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