I would say the lesson went pretty well. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't too shabby. Most of the class seemed to like it. Those who
didn't consisted of surly teenaged boys, so I'm not terribly upset.

I hope you all had a great week and I hope this one is better. I know the church is true. That has hit me again so hard this week. This gospel is the good news. Without it I would be so lost. I know Heavenly Father, and His infinite love for us, never changes. His always there. I know His Son, Jesus Christ is my Savior. He suffered all things and descended below all things so that He can lift us, heal us, strengthen us, and save us. If you haven't yet, go read Elder Oaks' talk from this General Conference. Even if you watched it when
he gave it, read it. It's just that good.

I love you all!!!

This cute little girl in our ward broke her elbow, so we signed her cast! 

Zone Service 

We got these a while ago. Sister Alcántara wanted onesie pajamas, so we got these at Walmart. They are so warm and comfy!

Not totally sure what the deal is with these cows. They all have a white stripe. 

Moo!

Just making faces with Sister Norris. 

October 5, 2015

Happy October! (How did it get to be October?!?!) Yesterday I hit 8 months on my mission! Crazy crazy. I can't believe I've been out for so long! 

I hope you all enjoyed conference this weekend. I certainly did! We had a few investigators and less actives say they would watch it from home, but we're not sure yet who all watched it. We watched part of it with the Anguianos upstairs and part of it at the church with a less active member. (She loved it.) 

My testimony of living prophets and apostles has been strengthened so much this weekend! The role they have is so very vital. In the days of the ancient church, Christ called 12 apostles. They learned at the feet of the Master, and taught His word. After His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, they continued to teach and testify until they, too, were killed. Today, once again, we have a prophet and apostles, special witnesses of Jesus Christ, who teach His word and testify of His reality as the Savior and Son of God. How comforting it is to know that we have their words-- words inspired and directed by God-- in these turbulent and confusing times! 

Other than Conference, my week has been....wet. It rained and rained and rained and rained. AND RAINED. It started on Thursday and didn't stop until last night. But we pushed through! We taught lessons and visited people and even knocked on a few doors. Poor Sister Alcántara. She's from the coast in Peru, where winter is like a mild summer day here and summer is SUPER hot. All this rain and cold has been rough for her! 

I don't have anything else terribly exciting to report. It has been a good week, though. :) 

I love you all! Have a great week! This is Christ's Church and it has the truth--all of it! 

Sister Taylor

September 28, 2015

It's been a pretty uneventful week, sadly. I feel like it's been very very busy, but I look back on the week and realize that there isn't anything terribly exciting to report on. Oh! Okay. Three things, I guess. 

1) we had another great lesson with our investigator, Paul. He seems to want to know everything about everything, but isn't exactly looking in the right places. He read about Mormonism on Wikipedia, printed out the whole article, made notes and hi lighted things, and then brought it to the lesson to ask a million questions. He's smart enough to know what anti looks like, but he did become interested in some deep doctrine type things. Such as: Do Mormons believe in a Heavenly Mother? and, Do you believe God created the universe from nothing or that He organized matter that was already there? It was an interesting discussion, and poor Sister Alcántara got a little lost (her English is seriously amazing, but if you read straight from Wikipedia, you get lots of big words that she was unfamiliar with), but it was nothing crazy. We taught about the commandments of prayer and scripture study, and Paul loved when we taught that prayer should be a two way conversation. Sister Alcántara bore her testimony of prayer, and  it really seemed to touch with him. 

2) On Thursday, Sister Alcántara woke up with a rash all over one leg. We called our missionary medical person, Sister Ito, and she told us to go to the urgent care. We got ready for the day and did studies, and by the end of all that, the rash was almost gone, so we didn't go to the urgent care. On Friday night, it returned with a vengeance, appearing on both legs, both arms, and her stomach. We called Sister Ito again, and she told us that the only urgent care open at that time of night (almost 9:30 pm) near us was in Manassas. So we left the apartment in a rush, running into our ward mission leader on the way (he was confused at why we were leaving at curfew) and drove to Manassas. The doctor gave her some anti itch cream and anti itch pills, and both of those helped her a ton. We made it home at 11. We were SO TIRED. Sister Alcántara had been thinking about what could have caused it, and she's pretty sure she is allergic to chocolate. Sad, right? 

3) Last night was something called the "why I believe fireside." Terryl and Fiona Givens (authors of The Crucible of Doubt and The God Who Weeps) were the guest speakers. It was amazing!! All the missionaries and the youth in the stake sang at the beginning in a choir, and it was really great. I loved singing in the choir. The fireside itself was just incredible. I don't even know where to start to explain it. It was just such a wonderful reminder and testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of us very personally and that He Is very close to us.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week. The Church is true. I know it because I asked God. He knows all things and He is my Father, so He answered me, and I know this is the true Church. It is Christ's Church.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

 Moroni 10:4-5

Sister Taylor

September 21, 2015

The twenty first night of September? 

Happy September 21st! (Thank you, Earth, Wind, and Fire.)

