Additional letter

 

 

Tayler sent us a separate letter and these are some of the stories she included and I wanted to share them with everyone:

 

 

1. I learned that there are tons of amish people in my area! There's even a sign on the way to one of our investigators' houses that has a horse and buggy on it. It's a yellow caution sign like deer crossing, or ped xing, etc. But it has a horse and buggy instead! I'm just looking forward to getting my hands on some amish food. I hear it's amazing. Sis Johnson happened to have some amish starter in the fridge that she made crepes with. So yummy! Maybe if I find some while I'm here I'll send it to you. And you totally see amish people here and there around town in their buggies with their pilgrim children and it's so fun! Maybe I'll try and sneak a picture next time I see them because it's crazy weird to see a horse and buggy just driving around town.

 

2. My first mission miracle. So these two boys showed up to church a couple weeks ago before I got here and they were just there checking it out because one of them is dating a less active member. But sis Johnson set up an appointment with them and they didn't get his address for whatever reason. So we couldn't go to our appointment. But they happened to run in to Dusty (one of the boys) at the restaurant where he works. So we stopped by when we were near there eating at a member's home and asked him for Brandon's address. He of course didn't know his address but he knew kind of how to get there. So he gave us these crazy directions that made no sense and when we walked out we both kind of hoped the other one understood how to get there. But of course neither of us did. So we did our best to follow the directions he gave us, did A TON of guessing, and honestly I think we both assumed we would end up in some random neighborhood and get stuck tracting. But eventually by some miracle we made it to the street he lived on. But it was out in the country and the houses were spread out. Dusty said it was the 9th house but we didn't know if it was on the right or the left or if we were even starting at the right point to begin counting. So we pulled over and prayed that we would find it. And then decided to count the houses on the left. We made it to what we thought was the 9th house (we later realized we miscounted). We pulled up the long driveway and knocked on the door. It wasn't his house, although we did find a potential investigator there. A family from Oklahoma (also he knew where Wagner was, crazy!) who said we could call and set up a return appointment. But the NEXT house was totally Brandon's!!! Crazy! God does answer prayers! And when we're on His errand He is always with us! 

3.

Also quick story. So while we were emailing from the conference room in our apartment complex this lady came in and was wondering if she could use the computers. There was another lady with her who works at the apartment complex and she knows that this is the only time we can email home, so she was super sweet and told the other lady that she could use her computer so she didn't have to kick us off. I guess she had an online class at 11 this morning and usually goes to the library for it but her car wouldn't start this morning. So I felt kinda bad but I figured they had it figured out now. So anyways right after we got done emailing we walked over to Dollar Tree to get some stuff for the YM/YW activity we are doing tonight. And we ran into her again! And she told us all about how her car wouldn't start and her class and all of that. She was super nice about it and kind of laughed the whole thing off, then we got to talking about how that's our time to email home but if we had known how urgent it was we totally would have gotten off. So she was like "Oh, that's fine!" and wanted to know more about our missions. Because we live in the same complex, our mission president said to keep conversations casual so religion didn't become an issue later on. you know, since we see these people pretty much every week. So we didn't bring up religion, but since SHE wanted to know more, of course we shared as much as we could! Haha. It was so cool because she was really interested. Once we told her about our beliefs, she was like "ok. So where is this book?" Sister Johnson and I looked at each other a little surprised and we were like "right over here in our car. We'll get you one!" So we got her one and she opened it up to the introduction (without us even telling her to - we usually have people read the last two paragraphs of the introduction page when we talk about the BOM) and she started skimming a little bit. Then she got down to the last two paragraphs and started reading them out loud! Again, without us asking her to. We did none of the work. We just stood there while she read it and then she kind of paused for a minute and went "Hmm." Then she turned to 1 Nephi...without us asking her to. I mean it was like she read our minds. And then she goes "Well thank you ladies! I will read this!" What the heck?!? That doesn't happen. Only problem is she was kinda not interested in us coming over and teaching her, and didn't want our phone number either. Because she said "well, we live in the same complex. I'm sure I'll see you. Plus now I know you email every Wednesday so I'll find you if I have any questions." So it's kind of in the Lord's hands now. But man, we talked for a long time about a lot of things. And it was funny because before we brought up our religion, she was talking about how crazy her day has been, and she said kind of half-joking that there was something divine going on. And then she started to walk away but came back to talk to us a little more, and that's when we got onto the subject of religion. God really works hard to prepare people. I know that without a doubt. I mean, what are the odds of this whole situation? Crazy right? And it happened less than an hour ago. You're hearing this FRESH! Haha. Well I better go. We've got lots to do. Really the only reason I got back on was to mail those pics because I forgot my sd card this morning so we had to go back and get it. But I have lots to do right now so I gots to go! Love you!!

