Crazy Cold Week

Hello!

The Holidays are crazy on the mission! We've been traveling to and from to many different places, going to the temple, having snow days, and district meetings and still being a missionary! Woof! But I'm still alive and well, and cold but that's okay. I'm wearing a new scarf I found in my suitcase today...figures it's new! ;)

Anyway like I mentioned, it was a crazy and FAST weeek. They keep going faster :/ We had a shortened P-day because we went to the temple last week so we got to work soon after we finished everything that was essentail. I had one of the funniest member family dinners on Monday. One for the record books. I'll tell it to you later :)

Tuesday we had orders to stay inside because of the snow storm until further notice. It was a pretty bad snow storm so Sister Gaihe and I did a couple of crafts. The real CCC was done on Saturday.. We were finally able to go out and tried a Less Active. She came to the door and said, I just had eye surgery I can't be in the sun...She didn't even answer our question. That was awkward. Then we went to Sister Schmidt's house and got her baptismal program all figured out for her baptism on the 31st of this month! We're so excited for her! We headed to bed a little early because we had to be up early to go to the temple.

Wednesday we had to be up to the Elders apartment at 6:30 in the morning to travel up to Newark and get on the trains to NYC. Driving with Elders is different and weird so it was mostly quiet. We got to the Newark Chapel and met the others of our zone and went to the train. I love my new zone! They're great. We got to the temple and the peace that is there is refreshing. That's a good word to describe the temple trip this time...refreshing. As we went and got ready for the endowment session it was the most peaceful feeling of the spirit I've felt since I've been endowed. It was just so calm. We didn't get to see the new video, there was a Korean speaking member, but I was a lot more okay with it than some of the others because i'll be going again in a couple of months...for the last time :( Here in NY I mean. The peace I felt in the Celestial room was just what I needed to calm all of the feelings I've been experiencing with how fast time is flying. Our trip back was long. But fun. All 8 of us sisters had an opportunity to talk to a lady, who actually lives in Bordentown, our Elders area down here. I think she got a little intimidated and quickly got off. She was sweet though. I rested my eyes the whole way back to our area, while Sister Gaihe talked a little bit to the Elders. Bless her heart :) I love her!

Thursday Sister Gaihe was sick. We had district meeting so after that and lunch we headed back home to let her rest. It was crazy to see the difference in how she acted when she wasn't sick and when she was. It was a big difference, she's better now and I'm glad I got my companion back. It was good for her to rest up and get better.

Friday we went and picked up our long term passes for the base. Can I just say SO COOL! We went to the office to get them and had a cool experience. This lady helped us everytime we were in there previous. It took some time to get the base pass and she asked "so are you Christians?" I replied, "yes we are!" and we proceeded to tell her about the church. She said she was interested in reading about different religions and about different things and I asked her if she heard about the Book of Mormon. She hadn't, so I asked, 'do you want to read it?' She quickly said no, and then the spirit quickly prompted her to say 'yeah, do you have one?' I pulled it out. We discussed our beliefs and she said we believe about the same thing. I marked for her to read Helaman, and Samuel the Lamanite prophesying about Christ coming and told her about Christ coming. We gave her our number and told her to text us when she read it. She hasn't yet, but we planted that seed. I'm eager to see what happens later on in her life and if she absorbs the Book of Mormon. I love being a missionary! It was so cool! We went and tried a couple of people, with a ward missionary and no luck. We did go to our set appointment with a less active we started working with and talked about prayer. It was a really powerful lesson and what she needed. I feel like she just needs to remember how she felt when she was doing these things and that'll give her the motivation to come back. She offered the closing prayer and I felt the spirit so strongly. We ended up at the Schmidt's home for dinner with the Elders. It was really good.

Saturday was a snow day, all day! I taught Sister Gaihe all of my cool tricks, knitting, making boxes, bracelets and we just had a good bonding day together. I love her so much! I'm so grateful she's my companion at the end of my mission. She's teaching me a lot :)

We still didn't get the okay to drive so we got a ride to church. It was a very nice Sunday. The spirit I feel at church is incredible. I'm so grateful for the sacrament and the priviledge I get every week to renew my covenants and try better the next week! We stayed for choir after and Sister Schmidt had her baptismal interview and of course passed! She's all ready to go for her baptism! We had breakfast for dinner with members and then visited another member. I love this ward!

On Monday we had to travel up to Morristown to go practice our songs for our fireside this upcoming Sunday. We had to leave early to drop something off at the mission office. So when you're down south and you have to run a few places up north you had to leave a little earlier than usual. So hence, why we're doing emails today. The choir practice was good. Seeing all the missionaries was better. It's so good seeing your old companions and other missionaries! I love it!
 That went a little longer than expected and we stopped for lunch and then headed back down...didn't get home until 7 and immediately went to our dinner appointment but a recent convert that just moved in. She's my age and so COOL! We had a great time eating dinner and getting to know everyone. She had a roommate who was so fun! She's awesome! Tuesday were district meetings and we had to drop the car off to get it tuned up. So again, we had to leave early to get everything done and had a dinner appointment last night and so yeah, no time again to do them. The dinner was great as well as district meetings.

I love being a missionary. I love this gospel. I love this Christmas season for the time we have to reflect on our Savior and what he's done for us. It's truly remarkable to think about. I love you all. I recieve some MAJOR love from some ward members back home. I got some mail and it brought me to tears. I didn't read them all from the primary. That's happening on Christmas! Thanks for all your support! Talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Sister Christine Taylor

Wrightstown

Well it has definitely been one of the craziest weeks on my mission so far. From saying goodbye to loved ones in Scotch Plains, to being doubled in, YET AGAIN, to a brand new area opened up to sisters, from a Thanksgiving dinner (THANKFULLY) and being so sore from the Turkey Bowl, breaking the knob for the hot water for the shower it has definitely been crazy. But I love this area so much. As you can see in the subject I'm now in Wrightstown New Jersey...back down South for me. But this time I'm ready to be down here. It's pretty cool because Dicou served down here and has been helping me with the area and what not so it's been fantastic.

Last monday was tough to say good-bye to some of the loved ones in Scotch Plains. I truly loved that area and the people there. Tuesday was transfer conference. It became really REAL to me that I'm actually going to be leaving. It was a tough transfer conference to say the least. As President began announcing the transfers I felt very strongly I was going to be coming down here and I was right. He started announcing the NEW ZONE 11 and said Wrightstown and I stood up as he was saying it. My new companion is Sister Gaihe from Cebu in the Philippines. She's so sweet and so nice. I'm excited to work with her down here. Quick funny story, as we were driving back home from Thanksgiving dinner she said "what is that smell?" If you know the south or any rural area it smells like 'crap', the nicest way to put it so I said "that's poop." We busted up laughing! She isn't used to this and as we drive she said "it's so pretty". I love it. She's actually my 'granddaughter' in mission terms. Sister Ward trained her up in New City and now I'm her companion. There's another Sister Taylor as well that just came out that's comps with a Philippina, kinda ironic!

So after transfers were all announced we heard departing testimonies from the missionaries going home. It hit home like I mentioned. I was able to keep it in for a long time. Mo went home and shared a great testimony, the whole day she kept telling me not to cry. I did good. Until the end..where we sang 'God Be With You Til We Meet Again'. President has been having the departing missionaries stand up at the front and we sing to them. He came and sat by me and said 'how are you doing?' I said I was fine and that I'm keeping it in. He said he was watching me and then the song came and the tears flowed. Yay. We luckily fit all our stuff in the car and headed down for the next two hours SOUTH. We made it to our apartment and moved everything in for the next hour. We didn't get situated until 10 pm. Boy were my arms sore! I'm going to love it down here, I know it.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Toms River. It felt good to go back. Sister Maclay is down in Barnegat so I saw her again. That was nice. District meeting was great. I'm just happy to be here. I've had some weird deja-vu's about the area so I know I'm supposed to be here. Traveling in the south takes forever, that's what we pretty much did the rest of the day.
Thursday was THANKSGIVING. We went up to Princeton to play in the Turkey Bowl. It was really fun. There were so many more sisters there than last year! It's exciting. It was cold but warmed up as we played of course. After that we came home got ready and went to our first members home for dinner, the Sufias. Already love them. It was Sister Gaihe's first Thanksgiving. Pretty cool. We came back home. We've been so exhausted ever since we got here, still trying to catch up.

Friday we met with our ward mission leader, Brother Melin at his house and then had leftovers for lunch with his family. They are a cute great little family. We went and met some of the less actives after that. We also met with our investigators and taught a quick lesson. Then more traveling.

So the area that we cover is part of the military base, Fort Dix so we had to go get passes for the base. We did that on Saturday. We went onto the base and met another member family and had dinner with them. It's so cool to be on the base. Reminds me of Hill Air Force base. I'm just so happy to be here.

Sunday was great! The ward is so awesome and our dinner calendar was FILLED up.  We met many of the members. They are so awesome. We met our other investigator Sandy who's going to be baptized on Dec 31st! We're excited for that. After we went and met with Sandy and her husband, who's a member and they gave us a nice tour of their house. We also had dinner with another member family, The Morrow's. We had cafe rio salad dressing and it made me really happy! It was like home :)

I love this area. I'm grateful to be here. I know the church is true. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. He translated the Book of Mormon for us. It gives us power. I'm so happy to be a missionary at this time when the Lord is Hastening His Work! Thanks for all your support! I love you all so much! Have a great week! I can't believe its DECEMBER! AHHH

Love,
Sister Taylor

The seed planter

Well first things first. Today is the last day for me in this area, SP2N....I'm really going to miss it....I've been avoiding getting emotional and have been hiding my tears with other things..It's going to be hard to leave. Luckily I had a sense that I was leaving and got a confirmation on Thursday, because SCOT got a call to train. It was at 8:23 in the morning and I couldn't focus the rest of the day...oops! I was able to say good-bye to a lot of the members yesterday at church. Again, hiding the fact that I'm leaving. I'll send some pictures of some of the ward members I got pictures with. This ward is the BEST!

