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