Tuesday, January 28, 2014

{Pictures} - Arriving in Mexico

We got some pictures!!!  Big thanks to Hermana Ingram who was travelling with Hermana Taylor to Mexico City Southeast (she took the pictures), and to her mom who sent us the pictures and said we could post them!  The food descriptions come from them too!  We are so grateful to you!!!
 
The Airport - it's either Salt Lake City, Atlanta, or Mexico City. 
Hermana Taylor is the one in the white sweater guarding the luggage.
There were 6 Elders and 6 Hermanas travelling together to the Mexico City Southeast Mission.


First meal in Mexico with President Morales.
Mexican style Bienvenidos.

20 of them sat around the only table in the restaurant.

Horchata - a milk based cinnamon drink.  It tastes like the milk
left in your cereal bowl after eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal!

Their food was cooked right in front of them.


The chunk of meat roasting on a stick, with a pineapple above it.
They roll up a small tortilla, add a slice of pineapple and then the meat.
It's called Tacos al Pastor.

The beautiful Mexico City Temple.
It's closed right now for many months.

Monday, January 27, 2014

{Week 7} MEXICO!!! January 27, 2014

Hola mi familia! Greeting from Mexico!! This week has been crazy. I have so much to write about I don't know where to begin! When we arrived at the airport, Pres Morales and his wife and the assistants to the presidents picked us up and took us to the mission home. Driving is crazy here! Seat belts don't matter here, and we crammed all 6 hermanas into the presidents SUV with him and his wife. People drive as fast as they want here it seems. There are giant speed bumps everywhere to slow traffic down, but they just go faster in between to compensate. The hermanas spent the first night in the apartment of a couple elders, and the 6 elders stayed at the mission office. When we got here the president asked what we wanted to eat, and we said tacos!! So we went for tacos at a restaurant down the street. The restaurants here are amazing. They are open to the street, and they all have a thing with chunks of meat stuck on it slowly cooking in front of a fire. I'll take a picture sometime for you. The next day we had some really quick training, then we were assigned companions! We sat at the front in a chapel, and all the missionaries who would be getting new comps sat in the pews. We all introduced ourselves, and then they announced companions!!
 
My companion is amazing. Her name is Hermana Gutierrez, and she is from Chile. She is 30, has been here 4 and a half months and barely speaks English, but I barely speak Spanish so we get along great!! She is super patient with my Spanish which is wonderful. One of the American sisters who has been here 6weeks told me she was really hoping for an American comp, so she is really happy we're companions. After we got our new comps, we all gathered our luggage and jumped into vehicles, but before that I saw both Elder Evans and Elder Anderson. They were both really nice, and Elder Evans told me don't stress, Spanish will come. We took a combi with Hermana Lopez and her comp, and Elders Zapedo and Sibrian. Combi's are pretty much super old vans that remind me of the mystery machine in Scooby Doo. Elders Zapedo and Sibrian share a ward with us. They split the area, so we're opening a new area. We spent a lot of the first day with the Elders as they helped us move in and introduced us to a bunch of the members. Zapedo is from Honduras and Sibrian is from El Salvador. Sibrian is pretty quiet, but Zapedo is crazy! He thinks my lack of Spanish is hilarious and is constantly teaching me new words. Because we share a ward we see them a lot. He also likes to teach me random Spanish tongue twisters, which is pretty funny. They helped us move in because we got a new home and had no furniture, so they moved in the beds and tables etc. We live in a small house on the roof of a members home, Hermana Sam. She is so sweet and always gives us hugs. Actually, all the females and children under 8 give us hugs and kisses all the time. I've never been touched so much in my life lol. Hermana Sam's house is actually really nice (for here) and our house is pretty nice too. But to get to it we have to climb this staircase that you can see through because it's just bars and I'm always terrified someone is going to see up my skirt! They gave us a blanket when we got here, and Hermana Sam gave us each a huge comforter as well, and I sleep in fuzzy socks and my MTC hoodie with my pajamas, so I'm perfectly warm. And I've only seen one bug! It was a spider, and it was tiny, and it's dead now.
 
