Fwd: Filling the Font, Finding Love, and Finding Self

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

Date: Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 2:14 PM
Subject: Filling the Font, Finding Love, and Finding Self

ey y'all!

The weather has been a little crazy this week! We had some incredibly cold days that, thanks to the humidity, made our faces about fall off because mere exposure to the frigid air made them sting. We also had ice storms that broke trees to pieces during the night, but the roads never got icy during the day. Because of the storms, we had some power outages..so one night we taught a lesson by flashlight then one by candlelight. Today, it's warm enough that I've only had a jacket on half the day. Welcome to Georgia, I guess! 

We had a neat finding miracle! We had driven past a street name we liked, so I'd jotted it down and a couple days later, we went back to tract it. About ten houses and zero gospel conversations later, Sister Porter said, "We've been here before! We tracted it a few months ago from the other end." We decided to drop in on Brenda, a lady we'd found but not gotten back in with. She was home, and invited us right in. We had a short lesson with her, bore our testimonies, and invited her to be baptized if she came to know that what we were teaching was true. She said yes, and accepted a Book of Mormon. She only has two days off each week, and we caught her on one of them! We'll teach her this week. God works in the details! 

Saturday was the best day ever!! The highlight, of course, was that we had two baptisms to enjoy! :)

One of the baptisms was Kaylee's! It was beautiful. A member anonymously got her some sunday clothes so she'd have something nice to wear. Sister Porter and I didn't go back through the font entrance with her when she was baptized, but the member who was back there said that as the doors close and she turned to walk out of the font, she just stopped and sobbed. As the member draped the towel around Kaylee's shoulder, she told Kaylee, "This is who you really are, Kaylee." Clean, pure, beautiful. Kaylee just nodded and wiped away more tears. 

I sang Lead Kindly Light, which was probably the best solo I've done. Heavenly Father really helped me out because I was trying to serve, and had hardly any time to practice. Kaylee shed more tears and just glowed. That was the real Kaylee. How amazing it is to help my spiritual siblings uncover their true identity as children of God! When we have a clear relationship with Heavenly Father, we are our best selves. I saw Kaylee as her best self. 

We sang the musical number, so we also went to Alexa's baptism! Alexa is our miracle girl we met outside of Walmart just six weeks ago. Her boyfriend, a member preparing to serve a mission, baptized her. His family came up from Florida for the baptism, and Alexa's family came, too. Her family is Catholic and are supportive of her, but not overly enthusiastic about her decision to be baptized. It was beautiful to watch them wipe away tears as they felt the Spirit in the room. They could tell that the sisters and members really love her and want the best for her. Our investigator Jayne came too, who rarely leaves the house due to anxiety and depression. It was truly a day of miracles. 

After the baptisms, we were part of the stake youth missionary activity, where we had a Q&A session with several groups of youth answering questions about what it's like to serve a mission, why we decided to serve, and advice on preparing to serve. I was so impressed by the testimonies and strength of the youth. I know they're only a few years younger than me, but it's amazing to see young people growing up with strong desires to serve God! I hope I can work with the youth a LOT when I come home. I loved every minute of it. 

On Sunday, I witnessed a very special experience. Erik, one of the elders' investigators, is moving to Statesboro (far away) this week, and asked if he could bear his testimony at the end of class. Erik has been meeting with the elders for about eight months, and he's been dropped and retaught several times because he struggles with some of the doctrine. But when he stood up, I heard one of the most precious testimonies I've ever heard. He poured out to the class, in tears, his gratitude for the love he's felt from the church, and his growing testimony of Jesus Christ. 

One of my favorite excerpts: "In the churches I grew up in, there was as much contempt as there was love. That and a lot of the doctrines were very confusing to me...it poisoned my well. When I let Christ in, I felt His influence cleanse me. He cleared out the poison in my well."

In closing, he said, "Thank you for helping me find the love I've been looking for." He moves this Thursday, and the ward has already made arrangements to help him with the move. There is much love to be found in this church.

And I just need to say, I love my dear companion Sister Porter. I am so glad I got to meet one of my best friends on my mission. She goes home next week, and I'm really going to miss her. We sang in Sacrament Meeting yesterday, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go", and it was so fun to look out and see the faces of so many people I've come to love. I love my mission.

Also had some fun outings and purchases this last week, like oxford shoes (!), cute dresses, lunch at Olive Garden with Vanessa and Sister Porter, the free zoo with the sisters in the zone, and challah bread (what Jews customarily eat for the Sabbath meal each friday-- it's delicious!).

