Fwd: Squirrel, Rabbit, & A Very Merry Christmas

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

Date: Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 11:56 AM
Subject: Squirrel, Rabbit, & A Very Merry Christmas

Hey y'all!! 

Merry Post-Christmas! I hope it was as much a joy for y'all as it was for me. I'll share some of the highlights with you right here and now!

I've had some great foodie experiences! Squirrel and rabbit. (It's extra awesome because they butchered and cooked it themselves! Very homegrown family at the Standers. :) )

Lyssa is experiencing a huge roadblock right now. She's having relationship troubles that are making her seriously consider not investigating the church anymore. For the past two months, she has come to lessons twice a week and to church faithfully, but she didn't come to her lesson on Friday or to church on Sunday. We had the impression to text her daily one thing we love about her. We hope it helps!  We're praying hard for her. If you would include her in at least one prayer, that would help so much. 

Christmas was wonderful! We caroled in the morning in a duplex neighborhood, and everyone loved it. One lady filmed us on her phone, "Y'all can SAANG! Y'all might go vahral owhn YOUTUBE!" We had one hopeful new investigator come from that neighborhood. We skyped at a non-member's home, which was fun for us (LOVED talking to my precious family!!) and a good opportunity to fellowship. We ate with the Standers and later with Sister Rodriguez. She and her husband are converts of eight years, and though nearly destitute financially, they faithfully feed the missionaries every week to show their gratitude for them and the gospel. A whole wall/room in their home is dedicated to pictures of missionaries they know.They had us over for a meal and gave us several beautiful gifts, including Athens GA shirts, handsoap, and Christmas scarves. People here are full of love and so willing to give, even when they have so little. 

We also caroled to and visited some individuals and families who didn't have much company on Christmas, including bringing a meal and goodies by to our investigator, Frank. It was a beautiful day!

Sister Porter has had a harsh cold since Thursday, so we didn't go on exchange this week and we've only gone to a couple appointments per day.  It's been a good opportunity for me to get things done around the apartment and organize things.We received Priesthood blessings yesterday from the elders, and those are helping. We're hoping she feels better in the next day or two! 

We had a sweet moment in Relief Society yesterday. Sister Stander taught the lesson on the talk "Which Way Do You Face?" (Oct. 2014 General Conference, Lynn G Robbins). She talked about courage and shared this story about her experience with us the week before:

"Last week, I went out on a team up with the sisters. Appointment after appointment fell through-- most were home but wouldn't answer the door. We tried and tried with no success. After three or four stops, the sisters suggested we go back to the trailer park we'd just left to try one more person. We did, but they too didn't answer the door. Behind us was a trailer with Christmas lights everywhere, and loud music blasted alongside the loud voices yelling inside. The sisters said, 'Let's try THAT door!'" (Sister Stander is quite expressive, so big dramatic actions accompanied her storytelling.) "I was scared to death. We walked up in the dark to the door, and while the sisters knocked, I just prayed we wouldn't get shot!" Then she quieted as she continued the story. "A young lady answered the door, and the sisters delivered the most beautiful, spiritual message I have ever heard." She choked up and pointed to us at the back of the room. "I want to be like them. They know which way they face." 

That was so humbling and warm for us to hear. To us, we had just knocked one more door-- something we often do when appointments cancel. To her, we had been examples of courage and love because we knew who we served. That was a special experience to hear our work so appreciated by someone else.

Have a Happy New Year!

Sister Taylor

Fwd: FW: MISSIONARY MEGAN LETTER

Date: Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 10:21 AM
Subject: Re: FW: MISSIONARY MEGAN LETTER

Thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to see how missionary work goes in other parts of the world. :)

Love you! And THANK YOU for the wonderful year update and card and cash I got in the mail this week! I loved reading it and the cash will come in handy for me in getting any clothes/Georgia stuff/any other items I might need. Thank you so much for thinking of me even though you'd already sent a generous birthday and Christmas gift. I treasure the letters and cards you send. Thanks again. :)

