7 Months!!!

Hey Family!!!!!!!!

     Thanks so much for your emails, I loved reading them!!!! I have been praying for Uncle Brad - that is so sad - and I hope he is doing well, keep me updated!! 

     So Monday was pday (obvi) and Sister Knight in our ward colored my hair for free and gave me some super great hair spray and a huge thing of really awesome shampoo and conditioner!!! She went on a mission too so she said she knows how buying things like that is inconvenient haha.  Then we went to the Goodriches and she made cafe rio salads!! They are from Utah and so they know what Missouri is missing out here.  Then we just played games like gorilla and psychiatrist all together and the zone leaders were there too and it was so fun!!

     So Tuesday, remember me telling you about Tracie?? Like SOOOOO prepared and we had a super awesome lesson with her and like her mom was in jail for 32 years for shooting her ex-boyfriend? So we were supposed to have a lesson with her on Tuesday and she texted us and said her Mom wants her to stick to her Catholic beliefs... Okay... Seriously??  We are going to keep trying though because she seriously needs to be Mormon.  Some people I meet on my mission I can look at them and be like "you would be such a perfect Camp Director" or "you're supposed to be a Relief Society president" and Tracie would be PERFECT in young womens.  Oh well, we wont give up!! Then, we taught Sarah Matthews the 'stop smoking' workshop and it seems like she's really dedicated to quit which is so exciting and I know Gordy really wants her to quit too.  Then we visited Charlene and I just feel so bad for her.  She misses her husband so much and feels like she has no reason to wake up in the morning.  She said she would like to come to bingo with us on Thursday and that she would like to come to church also.  She just needs friends and something to do everyday! That night, we had dinner with the Taylor's and Bro. Taylor works at the University of Illinois and they have an original copy of the Book of Mormon in their library!!!! Cool huh?? The school has like no idea how valuable it is either, but you can go to the library and like flip through it and everything so we might go do that!!

     Wednesday we had a metting with this lady at the Prairie Museum because we are thinking of volunteering there instead of the retirement home (I like the retirement home a lot but Sister Johnson doesn't and I figure I'm most likely getting transferred anyway so I don't mind) but the museum is pretty cool!!! We are going to do it every Wednesday and we get to help inspect like REALLY old documents and help build things for the library and I'm excited!! The top floor has like history of Illinois like architecture and original settlers and mining and stuff and then the bottom floor is mostly about Abraham Lincolns time and that kind of stuff.  Our assignment for Wednesday was to "get to know" the museum so we just got to walk around and look at everything and we had a fun time!! There was this thing you could do downstairs and dress up like Abraham Lincoln and then there was a backdrop where you could get your picture taken and so we did that and I will have to send you some of the pictures because they are paretty funny haha.  So I don't know if I told you about our apartment but up until last week our apartment consisted of 1 round table and 1 rectangle table, 2 beds, a dresser, a couple lamps, and a couch.  So our desk was also our kitchen table and there was like no way to organize anything.  And then, last week we finally got desks!!! And then, this last week, Sister Palumbo (like lives on Craigs list, haha) said there was this posting for a couch and you just had to submit your story and the lady would choose who needed it the most from the stories.  Sister Palumbo calls us one morning and tells us that she submitted our story and that we won the couch!! Now we have a couch and it looks pretty new!!!

     Thursday.... I don't even want to talk about Thursday..... Well I guess Thursday morning was pretty good.  We had district meeting and then we did service all afternoon at a resale/thrift shop with our district and the Champaign district and we just sorted clothes and stuff and it was so fun!! It's crazy the stuff people donate to those things.  Like some people I swear just throw garbage in a bag and donate it and it's sad because SOMEONE has to go through it and it can get gross! But we found some hilarious clothes and had fun with them!! It's so cool how much stuff has been donated though!!! THEN... ughhh............. we had a lesson with the Eastons.  Well, we didn't really even have a lesson.  We got there, had dinner, had a fun time, and then we are about to start the lesson and we were planning their baptism and all the details that night and Teri said they had something to talk about.  I could tell something was up just from that but i didn't think it would be what it actually was.  So Teri told us how our discussions made her reflect on who she was and how she got where she is and she said that she is still Methodist and doesn't feel like she needs baptism into the church right now.  She feels like she received the Holy Ghost when she was younger and that she is fine where she is at.  Then, Scott pretty much said the same thing except he is even thinking of going BACK into the methodist ministry now.  It seriously killed me.  Like most prepared family on earth right???  I think what bothers me a lot though is EVERY lesson, Scott would go off about how true the church was and how it wasn't a matter of if he got baptized but when and how the LDS values are more in line with their families values and that the methodist church is falling apart and then he totally discounted any of those feelings when we were there.  It makes me so sad and I still can't believe it happened.  They told us to not go away feeling like we failed but did the exact opposite because without us meeting with them then they never would have gotten to that realization.  It seriously just makes me SOOO SAD!!!!!!!!! I was not expecting that at all.  I asked them if they believed this was the restored church and they said that they hadn't gotten that confirmation (even though they said they had in the past) and so I told them to ask that in their prayers specifically and just bore my testimony on prayer because I know God answers prayers and if you really want to know something, all you have to do is ask!! We are having dinner with them on Thursday and then they invited us over for Tim's (their son who is baptized) birthday on the 11th so like it's good that they aren't cutting us completely off or anything but just keep them in your prayers please!! The whole ward is shocked just cause they all knew their story and many of them had talked to the Eastons and heard their testimonies and it's just crazy!!! I still have hope though!!!

