November 30, 2015

November 24 Tuesday: We did service as a district. We helped rake leaves and prune bushes for an elderly couple in the Alexandria 1st ward. It was fun. After that we had a lesson scheduled with Lola, but she wasn't feeling well, so we rescheduled. She has a really bad back and had gotten injections for it today. We tried contacting a few potentials and talked to some people on the street along the way, but no one was really interested. We had dinner at the Mickelsons. They are a super sweet family with three little girls (5, 4, 2, and one on the way). Dinner was great and they are yet another wonderful family in the ward that really show a great example of what families should be and what I want to have one day. After dinner we had a visit with Sister Sederholm. We talked about how we have so much to be grateful for and how great God is. The Spirit was so strong. We invited her to church this Sunday, and she said "not yet. But one day. And if anyone can get me back, it will be you two." She is so sweet. We just love her. 

 Wednesday: On Wednesday morning we had district meeting, and afterward we had a "brown turkey" gift exchange. It was just a white elephant, but our district leader decided to rename it because it was almost Thanksgiving. It was so funny and so hilarious. We took some pictures. After district meeting Sister Walton and I went tracting. We were on a row of fairly nice houses and basically no one was interested. Some of them were even outright rude. There was one lady who suggested we go knock on her neighbor's door because it was an elderly woman who might need help raking leaves. We went over there and knocked, and the woman's aid answered the door. She said her name was Harriet and that she was from Jamaica, and that she used to meet with missionaries there. We asked her if we could start meeting with her, and she agreed and gave us her information. It was pretty cool! We also stopped by the house of some people we met last week. Johnny (the one who was interested) wasn't there, but the woman who actually lived in the house was there and let us in. We refer to her as Great-aunt Monica, because she is the great-aunt of the teenaged boys we originally met on the street who brought us to meet her and Johnny last week. She is a big, loud, happy Baptist lady. She isn't interested in taking the missionary lessons, but she is super sweet. We we came, she called for her great nephews and said, "Ma' girls are here! Come say hello! It's the Mormon missionaries The M&Ms!" Hahaha. 

We also stopped by an old folks home in the area to visit someone in our ward who lives there. While we were there, we talked to a guy in an elevator who works there. We told him who we were and what he did, and as we were about to get off the elevator, he asked, "Will you be coming back here again? I'd really like to learn more." So we got his phone number and said we would call him. We've called him a few times, but he's been out of town for the holiday, so we haven't sent anything up yet. But he's been really excited every time we call him! So hopefully we get to start teaching him! 

Thursday: It was Thanksgiving! We went to an old folks home with some other sisters and did crafts and then served a Thanksgiving lunch to them. It era super fun. Afterwards, Sister Walton and I went to the McCormick's house. They are a family in our ward. We helped them paint their office and living room and then had dinner with them. It wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving dinner though....it was Indian food! And it was SO. GOOD. Holy cow. It was delicious. We spent the rest of the evening chatting with the McCormicks because we're not supposed to proselyte on Thanksgiving. It was a good day! 

 Friday: We had a whole mission choir rehearsal. On Christmas Eve we will be singing at the Temple Visitors Center, so we had a rehearsal for that. We have a handful of super talented people in this mission, but we also have a bunch of tone-deaf elders. So it started out pretty ugly. But it got WAY better by the end! By the performance we should sound pretty good. Still, prayers for the choir would probably be a good idea. Haha. The rest of the day was just tracting and checking on some people in the area book. Nothing terribly exciting happened. 

 Saturday: Busy day! At 9:30 in the morning we had a lesson with our investigator, Troy, and his mom, Jeanette. We came over, and when he answered the door, it was clear he had just barely woken up. His mom came out, more awake, but still in her pajamas. His little brother, Jordan. was totally passed out on the pull out bed/couch in their living room. Eventually everybody got situated and the bed got turned back into a couch, and we taught a lesson. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It went...okay. Our teaching went pretty smoothly, but Jeanette was online shopping and texting the whole time, Jordan (who is 7) kept asking random questions, like, "Do you believe robots are real?" and Troy wasn't terribly engaged either. It just wasn't the greatest environment for feeling the Spirit. However, at the end, Troy said a great prayer and asked Heavenly Father if he should get baptized. He said he felt like it was the right thing and that he believed it would give him a fresh start. So it didn't turn out too bad after all. 

In the afternoon we had a distinct blitz in the Alexandria 2nd ward. Sister Walton went with Sister Lewis and I went with Sister Maw. Sister Maw and I knocked 3 whole apartment buildings and only three people we met spoke English. All three were kids. Two had parents who didn't speak English. The parents of the third weren't home. So tracting didn't work too well that day. On our way back to the car, we walked past a truck, and the guy inside called out to us. We came back, and he asked, "are you Jehovah's Witnesses?" We told him we were Mormon missionaries, and he said that he had once met with Mormon missionaries before, but had gotten really sick and couldn't keep meeting with them. We gave him our card and got his number, and showed him the Because He Lives video, which he loved. He said he was in a dark place and needed help getting on the right path again, and said he was so happy to have met us. The downside to this, however, was that he was slurring his words a little and talking really slow. So...he may have been a little under the influence of something. Hopefully he's still interested later! Haha. 

Saturday night we went to go check on our investigator Lola. She was sick again, so we just talked to her for a few minutes. There was a fireside happening the next day, so we invited her to that, and she said she would love to come. On our way back to the car, we started smelling something weird. The best way to describe it is that it smelled like a rotting log with a dead skunk in it burning. So....marajuana. It stuck in our hair and on our clothes. Luckily, it was the end of the night, so we didn't have to spend too much more time that day smelling like weed. Yuck. 

 Sunday: Troy came to church! And he brought his little brother! Poor Jordan was sooo wiggly during sacrament meeting. I let him play with the photobooth app on my iPad. Troy kept whispering, "Jordan. Calm down. It's church!" Michael McCormick is the only young man in our ward, and he and Troy have become good friends, which is awesome. We're going to try to put Troy on date for baptism this week! Hopefully for December 19. Pray for him! 

In the evening we went to the New and Returning Member Fireside with Lola. It Is a fireside where several people who recently got baptized or who returned to activity in the church speak. Lola loved it. So, that's my week! 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week. The Church is True and I love you all! 

 Sister Taylor 

 Pictures: 
1,2. Brown Turkey 

3. Sisters at the old folks home on Thanksgiving 

4. Sister Christiansen and her two "daughters" who she trained and her "granddaughter" who I trained! We're a cute little family. 

5. We took pictures today....

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!

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