Mother's Day

Boy what an incredible week it has been. We were able to hit 17 lessons last week which was so great considering we had 7 last week! And to top it all off, I got to see all of you! I loved it. It was just the refresher I needed to tell you the truth. Being able to see Grant and Tacy was so wonderful. What two beautiful children! I love em!

Well I guess I'll tell you about my week. The things I didn't get to tell you on skype or forgot to mention. I finallly got to have a relaxing p-day because there's not much to do down here. So I was able to make t shirts and do a couple of other things. We headed down to Little Egg Harbor and found a couple of less active people we were able to talk to. The less actives down here that are willing to listen are great and I can't wait to really begin working with them and seeing that they need to come back to church and remember their baptismal covenants. It's so great! We met a GREAT couple that really wants to come to church but they don't have a car so transportation is difficult but they are great. That's a problem down here is people don't have cars to get around.

Tuesday we had our first district meeting and it was so great. Elder Benson is a great district leader. Plus he's from Kaysville, he's got to be awesome haha but really though he's so cool! We went to a chinese buffet after as a district which was really fun to get to know them better. I love every district I've been in. :) Traveling to and from all these meetings take up so much time. But it has to be done. We went out and found a couple more less active people and were able to talk to them. But I did tell you about the new investigators we met. JUSTIN BIEBER fans! Totally. They gave me a Justin Bieber action figure. Love em already. And they're looking for a church so hopefully everything will go great with them!

Wednesday was another good day. We were able to walk around a lot which was really nice. This story is great...(until the end) haha bear with me. So we were walking down the street and I saw a kid shooting some hoops, he was a young one, so I didn't challenge him (he probs would've beaten me) but I asked if I could shoot it. His dad was sitting outside watching him so we started talking to him and pulled out a new Book of Mormon. His wife just about came running out of her house saying "are you handing out pamplets?" And I said we're handing out Book of Mormon's, he went inside but we started talking to her and she was saying how prideful she was and how she needed to be humble. I was thinking about Ether 12:27 and started flipping to it and stopped in Nephi and I guess some Elder had began to study pride and humility in the Book of Mormon, exactly what she was talking about. She was so surprised to see that! We shared with her the scripture and then she asked when we could come back. We set up an appointment for the next day but unfortunately she called and canceled because it wasn't what she believed. :( But now she has a Book of Mormon and can look at those few markings about pride and humility. An answer to her prayer. It was so cool. We went and visited with an active member, an older woman and she is so awesome! Such a saint. She was baptized about 10 years ago and has a solid testimony. And ps I failed to wish Elly a Happy Birthday this past week on Skype but happy birthday elly!

Thursday was another fantastic day! We went to the Relief Society meeting with the two relief society sisters in the presidency. Two older woman and both fireballs! Sister Jackson the RSP is so awesome! We ate kiesh and it was pretty good. We talked about the sisters and how we can help and then they started getting onto a chastity conversation and started saying all these funny things about chastity and all this sort of stuff. I was busting up laughing! Sister Jackson kept looking over and me and snickering because I was laughing. A moment I'll never forget. In conclusion she said "so what you're trying to say is there's life outside the bedroom." Boy, have I heard some interesting things on my mission! Haha we also met another less active and a new investigator. The work here is slowing moving forward.

Friday was more finding people. We met some more less active families and it was really nice. I can't wait to see them again and help them even more. I'll continue to say how much less active work there is down here. And I'm ready to do it.

Saturday we went and helped a member clean her house. It was really fun. She's another crazy one but so awesome! Our branch president has been sick so we made brownies for them and went and visited with his wife. She's so great. Saturday like I said was POURING rain, I wish I could've just danced around in it but I'll save that for later. I love the weather out here. I haven't hit the bad humidity yet but I'm sure it's coming.

Sunday of course was mothers day, we had a great sacrament meeting where the young women talked about their mothers. It made me realize how awesome my mother is! I loved it. And then of course I got to see all of you! And that was the refresher I needed. :) I'm so grateful for the Roberson's for letting us skype at their house. They are awesome and they fed us awesome burgers and potato salad and beans. I love them so much already! Again, thanks for all you're examples to me. I love all of you so much! I know this church is true. I know our Savior loves us so much! Missions are the best things ever! God be with you til we meet again! Can't wait to hear from you all next week! :)

Love,

Sister Taylor

Barnegat NJ.....new address

Let me begin first with my new address: 900 Barnegat Blvd N Apt 1401 Barnegat NJ 08005 Well well well.....luckily we now have two hours for email because I'm pretty sure this one is going to be so long. So much has happened...my goodness. Lets just begin with answering mom and dads questions. My brithday last week was good. Not what I was typically thinking but oh well. I'm on a mission. I spent most of the time in a car driving from zone meeting back and forth. I'm now serving in the Barnegat area and boy is it DOWN SOUTH! Like in the boonies. So it takes about an hour in a half just to get to any meetings. But oh well. We did our studies and then went out and found a less active lady and talked to her...that was my birthday. I'll tell you more about the area in just a sec.

To answer your questions mom: I haven't recieved the package yet. Now that I'm so far down south it'll take a little bit longer to get packages but just send all my packages to the mission office. It's safer there.

