Week 21

Two more days!! Can you believe it?

Man...this week has been CRAZY. We went to Kirtland on Wednesday for transfers and I found out my new companions would be Sister Jensen and Sister Smith! Weird because Sister Jensen was serving in the area right next-door in Solon, and we were in the same district. So I already knew her a little bit. Sister Smith was serving in Ashtabula which is way up by the lake by the Pennsylvania border. So we didn't see each other except at sites once in awhile. So it's been fun getting to know them both better. Also I was friends with Sister Jensen on facebook before the mission because I saw that she was coming to the same mission as me! Crazy right? They are both amazing missionaries.

So since they've gotten to the area things have gone really well! They are both new too and just finished training. They came out a transfer after me so they have been here since October. So we're all new and figuring this out together :) And I'm the designated driver! It feels soooo good to drive again. For the first day or so I felt like I was learning all over again since it had been so long. But I think I've got the hang of it now. Haha.

We were in Kirtland for like 2 days before we finally got to come to the area, so they've only been in Hiram since Friday. But it's been an adventure. We are super low on miles this month so we haven't been able to go to as many appointments as we would like, so we tracted a lot more than usual this week. But we had the most success I've ever seen tracting. We stopped by an old potential and she let us in to share a message. Her name is Glenna and she is from the Philippines. She is Baptist and they are looking for a church. She wants her daughter to grow up in a church that teaches strong morals, so we left her with a family proclamation and asked if we could come back and she said we could! Then the next day we were tracting and this guy answered the door and told us he was Christian already and that our time was probably better spent talking to someone else in the neighborhood. But as we talked about the Restoration briefly and how unique our message is, he totally changed and opened up. We mentioned the Book of Mormon and he said, "yes, tell me more about this book." And then he let us in and we taught a lesson about the Book of Mormon. His name is Jean (pronounced like Jean val Jean) and he is from India. He seemed super interested after we were done and was excited to read! So we are coming back to him too! It was so cool to see the change in him from when we first knocked on the door to when we left his house. Amazing! Then we went to another potential from a long time ago and she let us right in as well! Her name is Candy and she also super cool. She loved us and wants us to come back. We just talked about Jesus Christ and what our role is as missionaries, and she shared her life story with us. So we gave her a Restoration pamphlet and she said we are welcome to come back anytime! She said "come back on a Saturday before new year's so I can wish y'all a happy new year!" So we're going back next Saturday :) I think this companionship is working.

Saturday night we went to the Christmas party at the Lorenzo Snow home. The Ehlerts own it and throw a Christmas party every year for the LDS missionaries and the local Bishop. They aren't members but they are friends to anyone who wishes to come and see the home. They live in the home and keep it up, but they give tours in it for anyone who stops by. Seriously some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Then yesterday we went to the Johnson Home to give the new sisters a warm welcome to Hiram. The Packers gave us a tour and we studied in the Revelation Room. It's in the back of your scriptures in case you're wondering what it looks like. Along with the Kirtland temple and the Whitney store. It's just crazy because I've looked at those pictures since I was 8 years old and never once thought I would serve a mission there. But here I am! And it's wonderful!!

So! This week is Christmas, and I want everyone to remember the reason we celebrate. I know that's so cliche but as a missionary I am understanding that concept better than I have in the past. There's very little focus on presents, and no focus on Santa or Rudolph. I don't have any family around. I didn't watch Elf or White Christmas or It's a Wonderful Life this year. So there is nothing distracting me from focusing on Christ. Anyways, I know I'm kind of cheating here by sending you to another source for this week's little spiritual thought, but I love this talk given at the Christmas devotional a few weeks ago:
http://www.lds.org/church/news/far-far-away-on-judeas-plains?lang=eng&country=ca

I love the story about Brother Macfarlane, who wrote the Christmas hymn "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains". Singing that song is different after reading this. There is so much more to Jesus Christ than His humble birth. The reason we celebrate His birth is to celebrate His life as well. In the talk, Elder Christensen talks about the second verse, which reads

"Sweet are the strains of redeeming love,

message of mercy from heav'n above"

I hope that we all can think about that this Christmas. Not just about His birth, but about His Great Atoning Sacrifice. That is His gift to us. And I am so grateful for that gift, because without it, I would not even be capable of being a missionary. I love the Savior. I know He lives and directs His Church. And I hope you all have a wonderful and merry Christmas!

Mom, Dad, Lauren, Jorie, Ethan...See you Wednesday!! Love you guys :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tayler

Week 20

Ok so some CRAZY stuff is going down in Hiram this transfer. We got a missed call from President Vellinga on Saturday and then a text from him that said "sisters please call me". The only reason he would be calling personally would be to extend a leadership calling or to talk about stuff that's going on at home that we need to be aware of. If it's about transfers then our district leader tells us. So we were both freaking out. We called him back and he didn't answer and we were on edge the rest of the afternoon. Finally about 3 hours later he called us back while we were driving so we pulled over and talked. He proceeded to call Sister Johnson as a Sister Training Leader (basically a zone leader but for sisters). Then he told me I was staying in Hiram and he was sending two sisters to me to be in a trio. So I have no clue who is coming but the Elders had to bring over an extra bed today so that we would have room for three people in our apartment. I'm not ready for change, especially to this extreme. I'm a little bit nervous-excited. We'll see how it goes. It's a seven week transfer which is extra long so I hope I like 'em ;) Haha. Jk. I totally will. There are only about 30 sisters who serve at the Visitors' Center and I know them all already, so I know I will like whoever comes. It's just going to be an adjustment. But whoever they are they will LOVE Hiram.

 

So this week we had more lessons than we have had in awhile. We worked our tails off, but we had to use so many miles that we are super behind this month. I'm nervous now because I'll be in charge of keeping track of how many we use since the new sisters won't know the area or how far away things are. So that's stressful. But it was a good week. I can see the area growing so much! Keep up the prayers because they're working!

 

Last Tuesday after district meeting we went out to lunch and someone anonymously paid our check! We had no idea who it was so we figured it must have been one of the three Nephites. Then after that we taught Bob, the one we found last week whose daughter just died. He is awesome! We brought Sister Busath with us and found out his daughter Annie took the lessons at her house a few years ago! Miracle! It was a good lesson. We went back yesterday and taught about the Book of Mormon. He said he actually was about to go to the library to check it out because he wants to read it. So it was perfect! Every time we go over there something happens like that. He's a talker though so sometimes it's hard to teach doctrines/principles in an organized way. But we try, and the spirit is always there.

 

We had an appointment with a member of the ward last week and when we knocked she wasn't there. So we were about to go call her when her little girl came running across the street. She said, "come over here!" so we followed her to their neighbor's house and had an unplanned lesson with her! It was so cool! We just shared the lesson we had planned for their family. It was a Christmas lesson where we just watched the little Nativity film and talked about Christ. The neighbor wasn't all too keen on our religion at first, but she opened up a little more toward the end and especially as her friend (the member) shared her testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing! But she's got lots of issues to work through and doesn't want us coming back. Seed planted :) She is a recovering alcoholic and looked like she was either on some drugs or having some serious withdrawals. She was stressing me out. But I'm so glad we got to teach her. I hope something comes of it in the future.

 

So those are the main highlights of the week! Not a ton of things but I can assure you we see miracles every single day. We have a super busy day today since Sister Johnson is packing, and we're getting the apartment ready for TWO other sisters. Then we also have to do all the regular pday stuff - groceries, cleaning, washing the car, etc. So lots to do!