The week was great. We met with Mark a couple times during the week. On Tuesday we met with him in the freezing cold. We asked how he felt after his baptism and everything and he said "strong and clean" He said that he wrote down those feelings after his baptism. He's going to be such a great member of the church. We also saw him on Thursday where we met him for lunch at our new favorite place 'And Grain'. He really enjoyed it. We talked about the priesthood and temples and he's going to get the priesthood pretty quick. :) That makes me happy. We also talked about him going to BYU....we'll see what happens with that. That would be so great for him!

I don't really even remember what went on this week because it's been a whirlwind of emotions in my mind. I'm excited to be going to another place to help more of God's children. I know that many of you have mention that I've been a seed planter but that's completely confirmed...I haven't served in an area longer than 3 transfers. I quickly do the work and get out so others can cultivate the seeds.. And SCOT is going to have an awesome opportunity to do that as she trains. This area is starting to be on fire and I'm excited for her to continue it. :)

 

Friday was great. Since SCOT had to go to the trainers meeting I had to go with some other sisters and had the privilege of going back to my first area Morristown...they split the area so I was in Madison and Chatham again but I was so happy to be back. We talked about the people they've been working with and ward members and it made me so happy to be there. We went to go try Carrie, one of the investigators that I found down there but unfortunately she wasn't home :( then we went and saw Brother Robinson again, he was the one in the hospital with MS and I don't know if he quite remembered me but it was so great to go back and see him. He touched my heart many times going there. We went and tried a member but she wasn't home so we went to a deli, Mo and I tried one of my last weeks there that was so great! Again, it was delicious. I went back and picked up SCOT and headed back to our area. We went and taught a pretty bold lesson to one of our investigators. She's ready to be baptized she just has to wait for a few things. But since I knew it was my last time teaching her, I was pretty bold. Told her that if she didn't come to church we couldn't meet with her again. She came to church :)

 

Saturday morning we went and raked Sister Ashton's yard. I love raking... I think I mentioned that last week but I really love it. We raked just about her whole yard. She said it was the cleanest she'd ever seen her yard. I was so happy to do that for her. She took us out to lunch at a buffet. She's touched my life. I love her so much and care about her so much. Sister Dicou said something to me before she left and I wrote in one of my planners. I was looking back on them this past week and in the inside cover of the planner it said "love them 'til it hurts." That's exactly how I feel with the people here. Especially Sister Ashton. It's going to be hard for me to leave here. She wrote me another note expressing her gratitude and love for me. After that we went and visited another member and then went and had dinner with another member. He took us out to eat to an Italian place. I got a calzone and boy can anybody say CHEESE! That thing was loaded with cheese. I couldn't even finish it there was so much cheese. Cheese, cheese, cheese, geez!

 

Sunday was a crazy last Sunday for me. I asked Sister Ashton to come to church with me for my last Sunday and she said she would. Cool thing was, her son, Jacob, was already planning on coming without her. But they came and I was able to sit my Sashton. I said the opening prayer for the last time there. Mark was confirmed a member and it was awesome. SCOT leaned over to him after and asked how he felt and he said "really good." That brought a big smile to my face. As we began the sacrament hymn, a couple people noticed one of the older guys in the ward up on the stand. He had passed out and was becoming pale really quick. Soon, everyone there saw him. Bishop went out to call 911 and the organist stopped the music. His wife was sitting next to him and punch him in the chest to wake him up, but no response. Jacob, Sister Ashton's son, was a first responder and ran up there. Many other people went up onto the stand. He woke up and he walked out into the foyer. An ambulance came and picked him up. It was really scary to see that and the tone of the sacrament changed after that. He's doing fine now which is good. :) Sister Denninghoff spoke on our physical and spiritual heritage and it was amazing. I love her so much! Sunday school was good we talked about baptisms for the dead and Jacob was in there. Sheena, one of our investigators made baked ziti for the class and it was BOMB! Relief Society was great too. I LOVE CHURCH. We had a few last lessons for me here in SP2N. I'm really going to miss it. But I've done some great work here. Onto the next one! I love you all and thanks so much for your support! Have a Happy Thanksgiving....hope I can find a place quick to go :) haha Don't worry mom, I'll be fine :)

 

Love,

Sister Christine Taylor....the 'seed-planter'

November 18, 2013 Best Week Ever...again!

Holy Moly! So much love and joy coming from this Sister here! Seriously though one of the best weeks I've had in my mission so far! Reasons:

1. I'm feeling the spirit so much in my daily life, that's leading me to touching the hearts of the people we're teaching.

2. We surprisingly set an investigator of ours for baptism.

3. WE HAD A BAPTISM of Mark Smith. More deets to follow shortly

4. We had 8 less actives attend church yesterday, and 4 investigators.

5. I made a rap for Sister Cottrell....that's my third one out here.

6. Don't know if I told you but I learned how to knit and have been knitting SCOT a scarf.

7. Receive one of the nicest letters I've ever gotten from one of the less actives. More deets for that one too. :)

 

Any the WEEK WAS GREAT! I don't even know where to begin. I really love New Jersey. I really love Scotch Plains 2 North area. It is def one of my favorites. The people here have seriously touched my heart. I have come here and received so many blessings. I'll go through the week because it progressively got better. We ended up playing Frisbee for a little on Monday and then went to a member families house for dinner and FHE. We played the Jeopardy and the three little boys loved it! I did too. It was a lot of fun to see how much they knew. We had some bomb burgers.

Tuesday was district meeting and one of the best. I just love the spirit. I'm so overwhelmed with how much I've felt the spirit this transfer. Being able to discern people's needs and teach them what they need to be taught has been so cool. We went and taught our investigators Jesse and Flor. Mother and son and goll I love Flor. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and one of the best I've ever taught and the spirit was just flowing through both SCOT and I. We got to the kingdoms of Glory and started explaining from the bottom to the top. We got to the Celestial Kingdom and Flor was about to jump out of her seat, saying she wanted to go to that Kingdom! We referenced it to the sun and she was going off. She's from Costa Rica so she has a nice accent. I love her. After that I was prompted to ask her what she needed to do to go there. She said "be a good person, follow God's commandments" Mosiah 18:8-10 popped into my head so we opened up to it. She read it in Spanish while I read it in English. The last verse says "if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized" I asked her again what she needed to do and she said "I need to be baptized." Right then, SCOT asked her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. She accepted it and said she needs to learn more about the church! But she accepted it! It was the coolest thing. Flor is another one prepared by Our Heavenly Father. After that we went and visited Mark, another car lesson with the Fullmers. We went over the interview questions and he passed with flying colors! We talked about Enduring to the End and he is SO READY!

 

Wednesday was a great day. We've gotten quite a few Christmas CD's and put them all on one CD, we're waiting for after Thanksgiving but are so EXCITED for the Christmas music. We taught Brother Grosch and went and helped Sister Ashton clean her house for inspections! And they passed. She's been doing such a great job cleanin up and throwing away a lot of things. :) We keep taking things from her house to de-clutter it and it's going really well. She's thanked us so much for what we're doing. I'm proud of her for throwing away so much. We went and visited with Petra and then a member, Brother Nesmith. We read Alma 17 with him and I believe I received so much more revelation than anyone that was there. It was really cool. Again, the spirit working in me. Our last lesson was with our investigators, the three young women. They are READY to be baptized they have to get permission from their father but they are ready. We taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ and then did the teabag object lesson. They loved it so much and wanted to do it again, so we told them they had to teach us and we weren't going to say a word. So we gave our tags to them and they did just a GREAT job teaching us the gospel of Jesus Christ. I loved it so much! More prepared people!

 

Thursday we had the BEST lunch EVER. We've passed this restaurant for a long time and I've wanted to try it. It was called And Grain and boy I'd give it two thumbs up....I actually did give two thumbs up to the owner. We split a chicken pesto sandwich a basket of breads with different spreads to put on the bread and whoever comes back to NEW J with me we're going to go there! We got a text from Sister Ashton asking us to come over and I'm so glad we did. She was feeling down and we lifted her right up. I can't begin to express the love I have for that lady. She is one of the reasons I have come to New Jersey. To meet her and both of us be strengthened by each other. She wrote me a very sweet letter confirming we've met for a reason. It touched my heart and I love her so much! I'm really going to miss her when I leave :(

 

Friday was another great day of teaching. SCOT helped Brother Grosch with his family history again and he said he felt the spirit so strongly as they were doing that. That made me happy. We also taught another investigator, Brother Grosch came with us and did such an amazing job testifying again. We set her on date for baptism for December 29th. A lot of prayer and faith to help her be ready for that day. We door-bell ditched cookies at Bishops house. Unfortunately the door-bell was broken but they received them anyway and ate them all up! That was fun.

 

Saturday we went and helped Sister Ashton clean up their yard from Halloween and SCOT helped her clean her car out. I raked a lot of leaves. I just have to say....when I was younger I really didn't like raking but I can now say, I love raking....Bill (Sister Ashton's husband) said it builds character and you better believe it does haha. So great. He also got us caramel apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory....apple pie ones. So yummy. I've missed those. SCOT and I ate one yesterday and we were both dying because it tasted so good! We taught another member on Saturday and had to change completely our lesson because we didn't do family history....as she was talking I was prompted to ask her if she's received her patriarchal blessing and she hadn't so we talked about them and committed her to prepare for hers. It was totally prompted by the spirit again! I loved it! That night was the chili cook-off. Sister Ashton, Bill and her son came! So happy. I ate too much chili...I think it made me sick...but it was good. Fun company....now SUNDAY!