Tayler

 

Week 4

I've totally lost track of what week this is. You can figure that out :) Sorry I didn't get to email right after I got to Ohio but things have been crazy busy to say the least. BUT I made it safely here! Wednesday is now my new Pday. So a little bit about the Ohio - It's humid as you may have guessed. It is actually pretty mild though. It doesn't get above 90 most days, and some mornings it's even kind of cold. The humidity is actually not quite as bad as Arkansas was so I can deal with it. It doesn't really get hot until later in the day when we are usually at appointments indoors so I am okay with that. I haven't had to tract at all yet because we have AMAZING investigators who we usually see (I'll get to them later). The mosquitos are in full force though. I can't count how many bites I have. My companion is so sweet! Her name is sister Johnson and she's from Laguna Beach. She has only been out for 5 months so she's still fairly new. But she's awesome. I'm at Kirtland on Mondays and Thursdays and in my proselyting area every other day. Both are equally amazing. Kirtland is slowing down so those days are pretty relaxed. But when we do give tours I love it. It's so cool to just be there all the time. Our apartment is supposedly the nicest one in the whole mission. We live right across the street from this fancy schmancy gated community with enormous mansions. We like to go running around the golf course there during exercise time because you can see into their back windows :) I have unlimited email time here so hopefully I will be able to get to everyone now. But you should still write me once in a while. My new address is 234 New Castle, in Aurora, OH. Not sure about the zip code but I'm sure you can look that up.

 

NOW on to my crazy week! We started off at Kirtland where we got to take a tour with Carl Anderson (I think he's the head of Church Education or something like that). But he knows all about Kirtland history. So they took all the missionaries in our group to the Kirtland temple first where they gave us a tour and told about some of the sacred events that happened there. Normally the tour guides are Community of Christ, but they let the LDS leaders talk to the missionaries that come to the Cleveland mission. I mean, they did stay with us the whole time but we got to hear things from an LDS perspective which was cool. Then when we went into the main meeting room we sang "The Spirit of God" and the spirit was so strong. We went to the Visitors' Center at the Kirtland sites next (that's where I serve) and took a tour of the N.K. Whitney Store. Then we learned all about how cool our mission is. There are only four places in the scriptures where God has commanded a "literal gathering" of. New Jerusalem, Old Jerusalem, Salt Lake City, and Kirtland. We know the time is not yet for the New Jerusalem or Old Jerusalem, and Salt Lake has already happened. But the saints left Kirtland before it could be built up. D&C 124:83 talks about the scourge placed on Ohio, and that the Lord would build it up. Then when they broke ground for the Kirtland Stake Center, President Ezra Taft Benson asked if he could come. He said "I think that prophecy (D&C 124) is being fulfilled today. I really feel that it is, my brothers and sisters, and thus the scourge that was placed upon the people in that prophecy is being lifted today." (that was in 1979) And Joseph Smith's last vision before he died (pretty significant I would think) was about Kirtland. He said he was back in Kirtland, contemplating how it would eventually be built up. That time is now! And I get to be a part of it. We then went into the school of the prophets where, after learning about the sacred events there, we were left in the room to make promises to God about what kind of missionaries we would be. At the end of our mission we will return and report to Him. Pretty cool tradition.

