Fwd: Cow Stomach, Birthdays, and Lawrenceville

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>

Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 3:17 PM
Subject: Cow Stomach, Birthdays, and Lawrenceville
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Hey y'all!

Exciting news, our new Mission President arrived in Georgia on Saturday! We meet President and Sister Bennion tomorrow at a multi-zone meeting. I'll dearly miss the Wolferts, but I'm sure great changes are to come and I'm excited to serve under the Bennions.

I arrived here in Lawrenceville this week, and I love it!! Lawrenceville is on the outskirts of metro-Atlanta, which means it's packed with middle-class subdivisions; PERFECT for finding new investigators. It's easy to navigate which will make learning the area fairly easy. The ward is incredibly supportive of missionary work-- it's nicknamed "Zion" by many in the mission. There are three companionships serving in the Lawrenceville ward-- two sets of sisters and a threesome of elders-- and each of us have nightly dinners and team-ups with ward members. The Ward Mission Leader is very organized and on top of things, and the other missionaries are great. We have three investigators on date to be baptized (!), which is better than I've had all at once before! We're teaching several children, which is awesome (sign me up for pictures and games!). I was thrilled with our statistical and spiritual successes this week. Lawrenceville is going to be a very fruitful area. 

I have save one complaint. Our apartment. We jus say "we livin in da hood" and we is ain't lyin none. :) They just got rid of most of the roaches (I've only found one here) and while it's not in the best part of town it's not in the worst, either. When I walked in for the first time on Wednesday, we wondered what the sound of running water was coming from...turned out our water heater had broken and was flooding the apartment! It didn't do much damage thank heavens, but that same day we went to a nice apartment complex in our area the sisters had been eyeing, got the information, and gave it to the mission office. The lease is up in September so we'll be moving soon. :)

My new companion is Sister Hjorth (pronounced "Yorth"), and she is a TREAT! I love her. She's from Springville, UT, the youngest of three, and she's been out nine months like me. (She came out a transfer before me, but had to go home for seven weeks to recover from a knee injury). She is loving, easygoing, hard-working, and today is her 20th birthday! We went to lunch at Panda Express to celebrate (her mom paid for her to take us four sisters out, how nice!), and I decorated the apartment and made us pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We got matching necklaces for my hump day on Wednesday (WOW that snuck up so fast!!), and we're getting along splendidly. She's a gem.

We taught Keo (Kay-o) and his two daughters Jane (12) and Kate (7) twice this week. I think I've connected with their family really well, especially the two girls. Keo and Jane are on date to be baptized on July 26th. Keo is Laotian and while his English is good, there are some barriers with the language. They are quite shy and Keo's wife has prejudices against Christianity, which has made it difficult for them to attend church; but we fasted for them Sunday to be able to attend church, and they came!! We want to meet Keo's wife to see if that helps dissolve some of her concerns. 

I'm sure you're all super curious about the above mentioned cow stomach. I got to explore some pretty crazy foods this week! In order of wow, I ate goat milk flan, okra, cactus, cajun boiled peanuts (filmed it), cow tongue, and cow stomach. Would you like to know how I liked them? Of course you would.

Goat milk flan: Delicious.

Okra: Mushy and meh. But not bad.

Cactus: It was cooked in legit Mexican tomales (not the spiky part :) ).Super yum.

Cajun boiled peanuts: Spicy mush. A mix of "meh" with *fanning my mouth*

Cow tongue: Taste? Thumbs up. Texture? Lil' weird. Only because you know what it is.

Cow stomach: An.....experience. Probs would not have been brave enough if I'd known what it was before I ate it. **details for the strong stomached** 

It's fuzzy-ish on one side and slippery on the other. Taste is bland, texture is weird. Probs a one time experience...but I ATE IT. Never thought Georgia would leave me so cultured!

I left my plug-in today so pictures are coming next week. :)

Have a wonderful week!
Sister Taylor

Fwd: Wild Boars, Excellence, and Dodge Chargers

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>

Date: Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 3:07 PM
Subject: Wild Boars, Excellence, and Dodge Chargers
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Hey yall,

First of all, we got transfer calls today! On Wednesday, I'll be shipped off to Lawrenceville with Sister Hjorth (pronounced "Yorth") as my new companion. I will miss Canton. I've grown close to many people here and it's not fun to leave. But I'm excited for a fresh start, and I served close to Sister Hjorth in my first area and she's awesome. I'm excited to be her companion! 

