Hey There family!
How is everything in the states? Are yall watching some of the world cup? Here in Chile almost EVERYONE watches the World Cup! We could not use public transportation today because of the match between chile and Holland. Rumor has it that people burned a bunch of buses after the last match. But, it doesnt really affect us very much, just a little on game days.
This week was fantastic and also one of the weirdest weeks of my mission. Wednesday i called the mission nurse about a weird bump on my finger and she told me it is a"bible tumor". Weird huh! The real name is a ganglion cyst but back in the old days they tried to break this bump thing by dropping the big huge family bible on the finger. Unfortunately, many times they also broke hands haha. So i will just live with my bible tumor until i go back to the states. It is just in my finger joint and is weird but does not hurt.
Thursday we had Zone Conference and learned about the Apostacy and the Restoration. The Apostacy was a HUGE HORRIBLE event!!! I have to say that i do not know very much about the apostacy, but our mission president does now. Apostacy basically happens when we reject the prophets (or apostles back in the day). That is when it all happened and when they basically sealed their fate. Apostacy means "rebellion" and is not a casual falling away bit by bit. IT WAS A REBELLION! The apostles saw that their very own converts were the ones that started corrupting the church. The apostacy starts concerning how we feel about the apostles. If we do not support them and follow them, we are apostasizing. (this is from my mission president and it is true.)
Revelations 2:2 says that the bishop or church was claiming that they were called as apostles (but the apostles never ordained them or anything like it). In verse 5 it basically says "I will take the church away from yall" (just some notes i took)
He talked about how Rome at that time worshipped many gods and that they persecuted the saints and that this had a cause in the apostacy too. The bible ends in 95 ad about, and after that we do not have records for more than 100 years. we do not know what happened, but we know that the priesthood was taken away because of the wickedness of the church.
The restoration is not one event either (i always thought of it as an event or something that happened over just a few years). We truly are participating in the restoration still, truths are still being restored (that is why in the 70s all people were given the opportunity to receive the priesthood regardless of race). It really is amazing and i am still studying more.
Friday, we had a lesson with Tomás, a 14 year old kid. He had read the book of mormon, or the chapthers that we left him and liked it. He truly is looking for truth and when we told him about Joseph Smith it was really cool because Tomás is 14 like Joseph Smith was int he first vision. His mom was really busy selling fried food outside of their house, but we asked her if she wanted to participate in the prayer. She said ok and tomás prayed giving thanks and also to know if what we had shared with him was true. After he fiinished, She asked if she could pray and in the prayer she thanks the Lord for sending us to her son and family. We never even talked to her, but something happened, something improved in their family!!!! We are really excited to talk to the whole family this week.
Saturday we left our house to go and contact some people. We were walking down the street when all of a sudden my companion´s skirt falls right down to the ground in the middle of the street. She quickly pulled it up, but could not get to her belt to fix her skirt because she had so many layers. Luckily there were only two guys digging a hole in the middle of the street and they did not see (at least we hope not). Suffice it to say, she threw that skirt away after that.
Saturday night we had a family home evening with an incomplete family, The Román Family in which the dad is not a member. we taught the Restoration and the Spirit was SO STRONG!!!! The dad, Manuel, said that he felt the spirit and so did the whole family. it was awesome and we are seeing him soften up little by little. The family got baptized 9 years ago but he never had time to listen because he was working. Now he works less and we are taking advantage of that.
That night, i was doing a handstand in our little study room and i hit my foot on the dryer (it is in the middle of our little room) and hit it pretty hard. I had to limp around at church and after, but it was a pretty dumb move i made haha. I asked for the Lord to heal my foot because i know that i need to work and share the gospel and after sacrament meeting my foot was already feeling better. After church i was still hobbling home, but i felt that we needed to talk to a woman that passed us. We gave her a card and she immediately asked us to pray for her because this week she got robbed and did not have money to pay her bills. We were able to pray with her, comfort her, and give her a book of mormon. We sent her referral already to the office. The Lord truly puts people in our path if we are ready to listen to the spirit. Also, He helps us even when we do stupid things, like a handstand where there really isnt enough space and we need help with our foot because we hit it really hard. Today my foot is almost all better and it really is a miracle!!!
I am learning a little bit about joy here in Sótero del Río. Joy truly comes from other people, seeing their accomplishments and seeing them come closer to the lord. When we walked away from the appointments with Tomás and the Román family, we were so full of joy that i cannot express it in words. To see someone learn to feel the Spirit and see the changes that the Lord is working in their lives is priceless. It makes every step that we have walked worth it just to see that little change in one of our brothers or sisters. I truly am happy in the mission and am so grateful for the opportunity to serve all these people here in Chile.
