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