 

But before I go I just wanted to share a little something I studied this week. It was from an Ensign article in March 2008. If you haven't read it it's an amazing issue. The whole thing is dedicated to the Savior and all things pertaining to Him. But the article I am referring to was by Elder D. Todd Christofferson called "Becoming a Witness of Christ". He talks about the many ways we can become a witness of Christ and one of them is by living our lives in a way that reflects His teachings. But a certain part stuck out to me because I tend to pick at my weaknesses and feel inadequate. I think it happens to everyone. But he shared a quote from President Ezra Taft Benson that was really comforting. He says:

“Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible. …

“… For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said ‘were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not’ (3 Ne. 9:20; italics added)."

Just remember...we're doing better than we think we are!! Sometimes it seems like we aren't progressing because it's a slow process. But that's okay! We aren't going to become like Christ in a day. It definitely takes time. But the rate at which we progress is not the important part. The fact that we are progressing at all is what is important. And I know that He sees it and He is proud of us when we make even the smallest changes for the better.

I love you guys sooooo much and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Love

Tayler

Week 19


Hi everyone! Guess what. This week has been one of the best ever. There is sooooo much to talk about. So brace yourselves. This will probably be a novel.

 

So Tuesday we had mission conference in the Kirtland temple and at the historic sites. The entire mission came! That's 240+ missionaries together in one very sacred location. The Sunday before we had a mission fast for safe travelling weather, and it was the nicest day of the whole week. Huge miracle. When our mission president spoke at the open of the meeting, he said this would be such an important event, and then he said, "and believe me. Someone has been trying to stop it from the depths of hell." He didn't expound on that, but he did say that God had worked a miracle for us. He said the biggest concern he has as a mission president is the safety of our missionaries. So all during the week last week he kept checking the forecast. But by the time Sunday came around, he said he stopped looking at it because he knew that the Lord would take care of us as we participated in the fast together. He is such an eloquent speaker, I wish I could articulate it the way he did. I just love President Vellinga. I think we have the best mission president in the world.

Then the stake presidents in our mission shared their testimonies and we sang Christmas songs and the Spirit of God, which if you don't know, was written for the dedication of the Kirtland temple, so it's always so powerful to sing it in there. But even more so when there are hundreds of missionaries singing it. I can't express in words the feelings I had as we sang the words to that song, "we'll sing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven, Hosanna Hosanna to God and the Lamb". And it really did sound like we were singing with the armies of heaven. I thought it might be hard to keep it together emotionally during that song, but it was such a shout of triumph that it was difficult not to just smile and sing at the top of my lungs.

The stake presidents and President Vellinga and Elder Seldon from the seventy all shared some really cool thoughts. They said it is not a random event that we were there that day. That event and our attendance were foreordained. I learned so much and felt the spirit so strongly in that meeting. It was really sad to have to leave.

Afterwards we went to the historic sites and gave our zone a tour. There might be some pictures someone else took of that so I'll see if I can send them. The purpose was to inspire all the missionaries to focus their efforts in bringing people to Kirtland because of what Elder Ballard told President Vellinga when he came in October. He grabbed him by the front of his suit and said "The Visitors' Center is the best missionary you have in this mission. You need to get more people to Kirtland."

Overall it was probably the BEST day on the mission. Soooooooooo amazing. And I just can't do it justice when I try to describe it.

 

And while we were in Kirtland that day we were printing some music for Sister Johnson during our 5 minute break. So we happened to be in the call center printing stuff when the Visitors' Center phone rang. I was hesitant to answer because we weren't assigned to be there right then, and I figured they could leave a message. But I went ahead and answered anyways. The lady said "Yes you called me" At this point I assumed that she was calling for one of the other sisters. We all make calls from those phones so it could have been a call for any of them. So I was prepared to say "Oh, I'll just get your name and number and let them know you called" when she said "This is Etta Boyd." I CALLED HER!!! It was for me!! We had taken her on a tour months ago when she came in to do family history. She wasn't a member, but she had a lot of ancestors who were baptized in the Kirtland years, and were disfellowshipped somewhere down the line. She told us on the tour that she always wondered if she would come back to Mormonism someday. So I called her a couple weeks ago to follow up on the rest of her trip and try to talk to her more about the gospel, but just left a message. Then when she called we had a little conversation and she said "I never paid much attention to my Mormon ancestors, but now that I have researched more, I think they might have been on to something." Ok. I was speechless. Seriously. I didn't know what to say. So I just said "Yeah! You're right!" So she said we could call her and teach her! AMAZING! And what if I wasn't sitting right there at that very moment to answer the phone? Miracle.

 

We had another crazy day on Wednesday. We were on exchanges. I was with Sister Gee in Hiram, and Sister Johnson was with Sister Oliver in their area for the day. A few hours before we were supposed to switch back we got a call from the other sisters saying that something had happened and we needed to meet up ASAP. They had been cleaning at a lady's house and there was a heavy window they were cleaning under and decided to prop it up with a stick. Of course the stick fell and the window came down hard on her hand, and there was a physical therapist in their ward who said it was probably at least a fracture. So we switched back and drove to the Emergency Room by us. They took a quick look and an x-ray and diagnosed it as an abrasion and contusion. Translation: she scraped and bruised her hand. Sounds pretty sissy but it looked really bad. It was pretty miraculous that it wasn't worse.

 

Then Thursday was a miracle day! We had so many miracles, and some of the best tracting stories of my mission. We stopped by a potential investigators that the Elders gave us. They found her name in their area book, but she was in our area, so they gave us her information and we stopped by. She wasn't home so we tracted around the apartments by her house. And the first door we knocked was a crazy Russian guy named Vladimir. He thought we were realtors. We explained to him that we were missionaries, and he invited us in. We saw that there was a woman in the house through the window so we went ahead and went in, and he had two friends there, a man and a woman, who were sitting in the kitchen eating snacks and drinking wine. He said "I'm too old for you. Now, if you have mother, maybe." Sister Johnson and I just looked at each other, holding back laughter and wondering who was going to respond to that. I said "we are sharing a message about Jesus Christ." And he slapped his forehead and said "I hate that!" The woman looked confused and asked him something in Russian, and he turned and said "You are witnesses of yehovah?" and started saying something about the KGB. We explained that we weren't Jehovah's Witnesses, and he said "Ok ok..." Then the other man said "You want something to drink? It's Jesus wine!" And Vladimir said "No no, they only drink Vodka." We did our best to bring it back to Christ, but his only response was, "No no. Forget about mission. Go home and find lover, and make lot of sex." Soooooo we gave him our card and went on our way. DEFINITELY an interesting encounter. We just walked out of his house and burst out in uncontrollable laughter. I was NOT expecting that...

The next stop we made was to an old potential from 2005 or so, and they weren't interested. So we saw a cute yellow house down the street and decided to go there. The man who answered is named Bob. He is golden. His daughter just died and we spent a whole hour just standing on his doorstep talking about her and about the Plan of Salvation. He kept asking question after question about religion and we have every answer. So we are going back this week :) I can't wait to teach him. Miracle!