This last week had some serious blessings! We have one investigator, Gavin, on date for baptism! Several part-member and less-active families are also swimming into our teaching pool. We were also able to get a standard of three, which I've never done before! (Our mission has "Standards of Excellence", extra goals, that we strive for to help us improve and reach higher each week-- our mission standards are 70 contacts, 5 new investigators, 2 investigators at church, 1 on date for baptism, or 5 lessons to investigators with members present. Each one accomplished in a week is a "standard".). God poured out so many blessings, big and small, this week for us. 

Finding Gavin was a miracle. He is nine, and the son of a less active member/recent convert, Stephanie. We were tracting a neighborhood and decided to leave because there was too much rain and thunder, and we didn't feel good about the area. Sister Alvey said, "You tell me where to go and be led by the Spirit," so I did my best and gave her lefts and rights as we went. After several turns we ended up across a main highway in a condo complex. The GPS said Stephanie lived there, so we decided to stop by. I had knocked on her door several times before and never met her. They pulled up right then, and we were able to set up a return appointment, at which Gavin eagerly accepted the invitation to take the lessons and be baptized. He is on date for August 21st, his tenth birthday. He is a treat to teach and the simple games, visuals, and object lessons strongly bring the Spirit. His mom, though a member, was never very active so she is learning right along with him. We knew the timing of meeting them, their readiness, and our being led there was God's handiwork in action. They would have been at church on Sunday but Stephanie is having heart problems and couldn't make it. So please pray that Gavin and Stephanie will be able to continue to investigate the church without her health preventing it.

For the first time ever, the lessons to investigators and less-active/recent convert lessons GREATLY outnumbered the number of member lessons we taught! They just fell into our lap; it was so thrilling to see the blessings pour in! We're being obedient and we're working hard. I think some of the blessings we are receiving are because we're prepared to receive them. God cleared our plate and then filled it with even better blessings. 

One funny little miracle. I saw a nice, shiny, grey Dodge Charger in front of us while we were driving to an appointment. It's a nice car, right? So I reeeeally wanted to see the front of it. It kept going straight when we turned, so I didn't see the sides or front. I was bummed. So I said a quick hopeful prayer and asked to please see another Dodge Charger so I could get a better view. I quickly forgot about it. Then that very afternoon, at that same intersection, what did I see? I saw a bright red, gleaming Dodge Charger right in front of me! And, lo and behold, it turned just as I did, so I got a lovely view of the side and front. I laughed and said a quick prayer of thanks. More than seeing a nice car, it reminded me that God cares about the little, little things.

On another random note, we tracted a podunk little street and were then warned TWICE that day about wild boars in the area! Apparently, when they were clearing out a nearby forest for a reservoir, a pig farmer retired and released his pigs into the wild, creating a large boar population. So, we're done tracting there. We were sufficiently warned. But we did meet some lovely people on that street (including Danny, a nice black man missing teeth, who was full of sunshine and southern hospitality, singing as he walked away. Said he'd come to church, hope he does!). 

I love Sister Alvey and I'll miss working with her. We are totally different but I'm grateful I got to work with and learn from her. She's delightful and completely dedicated. She is strong and bold. I hope some of her talents will rub off on me as I go on to Lawrenceville. Canton has been an incredible experience, I'm really going to miss it. 

Love, 

Your Favorite Sweaty Peach, Sister Taylor

P.S. Pic from my bike ride this morning and of Gavin's family. :)

Fwd: Shirley Temple, Empty Parks, and Woodstock

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>

Date: Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 12:10 PM
Subject: Shirley Temple, Empty Parks, and Woodstock
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Hey yall,

If you want to take a shower without the effort, just come to Georgia in the summer and stand outside. It's either raining, or ridiculously humid, or both. You're welcome. 

We had a successful week, but not in the ways we wanted or expected. Last week all our investigators dropped us, this week several return appointments and investigator lessons fell through, and we've struggled to find decent places to tract. (Houses are often either scarce, sketchy, have no parking on the wooded roads, too far apart, too far away, or more wealthy than we'd like.) But you know what? We also got three referrals this week, some fabulous less active work done, and we're doing our best. It's like mail. Some of the big packages of success we wanted were sent standard mail, and the small packages of miracles got sent priority. We got lots of blessings envelopes, a couple miracle packages, and we're hoping to open some big whoppers soon. ;)

A big blessing this week was finding five new less-active families to work with! How we found the Beatty's was a miracle. We were tracting, but after only a door or two there was too much thunder, lightning, and rain to continue knocking doors. Sister Alvey said, "I'll drive, you be led by the Spirit and tell me where to go." So, I did my best, giving her lefts and rights. I felt like we needed to get to the main highway; lo and behold, the lefts and rights got us there. We saw a townhome complex across the way and felt good about it. We ended up at a less active family's home, pulled up at the same time, and we have a return appointment this week. We hope to reactivate the mother and baptize her 11 year old son! The Spiritual GPS works!!