Sister Ward is still up in New City and she is training. It's crazy to think my trainee is now training. But she's doing such an incredible job. Honestly. I didn't even need to train her. She's amazing and I miss her a whole lot! :( If you see her mom, tell her there's no need to worry, she's gonna do great.

And yes, there was a trio up in New City and they are all amazing. Luckily Elder Benson got transferred down south here so he's still my district leader. I'll send pictures of them....that's another thing...there's going to be a ton of pictures!

Not everyone can email me I don't think. We'll just keep it to the people that have my address. I don't know why they changed the time but I ain't complainin' haha.

Skyping on Sunday...I'm really hoping we'll be able to skype. The branch mission leader might be home and might not but we're going to try a few other people, because I'd really like to see everyone rather than hear. I'm thinking I'll be calling around 5 your time so 7 here. Hope that works. I'm writing Kimber right now so we can def plan it out.

I've been to all the fear busters since I've gotten here and now I'm way down south I wish I woulda recorded it last time but if I go again I'll def record it for you. It's pretty cool. And downtown Newark is crazy. A LOT of people waiting for the buses and a lot of traffic. Like no where I've ever been haha.

That's exciting for Elyse Christiansen. It's so cool to see all these younger ones get their calls.

Now for dads questions: The past week was good. I'm now training two new sisters. Sister Page from Dayton Idaho and Sister Waddoups from Moore Idaho. I call her Sister Wad-up. :) We're serving in Barnegat, which is the most south part of the mission. I went from the most North part of the mission all the way down to the most Southern. And it's definintely southern..... :/ I'll tell you more later.

I don't know about the Sister leader trainer position. They called three for this new transfer and they'll probs be getting more soon. There's probs about 60 sisters now. That's a rough estimate...

Now onto this past week..

We went to the fear buster on Monday night and it was the biggest group of missionaries this mission has ever had. 30 total came out. So if you could imagine about 60 missionaries in a circle singing called to serve. Totes legit! I was fear busting a sister from Fruit Heights...Sister Clark, she's in Elder Benson's ward and also a sister from the Philippines, Sister Trias. It was a really good experience we were able to talk to a man and he was really appreciative about our message. We got back to New City and went right over to Tivynna's and she surprised us with dinner. The elders came over as well and we had a good time. It was really bitter sweet thinking back on it. I miss New City. We went and said goodbye to Elder and Sister Kay, like my grandparents out here and they gave us cinnamon rolls. I'll send pictures of everything. It was Sister Ward and I's last night and it was hard. I miss her so much. Goobs.

Tuesday we went to a trainers meeting with all the new missionaries and that was really good. We ate lunch and got to know the new missionaries better. We got paired up and like I mentioned before my new companions are Sister Page and Sister Waddoups both from Idaho. They're pretty cool. Transfer conference began and we found out we were going to Barnegat...There were so many new areas opened up to Sisters. I'm not in zone 6 and there's so many new sisters in zone 6 its great. Zone conference ended and we got all of our stuff situated and tried to find our car and all that jazz. We tried to stuff all our possessions in our car and had Sister Page buried in all our stuff. It was pretty great. We started our way down to Barnegat and didn't get down there and situated until 10 pm. It was a crazy drive down there.

Wednesday we woke up and did our studies and then went and got food because we had none. We got a little more aquainted with our area. We went to a less-actives house and got to know her. We then went to Young Womens and met them. They are so awesome. I love em already. The young womens president reminds me of Janine Brown. Haha.

So thursday...was my birthday, also Liz Dicou's wedding! Congrats! and like I mentioned before it was driving most of the day. We had a great zone meeting in Eatontown, our zone leaders our Elder Miguel and Elder T. Smith from Bountiful, Sadie Love's brother! Holla! We talked about prayer and repentance and it was a really good meeting. We got to go to pizza after (my choice because it was my brithday) and it was some of the best pizza I've ever had. We drove back did our studies and then went and met another less-active lady. That's all we've met so far. There's a LOT of work to be done here.

Friday we went to our Branch Missionary leaders house and they are so great! The Roberson's, hopefully we can skype at their house. He cooked us breakfast and it was delicious. We talked about the branch and what we can do. There's going to be a lot of less-active work done here and I'm so excited! That's the type of missionary I feel I am...one to help the less actives more.. :) We went and met a member of the branch. Wanda Romero. Crazy awesome member. The people we've met so far have been crazy but really cool. I'll tell stories when I get home. Definitely. hahaa

Saturday we were trying to get weekly planning done because our week got messed up. We were really trying to get to know the area better so we took quite a bit of time on that. We went to go help another less active member...I helped her move a lot of rocks. Kinda pointless but whatevs. She's was crazy too..but great. We planned the rest of the night.

Sunday was interesting...I've been having a difficult time down here so far. Not really knowing why I'm down here. But church completely hit home for me. We had a PEC meeting and then church began. I counted the people in the chapel...19 total people there. Including us missionaries. We began by singing Now Let Us Rejoice and the spirit in the room was the strongest I've ever felt at church. I looked up while singing the song and had deja vu. No lie. I'd been there before. It was a confirmation to me that this is where I'm supposed to be. We partook of the sacrament and then testimony meeting. I got up and bore my testimony and teared up. It was really spiritual and I've never felt the spirit that long and that strong in my life. The rest of church was great. Now I have to tell you about our Relief Society President. She's such a fireball. I love her so much. Sister Jackson. When she saw us for the first time we jumped up and down and practically screamed because sisters are here. SHe's quite old but still got spunk. She's hilairous. We went over for dinner and had such a great time. She's the best and sooooo funny! I'm sure I'll have a quote book from her by the end of my time here in Barnegat.

