Prayers are Answered

This was a very spiritual and inspiring week, but also hard!  On Monday we had to cut our P-day short because we were going to go to the Temple on Wednesday, so we had to leave the house around 2ish.

On Tuesday we went to Reno for our District Meeting.  After we a girl in the ward with her mission papers.  A funny story, Sister Underly picked a flower for me she found on the road, we decided to give it to one of our investigators.  He put it on his ear then half way through the lesson we thought it was a bug and tried to get it off his ear and he fell off of his chair.  It was very funny and I was happy I wasn't the one to fall this time :).

Wednesday was TEMPLE DAY!!!!  It was amazing and I was so happy I got to go back.  Oh and we went to In-N-Out for lunch!:)

We planned for the week on Thursday. I really dislike weekly planning but it is helpful :).  We had a yummy dinner with some members!  This was St Patrick's Day so we had corned beef and cabbage...it was actually really good :).

Friday was a day full of miracles.  This was my most spiritual day of the week besides the Temple.  So last week I saw this lady just walking on the sidewalk.  While Sister Underly was making calls in the car I decided to go talk to her, I felt like I needed to.  The Spirit was definitely guiding me and I talked with her (in Spanish) by myself and really got to know her.  She touched my heart.  So after the Temple Trip Wednesday we had an appointment with her, but she gave me the wrong address and we couldn't find her any where.  I couldn't help but feel sad and cry because I just knew I had to find her.  I have been praying we would find her.  Later we were walking back to our car and WE SAW HER!  Heavenly Father does answer prayers and I have a strong testimony that if you follow the promptings of the Spirit miracles will HAPPEN :).  The cool thing is we weren't going to go to dinner originally at that time, but Sister Underly felt like we should go home and so we did.  If we hadn't gone back to our car at that time we would have never seen her!  Wow, miracles do really happen. Sister Underly had a few cool experiences this day as well :).

On Saturday we had this huge Ward Dinner Game night.  We helped set up and decorate.  It was so much fun.  We had pulled pork sandwiches and played Minute-to-Win-It Games afterwards :).  I had to demonstrate the cotton ball with Vaseline on your nose game! :)  You have to transfer the cotton ball without using your hands, only your nose, to the other plate :).

Sister Underly had to translate for the Spanish members during English Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.  We were supposed to have dinner at this one person's house and then we ended up getting there and she was confused so we just went somewhere else.

While I miss you so much!  With all my love your Taylor :)

Trials Make Us Stronger

This week was one filled with lots of miracles and other things.  One quick thing was that we "randomly" saw a guy Sister Underly had previously met before I got here (I say randomly because I don't believe in coincidences).  As we were walking we were going to go to another appointment, but Sister Underly said we should take our car.  I asked why we just couldn't walk, but she insisted on driving.  As we were driving we had to go around the street because the street was a one-way street.  Anyways, we saw him and Sister Underly freaked out because she has been praying that we see him.  We got out and talked to him for awhile and before he left he said he could meet us on Sunday.  On Sunday we talked with him about his trials and I shared my trials with him.  I told him that Heavenly Father gives us trials to make us stronger, not to make us feel worthless and those times when we are struggling is when we need Him the most. 

Sorry I don't have much time to write, I had to re-write this email because the other one deleted, Cool right. Anyway love you and miss you!

Hermana Friend

 

Lake Tahoe Never Gets Old

On Monday for p-day we were at a member's house, we painted a still-live, made cookies, had black bean burgers and had to say goodbye to Elder Escobar as he got transferred.  This was the day my most spiritual experience happened.  After we left Sister Underly started crying, she has been having really bad stomach pains (she's had them for a while) and I begged and pleaded with her to get a blessing of healing but she didn't want to, I wasn't going to give up because, one, I am stubborn and, two, I felt in my heart not to give it up.  She finally got a blessing of healing and ever since the blessing her stomach has not hurt once.  She says this is the first time on her mission her stomach has felt this good.  Blessings work and the Priesthood is real.
 

I had a quote of the day on Tuesday which was:  "Evil is convenient."  On Wednesday I got to hold a parrot.  We also ate at Taco Bell and went to the church to have a lesson with our Ward Mission Leader and one of our investigators.

We had correlation meeting on Thursday and I ate pizza.  I love pizza...but pizza doesn't love me.  We talked with a lot of different people in Kings Beach, California.

One of investigators wanted to take a picture with us on Friday, I was almost kissed by an old guy haha!  We had a game night with a less active and her boyfriend...Hermana Amiga kicked butt!!!

In Kings Beach there was a parade called "The Snow Festival" and it reminded me a lot of Daffodil which made me miss that.  We had Taco Bell...again...since we literally have no time as missionaries we barely get to eat and when we do it's fast food.  So I'm kind of sick of Taco Bell haha...which I never thought that would happen.  I bought 4 boxes of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies #noshame.