So remember last week's poetic tale on the porch of an angry preacher? His wife, Tina, REFERRED HERSELF TO US ON MORMON.ORG. She requested a Book of Mormon, so we're going back! We haven't gotten ahold of her yet, but we plan on visiting her next-door neighbors first because we don't want a repeat of last week's theatrics. Both Sister Alvey and I felt the Spirit tell us to just go back, don't try to plan it out, just let the Spirit lead us (I thought of 1 Nephi 4:6 when Nephi enters Jerusalem by night, and is led by the Spirit to get the records from wicked king Laban). Looking forward to what happens with Tina!

My favorite miracle was Sunday morning. Saturday night we prayed for a solid investigator to fall into our lap on Sunday, because we'd done everything we could to find one and hadn't succeeded. Sunday morning, the bishop approached us and said a member's girlfriend, Brittney, had come to church several times, is ready to be taught, and wants to be baptized. HALLELOOYAH!!!! I'm working on exercising specific faith, because every time we've tried it this week, it's worked. We are being blessed. 

God's sure teaching me bunches about faith and patience. (I did pray for patience...so...I asked for it.) Sunday night we went to a park to contact. It looked empty, except for some Latino men playing soccer on the other side, and a few small children I played soccer with for a minute (Latino kids are adorable). We walked around and found one or two people to contact. At one point, we sat on a bench and Sister Alvey said, "Let's just wait here till more people come to us." I didn't want to do that-- sitting around waiting for people to approach us sounded pretty ineffective to me. But I decided to be patient, try to have faith it would work, and try it. Sure enough, after a few minutes on the bench and more walking around, we ended up getting several contacts there, mostly in broken Spanish. Faith works!

We had exchanges this week, and I joined Sister Buhler in Woodstock! It was such a blessing to be reunited with my awesome trainer again! Most of our appointments fell through; but because of that we got to spend more time talking together while we knocked doors, which was a blessing. We reflected on the last several months and we've both grown a lot. I'm grateful we got to support each other and be companions again for a day.

I forgot to tell yall, I met Shirley Temple last week!! She's in her eighties, living alone in an adorable little old cottage in Waleska. Okay, maybe she's not the famous one, but she grew up at the same time and it was cute to find she had the same name. :)

We've got another hot and smoldering, but miraculous and fantastic week ahead of us. :)

Have a great week!

Sister Taylor

Fwd: Sleepovers, Poems, and Satan in my Eye

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>

Date: Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 12:54 PM
Subject: Sleepovers, Poems, and Satan in my Eye
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Yall.

Enjoy, this week I felt to write my stories out in verse.

I've got some crazy things to tell, so type them now I durst.

We met with a less active. Loads of fun. Her name is Kate.

She said a seed of faith has been replanted; we felt great!

And so that night when we got home our hearts were full with glee,

Until we looked and looked and found...that we had no house key.

We had no access to a spare and curfew came and went,

So other sisters took us in and there the night we spent.

Everything turned out alright, the mission brought us spares,

That senior couple even bought us hashbrowns, how they care!

It ended an adventure though it started with frustration,

And this I've learned; the remedy to overcome those things is patience.

Wednesday turned out wonderful, although we hadn't planned;

But we found out that God can orchestrate His work, it's in His hands!

All appointments set themselves, their timing smooth and sound,

God makes the plans, whether or not we firstly write them down.

Jehovah's Witness? Yup, we got invited in her home.

We talked about the Bible, and some planted seeds we've sown.

Once when we asked, she said, "I'm not quite sure, I'll look that up."

How neat to see her learn more truth! More blessings in our cup.

This tale will top it all. We sure set off one preacher's torch,

He screamed that we were Satan for an hour on his porch.

His wife was kind and said she felt that we were sent from God,

But he was furious and sure that we were devils full of fraud.

"GIVE ME THAT BOOK A MORMON!" Spat he, with a dirty look.

"I'LL SIT RIGHT HERE AND PROVE TO YOU THAT IT'S THE DEVIL'S BOOK!"

We shared a verse about the still small voice through which God speaks,

His wife agreed and asked us back; he stormed back to his feet.

(He'd searched throughout it's pages, looking for Satanic roots,

He never found a single thing, that should have been a clue.)

He pointed right at me, "I SEE SATAN IN HER EYES!!"

He yelled out Bible verses-- props to him, they're memorized.

It would have been more scary to have heard him scream so loud,

But at four foot ten, it didn't make us cringe to hear him howl.

Once, for near two minutes, he got quite close to our faces,

Screaming, "SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!", neighbors watched it from their places!

