January 25, 2016

Monday night we went to Gloria's house and taught her kids some primary songs. They really loved Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. It was a fun visit. Later that night, we got a call from President for Sister Walton. She was told that she would be transferred and become a Sister Training Leader. She was totally devastated that she would be getting transferred. This area is so amazing. We started looking through last transfer's transfer doctrine and trying to guess where she would be going and who would be coming to me. There is a sister named Sister Lemmons who was in the Warrenton 1st ward and had been there when I was there, and I guessed that she would be coming to me.

 On Tuesday we had district meeting. It was the last district meeting of the transfer, so we made french toast afterward. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon packing and cleaning. That night we went back to Gloria's house to tell her that Sister Walton was getting transferred. We also had a short lesson. She had been sick all that day, and told us about how earlier that day she had gotten upset witih her daughter for making a mess, and had felt tempted to start yelling at her kids, but instead she knelt down and prayed out loud. Jayandre told us that when he heard her praying, he heard a voice tell him to listen to his mom, because she would show him the right path. It was so amazing to hear that story! We asked Gloria if we could start teaching Jayandre, who is 9, as well as her, and she said yes! We also asked her to start praying about a date for baptism. It will probably be February 13 or 20. We got the transfer doctrine that night and.....I was right! My new companion is Sister Lemmons! (Also, Sister Alcántara got called to be a Sister Training Leader!)

 Wednesday there was a world-wide missionary training broadcast, so we went to the Stake Center to watch that. It was so good! We had a lesson with someone we met a couple of weeks ago in Walmart at the church afterward. He doesn't live in our area, so it was a pass off lesson, and we had a missionary from the other area with us. That afternoon and evening we mostly spent doing more packing cleaning, and visiting members so Sister Walton could say goodbye. It was pretty sad. I already miss her a lot. While we were at the Atkissons for dinner, it started to snow! It didn't snow much, but it was still fun! We went out and had a snowball fight with Sister Atkisson and her 5 and 3 year old daughters.It was a blast!

 Thursday was transfer day! Transfers got delayed two hours because of the weather, so we stopped to say goodbye to the Atkissons and the Blacks. We made a snowman with Maxine and Ruby (the Atkisson girls) and played in the snow and had hot chocolate with the Blacks. After transfers, Sister Lemmons and I headed to dinner with the Hales, and then picked up the elders to go to Walmart. President had told everyone to make sure we were prepared to spend 3 days stuck inside because of the big storm that was coming. Everyone else had the same idea. The shelves where there is normally bread were almost totally empty. There were only two loaves of weird organic bread left. The produce section and milk isle were also pretty picked over. It was crazy! Sister Lemmons is my new companion, and she is awesome! We have bonded a lot this weekend as we tried to figure out how we could entertain ourselves. I'm excited for this transfer with her!

 Friday and Saturday we spent ALL DAY inside while it snowed and snowed ad snowed. The cabin fever was intense. On Sunday church was canceled because the roads were impossible. We walked to the Relief Society president's house because she doesn't live too far so Sister Lemmons could meet her. We borrowed a couple of her shovels and picked a random car on the street to dig out. Then we went home. We were wet, cold, and exhausted. It was a boring weekend. Today we played ping pong and built a snowman. It was fun!

 Sister Taylor 1.

Transfer day 

It comes up to my thighs!

Most cars are just as or more stuck than these ones 

Sister Snowman! 

ping pong! 

Jan. 23, 2016

We have been instructed to email our parents and let them know we are safe in this crazy storm. So here is my email. I'm safe. The only thing we are suffering from is cabin fever. Sister Lemmons (my new companion) and I are pretty much bored out of our gourd. We did take a two hour nap today, which was awesome. 

We have no idea when we'll be allowed to go out again. Church is cancelled tomorrow. Pretty much everything is cancelled right now. I'm attaching a video showing the storm that is currently raging and me and my comp being bored. There is also a random dude in the background who probably thinks we're weirdos. You should probably put the video on the blog. 

 I love you!! 

 Sister Taylor

Jan. 11, 2016

It has been another fantastic week with more fantastic miracles! I love this area SO much and I REALLY hope I get to stay another transfer (maybe pray for me that I will, okay?) Here is my week: 

On Tuesday we went to help Yvonne with something she does called Cards of Love. She writes cards to shut-ins and people who are sick, and she needed some help organizing all her cards, so we went over to help. As we did, we also talked about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation to see how well she had understood what we had taught, and it seemed like she really did get it. We had another lesson set up with her for Friday, but she called us on Thursday to let us know that she had gone to the ER the night before and would be seeing doctors on Friday and wouldn't be able to meet with us. Please pray for her! 

 On Thursday we had an appointment with a man named Hal that we met last week. He normally hangs out in his garage and works on his cars. We went and knocked on the door, and when he didn't answer, we knocked on the garage. He never answered, but we were laughing the whole time because of how funny we must have looked knocking on a garage. Missions are funny. 