It's been a good week. :)

Stay warm, and I love yall!

Have a blessed day!

Sister Taylor

P.S. Please pray for Angela. She's preparing for baptism, but has a lot of obstacles right now, like unemployment, health issues, family issues, doubt and discouragement. Prayers are appreciated. :)

Pictures:

Us, Alexa's boyfriend, Alexa, Sister Holden, Sister Tau'aho (they taught her)

Fwd: Wintery, Wet, and Wonderful to Me

​F​

rom: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 3:48 PM
Subject: Wintery, Wet, and Wonderful to Me

Yall!

Well, the nice wintery days have been a little more on the wintery end lately! The power went out last night, so we taught one investigator with flashlights and another lesson by candlelight. The South has this  phenomenon...ice rain...so it looks like a frozen winterland on the trees, even though there's no snow. The roads are fine, so I'm not complaining. I'm sure enjoying the fact that 30-something degree days are occasional! Georgia is beautiful all year round.

I ended up chopping off Sister Porter's hair this week! She decided to on a whim, so off we whipped 14 inches. It's sassy and adorable and totally her. I'll send a picture next week when I have one. :)

We had a miracle teaching Pam this week. She had read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet to prepare for our lesson. When we arrived at the member's home where they were waiting for us, the current topic of conversation was scriptural accounts of teleportation....not exactly a very productive conversation to start a lesson with. Pam was very stressed and overwhelmed. She felt like what she'd studied made no sense and was pulled from thin air. 

The Spirit guided us completely. We sat down, began with a prayer, and calmly and simply began teaching the first basic concepts of the lesson: 

that God is our loving, Heavenly Father;

that we lived with Him before we came to earth;

that He loved us, and we loved Him;

and that we chose to come here to earth so we could experience mortality in a physical body, be faced with opposition, and therefore learn to choose good when faced with good and evil.

The stressful environment made a complete turnaround. As we testified and taught simply the basic doctrines, the Spirit testified to Pam that the things we were teaching were good and true. We asked her how she felt at the end of the lesson compared to the beginning. She said she felt enlightened, calm, and peaceful. We helped her understand that that was the Spirit helping her know that what we'd taught was true. We invited her to pray to know for herself that it's true, and once she did know, to be baptized on March 14th. She said she'd pray about it. We walked out feeling whole and enlightened ourselves, and grateful for having what could have been a stressful, chaotic, unorganized lesson turn out so simple, pure, Spirit led, and clear. She was at church again this Sunday. After the Sunday School lesson on tithing, she asked if she could pay tithing. (Since the Church is run by a lay (unpaid) ministry, tithing funds in the Church are used to build and maintain church buildings, temples, support missionary work, and aid in humanitarian efforts worldwide. It's an incredible opportunity to give of yourself to God, and to see that giving do so much good in the world! I love tithing.) Pam's son is very opposed to her investigating the church, but we're praying that she'll have the strength to recognize and hold onto the truth she's learning. 

We had four investigators at church on Sunday, including Chris and his girlfriend Whitney! Whitney needed to leave after Sacrament meeting so they only stayed an hour, but Chris really liked it. So far he's keeping commitments to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and come to church. We had a Spirit-filled lesson with him on Wednesday when we read the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 14) together.

Kaylee is coming along smashingly in preparing for her baptism this Saturday! We had a particularly good lesson about the Priesthood on Sunday. She's blossomed in the last three weeks or so. She'll be a wonderful member. 

We got home at 8:55 one night and faith walked around our complex for the remaining five minutes (we're asked to proselyte till 9pm every day). We ran into a girl walking to her car who'd met other missionaries before, and had a great conversation! I felt blessed for having used every last minute to share the gospel. 

We also had a miracle on Valentine's Day, when we had planned to heart attack (taping hearts on doors) two of our investigators who had no one to celebrate with. Both have loud dogs that bark when someone approaches the door. The first one went smoothly, not a sound from inside. When we turned into the neighborhood of the second one, we saw our investigator just turning the street corner with her dogs, leaving for a walk! We knew that her walk would be the only time that entire day she'd be away from the house. The timing was perfect and we were able to heart attack successfully with as much stealth as two sister missionaries could muster. :)