 

Such a wonderful day FULL of the spirit. Mark's baptism, a lot of less actives at church and awhhh just so many good emotions were flowin yesterday. Mark was baptized and will receive the Holy Ghost next  week. He was so ready, Saturday night I texted him and asked "you excited", he replied "no, calm and ready" Touched my heart. The baptism came and the spirit was very strong. He asked Elder Ragma, one of the Philippino missionaries to baptize him. As they went into the water, strong emotions came, not to tears but close, Elder Ragma lowered him in the water and he came up. As he came up he opened his eyes, looked to the crowd, gave a BIG huge smile and waved at everyone. Mark is one of the most reMARKable guys I have met. He was so ready this time to be baptized! We had time to bear testimonies and I have to get up and express my gratitude. The words were just flowing from my mouth. I got down and didn't remember what I said because the spirit was testifying. I'm so grateful for this gospel and how Mark now has the opportunity for eternal life :)

 

My heart is so full of love and joy for the week I have had. It truly has been one of the best. I love this gospel with all of my heart! I love my Savior Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith restored this church for us today! The Book of Mormon is TRUE! Thank you for all your prayers for Mark and all of your support. Transfers are next week. I don't know whats going to happen but I'll let you know next week! I love you all!!

 

Love,

Sister Christine Taylor 

November 12 2013

This week has been incredible! I've been able to see so many miracles. First off, MARKS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!  He's so ready and excited as well as am I. One of the less actives I've been working with just about since I've gotten here is so amazing. We've been going over and helping her clean up her house and get rid of a lot of things. That's been nice and we've created such a great friendship. She's older but she said she thinks of Sister Cottrell and I as peers and not her daughters. That was really cool. I feel like she wants to come back to church but is nervous to get back. Transfers are coming up and I'm not sure if I'm leaving or not but on Saturday we went and helped her for quite some time and at the end she said "if you tell your mission president not to transfer you, I'll be at church on Sunday" I told her I would. So hopefully she'll come to church on Sunday and be able to feel the spirit there and want to come back. I know she's felt the spirit quite a bit when we go over there. One of the first times, Sister Maclay and I went over there we read Mosiah 24:11-14 or so and she had tears welling up inside her eyes. I know she feels the spirit when we go over and I hope she'll come to church because she wants to, not just because I won't be getting transferred..We'll see and I'll let you know next week if she comes or not :)

Wednesdays are always bomb days for us. We have a lot of set appointments on Wednesdays. And boy it was good. We didn't have to cook lunch or dinner. Members fed us. We started with helping a member, well Sister Cottrell, helping a member with family history, she was able to find a couple of other names for him which was great. Then over to Mary Ann's for a quick lesson with her. We taught her the gospel with the teabag. She loved it. That's like the 3rd time doing it with her but she was the one that taught the object lesson so that was great! Then to Brother Grosch, he was a less active member who referred himself on Mormon.org and boom we were right on it and have been teaching him. He's on FIRE with the gospel right now and is loving it. Yesterday we walked out of the church and there he was driving in his car. He came up to us and said "man, I need to find a job, this retirement is killing me. I have nothing to do." It was pretty funny. He's a great guy and loves the gospel. He feeds us pizza each time we go over there. I'm surely getting my fair share of pizza, which is great because the pizza back on the west coast doesn't do justice for the pizza out here :)  We had a couple of other lessons. One with three young women investigators, they want to be baptized so bad but their father won't let them. We taught them the holy ghost and did the water and pepper analogy and boy did they love it! I hope and pray their father will give them permission. They are yearning for the gospel fully in their lives. We ended at Chili's with a member for dinner. She's from Utah and met her husband and moved out here. She's a sweetheart. I love her a lot. Her husband isn't a member but we're always trying to work with the part-member families.

Thursday it was a rainy, rainy day. We had Mark and walked in the rain over there. It was a pretty far walk and we got quite wet. But it was fun. We had a YSA come out with us, she recently returned from her mission in Idaho, she was waiting for her visa for Brazil and had to come back and fix her papers. She did such a great job. If there's anything I learned out here, it's how to be a great member missionary. I can't wait to get home to be able to help the missionaries. Because now I know how it feels to be the missionary and needing the members help so much. Truly grateful to learn that here.

Friday we had interviews with President and Sister Jeppson. Boy do I love interviews! They seriously are the best to be able to get reassurance from them about what I'm doing. President and I had a great talk, he asked me how I'd feel staying in an area for 5 transfers (that's most likely what'll happen if I don't get transferred this upcoming transfer). I told him I haven't been burnt out here yet but I'd love to go to a new area. We'll see what happens in a couple of weeks. I truly do love Scotch Plains 2 North. I would have to say it's probs my favorite area. Maybe because I see it now that the Lord is truly hastening his work so much. There have been so many people coming out of the wood-works wanting to learn more and coming back into the fold. And I've had the amazing privilege of being here for it. I just can't believe how fast time is really flying! Sister Cottrell again helped a member, Brother Grosch, with family history and got so much information. He just about jumped out of his seat because he was so happy. He's so ready to get back to the temple and do the work for his dead ancestors. It's really awesome to see that. He came with us to an appointment and he testified so strongly, I know our investigator was hit with the spirit. I asked her if we could set a goal for her to get baptized, she sat there silently for 2 minutes trying to figure out what to say. She finally said, let me talk to my member friend. So hopefully this week, we can set her with a date to be baptized. We went to a baby shower on Friday night and that was really fun to see all the sisters in our ward a little more relaxed. I had some good laughs.

Saturday was another great day of set appointments where none fell through! We helped our less active like I mentioned before and I got a guitar from them. We'll see if I can learn a song or something :)  We taught some powerful lessons and I have loved being able to feel the spirit in the lessons we're teaching. I'm truly grateful for the spirit in my life.

Sunday, again, such a strong spirit. Sacrament is beginning to mean more and more to me. Grandma Joyce bore her testimony on the power of prayer. I was so grateful to be able to witness her coming in contact with her grandson after 17 years because Sister Maclay and I were there teaching her one time and we prayed in faith. That story is one I'll share for the rest of my life. We've already got set plans for Thanksgiving to as well mom, so no need to worry. Our bishops wife invited us over (she said if I get transferred Sister Cottrell can't come over, but she was joking, that woman loves me) Also, Grandma Joyce wants us over, as well as Sheena, one of our investigators, and Sister Ashton too, our less active that we do service for. We'll see if my stomach can hold all that...if I don't get transferred that is..

We went and saw Petra again and talked with her and told her that this gospel is where she can find happiness. I hope she's willing to learn more and try it out. She said she wanted Hana to come to church, she can't right now with her newborn baby but hopefully she'll be open to it soon :) I love Petra. Another story I'll tell for a long time. We went and found a WAY less active from a referral some Sisters in Elizabeth gave us. She's crazy, more to come about her. We have to meet with her again.

Yesterday was great. We went to dinner with a member family and played LDS Jeopardy, Sister Cottrell and I made the board and questions and it was a hit. Their kids are so smart and very intelligent with the gospel. We left and the mom texted us and said, Daniel just contentedly sighed, and said "when I grow up, I want to be a missionary." Thank you for coming over tonight :) That melted my heart, when we were over there we were doing what our 'rose' and 'thorn' of the day were and he said "my rose is when the sisters came over" Again, my heart melted. Such a cute family!

And today, We had a couple of really powerful lessons. District meeting was great but the lessons we had after were even better. We taught our investigators, Jesse and Flor, mother and son, the plan of salvation. It was powerful. We explained the 3 kingdoms of glory and asked Flor which one she wanted to go to, she replied "The Celestial one" I asked "what do you have to do to get there?" She said serve people and keep the commandments. I was prompted to read Mosiah 18: 8-10 and we opened it up and read it and after she said, "I have to be baptized" Sister Cottrell invited her to be baptized and she said she wants to learn more, but she's going to get baptized! She's another prepared daughter of our Heavenly Father. It was incredible. We went to see Mark and had another car meeting with Elder and Sister Fullmer and went through the Baptismal Interview Questions with him and he's going to pass with flying colors! He's so ready to be baptized. I love it!

I love being a missionary. It has changed my life and in turn I want to help others change theirs, for the better. I've become a little bit more of who Heavenly Father wants me to be. I'm confident in who I am. I'm a daughter of God and he loves me so much. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I was reading in 3 Nephi this week and loved this scripture, 3 Nephi 15:9. I'm grateful for this opportunity. I love you all! I hope you have a great week! It was VERY CHILLY today! Stay warm :)

 

Love,

Sister Christine Taylor

I Love the Gospel

I love the gospel! I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This week has been different but really good. It was slower than usual due to conferences a sick day, an exchange, and stake conference but it was great. After emails on P-day we went and played soccer...I haven't really played in quite some time..I played and continued to kick the ball and really stretched my thigh muscle..it hurt for a couple of days but we're back to normal now.