(Apparently this kind of show was his typical preaching way,

The neighbor later told us that he preaches every DAY.)

He tried casting us out as devils, and told his wife, "IT'S THEM OR ME!"

She said, "I'll take their card". He yelled, "YOU SEE?! YOU'VE BEEN DECEIVED!"

We stood our ground with kindness, sharing our Christian beliefs.

I must admit, one thing he did was comical relief.

There was a bag of garden sod, just lying on the ground,

For emphasis, he stood on it and said, "I CAST YOU OUT!"

We asked his wife to pray for us, and eventually we left.

Though theatrics and dramatics ruled, we know there we were sent.

In other news, our plate has slowly cleared of ones to teach.

But I believe there's something better God's preparing us to reach.

Please pray for Lucy, Joel, and Jason; they could use some prayers.

We know that God works miracles, our faith will help them there.

I love you all and want you to know I know this Church is true.

The Spirit gives me words to say, his promptings guide us through.

And if you're not missing me enough, please support your local mailer,

With all my love, until next week, your southern Sister Taylor.

Fwd: Donkeys & Gordon B Hinckley

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>

Date: Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 2:41 PM
Subject: Donkeys & Gordon B Hinckley
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Fam & Friends & Yall,

Today is my 8 month mark! Crazy yes? In 30 days I'll be halfway through, and ten months from now I'll be nearly home. It's flying by. I love it here and I know I still have much to accomplish. It's going to be a packed ten months!

We did both my favorite and the saddest service project ever this week. With our investigator Lucy, we brushed and washed a member's sick donkey, Louis. This poor donkey has a horrible case of founder, which is a disease that warps the hooves so they are shaped like the bottom of a boat on the bottom, instead of being flat and sturdy. It makes it terribly painful to stand, and without medication, he can only stand for a few minutes before he collapses in pain.

He also has a disease that prevents him from shedding properly, and since everyone has focused on the show horse, Louis hasn't been groomed or washed in at least several months-- Lucy says years. He has only a small, dirty, rocky stall for protection from the hot sun and needless to say, with all of that he is miserable and neglected. Corny it may sound, but it broke my heart to see that donkey hurt so badly and need so much grooming and love; and by golly, I was going to love him to pieces while I could!

His coat was so matted and muddy that I had to take scissors to cut out matted chunks of hair. We scrubbed and combed and cut and pulled hair for over an hour before we had him looking decent. While we worked, Louis happily watched us and stood very patiently, despite the pain he was obviously feeling. He was a very good boy. He struggled back to his pen, and I stayed with him for a minute (within sight and sound of my companion, of course ;)) just talking to him. I hope he felt better. I'll send pictures next week if I can get copies.

Back to missionary work. While we worked on Louis, we learned more about Lucy and how we can help her. We're going to invite her to be baptized tonight. After embracing Judaism for a long time, she is just opening herself up to Christianity again. We're hoping for the best!

Bittersweet. This week was our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Wolfert, before we get our new mission president in July. The first few hours were just for me. President Wolfert gave a training based on President Gordon B Hinckley's mission advice-- Forget yourself and go to work.

That was exactly for me. I've realized that thus far on my mission, one of my biggest goals has been to improve myself-- become a better missionary, more converted disciple, and a more refined, Christ-like person. That is a good goal, but I can't forget myself completely and go to work with that as my biggest focus.  I'm still working on myself personally, but I realized I need to give 100% of my efforts to serving others, and as I do, Christ will change me better than I could ever change myself.

That's a valuable lesson on faith. When Alma teaches about planting a seed of faith, he says that we see the growth of the seed as we plant it and nourish it; in other words, as we act on it. In my case, I've been studying the plant instead of watering it. Studying it may give you a pretty thorough understanding of it, but the plant is no closer to growing than it was before I studied it. When you exercise faith, nourish it. Set goals. Say prayers. Take a leap of faith, even if (and especially if!) it's out of your comfort zone. God shows us where to go as we're walking. I know you'll see the Lord's specific plans for you unfold as you start walking in faith.

So with that, the month of consecration is perfect timing! Once a year for the last few years, the mission has been doing the Month of Consecration-- where exact obedience is especially emphasized, we make goals to sacrifice things that prevent us from serving 100%, and we begin with a mission fast. I'm looking forward to seeing miracles throughout the month as the work goes on.

Please keep Joel Rogers (faith to accept existence of God and take the lessons), Jason (to get a solid teaching opportunity with him), and Lucy (faith to accept Christ and humbly seek truth) in your prayers.

Happy summer, and if you're in Utah, shout praises for dry heat!! :)

Love,
Sister Taylor