February 11, 2013

Well I'm slightly freaking out but slighty so excited for tomorrow! I'll tell you more about it as I go on, but just a quick heads up...I'm being transferred tomorrow so if you could let people know my address is going to change and not to send stuff to the lindsley dr address that'd be great.

I think it'd be best if I just write about my week and add all the details in as I type then I know I won't miss anything. To say the least, this week has been absolutely crazy. I wrote in my journal I'm starting to feel swamped with the work and packing everything up but it's all okay. It'll all work out.

Okay, so Monday was such a great day. We had a sister with us because her companion is leaving this transfer. We went to a members home, Sister Gurney and hung out with her and did laundry there because we've kinda ran out of money (well really, we're getting new cards so there is no money on them, so she's been so kind to let us do laundry) But it was pretty fun. I love her so much and am really going to miss her. But that's the great thing about Jersey...is I'll definitely be back and see all these wonderful people that have touched my life. We also got to see Sister Galuvao and take her back to Jersey City last Monday. She's heading back to Temple Square (Dad) so you should really go and try to find her and introduce yourself. She'd love it andn probably expecting it. :) The traffic was so bad so we were late to our dinner appointment. The picture that I sent of the cutest little girl is the one I made cry. We finally got to there house and she wouldn't let her parents start eating until the "missionaries" got there. It was so cute. So we were eating really good meatballs and rice and she was eating some bread and she started talking with her mouth full. So I told her (almost with my mouth full) we shouldn't talk with our mouth full. She looked at her mom and her mom said, don't start crying and she lost it...I felt sooooo bad! And then the rest of the night she was giving me glares. I guess you could say I was getting her back because it was the same girl that flipped me off last transfer. It was pretty funny to say the least. That was the Gonzolez family, such a cute family. I love them! I'll probably say that a lot in this email. After dinner we went to see Darsi.

Tuesday was a little different than usual. We had our zone meeting and it was so good. I love zone meetings because the spirit is so strong there. Our new monthly focus is on rely on the Holy Ghost (Which I'm going to need a lot of this next transfer). We went and ate lunch and then had to head to the doctors for Sister Morrison to get some work done. He was pretty far away, but he's a member so he sees us for free. Sister Morrison had to get some blood work done and she hates needles. She got really pale and it was scaring me. They had to poke her quite a few times to find a vein but finally got one. We traveled back to Mo-town and that was pretty much the bulk of the day.

Wednesday is when we meet with Joann. She's an incredible person! She might ahve been baptized but doesn't remember so we are still teaching her as if she's an investigator. We asked her if she isn't a member would she be baptized and she said yes. It's a complicated situation but I'll keep you updated about her from Sister Morrison. She asked us to be her sons God-mothers....Kinda intesnse. But she's really cool. We went and helped cleaned the church for an hour or so with the Relief Society women. We cleaned the stand in the chapel. As I was cleaning it reminded me of working in the tabernacle and how all of these places are for the Lord. It made me think about how much harder I could've worked in the Tabernacle because they are all houses of the Lord. It was great to go do that though and really take time to clean the chapel. We went and visited Bonny that day and talked to her about Love and Charity. She's rock-solid. I love her and am going to miss her so much too. We went and got some frozen yogurt for dinner (dont judge about what we eat) :) and met a really nice cool young girl working there. We stroke up a converstation and she was a little weirded out because of how nice we were. But it was really cool. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she kept asking all these questions. We were going to go back and visit her on Saturday but the Blizzard of 2013 came. More about that later.

Thursday was a good day of teaching. We taught a lot of less-actives and recent converts. And it was really good. One in particular is Angelo....quick story about him. He became a member about 1 year and a half ago. His life completely changed once he was baptized. He's divorced and from Greece but his ex and his son live there. He's been searching for someone to date and a unique opportunity came about from his boss. His boss is from Vietnam and wanted Angelo to meet one of his wife's cousins or something...so they exchanged information and started skyping and getting to know each other...not speaking the same language or anything but translating it and everything. He told her he was a Mormon and introduced the Book of Mormon to her and they began reading it over skype. So a week ago or so he got back from Vietnam. Completely in LOVE! He showed us all the pictures from his trip and is now engaged! Now for me, I was a little skeptical about it (as probably a lot of people) but he's going about it so well and really letting her know religion means so much to him. So he's heading back there in the summer and then going to get married in Vietnam or something like that later on in the year. It's a crazy cool story (Hope you enjoy it Liz) haha

Anyway after we saw him we went out to dinner with Darsi and a referral she gave us. It was good and the good was really yummy. It was quite an expensive place but i was really pleased with myself because I got like the cheapest thing on the menu and it was really yummy! Woo hoo!

Also on Thursday night, we both got a call that we were going to be training this next transfer! My situation was a wee bit unique but not too much anymore. President told me that I was going to be training but my companion is sick and wasn't going to come out for another 2 weeks. He said I'd be in a trio until she got here and then move to a new area. But on Friday I got another call and President told me she's still coming out so I'm being doubled in to a new area tomorrow! Wish me a lot of luck! I'm going to need it...also before I forget we got a list of all the sisters and elders coming in and there's one from Kaysville. Sister Ward I believe! Definintely excited for that!!! WOOOO.

Throughout the week we kept being told this is going to be a bad snow storm. and boy did we get DUMPED on! It started Friday morning and didn't stop all day! Darsi insisted we stay at her house because we really didn't have any food. So we stayed with Darsi on Friday night! It was a blast. (Don't worry we got permission :)) It was good to spend time with her.

We woke up early on Saturday and started digging ourselves out of the snow. There was so much! It was awesome! We had our trainers meeting on Saturday and there were ten sisters there and 15 elders there to train! 25 new missionaries! All probably young ones. President said we're starting a new era and us trainers are the lucky ones. I'm so ready to train. I'm ready for a change. I'm ready to be exactly obedient, because I Know that brings blessings. I'm excited. I know it'll be hard but we're both going to struggle together and get through it with trust in the Lord. After the meeting we went to go say bye to Cary. I told her you were going to send her a thank you card Jody so you better haha :) She's very sweet and I'm going to miss her. I hope she continues to study the gospel and see that it can bring blessings to her life. We went to the Perez home and did a health lessons....after eating steak and coke :/ But it was good. I actually got up to six minutes on my plank! Support really helps. I love that family. They've made such a big change in there life with getting back to church. It's incredible! I love it so much!

Sunday was such a good day. It was kinda sad because it was my last Sunday in the ward but it definitely was a good one. We taught seven lessons after church. We were going going going. We had dinner with the Young's and had some really really good food. I don't even know what it was but boy it was yummy!

We get to go do the Fear Buster again today. My 4th in 4 transfers! I can't believe I hit my 4 month mark out here and in a couple of days I'll have been out on my mission for 5 months! Times flies. It truly does. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve a mission. I'm ready for this upcoming transfer. I know I'm going to struggle but it's all going to be okay when we put the trust in the Lord. This past week I read and finished Alma and almost Helaman. I read about the 2000 stripling warriors and I reemembered on the 24th of July during the parade. I've shared that with some people here and I remember the spirit I felt when those men marched down the street. It's indredible to learn from the Book of Mormon and strengthen my testimony about it. I love this gospel so much. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I feel like I have so much more to say but I've already said so much! The work is great! The Book is True! I'm so grateful for all your support. I'll keep saying it! Love you so much! Talk to you next week, in a new area with a new companion! I'll let you know my address next week to so you can send letters there! ;) Love you so much!

Sister Christine Taylor