Our area is pretty small. And one corner is apparently peligroso (dangerous) but we haven't needed to go there yet. Our only contacting here is in between appointments, and since it's a new area, we've only really had appointments with members. We do have one investigator family that we're continuing to teach. Eddy and Teresa have previously committed to baptism for Feb, and we're just continuing to teach them. They need to get married though so... don't know if it'll happen as soon as we'd like. We contacted this one lady, Ana, and she agreed to meet with us. So we did! In this mission, our first lesson is always the doctrine of Christ and the baptismal invitacion, so I got to invite Ana (and her friend who came too) to be baptized, and they said yes!!!!! We meet with them again tomorrow. She is so sweet!! She gives the most enthusiastic hugs, which is saying a lot because everyone hugs, and always says les quiero! Which is I love you in a friendly sort of way. We were really tired last night and were on our way home when we ran into her again, and she was so happy it just brightened our day!! I love her! I love all the people here!
 
We had to go to the Immigration office to get our mugshots taken, so all the foreign greenies met at the mission office one morning, and we all took the metro together. The metro is crazy!! It was literally push and shove until literally no more people can fit. We were pressed up against complete strangers, and at one point the lady beside me leaned over and rested her chin on my shoulder!! Gratefully, at the really crowed metro stops they have separate cars for the men and women. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the immigration office, and I went first, and 10 seconds later I was done. So my comp and I left the group and took the metro to temple square so she could meet with the doctor, because she has some problems ... I didn't really understand. But anyway, the temple is beautiful!! and the grounds are really well kept. The streets are filthy in Mexico. Trash everywhere. But all the trees and bushes are perfectly pruned in funky shapes...
 
I haven't been sick!!! Everyone else has had a few stomach problems, and Hermana Lopez apparently has a giant ulcer from all the chili! (really spicy salsa. It's in everything.) Pres Morales told us "don't eat the chili" so I've been sticking to that. I also take the pills you sent me with. So far all I've had is a little diahhrea, but nothing major. The food is... good. So far all we've had is a lot of chicken and tortillas. And pan!! (bread) the pan is so good!!
 
There is one family, the familia Villa that is active, less active, recent converts, and non members all in one, and they own a restaurant. They feed us lunch a lot there. The first time, they brought our a bowl of pasta soup and a basket of pan. I ate it and it was good, and I wasn't hungry anymore. Then they brought out the second course, noodles in cream!! And it was really good and I was full. Then they brought out the main course. A giant piece of chicken with some veggies. And I had to force myself to eat it. It was good, but I was so full!!! The next day we went there again, and after the second course I tried to tell them I wasn't hungry. They all kind of looked at me, and then my companion told them to bring it anyway, so I ate it. They don't understand here that we don't eat that much at once!! I've figured it out though. We eat at 2 everyday with a member, and it's always basically the same. So I have an orange for breakfast, and don't eat again till lunch. That way I'm hungry enough I can eat it all!!
 
Hermana Bennett is in my district, Hermana Lopez is in my zone, and Hermana Gurley's comp and mine are in a choir together, so I get to see them all a lot, which is really nice. The choir is singing for a general authority on Feb 8, but the president will only let 12 missionaries be in it, and we got here to late so I'm not in it. But while they practice I get to hang out/study with Hermana Gurley, which is really nice. They're singing the EFY medley and it sounds great.
 
Sunday was stake conference. I pulled out my notebook to write notes, and then they started talking and I remembered oh yeah... Spanish. I don't speak that yet. I generally have no idea what anyone is saying, but it's ok!! I love it. Sometimes they try to speak English to me, but the English they know is the Spanish I know...
 
It's great here. Super different. I forgot my camera so no pictures this week (sorry). It's hard work, but I LOVE it. I was riding the metro last night on our way back from choir, and I thought - I'm on a crazy metro, in the middle of Mexico City, in Mexico, learning Spanish, with no worries other than teaching about Christ!! How much better can it get!
The church is true!!! Be good, say your prayers, and I'll see you all later!!
 