I love yall a ton!!!! Take care and serve others!! Have a joyful week!!
love
hermana Taylor
Friday, June 27, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
June 16, 2014
dearest family,
HAPPY FATHER´S DAY DAD!!!! I hope it was great and I will see you the next father´s day!
Hey!!!! Thanks for writing me! How are you all doing? Are yall melting with all of the heat there? I hope that yall are doing fantastic!
Chile is wonderful! It is kind of cold here (it is winter) but I love it! I definitely have fallen in love with chile! We are definitely learning a lot here. We had a few adventures here in Sótero del Río this week. There are a ton of inactives in Chile in wherever you look. We had contacted a man the week before and we went to see if he was home and his mom came out to talk to us. She was baptized 5 years ago, but inactived about a year later. She did not want to return, but she listened to us and then gave us walnuts (a lot of time people we do not know let us into their house and give us food. it is awesome!). We went home after that, but we did not have keys so we were locked out. So, we sat in front of our house, planned a little and ate walnuts. It was great! We were outside for about 15 minutes until the other hermanas returned. We then went inside and continued to eat walnuts until my companion found a maggot inside of one of hers haha. Lesson learned, be careful when strangers give you food haha.
Wednesday we had a meeting with Elder Robbyns of the 70. That was really cool. He talked to us and Santiago Norte, and he talked about how the mission was just like taking an advanced course in Christ like attributes. Therefore i am enrolled in Diligence 505, Faith 505, and also Marriage prep 505. It made us all laugh, but it is true that the mission is kind of like a prep for the rest of our lives. I do not know if I have changed too many lives or done too much here, but i know that i am a different person now than i was before.
Thanks to Elder Robbyns, we are a lot more grateful for the challenges that we have here in the mission. I even prayed saying, "Heavenly Father, thanks for the challenges. I am willing to learn more if I need to. " or something like that. The rest of the week was a little bit harder than normal haha. No one was home, we walked in circles in our little sector, and even the people did not want to listen to us, but we did not get discouraged. We just kept on going knowing that we were just enrolled in an advanced course of diligence. Sunday, the very last hour of the day, we found a cool kid in the street named Tomas. We almost did not talk to him, but we did and he said that he was really interested in religion because he does not have one. When we said that the message we share blesses the families, he said that that was what he wanted because there was no peace in his house. we will pass by again this week to visit with him and hopefully with his family too. It is always the very end that we see the results, we just have toendure to the end.
I realized Sunday too, that being far away from my family I got to celebrate Father´s day with my Heavenly Father. It was kind of the best because many times i forget to tell Him how much I love Him and appreciate Him. I love that He trusts me enough to send me here to Chile to be a missionary and represent His son, Jesus Christ. I am also very grateful for the challenges because it just means that we are taking a more advanced course to graduate in the celestial kingdom. Challenges are great!
I love yall un montón y espero que tengan una semana de crecimiento y felicidad!!! Les quiero mucho!
con amor,
Hermana Taylor
Some pictures:
HAPPY FATHER´S DAY DAD!!!! I hope it was great and I will see you the next father´s day!
Hey!!!! Thanks for writing me! How are you all doing? Are yall melting with all of the heat there? I hope that yall are doing fantastic!
Chile is wonderful! It is kind of cold here (it is winter) but I love it! I definitely have fallen in love with chile! We are definitely learning a lot here. We had a few adventures here in Sótero del Río this week. There are a ton of inactives in Chile in wherever you look. We had contacted a man the week before and we went to see if he was home and his mom came out to talk to us. She was baptized 5 years ago, but inactived about a year later. She did not want to return, but she listened to us and then gave us walnuts (a lot of time people we do not know let us into their house and give us food. it is awesome!). We went home after that, but we did not have keys so we were locked out. So, we sat in front of our house, planned a little and ate walnuts. It was great! We were outside for about 15 minutes until the other hermanas returned. We then went inside and continued to eat walnuts until my companion found a maggot inside of one of hers haha. Lesson learned, be careful when strangers give you food haha.
Wednesday we had a meeting with Elder Robbyns of the 70. That was really cool. He talked to us and Santiago Norte, and he talked about how the mission was just like taking an advanced course in Christ like attributes. Therefore i am enrolled in Diligence 505, Faith 505, and also Marriage prep 505. It made us all laugh, but it is true that the mission is kind of like a prep for the rest of our lives. I do not know if I have changed too many lives or done too much here, but i know that i am a different person now than i was before.