Well. I hope this answers your questions and gives you a little bit more information about where I'm at and such. This area down here is gorgeous. Pictures to come. It's still a tough transition to be down here. I'm grateful for this gospel and the direction I have in my life from living it. I love all of you so much. Happy Birthday to Elly this Wednesday! I hope she has a great day. You're always in my prayers. God Bless. I'll SEE you next week hopefully. If I can't skype just be ready for a call. But hopefully it'll be around 5 your time. Loves! Peace!

Love, Sister Christine Taylor

Another Transfer

Well, don't be sending any more mail to my address here up in New York, because I'm leaving again tomorrow! I can't believe it....things are getting crazy but it's so exciting. I'll tell you more about it later but I'm going to a completely new area and training two girls....so I better get some extra prayers this week haha. Anyway, The Church is so true. I love being a member of Christ's church...I had a fabulous week and am going to tell you all about it!

Last Monday it was Sister Ward and I's first relaxing P-day where we didn't have anything planned and it was fabulous. We were able to write letters and get some things done. I did recieve a few pieces of mail from some people but I'm not going to open them up until my birthday. We had the Elders come over and we just chatted with them. There are some awesome Elders up here, Elder Cuevas, Giglio and Benson are so great! I'm going to miss serving up here with them. We went out after P-day ended and taught a couple people we weren't planning on so it was pretty sweet! 

Tuesday I turned into a Hermana por la dia y noche. I went on an exchange with the Paterson Sisters and went to speak-a da spanish in Paterson. I didn't speak much but it was a lot better than last time I went there. I was able to understand more what the spanish members were saying so that was a plus. I was able to bear my testimony in English so that was cool. District Meeting was a sad one...it was our last one as that district and I really became so close with the missionaries in the district. Elder Benson was such a great district leader. The exchange was great. It's weird, because I get so comfortable in my apartment and then when I go to another area its such a change. But if there's one thing I learned out here, is change is good and needs to happen sometimes. :)

Wednesday was great. We exchanged back and went and visited with Anne. I'm going to miss her so much too. She's incredible and so funny. We had correlation with our Ward Mission Leader and then went to the library to find out that we now have two hours for emails every p-day! holla! I was so stoked. We went to go try and find people but not much success so we went to the church to play basketball for mutual. It was a lot of fun, the boys here are pretty cool! Like you'll probably hear many times. I'm going to miss the people here. I've grown close to a few of them... :/ 

Thursday was another AMAZING day. We taught quite a few people. I have a testimony that God puts people in our path for a reason. It's so apparent when you're out on your mission. We went and taught our new investigator Leydi, she's going to be baptized. She's so incredible. I'm really really going to miss her so much. I felt like I needed to meet her and so I'm so happy we did. She gets it and says everything makes sense. It was kinda tough to say goodbye to her..We then went to a less active ladies house and was able to really help her understand that things happen for a reason. We were able to watch the Will of God Mormon Message with her and after it was over. She was like "wow"...the spirit in the lesson was so strong and it was really cool to let the spirit guide the lesson and what Sister Ward and I needed to say. I'm so grateful for the spirit in lessons. Next we went and tried to do some planning and then went to another appointment with an investigator. As we were walking to her house we met a man named Mike that is going through a lot of tough trials. We shared the Book of Mormon with him and was able to bear our testimonies that we know the Church is true and it will help him through all his problems. I'm so blessed for where I grew up and all the blessings I was given. It's incredible. We had a great lesson with our invesitgator and it was a kinda do or die appointment. She prayed with us right then and there and it was such a sincere prayer. She neeeds to find out for herself if this is the path God wants her on. We went to another less actives house and tried to see what we could do to get it back to church. Thursday night we went back to Mike and Carol's house and had dinner with them again. (The couple from the plane). I wish I could stay here longer to truly help them but God needs me somewhere else. But I know that I did my job with them, I've exposed them to the gospel and now they know. They truly are such an amazing couple and I will miss them dearly. We got home and thought calls to be trainers was going to be that night but found out President was calling on Friday instead. So the anticipation had to wait another day. I honestly didn't think I was going to be called to train again.

Friday was awesome. We went to a less-actives home and read with him and his wife. It was really cool to see how interested the wife was in the Book of Mormon. That's all that we did with them was read with them. That's powerful when we do that. I love it. We went to Tivynna's and boy is that girl awesome! She was so prepared to be baptized and is going to be a wonderful member. I had her sign a t-shirt I bought from the play she was in so I could always remember. We got home and got a call from President that I'll be doubled-in and training two new missionaries. I had a slight freak out session. But then President had me hand the phone to Sister Ward to inform her that she too will be training a new missionary. It's really cool to see that, after she's been here for 11 short weeks she will impact another sisters life! I love it. I'm truly going to miss serving with Sister Ward but she's going to do amazing things. Plus, it's such a bonus that we're from the same home town...Best friends!!! :) 

