Well well well! Another week come and gone. They are going way way to fast!
But so much has happened and it's so exciting so this is going to be another
long email. I don't think any of you will complain! Haha
Last Monday was another pretty relaxing p-day for us. It consisted of
making t-shirts for a lot of the sisters. I made 6 I think. It was a lot of work
but I'm glad I'm done with those for now until another sister gives me another
girl to make. But I love doing them. They're fun to make. We went to Sister
Szabo's house and sat outside with her on her porch and all the birds were
making noises, very beautiful I must say and all of a sudden Sister Szabo said
"Will you shut up!" It was quite funny. The bugs here are horrible. I got some
pretty bad mosquito bites that itch like crazy but I'm trying not to itch
them. A lot of them are on my feet :/ Goobs.
Tuesday was a pretty incredible day. We had Elder Koelliker of the Seventy
with us for a zone conference and boy did he promise us some pretty amazing
things. We had to wake up at 5:00 to get ready and leave by 6:20 because it was
a 2 hour ride. But it was amazing. The spirit in those conference are feelings
I'll never forget. I know without a doubt the Holy Spirit speaks to us during
those meetings. He gave us some good insights and one of the coolest promises he
made was, if your recent convert goes to the temple within 6 weeks of them being
baptized 1. They'll never go inactive and 2. We'd be able to go to the temple
with them if they take a family name. Immediately after he said that I thought
of Tivynna. And.....I GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE WITH HER THIS SATURDAY...she's
going to do baptism for her mother who has passed away. I couldn't be more
thrilled for her. It's going to be an incredible day. So that's exciting! We had
a wonderful lunch and then traveled home. We did our studies for the rest of the
day.
Wednesday was really fun. We had district meeting and were able to talk
about the zone conference we had with Elder Koelliker. It was so good to be able
to talk and discuss what we learned. I'm so grateful for all these wonderful
opportunities I get to strengthen my testimony through these conferences and
meetings. Things I'm learning for the rest of my life. We went to go see one of
our less actives and had one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever had. We
told her we were there for her and told her the next step for her was the
temple. She looked down at her arms and said "woah" I said that's the spirit
telling you this is what you need to do haha. She has a smoking problem but it
was really cool to see the power of prayer. We asked if we could pray right then
with her and knelt down and I asked if she'd offer it. She said she never prayed
in front of anyone but we kept quiet and she began to pray and tears rolling
down her face, she offered one of the most sincere prayers. It was touching. I
loved it! That was awesome. We have been running low on miles so we decided to
ride our bikes after Sister Goodwins and boy let me tell you! I LOVE IT! hahahah
it's so different but so awesome. I love riding a bike on my mission. I took
video and pictures. It's so awesome and funny. We went and visited another less
active and then went to our branch mission leaders home and had cake for his
wife's birthday. He picked us up...right in front of the liquor store. Picture
to come. It was funny.
Thursday was a long day! Calculated 21.5 miles on a bike....in a skirt
haha. We woke up and got ready to go out got on our bikes and our bums were so
sore! But we pushed through it. We got quite a few lessons which was great. We
met a lot of the less actives. We need to find new investigators. That's what
we're struggling with. We were so tired by the end of the day.
Friday we had an emergency district meeting. We were confused why because
we just had one two days before and we were all low on miles but we're doing
fine on them. It was a really good meeting. The zone leaders came down and we
talked about the conference again to help us internalize what we learned. It was
really great and the spirit was so strong. I've been feeling the spirit so much
more in my life this past week. My prayers have been so incredible. I love it so
much. We called a former investigator and had an appointment with her on Friday
so we went to that. It was good. I don't know how interested she is but we were
able to teach her about the gospel. We went to one of our members houses and did
a little bit of service for her in the rain and then watched the movie How Rare
a Possession about the Book of Mormon and really enjoyed the spirit felt in the
room. We committed her to read every day and she said she needs to get back to
that. She's one that needs to prepare for the temple and we said we will help
her with it. She said she wants to go on her 10 year anniversary so we're not
pushing it to much but we want to get her prepared. (Her 10 year is in a year
and a half) She said she was giving a talk on "preparing for the second coming"
and so on Saturday I gave her some scriptures to use and boy did that call her
to repentance. Alma 34:32-34. :) She still talks about it. I know that was the
spirit haha. We started our weekly planning on Friday night. It's been so crazy
trying to get it done on Thursdays.