I wasn't feeling really well on Tuesday so we had a sick day. After district meeting I told Sister Cottrell I had to go home and I slept for most of the day. I love Wednesday's here in Scotch Plains. They're productive and we have a lot of set appointments. We had 8 set appts and only one of them got canceled but it worked out fine. We taught a lot of people, less actives, investigators, members and even did service. It was a great day! I love being able to work with Sister Cottrell, we're a lot alike but also very different. But we both know our calling and are trying so hard to do the Lord's work here. We've been talking about the people we've been working with and just about all of them are ready to be baptized. It's so exciting! Wednesday we saw Mark, usually we meet him outside but the weather has been getting colder so Elder and Sister Fullmer offered their car for our meeting. I'll say that was a first on my mission. A lesson in a car. But it was awesome. Mark's grandpa just recently passed away and so it was cool to be able to relate to him about my experience with Grandpa Stevens. Mark is so awesome. On Friday we met with him right before our exchange and I asked him if he desired to be baptized, and the way he said "yes" sealed it for me. He's going to be baptized on November 17th and he's ready! :) We also met with one of our other investigators, Travis, and he accepted to be baptized in December, we're extending a date to him this week. :) Things are happening!

We had zone conference on Thursday in Morristown, it was crazy to be back there. I was there in Morristown a YEAR ago. Seems like a very long, but short time. We were able to hear from President and Sister Jeppson. Goll, I love them so much; . They bring such a strong spirit into the room and are just fantastic. They said we'll probs be getting ipads in April or so next year...too bad fo' me! The work of Salvation is hastening and I hope all of you are doing your job as members to help hasten the work. Heavenly Father needs all of us doing His work "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal of man" (Moses 1:39) We did role plays and learned so much there.

Now this story is quite cool, this next one, I whole-heartedly believe I receive revelation through the foods I want to try out here haha. After zone conference we got back and I wanted to try a place called Urban Burger. So we bundled up and decided to drive there. If we would have walked this story wouldn't of happened. So we go in and order our burgers, BTW they were really delicious. I ordered the cow roaming in an onion patch burger. YUMMY. So, we got it to go, but had to wait for them to make it so we sat down at a table and were just talking amongst ourselves. This older lady that was sitting a table with her family kept looking and glancing at me over and over again. So in my mind I had already planned to give her a pass-along card but I was going to do it as I was walking out. In walks her son, probably about in his 20's....she leans over to me...really close and says "do you think my son is cute?" Uhhhhhhhhh...I had no clue what to say. So I replied "I'm not looking for that right now..." Really, that's what came out. It was pretty funny. I told her, I'm on a mission for my church and then she asked what church and the conversation developed from there. She began to tell us when her daughter (who's now in her 40's) was around 5, the missionaries used to come over and discuss with her. 40 years ago this lady had met with the missionaries and there we were again! We got into conversation with the whole family and talked about BYU and the church. It was really cool to do that. I gave her a card and she was so happy! I put our name and number on it for her. As we left I told her if she ever needed anything give us a call, and she said in a very sincere voice "I'm going to do that!". We went back home and ate our burgers with JOY! It was so cool to experience that. Sister Cottrell and I both have the faith she will call us. If not we'll start knocking all the doors in Cranford until we find her again :)

We had another revelation through food the next night. Man I'm on a role! This one was at a frozen yogurt place. People know I love my FroYo. It was interesting because on Monday we had written down a name of a lady to go check up on and then the next thing we were going to get some FroYo. Due to my leg we didn't get there. But it happened to be on Friday night when we got in to the FroYo place in walks the lady that we had put down on Monday and then FroYo...We met Deb Wright at FroYo on Friday night. Sister Maclay and I had contacted her at her house a few months ago and she said she wanted to learn more, but we hadn't been able to get back over there. It was so neat and I talked to her again and she said it's been crazy at the house but just stop by and see if we're there. Boom! It's going to happen we're going to teach her and her family. Hope that story made sense..

Stake conference was incredible. To the amazing adult session in the newly dedicated Newark Chapel, to the song How Great Thou Art played by three woman, a violin, cello and piano, to the amazing talks about hastening the work of Salvation and sharing the gospel, to the Sunday session where Sister Jeppson sang a couple of diddy's and then President Jeppson beat-boxed a line or two to the incredible spirit felt. I love this weekend. I also went on an exchange to East Brunswick and did some work in Edison. That was fun.

This work is real. God lives and loves us so much. I have been so blessed to be out here in New Jersey. God knows what he's doing. His plan is a happy plan. I'm excited for this week. We have to be in early on the 30th and 31st due to the "Night of Mischief". Gang initiations. Don't worry. I'm staying AWAY FROM THAT stuff! :) I love all of you and have a Happy Halloween. Talk to you next week.

 

Love,

Sister Taylor

Lovin' Scotch Plains

Lets just say, God is good! I love my new companion and things are happening here in Scotch Plains. So much to say. It was such a great week of work. We'll begin on Tuesday with transfer conference. Mac and I headed a little early and had some lunch with a few of the other girls that were getting transferred. Transfer conference was great! There were just two missionaries leaving and Elder Smith, the one that I was told to look for when I came out, left. I told him to go say hello to all of you. Anyway, President began announcing the transfers and started up at the top and got down to zone 6, my zone and announced my new companion, Sister Cottrell from Henderson, Nevada and I already love her so much! She's so ready to work and that's just what I need. And she's OOBER smart. She went to the University of Utah for bio-medical engineering.  Really excited to work with her this transfer. We've gotten along really fast and man I just love her! After transfer conference, we went to see Mark. Scot (Sister Cottrell) connected with him so fast. We talked about testimony and what it is and how we can strengthen it. I asked him if he's been praying on his knees and if he's had a calendar open to see which date pops out to him and he said no. So we specifically committed him to do that and he said he would. That made me happy. And I'm happy to say that night he text us "just prayed on my knees with the calendar out and the 17th stands out" So now we're hoping and praying so hard that he will be baptized on November 17th. He came to church but only for the first hour so we're going to see what's up with that. We went to Chili's with a member and her non-member husband and he asked us questions the whole time. He's not interested right now but I think we gave him a good vibe about the Latter-Day Saints and the missionaries.

Wednesday was an amazing day! We met with our less active (who's going to be active VERY FAST) he told us his story and how the church is what he was missing in his life. He kept telling us, I need to keep my temple recommend back and all the other things. He's so ready to dive back into the gospel it's incredible to see. I love that! He fed us pizza, always love the pizza here. I won't be able to eat it out there.. Then we went and checked up on the media referral we got (the one that sent it to us again because of the wrong address) and boom, his mother and him are our new investigators! Funny story: so this kid was referred by his girlfriend and she had the wrong address so we got the right one. We knocked on the door and waited some time before he answered. It was slightly awkward but we got in. His mother was sitting in another room so we kinda just started talking to him. She came into the room to tell us she was going to take a shower...she walked out of the room and a few seconds later she came back in and asked "do you mind if I sit in and listen to what you're teaching my son?" Of course we replied absolutely you can! (Pretty sure the spirit hit her and told her to come back in) So we got the story from him....his girlfriend, who he met online, is a member and a Sister MISSIONARY! Holla. You can tell he really loves her so he's open to hearing what she believes in. We are going to try and get her information so we can coordinate with her to continue to encourage him. Small world but it was quite cool. And his mother is so interested too. We gave her a Book of Mormon in Spanish and we're meeting with them tomorrow! Exciting! We went to another part member/less active ladies house and picked up her 3 nieces as well as new investigators. So 5 new inv in two lessons! WOO HOO! Miracles.

Thursday was weekly planning...that takes some time..I finally did a little walking again on a walking day. We went to a couple people but ended up at the senior missionaries, the Fullmers home for our dinner...ice cream and popcorn. But it was healthly so it was okay. We went over so Sister Cottrell could meet them. I love em!

Friday was another great day. We had district meeting and the trunk or treat with the ward. We went and helped a less active with service. I've become quite close with her. I love her so much! The people here I've grown to love so much and will be sad to leave Scotch Plains. But living it up here! The trunk o treat was pretty cute. Definitely some sweet outfits from the little kids. And some of our ward members invited their non-member friends which made me so happy!

Saturday another great day of lessons. I just want to say the gospel is true. The spirit leads and guides us and God loves us so much! Words can't express the gratitude I have for my Savior and how much I've learned about him by being out here! We went over to Grandma Joyce's and had a great lesson with her and her daughter, Donna (who just got out of the mental hospital) and her grandson, Travis. All of them were at church yesterday and I had a pretty big smile on my face!

Sunday was one of the best ones I've had on my mission. The spirit was powerful in the sacrament meeting, the talks were great and we had a lot of people there! One of the speakers talked about testimony and was so bold and loving and powerful. We had 3 investigators and 5 less actives at church! Big smile on this girls face! We got to go to the youths sunday school and watched the restoration and testified about Joseph Smith and the restoration. The teacher, after the class said "the spirit is so much stronger with you missionaries in the room." We kinda laughed and she said "no, serious, whenever my family and I watched this at home it hasn't been as powerful as it has been with you in the room." That made me happy. We, as missionaries, have power. We are representatives of our Savior Jesus Christ and bring his power. Never thought of that before much but it's true and it makes me so happy :) We had a linger longer and those are always yummy. We went and taught three lessons after church and had a GREAT lesson with one of our investigators. It's a part member, where the dad isn't a member. Cutest little family. We taught about the plan of salvation. At the end of the lesson Sister Cottrell looked at him and said "Fritz, what would you do to have eternal life with your family?" "I'd do anything" was his reply. We testified so strongly that this is the true church and where he can be sealed in the temple to his family. We asked him to pray this week to know the truth and hopefully he can get an answer.

Like I said, things are happening here. New companion and new investigators and an increased faith. I'm so excited for this transfer with Sister Cottrell. Awhh words can't express how happy I am. I love you all! Hope you all have a great week!