     Friday was 7 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Friday morning we had a lesson with Randy and it went well! So like when people ask questions about our religion, no matter what, I don't really get offended like I take it as a good thing they are asking questions! But okay so he asked a question from Matthew 22:23-30 and it talks about how there is not going to be any marriage after the resurrection and I had never heard that or that question before!! So he was wondering why we get sealed and stuff and so I told him I would research that and have an answer for him next time and like it makes a little more sense to me now after asking our Bishop but it's still kinda interesting.  So basically, our Bishop said that there wont really be any "marriage" after the resurrection but that's why we get sealed because getting sealed isn't getting married.  So like there won't be temporal marriage but we will be sealed. Does that make sense?? Anyway, after that, we met a referral, John, at Subway.  He's from Hawaii and super nice and I think he has some kind of social disorder but he said he would read the Book of Mormon and that he would come to church and wants to meet with us again! Then, we met with this girl Casey that we tracted into a while ago, I think I told you about her? She is 19 and has a 3 year old and just had a baby a week ago! So we visited her and she also wants to learn more which is AWESOME!!! Oh also, we were tracting on Friday and we met a Satanist... that was weird.

     Saturday we visited less active members in White Heath but didn't have much luck so we visited the Springers for a couple minutes since they live there and they said we could come back for dinner that night! So then, we went to Farmer City and visited the Boyce's because we hadn't met them yet and they don't go to church! So we get there, and the dad was there with his wife and son and his girlfriend and the dad, Dennis, and his wife actually live in our apartments!!!! We were talking to his wife and asked if they go to church anywhere and she told us that they aren't right now and that she's been looking for a church to go to and has been telling Dennis that she wants to know more about our church!! So we have an appointment with them this week!!! Then, we went to the Springers for dinner and helped them make it too!! It was so fun! We made shrimp scampi (spelling?) over rice and some vegetables and it was so fun to help them!! I didn't eat any of the shrimp, just the sauce part haha but we got to like take the shells of the shrimp and make it all with their help!! Then Sister Springer showed us her quilter and it is AWESOME! But dinner was super delicious!!!

     Hahahahaha okay so remember testimony football?? So I told a couple of the young women that we used to play that during sacrament meeting and now they play it too!!! Hahahahaha.  The Relief Society lesson was really good, it was about confidence and beauty and they showed that dove commercial that mom showed in her lesson a couple months ago! The teacher shared a quote that had something to do with how arrogant people are typically insecure and how confident people are typically humble.  Interesting huh? Then, we had dinner with the Hope's (Bishop and his family) and they are always one of my favorite houses to eat at! They are a lot of fun to be with and they make really good food!!

     OH!!!! So remember Gracie from Frontenac?? She got baptized!!!!!!!!!!! I think that's pretty much my week.  I'm still really bummed about the Eastons, like it breaks my heart just knowing how close they were and like out of no where they just change their minds.  I read a really good talk in the July Ensign this last week about living for the eternities and it was so good - if you haven't read it you should!! It was talking about agency and how God not only has given us the agency to choose good from evil but also the power to choose good OVER evil.  It also talks about how in today's world, independent people are looking for ways to have freedom so they feel like by not choosing the right they are exercising their freedom but in reality, we have the freedom to choose a righteous path too!! Does that make sense? It says it better in the article haha.  I just know that when we do use our agency by choosing the right that we are able to have more freedom naturally because we don't have sins or wrong choices weighing us down.  Satan is working just as hard as we are today! It also talked about how like everyone made fun of Noah building an ark... until it started raining.  And that's just like how it is today! It's "not the popular thing" to make good choices all the time or stand out from everyone else but if we stick to our values and what we know is true, even if we get laughed at now, we wont be when it comes down to the end! I know this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and it's written for our day and I love it! I know that if we can beat Satan at his own game that we will be stronger and happier. I love the gospel!!!!!!

     Anyway, that's all I think! I hope you all have a super awesome week and that you stay safe and healthy and don't do anything dumb!!! I miss you all SOOOOOOO much and I'm so grateful for all of you.  I LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES AND BUNCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Taylor

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

P.S. So tomorrow is trainer calls so we find out who will be training this next transfer and then saturday is transfer calls!!!