The last email!!

Dear Family,

     This is so crazy!!! This is my last email until I see you again.  I feel like the transfer just started! I have heard other missionaries (and Dad) say that the last few transfers went by super fast and I was like… ya, that's just the cliche thing to say... but it's the truth!!!! I still don't really feel like I'm leaving but I know I am but it's just a really strange feeling.  Jake got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so exciting!!!! We met with him a few times before Saturday and on Monday, he had smoked again and he was like "it's just a habit when I'm in traffic on the way home from work" sooo firstly we asked if we could take his cigarettes and he willingly gave them to us and we broke them and then we knew that he loves Oreos so we bought a big pack of Oreos and put them in the back of his truck with a note so that he would eat those on the way home instead of smoke and he hasn't smoked since!!! Later in the week, the Sylvesters had him over for dinner and a lesson and we talked about the priesthood and how he can hold it shortly after he is baptized and it went really well.  We told him that the more good decisions he makes, the more he might notice it is harder to make them because Satan will try to tempt him. He said he had already felt that but that he is doing his best to turn away from any temptations and praying.  So. . .Saturday, Jake got baptized!!!!!! His Mom and sister came and so did President and Sister Morgan and the whole Relief Society room was filled with ward members.  Some really great talks were shared and the spirit was definitely there.  After he was baptized, he gave 2 thumbs up and he looked so happy.  While him and Bro. Sylvester were changing, we had made these little cards for everyone to write a note or their testimony for Jake and we are putting them in a book like you would put photos in and we are going to give it to him this week.  Yesterday, he got confirmed and he just looked SOO happy! It's amazing.  He even showed up with his tithing yesterday without anyone really saying anything about it.  It's just so cool to see how much he has changed and how much his life he has changed to join the church.  He has had a few friends ask him why he is going to church and other comments like that and he has stuck up for what he knows is true which is cool to hear from him.  He is so great!!!! This week we are teaching him about the Temple so he can  do baptisms for the dead in a couple weeks.  Another really cool thing is that part of his family history is done back to the 1600's and so he can do all those names in the Temple. Oh! And before I forget; so he walked into the Stake Center and he was like "I have been here before... I don't remember why or when but I have been here before." Long story short.... Jake is baptized and he is amazing!!!!!

     Anyway, I guess I will tell you about the rest of my week!  On the 4th we had Zone service in the morning and we went to this members' house in a different ward and dug a ditch for a pipe, painted, and did some other stuff, ate lunch and had fun!  We were allowed to listen to patriotic music on the 4th so that was fun too.  The Elders made us a copy of a CD a member made for them and it was mostly country songs which aren't really my favorite but honestly anything is better than Mormon Tabernacle Choir at this point.  We had to have our cars parked by5:00 and the majority of our ward went out of town for the 4th soo Sister Felt and I had nothing to do really. So we parked our car at 5 and walked over an hour away to Target and bought some stuff to make cookies and Jakes' baptism and it was actually really fun! 

     On Saturday we had a lesson with Audre and guess what???? 2 things: 1. she turns 18 on August 15th and 2. SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED IN AUGUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited for her and she's really excited too.  

     It's seriously so crazy to me that I'm on my last week!!! You have no idea how glad I am that I decided to go on a mission.  I for real wish I could just force everyone to go.  It's amazing!!! Not only do you really gain a testimony and learn more about the Savior and what we believe but the majority of your energy is focused on other people and helping them learn the same things and you just get a ton of new best friends all over the place and see how their lives change!!  The light of Christ really shines through people when they start to recognize the gospel is true.  It's like a whole different kind of joy that you feel being here.  I don't even know how to explain it! It's hard sometimes and can get discouraging but anything that requires work is worth more in the end and you appreciate it.  I know this Church is true and that it has the same truths that Christ put on the earth originally and I am so grateful for it!! Thanks for being so supportive - you have no idea how much I appreciate your letters and the time that you put into everything.  You guys are the best!!!! I can't wait to see you!!!!