Shout out to MOM! HAPPY BIRTHDAY THURSDAY!

 

Love

Sister Christine Taylor

 

Transfers

Transfers are tomorrow and I'll be staying in Scotch Plains. Sister Maclay will be transferred and I'll get a new companion tomorrow. It's gonna be a change but I'm ready for it. Sister Maclay and I thought I was going to be the one transferred but nope it was her. Crazy how Heavenly Father works sometimes. We did have some pretty cool miracles this past week.

We've been really working trying to find new people to teach and also continuing to work with the ones we have. We found some new investigators. Well, we did have two but one had to be dropped. He wasn't all the way there but we contacted him and he lets us come back the next day. We taught him the restoration and committed him to come to church. He said he needed to come back as we were extending the invitation the dad came out and interrupted the lesson. It was really awkward because the guy was saying he needed to go back to church. We called him on Saturday to check up on how his prayers were going and Sister Maclay got a mouth-full about saying we should really consider our approach to random people on the streets. It was interesting. Needless to say we won't be going back over to his house anytime soon.

Also, we have been getting media referrals like crazy lately. We got one from a girl and so we went and checked up on her. Totally legit. We started talking to her and she told us that some of the Elders went into her work (Modell's) and started talking to her boss and he didn't really want anything to do with what they were saying but as they were leaving she stopped them and they gave her a card. She referred herself on mormon.org and said she's been looking for a new church to go to. She said her church is preachin too much law stuff. She said she went on and read about the restoration and Joseph Smith and believes it's true. She even downloaded the app on her phone and started reading before we even got over there. It was gnarly! We taught one of the best restoration lessons together and committed her to baptism on November 10th. She said "well, I've already been baptized" and the spirit took over and we address the priesthood authority. She understood and said well I guess my baptism in my other church was probably "just a good bath in the church". It was really cool to have the spirit work and explain the priesthood authority to her. She was going to come to church but unfortunately she couldn't. But we'll get her there again. 

We also got a media referral, he was a member, he recently retired and is yearning to have the gospel back in his life. We went up and checked on him and he opened up the door and there laid like 20 Book of Mormon's. He said whenever someone comes over he hands it out to them. Missionary! Boom. It was great. He said he missed the church and that he's planning on coming back into full activity. He was at church yesterday and loved it! I love that!

The last referral was one that we already recieved. The address from the first one was incorrect and when we recieved the second one it was the right address. It's just so cool to see how many people want the gospel in their lives and when we weren't able to get over there (because it was the wrong address), they referred themselves again! It's so cool to see that :)

Other than that we had a great week. I can't really remember all that we did because I left my planner back home. We taught the gospel :)

Mark is still looking for the right baptismal date. He's praying about it and I'm hoping that we can really help him this upcoming transfer to get him baptized! Continue to pray for him. He's amazing. We have a team-up coming out with us tomorrow that we're hoping he can connect with and pick a date!

Oh and we went and saw Mary-Ann, the little 8 year old that got baptized two weeks ago. Some stuff went down with her parents (they're separated) and the mother didn't want her to be baptized. She didn't voice that til after the fact it was already done. We went and taught them a lesson and both Mary Ann and her father Brother Ellis are happy with the choice she made. It's just sad to see that she didn't voice anything til after. It was a good lesson with her on the Holy Ghost. 

Man, I love teaching the gospel. I'm ready and excited for this new change. Both Sister Maclay and I needed something to change and I'm glad Heavenly Father answered our prayers. This field here in Scotch Plains is "white and ready to harvest" and I'm so glad I still have the opportunity to work here. It's crazy how fast time is going. Before we know it it'll be Thanksgiving, them Christmas, New Years and then booom! We won't say what happens next!

Thanks for all the support from all of you! I love you all so much! Continue to be those examples in your everyday life! 

Until next week

Love,

Sister Taylor

Conference week

Boy wasn't conference incredible!? The spirit I felt during the sessions of conference was incredible and brought me to tears at some of the talks the prophet and apostles gave. It's just such a confirmation to me to know that this is the Lord's work and that God truly loves each one of us individually. That was something I got from conference, one of the many things...that God is so mindful of us and his love is eternal. Whenever we make a mistake, it's okay because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. We can become whole again through the atonement and boy am I ever so grateful for that. We were able to watch the sessions at the church and had Mark there as well as one of our other investigators for a little bit of it. I thought it went by way to fast this year and can't wait for next general conference to be able to be uplifted yet again. Man, I'm so grateful for this gospel in my life! And it just makes me want to share it more with others. :) I'm so excited to be out here at this time in my life, because I've truly come to know who I am and know what I need to do to serve my Savior and Heavenly Father.

So this week we had some pretty great lessons. Sister Maclay has been leading a lot more which has been great for me to finally be able to take the back seat and let her lead. She's been driving in the daytime and yes, I still get carsick when others drive. Jody and Kimber, it's serious, I wasn't faking that 10 years ago or so when I felt carsick in the back of the car going down to St. George or whatever :) Anyway it's been nice. We had a funny experience on Monday night going to a members house we were checking up on. I felt kinda awkward going but we went anyway. The door was open and you could see into the house. We knocked on the house and then lady got up and said "is that the mormons?" The man said yes....she said "I'll get it." He wanted to but she answered the door, all rude like and said "can I help you?" We said we were the missionaries and she said "my mother taught me to always call ahead before you just stop by!" We were kinda shocked. We asked if she was Terry and the man behind her said "I am." We awkwardly waited a few minutes before he came out with his briefcase and apologized. He's from Idaho and moved out here. He met the lady online and they're engaged. At that time she was blaring music really loud. He's a sweet guy and you can tell he misses the gospel. Before leaving he said "I apologize about her....I'm trying to work on it" That was our fun experience of the week.

Now onto Mark. We keep having GREAT lessons with him. He's ready to be baptized just needs the confirmation it's the right thing. (He's already gotten it though...) We were planning for him and I thought we should get some ensign articles to help him. We found ones on personal revelation and gave it to him. I asked what he thought about them and he said he really liked them and that he might read more articles. I said be my guest. It's incredible. He said that the articles make him want to be baptized on the 13th he just has to figure a few more things out with his family. Mac and I are praying so hard he gets baptized this week. It'll be great! He also went to the Priesthood session of conference as well as Sunday Morning. He was dozing off on Sunday but I told him that was a-okay. We've all done that. But he really enjoyed it! Pray hard for him this weeek! :)

We also found a couple of new investigators this week. Some interesting ones but ones that are interested none-the-less :)

Thursday night was really cool. We were at a members house and taught the lesson and we all do "nose-goes" to say the closing prayer and their daughter was the last one. The mother said, can you teach her how to pray? We said of course...the spirit took over and I shared a personal experience about prayer and how important it is. I told her I didn't pray really intently when I was growing up and I didn't want her to have that same regret. So, I committed her to pray on her knees outloud at least once a day. The room was silent as I testified about prayer and boy it was incredible. I know PRAYER IS REAL! I know God is listening to us and knows us personally. He cares about our desires and when we pray to him he will answer us, in his own time. I love being able to pray to him everynight and strengthen my relationship with him.

We got a ticket on Friday night...because we were like a foot in the way of a driveway :( That's a bummer. Also got dirt thrown on the back of our car...you can guess what they were trying to tell us.. :)

We were able to have a great time at general conference and recieve revelation! I LOVED IT! Saturday night we were able to meet Grandma Joyce's grandson for the first time. It's a long story but she wished before she died that she could meet her grandson and she met him this weekend. We talked about what we did as missionaries and then sang I am A Child of God at the end. We got a text the next morning saying "thank you for singing that song to me, it made me cry inside" tender moments! Unfortunately he lives in Pennsylvania so we're going to have missionaries go over there and teach him. He's going to be baptized.

This work is real! If you didn't get the memo. WE ARE ALL MISSIONARIES! We are all a part of the work of Salvation. Get on it if you haven't been doing your part. God needs all of his children. I love you all so much! I'm so happy I'm a part of this church. The testimonies that were shared this weekend were such a stregnth to me! I love you! Talk to you next week! :)

 

Love,

Sister Taylor

Ah-mazing week!

It has been such a great week. It's been so cool to be able to be our Lord's 'swift messengers' and see how walking one day will truly bring miracles. We were able to be out walking in the beautiful fall weather that has encompassed us. Cheesy yes? But it's true. The weather here has gotten so nice and lovely. My companion, being from Arizona, is getting cold already...she's in for a treat. :)

It's been incredible to see the holy ghost working through us this past week. I told you about a lady a few weeks ago, Laura Russell, who we stopped in on because the spirit prompted us to. Well it happened again this week. We went to her house and knocked and no answer. We probs sat at the door for 3 mintues or so and got back in the car. Not 30 seconds later she was walking out with her laundry. I rolled down the window and awkwardly said "hi Laura." We talked to her for a few minutes and she told us she was being kicked out of her house and needs to find a new place to stay. My heart ached for her. I want to help her so bad. I was prompted to share the quick little spiritual thought we had planned and I was grateful we did. It was a talk from conference. Hope of God's Light and it was short but powerful. She's an incredible daughter of God and hopefully she'll let us in a little more to truly help her testimony.