 Last week (I forgot to mention this in my last email), we had a HILARIOUS tractinig experience. We knocked on a door, and after few seconds, we saw someone appear at the door. All we could see was the very dtop of someone's head through the window at the top of the door. Just this little bit of gray hair. Whoever it was just started at us through the peephole. We waved and smiled, but the door never opened. Finally, we just gave up, and yelled, "Happy New Year!" before walking away and practically falling over because we were laughing so hard. 

 On Friday we were out tracting and we met two people who want us to come meet with them again. The first one was Bobby. He was an older man riding a bike, and when we waved at him, he stopped to talk to us. We taught him a little about the Restoration, and he was open and interested in learning more. He told us two or three stories about how he survived crazy car wrecks and told us we were beautiful at least three times. We get hit on so much out here. We aren't sure how promising he is, but it was a funny experience at least! Later we knocked on the door of a woman, and she let us right in. Her name was Patricia and she said she had met with missionaries a few years ago before she moved to Alexandria. She was Catholic and told us that her priest had told her it was a sin to pray with someone of another faith or accept any literature from them. She said that really bothered her, because she had thought that the last missionaries had been great people and didn't see anything wrong with what they said or gave her. We taught her that truth comes form God, and if she learns something new, she should pray about it instead of just going off of a priest's word, or even our word. She really liked that and asked us to come back! 

 On Saturday morning we decided to go help the ward clean the church. It was fun and brought back great memories of cleaning the church with the family when I was younger. It is such a great thing that the Church does to have the members all help to clean it. After that we played basketball with the daughter (named Rachel) of less active father and non-member mother. She is 12 and brought one of her friends. Another 12 year old from another ward (since our ward doesn't have any yw) also came. We had a ton of fun. The three of them played against Sister Walton and I. And.....they kicked our trash. It probably didn't help that we had Rachel's 6 year old brother on our team who kept passing the ball to his sister instead of us. Haha. 

 On Sunday, Gloria came to church! She is still doing well, but definitely still needs all of your prayers as she keeps learning and her faith keeps growing. She is so awesome! 

 I love you all and I hope you have a good week! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and is sooo completely aware of you and everything you face each day. 

 Sister Taylor Pictures: 

We took a little break from basketball to take some pictures :)

The Potomac River!

Jan 4, 2016

Hello! I hope you have had a great week and half! Happy New Year!!! Today I'm a little short on time, so this won't be a terribly long letter. I'll just give a few highlights. 

 Yvonne: We have gone to see her a few times in the past week and a half. She finished reading the ENTIRE Book of Mormon in less than a week! We have taught the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation so far and met with her a few other times. Her husband, who doesn't like religion and is angry at God, even sat in on two of our lessons! Yvonne will be coming to church this week. We are so excited about her! 

 Gloria: We met her on the street about a month ago and back then she barely believed in God at all. Since then, she has come to church twice; reads the Book of Mormon and taking notes on it and reads the Gospel Principles book and taking notes on that too, and wants to get baptized!!!! She is SO PREPARED!!!! And this ward has totally adopted her and continues to give her a constant outpouring of love. They take her and her kids to church, invite her to playdates with their kids, invite her to fhe, and make friends with her and get to know her at church. She is AMAZING. I haven't loved an investigator so much since the Giordanos. Gloria is so wonderful and I am so excited about her progress! 

In other exciting news we met a schizophrenic 94 year old lady and walked another old lady to the bank and back. They're both really sweet. 

 Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week! 


This is just me being a spaz at church

 Its supposed to be a Minnie Mouse cookie for Gloria's daughter. She turned 4 this week.

 Happy New Year!

December 28, 2015

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a great week! I certainly did!!! On Monday I went to supercuts and got a haircut! I've been meaning to get my hair trimmed for at least 7 months. When I went, she lifted up the top section of my hair to show me how nasty and uneven the underside was and suggested I get more than a trim. I probably cut off 4 or 5 inches. I LOVE it! 

 On Tuesday we had a lesson with a less active named Lillian. We call her Grandma because she's 70 and it makes her love us. Normally its hard to keep her focused on a lesson when we go over there because the sisters in this area before us used to just go over there and hang out. But we taught her a lesson about Jesus Christ and asked her what gift she could give to Him for Christmas. The Spirit was so strong during the lesson and she really seemed to be thinking about things she needed to do to improve and come closer to the Savior. It was great. 

 After that we went Christmas caroling at the metro with some other sisters. It was so fun! We talked to so many people and so many people wanted to talk to us. I'm a firm believer in the power of music! 

 We did even more caroling with our district after dinner, and went to carol for our investigator Gloria right before we had a lesson with her. The last time we were in that neighborhood we were doorbell ditching her with food and as we left some random guy chased us down. (We lost him and made it to our car safely.) It was nice to be there with a ton of other missionaries. A member in our ward met us there and we had the lesson with her. It went super well. Gloria really wants to come closer to God, and she commits to take any advice we give her about how to feel the Spirit. She is so great. 

 On Wednesday we were able to see Yvonne! It turns out that the reason we hadn't seen her was that her father in law was in the hospital. We had a really great visit with her and talked about the Book of Mormon. At the end, she invited us to come over on Christmas. She said her husband was worried about us being away from family on Christmas and wanted to make sure we had somewhere to go. Such a miracle! 