     Anyway, I hope you all have a super fabulous day and week!!!!!!!!!!! I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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Mini missionary

Hey Family!!!!!!!!!

     Thanks so much for your emails - I love hearing from you! This last week we had our mini missionary with us until Friday (she asked if she could extend!!) and it was sooo funn!!!! We didn't realize it when she asked to extend, but it had to go through the stake president and our mission president but she got to! Like for real we were so sad for her to leave.  It was like having a little sister around with us all the time that was hilarious.  You wouldn't think it at first but she pretty much made us laugh all the time.  She might come to a few lessons with us towards the end of the transfer again too.  Anyway, I guess I will tell you about my week!

     So on Monday, like I mentioned, I went to a laundry mat for the first time! Fenton Coin Laundry to be exact. It was different than what I expected.  I pictured it like they are in music videos but it wasn't.  They are like a genius idea though!! Like you can do allll your loads at once and it's way faster! Anyway, that night we found a new investigator that lives in the same apartment complex as Jake and then had a lesson with Josh too.

     Tuesday I'm pretty sure I did something totally not socially acceptable!! So. Remember that lady, Laura Newsom from the parade magazine you told me about that lives in Fenton? Well. I looked her up in the phone book! Her name actually wasn't there but there was a Newsom so I wrote the address down and we went there and we got there and her husband answered and this is pretty much how it went.  We went to her house and her husband answered and she was napping but he said we could come by in like 20 minutes and so we did and she answered and I told her how I heard about her and then she's like "How did you find my house?" and I was like "Ummm.. well... the phone book." (creepy right??).  Anyway, she's Catholic and not interested and not at all what I expected but I met her! She actually lives right next door to a member that literally just moved in.  

     Wednesday we had a zone meeting and we were asked to give a training on prayer and Gretchen even helped us out for part of it! For part of it, we watched the mormon message "Wrong Roads" and it's so good! Here it is too:http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2714780496001  That night we had a lesson with Karen and her daughter Sam came too and she wants to learn as well! Then we had a lesson with Jake and they Sylvesters came with us and they were perfect and the lesson went well.  Bro. Sylvester and his wife are literally the human version of Gaston and Belle.  Both Jake and Bro. Sylvester like to hunt so they talked about that for a while.  Jake wants to get baptized!! We asked him about July 5th and he said he would pray about it.  He said he notices a difference in his life when he reads and prays and things like that.  He also came to church yesterday and we are seeing him on Wednesday!

     Friday, Gretchen left which was sad but we had a fun time with her.  The three of us would play would you rather a ton and it was really entertaining.  One time while we were tracting, one of them was like "would you rather have your skin be an obnoxious orange or green?" and gretchen was like "I would be green because then I could tell people I was an alien" and like literally right after that, we went up the next walking path thing to the door and the house had a statue of an alien and the timing was perfect so it was pretty funny.  I will send you a picture to go along with it.  That's Gretchen and I!

     Saturday we were talking to this lady Tiffany, who is one of our new investigators and she goes to this really common non denomination church here called Faith and she said she didn't like the direction it was going because she said it's so "showy" when they should be focusing on the word - not the dramatic effects.  It's so true!! That always bothers me so much because people want to go to church to be entertained and they mistake feeling the spirit with being excited and dramatic effects and it's not the same.  Anyway, it was nice to hear that from someone else besides members of the church.  We also had a lesson with Jia and she did pray! However, I don't think she did every night.  She said she enjoyed praying and she felt the spirit and she understands everything but she just can't make that big of a leap of faith.  She said that she has made the leap of learning about it but she doesn't have the spring board to believe it.  She was really sincere and so sweet and told us how much we really did teach her and how much it means to her but she just can't do it right now.  We will definitely keep her in our visits every once in a while though.  I think later in life she might change.  

     This week I also got my flight info in the mail... that was weird.  But we found 4 new investigators which was exciting! This transfer we are reading Matthew Mark Luke and John as a mission in our companionships and I'm excited cause I've never read them before! Also, these last couple days I have been reading the priesthood talks from conference and they are so good.  Probably some of my favorites!!! 

