Fwd: Stone Mountain, Families, and Fruit of Labors!

Date: Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 3:35 PM

Subject: Stone Mountain, Families, and Fruit of Labors!
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

Yall!!

Can I get an AMEN! I might could raise up outta here!

This has been the most fruitful week of my mission thus far. I especially feel so happy and privileged to be working with so many families to teach!! On Saturday alone we taught three families with members present. We're teaching two solid families, two more are slowly progressing, and we have return appointments with at least two more families this week. That's six families!!!! I've felt, while pondering our prosperous circumstances, awe for our incredible teaching pool, and a desire to maintain this momentum so the Lord can keep blessing us. I've been a little afraid that it won't last if I mess up. This morning I read Helaman 3:25-27:

"..So great was the prosperity of the church, and so may the blessings which were poured out upon the people that...[they]...were astonished beyond measure....the work of the Lord did prosper unto the baptizing..of..many souls, yea, even tens of thousands. Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will...call upon his holy name."

That gave me comfort and taught me that we don't earn all the blessings God gives us. When we unite in His cause, and serve Him, He blesses us as abundantly as he pleases, as he did to the Nephites at that time. We've been praying and fasting oft (Helaman 3:35) for the families we're teaching, and as a result we are seeing the Lord work miracles in our work and in their lives. I'm so grateful for this incredibly fruitful time of my mission!

Jeff & Georgina are a couple we started teaching this week. Missionaries found them in February and they flaked out on their first appointment-- but we reconnected with them while going through our potentials records and they agreed to meet with us. He is Baptist, she is Catholic, and they have two young boys. It became clear that they both have questions about the Atonement and Plan of Salvation, and neither wholly agree with their own church's views. They kept their commitment from our first visit to watch an Atonement video online, and we committed them to read Alma 34 before we come again on Wednesday. Unless the Spirit directs otherwise, we'll invite them to be baptized this week. 

The Shaq's, as we've nicknamed them, are the large family we talked about last week. We're teaching five of them now-- a ten year old and four 17-20 year olds. They've kept commitments to read, meet with us almost every day, and are still progressing. They're incredibly prepared. Kedra highlighted verses and took notes in her Book of Mormon, the three boys read from the illustrated Book of Mormon to help understand the stories (they've read at least eight chapters so far!), and Amber has read some as well. They couldn't come to church this week because, guess why? They were just FEEDING THE HOMELESS. Kind of the best excuse I've ever been given for not coming to church. We brought it up last minute so we're going to push for next week. We're hoping to have them on date for baptism this week, and to prepare for later in August or early September.

After a week of no contact, we finally met with Keo, father of the Loatian family we're teaching. He was supposed to be baptized on July 26th, but lots of opposition came up. His former Christian church has been visiting him after five months of no contact, and he's felt very  confused. He said he just cannot figure out why he doesn't have peace. The other church doesn't give him peace; ignoring both us and the other church didn't bring him peace; so he told the other church not to come back and he's listening to us again. He was getting frustrated trying to explain this lack of peace in his life... "Something is..missing!" He said. As he said that, the Spirit strongly testified to me that I have what he is missing. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ. We read with him, prayed with him, and discussed his questions. He felt peace by the end of our visit. We also met his wife briefly, which we have unsuccessfully tried to do for two months! Their progress will be slower than we expected, but they're a solid, beautiful family and we're glad we still get to teach them. 

We hiked Stone Mountain today!! It was a fun, easy hike, and I'll send pictures as soon as I can. :) Some great members took us.

I feel strongly that there are more families for us to find, and your prayers would be much appreciated as we continue to seek them out and teach the ones we have.

Have a lovely week!

Sister Taylor

Fwd: Christmas, Grits, and the Prophett

Date: Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 1:24 PM

Subject: Christmas, Grits, and the Prophett
To: Lindy Taylor <lindyjtaylor@gmail.com>

YALL.

This week wasn't all peachy (even in GA) but it was cool as grits (which I tried for the first time today...nine months in, it's about time! They were yummy). We had some insanely fantastic highs this week!!

MIRACLES!!! We've found an incredible FAMILY to work with! We're working with Shaqkeem (age 19) and Shaqkeel (20), Amber (20), and Prophett (10). (Shaqkeel and Shaqkeem are both named after NBA player Shaquil O'Neal, and say whaaat?? We're teaching the prophet! ;) best name ever). They're black and Amber is a singer, and the boys are rappers!! (They're going to rap for us tomorrow. I can't tell you how excited I am.) We met them knocking doors on Saturday and taught most of the first lesson on their porch, then taught them again Sunday and Monday. They are incredibly prepared!! They have comments and questions as we teach, and they've faithfully kept commitments to pray and read the Book of Mormon. We invited all four to be baptized August 9th, and they have all accepted to be baptized and pray about that day. 