So Saturday we had a training meeting and it was really good. There's a whole lot of missionaries training and it's so exciting. We're getting 30 new missionaries in today and God is hastening his work! There's a couple other sisters who are double training as well. We had lunch and then headed back to our area. We went over to Anne's to kinda say good-bye as well as another member. It's so crazy to leave here. I just got here! hahaha 

Sunday was good. I want to give a shout out to Melissa. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We're the same age!!!! :)+ I love going to church to be able to partake of the sacrament and renew my covenants I made with our Heavenly Father. It's been such a blessing to me out here to see the change in my attitude during the sacrament. It is sacred. We had to sit in with the young woman because they didn't have a teacher and we watched the Joseph Smith movie...boy did that movie hit me like a ton of bricks. Tears came to my eyes as we watched the end of the video with Joseph in Carthage Jail. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and he restored Christ's church back onto the earth today. Boy am I grateful for him. We had dinner and FHE with a member family and it was so cool to see the little kids interact and learn about the holy Ghost. We then went and said goodbye to another family. I've been trying to pack and just like I did when I left on my mission...i tend to put it off until the night before. I don't like packing up my things and leaving...but it has to be done.

Today has been great. We're going to the fear buster once again. 6 out of 6 for me. It's going to be memorable that's for sure. Having 60 young missionaries sing called to serve in downtown Newark is truly a sight to see. I can't wait! We also went and said good-bye to Leydi and it was really hard. She's impacted my life and we've only met like 3 times. It's powerful when the right people come into your life. I love it. I love this work. I love this gospel. It is the ONLY way to make it back to live with our Father in Heaven. 

I love missionary work. I got a letter from Sister Thompson in Seattle and asked how I'm always so positive and excited about this work. I just love it. I love being an example every where I go. People notice us as children of god. Sister Ward and I were walking down the street and stopped to talk to a young woman. Before we left she said "I saw both of you walking down the street and knew you were woman of God" That's so cool to know every where we go we're noticed. I'm about to finish the Book of Mormon again tomorrow and I can testify I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know it helps us in our life. I love reading it and sometimes I don't want to put it down. I love all of you and again am so grateful for your support!

I'll have to get you my new address next week so for now just send things (if any) to the mission office. Transfers are tomorrow, things are happening. i'll let you know next week where I'm at! Love you all. Pray for all of you! God bless you this week.

Love,

Sister Christine Taylor

Baptism

Well I'm partially upset because I left my planner with what I was going to write about so hopefully I'll be able to remember all the things that I was going to say! This week we had our first BAPTISM!!!!! And boy was it incredible. Just like all the other emails I'll get to yesterday but for now we'll start with Monday last week. OH yeah before I forget last week Sister Ward and I were in Sunday School with the youth and we were the only two white people in the whole class. Talk about awesome. It's truly so cool to see the diversity in the church. After emails last Monday we went down to the Goodwill in Jersey with Sister Kay and I picked up a few more gems. I can't wait to bring home some of these clothes and wear them there. We went to Walmart and came back and went to Tivynna, and taught her the lessons again. She is so prepared. I love her so much. More about her later. After we went to Eli and Emanuel's, our other recent converts and taught them. They recieved the priesthood last Sunday and it was so cool to see how happy they were. I'm so grateful for the young men in the ward and there example. We went back and went to talk to Anne, she showed us a photo album of her life. It was really cool to see all those pictures from her growing up. Anne is an incredible daughter of God. Sister Ward and I love her so much!

Tuesday was great! We were able to go to District meeting. It was a small district meeting because Sister Wright went home and it was just the New City Missionaries and Sister Boshard. But it was a great district meeting. Elder Benson is such a great district leader. Totally gnars. We went to visit Ricardo again on Tuesday and he was so happy. He's such a great guy. Tuesday night we went over to another members house and were able to talk and help her get ready to go spend a month in Vienna. Totes jealous but she's going to visit her daughter and relax. She cooked us food and guess what we had....talapia. Never thought I'd eat it but the way she cooked it, it tasted so good. Maybe by the time I get back from my mission I'll be okay with seafood. Who knows. She's a wonderful woman with a wonderful testimony. It's weird because transfers are coming up this next week and Sister Ward and I honestly don't know whats going to happen. If we both stay or if one of us leave. We're very curious to see how this week plays out.

Wednesday was one of the coolest days! We did our studies and then went to correlate with the Elders what apartment area we want to go start tracting. Not our favorite finding technique but it worked. We went to go visit one of our members and she wasn't there so we decided to go tracting in an apartment complex. Its so cool to see the Lord work. We started knocking on doors and got some return appointments. We also had a contact in Spanish...bahahah that was funny but we got a return appointment for the Elders. We then went to knock on a door. The lady opened up the door and had just gotten out of the shower. We decided to wait until she came back and I'm so glad we did. She opened up the door and let us right in. She began to tell us she's looking for a new church and so we invited her to church on Sunday (unfortunately her parents came into town so she didn't make it but she's going to be baptized.) We began to teach her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and everything. She told us she'd been praying to God for a new church to go to and then we showed up at her door. Definitely driven by the spirit. We invited her to be baptized when she found out it was true and she said yes! We have to visit her again and teach her but she's truly incredible. Her names Leydi and she has a nine year old son. Goll, I could see her being the young womans president or something. She's great! We talked to a few others and went to another members home. The parking at her complex was horrendous so I decided we should go to our next appointment because we didn't have her right number. Then she called us and asked where we were. So we went back found parking and had dinner with her and her two kids, twins a boy and a girl. It was really cool to hear her story from Haiti and how she became a member. The food we ate too was really good! I like Haitian food. We went to Tivynna and taught her more, to refresh her mind because she's been taught everything.