Then we realized we were out of gas and went to the gas station. Every time we get gas we talk to everyone there. We'll take turns standing by the car while the other one goes and gives someone a card. We invited everyone there to the nativities, including this way creepy guy named Hollywood Bob. He looked like a cross between Marilyn Mansen and Stephen Tyler. He had black acrylic nails about 2 inches long, and wore only black, had this dyed black afro, and funky blue contacts. Yeah. Creepy. But also he is a child of God and we don't judge. So we gave him a card and he explained to us all about how he is the great-great grandson of Lucifer, and his job is to "cut off the head of the beast" (the beast being Pres. Barack Obama...). He told us he knows the end is coming soon and to hug our families tight because we're going to be in concentration camps here soon. Also he was a body guard for Denzel Washington, Rascall Flats, and Big Time Rush (who wrote a song about him dying and coming back from the dead. He played it for us). Not sure what to say to that. But we had a pretty interesting conversation with him for about an hour. Another cool story.

Then we went to another potential investigator from a couple years ago and brought over a Book of Mormon. She was really excited about it and has a daughter who is going through some serious medical stuff right now. She is actually flying to Texas in a week for 5 months of treatment at a better hospital there. But she was also golden, and really excited about reading the Book of Mormon! We weren't even planning on going to her house that day, but she happened to live on the same street as Bob (normal Bob, not Hollywood Bob), so we stopped by and actually caught her right as she was leaving. She said she is never usually home so we were lucky to catch her. She spends most days and nights at the hospital with her daughter. So also that was another miracle find. We were in the right place at the right time.

There were so many other small things that happened to fall into place that day. But there's too many to go into detail about. So those were the best ones. And the funniest :)

 

Then in Kirtland on Saturday we had some ladies come. One was a member and she brought her nonmember friend. She had shared a little with her friend about the gospel, but since the print was too small in the Book of Mormon they were waiting on a larger one. So in the meantime Becky (the member) just though, well, I can bring her to Kirtland! Marsha was the nonmember. She was about 70 ish. After watching the film she said she felt like the Mormons really had something going. She felt so sad about the persecution they endured, and as we took her through the Newel K. Whitney & Co. store, she was amazed at the way she felt. She had said a prayer looking for direction in her life. She has a deep love for Jesus Christ, and she kept commenting on the feelings she had there. She had lots of questions, so we sat in the revelation room and taught her a mini-restoration lesson/Q&A. Becky was great, and had a strong testimony. She was a convert herself. And as we taught the spirit was so strong, we invited her to be baptized right there, and she accepted. She has never met with missionaries before, so we got her number and will be calling her and teaching over the phone until she is comfortable enough to have missionaries come to her house. Best tour ever! Then we showed her the nativities and she told us she writes doggy raps and cat operas. She did a demo of one of her dog raps for us. It. Was. Amazing. She is an old lady. Who writes doggy raps. And wants to get baptized. Doesn't get better than that. Funniest thing of my life.

 

Anyways. If you've made it this far, congratulations! I'm done. I know we have a loving Heavenly Father who is a God of miracles!! This is just a fraction of all that I have experienced and have yet to experience! Missions are awesome. Especially mine :)

 

I love y'all! Have a fab week!!

 

Tayler

Week 18

Dec 2

That's how that song should go in Ohio. Although it finally stopped and has mostly melted already. But we got buckets more since last week.

 

Tuesday and Wednesday we worked our tails off so that we would feel more justified in sitting around on Thanksgiving. We had so many appointments cancel, so that gave us lots of time to tract in the blizzard. We actually stopped by a former investigator's house all the way on the other side of our area, and when he wasn't home we felt like we had wasted a lot of miles to drive out there and wanted to make something of it. So naturally we started tracting, and after the second house, we saw a man outside walking toward us. He thought our car was stuck in the snow and wanted to know if we needed help. So we explained that we were fine and started talking a little bit, told him who we were and talked about the restoration, and he said we could come back and share a message this week! Whoo! We also met a lady in the nursing home where we volunteer who wants to learn more. She's super sweet.

 

Then Thursday was Thanksgiving of course. So we spent approximately 11 hours hanging out at Sister Busath's house. Haha. It was the best. I took a little mini nap on her couch, and she played Christmas music all day and invited a ton of people from the ward over. We got to eat and then take a break to nap and write a letter home, then we ate some more and took another break to play games. Then we ate some dessert and played more games. That was a fun day. It went so fast.

 

But the next day we got to get up and go to Kirtland early Friday morning and it was sooooo white everywhere! So much snow got dumped on us.The nativities were all finished when we walked in and there were a bunch of people coming that day. We took two really great tours that day, one was a way cute family from the other side of Ohio, and then shortly after we got back one of the Senior missionaries came and told us that our bishop had made a special request for Sister Johnson and Sister Coontz to take them on tour :) Haha. He brought his parents and grandmother to see the sites and they were the cutest. It was a really cool tour with them, too. Then that night Al and Loretta came to the lighting ceremony and got to meet Bishop Hatfield, Elder Sorenson, and President Vellinga! That was cool. They really liked the nativities. All the Kirtland sisters sang at the lighting ceremony, and then me and Sister Johnson were asked to help plug in some of the lights! Soooo we will go down in Kirtland history. Basically.

 

Saturday was equally as good because we took another awesome tour. They were two couples about our age. One girl was a lifelong member with a sister on a mission, then her boyfriend was baptized a few years ago and had just become active in the last year. Then the other couple was a guy who got baptized 13 months ago and his date who is getting baptized in 2 weeks! All because he was a good member missionary and asked her to come to church with him. It just so happened that she was searching for something, and found it when he introduced her to his faith. Now he is going on a mission in January! Member missionaries rock! It was probably one of the best tours I've ever taken. Same with the ones we took on Friday. It was just all around a great time in Kirtland.

 

Then yesterday was church, which was great as always. I love the Hiram ward. Then afterwards we saw the Stamms. Katherine is doing soooo well. SO well. She has already been praying about this and learning on her own. She read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and prayed about it, and after discussing her questions she told us that basically everything made sense, and fell in line well. She said she didn't think we were saying things that were wrong, but she said it's so different that she needed to study more and pray about it. Good answer, right?!? That's exactly what she needs to do! We are so excited to keep teaching them. It's taken so long to get to this point, and it definitely will take more time now. But they are being prepared more and more, and the ward members have been so great at befriending them, so I'm not worried about them losing contact with anyone in the church. They are already such Christlike people. It will definitely take time with them, but that is certainly not a bad thing.

 

Michael is just being Michael. I'll just leave it at that. I'll let you all know how he's doing when I figure that out myself. We had another lesson last night that went pretty much the same as last week, aside from the fact that we actually spoke a little more this time. But he's gonna take time too. No worries.

 

So this week I wanted to share some things Heavenly Father has taught me this week. And that is that it is okay to have weaknesses. Over and over again on my mission I have been told this, but I think it was solidified more than ever this week. In Elder Scott's talk from conference, "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ", he says "The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of the consequences of past poor choices is that the Lord sees weaknesses differently than He does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment, when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy." One of my new favorite scriptures is in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where Paul says "(9) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." So it's okay to be weak. In fact, we should glory in our infirmities, as Paul, because our weaknesses are opportunities for Christ's help. I'm a huge perfectionist. But it's important to realize that if we focus on everything we are doing wrong and trying to fix it all at once, we are not going to end up fixing anything. We just become overwhelmed and discouraged. But I think we might all be surprised to realize that we are doing alright after all. Now, I don't want to sound like we should be lazy and not try to become better. We can always become better. But progress comes through trust in the Savior and His Atonement. And when we are utilizing the Atonement and doing our best, then we are strong. Regardless of our weaknesses.