My family also told me over skype that you have prepared a file for each person full of programs, letters, pictures, etc that document our accomplishments throughout our lives. Wow!! Thank you. That must have been a huge investment of time and effort and love. I have a few months before I get to see mine when I come home, but I want you to know I'm looking forward to it very much and I'm already so grateful for it. You both have been a great example to me of how important family is. I remember and thank Heavenly Father for every time you come to a concert, a talk, performance, birthday, whatever it may be. I also treasure all the trips we make to your house where there is a lovely Sunday supper all prepared on a beautifully set table, with hot rolls and mashed potatoes and grapefruit juice; or when we had bowls of ice cream in front of the TV at night; and all our trips out to the barn, exploring in the woods by your house, riding on the tractors, having family reunions with singing around the piano, hearing you Grandma play the piano, watching the two of you swing dance while my mom played Feliz Navidad a couple years ago...so many wonderful memories I will always cherish! Thank you for those. And thank you for recording them and giving them to us. I love you both so very much and I'm so glad to have you both as part of my eternal family. :) When I get home I would really like to spend time with you hearing about your growing up years! As I've been out here on my mission, I've realized I really don't know very much about your personal lives. So I'd love to put that on my to-do list for when I come back. Does that sound okay to you? 

I love you lots! Thanks again. 

Sister Taylor

On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 8:11 AM, Marilyn Johnson <momdadjohnson@hotmail.com> wrote:

I'm sharing this from a friend of ours whose grand-daughter is serving a mission.  I thought you might find it of interest, though you don't know her.

Love,

Mom / Grandma / Marilyn

---

To: ;
Subject: MISSIONARY MEGAN LETTER
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:12:28 -0700

HERMANA DAVIS LETTER:

 

DECEMBER 23,2014:   iFELIZ NAVIDAD!

Hola mis queridos amigos! Les amo muchísimo! (Hello my dear friends! I love you very much!)

This week we passed the same little miracle with crossing the street with the same investigator, we had minutes to get home and the lights didn't go out this time but there were spaces between cars enough to run to the other side! Woo! 

We had a great success in that in investigator came to the ward Christmas posada ha ha party. Posada is what they say here, quick cultural note, posada means to ask for a place to stay and so the people here when they do this they go in the streets reciting prayers with candles asking for inn and they end at one chosen house, there they sing and "recen" (I don't know what that word is in English) I think its recite, then they eat. I just think it's funny that even the members say the posada of the church I think they just use it like party. Anyway, Martha brought her friend to the party! They loved it too! But they didn't come to church. :C 

BUT, Alfredo came! With his kids! YEEEEESSSSS. His two sons Taylor and Calvin are going to get baptized this week! I love this family so much! They are passing through much difficulty, his wife is having what we think may be a psychological break down, thanks to an awful childhood and returning to her home town 4 or 5 months ago. That is making it hard for them to get married and baptized. But Alfredo doesn't give up! He told us on Sunday morning he got the kids up and dressed they read scriptures and then his wife wasn't wanting any of them to go, he then gave the kids a choice and said I am going, who is following? And all three, even the 6 year old came!!!!!! I WANT TO CRY! Alfredo even texted us last night and gave us thanks for everything that we do and that he feels the Lord is working alongside us to bring his family together.

We saw mini miracles all Saturday, we didn't plan for a member to come with us this day because we planned to go and contact all day in the area that we know hardly anything about. Well we were blessed with 3 spontaneous lessons with a member present. One was Dulce. We had a menos activo that works for a lady who lives close to us. On the way to the food appointment Rosa the menos activa said her boss was assaulted, as in people robbed her and broke her nose and her face is a little messed up. Well, Rosa said I want you to teach here right now, and then called the elders to give her a blessing today... so we did! I think her heart has been softened and she is ready for the gospel!

We had the chance to go to the temple this last Tuesday because my companion still needed to be endowed! It was a great session and I understand everything in SPANISH I was even able to say all the lines without too much help! :) While there, the coolest thing happened! We found some one that had given us references about 5 months ago in the celestial room! I talked with her about what she wants for these girls, one is very sick of the kidneys and we had been teaching the whole family but they don't progress so we had to drop them for a while, but we picked them back up a week or two ago and she told me she just wants them to have friends in the church, not missionary lessons. She said their time isn't now but I know it will come! It was sooooo coool! I love the TEMPLE!

This week I invite you to lose yourself in the service of others. Christmas is so much more exciting when you are completely occupied with blessing others. I have experienced so much happiness serving these great people, and we are always surrounded by those we love, serve them. Figure something out and do something for someone else this week!​

with love, Hermana Davis

 

 

Fwd: Hearts are Bright, Temple Light, the Field is White!

Date: Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 12:03 PM

Subject: Hearts are Bright, Temple Light, the Field is White!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!! 

