January 6, 2014

I am thankful for the opportunity to have these emergency changes last week. Things were a little crazy as we started this week, but we are getting the hang of it now. Since we basically have two sectors, with appointments in both sectors, we have had to depend on the members  A LOT and were forced to find a member for almost everyday to leave with us so that we could go to all of our appointments. We had to make a lot of phone calls in order to find people, but it all worked out. We have been doing divisions with the members and splitting up our trio. One will go with the member to the appointment, and the other two will go to another appointment or go contact, or look for people we have already contacted etc. We really improved our numbers and feel like we and the ward have come alive. We had ward councel yesterday and the ward is preparing for the CVC (we did this in my first ward, it is visitors center in the church. we do tours and stuff and invite the whole world to come) and they are excited. This time in ward council  they also talked of names. It was constructive and the ward is doing really great

We also have seen lots and lots of miracles. We are SUPER SUPER SUPER excited about one of our investigators, Jennifer. She is a reference from another investigator, and we first contacted her at a birthday when we passed by for a little bit. We talked a little bit and she gave us her direction. We passed by a few times the next few weeks, but we couldnt find her. about a week and a half ago we finally found her and taught her the first lesson right there. She accepted it all and listened really intently. We set up an appointment for this last week and we went on Thursday. (oh and we invited her to be baptized the first time and she said yes). We went this time and reviewed the first lesson, answered questions (she had good ones) and read the first chapter of the book of mormon with her. She said she was super excited to go to church and that she had been talked with her novio and he was willing to listen too. We went the next day (well I did with a member, Claudia) to visit her. She had read all of the folleto 2 and basically taught us the second lesson. She said she had prayed, felt the same peace and calmness that she felt when we were there and that she knew this was the correct path. She hit it off really well with Claudia, and Jennifer asked about the word of wisdom and what we do and dont drink. We gave her some ecco (it is kind of like that barley cup drink that mom likes. It is barley and not coffee) on Sunday and she was so excited to replace her coffee with ecco. She accepted to be baptized 26th of this month, the only problem is she isnt married. We talked to her and she wants to get married and her boyfriend too. They started something here where the church can pay for the judge so that the people can get married and then baptized. We just have to look into how to do that. It is a little more complicated to get married here than in the states, ok a lot more complicated. She came to church, and LOVED it!!! She said at the end, ¨Ya me convincieron.¨  (Yall already convinced me). I have heard the stories about golden investigators that are ready right when we get there, but this is my first experience in the mission with one. She is 24 with a 2 month old baby and when she got pregnant she started to change her life and the Lord put us  there in her path at the right time it looks like so that she can continue this change with the gospel in her life too.  OH man, we are so excited! SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!!

It is kind of fun to be in a trio again, because this time I know what I am doing (that what happens with 4 months in a trio before haha). It makes it a lot easier to go on splits with the members. We just have to find one and we can do twice the work that we could have done just as a trio. We take turns going out with the member, and staying as a duo. We are really trying hard to have members with us everyday at all our appointments if it is possible. I have felt this excitement and drive since I first got here to chile. I know that more miracles are just around the corner.

A funny story that happened is we went on splits, Hermana Chavez with a member from the ward, and Hermana Escobar and I. This sister only had one hour to work with us, so we were going to work in the sector closer to the appointment. We felt like we needed to go to our sector a little farther away, so we walked fast. Hermana Escobar wanted to go to the bathroom so we stopped by some contacts we had made earlier, but no one was home. I am pretty sure she was praying that we could find someone. We stopped by the last one, and an old man (the dad of the contact we had made two weeks ago) came out. He said he wasnt interested, but then hermana escobar asked to use the bathroom and he let us in. He and his wife with alzheimer´s live there all day alone almost. Laura (the wife) reminds me so much of grandma!!! It was great! They gave us some soda to drink (they always have soda here, always). We sang them a song, had a prayer and had to leave so that we could go meet up with our other companion hermana chavez. Well, Laura said that we needed more to dirnk (she did not remember that we had just drank a full glass of soda). So her husband gave us more. THen she found a bag of chicken from there lunch and said, "oh what is this. OH chicken! Here eat it all!" and gave us a plate and silverware. We tried to avoid eating, but we couldnt so we ate really fast and chugged our soda. Of course, Laura offered us more because she did not remember we had just drank two glasses of soda, and her husband gave us more. We chugged the last glass, nicely declined the french fries she offered us and said a prayer and left. We then had to run all the way to the other sector to meet with up with Hermana Chavez and the memember. It was a miracles that we could run with that much soda, and chicken haha. It was really fun. We have an appointment wednesday with them.

Wednesday we were trying to find people to leave with us all day because we had appointments in those two sectors, and we just could not find members for the whole day. The hardest thing was to step back and trust in the Lord at that point. We could do nothing more, and He told us to just trust Him. I struggle with that, trusting Him when there does not seem to be any way that things will work out. But, we did. Things did not turn out anything like we planned, but everything worked out. I am still amazed at what happened. The Lord is really smart!!!! I think the Lord has been trying to teach me to relax and trust Him, that it will all work out in the end even if it is nothing like we planned. He has the better plan, so why should we fear if we did our part? Ya, looking back on my mission, I am trusting in Him a lot more. My faith has grown, and my fear has decreased. I know He lives! I just KNOW it!!! There is no better path than His path. He can do anything, so why should we ever think twice to do exactly what He tells us to do. He is amazing and I love the Lord!

Know that members are a big work in missionary work. Befriending people that come to church, inviting people to activities (what is the worst they can say, no?,) and being good examples. Trust in the Lord. He has the best plan for us. LOVE YALL LOTS!!

con mucho mucho amor,

Hermana Taylor