 

I hope that made some sense :) And I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you for the letters and emails this week! You have no idea how happy they make me!! Love you guys :)

 

Tayler

Week 17


We got dumped on this last couple days. It snowed nonstop for about 2 days straight. And Ohio sucks at plowing the roads. It's sunny outside today but still freezing cold. It got down to 19 degrees yesterday which feels about like 9 degrees with the wind chill. So. Cold. And it's not even Thanksgiving yet...So pray I don't turn into a popsicle out here.

So we are going to Sister Busath's for Thanksgiving, which we are excited for. They said no tracting, but we can hop around to different members' homes and stay as long as we want, so long as we don't overstay our welcome. So we are probably going to eat at the Busaths and hang out for awhile and then go dessert hopping. And then we have another member feeding us Wednesday - they are doing Thanksgiving a day early. So we will have two Thanksgivings basically. And then stop in at several members' homes who invited us over on Thursday. So it should be fun :)

We took the Stamms to the Johnson Home this week. It went SO WELL! Brother and Sister Hale came with us and they were perfect. We touched a little on the three degrees of glory in the Revelation Room, and that really interested Katherine. She wanted to know more about where it is mentioned in the Bible (1 Corinthians 15 if you're wondering too). So they said we could come over and teach them more, and that they were willing to listen and learn. So we are pretty dang excited about that, especially because of the complete turn-around we've seen in them with how open they are to our beliefs. They are just really good people.

Last night was the most intense lesson I've ever had, and probably one of the most intense I will ever have. Michael has been asking SO many questions about the Book of Mormon and about the little things he doesn't quite understand about our church. He sent us a 21-page text message with all his questions. Needless to say we couldn't answer all of them over text so he agreed to meet with us last night, and we invited Brother Hale. He teaches seminary and has a really in-depth knowledge of the scriptures. Earlier this week Brother Sears stopped by and said that he stayed for 3 hours trying to answer his questions, but Michael wasn't satisfied. Of course we had to explain to Michael that sometimes we have to accept God's will and we aren't going to have all the answers he is seeking. But we told him we'd do our best to answer them. His primary question was why God took up the plates so soon after they were translated, and why would he have people write on gold plates rather than papyrus or something less precious. He thought it was out of character for God to do that. And it got pretty heated when he asked all his questions, mainly because he was frustrated that he couldn't get a straight answer. Now just so you all know, we HAVE had the conversation about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion, and that he has to rely on his feelings more than evidence. We have also had the conversation about how God gives us line upon line, precept upon precept, not all at once. But he really is seeking. Otherwise he wouldn't be so diligent about it and wouldn't have so many questions. There are probably a lot of opinions to be had about the answer to Michael's question, but Brother Hale explained to him that it really was something he would have to ask God himself. And then he told the story of Martin Harris taking the characters to Charles Anthon to be authenticated. (JSH 1: 62-65) He told him also that that was prophesied in Isaiah 29:11-12 (this blew my mind by the way...you should look it up and then read JSH). And then he said, "unfortunately that is all I can give you. The rest is between you and God. Because we don't know." So basically that's just something to think about, not an answer to his question. Think about what Charles Anthon did, and he only had copied characters, not the actual plates. Can you imagine what would have happened had the plates stayed on the earth? What would wicked and "learned" men have done with them? Anyways, Sister Johnson and I said probably a total of 20 words each. Brother Hale and Michael said the rest. It was super intense. We had to leave to make curfew, but Brother Hale told us he stayed till 11:00. We got there at 7:30. Srsly Michael...

So that's the big stuff that happened this week. Sister Johnson tore something in her shoulder so she has to wear a sling. And I got eaten alive by fleas when we stayed the night in Kirtland. So we're both falling apart.

But this week I wanted to share some things I learned from Relief Society yesterday that seemed appropriate, since I think we all need some reassurance now and then. The sister teaching shared a story (which I am paraphrasing) about a boy whose mother was very good at embroidering. He would sit on the floor and watch her as she stitched in the little hoop, and from his point of view it looked messy and terrible. He asked, "mother, what are you doing? Why are you making such a mess of that?" She would reply, "continue playing and go about your business. In a little while I'll show you why." He continued playing on the floor until his mother told him to come and sit in her lap. When he climbed onto her lap he could see the finished project - a beautiful flawless flower. She said, "you see, I was just following a pattern. I had a plan, and I could see that the end result was going to be beautiful." Sometimes during hard times and difficult trials we are tempted to ask Heavenly Father, "what are you doing? This is such a mess!" From our view it may seem so abstract and without direction that it seems hopeless. But Heavenly Father sees what we can become. He has a pattern for our lives, and He knows that the end result will be beautiful. President Monson gave a really good talk on this concept in this last October conference. He said, "I cannot begin to measure all of the heartache and sorrow I have witnessed as I have visited with those who are dealing with grief, experiencing illness, facing divorce, struggling with a wayward son or daughter, or suffering the consequences of sin...Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were--better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before." He then quotes a poem, which says,

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger the wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

He says it so much better than I could have :) I know that Heavenly Father has saved us to be on this earth at this time. He knows we are strong enough to handle the difficult things that come our way in this lifetime, especially in our day when sin is so acceptable. And I promise that as we persevere through trials, the end result WILL be beautiful. I'm still working on it myself, and I have a heck of a long way to go. But I know it will be worth it in the end!

Hope you are all doing well. I miss and love you!

Love

Tayler

PS - This one-way communication thing is no fun. Some of you need to write me more. You know who you are!

Week 16


HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA JO!!! I LOVE YOUUUUUUUU <3

Alright, so this week was craziness. Transfers were last Wednesday, and guess what...I survived!! We both get to stay together one more transfer! Only problem is...This transfer is 5 weeks long rather than 6. And it ends the week before Christmas. Seeing as it's pretty unusual for our mission president to keep us together for this long already (especially since we were training), it's almost set in stone that one of us will be transferred that week. So one of us might spend Christmas with strangers :( That's ok though. I'm sure it will be fun either way.

Anyways we had a pretty hectic week after transfers. Lots to do! Wednesday and Thursday we were in Kirtland, and we found out our new schedule. Monday Pday again! And then Thursday Friday at sites (except for Thanksgiving which is basically another pday as far as I know...except I don't think we get to email home. We'll see on that one.) So basically the same as last transfer. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving. SO EXCITED. We get to spend the day at a member's home, so Sister Busath invited us to come to her house. She likes to spoil us. :)

We found out on Wednesday that our apartment lease is almost up and the mission is paying a bajillion dollars a month for where we live. So they are deciding whether or not to sign a new lease here or move us to a new apartment. They asked us to scout out some apartments in the area and report back, so Saturday we spent a couple hours apartment shopping which was kind of fun. It felt like I was doing real world stuff so I felt kind of weird. But it was still fun.

Then Friday we went to early morning seminary. That was SO. HARD. Harder than it was in high school. We woke up at 5:20 am. And we had to teach the lesson. I probably scared them all with my raspy and nasally morning voice, and my icky face that didn't get much attention in the 15 minutes I spent getting ready. I looked scary. So hopefully they let us come back :) Haha. But it made the day seem so much longer. Granted, we did feel much more awake the rest of the day. But by the time we were getting ready for bed that night it was hard to recall what we even taught that morning.