We had a good lesson with Mark as well. Satan has been working on him for sure. He told us this week he wanted to explore other churches. This broke Sister Maclay and I's heart. He still came to church yesterday and I asked him why he wanted to explore other churches and he said "for less commitment." I testified pretty boldly and said "go ask anyone here in this church if they feel bound down by the commmandments and I promise you none of them will say they do." I hope we can continue to encourage him and help him see that this is the ONLY true church on the earth. Many prayers have gone out to him and many more to come :) Wednesday and Friday were sweet days of teaching. We were out being those 'swift messengers' We had some pretty powerful lessons and hit people with the spirit. In a nice way of course. It's been so cool to see how much power we have as representatives of Jesus Christ and how much boldness we can have when we love the people we teach. We started teaching this girl from Newark, Sheena, and boy is she a treat. Needless to say I showed her my braids that I had and she loved them! Yeah, i'll tell you more about her, at another time. :) She taught us a new phrase, "keepin it real" aka telling it how it is. And boy does she "keep it real" hahah. She's great.

So Friday. We went out and decided to walk down one street. There were many people out and we were able to teach 4 quick lessons in a matter of about an hour. It was so cool to testify off of one another and get return appointments with some of them. This one lady, Edith, from Peru, barely spoke Spanish but we were able to converse in Spanglish with her. We got her number and address and she said she didn't have any friends. Boom, hello! :) It was just great and we were so happy that day. It's true. Teaching the gospel makes us HAPPY!

We did have a baptism yesterday in the ward. It was of an 8 year old girl who's father is a member. Smac and I didn't know but I guess we re-activated him and helped prepare Mary Ann for her baptism. She is a ball of.....craziness! We went over to just make sure everything was set to go on Saturday and she gave us a concert. Singing and dancing and then her mom showed us the electric slide. ITS ELECTRIC! We had the Relief Society broadcast that night and boy wasn't that GREAT! It was the strongest spirit I've felt in a while and we're going to have that again this upcoming week! But for 8 hours! Holla! I love the talks on covenants and remember our covenants and then President Monson, taught so simply and plainly about prayer and scripture study. It's true. That's all it is. Scripture and prayer and going to church, attending the temple. It's incredible. The gospel is AMAZING!

I had probs one of the most unique testimony meetings yesterday. We had two ladies get up there and speak for 20 minutes combined about who knows what and then this other man get up and talk about an egg in a cup that blew up in his face. Interesting..The baptism was crazy too. Mac and I felt we were running around crazy getting everything figured out. But it was great. Our three set appointments juked us but we met a really nice guy by the name of, James Brown.....not the famous one but a sweet old man :)

 

Well. This church is the true church on the earth. There's no other one. I know that's true. I've realized how amazing it is out here. To see when we truly live the gospel of Jesus Christ. We. Are. Happy. There's many times we have trials and upsets come upon us and maybe sometimes wonder why. But we have to continue to endure to the end and put our faith in our Heavenly Father and he will help us. I can't believe September is gone. I don't know where this year is going. But I'm excited for the things to come. Transfers are coming up soon. I love you! Thanks for all your support! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Christine Taylor

 

awhh :(

Mary Ann being baptized

up down up down

Well this week definitely didn't turn out the way we thought it was going to. We thought we were going to have a baptism yesterday, Mark, but we met with him last Monday and he felt a little pressured and didn't feel he was ready. But for some reason, it didn't get me down. We had a great lesson with him yesterday and re-boosted him. The Elders in our area came and we talked about the priesthood and cleared up any questions he had. We talked about Alma 32 and it was one of the most spiritual lessons I've had. It was really great. Prior to that on Saturday we had him read Alma 32. Later that evening we asked him how it went and he said reading is good. He said "it said not to back away from baptism" and we asked what he thought about that and he said he wasn't ready but we are having him pray about October 13th for his baptism. I know God will answer his prayer and he will be baptized. He mentioned he wanted all four of us to be there for his baptism and he told him that was the last week all of us will be here because of transfers. So pray hard for Mark. He's an incredible son of God. :)

 

Other than that we've had some GREAT miracles happen this week: After meeting with Mark on Monday we went to a less-active ladies house. Her husband was there and previously he didn't want to sit in on any lessons, but Sister Maclay and I both asked him to sit in on the lesson, so he did. We talked about prophets and started teaching the kids. We showed them a picture of President Monson and their dad asked to see it as well. We talked about how important prophets are and all that and then played telephone with the family. We had the kids whisper in our ear and the dad say the ending phrase. It was really great and really fun. I got a little impression in my head to ask him to be baptized. So we were talking and I started asking him the question and his little daughter interrupted so after she was done I looked at him and said "will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?" He said "yes, I will, but I'm a hard guy to work with." We said that's fine. :) We didn't set him with a date but it was truly a miracle to see the spirit work through us as missionaries. He knows Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and we're really excited to start teaching him.

We had some great opportunities to do service for a less active lady. We hit her with the spirit when we shared Mosiah 24: 10-15. Tears were coming from her eyes after we were done teaching her. We can tell she misses the church. She just won't come unless we ask her husband (who's not a member) to come. We organized her food storage and my OCD came in handy. :)

We also got to watch the young women's talent show which was great. There are so incredible young women in our ward. They combine with the first ward so it was really great to meet more of the young women. I showed them my juggling skills but that was it. We had a few great days of teaching this week where we were out working all day. It has been nice to have full schedules and out working to keep my mind focused. Because, I did hit my year mark on Thursday which is absolutely bonkers to me. I wasn't feeling so hot on Thursday so it was a little slower day. We walked and got ice cream and also burned a skirt for my year mark. That was fun.

We had the priviledge to go to Liberty Island again to help and serve there. I ran into two mormon families. That's always fun. Insta-connection. We went with Sister Bair and Sister Robison again. Those girls are great! I love em! We had a great dinner with a member family on Friday night, we had haystacks. Yummy. Then we went to Grandma Joyce's house and she fed us too....fish. Sister Maclay took some of mine because I was kinda gagging it down.

I have a new found love for tennis. We got to play with a less active on Saturday and boy do I love it. That was fun but it has left me sore. But i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

This Sunday we'll have a baptism of the 7 year old, Mary Ann, we've been teaching. She's crazy but ready to be baptized. Hopefully it'll calm her down a little bit. :) Saturday night after her lesson we went and found 3 new investigators, potentially their parents as well. We went and talked to them and they all wanted a Book of Mormon and we're going back to meet with their family on Wednesday. They seem great and I'm excited for them.

The Elders had a baptism yesterday which was a really great baptism. It was a young women and you could see her blossom since her first coming to church. She's great. Church was kinda of hectic but it was still great. Like I mentioned we went and taught Mark again and got him back on track. This week has been up and down.

I'm grateful for my testimony I have to be able to share it with those around me. I'm grateful to be out here in New Jersey and can't believe how fast time is flying. I'm ready to push these last few months and give it everything I've got. I love all of you and am so grateful for your support! Thank you so much!

 

Have a great week! Talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Sister Taylor

 

A good week.

This week has had some ups and some downs but all in all it has been a good week. P-day was a nice relaxing one, I was able to write back a few people and also draw. Yes, it was another Justin Bieber. Don't judge. Monday night was really cool, we had been going and trying to find people and home and no luck. So I took a few minutes to think about where we should go and a name of a less active popped into my head. As we drove to her house and parked it was dark. I felt a little sketched out but proceeded to her house. There were a couple of ladies outside talking to each other and we stopped and talked to them and then went to the ladies house. As we got there we introduced herself. We had tried her house previously and no luck but she was sitting outside on her steps. We talked to her and she's such a sweet individual. She began to tell us that she went to go get some iced tea and felt like she wanted to sit outside that night because she hadn't in a while, as soon as she sat down and got comfortable she looked over and saw us walking up to her and thought "are those the Missionaries?" And it sure was. We committed her to come to church and she said she's wanted to but with her four boys, two are handicapped, and she's a single mom, it gets tough. She didn't make it to church but we're hoping to begin working with her. She walked us to her car because she told us that she lives in a Krip area. That's why I felt a little sketch. But we're safe, no worries. It was cool to be able to take a second and think and let the spirit work in me to tell us where we need to go. God prepares his children and sometimes we have to stop and think about where to go to best help his children that day.

On Sunday, we had an interesting call from a lady saying "I want to be baptized into the church" We love those calls! :) We set up a time to meet her and she's a wonderful lady. She wants to be baptized but her mom wouldn't be too happy if she changed religions and she said she has to wait for her mom to die to be baptized....uh. That surprised me haha. She loves relief society and should be coming to church this week. :) Wednesday Smac and I weren't too smart. We went out to lunch a few hours before we were going to eat at a members house and teach a lesson. We got to his house and he had cooked a FULL chicken for us, rice, cabbage, and a two teared chocolate cake. WOOF! Needless to say, I'm just grateful he wasn't in the room while we were eating so we could eat as slow as we wanted. I threw some out :/ We had a great lesson on the plan of salvation afterwards. We met a couple of other people, a young women, Jazmin Tepoz which was great and another man just walked with him as he was taking his laundry to the Laundromat.

We had a couple of crazy thunderstorms this past week.

I went on an exchange with Sister Schultz this weekend which was great. We went to a young women's breakfast and the picnic bench broke on us. It was quite funny. But we went around and shared our testimony with each other and it was so cool to see how the gospel has blessed their life, not living in Utah. It's been pretty remarkable to me to see that in the youth out here. I love it! We committed a 7 year old girl, her dads a member, to baptism on the 29th. Pretty excited about that.

Sunday was good. We had a great week teaching Mark and preparing him for his baptism. He's ready. He's feeling the spirit and has a testimony. Unfortunately he didn't want to come to church yesterday. Just wasn't feeling up for it. It kinda scared me but I know that God is watching over him. Satan is going to be working on him so many prayers this week to get him to his baptism!

I can't believe I'm hitting my year mark this week. Time has flown by and I know it'll continue to fly by.