Thursday we had weekly planning and went to practice for our songs. Sister Ward was playing the piano in sacrament and we were singing a song for Tivynna's baptism. Yup, both Sister Ward and I sang in front of people for her baptism. We sang stand in holy places by Jenny Phillips and it was really good. More about that later too. :) I really love that song. We went and saw our new investigator, Brent who's 9, he's great and so sweet!

Friday we had some more practice with our songs to be ready for Sunday. We had our Relief Society president out with us and it was really good to have her out. We went and visited a lady in the hospital that had a stroke. Her mother really didn't want us there so we shared a quick scripture and got out of there. Then we went and visited a spanish member of our ward in a nursing home and tried to understand spanish. It didn't work that well but it was so sweet. He began singing 'We Thank Thee O God...' It was so good to feel his spirit. We then went to a less-actives house that Sister Pena knew and was able to be an answer to her prayer. She woke up that day and told her husband she was going to go to the Mormon church on Sunday and then we showed up and told her we missed her at church. She was there yesterday! :) We went and taught Tivynna a few commandments, Chastity, Word of Wisdom, Tithing. She's so awesome! We went and visited another less active member and taught him about faith and prayer. It's so cool to be out here. Even if I'm not baptizing everyone I come in contact with I'm strengthening them and helping them come closer to Christ, and that's my purpose. I love it. We went and said hi to Anne after that. It was a packed day full of teaching. I love it.

Saturday was another fabulous day! It was a service day! And boy was it cool. We went to Paterson and then to Clifton to go help clean up a park. There were about 60 missionaries that went down there. We began by picking up little pieces of garbage. I was picking up some stuff and some Sisters asked me to come help them...and I walked over here I heard something hiss and looked over to find a Gooose, laying on her eggs. Luckily she was behind the fence so she couldn't attack me but she was hissing hard core at me. I'll send a picture. We continued to clean up branches from the Hurricane and then I started walking down the bank of the Passaic River and there was SO MUCH garbage, so much beer bottles, vodka bottles, whiskey, rum, all that kinda stuff. It was sad to see all the garbage. There were tons of balls and shoes and teddy bears all from the hurricane. I also found a dead turtle. :( It stunk so bad. Pictures will be included. I love serving. After we were done we sang called to serve. We also got shirts from it. I'm getting so many shirts from my mission! T-shirt blanket! Holla! After service we cleaned up and went to go teach Tivynna one last time before her baptism. The Elders came with us so they could interview her. She passed with flying colors. We continued to talk and then started talking about our baptism days. The spirit that came into the room was so incredible. We all shared and it was really cool to see everyone's experience was unique and was there own. I asked her if she kept a journal and told her to write a few thoughts down on Sunday before her baptism and then Sunday night after. I wish I was good at writing when I was 8 so I could go back and remember but I remember the feelings that day. I began to say some thing and was prompted to have her bear her testimony, she got a little nervous and said she never bore it before. She said she knew this church is where she needs to be. The spirit was so strong and tears began to well up in her eyes. It was so cool to see her realize that she is a daughter of God and this is where she needs to be. I loved that! We finished the lesson and it was powerful. Sister Ward and I are so grateful we were able to be here for her.

Sunday was great! Sister Ward played the piano in sacrament and Tivynna was baptized! The feeling I felt yesterday was so great. It was a peace. I did get a little nervous when Sister Ward and I sung but it was cool to sing for Tivynna. She has been coming to church since she was young and was taught since she was 8 and never baptized until now, 16. And it's so cool to see that Sister Ward and I were here for that. So many missionaries have come and gone and now she's finally entered into the gate of eternal life. I'm so blessed to be here. The baptism was great. The food after was good as well. I know this church is true. I know God lives. I know he loves us. I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I'm just about to finish it again and I can't wait to get that re-affirmation that it's true! I love being a missionary. I love serving my Savior. It's crazy I passed my 7 month mark this passed week. Time is FLYING by! I love all of you so much. I'm so grateful for all the support you've given me. I'm grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. Hope everyone's week will be fantastic as I know mine will be. :) Miracles happen eerrryday! Look for them!