Love you all,
Hermana Taylor
ps. others have had lots of whistles at them, but I've only been called blondie once.
LOVE YOU!!!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

{Week 6} MTC - January 18, 2014

Hola! Last week in the MTC!!! I leave in 2 days!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!! I am so excited and so nervous at the same time, but I know that it will be great!!
 
The Hermana's in my district today at the Provo Temple.


Today we went to the temple for the last time in 17 months, and we got to see the new temple film! It was really good. I love them both! It was so nice to be in the temple, and it was kind of sad to know we won´t get to go to the temple for awhile. A Spanish session got out in the Provo temple just a few minutes after our session, so there were a lot of Latinos in the temple. I love them all so much!! I can´t wait to teach them for real.
 
I bought a calling card. I should be calling around 6 or 6:30 on Monday morning. So make sure you pick up! lol I'm almost done packing, and I did all my laundry. It's so exciting!!! I feel like we barely got to the MTC, but at the same time I feel like we've been here forever. I'm excited to talk to you all!!!
 
Tuesday devotional was Elder Bednar again!! We have two devotionals a week, and I always say that I have a gut feeling that it is going to be one of the twelve, and I'm always wrong so they make fun of me lol. But this time I was positive, and it was!! It was really funny. Elder Bednar told us that they had received over 1000 questions last time, so he and his wife just continued to answer them. Some of my favorites included when he discussed fear being the absence of faith and faith being a principle of action, when he told us about spiritual gifts and how we can only receive them if we're using them to bless others, and when he bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. One of the questions was "will you please bare your testimony of the BOM?" and he said "I would love to" then proceeded to bare a really powerful testimony. It was wonderful. He also talked about how a lot of the questions asked about miracles, and he said that what we really need to do is pray to have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the miracles that are already all around us. It was a really great devotional. At one point, his wife called up some elders to ask them a question, and one of them was brand new so he still had the orange dot sticker on his nametag. After they sat down, Elder Bednar got up and said "Elder, that little sticker is called a dork dot. Lose it." It was so funny!! We laughed so hard. I love hearing the apostles!!
 
On Friday we had In-Field Orientation all day at main campus. It's for all the people who are leaving soon, and it was basically a bunch of workshops where we practiced skills like effectively using the members and street contacting. At the end the instructors (a whole bunch of RM's) put on a cheesy play about some Elders and how they meet with the Ward and use them to help teach. It was really funny, and we were so tired that we laughed at the silliest jokes. It was fun though!!! And I looked for Sister Coward, but couldn't find her. I think I scared one girl because I was trying to see her nametag to see if it was her, so I kept looking in her direction... Oh well lol.
 
Thanks for the packages!!! I love the shirts, and that orange shirt was pretty sneaky lol!! I was confused when the package said there were 3 shirts in it lol.
 
My companion and I wearing ugly shirts our mother's sent us. lol

(We call the orange shirt our plucked chicken shirt!  The girls in our family have a game with it - we just hide it in odd places in each others rooms and wait for it to be found.  I found it in my pillow sham just after Christmas so I sent it to Jasmine in a package with her two Spanish P-day shirts.  She made all the hermana's try it on.  It's so stretchy that it fits size newborn to XXXL, and even fits dogs!!!  I'm pretty sure it's in the package she's sending home!)
 
The Anderson's sent me that hot waterbottle. They also sent me a whole bunch of muffins and valentines treats!! And a copy of Elder Anderson's letter, which I later regaled my district with. We're all super excited!! And our teacher Hermana Bair told us she hopes we all get robbed at least once. lol.