 

Then ever since day one we've been running all over the place. We have great investigators. Lisa and Jim are wonderful. They are so cute and super interested in hearing the gospel. My very first lesson in the mission field was to them, and it was the Law of Chastity. And they are living together. Pretty scary, right? Anyways the lesson before that was Word of Wisdom, which of course I wasn't there for, but both of them smoke, and Jim is an alcoholic. Like major alcoholic. He has PTSD and manic depression, so all kinds of issues that drove him to drinking. So we're really praying for him. But like I said, we taught them right after the WOW lesson, and ironically enough he was drunk when we came over. We were like "How's word of wisdom coming along?" Apparently not very well for him. But Lisa is doing well! They took Law of Chastity really well, and we now have a wedding to plan. Then Jim has to be hospitalized so he can take some medication for his disease that will help him quit. But I know with the Lord's help, it's definitely possible for him to quit regardless. We taught them about the temple the next lesson and they were both so sincere about wanting to make that their goal. Jim told us we have helped him more than we know. They want it so bad! But there's just some things to work through. We also teach a guy named Michael. He's interesting because he is very intellectual and thinks more with his mind than his heart, but one day he's going to have a spiritual experience and not know what hit him. Well, actually he will know, because we'll teach him :) Then we have the Stamms. They're both very religious already. I can just see them being members already. They're a younger couple that don't drink, smoke, or do anything contrary to our beliefs. So all they need to do is be baptized and sealed in the temple and they're set! We also taught Norah last night. She's a former investigator and I guess when sister Johnson and her last companion approached her last week she got SO EXCITED. She was like "I love the missionaries!!" I guess she stopped investigating because her kids went anti and she kind of lost interest. But the Lord's been working on her because now she wants to hear our "stories" from the Book of Mormon. So we're trying to teach BOM stories within the Preach my Gospel lessons so that we are at least still teaching her about the gospel and giving her commitments to follow :) She's gonna get baptized someday. Oh! and Lisa, Jim, and Michael all have baptism dates already. Hopefully they can be prepared by the date we set (it's in three weeks!).

 

Days are so long and hard and I'm so pooped by bedtime. But I love being a missionary!! Hope all is well. Love you all!

 

Sister Coontz

Week 3

I leave in 4 days! Four. Days. This week just zoomed by so so fast I can't believe it's already P day. I don't know how it works but it's true what they say about missionary time. The days are long but the weeks are SHORT. It's the craziest thing.

Our Elders left this week on Tuesday and Wednesday and it was so sad! But they're all going to be amazing. And this is an exciting week for us Visitors' Center sisters. I'm learning a lot about how wrong the stereotypes about visitors' center missions are. First off, my purpose there is not to give tours. It's to invite others to come unto Christ, as always, and help them have an experience with the spirit that makes them want to act upon our invitations to pray, read, repent, get baptized, etc. And on top of that, I have several areas I work in. There's the Visitors' Center, the proselyting area, and then mormon.org chat and phonecalls - aka THE WORLD. It's going to be a lot of work for sure but it's amazing how the work is progressing.

Every Tuesday we have a devotional at the MTC and this week Elder Scott came and spoke to us. It was a talk about prayer and how to effectively communicate with our Father in Heaven. He talked about how when we pray we cannot expect Heavenly Father to do all the work and rely solely on faith. As we learn in the Bible "faith without works is dead", so we have to act if we want an answer. He said that when the Lord gives no response it is His way of telling us He trusts us to make the right decision, and we should thank Him for those non-answers from which we learn so much. He also said to pray even when we have no desire to. That's a hard one for me. But I'm working on it.