Friday and Saturday I went on exchange (aka we switch companions for a day) with Sister Rowley, who's serving in a neighboring ward. As a Sister Training Leader, I get to do exchanges about once a week with sisters in our zone. It's been great in helping me get to know more sisters, and I'm still just learning how to do a good job of it. Sister Porter is a seasoned Sister Training Leader (she was one for 4.5 months in another area before she joined me in Athens), and has a thoughtful, loving heart, so I'm learning a lot from her. Sister Rowley is a powerful teacher, good listener, has a fantastic sense of humor, and a knack for knocking trailer parks! We had a lot of success in one. Seven of the twelve people we talked to set up return appointments with us! On Wednesday, six of the thirteen people we talked to were interested, and four of them set up appointments with us.The field is truly white and ready to harvest. 

Lyssa is still coming to church, and she feels more and more comfortable there. We had a very effective lesson on Tuesday that helped her overcome some personal problems. She started dating a member and investigating the church at the same time, which is a lead-in for problems if the relationship goes sour because the church and the beau are so closely intertwined. Sure enough, her relationship started struggling, and she didn't know what to do about her newfound interest in the church if her relationship ended. I had the idea to compare her situation to a rope. I said that there is a rope-- an indestructible, always-going-to-be-there connection, between her and God. Her investigating the church is climbing upwards on and strengthening that rope. Her dating relationship, on the other hand, is an entirely separate rope, even though he was means for introducing her to the church. If her boyfriend rope ends, the God rope doesn't have to. They are not the same rope. That comparison gave her a lot of peace and perspective. I'm so grateful the Spirit helps us in teaching! It's the connection between us and God's perfect teaching. The more in tune we are to the Spirit, the more perfect our teaching is, in every situation.

Frank, our miracle referral, came back into the picture! That was a miracle. We invited him to be baptized again, and he is on date for January 24th! He came to church, liked it, and is planning to come to a convert baptism on Tuesday. He may also join us for Christmas dinner at a member's home. We're grateful that he's back!  

Thursday was our Mission Christmas Celebration and Temple Trip!! It was, no exaggeration, probably one of my favorite days of my entire earthly existence so far. It was perfect.

Well, mostly. We didn't leave early enough to avoid traffic, and our session time came and went while we were backed up on Atlanta highways. We were very stressed, and sad that we may not get to do a session. When we got to the temple, we literally ran from the parking lot to the front doors for joy of being there! They were able to slide us into the next available session without a problem and everything worked out. My experience in the temple that day was priceless. It was probably the most powerful temple experience I've had. The only way I could sum it up is just an overwhelming feeling of profound love. I felt like a vase was in my chest, and God was just pouring and pouring and pouring love into it, overflowing in every part of me. It was so profound, yet simply gentle feeling, and real, and happy. The beauty of the celestial room paled in comparison to how I felt. I've reminded myself several since in difficult moments, "Remember how you felt in the temple." It helps me to be humble and loving, to remember the real purpose for why I am here. It helps me remember that it is truly a privilege to serve as a missionary at this time in the world and of my life. 

That night we had the Christmas Choirside, which Sister Bennion (Mission President's wife) directed. I sang O Holy Night in a trio with Sister Buhler (my beloved trainer!) and another beautiful singer, Sister Andrus. It went beautifully. Just before the performance started, Sister Buhler and I got to re-perform our Missionary Christmas parody from last year. That was just a treat! I've heard missionaries mention it time and time again throughout the year, and when we got on stage, I saw many a camera lit up and ready to record. We also found someone who had recorded it from last year, which is a great Christmas gift! (My camera had stopped working and no one else to our knowledge had recorded it. We found it!!) The audience had some good laughs, which bolstered our performance. I also got to see a few members from Lawrenceville, previous companions, and other sisters I love. On the hour-drive home, I just looked out the window at the stars and savored the sweet memories from the day. It was simply a happy, loving day I'll always treasure.

This transfer, Sister Porter and I set goals of having one baptized, three progressing, and finding one family to teach. If you could include us and our goal in your prayers at least once, that would surely be a great help on our end.

I wish y'all a white, white Christmas. :)

Sister Taylor

Fwd: I'm Old, Christmasy, and Whooowie!

Date: Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 5:20 PM

I'm Old, Christmasy, and Whooowie!

Merryyy Christmas!!!!!