Thanks to Elder Robbyns, we are a lot more grateful for the challenges that we have here in the mission. I even prayed saying, "Heavenly Father, thanks for the challenges. I am willing to learn more if I need to. " or something like that. The rest of the week was a little bit harder than normal haha. No one was home, we walked in circles in our little sector, and even the people did not want to listen to us, but we did not get discouraged. We just kept on going knowing that we were just enrolled in an advanced course of diligence. Sunday, the very last hour of the day, we found a cool kid in the street named Tomas. We almost did not talk to him, but we did and he said that he was really interested in religion because he does not have one. When we said that the message we share blesses the families, he said that that was what he wanted because there was no peace in his house. we will pass by again this week to visit with him and hopefully with his family too. It is always the very end that we see the results, we just have toendure to the end.
I realized Sunday too, that being far away from my family I got to celebrate Father´s day with my Heavenly Father. It was kind of the best because many times i forget to tell Him how much I love Him and appreciate Him. I love that He trusts me enough to send me here to Chile to be a missionary and represent His son, Jesus Christ. I am also very grateful for the challenges because it just means that we are taking a more advanced course to graduate in the celestial kingdom. Challenges are great!
I love yall un montón y espero que tengan una semana de crecimiento y felicidad!!! Les quiero mucho!
con amor,
Hermana Taylor
Some pictures:
 |
| A weird goat picture thing we found in the apartment (elders lived there before) |
 |
| Hermana Escobar and her new companion, Hermana Valladares |
 |
| It snowed and it hardly ever snows in Santiago (we were a little excited) |
 |
| It rained A LOT! |
 |
| A weird fruit called Noni (it's like jello with seeds) |
 |
| Hermana Bohman and I with our hippie pants! |
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
June 9, 2014
Dearest family,
How are yall up there in the warm United States haha? Summer has started for everyone now right? I hope that everyone is doing great!
Santiago has gotten pretty cold. Winter has definitely started here, but with lots of layers we can keep the cold at bay. In Sótero del Río we live in a little house, 4 missionaries. We definitely had some adventures in our house this week. First, the hot water heater needed a new battery, but we did not know what kind nor where to buy one. Tuesday we had to mess with the heater for 15 minutes before it turned on, but i basically showered cold (the mission has taught me how to take showers really quickly). Wednesday, we found the right battery and we were happy. Sunday, one sister took a shower and next it was my turn and she told me that she could not turn off the water. After my shower, i tried to turn it off and it did not want to turn off, but we got it down to just a little stream. The valve that turns off the water inthe bathroom stopped working too so we had to just leave it at that and go to church. When we came back, I thought, "If i play with it i think that i can get it to turn off." That was a bad idea. It got stuck on almost fullblast haha. We called the office elder for help, and eventually we found to valve to turn off the hot water. We will manage with this until someone comes to fix it. That was just one of our adventures this week.
Tuesday, it rained almost all day. My companion nor i had rainboots, but we stopped by a member´s house and they let us borrow some rainboots. We are very grateful because it rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday too. In Santiago the streets flood and some streets are like rivers. It is really cool with rainboots. Mom, just so you know, i used the raincoat you bought me for most of last week. It kept me dry and warm.
Tuesday was cool because we were cold and wet all day, but we knew good things were going to happen. At one point we contacted a women in the street but she did not want anything, but we asked her if she knew somebody that was and she gave us a reference. At the end of the day we went to contact this reference and they let us right in the house. They our Evangelicos, but they listened to us and the 13 year old daughter is very receptive. We have hope for them. Each day of rain it seemed like we had to wait until the very end of the day to see miracles. I think the Lord likes to try our faith and perseverance and diligence.
I have been learning a ton about faith this week. I read the story of ammon (my favorite) and it mentions the faith of Ammon, the king, Mosiah,and the queen, and more. This great huge miracle that happened is thanks to the faith of all these people. Ammon did not have success first thing in his mission, but it came. Sometimes the Lord makes us persevere in order to receive the coveted blessings, but it is all for our benefit.I love the faith of the queen because she had never heard the missionaries nor heard anything of God. In spite of her ignorance, she sought out ammon and had faith in his declaration that King Lamoni would rise the next day. She did not even know what a prophet was, but she listened to him and hearkened to his counsel. We have a prophet today, President Monson, and how many times does he give us counsel and we just brush it off? In the last general conference they gave us counsel in how to protect our family by reading the scriptures, having family home evening, etc. Are we listening? For me this was humbling because many times I have not listened even though I know that we have a living prophet who talks to the Lord. Sometimes I doubted that we would really find people here in Sotero del Rio, but everyday the Lord just told me to have faith and keep moving on. I know that the Lord keeps His promises, I KNOW IT! We just need to have to faith to heed the counsel that He has given us through His chosen leaders or prophets and apostles.