     Anyway, I think that's about it!!! I hope you all have a super fabulous day and week!!!! Please be super safe and smart and healthy and don't do anything dumb and please drive safely wherever you go and don't text and drive or be distracted or drive when it's not safe or be distracted or anything like that and make sure no one else does either!!!!!! I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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Hey!!!!!

Hey Family!!!!!!!!

     Thanks so much for your emails!! I love hearing from you.  We had transfers this week so now I'm with Sister Felt and she's a great missionary.  She goes home the transfer after me! She's from Lincoln,California.  We also got a mini missionary on Friday night and she is so great.  Like I love having her with us!! Basically, what a mini missionary is, is a priest or laurel aged member spends a week with us and lives with us and does everything we do with us to see what being a missionary is like! Her name is Gretchen, she's 16, and she's hilarious.  She's supposed to go home on Tuesday but we are going to see if she can stay longer because we love having her around!! Like at first you would think she's really strange and awkward and quiet but no... she's a genius and hilarious and she isn't afraid to contribute in lessons and it's so great! A couple nights ago, Sister Felt made these amazing cookies and Gretchen was like "if these cookies were a person, they would be Jesus." We couldn't stop laughing.  Anyway, I think mini missions are the best idea!! Do they even do them in Utah?      

     Last Monday, we went to the Holocaust museum and it was interesting and so sad but I like learning about it.  Then we drove through this place called Lone Elk Park and it's like a park with supposedly a ton of animals like elk, deer, buffalo, bison, and other things but all we saw were a few bison.. 

     Wednesday we had transfer meeting and then that night we had a lesson with Jake and we watched the Restoration DVD and he wants to know if it's true so he said he would pray about it and he said he would like to get baptized also so we are possibly going to set a baptism date with him this wednesday! He said that he feels like he needs some religion in his life and he believes that we are helping him because the night before he wanted to drink but he decided not to.  Cool huh?? 

     Thursday we had a lesson with Audre at the temple and it was really cool.  She LOVES the temple and we challenged her to find a quiet spot on the temple grounds after we left and say a prayer and she even told us that she is going to ask her parents when they get home from vacation if she can get baptized before she's 18.  HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE???? We hope they say yes.       

     Friday we had MLC and it was my last MLC so that was kinda weird.  I gave my "departing testimony" and of course as soon as I stood up I literally forgot everything I wanted to say.  It's so weird to think about though because that was the last time I will see a lot of the Elders and other missionaries! 

     Saturday night we had a lesson with Jia and it was amazing!! We have talked with her over and over about prayer and she still hasn't done it and after we watched this movie called Finding faith in Christ, we talked about prayer again and I told her that if she prayed every single day for a week, she would feel God's love for her and have faith in Jesus Christ.  She laughed and was like "are you making a bet?" But I told her that I had faith that if she did that I know she would have faith as well and she was like "Wow, I'm really going to do that".  She said she liked our confidence we had in the fact that that would happen.  I have never done anything like that before and it was kinda scary! So anyway, we are going back Saturday and we will see how it goes!

     Yesterday we had church and Audre came! Today I will be going to a laundry mat for the first time ever... the members house we usually do laundry at is gone for 6 weeks soooo we are going to a laundry mat! 

     Anyway, I think that's about it!! I hope you all have a super fabulous day and week!!!!! I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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Happy Mother's Day!

Hey Family!!!!!!!!!

     It was so great to be able to talk to you yesterday!!!! I love talking to you! It was soo good to hear your voices and see your faces and just talk to you!! I JUST LOVED IT!!!!!!! Anyway, I pretty much told you everything yesterday I feel like but I will just tell you about my week briefly.  

     Monday we had zone pday and we played games outside at Forest Park and it was really fun.