This week during one of our comp studies I said "The Church is true." I stopped for a minute and said "woah, that's really nice to be able to say". I know this is Christ's church. I know God lives and loves each one of us. I know the Book of Mormon will comfort us in our toughest times. I know prayer is real and he is listening to us everyday.

I hope all of you have a great week! I love you all.

 

Sister Tay Tay

The Lord is Hastening His work.

Another fantastic week here in Scotch Plains 2 North! My goodness, God has been so good to Mac and I. We were able to help our investigator, Mark, progress even more and he's so ready for his baptism...More about him later. As you know we didn't go to transfers, it was a big transfer conference with a lot of changes but Mac and I are happy to still be here. There's definitely people who need us here. Elder Packer (from Kerrybrook) came in. Of course, I didn't see him but when I do, I'll go up and say hello. I wonder if he knows who I am still. I think I babysat him, or at least his little siblings once haha. That's 5 missionaries I believe from Kaysville now! Represent! Sister Mo told me that in the November transfer, there's a possibility of adding another zone with seven new areas. We only got one English sister in this transfer but President said we'll be getting at least 18 more so I'm guessing these upcoming transfers we'll be getting them. We'll see though!

 

So after emails last week we went and tried people, no much luck. We went and got ice cream and went over to Mark's early to eat the ice cream we got with him. It was a great time to just be able to talk to him and answer any additional questions he had. We were having a member come over and he was a little late but he got there and we had a great lesson talking about the Gospel with him. We showed him the teabag analogy and he really enjoyed it. He's grasping everything so well. He's the most prepared person I've ever met. He's keeping his commitments and doing everything he should be to feel the spirit in his life. And he's portrayed that to us that he feels so much better about himself. On Friday we had another lesson with him. And boy that was GREAT! He bore us his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said "I just feel more confident when I hold the Book. And it's not just a story. I know these things happened" MAN! From just a few weeks and he has a great testimony of the Book of Mormon and it'll only grow stronger. I love him so much!

 

Wednesday was a long day of trying formers, less actives and members. We were able to meet a few people we haven't met yet so that was great. We went to go visit a former and got on to the street he lived on and walked to his home. We passed by a young women and I was prompted to talk to her but we tried the former first. As we were walking back to the car I told Mac we should stop and talk to her and I'm grateful we did. I connected quickly with her. She's kinda shy but so cool. I asked her if she liked to play sports and of course, basketball, it was. We shared the Book of Mormon with her and got an appointment to go back and see her. I'm excited to begin teaching her. We met some more less actives before heading to a lesson. We talked about the plan of salvation. I've been able to see my testimony of the Plan of Salvation strengthen so much since being out here. Not just in that, but all the aspects of the gospel. I know now what the gospel means to me in my life and I'm truly GRATEFUL for it. I know it's the only way to live to return and live with our Heavenly Father. And my mission is where I've seen that come about. I'm truly so happy for this opportunity I've had.

 

Thursday we had zone meeting. There were quite a few changes in our zone so it's exciting to be able to meet new people. We have a new zone leader as well. Our monthly focus is on love and I'm pumped about it. It's going to be great. We went to Panda express for lunch. And I will take every fortune cookie serious for the rest of my life since getting my answer to come out here. It said "People find it difficult to resist your persuasive manner" I'll take that as a good thing. :) We weekly planned and went and had a great lesson with the Gonzolez Family on the Holy Ghost and did an object lesson they LOVED! I love teaching kids. It's great because they have so many questions and so happy and eager to learn.

 

We had the opportunity to go to Liberty Island with Sister Robison and Sister Bair. They are both way awesome! I love having the opportunity to go to Liberty. It's really fun to be able to help people all around the world. That night we had a great lesson with Mark, where he testified of the Book of Mormon and then as we were leaving we met his neighbor and he testified to him as well about it. It was SO RAD!

 

Saturday was another great day of work and Sunday was awesome! We had Mark there again and he's walking more confident than before. He's so prepared to get baptized and I'm so lucky and grateful I met him. He's so awesome! I can't wait to send pictures of him. He reminds Mac and I of the Blindside movie. Like he's our protector! Awhh so great!

 

We have another great week planned. I'm so grateful for being able to feel the spirit everyday of my life. It's been so cool to see the growth in everyone we're working with. We had a great lesson with a member family and their neighbor. Like I said in the subject. The Lord is hastening his work and I'm so lucky to be out here while He's doing that. General conference is coming up and I can't wait for that! I hit my 11 month mark in NJ yesterday and coming quickly up on my YEAR MARK! Crazy crazy crazy. But so cool. I love being a missionary. Thanks for all your support! I love you all. Hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Tay Tay

Missions are the greatest things ever!!!!!

Man alive! Missions are the greatest things ever! I love them so much! This week was so amazing. Sister Maclay and I are going to town with work and it's so great! We were able to teach many people and find even more new investigators this week which is so exciting. I can't believe that August is already over and now it's September! In a few weeks it'll be a YEAR since being out here. Crazy crazy crazy. Like I said we had a good week of teaching. Our investigator Mark is so amazing. The most prepared person I've met by far out here. We kept in contact with him during the week and he's been keeping his commitments and doing everything he should. He was able to come to church on Sunday as well, first investigator at church since being here! And he loved it! The ward was so welcoming and he loved priesthood, the Elders Quorum President asked who wanted to take the "Strengthening the family through the Priesthood" DVD home and Mark raised his hand and wanted it. It's just so incredible to see how willing a person is to change because it's the right thing. We're meeting with him tonight and are so excited to solidify September 22 for him to be baptized!

Tuesday we had a rough day, we were trying people all day and finding no success, and of course the last one we try we were finally able to teach her and make her a new investigator. It was a testimony builder to me to never give up. No matter how hard and down in the dumps you are, never give up because God will bless you with an opportunity. I was able to write that experience in my journal and I'm so grateful for those experiences I've had so I can go back and look at them later down the road.

I had a feeling we needed to go to a certain area on Wednesday and I know why. The first house we went to, it was a former, she was walking in the house right as we got there (it was POURING rain) so she let us right in. She's 23 and been busy but has a strong desire to learn more and be baptized. We were able to teach her and her sister and set up another time so they could get priesthood blessings because of their infirmities. I just feel like everyone I'm meeting here is for a reason and God has placed them in my path for a reason. It's just so COOL how God works. We went and found another former investigator who wanted us to come back and then headed to the Servils to have dinner and a lesson. I love the SERVILS! They are one of the coolest families I met. We were able to have a nice dinner and talk about the plan of salvation. We got talkin about it and didn't finish so we have to finish part 2 next time. But they are just so much fun to be around.

Thursday we took one of the Servils, Rashada, out with us and BOY did she do awesome. We had a way good lesson with one of the young women who isn't baptized yet and I was prompted to talk about testimony. And it was exactly what she needed. We didn't know how we were going to tie in baptism but the Holy Spirit guided that lesson. Somehow baptism was brought up and Rashada asked her why she wasn't baptized. She said she didn't know so we had her pick her own date because she is ready. So she'll be baptized on September 15th! I'm so excited for her. She's a sweet young lady. \

Friday was an amazing lesson with Mark. We taught the plan of salvation and committed him to baptism. He is so great and wants to change so much. We found him a ride to church like I said and he loved all three hours! I could go on about him but I'll just say he's prepared and so happy and it's just incredible! We went and did some service for one of the members and then had to get home to transfer plan. I had a weird impression I was leaving but I'm staying here for another 6 weeks at least and I couldn't be happier! I love this area. There's so much work to be done.

Saturday was another great day. We taught 6 lessons and found some great potential investigators. But Saturday night was really cool. We were checking up on some members and they weren't home so we began walking to our car. All of a sudden a man in his car pulled over and asked if we knew where the '10' was so he could get back home to Maryland. I said "you're probably asking the wrong person because I'm from Utah but I have my gps I can grab". And of course, in my missionary mind, this is going to be a great opportunity to share the gospel. :) I pulled the gps out and he told me his address and I wrote down the instructions for him. He had just come from a funeral and so I thought "hmmm the plan of salvation will be good for him" He asked why I was out here from Utah and I told him I was serving a mission from my church and he said that was great. He asked "So what is the main difference from the Mormons and the mainline Christianity?" I pulled out the Book of Mormon and said "This book." We gave it to him and he was so curious about it. We had a good conversation with him about the gospel and committed him to read it and pray about it. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and got his information so the missionaries in Maryland can go and visit him. He's going to be baptized some day. :) He said if I was ever down there in Maryland to go and visit him. He was a sweet guy from Ghana. I hope he arrived home safely. I got about 20 mosquito bites from standing outside talking to him but it was fun to be able to help him and share with him the gospel.

Sunday was great, church was awesome! It was fast and testimony meeting and so it was really good to have Mark there listening to the ward members bear their testimonies. He said he enjoyed it. President and Sister Jeppson were there for sacrament that was a treat.  We had two dinners, which made me sick :/ The night ended a little early because I felt I had to ralph...t.m.i? Sorry.

Yesterday was great. We played ultimate Frisbee in the rain for 3 hours. Sad to say I'm sore as all get out today and it hurts to laugh but I loved it. And also happy to say I still have both my wrists in working order! No broken bones yesterday but some pretty funny hits with the Frisbee and what not!

Well this is getting long. I hope all of you have a great week this week. Always looks for those opportunities to serve. It makes you happy. I know the church is true. I know God lives and loves and knows each one of us personally! I love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Tay Tay

Perm What?????