Les quiero mucho!!!!!!!!
con amor,
Hermana Taylor
Some pictures for you:
How are yall up there in the warm United States haha? Summer has started for everyone now right? I hope that everyone is doing great!
Santiago has gotten pretty cold. Winter has definitely started here, but with lots of layers we can keep the cold at bay. In Sótero del Río we live in a little house, 4 missionaries. We definitely had some adventures in our house this week. First, the hot water heater needed a new battery, but we did not know what kind nor where to buy one. Tuesday we had to mess with the heater for 15 minutes before it turned on, but i basically showered cold (the mission has taught me how to take showers really quickly). Wednesday, we found the right battery and we were happy. Sunday, one sister took a shower and next it was my turn and she told me that she could not turn off the water. After my shower, i tried to turn it off and it did not want to turn off, but we got it down to just a little stream. The valve that turns off the water inthe bathroom stopped working too so we had to just leave it at that and go to church. When we came back, I thought, "If i play with it i think that i can get it to turn off." That was a bad idea. It got stuck on almost fullblast haha. We called the office elder for help, and eventually we found to valve to turn off the hot water. We will manage with this until someone comes to fix it. That was just one of our adventures this week.
Tuesday, it rained almost all day. My companion nor i had rainboots, but we stopped by a member´s house and they let us borrow some rainboots. We are very grateful because it rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday too. In Santiago the streets flood and some streets are like rivers. It is really cool with rainboots. Mom, just so you know, i used the raincoat you bought me for most of last week. It kept me dry and warm.
Tuesday was cool because we were cold and wet all day, but we knew good things were going to happen. At one point we contacted a women in the street but she did not want anything, but we asked her if she knew somebody that was and she gave us a reference. At the end of the day we went to contact this reference and they let us right in the house. They our Evangelicos, but they listened to us and the 13 year old daughter is very receptive. We have hope for them. Each day of rain it seemed like we had to wait until the very end of the day to see miracles. I think the Lord likes to try our faith and perseverance and diligence.
I have been learning a ton about faith this week. I read the story of ammon (my favorite) and it mentions the faith of Ammon, the king, Mosiah,and the queen, and more. This great huge miracle that happened is thanks to the faith of all these people. Ammon did not have success first thing in his mission, but it came. Sometimes the Lord makes us persevere in order to receive the coveted blessings, but it is all for our benefit.I love the faith of the queen because she had never heard the missionaries nor heard anything of God. In spite of her ignorance, she sought out ammon and had faith in his declaration that King Lamoni would rise the next day. She did not even know what a prophet was, but she listened to him and hearkened to his counsel. We have a prophet today, President Monson, and how many times does he give us counsel and we just brush it off? In the last general conference they gave us counsel in how to protect our family by reading the scriptures, having family home evening, etc. Are we listening? For me this was humbling because many times I have not listened even though I know that we have a living prophet who talks to the Lord. Sometimes I doubted that we would really find people here in Sotero del Rio, but everyday the Lord just told me to have faith and keep moving on. I know that the Lord keeps His promises, I KNOW IT! We just need to have to faith to heed the counsel that He has given us through His chosen leaders or prophets and apostles.
Les quiero mucho!!!!!!!!
con amor,
Hermana Taylor
Some pictures for you:
 |
| Our house in Sotero del Rio |
 |
| When it rains, it floods |
 |
| After rain, the mountains are always full of snow |
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
June 2, 2014
Hola familia!
Wow, Ben graduating is pretty bakan! That is cool about the picture that he took too. I have not heard of that before and it is a really cool picture! That is so cool!!!!! Also it is cool that the family could all get together almost. Lindsey seems super great!!!! I am excited to see my new niece in october.
This week really was full of miracles! Last Sunday, Gladys (we have been visiting her for 7 months now) told us that she felt something really special in church. This week she put her own baptismal date, July 26th, the week after they get married.After she put that baptismal date, they went through something REALLY hard, but she stayed firm and told us that they had planned it all out: July 19th marriage, July 26th baptism, November next year sealing in the temple. Even though her family was having a trial super big, she said that she was firm in her decision to get baptized. Really, this is a miracle and we are so excited for her and praying for her family!
