October 28, 2013

Querido familia,

Howdy!!! How are things going? COngrats Penny on soccer and volleyball!! Way to go!!! We will have to play when I get back! Keep on going Ben!!! You can do it!!!

I cant believe how things are changing there in the family. It will be a little different when I get back. I am excited to meet the newest little baby in the family after he is born!!!

This week was pretty great! I had intercambios or exchanges Saturday and went to a sector that was high class (lots of houses still, but they were nice) and it was kind of crazy!!! It reminded me of Salt lake City. My sector right now is not like that, so it was kind of fun to be there for a day. I was with Hermana Katherine Hunter, and we found some people, taught some people, and went to stake conference with an investigator. To be honest, we did not know if we had permission to go to the adult session saturday night, but we went anyway. Our mission president spoke, and his wife. The session went late, and we had switch companions still, so President Wright and Hermana Write drove us to the our apartment from the church so I could grab my bag. It was kind of crazy! Our mission president is pretty awesome!

I learned a very valuable lesson this week (or relearned). We passed by a street contact and this time we finally found her and entered her house. We did How TO Begin Teaching and she asked us what makes us different so we taught briefy the Restoration. It just wasnt powerful like it should have been and we did not know what to do. We did what we had been taught, but even she told us that we had not said anything that sparked her interest really. She said we could come back, but we were really confused in why we did not have the power that the Restoration should have, why the Spirit wasnt there. As we pondered this for a while, we figured it out or maybe what we were supposed to learn. We cannot just teach truth to people (ok sometimes yes) and expect them to want to change their lives. We have to apply this to THEM and why THIS CHANGES THEIR LIVES! We taught, but we did not apply it to them. It is kind of like history in High School. "What does this have to do with me?" is what kids ask all the time, and the truth is that it has A LOT to do with you! Just like we learn from history, what works and does not work in society, what shaped us into who we are today and where our society is going in the future, AFFECTS US A TON!!! It is the same with the Gospel, but incredibly more important!!! The Gospel changes lives, it is eternal salvation, but if we do not apply it to the person, they will not understand and will just brush it off. I have a lot to learn with this still, but I am thankful for the lesson that the Lord taught me!

Jessica and Cecy we taught them this week, and they have a baptismal date. They still have a long way to go, and have to recieve a testimony for themselves, but we have faith that they can do it!! Marisol also has a baptismal date (she was waiting, but decided to just go ahead and do it without all of her family). Unfortunately, she lives in another ward, but the important thing is that she will for sure get baptized!!!!!!! We are pretty excited for her!!!

This morning I was reading in D&C 59 (studying about keeping the sabbath day holy) and found a lot of cool things. I think it is verse 2 or 4 that says that we will be crowned with many blessings and also many commandments. We are given commandments to bless us, that is why we have them. THey are not to test our faith, or to just keep us from doing this one thing, but to help us learn, grown and most of all BE HAPPY!!! That is the point of this life after all (2 nephi 2 verse 25). like it says in Mosiah 2 verse 41 I think that happy are those that keep the commandments of God. I have to impove in being exactly obedient, and little by little I am repenting and changing. I am grateful for the opportunity to be here in CHile, serving the people here and learning so much. Thanks for your prayers!!! A prayer of faith is always heard!!! I LOVE YALL!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Taylor

October 21, 2013

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

Wow!!! That is so great about the baptisms in the ward!!! I cannot believe the assistence is really large! Actually, our ward just changed from 9 o clock to 11 and assistence shot up. We had about 215 the last two weeks (dont worry, we are working on activating some more to pump up the number haha). It is pretty great!!