Shaqkeem is exceptionally enthusiastic about what we teach. When we were talking about how the Book of Mormon fills in the missing puzzle pieces of the gospel that was originally contained fully in the Bible, Shaqkeem said,

     "Yeah, it is like a puzzle! It was originally a complete puzzle, then when the people were wicked they took out               some of the pieces, and the Book of Mormon fills in those puzzle pieces, and all the pieces are held together 

      by Christ's authority (the Priesthood), and the finished picture is the gospel of Jesus Christ!"

.....WOW. He just GETS it!! (He's going to be a stellar missionary in a year and a half when he leaves on his mission to Provo Utah, where Sister Hjorth and I will take him and his companion out to lunch). When we invited him to be baptized, he said, "Of COURSE I would be baptized!! I mean, I've been baptized before, but from what yall are sayin, I see I need to be baptized by someone who has the authority." Okay wow. The rest of them are so ready and understanding, too. We've been teaching them out on their porch every day, and sometimes I worry about meeting all of their needs at once. But I feel that thus far we have been able to do that pretty well. There are several more people who live there and we're hoping to teach more of them through the next several days. I feel very blessed.

We're playing hard, but Satan is too. For right now, Keo and Jane are no longer progressing. We had a pretty good lesson with them Friday at a member's home, but just an hour before, someone from Keo's old Christian church showed up on his porch for the first time in about 5 months and talked to him for over an hour. By the time he arrived for our lesson, he felt confused, unhappy, and unsure. We told him that we love and support his family whatever they choose, but we know there are great blessings for his family in this, Christ's church, and that if he prayed and asked God to tell him if what we teach is true, then he will receive an answer. On Saturday they said they were out of town and canceled on us, but when we drove past, we saw them walking outside. We're not sure why they're avoiding us, but we're going to keep checking in and do what we can. We fasted for them Sunday and we're keeping them in our prayers. Please pray for them too.

God sure knows how to cheer up his missionaries. On a day we were particularly stressed and weighed down, we went to our dinner appointment at the home of two recent converts, Janet and Renee (to which we were instructed to wear red and green)...and they surprised us with Christmas Dinner!! The dining room table was beautifully decorated with Christmas china-ware, Christmas hymns played in the background, and we were all appropriately dressed in Christmas colors. After a filling, lovely meal, Janet gave each of us a small wrapped gift with matching bracelets with a scripture on them. How sweet!! We must have been really in tune, because we'd already been listening to Christmas music all day (when your music selection is the same four CD's plus Christmas music...sometimes it's Christmas a lil out of season.). That was a delicious tender mercy. 

This has been the most fruitful, smooth transfer of my whole mission. Sister Hjorth and I get along splendidly; the ward is incredibly supportive; and the area is bursting with people to find that are prepared for the gospel. And I feel so happy! I am more confident and capable here than I have ever felt before on my mission. I am so grateful to see the Lord giving me strengths I've lacked and yearned for these last nine months! 

At one door the other day, an only-spanish-speaking mother opened the door with her young daughter. We communicated the best we could and left a card; and as we left, the mother said something to her daughter to translate, who turned to us and said, "God bless you and the good work you are doing." I know He is, every day. 

Merry Christmas in July!
Sister Taylor

Fwd: Together Forever, Grills, and Back on Track

On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 11:20 AM, Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Yall!

We had a bit of a scare this week because we had zero contact with our two investigators on date, Keo and his daughter Jane for most of the week. We were sure they had been attacked by anti material and were dropping us for good. We felt awful because we didn't inoculate and help prepare them for Satan's attacks, so we felt accountable for losing them. It turned out that Keo's phone had accidentally been taken to Tennessee so he'd been without a phone and couldn't contact us. We were so relieved!

We ended up having a fantastic member couple come with us to teach them Saturday night, where we taught Keo the Word of Wisdom and Jane the Plan of Salvation. Keo accepted it and wants to live it, but smokes and drinks so we have some work to do. I've never had to help an investigator quit before, so a lot of prayer will be going into this! Jane is quite shy, so having so many adults there made it hard for her to want to participate. We're planning to teach her and her dad on separate nights so they can each have the fellowship they need. They're still on date for the 26th, but depending on how this week's lessons go, that may be pushed back. We'll be teaching them in a member's home on Friday. Please pray for them.

We've been weeding through our area book and have pulled from it several former investigators, potentials, and referrals that need contacting. Our focus this week, aside from Keo and Jane, is finding. Thus far we have a few return appointments and we're hoping for the best. Our new mission president has us tracking and submitting our weekly contacting hours, which is great to help us feel more accountable and see where our time is going when we aren't teaching. I'm seeing blessings of endurance and faith come from it!

We had a manicure & movie night after nightly planning a few days ago, and we watched Together Forever-- a 1980's corny and outdated, yet touching and awesome, church film about families being together forever. There is a song from it that's particularly catchy..and annoying...and my incessant singing of it almost landed me a planner hucked at my face because it was so annoying. I can't believe it's taken three weeks to begin to edge my comp's nerves by singing too much! It's bliss. We have fun.