It's official, I am black. Monday night, Sister Bedke and I visited a former investigator recovering from a stroke in the nearby hospital. In the waiting room we met his family, as black and "put yo hands togethah en shou perAISes!!" as it gets. That was probably the funnest thirty minutes of my life. I sang I am a Child of God (with ample Amens and Mmmhmms and Oh, yees!'s as accompaniment), we clapped in praise, and danced (literally!) to the elevator when we left. Sister Bedke and I melted in the elevator with sighs of happiness and laughter as soon as the doors closed. The next night, our investigator Lyssa said to us and her (black) grandmother, "All y'all black women need to pull it together!" 

"But--" we started to say.

"Nuh uh. All y'all are black." she retorted. 

My life is complete. I left on my mission claiming I was sent to the south to release my inner black woman. She's been unleashed. Whooowie!

Sister Porter, my new companion, is a bundle of joy! She's from Richland, Washington, the youngest of three, and probably the bubbliest. She has a huge smile, peppy attitude, a great listening ear and a talent for making people feel special. We're getting to be good friends. I am so lucky to be companions with her!

We've made tracting a higher priority between appointments, and we found two new investigators, Toni and Renee, as a result! They both live in the same apartment building. Toni is a black, smiley, older woman, and she loved hearing about the Book of Mormon. Renee is in her fifties, works at Walmart, and believes in Christ but barely knows anything about Christ. We taught her and her college-age son Rovae the first lesson, and they soaked it up like sponges! Rovae moved back up to school in Ohio, but I am thrilled with Renee's progress. She may have a baptismal date later this week!

Speaking of a baptismal date, our investigator Kaylee has one-- for January 17th! She lives in a small duplex with the three youngest of her five children, all under the age of six. We invited her to come to church, and she accepted our offer to meet at her house so she could follow us there. When we arrived Sunday morning, we were pleasantly shocked! Kaylee, who usually wears pajamas and is rather undone, was beautifully dressed in a pink blazer, matching skirt, with her hair done, all ready for church. It turned out she already knew about five members in the ward! I am so excited for Kaylee. 

I had a couple other notable experiences:

#1 I apparently had a huge cockroach on my shoulder during an appointment (which Sister Porter didn't tell me till after we left, probably for the best). Yuck! At least I didn't know. Ignorance is bliss. 

#2 I got to do hair and makeup for a bride! A neighboring set of sisters' investigator, Brandi, got married and baptized the same week, so I was called upon to do her hair. I thoroughly enjoyed getting my creativity working again. :)

#3 Sister Porter and I sang "O Holy Night" acapella, as a duet, for the Ward Christmas Party! It went beautifully. Sister Porter was a champ for jumping in to do a solo two days after she got transferred here. 

I also went to MLC (Mission Leadership Council), which is like a Zone Conference for zone and sister training leaders. It was inspiring! One of my take-aways was this quote: "All the blessings come in the second mile." As I've adjusted to Athens and my calling as a Sister Training Leader for the last transfer, I feel like I've done my best to maintain the good already happening in the area. But I feel that now I have some roots growing, I can put more me into it and start walking the second mile. When I walked into the church yesterday, I took a mental snapshot as we walked in with Kaylee past the picture of Christ where we'd taken pictures with Dimple at her baptism. I get to be a part of so many miracles here. What a gift to be serving a mission!

My birthday was great, too. Thank you for the cards, gifts, and love! 

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Sister Taylor

Fwd: Wonders at Walmart, Cats, and Transfer Week Has Come to Town

Date: Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 11:38 AM

Subject: Wonders at Walmart, Cats, and Transfer Week Has Come to Town

Merry Christmas, Y'all!!

Sadly and happily, transfer week has come to town yet again. Sister Bedke is leaving me, and Sister Porter, currently a Sister Training Leader in another zone, will be joining me in Athens! I've only met her a few times, but she's a happy, smiley sister so we should get along well. :) I am sad to see Sister Bedke go, but grateful to have had a transfer with her. She has one of the purest, most genuine hearts I've ever met. I've learned from her so much about looking for the good in people. I'm surrounded by dedicated, humble servants and simply loving souls. It's humbling that the Lord has allowed me to be one of the lucky sisters serving here.

The Lord, as our Mission President likes to say, has a flair for the dramatic, and we got a taste of that this week in a pretty miraculous way. In the hazy grey fog of Saturday afternoon, we had an appointment with a potential investigator in a trailer park, and it fell through. 

"There is a member here we haven't met yet. Maybe we could try them," Sister Bedke suggested. 

However, we had left our roster at home, so with neither a name nor address to contact them with, we left the trailer park.