I actually had a few hard days this week. Negativity, anxiety, and unhappiness are feelings I don't have very often, but they were plaguing off and on for a couple days. I was not myself. I was reminded by Sister Porter that even great missionaries have hard days when they feel, and are, weaker than other days. I didn't like feeling down, but as I continued to work, pray, and turn to the needs of others more than my own, I felt better in the down moments. I had a good spiritual experience while taking the Sacrament on Sunday. I was feeling guilty and sad for having let Heavenly Father down by having a worse attitude than my usual cheerful one, but as I prayed, I felt guided to have gratitude for how the Savior had helped me overcome those sour moments throughout the week. As the water was passed and I took it, the Spirit came strongly to my mind and said: "You are clean." That was subtle, yet powerful, and so comforting and reassuring. I'm grateful that Christ doesn't judge us for our moments of weakness-- he knows our potential and deepest desires are better than that. He simply helps us up and on our way, forgivingly teaching us and strengthening us for future experiences. I'm so grateful for His and Heavenly Father's understanding and great love for me.

Have a marvelous week!

Sister Taylor

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

In case you want to mail a valentine to Christa . . .

Sister Christa Taylor
Home 4315 Lexington Rd Apt 6C
Athens, GA
30605

I know she would appreciate anything you want to send.

Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Lindy

Fwd: Cups, Calendars, and Conversion

From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 1:46 PM
Subject: Cups, Calendars, and Conversion

YALL.

I don't know about yall, but 71 degrees and sunny in February is juuuust fine by me! I love Georgia! :D I just love Athens. If you can't hear the bass booming or see a cop, you're not in Athens. ;) There are so many incredibly prepared people here, just waiting to be found. I wish I had another year to find and teach them! 

Remember our crazy Walmart miracle, where that teenage girl stopped us and asked for a Book of Mormon? She's getting baptized!! A week from Saturday on the 21st, her boyfriend (preparing to serve a mission) will baptize her. She asked us to do a musical number with the UGA sisters for her baptism. What an incredible miracle to be a part of! :) (Picture of us with her at the bottom)

On Wednesday, we got special permission to watch the film Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with investigators. If you haven't seen it, here's the link. Watch it. It's beautiful. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-01-joseph-smith-the-prophet-of-the-restoration?lang=eng

 We had two investigators there, Angela and Jayne. After the film concluded, we asked everyone how they felt during the film. We had a good discussion, then brought up baptism to Angela. We'd already invited her to be baptized, but that day we wanted to give her a specific date to work towards. We had prayed and felt good about inviting her for March 7th. When we invited her, she was quiet for a moment, and asked, "Do I have to be baptized on that day?" 

"No," we responded.

"Because I've been praying on it, and I think I've come up with a date of my own."

Pause of anticipation.

She looked up at us. "February fourteenth?" 

We were blown away...that's next week! Sister Porter burst into tears, because that meant she'd still be on her mission when Angela got baptized. The Spirit was strong in the meeting, and we were so happy that Jayne was there to witness it. She has a lot of anxiety and depression, so it was good for her to be part of such a spiritual experience.

Friday, during weekly planning, Sister Porter and I melted our brains frantically trying to arrange teaching Angela all the lessons in eight days. It was a heaven-send when she told us on Saturday she'd prayed on it again, and felt better about working towards our original proposed date, March 7th. That will be much more doable, since she needs to quit smoking and we have a lot to teach her. She's incredibly elect. When we taught about the pre-earth life, we asked her first where she thought we were before we were born. She said slowly, "I think...that we were in spirit form...and then God sent us here, and...gave us...a physical form." Ha, well! Spot on! We filled in the gaps and helped her understand that we are literally the spirit children of Heavenly Father, and that He sent us here to 1) gain a physical body that could eventually be a perfect resurrected one, like His, and 2) learn to choose good from evil. She has the gift of humility. She asks questions out of a sincere desire to learn. It's like teaching a child. 

We had a wonderful rebuking on Saturday when we met with Jayne. When we all sat down, she said, "I have a question for you. I saw how excited you were when you invited Angela to be baptized, and, well, I was wondering...why haven't you invited me to be baptized?" 

AHH! SLAM. After three months of teaching her (she's been taught for over eight months now), a Mission Leadership Council AND a Zone Conference on baptismal invitations, it still hadn't occurred to me to invite her to be baptized. Granted, because of her anxiety and depression, we've been thinking of her as more of a service opportunity than a progressing investigator. But all people are best helped when invited to come unto Christ, and the first step for non-members is inviting them to be baptized. And I had not done that. I felt like a worm! 

We sat in stunned silence for a second. I stuttered for a moment, then sincerely and profusely apologized for not inviting her to do the one thing that would help her the most. Then I said, "Well, we'd like to invite you right now. Will you be baptized by someone holding the authority of God?"

