Hey Family!!!!!!!!
I absolutely LOVED reading your emails - as always! I was thinking the same thing yesterday while watching conference and was like "Oh my family is doing the exact same thing as me right now!" It was pretty cool. Although, I did miss having ladies night. Remember last year when we left like 10 minutes early and then my name got drawn and I won the picture but we weren't there anymore? That was kinda funny.
Anyway, THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I have so much to tell you!!!!!! I will just start from Monday. Since Monday was April Fools day, my companions and I decided to play a joke on our district leaders. The district leaders call us every night and ask about our day and so we decided to play a trick on them. The elders called and were asking about our day and what we did for pday and we were like: (Keep in mind we aren't allowed to swim):
Us: "Oh this new water park opened up in Frontenac and our ward invited us to go!"
Elders: "What kind of water park?"
Us: "Oh there were like little slides and water fountains and stuff - it was so fun!"
Elders: "So... you went swimming?"
Us: "Well no we just waded and went down a couple of slides"
Elders: "mmhmmm... so swimming basically?"
Us: "No we didn't get all the way in the water - it was seriously so nice though the weather was awesome!"
Elders: "........ Cool......."
and then we were like April Fools! It was pretty funny because they totally believed us! At district meeting on wednesday, our district leader was reading off some new mission rules and he said, "We are also now allowed to watch Disney movies on Pdays" so obviously I was way excited and was like "are you serious"? "That's so awesome"!!! And then a few seconds later he was like just kidding and laughed and it was way funny because I was seriously so excited!
Monday night we visited Gracie's mom to ask her permission for Gracie to be baptized and she said she was totally fine with it!!!! YAY!!!!!! So then we had a lesson with Gracie a couple days later and we talked about the 10 commandments and asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said "yes" so for right now we have a date of May 4 for her baptism!
Tuesday we got training calls. So the zone leaders called us and told us who would be training next transfer and guess what..... I'm training! I'm excited!
Wednesday we had district meeting and for district lunch we went to this place called Pappy's BBQ. It's a famous restaurant in St.Louis and dad, I know you would love it so much. I think it would become your new favoritE. Anyway, so we were waiting in line and this older couple was leaving and said "hello sisters"! And we just were like Hi! (We don't know who you are) and then the told us that they were members and just on their way back home to Idaho from visiting their kids. They were super nice. I LOVE WHEN MEMBERS SAY HI TO US! I don't know why but it makes my day when people you don't even know just come and tell you that they're mormon! So a few minutes later the couple came back in and gave us $70 and paid for our whole districts' lunch! That was so nice of them! He said his name is President Erickson and he is from Rexburg, Idaho. It made our day - it reminded me of you, dad, and what you did for the Elders!!! Wednesday we also had a lesson with Yomairra and Santiago and even though they don't think that they need the gospel right now they are really willing to see if it will make a difference in their lives which is awesome! We talked about the restoration and gave them the DVD to watch on their own since we didn't have time to watch it with them. We also had a lesson with Shu Fang and Mi that evening and it was AWESOME!!!!! We talked about the plan of salvation because Shu Fang is really interested in seeing what happens after we die. She understood it so well. At first Shu Fang was just in the room and then basically after we were explaining the plan of salvation that's when Mi came in and so since Mi missed out on all of it we asked Shu Fang if she wanted to teach her the plan and she did it perfectly!!! It was really cool to see that she actually understood it. She also told us that she had prayed everyday that week! I seriously love teaching them!!! They are so humble and willing to learn and it's just really cool!!!!!
