April 29, 2013

The weather in Chile right now is starting to get a little chilly (haha chile). Enserio, it is dry cold here so it isn’t as bad as when Texas gets this cold. Houses don’t have insulation or heating so it is going to be a cold winter, but who doesn’t love a little bit of difficulty!!! Cool little anecdote from this week. One of the other hermanas suffers from migraines and this past week has been so bad they have had to stay in almost every day. One night my companion was sick too, so I was just reading in the bible. I read in Mark 11ish (I do not recall exactly) that talked about prayer. Prayer is SOOO powerful!!! Basically, if we have the faith (and it is the will of God) we can literally move mountains! I got the impression that Hermana Alvarez and I needed to pray for her companion, Hermana Achucarro. I shared the scripture with her and we prayed.  A little later her companion came out and I offered her panaway, and she used it without question because she was so desperate. 30 minutes later, she felt well enough to function. It was a testament to me on the power of prayer. The next day she was sick again, but at least she got a respite for a few hours. You are AMAZING mom and have taught me SOOO much!!! Thank you for those lessons because OH MAN have I needed them here.

So I am doing FANTASTIC! It is hard here in Chile as with every missionary, but it is GREAT!!! My companion was sick for a couple days this week, so had a lot of time to study, and I learned a lot!! I have been waiting for 3 full days to tell the family what I learned!!!!! So recall back a few weeks ago about Moses 1 verse 39 and about how in order to become as God we have to turn ourselves outward. Well, the next part of my learning came as I read the parable of the prodigal son. I guess I always felt a little perplexed because I thought the good son was justified. This time I read it through wiser eyes. The other son only thought about himself and how he DESERVED praise or some kind of reward. But this is not what we are meant to become. When we mature and think about others, we act as the Father and only
 rejoice in the fact that the lost son came home. We don't care about ourselves, but about others. The other son was turned inward. I hope that kind of makes sense. At this point, I felt like I was sitting at the feet of the Savior and he was just teaching me. It is an experience I can’t really explain, but it so precious! I am amazed at how the Lord has taught me so much in the last two months! I can’t wait for the next 16!

Cool language story. So yesterday I went out with one of the other Hermanas to visit some people in her sector. Amazingly, I understood a lot. I even interjected with a few scriptures. The last visit was with an inactive man named Pio. I did not know hardly anything about him, but the Spirit was so strong!!! I was amazingly able to share experiences (in broken spanish) I had had in my life and testify strongly. He actually paid really close attention. I understood the jist of what he had to say. I was feelin pretty proud
I guess after that night that maybe my spanish was coming along. But sure enough the Lord told me not to be proud and I couldn't even understand my companion hardly as we were walking home haha.

The only way to find true happiness in this life is to lose ourselves in the work of the Lord, which is serving others as the Lord would serve. Oh, one other cool thing is that the Lord loves his missionaries!!! I had not realized how much before, but He loves us a lot!!! We are here to learn and also to preach. Right now, the Lord told me he needs me to learn a lot. TE A=MO Y=C1LL!!! Focus on the Lord, and all other things will fall in to place. I KNOW it!

Life is tough here, but because it is I am learning SOO MUCH!!! Somewhere in PMG it says that the most important language to learn is the language of revelation. Well, I am learning that language. I have never felt so close to my Savior. The few times I get to share my testimony about the Savior, my heart flutters. I LOVE SHARING THE GOSPEL!!!!

Love
Hermana Taylor