Well I guess you can now call me Sister "Curly" Taylor. :) Got my hair permed and I love it! It's going to be fun and crazy thing is it'll still be probs slightly wavy when I get home! Ahhh. But that's exciting. It reminds me of when I took my hair out of the braids. Now, Sister Maclay and I both have the curly hair...people better watch out!

So it has been one of the best weeks we've had!!! We were able to find 6 new investigators and teach the gospel so plainly and powerfully, it just keeps getting better and better! Holla! And honestly sometimes I think why is God blessing us so much but it's because He's hastening the work and things are happening here!

I just can't express how much I love missionary work, when you're out doing work it just makes you so happy. And I've seen that so much..at certain times when I see I've been slacking off I'm not way happy but when I am out after we talk to someone it's just better. Tuesday after emails was such a bomb day! We went and picked up our team up for the day, Andrea Servil. (Mom who you got the picture from) She's our age and SO AWESOME! We went and visited people in Linden and found and taught some great lessons. We went over to Hana's house (the cute little 4 year old) and gave her a picture Book of Mormon and her mother a Book of Mormon in Czech. We read the intro with her and she said she'd begin reading it! Hana is so cute and wanted me to read her the Book but we were talking to her mom. Hopefully we can meet with her again. We went by on Sunday and her mother just said hi to us so we talked to Hana. We're hopin and prayin :) After we went and tried another potential investigator but found his granddaughters who we picked up a couple weeks ago. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and testified of it and invited them to begin reading it. They said they would! Then we had another great lesson with a husband and wife, it was just an all around great day! :) And Andrea did such a good job testifying of the truths of the Book of Mormon. She wants to come out to General Conference when I'm home so we'll see!

We were able to visit more less actives and on Friday were able to meet with the referral we received earlier in the week and I must say he is PREPARED! We taught the Restoration and he accepted a soft baptismal invite and said he'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon, on Saturday we asked how it went and he said he read but didn't pray but he said he would we told him to keep up the great work and he said "you just motivated me to get up and go do something." It's so cool to know that just by words and the spirit we can help these people. Because we truly are instruments for our Heavenly Father and that's incredible!

Saturday night was really cool too! We went to go check up on a member on the ward list and got to the house in Westfield (BEAUTIFUL houses, all of the families sit out on their front porch) and saw the family outside and those are the most awkward for me. But we walked up and asked if the member lived there. They said she didn't anymore and I asked if they knew her address and they did. So the lady asked why and we told her we were missionaries from her church and just was checking up on her. She proceeded to find her address and give it to her and it was completely awkward because we didn't know what to say. So they started asking questions about us as missionaries and I finally said "so we go around teaching people about Jesus Christ. Do you want to know more about our church" (thinking they were going to say no...where's my faith!?) She said "sure I would." It caught us by surprise but we got her information and she said after school started and everything we could come and teach her more! It was really cool and so exciting! That made both Mac and I so happy! :)

Church was great and the week was just amazing. Hopefully this week will be great. It's the last week of the transfer already and I can't believe it! We're getting some more sisters in so one of us could be training...who knows!? I'll let you know next week what's going on with that! But I hope you all have a great week. And CONGRATULATIONS to Melissa and Barry again! I'm so happy for them! I love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Tay Tay

"Another" Awesome Week

Lets start off my saying CONGRATULATIONS TO MELISSA AND BARRY!! I've truly been thinking of them today and this morning thinking, "now they're in the endowment session", "now they're probably sealed" and awh it just makes me so happy! I can't express how much I love hearing them get to the temple and be sealed. I hope it was a truly remarkable experience for the both of them and I love them both so much. I'm excited to be able to go together as a whole family when I get back....

So yeah, I just blew past my 11 month mark yesterday! Uhmm....what? I can't believe how much time has flown by. It's weird to think I've been out this long but it's awesome! I love my mission and will cherish the time I've been able to spend out here serving the people of New Jersey. My heart is with the people of New Jersey. We had a few couple of slower days because Sister Maclay was a little sick but we were able to visit some people and get to know them better. It was Sister Mac's birthday on Tuesday so we had cake cake and more CAKE. And by the end of the night we were both feeling sick from all the food so we headed home before "you know what" came. But seriously it was a lot of cake. It was a nice day though. I was still feeling a little sick the next day but all is well. Sister Mac was feeling sick like I said but we still went to interviews. I had a great interview with President. I love President and Sister Jeppson so much. I'm excited to see what happens this upcoming transfer because we're supposed to get another 18 sisters or so coming in but not sure when and how many at one time. It'll be interesting to see how everything pans out. I'll keep you updated! I can't believe it's the 5 week of the transfer already! I have no clue where time has gone. But we've been able to meet some of the ward and still have a LONG ways to go. But we keep working and trying to meet the less actives. We finished out map of the area and got that up on the wall and everything so we're finally settled in I believe. Now just have to figure out what direction I'm going and I'm all good!

Thursday we did weekly planning and then went to our appointment. It was with the Gonzolez family and we were planning on doing the teabag object lesson. We were teaching the lesson and time came to light the teabag...I was having Smac be the one to hold it. I lit it and it started to go down and then the teabag started to fall. We were all freaking out a little but Mac held it and then it floated up into the air. It was scary but she had SO much faith that it worked out. That was my little experience from the week. Other than that it was a lot of trying to meet less actives and find new investigators. Unfortunately one of our investigators that had a baptismal date dropped us. :( I think the family got to him.. :/ but we brushed it off and are searching for the one who are prepared because I know they're here. :)

Sunday was great! We had a couple of awesome street contacts in which both were in tears as we were testifying of the gospel. We got one to commit to come to church which was great and hopefully he'll be there! I love teaching the gospel. I was pondering today what makes me happy? And as I was thinking, before my mission I probably would've said basketball, sports, hanging out with friends...but as I've been out here. Teaching the gospel truly makes me happy. After we were done and prayed with both those individuals I was so happy and wanted to go and talk to another about the gospel. It's truly blessed my life so much and I'm such a different person than I was before. It's amazing!

Yesterday we had a Sisters Party in Morristown with ALL of the sisters in the mission. We did yoga and it was great to be with all of them again. It was good to see some familiar faces again. We got home and ordered pizza because of my month mark and got a knock on the door. It was our up-stairs neighbor. She talked to us and it was really good to get to know her better. She's awesome and reminds me a lot of some of my coaches I've had back in high school and college. She's def an athlete and is the head coach for volleyball in New Brunswick. She hooked us up with some shorts and t-shirts! Totes awesome! :)

Well, I was able to finish the Book of Mormon again this past week and I'm here to tell you....IT'S TRUE! I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon in my life and the difference it's made in my life. I hope all of you are reading and feasting on it everyday. It's really amazing! I love you all. Again, Congrats to MELISSA AND BARRY! I'm so happy for them and wish them all the best! Awhhh.. The church is true! I love it so much. Hope you all have a fantastic week! :) Peace and blessings.

 

Love,

Sister Taylor

Liberty Island

Why hello!? It is a good cloudy day over her' in New Jersey but so beautiful. The weather hasn't been way to hot these past couple of weeks. I thought I was really going to struggle but nope it's been so good! The week was a good one. Little slower than usual but still was able to help people come closer to Christ. I think myself especially. I'll tell you all about it.

We got to go to dinner at Chili's with a less active woman that is just beginning to come back again. She bought us dinner and it was very nice. :) We then went to another members home and had to eat again. Lets just say....I made it look like we hadn't just eaten. I tried to hurry and get it all down so I didn't ralph. It was funny. Sister Maclay couldn't really eat much more so I helped her out. :) That's what companions are for. 

Tuesday we had zone meeting. It was fabulous! I love our zone leaders. They are inspired. Our focus is the Book of Mormon and commitments. I'm very excited about this. I'm just about to finish the Book of Mormon for another time. I'm in Mormon. I love reading the Book of Mormon. It has such great power in it and when we read it every single day it's a protection. I know that's true! We were supposed to have a baptismal interview for our investigator but some things happened and we didn't end up having it. We slightly dropped him so we'll see if he comes around sometime. We went and assisted at the bishops storehouse and helped serve and stock the selves. I love doing that kind of stuff. It's great! Wednesday we went out and thought to go to Hana's house (the little girl I gave the bracelet to) and talked with her mom and she's our newest investigator! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she was going to read the intro! We're going to see her Wednesday to teach her! More than a little seed mom, potentially a new member soon! I love it! :) 

Thursday we had the opportunity to go to Liberty Island yet again to serve! i'm so glad we get to go! I was able to go with my companion and Sister Morrison and her companion. it was so much fun to do that. The Statue of Liberty! Ahhhhh. It was an eventful day! We met some more of the members on Friday and one of the cute families, the Denninghoff's. They have three little girls and a little boy and boy are they adorable! It took them a few minutes to get warmed up but they are so excited to have sisters! We had some great lessons. Sunday was awesome! We were able to go to church and partake of the sacrament. I bore my testimony in church and it was so nice to be able to formally share it with the ward. It was incredible to bear it and KNOW the things which i was saying were too. I'm so grateful for my testimony. It's grown so much since I've been out here. I know the Church is true. I know God lives. I know My Savior died for me and went through the atonement for me. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and restored the gospel onto the Earth. I know this is the ONLY way back to our Heavenly Father. By living the gospel...having faith in our Savior, repenting, being baptized, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. When we do those things we will gain eternal life. 2 Nephi 31:21 

We are excited for this upcoming week. Last night we got a great referral and was able to set one of our investigators with a baptismal date on September 8th! I love missionary work! It's so great. I'll send you pictures from this past week! Hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much! Tell Melissa and Barry congratulations and i'm so proud and happy for them! Did Tacy like her presents? haha Love you all!

Love,

Sister Taylor