Mom and Dad,
Thank you so much for the letters!
And especially the package! I loved it and it was so good to finally hear from
you guys again. I'm so grateful for you mom and for making those packages and
sending SALSA! I know Sister Dicou is happy about that. One question, did you
make that halloween bag?? its so cute! All the sisters loved it as well and
along with all the pictures of Grant so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I can't
say it enough. Woof. Here it goes, I hope I can get everything out. Dad, yes I
did get all the pictures of Tacy and those crazy people I call my siblings and
Tacy looks so big, definitely grown up a lot since I've been gone. It's kinda
crazy how much Grant and Tacy have changed but they're still adorable. All the pictures
of Grant I love and will be showing them off to everyone. Already showed them
off to the sisters that have been staying with us.
I can't believe Bishop Ostler is the
NEW STAKE PRESIDENT! That's incredible, he's such an amazing man and so close
to the spirit. He's going to do so great. I hope Camille and Sarah have put
their papers in for their missions. They have to get out here and start
preaching the gospel. :)
We have gotten
to do a little bit of service but President Jeppson wants us to still focus on
proselyting. That's number one but we have got to do service around our areas.
The gas crisis isn't too bad anymore which is great but there still is a lot of
clean up to do that we will probably start helping with next week. I can't wait
for that. Last saturday though we did get to go do some tree cutting and
picking up trees from the hurricane. We were driving up this one hill to turn
arond in a cul-d-sac and I saw this lady taking trees to the curb on their very
steep hill. I said he needed to stop and so us 6 sisters that were there and 2
elders got out and started helping her. She was so touched we stopped and
helped her. She definitely would have fallen down the hill at one point if we
didn't go and help her so I was so happy we got to. After we were done she had
tears rolling down her face because she was so grateful. That is what service
is all about, forgetting yourself and serving your brothers and sisters. I want
you guys to all find someone to serve this week and serve them. Do nice things
for them. I know it will bless you and it will bless them. After we went to a
part member families house and they had a lot of trees down so there were
chainsaws and ax's and saws that we all helped getting this tree cleaned up. I
got to chop the tree with an ax and let me tell ya, you can get a lot of anger
out by doing that. I'll send pictures of the tree. It was huge. It's crazy to
drive down the street and see all the destruction, it's crazy to know that just
wind can do that. We've heard a little bit about the next storm coming but
Sister Dicou and I have been so fortunate and have power and everything we
need. The Lord has definitely been blessing us and I'm so grateful for that.
Mom, we do live in the same complex as the Elders and that's why it was so easy
stealing the mattresses. Our apartment is fine and everything is about back to
normal. Just a lot of clean up still. They said the clean up will be going on
all the way until Dec. 22 so we'll see about that. :/
Next question to answer is how big
my area is...if you find on the map our area is the Parsippany area. We live in
Morristown but our area covers Parsippany all the way down to Chatham. It's
pretty cool, we share the ward with the Elders. Thursday is walking day. It's
our car fast throughout the whole mission and it's nice to be able to get out
and walk. I hope I have answered all the questions. It's been such a crazy
hectic week but it's slowly getting back to normal.
The sisters stayed with us for a
week and a day and left today. It's crazy how God works. He knew we all had to
meet and grow so much from each other and I know that's true. My testimony was
strengthened so much from those Sisters and I honestly can call them my best
friends. They're absolutely amazing. I love them so much, but it'll be nice to
finally get back to work. I'm really starting to get the hang of it. I'm
feeling more confident in the lessons. We've really been working hard and our
investigators has increased so much. We had so many new investigators and I
can't wait to start teaching them so they can become closer to Christ. We have
one progressing investigator but I haven't sat down and taught a lesson to her
yet but we're hoping to soon. We have one man with a baptismal date but I think
it's going to be pushed back because of the hurricane. We met this amazing
family on Sunday and they are prepared to accept the gospel. We went and
visited them in the dark because the power was out but we had such a spiritual
lesson with them. They're from India. We talked about what we teach and then
had some amazing Indian food. Chicken kabobs, red curry and nan. It was so
INCREDIBLE! The Lord has really been blessing us with amazing people in our
paths.
Yesterday was the most spiritual
experience I've had on my mission thus far. We went to go out and teach and
find people and knocked on a potentials door and she welcomed all of us in. It
was Sister Dicou, Sister Lowry and myself. We got into her house and asked if
we wanted hot chocolate and of course, since we were cold we accepted. She had
us sit down on the couch and tucked us in one of her homemade quilts! Mom, you
would love her. She used to quilt and now she cross-stitches the cutest things.
She made such cute little beanies for babies and I want her to make some for
Grant and Tacy because they are so cute. She makes the beanies look like
apples, and bees, and peas and stuff. It's kind of hard to explain but they're
adorable. Now, this lady, is SOO prepared to accept the gospel in her life.
She's been prepared for a very long time. She has a friend that's a member that
did such great fellowshipping. She's been to the open house of the Boston
temple and the spirit was so strong throughout the whole lesson with her. She
has a grandson thats 2 1/2 and such a cute little boy. I shared a scripture
with her that I read in personal study and it immediately made me think of our
family. It's Mosiah 18:21 and it says: "And he commanded them that there
should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward
with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit
together in unity and in lvoe one towards another." I feel that family is
such an important part of our lives and I've said it before but I've taken my
family for granted. But I feel as we all strive to become one we will be blessed. Our hearts should all been knit
together and have such a strong love for one another. As I shared that she said
thank you and then went off on how she's noticed how important family is in our
religion. We don't just have our immediate family but we have our community or
church family. I know that we can all become closer when we all are striving to
become one. That's something I've learned so far. And you better believe I will
be working on that as soon as I get home. Is strengthening our family :)
A few more items of business: how is
the ward doing? How is Melissa and Barry? I'd love to hear from them and Brad
and Elly as well. How is family prayer going?
I hope I included everything. Yes,
our toilet did get clogged but it was from the storm and they got it all
figured out. We had to dump water (poopy and sewer stuff) from the tub because
it was filling up quick. It was disgusting.
This church is true. Things are
coming together here. We have a lot of potential investigators and I can't wait
to see them progress. I know prayer is real. God is waiting to talk to us. The
Book of Mormon is true. Our focus this month is on the Book of Mormon and I've
already gained such a stronger testimony of the word in the Book. They are the
words of the prophet in the olden times. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of
God. I know he translated the Book of Mormon. And I know we have apostles and
our Prophet, President Monson, to teach us what we need to know in our day
today. I'm grateful for you guys and the constant support you are giving me. It
truly is touching and I seriously couldn't do it without your support. I love
you so much! And I'll be emailing you hopefully on Monday next week. You guys
are all fantastic. Remember to pray and read your scriptures. You WILL come
closer to Chirst.
Love,
Sister Taylor
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