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Christine Taylor

ps.I colored my hair again! :)

Best Week Ever

Sakpasa!
Well if you think my emails have been long so far I might just break the record. By FAR one of the best weeks on my mission. Miracle after miracle after miracle and blessing after blessing after blessing. Goobs it's so great!
We will begin with Monday after I got off emailing we headed down to Caldwell to spend time with Sister Wright on her last p-day. It was really fun to see a lot of the sisters. We hung out at the chapel and just spend time together. We headed back up to New City and I was able to almost completely catch up on the letters I had to write to a few people. I love writing letters. Then we decided to head out. We had an appointment with a less active member but she wasn't home so we decided to go visit a few more less active people before going to visit our recent convert Emanuel. So we headed to a house and knocked on the door. The less active wasn't there but we asked the guy if we could talk to him about the gospel. He said he had three minutes....turned into about 15 :) We taught him a quick restoration and pulled out a Book of Mormon and committed him to read it. He said he would. He said he was finishing up school and had a couple big tests and we promised him if he read it, his tests will go easier. Monday was a beautiful day! We prayed with him and started heading back to the car. Because of the beautiful weather there were so many people outside walking we got to the sidewalk and a lady practically stopped us and was asking who we were and so we began telling her. We pulled out a pass along card and gave it to her. She was wondering why we get baptized so young but it was great! We prayed with her and a got her address out of her so we can just go "say hi" haha. Sneaky sneaky. She was awesome. Two lessons in a matter of five minutes! We decided we had a little more time to go to another less-active house. We actually had an appointment with her but we doesn't speak english. We went to the front of the house and a man came from behind and started asking us who we were and all that jazz. Another man and his son came out and we asked if the lady was there but she wasn't available. So Sister Ward asked if we could share a message. They were actually very open to it. We began teaching the Restoration. We were standing and the man made his son get us chairs so we sat down and were teaching them the gospel. We pulled out a Book of Mormon (I only had one and so did Sister Ward) and gave it to the two older guys. The young 9 year old looked at Sister Ward and asked if she had another one. We both searched in her backpack and didn't find one... We told him we could bring him another one the next day. I felt impressed to tell them that they can live with their families eternally and I think that struck a cord with them. I believe the young boy, Brent, his mother passed away and so his dad was having us reassure that he will see her again. It was really cool. We committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they said they would. We were there for about an hour teaching them! We went to go see Emanuel and had a great lesson with him. On a Monday, our p-day, we ended up getting four lessons! It was incredible. It's interesting to me to see that when we pray to be better and consecrate ourselves the Lord really does bless us! I love it. As we got back home Sister Ward checked in her bag and found another Book of Mormon and said, "This wasn't in here when we were there". I dunno if it was or not but I'm sure the Lord knew we needed to go back the next day and give him the Book of Mormon. Great day!

Tuesday was amazing as well! Since we consecrated ourselves to the Lord, Elder Benson, had us give a burnt offering. We were going to sacrifice something and make it better. I sacrificed not having any more excuses to not go outside and try running in the morning. I've gotten a little lazy but Sister Ward is really pushing me. I love her so much! District Meeting was really good. I love be or trying to be more consecrated. We went to pizza for Sister Wrights last time. I love the pizza here so much! So much better than in UTAH! :) haha. We got back into our area and immediately went to go see Brent to give him a Book of Mormon. We got there and he was so happy to see us. He actually began reading some of the Book of Mormon his father got. It was so great! We also gave him a picture Book of Mormon which I think will really help. He's awesome. We had made some appointments with less activees and went and visited them. I just want every one to make it back to church. We talked to them about the doctrine of Christ and tried to help them in any way we could. All we can do is support them and encourage them. I love working with the Less-actives. I found out if I don't baptize many people here, that's okay because I'm helping people strengthen their faith in Christ. That's all I can do :)

Wednesday was another great day! We had correlation with Elder Kay, our ward mission leader, and was able to clear up a few people on the ward list. We went to an apartment a couple weeks ago where a member used to live and he's now moved but we found a Jewish man. We went back there on Wednesday with the Kay's to help him clean up his house a little. He was so appreciative of us coming and just moving a few boxes. He hurt his leg so he wasn't able to do much. He used to do flee markets and gave us some jewlerly to donate to the young women for their yard sale they are going to have. It was very nice of him. He's a sweet guy and LOVES to talk. That was good to do some service...(plus we got to wear JEANS!) We went and taught another less active member and then went and was able to play volleyball with the young men. They needed to practice for their tournament this weekend which they also won! I love the young men in this ward they really are great. They're all converts and three of them are headed to BYU-I to go to school and it's going to be so good for them!

Thursday was another fantastic day! We had weekly planning and a few lessons. But they were good. We went to our investigators house and was able to really see her concern about being baptized. She said if she was younger she'd probably be baptized but she's an older woman and doesn't want to change. That's something Sister Ward and I really want to help her with because we believe she knows the church is true but is just scared to change. Next we went to Sister Kreppelts and had a singing lesson with her we taught her about music and how influential it is in our lives. We then sang songs to her. The last one we sang was "I stand all amazed" That song I'll always remember because it was the song dad made me sing when he was newly called to be the gospel doctrine teacher. His first sunday he made me sing. But I'm grateful for that opportunity. I love singing! We both felt prompted we needed to go to our other investigators house, Tivynna. If you remember she was the one we went to her play. She's 16 years old and has been investigating since she was 8. She hasn't been baptized but she's a very active member of the ward, just not baptized. She's awesome. We went over to her apartment and pretty much sat down and asked why she wasn't baptized yet. But in a nicer way. She said she's been thinking about baptism for a couple weeks now, so right then and there we asked her if she'd be baptized. We know she's ready and I think she does too. She said yes, we committed her to the 21st of April and she said YES! Sister Ward and I will have our first legit baptism this upcoming Sunday. I'm so excited for Tivynna. She's truly such a beautiful daughter of God. We're so excited. It was another successful day.