     Tuesday we had zone conference and it was so good! We got to help plan it and everything and it's honestly probably one of my favorite zone conferences I have had on my mission.  Zone conferences in the past have just ended up being kinda heavy and long so we decided to switch it up and make it more uplifting and interactive and it was really cool.  I feel like people respond to that kind of stuff better… at least I do.  

     Thursday I was on exchanges with Sister Nelson! I was companions with her in Frontenac in case you don't remember.  It was fun to be with her again! It's cool to see how she has changed from when she was first out until now.  

     We also saw some less active members and we had another lesson with Jia like I told you about.  We went over the Restoration and I think she understood everything! She was really excited to learn about the Holy Ghost and so we told her to pay attention to the feelings the Holy Ghost gives us when something is true or good.  

     This morning we saw Virginia!!!! AND GUESS WHAT??? We set a baptism date with her for June 21st.  So we will see how that goes!!

     Anyway, that's pretty much my week!!!!! It was so good to see you!!!!! Happy Mothers Day again Mom - I love you!! I hope you have a super fabulous day and week!!! I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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I love to see the temple!

Hey Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     Thanks so much for your emails - I love hearing from you!! Guess what??? I got to go to the Temple this week!!! OH MY GOSH.  Basically, it was amazing and it has been so long since I got to go.  I will send some pictures because it was a beautiful day and it was just so great to be there!! Anyway, I will tell you about my week now!

     On Tuesday we had MLC and they asked me to do a musical number but I feel like everyone is pretty tired of hearing piano solos so I pretty much forced some of the other zone leaders to sing while I played and it was so good!!! They sang Come Thou Fount while I played the piano and the spirit was so strong while they sang - I loved it!! Sister Scott thought she recorded it but she actually just took a picture but it's all good.  That night, we saw Virginia and she totally gets it!!! She had so many questions and she wants to feel forgiven of mistakes and she wants to get baptized!!! We watched a mormon message with her too and she loves those.  She downloaded basically ever Mormon app on her phone that you can get and has been reading the Book of Mormon every day.  She said she would give church another try also! 

     Thursday we had a combined district meeting with our whole zone and the zone leaders challenged us all to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the transfer which means 15 pages a day.  We were so excited!! So we have been trying to stay on top of that which is cool because both Sister Scott and I are pretty much studying the same things during personal study and then during companion study we talk about it.  Afterwards, we went on exchanges with the Washington sisters and I went to Washington.

     Friday we had lessons with Josh, Jia, and Virginia.  Josh is a guy we met when he was out walking his dog.  He isn't really into organized religion because of things like Jonestown and the Holocaust and things like that but he told us he is at a crossroads right now and needs some direction.  So we taught him the Restoration and he prayed with us and he seems really interested! Afterwards, we saw Jia and all of our other lessons with her we have tried to explain who God is and stuff and it just wasn't going anywhere so we decided to just start with Joseph Smith.  So we watched the Restoration video and I think it was what we should have done to begin with! She understood it and I think she can relate to it more.  So I feel like we are finally starting to get somewhere with her now. Friday night we went to the Temple and I already told you that was AMAZING!!!!!!! I loved being there.  Seriously, you guys are so lucky that you can go any day you want.  

     Saturday we saw Audre and she is doing great! We are going to start doing personal progress with her and just continue to meet with her regularly.  I think she is going to bring something up to her parents soon as well which would be good.  We also saw Teena and we were so happy.  She told us a few weeks ago that the Bishop really hurt her feelings and she wasn't coming to church any more and we were sooooo bummed because we had been working with her weekly and she was starting to realize how important church was and she wanted to get her patriarchal blessing and then her feelings got hurt and she said she wasn't coming anymore.  Then, we got to her house on Saturday and she told us she was coming and we were so happy!!! It's so cool when you work with less active members and you watch them change.  

     Sunday we had church and Joe came and TEENA CAME!!!! She even shared her testimony and thanked us for being there for her.  Sister Scott and I were so happy and surprised that she even went up.  