I hope you are all having a great week! My week has been pretty good. Nothing over-the-top exciting, but missionary work is always good. (Even when its hard, its good.) Transfers were this week and......I'm still in Warrenton with Sister Alcántara! I kinda figured, since training is 12 weeks, and its only been six. So. 

Last preparation day we went to DC. It was fun! We decided to go to the American Indian museum. They had a whole exhibit about Peru and the Incas! It was really fascinating and obviously cool for Sister Alcántara.

We had exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leaders. It was pretty fun. I stayed in Warrenton and Sister Alcántara went to Gainsville. They have some Peruvian investigators, and so they went to talk to visit them. It turns out they are from the same city as Sister Alcántara! I guess they had a great visit, because the STLs told us that all of them came to church yesterday!

My end of the exchange was less exciting, but still good. We went to the food bank for Sister Norris, had a lesson with her, and had a lesson with another less active. It was a pretty good day. We did stay up WAY too late talking, though. I was SO tired the next day. 

On Wednesday we had a new member lesson with Connie. Sister Johnson, who took us to the New and Returning Member Fireside last Sunday hosted it at her house. She and her husband were both inactive when they got married, but decided to come back to church after several years went by. Both of them had struggles with the Word of Wisdom, and they had to work SUPER hard to prepare themselves to go to the temple, but they eventually were able to do it! They are a great family. Brother and Sister Johnson have taught temple prep classes and Brother Johnson used to be the bishop. Both Connie and Peggy (her sister) struggle with smoking, and so they loved to hear about how Sister Johnson was able to quit and go to the temple. Our lesson was on preparing for the temple, and it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong, and both Connie and Peggy told us that they really really wanted to go to the temple. We went on Saturday night to visit Peggy, because we feel that if she really commits to quit smoking, then Connie will follow her example. She was so determined and so excited. She said, "This is it! I'm going to do it this time. I'm going to quit! I want to go to the temple!" It was such a great visit. 

Thursday was "transfer meeting." I use scare quotes because it isn't really a meeting anymore, like it was with President Riggs. He wanted to change it, and President Huntsman implemented a plan to change it. It used to be a big huge meeting with everyone being transferred and all the zone leaders and sister training leaders, and it went ALL. DAY. LONG. Now, everyone finds out about transfers two days before, and then those transferring meet in a parking lot of a church and switch up. Then everyone meets with their zone for a short meeting to get to know each other, and then we go back to work. I like it SO MUCH better. There were a lot of changes this transfer, though! There used to be 6 zones, but they got split up, and now there are 9 smaller zones. Instead of being in the Centreville Zone, I'm in the Manassas Zone. Our districts also got mixed up, and now I'm in the same district as the Manassas missionaries. I'm in the same district as the missionaries who are now in my last area! So weird!!!! It makes it easier to stay in contact with the people I grew to love in that area, but it is still kinda strange that I have been in the same general area for my whole mission thus far. This transfer ends on October 29, so I'll be here for almost 10 months of my mission. Crazy! \

On Wednesday we had a church tour with our investigator Paul. He was the online referral guy. The tour went well (except the part where the key to the baptismal font didn't work, so we couldn't show it to him). We had a lesson in the chapel, and it was good. He has a lot of great questions, but he continues to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We really stressed the importance of the Book of Mormon. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith is His prophet, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His Church on the earth today. Paul seemed to understand, and we can see that he is starting to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He reads it all the time, and you can just tell that he likes it already. 

Thursday night we had a really rough lesson with some of our investigators. Jordan and Mason are the sons of a less active sister in the ward. Jordan is 12 and Mason is 10. We tried to teach them the Plan of Salvation on Thursday, but they would not stay focused! They kept bugging each other and getting distracted and giggling about everything. It was so frustrating!!! They have football practice that ends at 7:30, so we can only meet with them at 8:30, and they live WAY OUT in the boonies of our area (and our whole area IS the boonies to begin with). Plus, once we get there, it takes them 45 minutes to settle down from getting home from football and sit down to listen to us. So we usually don't get home until 10 or later, which is not good. It has become a point of conflict and stress between us and our ward mission leader who likes to micromanage us and the Elders and sometimes seems to think his calling is to babysit us. It has become very frustrating. This Thursday we talked to Melissa (Jordan and Mason's mom) about trying to find another time to meet. We reported that to the ward mission leader and he has backed off a bit since then. However, he still likes to tell us how to do our job as missionaries instead of letting us act on the revelation we receive. Kinda irritating. 

Saturday, other than going to see Peggy Raymond and trying to visit a few others, we were invited to the High Priest Group Barbecue! It was fun! We had TONS of yummy food and got to mingle with the members. We were able to talk to the bishop about setting up a weekly meeting with him so that we can go over what we have been doing and our needs and he can let us know if he needs anything from us, which was a good discussion. We also talked to the daughter-in-law of a couple in the ward. She was visiting, and she is a non-member. She was super sweet and we had a great conversation. She has been meeting with the missionaries on and off in the area she lives in for a long time. I hope she gets baptized eventually. She was so cute! 

That's about it for this week. I hope you have all had a great week. I love you all! The Church is true! 

Pictures!!! 

