6/20 E-Mail - Father's Day

Dad!
This week went by really fast. But yesterday we had a good day. One investigator of ours, Jucelia, came to church and enjoyed it and also watched the baptism of an investigator of ours. Luane. Woohoo! Good stuff. She has been taking the discussions for a while but it was great to see her happiness as she was baptised. So there isn't much to do here besides write and stay in our house (Referring to what he does for fun on Pday). I'm still looking. haha. I'm glad you had a good Father's day. I'm sorry that I didn't send a card. I remember when we went there (Referring to my comment about our trip to Nauvoo years ago and how the statue of Hyrum and Joseph at Carthage affected me - Tamara and the kids gave me a beautiful 18" bronzed replica). Well you just made me start crying. I love you Dad. I'm so greatfull for everything that you have done for me. You have no idea. I'm sorry that I didn't show it very much before I left. I'm very sorry. I have been thinking about how I can make it up to you one day in my life. I've got a lot to do. Thank you dad. I love you so very much. That's cool that Amber came home to see her dad. But crazy what happened! (Referring to being hit by debris at Baskin &Robbins when a car drove through the front door) what are the odds of that?! I hope that they are ok. I will write to Sis. Seader. I hope that she is ok as well (In hospital). I will pray for her. Maple Valley days. Good times. That picture (Of Lilly) is awesome. I miss my city and my trees. haha. Keno! and Kaleb! good for him. Hey you should show Josie my apartment too. She would like that. But that address doesn't sound right nor the name. I will look up the address of the building and send it next week. I think its fairly new. So Morielli is doing great. She missed church but she is still reading and is excited everytime we come over. We are excited for her. Hey dad, so I don't have a lot of time to respond to what you wrote about Alma 8 but it was great reading it. Thanks for that. I so wish I had studied more before the mission. I missed out on so much. Now i wish I had more time to study everyday. We are working hard and will keep on going. Oh quick. Elder Mota was really sick with stomach pains the other day and couldn't walk. I gave my first blessing and it was in Portuguese. woah. haha, it was really simple but it was a blessing. The next morning he was fine and ready to go. That felt great. A blessing doesn't have to beautiful. It felt great to use the priesthood to help. Anyway...I hope that all is well at home. I love you dad and thank you again for everything. You are the best. Oh have you guys gotten my pics yet? bye.

Elder summerhays

Hi Mom!
I'm doing good. This week was good and went by really fast. Things are going well with our investigators. We have some people marked for July that are really progressing well. But guess what? We had a baptism yesterday! woohoo! Luane. It was great. We are definitely being blessed in this area. We will have more in July. Everything is going great with Elder Mota and I. We just keep on going. We are having a good time. Lots of laughs at stupid things I do on accident...like slipping or tripping in the street. My upbrella flying up behind me and breaking in the rain. Eating too fast and drinking soda and burp hickuping. And lots of other stuff. We're having a good time. Yeah no more school! More time to spend with your children. Thats great for Bryce (Referring to solo he sang at the final school concert). He should continue. Yeah McKenna said something about EFY. She is excited. good for her and I hope that she has a good time. haha that's funny...they (referring to Cam's roommates that stayed the night on their way to China) stayed the night? haha good stuff. I'm glad you had fun with that. Just tell them the story when he went out in the snow naked. Haha I forgot to send dad a card! No! I will don't worry. I hope he had a good day. Eric stapely is back!? what!? He just left yesterday! haha good stuff. Don't worry mom. We are safe. I just don't bring anything valuable and have a couple bucks in my pocket to give to someone if they rob us. I love you mom and I hope the start of your summer is amazing. I love you.

Taylor

Robbed! 6/13 E-Mail

Ok dad so I have a story for you. So we were walking down the street one day last week and we stopped to look at the map. Then someone came up to us and started talking to us and he was mad. I didn't understand at first what what happening but after a minute I realized we were being robbed. He was saying that we were investigators and were suspicious and asked if we had a cellphone. So elder Mota gave our phone to him. He said he was going to call someone to see if we were actually missionaries. He said he is going to keep it to find out who we are. yeah... right. Come on! Lamest robber in the world. He knew we were missionaries. What a lame way to rob someone. He could of at least had a gun or something so I would have a better story to tell you. haha But I'm glad we were safe. But now we don't have a cellphone to call our investigators. Lame. Hey,so I don't know if you want to tell mom that story. You decide if she will worry too much. I enjoyed/hated it. My first robbing. No more cellphone. But this week was good anyway. We had a storm where we got soaked. Robbed. Marked people for baptism. Had a good investigator in church. Good stuff. I'm really enjoying my personal study right now. read Alma 8. It talks about Alma when the people of Ammonihah rejected him. The verse about praying fervently and then when the angel appears to him to be of good chear. I put above the verse with the angel a note that says PMA. Hey dad... when you were on your mission and were still learning the language and didn't understand. in the lessons - what did you do? How did you talk with them? I can teach the gospel but not a lot with reagular life stuff. Just wondering

Thanks for writing me... thanks for the advice. I'll write more to it next week. running out of time. Just sometimes I feel like i don't have a purpose because people don't understand me and my companion repeats what I say. I don't know. I know I have a purpose...I just want to help more and I need to have patience. I just want to do it now.