     Anyway, that's pretty much my week!!! Today we have zone pday and we are going to forest park and playing games because guess what.... IT'S WARM OUTSIDE!!!!! I hope you all have a super fabulous week and day!! Please be super safe and smart and healthy and don't do anything dumb and please drive safely wherever you go and don't text and drive or be distracted or drive when it's not safe and make sure no one else does either!!!! I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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1. The Elders singing at MLC... I'm behind the piano

2. THE TEMPLE!!!!!!

3. Also the Temple

Happy Birthday Tay!

Hey Family!!!!!!!!

     Thanks for your emails!! It was so great to hear from you and I love reading your emails.  Guess what?? I'm 21!!!!!! I don't really feel 21... I didn't even feel 20... I still feel like I just graduated high school like last summer but apparently I have been out of the womb for 21 years now so that's cool. We really didn't do much on my birthday to be honest! Sister Scott "surprised" me with a birthday cake! (haha not really... you can't really keep anything a secret from your companion since you have to be within sight and sound of each other 24/7 so I saw her buy it at the store).  But it was still fun! And THEN when we got home that night I opened my AWESOME birthday package!!! I loved it!!! Thank you so much - it was so cute.  Hahaha I loved all the little boxes you put in with different gifts inside and I shared my cupcakes with my district.  Thank you so much!! OHH and don't let me forget ... THE CARD!!! Hahahahaha the front of it alone was hilarious - thank you so much!! I really loved my package and everything in it and I really appreciate it - you are all amazing!! Also! So you know how we were trying to see how many lessons we could get this week? Well we didn't get anywhere close to 70 or anything BUT we got 23 which is more than we have gotten before!! PLUS we found 4 new investigators this week!!! AND we got more lessons than the Elders in our ward so that's good too.  We are having another competition this week and the winner gets a gallon of chocolate milk (the Elders chose the prize).  Anyway, I will start telling you about my week now!!!

     So on Tuesday we visited this old lady who some Elders tracted into a few years ago.  Her name is Patricia - she's probably in her early 80's and lives in a beautiful home and her husband died a few years ago and you can tell it's really hard for her.  Anyway, we have tried to get in her home for a few weeks now and she always has excuses for why we can't come in.  Things like "Right now, I'm picking out my clothes for the week" "I just sat down to eat" (keep in mind she's pretty old and stuff).  So her excuses are always funny but this time I was just like "can we come and share a short scripture with you? It will only take 5 minutes and then we will let you get back to your day." So she lets us in and she told us about her husband.  They didn't have any children so you could tell they spent a lot of time together and she started crying and so we talked about the plan of salvation a little bit and left her with a pamphlet that briefly talks about it.  And then... about an hour later she finally let us go.  It was so good though.  Before we left she was like "please come back".  She is adorable.  Just a really classy old woman.  We also met with some less active members.  We are working with a lady in the ward who had her name removed years ago but she wants to come back now so we are teaching her the lessons so she can get baptized again.  We also tracted quite a bit and found some really neat people and they all had some kind of connection with Mormons which is always really cool.  We have been using a different approach when we tract lately and it works pretty well!! After we like introduce ourselves and stuff we just say something like "can we share a short scripture with you?" and they pretty much always say sure and so while we are getting out a Book of Mormon, we introduce what it is and then share the scripture with them and it just opens people up to more discussions than usual and it's really cool! One lady we met made a comment on how much it applied to her at this point in her life and it's just really neat to hear things like that.

     Wednesday was my birthday!! That morning we helped out at the food pantry and I was talking to the guy, Ray, who is in charge of it all and I was leaning on like one of those lever/fork lift things that grocery stores use to carry heavy stuff around and I accidentally let the lever go and it landed on his foot!!!! Luckily there wasn't anything heavy on it at the time, just a few boxes, but still I felt so bad!! We were also able to get into a less active members home that multiple ward members have been trying to get in and they told us "don't count on them letting you in".  And they let us in!!!!! It's really sad, they were really active less than a year ago and then apparently they got offended some how and they don't really want anything to do with the church anymore.  Just the wife was home and you could tell she didn't really want us there but we were just so happy we even got in!!!