The badge of courage/valor I put on my name tags

Random things:  I tucked my dress into my underwear...again...but this time I didn't notice for about 15 minutes after we had walked down the street...cool; I had a really bad cold all of this week and a fever yesterday; a 76 year old man asked Sister Underly and I to marry him; we got called spiritual gangsters; I sometimes lack confidence so I made a thing on the back on my name tags that say "Valor" (it means courage in Spanish, so I always have courage "in" my heart); and a quote that I like, "Hardships will never leave you, but Heavenly Father won't either." 

Some miracles that happened: we ran into some people who have been avoiding us; and one of our investigators has been asking all the right questions, has read some of the Book of Mormon and he knows he wants to get baptized, he just doesn't know when. 

 It was kind of a slow week with only 28 lessons, but I have been learning a lot about myself.  Tomorrow I hit my 3 months mark!

Hermana Friend

My planner I decorated (front)

My planner I decorated (back)

I got your package

One of the floats from the snow festival parade (I MISS DAFFODIL:)

Lake Tahoe never gets old.

"Lets pretend like we are actually paying attention while driving" ;)

 

Missions Aren't a Boar

This week was awesome.  A lot of funny and not so funny things happened. Last p-day we went over to a members house to hang out a little bit and celebrate Elder Baker's and Elder Escobar's birthdays, it was so much fun.  The member's house is huge with a game room that has a slide, ball pit, Foosball and everything else you could ever imagine.  The dad hunts so he had a lot of stuffed animals in the house.  Awkward story that happened when I was going to the bathroom, I felt like something was staring at me and sure enough there was a boar on the wall ha ha.  We had elk for dinner!  It was actually really good and it made me want to go hunting.  Anyway, we were there until 7:30 pm, so we had stayed like all day there.

 

Tuesday we went to District Training in Reno and we did a church tour activity.  I learned that church tours are very important for your investigators so they feel comfortable and they can feel the Spirit before they even attend church.  We went to a Mexican restaurant called La Bamba for dinner with a ward family, it was yummy in my tummy!  They always take us to the best places to eat, they had taken us to a BBQ place called Moes, you would have loved it!  We might go snow shoeing with them as well, it snowed 12 inches here, not even kidding (I know I can be a drama queen but it really did snow a lot haha).  

Tuesday night I had to go on exchanges with the STL until Wednesday, her area is Reno South.  It was cool to experience a different area, different people and a different companion for a day/night, but I was happy to be back to be honest haha.
 

Wednesday after exchanges we went with our new ward mission leader to a place called Jaysons and I got ribs...I love me some BBQ!:) 
 

Thursday we went to this Relief Society service auction and we played with points.  I won a dinner which I cashed in last night haha, it was fun.
 

Friday we didn't have dinner because we just wanted to get as many lessons as we could, we only had about 28 lessons this week, a slower, week but it was very fun!
 

Saturday was the day my most spiritual experience for the week happened.  The little girl whose mother wouldn't let her get baptized, well she and her brother GOT BAPTIZED!!  I gained a stronger testimony of fasting this day, I desperately wanted her to be able to be baptized and she was, and not only that but her brother!:)  I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I talked about how the Holy Ghost can be represented as a warm fuzzy blanket, its comfy and when you are scared you cover yourself with your blankie, its your protector!:)
 

Sunday I got really sick, on top of my newly developed cold, my stomach hurt and every time I would stand or sit up I want get dizzy and nauseous.  So we missed that first part of church, but a four hour napped helped me a lot because after that I was feeling much better.  We went to the Spanish sacrament and saw the little girl and her brother receive the special gift of the Holy Ghost.  Then she bore her testimony, she was scared to go up there and asked me if I would go up there with her.  It was the simplest most special and sweetest testimony.  She is such a sweet and special daughter of Heavenly Father.  After the baptism on Saturday we got to see their new house, and she told me she wanted to show me something and she showed me my name tag that I had given her several weeks ago and the special spot she keeps it in.  It made me feel amazing. I am so incredibly happy she was baptized and she gets to feel the special love Heavenly Father has for her!:)
 

On Sunday for dinner we had tri-tip, wild rice, Cesar salad, garlic bread, and blueberry cobbler (which was actually pretty good:) That's the dinner I won!:)  It was so worth it!:)
 

Here are some random things that happened this week:  I zipped my lip in my jacket zipper and it started bleeding a lot; there was a bug in my bag when I went to go reach for my chapstick-I freaked out; I slipped on the way walking to the car right on my el pompis (butt in Spanish haha); there is a sticker picture on our phone and as I was holding the phone I realized the sticker was gone then 10 mins later found the sticker stuck to my hair; went to an investigators house and she was hiding from us, I looked in the window and she saw me..awk but she let us in and we had a lesson with her haha.

 

Elder Escobar is being transferred so we are going to hang out with the Elders at a members house today.  I really miss Washington but Lake Tahoe is so beautiful!:)  Oh guess what, my Spanish is getting way way way better.  To be honest I have been surprising myself.  I am starting to really love my mission.  The getting up, exercising, and experiencing new things every single day is fun.  I feel my testimony and my relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ strengthening!:) I don't want to jinx myself but my confidence has grown as well:)

 Love Always Hermana Amiga



A cute bunny named PJ... I liked him



A members turtle (tortoqa I think thats how you spell in Spanish)