I have loved the MTC. It has been an amazing experience (and right now it's pretty much my dream job to be a teacher here) but I am so excited to get to Mexico!! I'm excited to no longer be in a huge group all the time... we have a lot of fun and I love them all, but it can be really easy to get off topic. I've learned that at the MTC, you learn as much as you want to. Your teachers teach you a lot, and if all you learn is in class, you'll learn quite a bit. But there is so much more time that is available to you! It's been a bit frustrating these last few weeks as I've been trying to study as much as I can, and everyone else is too busy laughing and joking. I think it's important to remember that we're on the Lord's time, and we're here to do what he wants us to. It's been a test in patience for me... and when things are out of control I'll often say "dos pies!" (two feet) It's kind of our district motto - it means have two feet in the mission at all times. I love my district. They're just not used to sitting in a desk all day lol. But one study time I love is our personal study. We're really good about being quiet the whole time, and then after we go around the circle and all share one thing that we learned. And we've learned a lot!! You can see how much everyone's testimonies have grown from the last 6 weeks.
 
Thursday was our last class with Hermano Eaton. He's the teacher we've had the whole time we've been here, and he's great. At the end he bore his testimony to us in English, and then we asked him to say the closing prayer, and he did that in English as well. The scriptures say we should have the opportunity to learn the gospel in our own tongue, and that is something I really believe. We hear Spanish all day long from Hermano Eaton, so to hear him bare a simple and earnest testimony and then prayer in my native tongue was extremely powerful. I'm so excited to be able to help others to hear the gospel in their own language!!
Us with Hermano Eaton - he's the blond in the middle.
Our last class with Hermana Bair is in a couple hours. She is marvelous. I love her!! All our teachers have been great. If I were to pick a favorite it would be Hermano Hardy, but I've loved all 4 of them. And we have several traveling teachers that I love too. Hermano Christofferson, Hermano Lebron, Hermono Wright.... They're all great.
 
Us with Hermano Hardy (second from left).  It took us forever to track him down.
He teaches a district two floors above us now.  Love him!!!

Tomorrow is our last full day at the MTC!! Our zone sings a hymn and has a prayer every night at 9:20, just before we head home, and whenever a district is about to leave, we sing "Para siempre Dios este con Vos" (God be with you till we meet again. The chorus "till we meet ("till we me-ee-et, till we me-ee-t") is "hasta ver" ("hasta ve-ee-er, hasta vee-eer") which actually means "until to see", but it makes sense. We sing the fist verse normal, the second louder, and by the third verse we're practically screaming!! Then on the 4th verse, we sing it super reverent, and the Spirit is always so strong. Then we pray. Then they usually sing the American Anthem, which is also really nice. I kind of smile and hum along because I don't know it lol. And there's no way I'm singing "O Canada" by myself!
 
Anyway, I love it here, and I can't wait to leave. My next email will come from Mexico!!! I look forward to it. I love you all and I loved all your letters.
Be good, say your prayers, and I'll see you in awhile!!
 
-Hermana Taylor

Message from Hermana Gurley

I sent Jasmine's MTC companion a little letter thanking her for being such a wonderful first companion for our daughter.  I mentioned that Jas always did very well in her classes and to arrive in the MTC and find herself at the bottom of the class in Spanish, was a new and humbling experience for her.  I just told her we were grateful that Jas had a kind and patient companion who was more than willing to help her with her Spanish.  We were so glad she could focus on her Spanish and not have to worry about companion troubles.

This is the sweet message I got back from Hermana Gurley:


Dear Sister Taylor,
I received your "dear elder" last night! Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words! As to Hermana Taylor's academic prowess- I am well aware! She is our resident Libro de Mormon expert! She is incredibly gifted, and I am just lucky to have been attached to her hip for the past 6 weeks! I wish your family the best!
Con amor,
Hna Gurley

Saturday, January 11, 2014

{Week 5} MTC - January 11, 2014

The Map!!!  We're all heading to Mexico City Southeast!
Saturday/Sabado! We had our discussion on 3 Ne 27 with Hermano Hardy. He came in and asked us how much each of us had studied the chapter. When he found out that we had all read the chapter 4-9 times, and spent approximately 3 hours on it, he was dumbfounded. We all recognized that it could be a super spiritual experience, and we were all worried he'd say we hadn't done enough, so we put everything we had into it. He apologized because HE wasn't ready, so while we all studied Spanish for the next hour, he studied the chapter. Then we had our discussion. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had in my life. We all shared things we had learned and new insights we gained as others spoke, and the spirit was so strong!! I had gained an amazing testimony of the Atonement from my study, and as I shared that I pretty much bawled through the whole thing. It was a truly amazing experience.
 