Saturday was different than usual. I felt like my companions and I had to
have a bonding day so we decorated the apartment with pictures of Christ and the
temple and such (pics to come) and quotes that were inspiring. It was a fun day
and I'm glad we did that. I got to know my companions so much more. All of our
appointments canceled except on so we went to a less actives house. Her and her
daughter (that doesn't live there) were there. We talked about repentance and it
was what they needed to hear. The daughter says that she thinks about coming to
church every week but doesn't come. We committed her to come and she was there
with her whole family on Sunday! It was awesome. Still working on the mother but
we'll get her there! :) We finished weekly planning the rest of the night.
Sundays are the best here! The spirit at church I feel is like no other. We
had about 30 people at church. Better than 19 our first day! Progress. There
were a couple visitors. A awesome couple from Highland, the Cindrich's, they
have a son out on his mission. I told them I was going to add them on facebook
when I got home so they can come to my homecoming and they said they would. Haha
they're great. They pulled out some money to give us for dinner and I said we
couldn't take it but they insisted they said "give it to someone who needs it,
if you can't have it" (This'll make sense in just a few seconds)
The sister that gave the talk on the second coming really did a great job
and the less active that came back to church said "boy did she smack me in the
face with that talk" haha it was good to see the spirit working in everyone. We
got to see a couple of members Sunday night. We parked our car by a members home
and walked to another appointment. We walked back to the members and talked to
them about families. The parents were the only ones there and it was a good
lesson. The dad is a returning member and the mom is active. I got the thought
in my head "give them the money" And so without hesitation at the end of the
lesson I pulled out the money and gave it to them. It was really cool. I'm
grateful I was able to give it to someone who needed it a lot more than me. :)
We went to go see a recent convert of about a year and she's about our age and
boy does she have an incredible testimony. She's amazing. That's where I got bit
by the mosquito's because we were outside.
Monday was Memorial Day! And p-day! Because the library was closed we were
able to relax again and write some letters back to some peeps and then we rode
our bikes to the Roberson's for a BBQ with them and their neighbors. The bike
ride was so pretty! I love riding bikes! The food was delicious and the company
was great. Their neighbors are non-members but very nice. We got a ride back
from Sister Roberson and she actually took us to our next appointment and
dropped us off with our bikes so we had to ride home. We met with S. Szabo again
and read the scriptures with her then as we were going to our next appointment
on the side of the road there was a classy couch and chair so I stopped at took
a picture on it. It was so funny. We got to Wanda's house and I showed her the
picture and she said I want it...so for FHE we went and picked up this chair for
her.....in a wagon. It was hilarious. I'll send a picture! :) We had to ride our
bikes home....5.4 miles at it was 8:30...we rode like the wind and got back by
9:03. It was awesome! The weather was so nice.
Yesterday we had district meeting and it was our last one for the month. We
played a little game where we had to spin and then go through an obstacle course
and of course I get dizzy way to easily and I turfed it on the ground. District
Meeting was great. It was rainy but we rode our bikes to our appointment with a
member. We talked about testimony. I'm so grateful for my testimony I have of
the restored gospel. I know it's true and I know we can live with our families
forever.
We also had a cool experience with our neighbor downstairs. We haven't met
her yet and she hasn't been to fond of the elders living above her because of
the noise level and we've been thinking of people we need to make brownies for
and she was one of them. Not two seconds after thinking about making some for
her I went downstairs to get something from the car and she was getting out of
her car. We were able to introduce ourselves and asked her if our noise level
was okay. She said it's SO much better than the Elders. We've definitely made it
better with her so she's not so angry at the church. It made me so happy Gpd
answered our request within a matter of minutes! He truly answers prayers.
The weather here is so gorgeous. One day you have pouring rain and then
next beautiful sun and then the next a little hotter with the humidity. But I
love New Jersey weather. It's incredible. I've truly seen God's beauty all
around me!
I'm so grateful for this gospel. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon.
And so greatful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all so much and god
bless all of you this week! Many pictures..
Love,
Sister Taylor
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