 Thursday night we went with the rest of the mission to sing at the Temple Visitors Center. It was amazing! We're just a bunch of missionaries who had only been able to rehearse a few times, but we definitely had a little angelic help, because the performance went much better than all the rehearsals! 

Friday, of course, was Christmas!!! We went to the Blacks, who live in the ward, and had breakfast and watched their little girls open presents. It was the CUTEST thing ever. After that we went to see Yvonne. She and her husband were super nice and we just sat and talked with them for about an hour. Then we went to the Whittackers house and skpyed home! It was great!!!!! :) Dinner was with the Parks, and after dinner I had a light-saber duel with a five year old. Which I lost. 

 The only really exciting thing that happened on Saturday is that we helped an older lady move. I think I hurt my back again.... On Sunday morning I gave a talk in sacrament meeting! I was asked to speak on Wednesday and Thursday, and we hadn't had any time for me to work on it until Saturday night! So I was still putting the finishing touches on it during announcements before the sacrament. (As I sat next to Elder Larry Y. Wilson of the first quorum of the seventy. His daughter lives in this ward and he was visiting. Slightly nerve-wracking.) However, I have to say it went pretty well! (Elder Wilson told me he really loved it, so I choose to believe him.) It was on Christmas and the Restoration, and I talked about truths we know about the Savior because of the Restoration. It really was an incredible thing to think about! We know so SO much about Jesus Christ because His gospel was restored to the earth. It was such a wonderful experience for me to ponder on that as I prepared and gave my talk. 

 Sooo...that was my week! It was awesome! Being a missionary at Christmas time is one of the most incredible experiences and greatest blessings of my life. I'm so happy to be here!!! I love you all! The Church is true! Happy New Year! 

 Sister Taylor

Pictures:

Sabrina Black

2. Bridgette Black

3. Caroling at the metro 

1. Sabrina Black

December 25, 2015

December 21, 2015

It's been quite a week! We've been super busy and seeing miracles left and right!

 This Tuesday we had interviews with President. I told him about what happened last Saturday and he was proud of me for yelling at that guy. He said he would love to punch him in the nose. President Huntsman is so great.

 That evening we had a lesson with our investigator, Gloria. We met her on the street a few weeks ago, and she said we could come see her. We brought a member named Sister Atkisson with us. The lesson went SO well. We taught the Restoration and she accepted all of it. She said that for a long time she didn't believe in God, but for the past few months had started attending a church again and reading the Bible and praying. She told us that she was still having a hard time and had been praying for someone to be a mentor or guide for her to help her regain her faith on the same day that we walked up to her and met her for the first time. So cool! We asked her to read Alma 32, and when we saw her later this week, we found out that she had read it, plus the chapters around it, and had taken notes. She has a huge desire to come closer to God, and she is so great! Sister Atkisson invited her to come to church, and she came! She also brought her cousin and two kids. She loved it and said she wants to come back next week! We're super excited about Gloria.

 On Wednesday we went to visit a woman named Yvonne. We met her in the parking garage a few weeks ago. She told us she isn't able to get to church because of health problems, so she just does bible study by herself, but she wishes she had someone to do it with. Because I had been sick we hadn't yet gone to see her, but we did this week. She started asking questions and we ended up teaching the restoration, which she totally loved and accepted. She even accepted out invitation to be baptized. When we asked her about coming to church, she started to cry. Because of her health problems and some nerve damage she has, she can't drive, and her husband is angry at God because of her health problems and refuses to take her to church. She wants to go to church desperately, but hasn't had anyone to take her. We told her we would get her a ride, and she was SO happy. We found out she had wanted to join the Church when she was a teenager, but her dad wouldn't let her. She is such a sweetheart, and she needs TONS of prayers. We weren't able to contact her again before Sunday, even though we tried every day, so she didn't come to church. She told us her husband doesn't mind her being involved in religion, but he just doesn't want any part of it. Still, we're worried that he got mad at her and that's why we haven't heard from her since. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER!!!! She is SOOO prepared!

 On Thursday we went on an exchange with our Sister Training Leaders. I was with Sister Kelly, and we decided to go check on a former investigator from the area book. She was in the shower, but we talked to the lady who answered the door instead. Her name was Kristie and she was awesome! We talked about faith in Christ and how He has helped us in our lives, and when we asked if we could come back again, she got really excited and said she would love that. So we're going to start teaching Kristie!

 Friday was our Mission Christmas Conference. The beginning was spiritual and wonderful, and I loved it. Then we had lunch and a talent show. There are some super clever missionaries in this mission. My favorites were a song called "Tracting in a Winter Wonderland" and a parody of Let It Go called, "Let Us Stay." Both were super funny. It was so much fun!

 I hope you all have a merry Christmas! It is absolutely incredible to be a missionary at Christmas time. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I love spending everyday sharing my testimony and my love for the Savior.

 Merry Christmas! Sister Taylor