On Wednesday we went to Temple Square for a tour and it was SO COOL. We drove right past Lehi and I could see our neighborhood up on the hill and it was super weird knowing my family was right there and here I am on a mission! Haha. The spirit is so strong when those sisters on temple square invite it. We had one sister from Taiwan and one from China give our tour. The sister from China couldn't speak super great English and it was difficult to understand both of them but now I know what it's like to be on the other end of the language barrier. Of course I am not learning a language but it was interesting to see that the spirit really is there regardless of whether you speak the language perfectly or not. I could feel their testimonies and it was quite an experience for me. 

When we got back from Temple Square we got to get on the chat feature on mormon.org and chat with REAL investigators! We talked to someone from New York, Rhode Island, and even the UK! Now you see what I mean when I say that the world really is my teaching area at times. The one from England was named Jane and she has been taking discussions with the missionaries and was invited to be baptized. They gave her a tour of the building and showed her the font, and the first time she prayed aloud was right there in front of the font. She wanted to know why she was asked to be baptized so soon and was kind of shocked by it. That was when we asked her about how her relationship with God has developed since taking discussions. She said it felt so right and that she believed that this was the true church. She expressed her feelings when she prayed and when we asked her if she felt like the Lord was telling her baptism was the right path, she said yes. It was so incredible. Missionary work really is just helping people see how present Christ can be and how present He already is in their life if they come unto Him. Of course you also get plenty of trolls on chat who just want to mess around and talk about magnets. But I suppose they are still missing out on this gospel so we teach them too! Or try to :) But anyways tomorrow we will get to do the referral center again (with phones this time - yikes! Just pray for me. haha) AND we get to go back to Salt Lake in the evening and conduct the tours ourselves! We'll be assigned a companion from temple square and we get to do tours with them. I'm super excited! 

Then Sundays are always such easy days at the MTC and Monday I prepare to leave! So I have a lot to look forward to. I can't believe my time at the MTC is almost over. It felt so short. But the things I've learned are so inspired and I hope I can do my best in the field having learned them. It's been such a spiritual roller coaster of a week. Every day there's some kind of spiritual experience to look forward to and a new way to stretch me. I'm loving every minute of it even though at times it pulls me out of my comfort zone. Welcome to the mission field I guess! But I've never felt closer to the Savior in my life. I feel like every day He is right beside me and if I struggle I can just turn and ask for help. It's amazing. But the cool thing is this isn't just because I'm at the MTC and the spirit is just so abundant that everyone has all of these amazing experiences. Of course the spirit is abundant here, but just a reminder to all of my friends and family that you have the gift of the Holy Ghost too. It just takes some seeking out to find that comfort and companionship. And here as a missionary I am CONSTANTLY seeking. So don't think it's just because I'm a missionary at the MTC that I have these experiences because that is a gift granted to everyone who has been confirmed a member of this church. Don't forget that! He's walking beside all of us. We just need to recognize it.

Anyways I love you all and can't wait to talk to you all bright and early on Tuesday! Also I may not get a P day for awhile since it will most likely be Monday when I get out there. So I'll talk to you from the airport Tuesday but probably won't email until Monday. 

LOVE YOU and thank you to everyone who wrote/emailed me! I will be sure and write everyone a letter back later today since I am pretty much out of email time. 

Sister Coontz

Week 2

Ok. SO MANY THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. I don't know where to begin or how I'll have time to fit it all in here. (I decided email is best for these big long stories but snail mail is the way to go if you want a more personalized letter because I only have an hour and I also have to write my branch president and read other emails which really only leaves about 45 minutes for me to tell about my incredibly busy week. It's hard to squeeze in personal emails in there. So WRITE ME!!) Anyways it's a good thing I've been keeping a journal or I would have no idea what to share. I have had such a good week. I'm learning and growing and being stretched every day.