1. This is for you, Mom. Its just a little bookmark at the library. 

2. Bearbug Lane

3. We have too much fun getting ready for bed.

4. Blue cornbread at the American Indian museum! 

5. Zone picture. On the day I was SO SICK.

6. My companion drinks a LOT of water!

7. We *tried* to make turkey burgers.....They tasted fine but they were UGLY.

8. Map of the mission and the new zones. 

9. Inca exhibit!

September 7, 2015

Hi everyone! It sounds like you've all been getting into the back to school groove. Sad that summer is ending, but I hope you all enjoy the upcoming fall season. I can't believe it is September already! Transfers are only a week and a half away! I'll probably stay here in Warrenton to finish training Sister Alcántara, though. She is awesome, by the way. Her English is SO good! I can't believe she only started learning it less than two months ago. She is such a brave and bold missionary and so fun to have around. We went grocery shopping today and spoke in Spanglish most of the time. She's trying to teach me Spanish, and I'm not doing as well as she is with English! 

We had a couple of really great lessons this week. One was with Paul, our online referral investigator. We were going to talk about obedience, praying often, scripture study, and keeping the sabbath day holy, but mostly we just answered his questions. Then he told us he wanted to know about our "prohibition thing," so we taught the Word of Wisdom instead! We weren't super prepared for it, so we'll probably go over it again sometime, but it was still a good lesson. We had a woman from the ward named Sister Budd come with us to the lesson. She has such a great testimony. Whenever we bring her to a lesson, she says, "The Church is true. Fifty five years ago I found out the Church was true," and then she talks about the blessings that knowledge has brought to her and her family. Paul said to us in our lesson this week, "What's wrong with me just sitting out in my front yard with a Bible and trying to figure out what God wants for me? Why do I need your Church or any church?" This is a question I've heard so many times before in one form or another--people always question the need for organized religion. I still have yet to discover a good way to answer. But Sister Budd knew exactly what to say. She told Paul, "because it's the Savior's church and it's where He wants you to be." Paul sat back in his chair and said, "Yes. You're right. I think you're right." It was such a amazing moment! 

Our other awesome lesson was with the Woodsens. Melissa Woodsen is a less active member who married a non-member and has 4 sons. Sisters have been teaching the older two for several months. One is 10 and the other is 12 and they are pretty goofy sometimes. They really want to get baptized, but Melissa wants to make sure they understand the gospel and what baptism means before they actually get baptized, which is fair. They have already been taught all of the lessons, but Sister Alcántara and I have decided to teach them all again to a) solidify the boys' understanding; and b) to help Melissa feel more comfortable with them getting baptized. When we went over this week to teach the Restoration, they had just gotten home from football practice and they were all hyped up and all four boys were acting crazy! Poor Melissa was trying to get them to calm down and eat their dinner and then sit down for a lesson. When they finally settled down, we started teaching. When we taught about the Atonement, and how Christ suffered everything for us, it clearly was very powerful for them. We finished by showing the 20 minute Restoration video and bearing our testimonies. The Spirit was SO strong and so we just immediately asked the younger boy to say the closing prayer so we could leave on that spiritual high as the last part of the visit. It was a great lesson. 

Last week we had a zone activity on preparation day at the mission home. It was super fun! We had a barbecue and played games. I played 4 rounds of ping pong with one of the elders. I kicked his trash three of those four times. The one time he did win, it was only by 2 points. It was kinda awesome. I wasn't going to tell too many people about it, because I was feeling generous and didn't want to destroy his pride any more than I already had, but he announced the next day at district meeting that he "got his butt handed to him three times in ping pong by Sister Taylor." So I guess everyone knows now! Haha. 

Also last week we did a "zone finding fury." We all exchanged companions and went tracting all day last Saturday. I was sent to....Manassas! Yup! Back to my birthplace. But instead of tracting, we decided to track down the Giordanos. They have practically disappeared. They don't come to church and the sisters haven't been able to meet with them for weeks. I hoped that I would be able to say or do something to help. First we went to their house. Antonio and Raphaella were there, but so were some other family members. Raphaella was excited to see me and gave me a hug, but Antonio told us it was a bad time. I was very upset and started to cry as soon as he shut the door. Sister Liddell and I then decided to go find Patricia at work. We drove all over trying to find the Panda Express where she works, and FINALLY found it. We went in and asked for her, and she came out and talked to us. She was VERY happy to see me, and that made me feel so much better. She said that she had been working a TON, which was why they hadn't been coming to church or meeting with the missionaries. When Sister Christiansen and I were teaching her family, we never had to be very bold with them. They just readily accepted whatever we taught. Now, though, I knew I had to be bold. "Patricia," I said, "your family is so special. I know you want to be sealed in the temple with them, but that won't happen unless you go to church. I know you have to work, but I promise that no sacrifice you make is too big to become an eternal family. Nothing is more important. You need to go to church." She smiled and me and thanked me and reached across the counter to squeeze my hands, and then we left so she could get back to work. 

I asked before and I'm asking again-- please please send me letters or emails with testimony and encouragement that I can forward to them. It is so so so needed right now. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all SO much and I pray for you every day. The Church is true and I'm so grateful to be one of the Lord's missionaries. 

Sister Taylor