Hello :)
So... My companion got a transfer call on Saturday. So I'll get another new comp! There was this whole dramatic inter mission thing that happened but, out of it Hermana Hill, Reyes, and I all found out beforehand that we're switching companions. Explanation: Sister Reyes is becoming Coordinating Sister Training Leader with Hermana Harward already in our casa (now, coordinating STL in our mission is Huge, she's the sister form of Assistant to the president or AP, she'll be prez's right hand woman with sister Harward helping decide transfers and going on exchanges throughout the mission and what not) and so, they decided to switch us comps. Sister Hill is moving to be my comp and sister Reyes will be Sister Harward's comp. Craziness.
In our casa-
So before: Sister Taylor/Reyes + Sister Hill/Harward = quadpanionship
After tomorrow: Sister Taylor/Hill + Sister Harward/Reyes (Co. STLs) = quadpanionship
Honestly, this is how I feel: Sister Hill is my best friend on the mission so I am super stoked to be comps! We already made comp goals on an exchange and we're totally on the same page. I'm also nervous but very excited because my Spanish will explode this transfer. Sister Hill has been out one transfer longer than me but, her trainer didn't let her speak in any lessons so she knows Very little Spanish. So that means I will be talking a lot and we'll be working super hard with language study and practicing and everything because neither of us know what we're doing! So! It will be amazing to have to rely completely and utterly on the spirit because half the time I still don't understand what people are saying! So nervous to teach but also very excited to be serving with her and in this situation. We will see many miracles! I hope all that made sense. I'm wondering if I'll ever get a comp for longer than a transfer, it's like I keep running everyone off!
So, Maria's husband/ Lalo's dad is the most frustrating person I know, so mean. He gets drunk all day everyday and everyone in the family is scared of him. He is so controlling. He never lets Maria do ANYTHING, church, get baptized, lessons even. But! We got an exciting text from Lalo, my recent convert, saying that his dad left the house. So we immediately put shoes on and left calling Maria's member friend. We had an amazing lesson and though she was sad about her husband she said she would go to the temple with our member and to church and
wants to get baptized in 2 weeks! It was awesome. Then... Friday, the dad came back and everything is, yet again, destroyed. She couldn't go to the temple or come to church and neither did Lalo or Christian, my recents. She has tricked herself into thinking this is a good thing he's back for the kids but obviously it's not good to see your father consistently drunk and yelling and scaring everyone. That family needs a lot of prayers so send them their way.
You all are amazing and my support. Thanks for being who you are and I hope you all have an incredible week!! :)
Love,
Hermana Taylor
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Three Months In ~ September 21, 2015
Hola all!
We met a new family this week! Cynthia and Ramon are the parents and they have 3 young kids and also live with Ramon's parents. We were walking to an appointment who turns out wasn't even there and we saw this family so of course we stopped and talked with them and they said we could come back later that week. We showed the Because He Lives video about Jesus Christ and it was an amazing spirit. After they talked a while to Hermana Reyes and I thought they were saying they had another church and they were fine and didn't want to hear more. So, I bore my testimony as strongly as I could and the room was dead silent with all eyes on my. I told them about eternal families and how the gospel and Christ can bless us incredibly! After we said goodbye and I was a little bummed but Hermana Reyes was like, "That was Awesome!" and I was super confused! She explained that they did say they went to another church... but it had burnt down and so they didn't have anywhere to go! I read the entire conversation completely wrong. It was an epic Espanol fail moment! Keep praying for my Spanish!!
We also have Cristian Pantoja getting baptised by his brother Lalo this weekend! Pray that all goes well with that!!
We went to see a referral this week named Maria but we weren't sure which door it was. So we knocked on the first and asked for Maria and they said that she was around back so we went and taught a lesson and they invited us back this next week! Then we were walking back around and decided to knock on the second door because why not and, oh my goodness, there was a Maria there and SHE was the Maria who'd seen and met with missionaries before! How amazing!
Saturday was a long, tough day. When we got in the car to go home and Sister Reyes was backing me up, I prayed out loud and asked heavenly Father to help me because I was feeling pretty down about the day and was not in the best mood. Just a quick Heavenly Father please, please help me. I came home exhausted and pretty down and we checked the mail and I had a package! From my best friend Lexy Morton! I almost cried but because I knew this was Heavenly Father's message to me saying that it's gonna be okay and He and others love me. It was amazing, and I'm sooo grateful to Lexy for her inspiration of sending the package when she did. :) That's what twins/best friends are for!
One of the best things I learned from my Dad growing up is this quote: "Don't just have a good day, MAKE it a good day." I know this is so true! It is all about our attitudes and how we think, what we say, and how we react. (Thanks Mitch!)
My challenge this week is when you're in a tough spot or really feeling down about something, say a prayer, out loud if you can. I know Heavenly Father hears our prayers. I know He is our loving Father in heaven and is just waiting for us to call out to Him for help! I know it! And I am so grateful for this knowledge and the experiences that I have had with it.