This week was one of miracles!!! A cool experience we had was Friday. We went to the temple (our only time for this year) and it was awesome!!! The whole session was in Español, and I understood (with some prayer before which definitely helped). It is amazing in the 7 months that I havent gone, how good it felt to go back!!! After being super spiritually charged we came back and worked!! We passed by for a reference and asked them some questions like, ¨have you talked to other missionaries before?¨ and they said yes. We were a little confused but taught them a little just the same. They pulled out once (a light dinner) all of a sudden and we were obligated to stay. We left and realized that they were actually inactives and not investigators haha, that made us laugh a lot!!! We left late because of "once" and were running to our appointment with Marisol. We called her to tell her we were late, and she said she was still out of town and wouldnt be able to meet with us. We were a little crushed since she is really close to baptism. We had about 45 minutes before exchanges with Hermana Sharp. Once investigator, Jessica G and her family, were in my head all day. She worked A TON and only has the afternoon of Saturday, and Sundays off. She should have been working, but we went anyway. SHE WAS THERE along with her daughter who is really interested too. We only had about 20 or 25 minutes to get in and get out, so we talked for a minutes to see how things were going. She did abunch of errands that day so she did not work. We sang a quick song, prayed, and taught the Restoration in about 5 minutes and answered a few questions and talked about baptism for 5 minutes. We invited them to be baptized if they received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true, and they said YES!!! It was pretty awesome! It is true that we do not have to teach indepth to have the spirit testify (and he is the one that really does the teaching, we just true to invite him there). Then we left and did exchanges and it was AWESOME!!! Nothing went according to plan that night, but everything happened just right!!! The Lord truly is in charge of the work, not us!

Friday with Hermana Sharp, we saw miracles also! Basically everyone wanted to listen to us! We have two new investigators that we found, Sergio and Estela, that are a SUPER CUTE OLD COUPLE! She is 95 I think and he is 89! We talked about eternal marriage with them, and it was awesome! I have tried to pay more attention to miracles this past week, and it is true that everyday we see them! A lot of time plans fall through, but that is ok because the Lord is in charge and His plan always works if we will just listen.

Funny scripture that I found is in proverbs 28 25 I think. It explains why missionaries (especially sister missionaries here in Chile) gain so much weight. "He that trusteth in the Lord shall be made fat."

I always learned that the Lord has a funny sense of humor. I prayed really hard for the chance to run (I was praying Monday night) because so far in the mission field I cannot run without a companion and my comp has asthma and cant. I could not run in the morning the next day, and figured I just needed to be patient. In our district class we did a game where we ran to grab the marker, and I got to run for a a few seconds. Afterwards, when I realized that the Lord answered my prayer, I laughed really hard. He does not answer my prayers in the way that I expect them sometimes haha.

I love serving here in Chile!!! The mission is the best decision I have made in my life, and I am so privileged to have the chance to serve. I think I am learning a lot more than I am teaching. It is true that the Lord does everything, and He is merciful enough to let us help or be His instruments. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and learn!!!

To answer about Spanish, I still have A LOT  to learn, but I can communicate almost whatever I want and understand too. It is really nice. Learning a new language is kind of like learning to read. I do not remember what Spanish sounded like before I knew it, and sometimes I do not recognize or differentiate if what I am hearing or saying is in Spanish or English. It is really cool. (sidenote from another email)

I love yall a TON!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you get more rain!!! les amo!!!

con amor,

Hermana Taylor

October 14, 2013

Hola familia!

How are things going? I hope everything is super great!!!

This week was pretty great. We were able to find some new people and contact some others. One of our investigators, Marisol, fasted yesterday to know when she should get baptized. Also, another investigator, Jessica, came to church for the second time yesterday. She told us after fast and testimony meeting that she felt something during the meeting. We are excited to teach her some more this week.

Yesterday we had a cool lesson with a family of less actives. The mom and daughter went to Church yesterday and we went to have a family home evening with them later on that night. We were an hour late because consejo de barrio (ward council I think in English) went really long. We walked over there as fast as we could (my companion has asthma and cant run but can walk pretty fast). We got there and the mom came out crying because of a fight with her daughter. We went inside, kneeled, and offered a prayer with her. The Spirit was strong and she stopped crying. After that, she talked to her daughter and we had a family home evening about the plan of savation. It was really great and we are really excited for this family to return to church!

Life is really great here in Chile! I love serving the Lord here and I LOVE PREACHING THE GOSPEL!!!! Today I studied about how we can increase our faith. True to the Faith lists three basic things that will always increase our faith:

1. prayer of gratitude for all the Lord has given you, and also pleading for blessings, not just praying but pleading for blessings for yourself and others.

