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