We had planned to see a struggling family the next day who'd had a birthday, so we decided to use some of our dinner hour to swing by the closest Walmart and get cupcake ingredients. We were aiming to make it a five minute trip, so after we left the register we walked briskly towards the doors to leave. We passed a woman sitting on a bench with a quick hello, but as soon as we kept walking, both Sister Bedke and I had the distinct impression that we needed to talk to her. Neither of us knew the other had the same impression, but a few seconds after we passed her, I grabbed Sister Bedke's arm and said, "I need a drink." That gave us an excuse to double back towards the drinking fountain, which gave us another opportunity to talk to her when we passed by again.

"Hi! Are you waiting for someone?" we asked. The black woman in her sixties replied that she was waiting for her grandchildren to finish their Christmas shopping. As we offered her a card with a link to a Christmas video, she said, "Are you Mormons?" When we replied that yes, we were, she said, "I used to go to that church." 

We responded with the same question, "Are you Mormon?"

She replied that yes, she was! She told us that every month she receives a letter in the mail from her visiting teachers, and though she's never met those sisters, she deeply appreciated each kind note those sisters sent. She couldn't remember their names, but we wrote down hers, Gloria, and got her phone number. She accepted our offer to come visit her sometime, and we left the store thrilled that we'd found a member.

It doesn't end there. We came home to look her up in the roster to make sure she was in our ward, and what we found left us stunned. Not only was she in our boundaries, but she was the member who lived in the trailer park! She was the one we would have stopped by her home, twenty minutes earlier, if we had had her address with us! 

We sat there, dumb-founded, and all we could say was, "...Whoa."

A million dollars dropped on the doorstep would not have been as thrilling as that moment was. (Though there were cookies from a member hanging on our doorstep when we got home from Walmart. That was a plus.)

So:

Because our appointment fell through,

and we didn't have our roster,

and the family we planned to visit had a birthday,

and we went to the Walmart by our house,

and we both felt prompted to talk to Gloria,

and the Lord put the drinking fountain right where we needed it, 

and Gloria was there with her grandkids (and wouldn't have been at home had we stopped by earlier),

at the front,

on a bench,

where we were;

because of all those things, we found a member who is clearly being watched out for by our Heavenly Father. We called the Relief Society President (Relief Society is the women's organization for all women 18+ in the church), and she was excited to hear about such a miracle. She passed on the story to the visiting teachers who'd been writing those letters, and on Sunday they thanked us and exclaimed how wonderful it felt to know that their simple acts of faithful service were helping a sister they'd never met. The Lord knows how to orchestrate His work! How humbling and wonderful it is to be a part of it. 

We also taught Frank, the miracle referral from last week, on Tuesday. He accepted the invitation to baptism and is on date for December 27th! When we asked him how much of the Book of Mormon he had read, he said, "Oh, just about fifty pages or so." Well, okay. That's acceptable!  He's shy, about 34, and very smart (working on his second master's degree). We are happy to be teaching him.

We had a multi-zone choir practice for the Mission Christmas Choirside next week-- and I got to see Sister Hawkins, the sister I trained in Lawrenceville! I also got to see Sister Buhler, my trainer, and Sister Alvey. I love seeing familiar faces. :) Sister Buhler and I re-performed our "Missionary Christmas" parody from last year for Sister Bennion (the mission president's wife), as it was a hit and no one has forgotten it. :) Sister Bennion asked me and Sister Buhler, and another sister to sing O Holy Night together for the Choirside. Sister Bedke and I were asked to perform that for the ward Christmas party this saturday, but since she is getting transferred, I may also be performing that as a solo this weekend. O Holy Night it is! 

Funny moment before I wrap up. We stopped a older lady, Rosa, on the street and talked to her about Jesus Christ. She was actually a former investigator of the elders in our area. As we walked away, we said, "We know that Christ loves you and this message can really help you in your life!" 

She promptly responded, "I love cats." 

Then she told us all about her cats, and how she keeps them in line with a flyswatter. 

Oh dear. At least no cats will go unloved this Christmas season. :D

The He is the Gift initiative has given us so many opportunities to contact and teach this week! We got a new investigator, Paul, through it by sharing the initiative with him while tracting. Hearts truly are softened and searching at this time of year, and the He is the Gift initiative speaks directly to the needs they're trying to fill. I love bearing a simple testimony of Jesus Christ. It has helped me feel the Christmas spirit in a way I never have before. It stems from gratitude for the Savior and the gift of his life. He truly is the gift.

Merry Christmas!

Sister Taylor

Fwd: Turkey, Timing, and The Gift!