2. Obey the commandments of God and keep your covenants.

3. Study the scriptures

They are the primary answers that we also give, but it is amazing how we struggle sometimes to do it. It is so great that God does not make things complicated, but simple. We just have to do the small and simple things!

I hope everything is great there in the states! I love yall a ton!!!!!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Taylor

October 7, 2013

Dear Fam,

I hope all is really great there in the great US of A!!! We went to hard rock cafe here for our p day, and it was like being in the states! We also went to the biggest mall in Chile I think, Costenera Center, with a ton of American stores. Ya we spent a few hours in the states today haha. WASN´T GENERAL CONFERENCE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! General Conference in the mission is like the super bowl for normal people!!! It WAS SO COOOL!!!!!! Also, we got to watch in English, all the gringos in my stake, which made it that much better. I loved the talk about missionary work and likening it to football! I am so pumped now, and I hope yall are too!! I know yall can all invite friends, or acquitances to a family home evening. You are offering them something priceless!!! OH MAN I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

The weather here is finally changing, and it is actually hot. I have not had a true summer in over a year, and I think I missed the heat a little bit. I already am getting a weird sister missionary tan line, and it is still spring. By Christmas time it will probably be pretty hilarious. I have not gotten sunburned yet, which is good. I have forgotten what a sunburn really is.

Today in my scripture study I read Alma 56 about the stripling warriors, and I noticed something new. They answered that they did not doubt that their mothers knew it, not that they knew it. Sometimes we are given the gift of believing the faith of others. It reminds me of the talk by Elder Holland in the last General Conference in which he said that if your faith is weak, lean on mine. We all need to gain our own testimonies, but believing in the testimonies of others is a gift too. I do not know this explains what is in my head, but it made an impression on me.

Congratulations Penny on your first volleyball game! I wish I could have seen it! Oh, other cool thing, ELDER HOLLAND IS COMING TO SPEAK TO OUR MISSION NOVEMBER 13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am just a little excited. I love yall un monton!!!!

Love,

Hermana Taylor

September 30, 2013

Hola familia!!!

How is everyone? I hope everyone is doing great!!!

Here in Chile things are FANTASTIC!!! My new companion, Hermana Escobar, is from Guatemala! She is definitely the new generation of missionaries. She barely turned 19, and is super prepared to serve!!! It is amazing see the new generation and the new forcé of missionaries!!! I LOVE IT!!!

This week flew by! We taught English clases, which were fun. I do not really know what I am doing, but at least I can speak English and help them learn to communicate if nothing else haha! We taught Marisol this week, and she told us that she wants to get baptized, she just doesnt know when. She comes to church every single week, and loves it! She knows it is true. She has three daughters and she just wants them to gain testimonies so that they can take this step together. We taught them the Restauración yesterday (specifically her two younger daughters) using jenga and it went great! Her oldest daughter hasnt come to a lesson yet, but we have hope! The family in our Ward invited her for a long time,and only recently did she accept! They are so great supporting her!

We also went to teach a meno activa, Hermana Bustos, This week.We felt impressed to promise her that she would find her answer in general conference. I have neverquite made a promise quite so boldly, and it was amazing to feel the Spirit testifying to her (and to us) that she truly would receive her answer in conference. Now she just has to watch it. We also got to watch General Conference Saturday which was fun!!! Here it aired at 9 at night, and I watched it in Spanish. Truly as members of this church, we have a huge responsibility. We as missionaries NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!! One family that has been helping us with the work a lot, has progressed so much and I have seen their progression as a family in such a short time and it is astounding!!! I hope you all can feel the need and step out of your Shell and share and go after the one!!!

This week I completed 7 months in the misión!!! The time is flying by! I love serving here in Chile!!! I also have come to the realization that I basically can express whatever I want in Spanish (at times I struggle, but not often). The Lord has truly blessed me with the ability to learn this language and I am so incredibly grateful!! I love you all a ton!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Taylor

We had a zone conference with Elder Zeballos of the 70. This is a third of the missionaries in our mission.
(I am on the left end of the second row from the bottom)