     On Friday we found 3 new investigators!!! The first one is Katelyn.  She is 22 and has a 9 month old.  She hasn't been very religious for years now because she was always forced into it when she was growing up.  Now, she's on her own and wants something more in her life and she had a lot of questions.  And she literally lives right across the street from the church which is perfect!  She doesn't really know much about God or religion at all and so she wants to learn.  Our next investigator we found was Beth.  She is married, has 2 kids in college and doesn't go to church currently.  We don't really know if she is looking for anything currently but she is interested in learning more about what we believe and I think she's someone who would be able to recognize the importance of it after we talked to her more about the Book of Mormon and stuff.  Before we went in for the night, we found Amy! She was someone Elders tracted into a few years ago and she is currently Lutheran but doesn't always go.  We introduced the Book of Mormon and she has had a ton of connections with Mormons in her past! Her Dad did carpentry for the St. Louis Temple and she had Mormon neighbors and doctors and she always really liked them.  It makes me grateful for whoever the Mormons people met were good examples because it makes such a huge difference in the future!! 

     Oh ya! Hahahaha okay so Friday morning we had district meeting and all the Elders were trying to give us all their Easter candy but we didn't want it either and so we all ended up having a candy war and like throwing it in each others cars or trying to hide it in places we wouldn't see it and Sister Scott and I pretty much lost because they threw it all in our car and then drove off but THEN hahahaha they were behind us at a stop light with their windows rolled down and I gathered all the candy together and ran out of our car and threw it in their car and then the light turned green so they ended up with it.  It was pretty funny.  

     Saturday morning we met with Audre! Throughout the week she had been texting us and she is seriously so amazing.  When she gets bored or has free time during class, she watches mormon messages and the district and things like that.  So we met her at the park in the morning and we brought her a personal progress book and she was so excited about that.  I also gave her a ctr ring and she was so excited.  I think it's just really amazing to me to see how young she is and how interested in the gospel she is.  She wants to get baptized so badly but she knows her parents aren't okay with it right now.  We talked to her about fasting and today she is fasting for some extra help! 

     Yesterday Audre came to church and went to young women and everything and she loved it!! She told us how good of a day she had and how much she loved being at church and around Mormons.  We also saw Jia yesterday and for a while we were stuck as to what to teach her because she doesn't have any Christian background but we decided to just start with the Restoration and Prayer so we will see how that went next time we see her.  

     Ken has been super hard to meet with lately which is frustrating... but he said he could meet on Wednesday so that's good! Shannon's phone has been broken and she has had to work but she still wants to meet with us.

     This morning I was reading the Joy of Womanhood by Sis. Nadauld and a couple things stood out to me that I really like!!! She talks about how we should "celebrate the fact that girls are different from boys".  I just liked that a lot! I think with all the feminist women these days in the church they want to be treated like the men but they forget that we are different and there's a reason for that! Plus... have you ever noticed that feminists look like men...? Like... if you want to be treated equally than at least try to look feminine.  Sorry I kinda have a rant about all those women.  I just don't feel like they get it! 

     Anyway, that's pretty much my week! I hope you all have a super fabulous week and day!!! I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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Hoppy Easter!

You have NO idea how much Taylor does not like chili or anything with beans in it. She's a pretty good sport! Enjoy--

Hey Family!!!!

     Thanks so much for your emails - it was so great to hear from you!! I'm glad you had fun in New York too.  We got transfer calls on Saturday and I'm staying in Fenton with Sister Scott!!! YAY!!! So every day before Easter I was reading the little messages Mom sent me and they were so interesting!!!! HOLY COW I don't know why but I am super interested in Pilate now.  Like I want to learn more about him.  He totally knew Jesus was innocent and he even gave the people the opportunity to save him over Barabas which he thought would be a no brainer to choose Barabbas but they DIDN'T.  Crazy! Also, the fact that he didn't change the sign over the cross is interesting to me.  ALSO, okay, so in the Ensign this month there's an article about theEaster story with the Joseph Smith Translations added in and after Jesus is resurrected and appears to Mary, in the Bible He says "touch me not" but with the Joseph Smith Translation it says "hold me not".  Cool right? I think it kinda puts a different meaning to it but I guess no one really knows!