We have also been doing a lot of finding this week. Mainly tracting, which I hate. I'm trying so hard to love it, but I think it's the hardest part of missionary work. People generally don't like when you knock on their door and try to talk about religion. Other people just say, "we've got our own church, no thank you" before you can even say anything. But we had a really cool experience this week. We had been talking about the Kirtland nativities as our initial approach since that's usually less intimidating for people, and then we would turn it into a gospel conversation. But at one particular door a girl answered and when I started talking, I found myself telling her about the restoration and a modern-day prophet. She was trying not to laugh at first, but we talked a little more and she told us about her beliefs and that she was pretty open-minded. So she invited us in and we had the first lesson with her right there. She was my age and going to college in Akron...which is out of our area. She just happened to be in Aurora at her mom's house when we came to the door. So we got her number and we will be calling her at sites since we can't teach her in person. Her name is Samone, and she's way cute. Aaaand she's getting baptized someday. Super cool, right?! We also got a really solid referral from a ward member...who ALSO lives out of our area. AND Lisa and Jim moved...out of our area. So we will be giving referrals to 3 different sets of missionaries in our mission. For whatever reason we just aren't finding people in our area, so we can't teach them. Lame. Oh and like an hour ago we talked to a lady who works at our apartment complex and she apparently investigated about 8 years ago! She's still friends with the missionaries who taught her! But she lives out of our area. So if she ever did want to take the lessons again...guess who wouldn't be teaching her. :(

We have been seeing a lot of success in re-activation efforts though. Three of our less-active members are going to church regularly, and one of them is a family of 3. So that's awesome! One of them is a Vietnamese man named Giang (pronounced Zang). He told us last week that he loved church and he's coming every week now! Haha. He's awesome. He doesn't speak very much English so teaching him is kind of rough, but he has a really good heart.

Michael is in Alma! He's asking lots of questions and is kind of worrying me. We had a long lesson with him last night that made us miss curfew by one minute...:( But I'll keep y'all posted on his progress.

I was thinking this week about what I should say in my email. And the thought kept coming about living up to our potential. I have been learning so much about the potential we have as children of Heavenly Father, and that there are so many things God has promised us if we live righteously in this life. Romans 8:17 says that we, as God's children, are "joint-heirs with Christ". Think about how amazing that alone is, that we have the potential to receive all that Christ has. I think having this eternal perspective has helped me in every good decision I've made in life. And this life is the time to prepare to reach that potential. God knows what we can become, and Satan seeks to destroy and hinder our progress in whatever way he can. Elder Bowen taught us that the saddest thing one could ever experience in this eternal existence is knowing who we were in the pre-mortal life, knowing what we could have become, and knowing that we sold it all for a mess of pottage during mortality. I know that it is by living the principles and doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can find true happiness and reach our full potential. As a servant of the Lord my calling is to invite others to come unto Christ, including my friends, family, and all who read these emails. So to all reading this I would invite you to choose now to live this life according to your great potential. Don't sell it all for a mess of pottage. And if you make mistakes, repent. His gospel is a gospel of forgiveness. It's beautiful. It's simple. And it's true. I know that. And every day I know it more and more.

I love you all and hope all is well. Keep the letters and emails coming!

Love,

Tayler

Week 15

Hello! It feels like it's been an incredibly long week because last pday was 8 days ago. Plus it's been a rough week as well. But I'm getting better at staying positive, which I think I owe to my companion. I don't know how she does it, but she has the best attitude even when things get hard. It's hard to be negative around a positive person, so she's teaching me :)

So we had zone conference this last week in Kirtland, so we were at sites for an extra day last week. That always makes things feel slower. I LOVE serving there, but when it's the slow season, days are really long there. Plus our internet has been down so we couldn't get on chat or answer inbound calls. That meant that once we had taken care of tedious housekeeping things that only took about an hour, we had the rest of the day to come up with things to do. Some sisters went on mock tours or studied, but we decided to watch the Testament in the movie room, then we watched the Joseph Smith movie. I felt like I was wasting so much time sitting there for so long watching a movie. That's going to take some adjusting when I get home, because now sitting through a movie makes me anxious. I felt the whole time like there was something else we could have been doing...but there really wasn't. We took one tour, and since the sawmill and ashery are closed up for winter, it made the tour much shorter. But they are setting up nativities right now and we got to help out with that a little. That was SO fun. It's beautiful. I'll take lots of pictures and show you guys. And then when I get home we should all come back around this time so you guys can see it in person.

We spent pretty much the whole week preparing for Michael's baptism. He had his interview Wednesday, and then later that night he said he was having doubts. So we talked to him for awhile and we discussed his concerns. We said a prayer with him on the phone, and then he said he would continue to study and pray about it. But cool story with that...we were coming out of an appointment in Windham (which is about 45 minutes away from our apartment) at 8:45 when we got the text from Michael. We have to be in by 9:30, so we really had no time to talk to him, but we felt like we needed to. So we called and planned on making it a quick one, but 5 minutes eventually turned into 20 minutes, and we were freaking out. We can't drive and be on the phone at the same time so we couldn't leave till the conversation was over. We finally left at about 9:05 and we were sure we were going to miss curfew (see, we have this tattle-tell thing in our car called Tiwi and it notifies the mission office if we happen to be driving past curfew). But by some miracle we made it home in time, even though we shouldn't have been able to do that. Windham is literally on the opposite corner of our area, and it makes no sense that we made it home on time. But we did! We pulled in at 9:28. Crazy! That makes me know that we were doing what we were supposed to, and the Lord helped us out. We really needed to call Michael, although I'll be honest, we haven't been able to see why. Michael cancelled the baptism two days later. He feels like his belief isn't strong enough, so he wants to read the Book of Mormon on his own before he commits to anything. But now he won't come to church anymore. He really wants his space on this, and we don't know why. He is going to have a harder time gaining a testimony without attending church. That is something we saw with him in the past. It wasn't till he came to church that he finally started feeling something. Church attendance is so important! He is still keeping in touch with us though. He is definitely reading. He keeps asking really good questions about the Book of Mormon. So I still have hope. I don't think I ever lost it. Something about the whole situation felt okay. I know we did all we could, and now it's up to him.

One of the hardest things about a mission is respecting people's agency when they refuse to even listen. So many people turn us away at the door, but if they only knew!!! That's why there's a better way to do missionary work, and it's through the members! Talk to your friends...they listen more to you than they would to us, I promise!

We also went to dinner last night with Al and Loretta. They are so sweet, and we love them tons. We shared a short message with them at dinner last night, and we are planning on teaching them next time we visit. Loretta is coming to the Relief Society activity on Saturday, so there's going to be some good fellowship there :) I just really don't want to lose them. They are some of the nicest people we've met here. And they need the gospel!

So that's about all for this week! I see miracles daily and I'm starting to truly love my mission, even though it's the hardest thing EVER! Haha. It does take some adjusting. I'll be honest. But it's great to be so immersed in the gospel!

Love you all!!

Tayler

Week 14

to Angela, Jeff, Jorie, me, Lauren, Norma, Jennifer, eileen, Katherine, Bryce, LeAnn, Ryan, willum8

Well this is my last week of training. Hallelujah. We did lots this week. First of all, an update on Michael. He is all set to be baptized this Sunday! We are officially going to begin planning as soon as we talk to him tomorrow. We both have no idea what to do when it comes to planning a baptism...so it will be an adventure! Haha. But he is doing so good. After we talked to him on Wednesday last week he shared some feelings he has had, and his testimony is growing so much! I have to say that's the best part about missionary work. I love being an instrument in the Lord's hands in helping others learn about Jesus Christ's gospel.