Friday we visited Fabiola and her family. She is not a member and her husband is inactive. We talked to her and asked her questions. She said that she can see herself as a member and that she believes everything, just it is really hard to break apart from the culture and traditions where you were raised (the lamanites that converted, that must have really been tough to change). We invited her to church and she was iffy about it, but said that she would go. This is a really big progress for her. She is so receptive and we know that she will get baptized, it is just a matter of when.
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and always there are miracles there. One miracle is that Fabiola came to church!!!!!!!!!!!! She loved it and stayed for the three hours, and this is the first time that she came without her husband. It is a miracle that she came by herself and stayed the whole time. Another investigator, Jorge, came. He is baptist, really baptist. He was sick, but came anyway and stayed for the sacrament meeting. It was great. Also, Gladys came in the middle of sacrament meeting (normally they get there at the very end) which is a miracle in itself also. I got to give my testimony too on Sunday, the last time in Trinidad.
Sunday after church, we went to visit Gloria, a new investigator. This was the second appointment we had with her. We shared about the Restoration, and she said that she believed everything. She felt that it was true. We invited her to be baptized and she almost said yes. She has a ton of potential and we are really excited about her!!!
Today I got transferred to the ward Sotero del Río, just a couple of wards over from Trinidad. I am here with Hermana Bohman from Utah,and we are doing a whitewash (they took out the companionship and put us newbies in). Our sector is small, but it is great! Hermana Bohman is fantastic! My old companion, Hermana Escobar, is training a new missionary. Things are great here and I love the mission!!! I am learning a lot about conversion, about truly giving your will over to the Lord. As I have done this, i have been even happier here in the mission and in these short few days it has made a big difference. I am pretty stubborn, but the Lord is patient. One of my goals is to truly give my will over to Him. He knows what is best for me and how i can truly serve others. I just love the mission!!!!! I love yall too!!!!Cuídense!!!
con amor,
hermana taylor
Wow, Ben graduating is pretty bakan! That is cool about the picture that he took too. I have not heard of that before and it is a really cool picture! That is so cool!!!!! Also it is cool that the family could all get together almost. Lindsey seems super great!!!! I am excited to see my new niece in october.
This week really was full of miracles! Last Sunday, Gladys (we have been visiting her for 7 months now) told us that she felt something really special in church. This week she put her own baptismal date, July 26th, the week after they get married.After she put that baptismal date, they went through something REALLY hard, but she stayed firm and told us that they had planned it all out: July 19th marriage, July 26th baptism, November next year sealing in the temple. Even though her family was having a trial super big, she said that she was firm in her decision to get baptized. Really, this is a miracle and we are so excited for her and praying for her family!
Friday we visited Fabiola and her family. She is not a member and her husband is inactive. We talked to her and asked her questions. She said that she can see herself as a member and that she believes everything, just it is really hard to break apart from the culture and traditions where you were raised (the lamanites that converted, that must have really been tough to change). We invited her to church and she was iffy about it, but said that she would go. This is a really big progress for her. She is so receptive and we know that she will get baptized, it is just a matter of when.
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and always there are miracles there. One miracle is that Fabiola came to church!!!!!!!!!!!! She loved it and stayed for the three hours, and this is the first time that she came without her husband. It is a miracle that she came by herself and stayed the whole time. Another investigator, Jorge, came. He is baptist, really baptist. He was sick, but came anyway and stayed for the sacrament meeting. It was great. Also, Gladys came in the middle of sacrament meeting (normally they get there at the very end) which is a miracle in itself also. I got to give my testimony too on Sunday, the last time in Trinidad.
Sunday after church, we went to visit Gloria, a new investigator. This was the second appointment we had with her. We shared about the Restoration, and she said that she believed everything. She felt that it was true. We invited her to be baptized and she almost said yes. She has a ton of potential and we are really excited about her!!!
Today I got transferred to the ward Sotero del Río, just a couple of wards over from Trinidad. I am here with Hermana Bohman from Utah,and we are doing a whitewash (they took out the companionship and put us newbies in). Our sector is small, but it is great! Hermana Bohman is fantastic! My old companion, Hermana Escobar, is training a new missionary. Things are great here and I love the mission!!! I am learning a lot about conversion, about truly giving your will over to the Lord. As I have done this, i have been even happier here in the mission and in these short few days it has made a big difference. I am pretty stubborn, but the Lord is patient. One of my goals is to truly give my will over to Him. He knows what is best for me and how i can truly serve others. I just love the mission!!!!! I love yall too!!!!Cuídense!!!
con amor,
hermana taylor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)