Friday was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Friday morning we had a lesson with this lady named Fran and she goes to Unity church which is basically where everyone is accepted and it's about finding God in everyone. We watched the Restoration video with her and she said that even though she is happy where she is at and that as long as we accept God than we are good, she said she would look at our church from a different perspective so that's awesome! Okay here is the best part of my week..... possibly of my MISSION so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay so the office sent us a referral that was from October and for some reason it had fallen through the cracks or something and no one had contacted it. So we drive there and knock and no one comes and then we knock again and still no one comes and so we decided to write a note and leave it at the door letting them know we had been there and while we were writing it, this boy comes out and we introduce ourselves and he is like "Oh my gosh! I've been waiting for you guys!" He starts like bouncing up and down a little and is like "I've been waiting for you guys for a long time! You guys changed my life! I've read the Book of Mormon like 6 times and just this whole church has turned my life around!" IT WAS SOOOOOOOO COOL. So he invited us in and told us that in October he moved from California in with his Grandma here a week before his baptism. When he got here he called the mission office and told them he wanted the missionaries to come and they told him they would be there that thursday and so he got all dressed up in his suit and waited and waited and no one ever came. But we kept talking to him and we were like well are you still interested in being baptized? and he was like Yes! I want to become part of the mormon church! I think I need a little refresher of the information but yes I do! And then he basically told us the plan of salvation and told us how he wants to go to the celestial kingdom and be sealed and how happy the gospel makes him. HOW COOL IS THAT???? I was speechless the whole time. I had no idea what to even say because I couldn't believe this was actually happening!!! Like you hear about stories like that but I just never thought something like that would ever happen! It was just so cool. His name is Anton and ya! So exciting!!! We also had a lesson with Eugene that day and he is living the word of wisdom and isn't smoking anymore!! It was such a good day!
Saturday we went to President Clarks house for both sessions of conference and it was so nice! I loved watching it there. It was just Sister Johnson Sister Wilcox and I and then the office Elders and AP's. It was so fun to watch it with President Clark though just because some of the comments he makes you would never expect him to say sometimes! Like he knew one of the speakers from home and after he was done speaking he was like "Good job John, great talk, you look just like your mother." It was funny. Also, this week on the 11th and 12th we are teaching about the restoration and plan of salvation and Christian Brothers College which is like an all boys school and so for the rest of the day we pretty much just planned for that - it's kinda stressful actually!
Sunday we went to President Clark's house for the morning session of conference and then went to the church for afternoon because Shu Fang and Mi were coming! The weather was SO NICE so we walked to the presidents house and I loved it! It's been like 75 degrees the last few days - I LOVE THAT IT'S FINALLY GETTING WARM. Shu Fang and Mi came to the afternoon session and even though they had to leave early I hope they liked it! We have a lesson with them this week so I guess we will see. I was looking forward to conference all week!! I thought it was interesting how much they focused on similar subjects. I feel like there was a lot about families, technology, the light of Christ, and being obedient. I think some of my favorite talks were Sister Dalton, Richard G. Scott, Uchtdorf (he's always my favorite), President Monson, and Kopischke. Thats a lot, but I pretty much liked all of them but those were probably my most favorite. The boy President Monson talked about in his talk that he burned the field with his President Clarks uncle!
Saturday night we also got transfer calls! So Sister Johnson and I wont be companions anymore :( I'm so bummed. But I will be staying in Frontenac with Sister Wilcox and we are also getting a new sister coming in and I will be training both of them! Sister Johnson is going to Cape Girardo?? I have no idea how to spell it but it's 2 hours south of where I am. I have loved being her companion and I hope we stay in touch. ALSO, guess what??? I was called to be the exchange sister for our zone! That means I go to each sister in our zone and go out with each of the sisters individually and then update our zone leaders and president on how all the sisters are doing as missionaries! I was definitely not expecting that at all but I am really excited!!!!
Thank you so much for the packages! I was not expecting them so soon so that was awesome!!! I haven't tried the Biscoff yet but I will be soon!!!! Today we are going to the City Museum which is supposed to be like one of the funnest things to do here and then the Elders are going to do a challenge at this ice cream place where you try to eat 5 shakes in 30 minutes so we are going to watch haha. Anyway, I hope you all have a really awesome week!!!!!!!! I GET TO TALK TO YOU IN ALMOST ONE MONTH EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK ERIN!!!!!! Anyway, I love you all and miss you a ton and think about you lots!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Taylor
XOXO
No comments:
Post a Comment