 

We did service for a couple that we met awhile back. We made fresh apple cider from an old fashioned cider press! It was so fun!! We even used apples from their tree. And they took pictures so I'll maybe have him send them to you guys. They're just this super nice old couple and they aren't members so we're hoping to teach them. I love meeting people though. They are the cutest, sweetest people ever. They invited us in afterwards to have donuts and cider, and we just talked for a little while. Pray for them! Their names are Al and Loretta :)

 

Then later that night a member took us out to get Chinese food from a buffet. It would have been even better if I hadn't stuffed my face with donuts less than 2 hours earlier. I felt so sick that day. But they kept refilling my glass with cider and giving me more donuts! I don't know how to say no...

 

Also I broke a chair yesterday...just sitting in it. At a member's home. In the middle of a lesson. At the dinner table. Yikes. Talk about incentive to lose weight... SO embarrassing. They said they were old chairs but still! I guess it was pretty funny though. It was the least graceful fall, and after it fell over I couldn't get out of the position I was in so I kind of just wiggled around on the floor like a fish out of water until I was able to scoot the chair remains from underneath me. I'm not sure what that looked like but the hysterical laughter that came from Sister Johnson tells me I must have looked preeetty silly. Also I bruised my bum so that's sad. Definitely a memorable experience.

 

We took a group of nonmembers on tour this week who had the BEST questions. They definitely felt the spirit that is there. Those sites are so sacred. They left comments on our referral cards that said it was very uplifting. And at the end they all requested Books of Mormon (except for one lady who apparently already has one...What??) I love Kirtland.

 

Anyways in my studies this morning I was looking for something I could share today, and I came across two articles in the Ensign from August that were so perfect. I felt like I learned a lot from them, and I needed to hear it. So I thought I would just share.

 

One was from Dallin H. Oaks, called "In His Own Time, in His Own Way". It was all about receiving personal revelation. He talks about the timing of revelation and shared this story that put it into perspective. "About 35 years ago, when I was president of Brigham Young University, we were making plans to persuade the president of the United States to speak at the university. We had particular times that would suit our convenience, and we had in mind some things we wanted him to say and do while he was there. But all of us were wise enough to know that we could not contact the highest authority in the United States and invite him to come to the BYU campus—even to speak to 26,000 people—and put conditions on his appearance. We knew that in inviting the president, we had to say in effect, 'We will welcome you whenever you can come and for whatever time you choose to be here and for whatever you choose to say and do while you are here. We will accommodate our schedules and our arrangements entirely to your visit.' Now, if that’s the way a community of 26,000 people must approach the highest authority of a nation, it should not be surprising that one person—however important—is in no position to put conditions upon or to impose personal timing upon a visit or communication from the Highest Authority in the universe." We have to understand that the Lord truly works according to timing that suits us best, whether we see it that way or not. He goes on to talk about how revelation is not constant. I was kind of confused by this at first because I thought we had the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, but he says "We pray continuously for guidance, but we shouldn’t expect continuous revelation. We expect continuing revelation, which is the continuing assurance of revelation whenever we seek guidance and our circumstances are such that a wise and loving Lord chooses to give it to us." He also shared a quote by William E Berrett,  “Those who pray that the Spirit might give them immediate guidance in every little thing throw themselves open to false spirits that seem ever ready to answer our pleas and confuse us. … The people I have found most confused in this Church are those who seek personal revelations on everything. They want the personal assurance from the Spirit from daylight to dark on everything they do. I say they are the most confused people I know because it appears sometimes that the answer comes from the wrong source.” I just thought it was interesting that he included that. But it makes complete sense. We should trust in the Light of Christ that we all have to know good from bad, and not expect a strong prompting in every situation in which we are placed. He then talks about how revelation is essential in building our testimonies. He says, "Not understanding these principles of revelation, some postpone acknowledging their testimony or their spiritual progress until they have experienced a miraculous event. They fail to realize that with most people--especially those raised in the Church--the precious revelation that gives us a testimony is not an event but a process." SO TRUE! I have seen it with Michael especially. He keeps having these small moments that are so precious, and his testimony would not stand where it is now without all of the small things combined. It was never a huge manifestation that convinced him. It was several small interactions with the spirit.

 

Last, I just wanted to talk about the other article from Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy. I'll be brief :) He just talks about three conditions of the heart that close us off from receiving revelation, and I think they are common in almost all of us:

1. Hearts burdened  by cares and clamor. Sometimes we just have too much going on in our lives--daily demands such as work, school, family, etc--that cause us to forget to slow down and take a moment to remember our Savior.

2. Hearts hardened by sin and unworthiness. I feel that this doesn't necessarily mean that we are committing serious sin all the time (although that certainly will close the channels for revelation). But it could be small transgressions we are not repenting of, or even little things we are neglecting, such as scripture study, prayer, tithing, fasting, etc. We must always be worthy to receive revelation.

3. Hearts malnourished by poor digital diet. "As with so much in life, what we consume is a choice, so if you spend much of your time consuming one kind of message, don't be surprised that you become influenced by it. Spending too much of our time with social media, celebrity or entertainment news, games, and the pursuit of online, time-hungry activities constitutes a poor digital diet."

I would encourage all of us to eliminate these things in our lives. If we truly want answers to our prayers, Heavenly Father wants to give that to us. But we have to receive it. He closed with a quote by Thomas S. Monson: "Remember that one with authority placed his hands on your head at the time of your confirmation and said, 'Receive the Holy Ghost.' Open your hearts, even your very souls, to the special voice which testifies of truth. As the prophet Isaiah primised, 'Thine ears shall hear a word...saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.'

 

This Church is SO true. It is Christ's Church, and He wants everyone to be a part of it. Keep the prayers coming! They are helping so much. I love you guys and hope to hear from you all :)

Love,

Tayler

Week 13

It's getting close to transfers again...that was so fast! But the last few weeks have been the longest of my whole mission. I don't really know why. But I really don't want to leave Hiram. I'm not into change.

 

This week is hard to remember so I'll have to refer back to my journal. I guess the most exciting stuff happened this weekend so I'll skip to that part :)

 

Sister Johnson had a checkup at the doctor on Thursday so that was super fun! It was a sites day so we ended up coming late to Kirtland so we could go to the doctor in the morning. We woke up to snow that morning and then by around 10 o'clock it had mostly melted in our area. So at the doctor there were all these pretty fall colors out the window, and then on the way to Kirtland--which is closer to the lake--we drove through a blizzard. It looked like January outside. I'm talking like 6 inches plus of snow on the ground and it just kept snowing more. Then it turned into slush because it rained after that. Then later that day it was sunny and started to melt the snow, then got colder and rained some more and turned it into ice. Soooo that's Ohio I guess. That was all in one day. So we stayed the night there and the next day we had interviews with President Vellinga. That was so good. He gave me a few reminders that I needed to hear. We have the best mission president. Seriously I am sad for other missionaries who don't have President and Sister Vellinga. They're just so great.

 

And then that night we had an appointment with the Stamms so we left Kirtland early for that. That went so well! We taught them about eternal families. The McIntyres came and bore really pure testimonies about eternal marriage and Katherine said she was tearing up. It was super sweet. They loved it! AND they came to church yesterday. I'll get to that later...

 

Saturday the Solon Elders had a baptism that we took Michael to. It was a really good baptism. We didn't have much time to talk to him right after because we had to book it out to Garrettsville with the McIntyres to pick up a potential investigator for the bonfire that night. But he did say that it was interesting and then started to compare it to Baptist baptisms. He's frustrating sometimes. Then we picked up Katee and went to the bonfire, which was a huge success! There was so much fellowshipping going on I wanted to cry. Plus it was super fun! We just roasted marshmallows and made s'mores and socialized, then we shared a spiritual thought about how the gospel can bring eternal happiness. The biking Elders came with an investigator too and Elder and Sister Packer were there, so we all sang our mission song. Our ward is seriously the best though. So many people made time to help us that day and it was AWESOME! If I could bake them things I would but missionaries don't have time or resources for that kind of stuff :( Lame.