     Also! Okay, so yesterday, we were talking to someones Mom in our ward, Sandy, that was visiting them for Easter and she lives in the Tulsa mission boundaries and their mission president there challenged all the missionaries to get 77 lessons in 1 WEEK.  That included investigators, less actives, and active members.  So the sisters in the Sandy's ward planned with the women in the ward and got 88 lessons in 1 week.  How cool is that?? So basically that got Sister Scott and I way excited and we want to do something like that! So we are going to do a trial run this week and see how many lessons we can get on our own without asking the ward for a lot of help yet.  And then, towards the end of the transfer we are going to try and basically go on splits all day every day and visit as many people as we can and get as many lessons as we can!

     Anyway, I will tell you about my week now! So basically, this week, none of our investigators were really able to meet with us and that gets kinda frustrating sometimes.  But on Tuesday, I was on exchanges with Sister Leavitt (she's the one I met at Brighton Beehive camp!) and we were at a members home for dinner and we were talking about the Plan of Salvation and Sister Baker said "you can live a celestial life right now by having a celestial home.  Why would you expect to live there if you are only living a telestial life now?" I thought that was a really good thought!

     Friday we tracted a little bit in the morning and almost every single person we talked to either grew up with Mormon neighbors, or had Mormon friends, or had some connection with Mormons but none of them really wanted to learn more about them.  Sometimes it would be nice to force people to want to learn!

     Saturday was pretty much full of trying to visit potential and former investigators and current investigators and no one was home or answering.  We were able to meet with Virginia though!! We basically talked about church the majority of the time and talked about how it would personally benefit her.  That night, our ward had a chili cook off and ping pong tournament and guess who were the chili judges? Yep that would be the missionaries! (You all know my love for chili...) It really wasn't that bad actually haha - I really like white chicken chili though!!! There's this guy in our ward who is a professional chef and he brought 2 different chilis that like are "known" for being super hot and since we were the judges... we had to try them! Holy cow they were so spicy!!!! Like my whole mouth was tingling for like 15 minutes. Not cool.  

     Sunday was Easter!!! I am the current choir pianist for the ward so we had choir practice in the morning and then guess who came to church?? Joe and Virginia!!! I think they both really liked it too!! Joe was like nodding whenever he would agree with something someone would say and I'm pretty sure Virginia started crying.  We had Easter dinner at the Allred's and they are so cool! They are the ones that introduced us to Joe.  Sister Allred's mom lives in Hurricane.  Anyway, it was definitely the most interesting Easter dinner I have ever had haha.  We had pizza casserole for dinner and lemon meringue pie with ice cream for dessert.  Like it was super delicious but just not your typical Easter dinner haha.  The Allreds are for real one of my favorite families here though - they are so cool.  BUT okay, they have these brand new baby chicks in the wreath on their door! I sent you some pictures and they are the cutest things ever!!! Well actually they are ugly but I haven't ever seen baby chicks that were THAT new.  At one point, all 5 of their heads were poking up with their mouths open and it was so cute.  Anyway, last night we visited with a former investigator, Audre.  She is 17 and knows the church is true but her parents wont let her get baptized so she is basically waiting until she goes to college in June or July to get baptized.  We are just going to try and meet with her more regularly until she goes to college just so that she's all ready! She loves Mormons though and it's so cool! She was talking about general conference and how after conference was over she was looking at pinterest and was like "you just scroll through pinterest and see all the hipster general conference quotes and they are all pretty much by president uCHtdorf." It was hilarious just cause she didn't know how to say his name.  She's amazing though!

     Anyway, that's pretty much it! I hope you all have a super fabulous week and day!!!  I MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

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