Friday was Liz Dicou's birthday. Happy birthday! And also zone conference. One of the best ones yet. It included laughs, tears and so much fun. President Jeppson talked about the Atonement and it was so powerful. Without the Atonement nothing would be possible. I'm so grateful for my Savior and all he did for me. It's crazy to think about the sacrifice he did for me. Truly grateful. We then broke out for lunch and then played a wicked sweet game. We all had bouncy balls and we put them in a bowl. President would throw them up and whoever didn't get one was out. It was manic and chaos, but SO MUCH FUN! I did pretty well. Ripped my skirt, dove on the ground to get a ball and got knocked in the head right in the temple. It didn't feel to good and I had a massive headache the rest of the day but it's fine now. The Assistants then talked about incorporating the gospel better in the Restoration and asked Sister Ward and I to role-play the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith in FRONT OF EVERYONE! We were both pretty nervous. We got up there and Sister Jeppson asked us to stand up so people could hear us for the role play. I'd just got knocked in the head so I wasn't feeling well so before we started I told everything "I was sorry, I'm knocked up" Probably not the best choice of words. People started laughing, but we started the role play nonetheless. And we killed it. Sister Ward did such an amazing job. We finished the role play and Elder Ream asked who felt the spirit during it. Everyone raised their hands. It's cool to see how powerful we can be with just simple words. Even though we were nervous the spirit bore witness to everyone the truthfulness of the message of the Restoration. I'm so grateful for the Restoration in my life. It makes sense. Like I said I wasn't feeling to hot so we went home and did studies.

Saturday, another amazing day! We kinda had another scary incident but we're fine don't you worry. I'll tell you when I get back. It's too long to write out. We have been making amazing strides with the less actives in our ward. It's so incredible to see our work pay off. It's been such a good month of April so far and it's only going to get better. We went and taught Tivynna again to get her prepared for her baptism on Saturday. She's so ready. We also went to lunch with the Young Men and bishop at Five Guys after the boys won their volleyball tournament. Bishop bought our food. I'm not complaining about that! :)

Fast and testimony meeting was good. The microphone wasn't working so the people bearing their testimonies had to speak a little louder. It was great. One less active, Ricardo got up and thanked us for the visit that we went to on Saturday. Ricardo is such an incredible son of God and I'm so grateful I was able to meet him out here on my mission. Definitely one I will keep in contact with after my mission. He's a strong guy. We also went and taught Christina another one of our investigators and she has a desire to come closer to Christ. We just have to teach her more and help her keep her committments and she'll get baptized!

This week of miracles was truly amazing. And I feel it's going to be another amazing week! We have our first baptism coming up and I can't wait for that. To see Tivynna enter the waters of Baptism! I'm beginning 3 Nephi this week and I'm so excited to read about the Savior coming. We've had a lot of emphasis on Christ this month. I've become such a strong member of this church and I'm continually strengthening that faith in my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for all of you. I pray for you every night. You are all amazing! Keep being an example. People are always watching. 3 Nephi 5:13. Talk to you all next week. Love you all! Miss you! This week I'll hit my 7 month mark! Where is time going!?

Love,
Sister Taylor

Conference con't! Miracle

I forgot to mention our miracle we've already had today. We went to Walmart to get the things we needed and a few weeks ago we gave a mormon.org card to one of the employees there. He came up to us today and told us that he'd visited the website. Sister Ward asked how he liked it and he said it was really good. We told him about church and he said he was going to try and make it. It was so cool to see him follow-up with us rather then us going to find him. We started checking our groceries out and he came up to us and said I have a question? What's the difference between your church and my church. We're both Christian. I told him we believe we have the fulness of the gospel and that our church is Christ's church again restored on the earth. What was even cooler is I had brought my backpack into walmart (which i never do) and pulled out a Book of Mormon. He said he'd never seen that book before. We took him briefly what it was about and told him he could have it. He got so excited. We said we can come by later and talked and explain it a little better but he said "oh I can't today". We said we'll plan a time to come and explain it more. He was so sweet and is so prepared to hear the truthfulness of the gospel. His name is Abel and pretty great. That was our miracle for the day! People are prepared. They're out there. We just need to find them....or they'll find us. :) I love you all again! Peace and blessings.

Love,
Sister Taylor

Conference. Christine has under a year left on her mission.

Don"t you just love when it seems the prophet and apostles are speaking directly to you!? I sure do! I could just say the church is true after listening to conference and that'd be enough for me to write. But that's all that happened this week. Miracles happened this week. And one just recently today. Awhh I'm so happy to be out here on my mission. It truly has changed my life.

We'll get to conference but first I want to tell you all about my weeek. I can't remember if I mentioned last week that our new monthly focus is consecration. But blessings happen when we put our minds to becoming more consecrated. One thing in talk from Tad. A. Callister about consecration is that it doesn't just happened over night but we have to work at it. And that's something I've definitely been working on. We started Monday with our wonderful P-Day but ended up meeting quickly with a less-active mother and have a return appointment with them this week. She's such a sweet lady and I'm so grateful we were able to catch her. We went around checking if the ward members lived in the same addresses. Not much luck.