Love,
Taylor

Hi mom!
Dont worry about it! I'm so glad you had fun in cali! This week was good. Transfers was good. I was sad to leave Elder Dressman but that's ok. He is great. My new companions name is Elder Mota. He is Brazilian. He is from Bahia. Feria De Santana. It's above Rio. But he says he wants to live in Washington. haha. I am in the zone of Embu. Not far from Campo Limpo. It's cool here. We have a small jungle reserve here that I love looking at. I miss trees. The address is still the one at the mission home. That's how we get our letters. Portuguese is coming along slowly but surley. I'm understanding more but I'm having fun with it. oh I forgot. We are opening a new area. We don't have anyone to teach and are walking everywhere to find them. Lots of hills. It's awesome! I was built for this. If I didn't like hiking I think I would get bored. But it's cool.

I'm so glad that California was fun. I miss the fam. wow thats a lot of people. haha I love our family. Santa barbara! good stuff. Grandpa. I'm going to write him today. I'm glad that you got to spend time with him. I'll thank him today. Good for Bryce. he is so smart. Tell him I love him. Flaming geyser. I love that place. I'm glad you guys had fun in the sun. Guess what? It's cold here. weird. It's sunny but cold. I didn't think that would happen. I'm glad you enjoyed the card (Mother's Day). Thank you for writing me mom. I love you so much. Please have people pray for me and for this area. We need it. We do have a baptism on the 18th of June so were excited for that. Oh, and our house is huge and has 4 elders living there. The others are really messy. oh well. I love you mom. Have a good week.

P-Day May 23, 2011

Hey Mom!
I'm doing good today. We had a zone activity together which was pretty fun. I wish it wouldn’t have taken so long because now we don't have time to do anything else... but nothing unusual there. We played Nertz and soccer. Nertz! haha fun stuff. We weren't completely helpless. I liked working with Elder Horne because we were able to find stuff out on our own. I could try something and I wouldn't have someone to rely on but the spirit so it was cool. I love Elder Dressman and he has taught me so much but I always like learning some things on my own. So I have one experience that I will share after I write about everything else. I got my package! woo hoo! I have already eaten a lot of it so I need to slow down. Thank you so much! And yes, I have plenty of food. I'm trying not to gain weight. ha-ha. I hope I don’t...if I do I'm going to eat apples every day. Haha I love Sadie! Tell her that I said hi and that I love her! haha Tell Lilly that I love her very much and that I'm proud of her for reading her new scriptures. That will help her so much. That’s great. Oh man... I forgot that he (Fred Nelson) was getting married. tell him I love him and that I said congrats. ok here's the story that happened. So it's not very long but I have told you about our investigator Jane. She is great and she knows that baptism is the right thing to do for herself and her very young daughter when she's older. But she is like her mom Rosa. Rosa has been investigating the church for 2 years and she has told us she knows the church is true and she goes to church all the time. But they lack self confidence or they just have something holding them back. I don't know. But the last time that we talked with them was hard. The lesson was great. The spirit was so strong as we talked about how they can receive answers to their prayers and that their Heavenly Father will help them with anything if they have faith. I don’t know how they couldn't have felt the spirit. It was as strong as I have felt it. We invited them to be baptized together and to help each other to prepare themselves. But they still were scared and declined. I kept a smile on a little when I left but once they closed the door and we were walking home I felt incredibly sad. It was dead silent the whole way home. It was so hard to stop myself from crying in the street. What could be holding them back? It just makes me so sad to think that they know that these things are true but can't take that step. I don’t know. I learned so much about loving the people I teach. I love these two people. I cry over them. I just want them to make this choice that will make their lives happy forever. I always heard people say to love the people and I just learned what that actually meant. After that night I promised myself that I would do all I could to love every single person I talk to. Because when I do that I will have the same desire for them that I have for Jane and Rosa. I want the happiness that I have in my life to be with these people. I was so sad but grateful for this experience. I know that Jane and Rosa will make this decision one day. I'm going to do all that I can to help them. I know gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know that God answers our prayers and loves us more than we will ever know. He loves us so much. I can't even imagine how hard it is for him to see his children in pain and anguish. How much that could hurt him. I love my Heavenly Father and am so grateful for all that he has blessed me with.

I love you mom. thank you for the email! I hope you have fun in Cali! say hi to the family for me and talk to Veda about my mission! I love you!

Taylor