Love you all,
Hermana Taylor
We met a new family this week! Cynthia and Ramon are the parents and they have 3 young kids and also live with Ramon's parents. We were walking to an appointment who turns out wasn't even there and we saw this family so of course we stopped and talked with them and they said we could come back later that week. We showed the Because He Lives video about Jesus Christ and it was an amazing spirit. After they talked a while to Hermana Reyes and I thought they were saying they had another church and they were fine and didn't want to hear more. So, I bore my testimony as strongly as I could and the room was dead silent with all eyes on my. I told them about eternal families and how the gospel and Christ can bless us incredibly! After we said goodbye and I was a little bummed but Hermana Reyes was like, "That was Awesome!" and I was super confused! She explained that they did say they went to another church... but it had burnt down and so they didn't have anywhere to go! I read the entire conversation completely wrong. It was an epic Espanol fail moment! Keep praying for my Spanish!!
We also have Cristian Pantoja getting baptised by his brother Lalo this weekend! Pray that all goes well with that!!
We went to see a referral this week named Maria but we weren't sure which door it was. So we knocked on the first and asked for Maria and they said that she was around back so we went and taught a lesson and they invited us back this next week! Then we were walking back around and decided to knock on the second door because why not and, oh my goodness, there was a Maria there and SHE was the Maria who'd seen and met with missionaries before! How amazing!
Saturday was a long, tough day. When we got in the car to go home and Sister Reyes was backing me up, I prayed out loud and asked heavenly Father to help me because I was feeling pretty down about the day and was not in the best mood. Just a quick Heavenly Father please, please help me. I came home exhausted and pretty down and we checked the mail and I had a package! From my best friend Lexy Morton! I almost cried but because I knew this was Heavenly Father's message to me saying that it's gonna be okay and He and others love me. It was amazing, and I'm sooo grateful to Lexy for her inspiration of sending the package when she did. :) That's what twins/best friends are for!
One of the best things I learned from my Dad growing up is this quote: "Don't just have a good day, MAKE it a good day." I know this is so true! It is all about our attitudes and how we think, what we say, and how we react. (Thanks Mitch!)
My challenge this week is when you're in a tough spot or really feeling down about something, say a prayer, out loud if you can. I know Heavenly Father hears our prayers. I know He is our loving Father in heaven and is just waiting for us to call out to Him for help! I know it! And I am so grateful for this knowledge and the experiences that I have had with it.
Love you all,
Hermana Taylor
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
On Miracles ~ August 31, 2015
Sometimes it's hard: our investigators drop us, our bap dates fall through, our friends or family are having a hard time, our companions leave us after 5 weeks or we get a hard comp, or the less actives we've been visiting for weeks promise to and then Never come to church. But through all this we see so many miracles! Cada dia nosotros tenemos muchos milagros que ayudanos a peseverar y nostros sabemos que Dios nos ama mucho y es siempre aqui para nosotros. Y nuestros investagadores y menos activas y todos pueden cambiar y todo que nostros podemos es tratar con diligencia y fuerza y fe y Dios nos ayudara.
I don't know why I went all spanish I just love this language and these people and everything that we do here on the mission every day. Sometimes I feel like im not doing enough or am not successful but then we will meet one person or have one lesson that I just think. Wow. It's all worth it. All the heartache and sorrow in behalf of these precious souls is worth it. When you see the smile on the face of you investigator as he comes out of the waters of baptism after 3 weeks of changing his life completely around. The joy you feel as your less active family for the first time in 5 months walks in the chapel. The tears you cry when you teach a deaf and mute young man about jesus christ through spelling out spanish words using sign language and writing things down becuase that's the only way you can communicate (And I was sad about MY not being able to talk to people, lessons). When you teach someone who has never prayed in their entire life how to pray. Tehse moments are the most beautiful things in the world and I get to experience them. Heavenly Father chose Me to come and be graced with teaching and helping these spirits. Wow, it is just So worth it. All the bad is completely and utterly worth it.
Love,
H. Taylor
Hola ~ August 24, 2015
Hello Everyone!
Sorry I was unable to email the last couple weeks! Our Zone, a group of us missionaries went to the Beach! It was super fun! And so so pretty! I love California!
Hermana Quintana and I have seen so many miracles! I LOVE being a missionary! I love the schedule where I always feel like I'm doing something important and worth while, I love how I am always so worried and
concerned about our investigators (the people we teach) and talking to everyone we possibly can on the streets, and I love the feeling or making a difference. I have seen this message touch lives already! It is beautiful!
I have met So many amazing and incredible people here in California! I am positive that they have changed my life way more than I have changed theirs. The Spanish is a hard thing. It sometimes is really frustrating when I feel as though I can't always communicate. I can talk A LOT better than I can understand. It Kills me. I want to understand and help these people so badly but many times I can't understand fully what they are saying. So if everyone can pray for me and ask everyone they know to pray for me that I can have the gift of tongues and discernment. So I can help these amazing people come unto Christ. I know that even with this language
barrier I can still bring the spirit of the Lord through the simple, precious truths of the gospel and my testimony and the spirit is always the teacher anyway.