She said confidently, "Yes." 

Her anxiety and depression made it excruciatingly overwhelming to set a baptismal date right then, so we'll start small and teach the lessons a piece at a time. She'll be ready when she's ready. But I certainly learned my lesson. Who am I to deny an invitation to come to the Savior to someone I don't think is ready? I will never, ever withhold an invitation to be baptized to someone I teach, ever again. You never know who or how the Lord is preparing His children.

Kaylee has been working towards baptism, and all she needed was a day to stamp. So we invited her to be baptized on February 21st, a week from Saturday (Same day as Alexa!). She said, "Yeah. I felt like the next few weeks was about the right time." That was easy! 

We had another miracle with her. Last week, she shrunk back in her chair and said, "Guys...I broke one of the commandments. I lied." She said she'd had a great job interview-- one that, if she got hired for, wouldn't make her work till 7am Sunday mornings, like her current job does, and it would pay much better. The only problem was, they were only hiring people already experienced in that field, which she's not. So she bluffed her way through the application and an interview. (It was actually pretty impressive, and comical. She made up answers for how to use machinery she'd never seen before-- and apparently was pretty convincing, since they asked her to come back!) We didn't dwell on the topic long and started teaching the lesson. Partway through the lesson, though, the Spirit nudged me. You really need to encourage her to tell the truth, said Heavenly Father. 

What?! That would be so awkward!! I thought back. 

You know you need to, He replied. 

*sigh* Okay. Just help me know what to say, I prayed. 

So, we encouraged her to tell the truth. She squirmed and rationalized, but she knew she needed to make it right. We left it in her hands as to whether or not she'd talk to them, but we were so proud of her for talking to us about it! We prayed she'd have the courage to make it right, even if it meant losing a job she really, really wanted.  

This last week, she texted us and canceled her lesson. She had a huge headache because she'd just finished a four hour exam, certifying her for the position she'd applied to, so she wouldn't have to lie. We were so happy for her!! That was a huge leap of faith. She is just awesome. It has been incredible to see the change in her. Her home isn't always a very peaceful environment. But the other night, she spoke in sweet, calm tones, and her countenance was peaceful, light, and happy. She's experiencing real changes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is real!

Last miracle: Chris. We forgot how wonderful he is because it's been a few weeks since we taught him. He was disappointed in himself for not reading much (only FOUR chapters!), but he intently listened and asked meaningful questions. We explained the organization of Christ's Church, the Apostasy (period of time when Christ's Church in it's complete form is not on the earth), and how it was brought back through Joseph Smith using cups. We stack and unstack the labeled cups to represent each part of the lesson. It's a great analogy, and it really began to click for him! The Linzeys will bring him to church next week, and he can't wait to come. I love the wonderful, humble truth-seekers I'm privileged to know and teach! 

We've had almost no time to tract, but we try hard to find as we go between appointments. We only had thirty minutes of tracting this week, but we got 15 contacts because we tried to talk to everyone we saw. That has gotten incredibly easier for me as I commit to talk to everyone and not make excuses. It helps me remember that absolutely anyone we talk to could be our next top investigator.

I love yall and pray for you daily. Please pray for:

Angela (quit smoking)

Kaylee (get job that allows her to come to church, preparing for baptism)

Chris (be able to come to church, get some personal issues resolved)

Pam (health for church/lessons and to feel calmness of the Spirit)

Shirley (able to get ride for church)

Karsandra (family health)

& Jayne (strength and peace)

Have a great week! Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

Sister Taylor

Pictures

Text from Alexa to the UGA sisters last week. :)

Counted fourteen pairs of shoes hanging from telephone wires! Needless to say, we're not tracting there. (Don't worry Mom :) )

Us and Alexa. :)

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Fwd: Not Wussies, Dreadlocks, & Would You Like a Baptism with that Gas?

Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 11:44 AM
Subject: Not Wussies, Dreadlocks, & Would You Like a Baptism with that Gas?

Yall!

Get ready for more miracles. God has a bucket full and ready! 

We had some good big miracles, but some sweet tender mercies and pat on the backs, too. 

Fun moment. I was telling Sister Porter in the car that no one lets the sisters help them move or work because they think we're wussies. "No, yall look too nice!" "No, this is too heavy!" "No, we're getting some men for this hard work!" Not five minutes later, we pull into a gas station and see a black family unloading belongings in the parking lot. They were setting up for a yard sale. "Can we help unload your truck?" we asked. "Sure! Please!" said the woman in charge. So, off we went unloading it! God has a great sense of humor. Thanks, God! 

