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