 

And THEN...FOUR investigators came to church on Sunday! Michael, Katherine and Drew Stamm, and Lisa all came. We found out Lisa and Jim are moving :( Jim just stopped drinking and has been sober for a week, and this time he has medication for it which should help. But we're losing them!! Dumb. Then after Sacrament meeting Bishop came and talked to the Stamms and asked if he and his counselors could come see them on Tuesday. That meeting was one of those meetings that happen now and then where by the end you are just so uplifted and you feel so good and clean and the spirit is so strong. Sister Johnson sang "I Believe in Christ" which was amazing, and then the talks were all so powerful. Our stake president was presiding that day and he got up at the end to share his testimony. He said "I know there are some people here investigating the church. We have felt the spirit so strongly in this meeting, and I hope you have felt something today." Then he bore a strong testimony and sat down. Bishop told us that as he was saying that, he saw the Stamms nodding their heads and felt prompted to go talk to them and plan a time to see them. So they set up a time on Tuesday to stop in and chat. He said it had been confirmed to him that they had definitely felt the spirit. So I'm so excited to hear how it goes.

 

Then after church we took Michael on a tour of the Johnson home next-door and it was one of the most spiritual and faith-building tours I have been on. I was frustrated with myself about not knowing much about the tour and getting things wrong and sounding dumb. But I felt the spirit urge me to be more humble and to realize that this tour was not about me. From that point on I was more in tune with the spirit and even though I didn't know the tour very well, I just felt like I was able to speak to him directly from the spirit. I don't remember even what I said. But I did feel like the words were not my own. At the end of the tour we asked Michael how he felt. He said "I still didn't feel strongly overcome with the spirit or anything, but I can tell it was important." We asked him what made him think that. Then he said "I don't know. I'm not sure if I can put it into words, but I will have to think about it." That's pretty typical for Michael. After he has time to let it sink in he is usually more aware of the feelings he had. But I'll be honest, sometimes I want to shake him and say "YOU ARE FEELING THE SPIRIT!" Haha. That's probably not very Christlike though. So I'll just have patience. I know that Heavenly Father is helping him change his heart, and I have faith that he will recognize it.

 

Love you all and have a good week! Until next Monday... :) Write me!

 

Tayler

Week 12

Alright... Let's see if I can get all the highlights of this week in.

 

I forgot to mention something of major importance in my last email. I guess I just got so excited about conference. But I didn't even tell you all that MICHAEL came to stake conference on Sunday and then we took him on a tour of Kirtland. At the time, it seemed like he wasn't feelin it. He looked like he was in a lot of pain (he has lots of issues because he has a broken back that he just deals with...ouch) and even though we were pouring our hearts out (including the members that came with us) he was just like, meh. So we kinda felt blah about the whole thing but decided to text him later and set up an appointment. Remember how he dropped us? Well this was our first visit since then. So we met on Wednesday and before we saw him we practiced our lesson during studies. We knew this could be a pivotal visit so we wanted it to be perfect! And something came to both of us during our studies. We noticed all the signs we had kind of been missing somehow before then...but Michael is SUCH a romantic. He's quiet, but we can tell he really wants to get married and have a family based on the comments he had made in the past, especially during our lesson on the temple. So we decided we wanted to just ask him a lot of questions and figure out what his thoughts were about everything, and he totally opened up. We asked him if he had ever thought about what this could mean for his future family. He said he had thought about it a lot. He even said he always wanted to wear white to his wedding. And we hadn't even mentioned that part about the temple! He also said he had thought about marrying a Mormon girl because faith was something he really is looking for in a spouse. Then he said something about how in a previous lesson Sister Johnson had said something about families and had used the words "home filled with the spirit" or something like that. He said in one of his books, he used those exact same words BEFORE we had that lesson. He was like "I always look for signs, and I kind of took that as one". He basically said that our emphasis on families was what kept him investigating, even though some of our doctrines may not have made perfect sense to him. He said he had "good feelings" that were hard to explain about the tour on Sunday. He still doesn't feel like he KNOWS but he is closer now than he ever has been. We asked him again if he would be baptized and he said he would, once he found out a sure answer. So he is working for November 2 as his baptism date! He is coming to another baptism this Saturday in the other ward, and then we are having a bonfire on Saturday night with ward members and investigators so we can get some fellowship from the ward for them, and Michael is coming to that too - as well as several other investigators (the Stamms, Lisa and Jim, KATEE - who we finally got a hold of, possibly another potential investigator named Barbara, and of course Michael) We are stoked for it! The work is definitely hastening in Hiram!

 

I finally met Rafael the bread man. I've been waiting for that for a long time. He loves missionaries, and apparently they used to hang out in his store on Pdays. He's this old guy from Spain who makes the most delicious bread I've ever tasted. Every time missionaries come he sends them home with free bread. He gave us a loaf of Banana nut, and then a loaf of some Italian swirl bread with this yummy tomato and mushroom sauce in the middle. Oh my gosh. So good. I'm gaining weight and it's making me super sad. This is why. Apparently he is not interested in conversion, although if he ever did join any church it would definitely be ours because he likes Mormons so much. He just kind of doesn't believe in God. Someday that will change :)

 

Then yesterday was just awesome. So much goodness happened. First of all, they cancelled ward council, so we got to sleep in till the normal time instead of getting up extra early. Granted, the "normal time" is 6:30...but every minute counts right? Haha. Then we had church which was amazing as usual. I just love our ward. Then after that we had a dinner appointment with a member and that went great. I love member meals - another reason I am getting fat. Then we planned on stopping by to see an investigator named Ariane who is impossible to get a hold of because her phone got disconnected. She wasn't home and we were planning on stopping by a potential as backup. So we started driving and on the way sister Johnson stopped and said "I think we should tract this street". Since we aren't allowed to tract in the dark, we only had a short amount of time left of daylight to tract, so we hurried and knocked about 4 houses. The first one has some awesome potential. She's a sweet Hispanic lady named Maria. We are seeing her on Wednesday! Next house, no one was home (although they had some pretty sweet Halloween decorations in their yard so we wrote a note complimenting them and left our number on a Mormon.org card and put it in their door. haha) Then we talked to a nice guy at the next house. Not interested. THEN we talked to a girl named Jessica at the next house. She's probably around our age and is super gorgeous. The house smelled like smoke and there were some guys in the house shouting profanities at the football game they were watching. But she was super interested. We asked her if she was familiar with the Bible. She said not really. Then we asked her if she had ever wondered where she was before this life, why she was here, and where she was going. She said "I don't know...Yeah I guess I've thought about it before." And we started to talk about the comfort it was to have that knowledge and that we could come teach her more about it. She told us she had a friend who had just started going to church and wanted her to come too. So she was thinking about joining a church. She has never had religion in her life...and she's so obviously searching for it. I usually don't ever talk about tracting in my emails because there's nothing really exciting about it. But I can't stop thinking about this girl who I think Heavenly Father has prepared. She is going through some challenge in her life that has made her thirsty for the gospel. And I can't wait to teach her! We got her number and she said she would come to church this Sunday. AH! Like I said...the work is hastening in Hiram. The Lord is guiding us to where we need to be and it is such a privilege to be His instrument.