Date: Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 11:50 AM

Subject: Turkey, Timing, and The Gift!

All Y'all,

Happy Thanksgiving!! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!What a great time of year to be happy and service-minded, and lucky me, to be a missionary. :)

I have an invitation for all of you. Do these three things:

1) Visit christmas.mormon.org

2) Watch the three minute video on the homepage.

3) Share the link, the cards that came in December's Ensign, and your testimony of the Savior with at least one person (friend or family, member or nonmember) this week.

The Church has launched a huge "He is The Gift" initiative to spread the love and reality of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. He is the reason for the season. We have been focusing on sharing the gift of Christ specifically in our teaching and in meeting strangers, and it has yielded positive results. People's hearts are so softened as we testify specifically of Jesus as the Christ, and we've had some powerful lessons with investigators that needed that simple reminder. I know you will have positive spiritual experiences as you share your love of Christ with those you love! 

My testimony of God's ability to make incredibly specific arrangements with who-meets-who-where-and-when was significantly strengthened this week. We had a pretty miraculous experience contacting a referral! His name is Frank. We actually haven't met him yet, but he's already been a tool in leading us to prepared individuals.

Several months ago, a member in a nearby branch (small congregation) contacted my current companion, Sister Bedke, and her companion at the time. She said a friend of hers, Jackie, who lives in our boundaries, had been in her dream and she felt strongly that the sisters should contact her about the gospel. This and that happened, and they were unable to get her information and never ended up contacting her. Fast forward to this week. 

We decided to drop by Frank's home one night to meet him-- he had just moved here from Tennessee the week before. We knocked on the door, and a woman in her forties invited us in. She introduced herself as Ruth. She said this was her mother's home, and Frank was renting a room there. He was sleeping in another room. 

Not two minutes later, an older woman walked in the front door carrying groceries and introduced herself as Jackie So-and-so. "Jackie So-and-so?" Sister Bedke asked. Then she put it together, that this was the same Jackie the member had asked us to visit, but we had no way to find! So God used a referral from Tennessee to lead us to a former referral we hadn't been able to contact! So many factors made it happen the way it needed to. Had we gone any other night, we may have met Frank, and not Jackie; Ruth was in from out of state this week, and had she not been there, no one would have answered the door; they left out of town the next day, so we wouldn't have met her if we'd gone another day; and if we'd come five minutes earlier, we wouldn't have stayed long enough to meet Jackie. God works in mysterious ways. We'll hopefully meet with them next week after their trip. What an exciting miracle that was for us that night.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful service opportunity! We helped the Bishop's family prepare the Thanksgiving dinner they served to 20+ members and less active members at the church. Later that day we took leftover meals to individuals and families who didn't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with, or couldn't afford to give their family a Thanksgiving meal. It was a special way to spend Thanksgiving. I don't ever want to go another Thanksgiving without inviting friends or families that need a place to go! We also had dinner with the Stake President's family, and we got to hold their chickens and visit their horses in their barn. It was a homey, memorable thanksgiving. 

Sunday night we had another Thanksgiving dinner with the Standers family. They are as homegrown as they come--- they raised, butchered, and prepared their own turkey! It was fun to be around a simple, happy family in a farmy atmosphere. Definitely a meal I won't forget. :)

Saturday was an adventure. We got stuck in game day traffic (UGA lost to Georgia Tech in overtime, tragically)...for an hour and a half. We took the opportunity to sing songs, talk, and comment on passerby's. 

Our investigator Lyssa came to church again yesterday. It was a little stressful for her because her boyfriend, a convert from last year, had some anxiety and spent much of the block outside or in the foyer. But she listened to the lessons and felt more comfortable in such an interactive environment. That is something new and different for her in a church. Our lesson this week also went quite well! The Spirit prompted us to talk about baptism, and led us beautifully from subject to subject, scripture to scripture, till it wove into our lesson perfectly. That was essential, because Lyssa would back off quickly if she felt pressured or pushed into joining the church. If you want to be a good teacher, be worthy of the Spirit as you teach. The Spirit is a much better teacher than I could ever be on my own! She said she wants to be baptized, and has considered it before. The time wasn't right to give her a baptism date, but we're setting the stage for when the time comes that she'll be more than ready. 

It's been another wonderful week to be grateful for. :)

Twenty five days till Christmas!

Sister Taylor 

PS

Me with a chicken and Scottie (Stake President's grandson :) )

A hundred year old Baptist Church's sign