Tuesday we had our zone meeting. And I love zone meetings. Because our monthly focus is on the gospel of Jesus Christ and on consecration we role-played the Gospel of Jesus Christ but then talked about consecration. How can we as members be more consecrated? I loved zone meeting. We then had Sister Wright's hot seat which was fabulous! She's such a great story teller. I'm definitely going to miss her. After zone meeting we went to a members house, Sister Joiseus and talked to her for a bit. She fed us some more Haitian food and we had "crunch" (which included shrimp, and yes I ate it again!) It was pretty good, kinda spicy but oh well. We had her kids and nephew come and we taught them Alma 50 and they enjoyed it. I love teaching the members. I love being able to strengthen them and well as them strengthen us. We finished off the day with going to Eli and Emanuels (RC) to teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The elders came with us and did the tea bag analogy for them! They loved it..Eli and Emanuel are such great members.

Wednesday was a long day. We were out for most of the day trying members and seeing if they still lived at the same address. We were up in Stony Point and went to an address that was right by the Hudson River. It was highly affected by Hurricane Sandy and so nobody lived there. But we drove down the street and saw a kid just sitting outside his house. We pulled up and asked him if he knew the member. He said no one lives here anymore. I asked him if we could talked to him for a little bit. He said yes. He was 13 years old. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told us he'd read it (which we went back a few days later and he did read a little bit) I asked how he was doing and he said "awkward" I replied "why because two girls are talking to you?" He said "yes..." I kinda laughed inside but it was cool. We went back on Friday like I said and he said he read a little bit. He's a cool kid.
We went and taught one of our members about prayer and it was really good. The new senior couple up here, Elder and Sister Kay came with us and it was a good lesson. Wednesday night we went and played volleyball against the young men because they're practicing for a tournament thing. It was fun. Those boys are really good kids. Some of them are heading out to BYU-I which is going to be so great for them. We had fun playing volleyball. It was sweet though. Before anybody got there, I was shooting around and I decided to shoot it from full court and Sister Ward is my witness, but I shot it on my first shot and made it full court. (the court is a little smaller but it was still so sweet) I told Elder Benson that so we decided to record who could make it first from full court. I'll send the video back....it's pretty funny how mad he gets when I make it first hehehehe ;)

Thursday was another long day of finding members. Not much luck but we went and taught a few people and got return appointments with them. It's so cool to see the little miracles happen when you just tell the Lord "I'm going to go out, even if we don't find anyone, I'm out trying my best" And that's what its been for Sister Ward and I up here. Many people are working quite a bit and it's hard to get a hold of people. But we're really trying our best to find and help these individuals here. We did go to the Pena's (way sweet members) with the Elders and taught them about prophets. We played telephone and it was quite funny. We did some in spanish and some in english. It was hilarious. We went to another members and Sister Ward looked really sick and like she was going to pass out and so we left and it really scared me. But she's okay. I had her get a priesthood blessing from the Elders. I'm so grateful for the Elders up here. They are so great and fun!

Friday was longgggg...No luck until the end of the day. But we did find a great potential family we're going to go back and teach. They are soon expecting their third boy and I know that this gospel will bring them closer together. The dad's relative is a member and so it struck a interest in him. I hope and pray that we'll be able to teach them and help them come closer to Christ! :) Friday night was great. We went to a members house. She came from Haiti three years ago and couldn't find the church. So she decided to google it and was there on Easter Sunday. We taught her Alma 50 and she came to general conference both days. Her kids are so adorable and she's definitely going to bring strength to the ward.

Now to the best part of the week! GENERAL CONFERENCE. Like I said I felt like they were all talking straight to me. But I'm sure most of us felt that way. President Jeppson had us write a few questions down we'd like answered and boy did they get answered. Like exactly what I neeeded. We were able to watch all the sessions at the church building and I recieved so much revelation. I hope all you did too. Those men are truly called of God. Their testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ are so strong. That's something that I realized that every single one of the people that spoke bore solid testimony that they know Christ lives. And I'm right there with them. I know He lives. I know He is the head of this church. It is His gospel. It is His work. And I'm so blessed and grateful to be able to be an instrument in His hands to help his children come back to Him. I know the church is true.
Sunday after the first session we decided to come home for a little and God answered Sister Ward's prayer. The deaf couple in our complex were getting out of their car at the same time and she was able to tell them a little bit about us. Boy it was cool to see the gospel being preached like that. They were a little confused and wondered why she thought she was God but she was able to clear it up and we have a return appointment with them in a week or so. God loves every one of His children. He yearns for them to come back. I'm so grateful for Sister Ward's talent in being able to communicate with them. It truly was an answer to her prayer.
Last night we were able to go over to our LA/PMF house and be able to really sit down with them and ask what they're expecting of us. The non-member said "to teach us about things we don't know about the book of Mormon!" Boom. That made me so happy. The less active got so happy when we told him he could live eternally with his family. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families.

Man, just like you all say every week. It sounds like you're really loving your mission...and I am! It's so wonderful to be out here preaching the gospel to all who will listen. I'm just about to finish Alma and I can't express enough my gratitude for the Book of Mormon in my life. It truly helps me become a stronger disciple of Jesus Christ. I love this gospel and can't wait to do this for the rest of my life! I've changed so much and know the church is true. I'm so grateful for a living day prophet. I'm so grateful for all of you and all you do. I'm thankful for your prayers. And i'm praying for you as well. God be with you. I'll talk to you all next week. Love you all so much! :)

Love,
Sister Taylor