There is not a scarier, more stressful, nerve-racking time for a missionary than Sunday at church. When you've worked So hard all week to visit and teach and invite and share and work to help people come unto Christ by
keeping commitments like reading their scriptures, praying, and Coming To Church. And they tell you they will come to church and you sit there praying so hard that they're the next ones to walk in the chapel because
Sacrament Meeting starts in 2 minutes or even better started 5-10 minutes ago... Every week. It's terible! But when they walk in the chapel it is the BEST feeling and you thank Heavenly Father every second of that meeting
they are there. So stressful but So rewarding :)
Yesterday we were blessed to have another baptism. It is amazing for me because this is a person that we Found, Taught, and Baptised. It was incredible.
We had a baptism last Sunday of a 10 year old adorable girl named Jazzy!
She was so excited and it was great! It was a miracle that her Mom agreed!
We were very happy :)
We had the amazing pleasure to witness another baptism of our incredible investigator Lalo. He is so special and dear to my heart because he was someone that we Found, taught All the lessons to, and was able to see
baptised all within the Month of August! It is so amazing to see how the Lord truly does prepare people to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. I am so blessed to have been able to be a part of his conversion and see Christ change his life completely! He could not stop smiling yesterday and he told us that he felt completely different and at peace and happy. I am SO HAPPY for him!
Hermana Quintana leaves tomorrow for her home. She has served amazingly these past 18 months and I am so glad I was able to have her as my companion and trainer these 5 weeks! Everyone pray also that I can have the
help and guidance from God to be able to lead this area and help and teach the people here with my new companion!
There is no other place in the entire world I would rather be than right here in California on a mission teaching this beautiful gospel! I love you all!! Email or write me with any questions! :)
Adios,
H. Taylor :)
Sorry I was unable to email the last couple weeks! Our Zone, a group of us missionaries went to the Beach! It was super fun! And so so pretty! I love California!
Hermana Quintana and I have seen so many miracles! I LOVE being a missionary! I love the schedule where I always feel like I'm doing something important and worth while, I love how I am always so worried and
concerned about our investigators (the people we teach) and talking to everyone we possibly can on the streets, and I love the feeling or making a difference. I have seen this message touch lives already! It is beautiful!
I have met So many amazing and incredible people here in California! I am positive that they have changed my life way more than I have changed theirs. The Spanish is a hard thing. It sometimes is really frustrating when I feel as though I can't always communicate. I can talk A LOT better than I can understand. It Kills me. I want to understand and help these people so badly but many times I can't understand fully what they are saying. So if everyone can pray for me and ask everyone they know to pray for me that I can have the gift of tongues and discernment. So I can help these amazing people come unto Christ. I know that even with this language
barrier I can still bring the spirit of the Lord through the simple, precious truths of the gospel and my testimony and the spirit is always the teacher anyway.
There is not a scarier, more stressful, nerve-racking time for a missionary than Sunday at church. When you've worked So hard all week to visit and teach and invite and share and work to help people come unto Christ by
keeping commitments like reading their scriptures, praying, and Coming To Church. And they tell you they will come to church and you sit there praying so hard that they're the next ones to walk in the chapel because
Sacrament Meeting starts in 2 minutes or even better started 5-10 minutes ago... Every week. It's terible! But when they walk in the chapel it is the BEST feeling and you thank Heavenly Father every second of that meeting
they are there. So stressful but So rewarding :)
Yesterday we were blessed to have another baptism. It is amazing for me because this is a person that we Found, Taught, and Baptised. It was incredible.
We had a baptism last Sunday of a 10 year old adorable girl named Jazzy!
She was so excited and it was great! It was a miracle that her Mom agreed!
We were very happy :)
We had the amazing pleasure to witness another baptism of our incredible investigator Lalo. He is so special and dear to my heart because he was someone that we Found, taught All the lessons to, and was able to see
baptised all within the Month of August! It is so amazing to see how the Lord truly does prepare people to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. I am so blessed to have been able to be a part of his conversion and see Christ change his life completely! He could not stop smiling yesterday and he told us that he felt completely different and at peace and happy. I am SO HAPPY for him!
Hermana Quintana leaves tomorrow for her home. She has served amazingly these past 18 months and I am so glad I was able to have her as my companion and trainer these 5 weeks! Everyone pray also that I can have the
help and guidance from God to be able to lead this area and help and teach the people here with my new companion!
There is no other place in the entire world I would rather be than right here in California on a mission teaching this beautiful gospel! I love you all!! Email or write me with any questions! :)
Adios,
H. Taylor :)
P Day Hike ~ August 17, 2015
Went on a hike this morning at 5:30, Hermana Quintana and the two elders from our district Van and Prince!
Decided we wanted to run and yea well I got launched and now I have some really cute battle wounds ;)
This is just like me! haha I'm sure it was a hilarious sight to behold!
Decided we wanted to run and yea well I got launched and now I have some really cute battle wounds ;)
This is just like me! haha I'm sure it was a hilarious sight to behold!
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