We talked to a guy in his garage yesterday with pretty awesome gold grills on his teeth. I've been waiting MONTHS to see those! He asked great questions about the scattering and gathering of Israel and he felt the spirit when we shared Joseph Smith's story with him. Today the guy at the car wash had us roll down our window just before we went through and asked what church we were from. He asked about Bible studies and we gave him our card. He came back to get a new one because our pen smudged the number-- he may actually call! :) His name is Jeramiah. Pray for him to call us! :)

I've felt over the last weeks a great desire to know if I'm doing everything God expects me to right now. I got a priesthood blessing and it helped me a lot-- I know I'm on the right track and I need to just keep going the way I'm headed!

Have a wonderful week!
Sister Taylor

Fwd: Pics & Quick Story

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jul 7, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Subject: Pics & Quick Story

We named the following experience Code W. For wasp.

Long story short. We found a big red wasp in our kitchen during lunch. We're sisters, we don't like bugs, and we didn't want to get stung. 

So we:

1) threw a shoe at it's spot on the ceiling then ran, squealing, and locked ourselves in our room (fail)

2) tried spraying flowery perfume (bees/wasps like flowers, right?) leading to the open front door to lure it out (fail)

3) Held the running vacuum hose towards it, hoping it would fly close enough to suck it up (fail)

4) spritzed it enough with hairspray to make it mad, repeat #1

5) ***vacuum hose is left running this whole time, by the way***

In the safety of our locked bedroom, we reviewed our options. I bravely volunteered my life and suited up to do the final plan. I wore glasses, scarves, a hoodie, sweats, and headbands to cover as much of me as possible; then armed with hairspray and roach spray, I went out to face my doom. 

I screamed like a fierce warrior (for reals) and hosed a good half can of both hairspray and roach spray simultaneous, soaking it's angry wings to the ground, then sucked it up in the vacuum. There was white roach spray all over the kitchen floor and table to prove it. The wasp died, I came out victorious. And with an awesome outfit on. 

Hence concludes Code W. 

Fwd: Confident, Uno, and HUMP DAY!

Date: Mon, Jul 7, 2014 at 11:25 AM

Subject: Confident, Uno, and HUMP DAY!

Hey yall!!

Last Wednesday I hit my hump day! I have officially hit halfway! I've been out nine months and have nine to go. I'm so happy to be on my mission and there is no place I'd rather be.

Sister Hjorth and I had a great week. We didn't get as much tracting done because Sister Hjorth was sick for a couple days, but she got a blessing and is feeling much better now. We get along fantastically! She's super laid back and loving, sweet, hard working, funny, and a diligent companion and missionary. Plus we rap and beat box together about missionary work. With makes her that much more awesome. We've also had regular Uno tournaments. They get pretty competitive! There's a page in the back of my planner dedicated to funny things she says. I love her. We teach well together and I'm grateful to be her companion.

Keo & his daughter Jane (12), our Loatian investigators on date for the 26th, were not at church and we haven't heard from them in a few days. But it was the holiday weekend so we're hoping they were just busy with family in town. Hopefully we'll have a family home evening with them in a member family's home tomorrow night. They are so sweet and humble. They light up when we teach them the gospel and are so willing to learn. I hope all continues to go well with them.

I've had the awesome opportunity to teach lots of children in this area, both in member, part-member, and non-member families. I love teaching with songs and visual aids to children! They are so pure and accepting of the doctrine. We're so blessed.

Lawrenceville has been a great switch for me. I feel very confident and happy with who I am, the work I'm doing, and who I have become. I feel like God took me apart brick by brick, and He's been slowly reassembling me throughout my mission. Now I feel like the structure He's rebuilding me into has taken shape and is becoming more refined. This last week, I have received many promptings from the Holy Ghost about humility-- to study it, work on it, pray about it. I was pondering one night about how to be confident and humble at the same time, and the words came to mind, "Remember where your strength comes from." I think it's because God doesn't want me to plateau and stop asking for help now that I feel confident. He wants me to keep working hard and progressing; otherwise I will digress. I am striving to have an attitude of gratitude for the confidence and sense of self I've gained, so I can work harder and accomplish even more. 

I read an awesome chapter today! It's Alma 34. It's pretty much Amulek's general conference talk about the Atonement to the Zoramites. I've never gotten out of it quite what I did this morning. I love how it explains the need for the Atonement, how it was done, and how we can access it personally. It's beautiful scripture, as I'm sure you already know. I loved verse 31 especially-- "...Therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you." The Atonement works immediately when we turn to God and use it.

Eat peaches!

Sister Taylor

Fwd: Meet the President Pictures

This is our picture from meeting President Bennion this week!