 

So today during my studies I was reading about the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Preach My Gospel, and as I got to the Atonement I felt very prompted to share some of my thoughts with you all. I actually found an article in September's Ensign about the justice and mercy of God from Elder Holland, and there was a specific part that struck me. He says "A favorite British scholar said: 'I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A [mathematical] sum [incorrectly worked] can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and [then] working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound.' So God is just, 'mercy claimeth the penitent' (Alma 42:23), and evil can be undone." I guess I just wanted to share that because it illustrates the point that without repentance and forgiveness, we cannot be fully healed from wrongdoings. A desire to become righteous starts with the decision to make things right, or to be penitent so that the mercy of Jesus Christ can claim us and change us. We cannot simply decide to be good and hope that our past sins go away. They cannot and will not without full and sincere repentance. And then we can start fresh with a clean slate, and good decisions become easier to make. It is similar to an analogy I heard yesterday, that if you have a flat tire on your bike, do you keep riding it on just the rims? Of course not. Similarly, if we make a mistake, can we go on and truly become better if we continue to ride on a flat tire, so to speak? Just some food for thought.

 

I love you all and miss you bunches! Write me!

Tayler :)

Still Crazy- that Tayler!

Week 11

This was one of the best weeks ever. I am growing more and more fond of my mission every day and it's because of times like this! Thank you everyone for your letters and emails. I miss you all so much! I can honestly say this mission is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But I have grown to see changes in myself I never thought would happen, or at least not this soon and at such a fast pace! I will be at three months on Wednesday (that is, if you consider 1 month=4 weeks. It's been 12 weeks)! Can you believe it? Mission time is so weird. But I have to tell you about the awesome things that have happened to me this week.

 

Elder Ballard came this weekend and it was SUCH an amazing experience. The spirit that was felt at every single event was tremendous. Greater than I have ever felt at any other meetings. But it was the busiest weekend of my mission. Not only was Elder Ballard coming, but it's been one of the busiest weekends at sites. And it wasn't even because of what was going on. They were all just here visiting like any other day, it just happened to be super busy when we were preparing for Elder Ballard. We had at least 5 bus tours this weekend and most weekends we might have one or two, if any at all. Usually we sit down and plan our week out on Thursdays, and it takes a few hours. But this week weekly planning has been an ongoing process for the last 4 days. When we weren't taking tours we were shoving food in our mouths really fast since we didn't really have normal meal breaks, or else we were helping set up/clean up for Elder Ballard. He came on Friday, and there was a beautiful dinner all set up in the visitor's center that we got to help with. They initially told us we couldn't have any of it, nor could we mingle with the guests. We were told we had to stay upstairs until we were called down one companionship at a time to get in line to shake his hand. But then about halfway through they told us there was plenty of food and they wanted us to come down and mingle. So it was a pretty fancy event where the mayor, city council, leaders from Community of Christ church (AKA the reorganized church who owns the temple), and lots of other official people were there. In fact, we sat down and talked with Mary Ellen Smoot (https://www.lds.org/callings/relief-society/relief-society-presidents/mary-ellen-smoot maybe you'll recognize her better than me...I was 8 when she was released) before anyone else arrived. She was there first with her family and we were setting up all around her while she sat on the couch. I had no idea who she was until someone said "isn't that a former general relief society president?" So we went over and introduced ourselves and she was so nice. We had just a quick conversation because we had a tour group who was watching the film and we were only able to talk while it was on, then we had to go get them and take them out on site.  But we also said hi to Sister Ballard and didn't realize who she was. We just saw her sitting on the couch after we shook Elder Ballard's hand and we waved to her as we walked back upstairs. Then found out later who she was and I was sad we didn't get to talk to her! But I shook Elder Ballard's hand and that was pretty cool. He just asked how I was liking my mission, and I said I was loving it! But he asked sister Johnson if she brought long underwear for winter since she's from California. Haha.

 

Then after the dinner (which was DELICIOUS by the way...words cannot describe) we went to the commemoration fireside at the stake center, and we were so special that we got reserved parking and reserved seats for missionaries. Then they asked us to stand during the program to recognize us for our service at sites. Karl Anderson (our stake patriarch AKA "Mr. Kirtland") spoke, then Elder Sorensen our sites director, then testimonies from the Columbus temple president and his wife, then President Vellinga, then Elder Ballard spoke. It was amazing! I wish I could describe in words the feelings at that meeting but I honestly can't. It was just an amazing spirit-filled day. we had some excellent tour groups that day including a bus tour of local high school students learning about the second great awakening. There were 80 of them plus a teacher, and he encouraged us to talk about our faith since that was why they were there. Usually tour groups like that request history-only tours. But this one was great! He asked us about our missions and why we serve, to which we were able to bear testimony and talk about what we were called to do. They asked such good questions and they were very respectful for the most part. There were a couple bad eggs who were giggling and what-not but who cares! 16 Books of Mormon were requested at the end of that tour! So some of them for sure were listening. Then we had Elder Ballard come and then the fireside and it was just amazing!!! Ah! I wish you all could be here with me to experience these things. It's really unfair and I feel too spoiled.

 

Then the next day we took some other great tours. So not only was this the busiest weekend at sites, but we took some of the best tours I have ever taken. Sometimes you just get a group of people who are all so prepared that you really don't have to do much as a missionary. You just ask the right questions and then THEY bring the spirit with their testimonies. So we had the pancake breakfast and temple walk on Saturday and then the adult session of conference that night. I thought it couldn't get better than the night before, but we heard some of the most inspired talks and the most powerful testimonies in that meeting that I felt I was hearing from Christ Himself. I have never received more personal revelation and more outpouring of the spirit than I have this stake conference weekend.  Sunday's session was just as powerful. Both sessions we heard from our stake presidency and from Elder Seldon and Elder Gaye (who is one of the most heartfelt speakers I have ever heard) from the 70, then Elder Ballard. Elder Ballard himself said he had never felt the spirit more strongly at any other stake conference, and he's been to a lot of 'em!

 

One talk in particular stuck out to me, and that was from one of the counselors in the stake presidency. It was about temple attendance and keeping covenants. He talked about the stripling warriors from the Book of Mormon and how their fathers had made a covenant to never take up their weapons of war. Rather than break that covenant in defense of their people, their young sons took up arms and went to battle. Because of the covenant keeping of their fathers, and the teachings of their mothers, not a single one of these young men were killed. He talked about not simply MAKING covenants, but keeping them, and the difference between being temple-sealed/temple-worthy people versus being temple-attending people. It is so important that we make it to the temple frequently, and that we make it to church every Sunday to partake of the sacrament. It made me think...are we taking our covenants seriously? We made a promise to God when we were baptized. Do we strive to keep our promise? Do we repent often? Do we attend the temple often and remember our covenants that we made there? I certainly am not perfect and I don't claim to be. Something I have a strong testimony of is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to change. So I would encourage all of you at home to strive to be covenant keepers, and if you struggle with that - repent! That's the purpose of the Atonement, and that is absolutely our purpose here on this earth. And in his talk he reminded us of the promises our stake president made to us if we made the effort to keep our covenants: Unseen angels would watch over you and your family, there will be no empty chairs in the celestial kingdom, and your children will serve missions and marry in the temple.

 

I could go on and on into much more detail, but for the sake of time I will wrap things up. I love and pray for all of you and wish you the best! Until next week... :)

 

Tayler