We've been teaching an investigator named Pablo (played by our teacher) and to give a little background about him, he's from El Salvador originally but grew up mostly in Compton. I can't remember if I talked about this last time. But anyways he's trying to get out of gang activity and make some changes. So far we've talked to him about the restoration, the plan of salvation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, with a quick intro to the word of wisdom. Each lesson is only 15 minutes so it's hard to fit everything in. But we're learning to simplify things and to bring the spirit in while we teach. Our first lesson went so well. He was really receptive and liked the idea that through Christ he could change. Our second lesson didn't go as well. We gave more of a history lesson than anything but the spirit was there and we got him to pray and come to church. The third lesson we taught went really well. Probably the best one. We committed him to baptism. He wouldn't commit to a date, but I think we're getting there. Then we had another lesson where I just felt unprepared and that was our fault. But the spirit wasn't there as much as before and it was so hard to find the words to say to him. Then our lesson last night went well. It's an up and down process but like I said, I'm being stretched and I love it. I'm for sure learning.

We also had  a TRC this week with a progressing investigator. I think that stands for Teaching Resource Center? But anyways it's where you talk with the pretend investigators who volunteer here. Her name was Claudia and we only got to teach two lessons, but we talked about the restoration and why repentance and baptism through proper authority were important. She is Catholic and she is from Madagascar! (Shout-out to Tanner!) But we asked her to be baptized and she was totally on the fence about it. She wanted to learn more before she committed but she said she would love to believe and would be willing to continue taking the lessons to find out more. And she wants to read the Book of Mormon. Oh and Pablo is reading it too. I forgot to mention that.

But NOW I want to talk about the best thing that happened this week. Or at all so far. So after teaching Claudia the second time we came back to the classroom and were kind of discussing it as a companionship when one of the teachers came in and asked the sisters in the room if any of us wanted to teach. Sister Pugh was like "sure!" and then he told us that it was a real investigator. Of course at this point my heart almost fell out of me but before I really even gave it any thought I said "Let's do it!" So he told us that she was waiting right now to have a 20 minute lesson and we didn't really have time to prepare anything. But it reminded me of that scripture in 1 Nephi when Nephi enters the city himself to get the plates. And he says "I was led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand what I should do" or something like that. I don't know it perfectly. But it was just like that. We had time to grab some pamphlets and say a quick prayer and we were in there. The teacher explained to us as we walked to the room she was in that she was from around here and that her neighbor John referred her to us. She recently went through a divorce and has 4 kids, and she noticed John had a really happy family and respectful kids and asked him why. He told her to ask the missionaries! And he sent her our way. So the Lord really had prepared her big time. We taught her about how the gospel blesses families and that she could rely on the Atonement for help through hard times like her divorce, and about the restoration of the gospel and priesthood authority. She was really receptive and we could tell she was just pondering what she was learning. I know the spirit was helping her to feel like this was right. She would say things like "I've never heard that before" or "that's different" or "that makes sense" and nod her head. When we taught her about the Godhead she was really interested. She said it made sense that if we were created in God's image then God must have a body. And if Christ prayed unto the Father then they must be separate beings. And she really wanted to know by the end how she could go about learning more and being worthy to be baptized. IT. WAS. AMAZING. It just was a testament to me that God prepares His children to receive His gospel. It is so amazing that even though we've been at the MTC a week and didn't even prepare a message to share with her, words flowed freely from our mouths that were certainly not our own. Not that we didn't believe or have a testimony of the things we said, but I just know that I couldn't have spoken like that without the help of the Spirit.

I've definitely had discouraging moments here where I feel inadequate or like I don't have what it takes to be a missionary. But although I know my mission is about inviting OTHERS to come unto Christ and not just about me, I have found that through losing myself in His service, I truly am beginning to find myself. I feel like I'm coming to understand the meaning of that phrase. When I take time to focus on my own relationship with God (which is key to being a good missionary - we learned that "we can't convert beyond our own conversion") I have felt the loving arms of the Savior and I have come to know that I am still important to Him. I'm not a perfect missionary or a perfect teacher, nor will I ever be, but He loves other enough to make up for what I lack so that they can come unto Him. And He loves me enough to show me that He can. I just have a true, deep love for this gospel and I want others to know about it! And I feel so empowered by the spirit that comes when I work hard and give true devotion to His work. I know that with my help HE will be the one to change lives. Sacrifice, preparation, and obedience bring miracles. Love you all!