Another day, Sister Porter and I had a great conversation about how we were both battling waves of feeling inadequate, and wondering if our efforts were really making a difference. "Sometimes, you just really feel like a pat on the back from God would let you know you're doing enough," we agreed. That night, we visited a member in the ward who's been through many a tragedy in passing years. We were teaching a lesson on faith, when he looked us squarely in the eyes and said, "Don't get discouraged. You've got a tough job. But God will help you do it." Sister Porter said, "Well, there's our pat on the back." It was a sweet answer to prayer and just the pick me up I needed.

Kaylee, one of our investigators nearly on date, came to church yesterday...and bore her testimony in Sacrament Meeting! She leaned over to me partway through and said, "I love this!" Then, a moment later, she determinedly stood up and strode to the podium herself. 

It was every missionary's dream. She talked about how grateful she was for the sisters coming into her life, and how we'd helped her come to Christ and follow His commandments. She talked about how she wants to be baptized and she's working towards it. She came with us to teach Young Womens as well, and bore a beautiful testimony at the end. "I wasn't raised in the Church," she said as if she were a convert of five years already, "so when I first started learning about Gd's plan it blew my mind. But it has really opened my eyes since I learned that God gives everyone a chance to come to Him." I love Kaylee. She has a new spiritual maturity growing inside of her, and what a privilege to see it shine! We're planning to put her on date for February 21st.

MLC (Mission Leadership Council) was on Thursday, and two proselyting department representatives from Salt Lake came to train us on the needs of our mission. It was mind-blowing, and I left feeling pretty overwhelmed and inadequate. It was seven hours of a lot of spiritual experiences and a lot of good trainings. But it's focus on the doctrine of baptism has really helped Sister Porter and I renew our focus on helping our investigators get baptized. Basically, without baptism, no one can experience the fulness of Christ's Atonement-- that's why baptism is so important! 

We've had a couple great miracles come from it already! We were tracting, and saw a black man with dreadlocks and a baggy hoodie walking up the street in our direction. We approached him smiling and introduced ourselves. His name was Cody. In our conversation, we came to find out his best friend, Cutler, is a member. Cutler had suffered from terrible drug addictions when he met the missionaries two years ago, and since then he's been clean of drugs and is now finishing school. Cody had really seen a huge change come about in his friend's life because of his finding the Church. We asked Cody if he would like to take the lessons that helped make the difference in Cutler. He said, "Yes..actually, I would really like that." Then, applying what we learned in MLC, we asked, "If you come to know that this is Christ's church, and that Christ wants you to, will you be baptized by someone who has God's power to do it?" 

"Yes, of course!" he said. 

"Great! Can we meet with you later this week?" We set an appointment, at which we plan to put him on date then refer him to the UGA elders. There it is!

In pondering new ways I could invite others to be baptized in the first contact, an idea popped into my head to invite the person pumping gas next to us the next time we stopped at the gas station. So on Friday, I put my plan into action. An oriental young man parked opposite the pump we were using, and I said hello.

Me: "Hi, I'm Sister Taylor! What's your name?"

Him: "I'm Alex."

Me: "Hi Alex. I'm a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I'm doing a little bit of research. Can I ask you a question?"

Alex: "Sure."

Me: "Well, first, are you a Christian?"

Alex: "Yes, I go to a church."

Me: "That's great! If you found a church that taught exactly the same things that Jesus Christ taught, and that Christ was leading Himself, would you be baptized in that Church by someone holding the authority of God?"

Alex: "Yeah, I would." 

Me: "That's wonderful! That's the unique message that we share as missionaries-- that Jesus Christ has restored His Church through a modern day prophet, and because of that, all the truths of Jesus Christ are in one church today."

We continued our conversation and he wasn't really interested in taking the lessons, but I gave him a card with our information and mormon.org on it, and he said he'd check it out. It was a pretty good contact! And it felt so good to have our purpose right up front. It was really a quite easy, straightforward way to see if he'd be interested in our message or not. It may need a little tweaking, but it opened my eyes to see that there are many ways to invite our fellow brothers and sisters to be baptized and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We're hoping to have six investigators with a baptismal date by the end of this week. Pray for us and them!

Have a great week! 

Sister Taylor

P.S. 

These are Kaylee's kids. They always block the door after our appointment so we can't leave. :)

I and several missionaries from my MTC district at our leadership meeting. Fun to be reunited!