Thank you everyone for the letters. And thank you family for the packages. The cookies and Dewar's chews were so yummy (and not at all dry). And the robe is awesome! Thank you thank you!!

Week 1

Hey family!! It's Pday already! All the sisters in my residence hall are super jealous that we have a P day after being here for barely 2 days, but it's awesome, because I'm already exhausted. We were told we couldn't send pictures in the MTC, but I don't know how true that is so I will send some if I find out more.

 

The days are incredibly long here, but the spirit is so strong. I just can't believe I'm a missionary! I have a tag and everything! So cool.

 

Like I said, the spirit here is so strong and everyone is so nice. We walk around and people just say hi to you, sometimes even in another language. So far I've had Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Bulgarian, and one today that sounded like "hey shawty" (I promise that's not really what they said, but that's what I heard. They had some funky nametags so it was for sure another language.) But my companion is Sister Pugh, and she is so awesome. We get along great, and she is seriously the funniest person here. We have four sisters in our district going to Cleveland/Kirtland, and we all room together in a 6 person room, which is nice because it's not super crowded. Sister Smith and Sister Newren are the other sisters and they are also super sweet. I can't imagine anyone having any problems with each other. They all have strong testimonies and I know they will be great teachers. We also have 6 elders in our district. Three are going to SLC South, and the other three are going to Fresno. I am going to try and remember all their names by Sunday :)

 

The first day we had a class right after orientation where we were able to meet three different investigators and mass teach them. It was cool because the principle we were learning wasn't how to teach a lesson, or how much we knew about the gospel. It was about knowing the investigator and their individual needs. If we go in with a lesson planned and talk their ear off they aren't going to be receptive. But if we are able to see them as Christ sees them, we will be able to see their spiritual needs and know what to teach from there. For example, one of the investigators had had a really spiritual experience already, while another one didn't even know who/what God was. Every investigator is different, and they all need the gospel, but how/what we teach depends on what experiences they have had in the past and where they are willing to go in the future.

 

The second day we spent 4 1/2 hours in a classroom. And this, from what I understand, is typical. We had some really incredible lessons from our teachers Brother Morris and Brother Nate, who just returned from their missions recently. We learned about the fundamentals of Preach My Gospel, and how we can apply that in the mission field. We also learned about the doctrine of Christ, which is directly stated in our purpose, which I am working on memorizing. Our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end". Look at that! Totes have it down :) We also had a lesson on having a vision for each investigator, and how to properly plan a lesson based on our vision. I have never taken so many notes in my life.

 

Today we only have a half P day, so after lunch it's back to class. We are teaching an investigator today named Pablo. He was referred by the Spanish speaking Elders because he speaks English, but he is from Guatemala, but spent most of his life in Compton where he was involved in a lot of gang activity. He moved away to try to escape all of that, and he has a small Catholic background. That's all we know so far. But Sister Pugh and I have been planning our first discussion for today and we think it seems like because he is trying to make a change in his life, we want to teach him about the Atonement - how he can be forgiven and how Christ is going to be his support in that change. I'm pretty nervous about it, but I'm still learning, so I'll do my best and let the spirit teach.

 

I love our district so much, and we are all becoming close friends. (I'll send a pic of everyone hopefully soon) The companionships seem so perfect and so inspired, it's unbelievable. There's some really funny Elders and some really sweet Sisters. It's awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better group, and I'll be sad to say goodbye to most of them after only about 8 more days. We Ohio sisters have an extra week so I don't know if we will move to a new district or what will happen. But anyways, I'm loving every minute of the MTC. We wake up exhausted, work our butts off, go to bed tired, and then wake up and do it all over again. I would never have the motivation and stamina to do this without the Lord's help, and I have already learned so much from the spirit. Missionary work is incredible.

 

I love this gospel and I love you all!

 

Sister Coontz