Sunday/Domingo! Fast and testimony meeting!! It was so much fun and super spiritual to have all the missionaries in my branch and the other branch that meets with us share our testimonies in Spanglish. I loved it. And then after the meeting, our Branch President, President Stewart - who is pretty much the sweetest and cutest old man you'll ever meet - called me to be the new Sister Training Leader for my district. That means I'm also sort of the zone STL, when needed. So next Wed when we get a new district I'll get to welcome them. There were a lot of really good talks shared on Sunday. It was a very spiritual day.



Hermana Bennett and I in the Salt Lake City Airport.


Monday/Lunes!  Vegas!!  We got on our bus at 4:30, got to the airport in Salt Lake around 5:30, went through security, and then hung out in the airport till 8:30 when our plane left! There was 11 of us who travelled to get our visas, but one then continued on to her mission while the rest of us came back. The airplane was a lot of fun - but it was super short. We took off, levelled out, got our drinks, and suddenly we were descending. It was fun though!

Hermana's Bennett, Benson (Ingram's comp!) and I on the plane to Vegas.

The first thing we saw when we got to Vegas? Slot machines!!! Elder Greer, an elderly service missionary picked us up and took us to the Del Taco then the institute, where we hung out for a couple hours while he shared random helpful facts about Mexico. Then we went to the Mexican Consulate. We were there about 1.5 hours, waiting in line, then we had our pictures taken and gave our fingerprints, and that was it! It was fun to (attempt to) chat in Spanish with the people in the Consulate, and we talked with a ton of people in the airports. After the consulate, we went back to the institute and talked for a while more, before getting to the airport around 5. Then we hung out until we left at 7!! It's an hour flight, but due to time change we got back to SLC at 9, and back to campus at 10:30. It was a really long day, but we got our Visas!! and everyone else in my district will have them by the 15th. Elder Gilbert randomly has to go to Boise Idaho for his, and it's an overnight trip...
Las Vegas from the air.  It's a little blurry! lol
 
Every other day of the week!!! (it's all kind of a blur...)
 
I had an amazing experience as sister training leader where as I followed the spirit I was able to help others... but I can't really go into detail. It was awesome though!!! Follow the Spirit! It will guide in what to say and do!!
 
We've gotten to the point where our brains are filled with so much vocab, we've started making some funny mistakes in lessons. Hermana Gurley said that after you pray for repentance you can start sinning again (Jacob was like "what!! and acted out getting drunk" lol), Elder Koehler told Jacob that he was beautiful rather than his prayer, Elder Hixen told Jacob they had a massage for him rather than a message, and some of the new girls told their investigator that the Atonement is for their dead fish rather than their sins. We have some good laughs over those.
 
Our new teacher is Hermana Bair, and she's awesome! She's super bubbly, and very enthusiastic about everything. With her, we have a new investigator named Gabriela, and she's really sweet too. Hermana Bair is decorating our classroom right now as we're writing our emails. We love her.

Hermana Bair in the middle.
We've started something new called TRC (I can't remember what that stands for). It's when members and non members volunteer for us to teach them, but we don't know if they're members or not - they all fake ignorance. Hermana Gurley and I had the absolute privilege of teaching a beautiful old man named Jose from Guatelmala last week. He was one of the sweetest people I've ever met!! We only got to teach him three times, but he was wonderful. We taught him about Jose Smith, then El Libro de Mormon, then the Plan of Salvation. Each time the Spirit was so strong he would start to cry, and I'd get teary too. I truly love him, and even if he's already a member, I just want to help him come closer to Christ. At the end of our last lesson, he asked what he should do if he knew the Book of Mormon was true, and before I could even think, I said, "Debe seguira el ejemplo de Jesucristo y sera batizado" (You should follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized - roughly, my grammar isn't great lol.) And he said "ok, when?" It was a super amazing experience. But then we didn't know what to do after the lesson... because we didn't know whether or not he was a member already!! Apparently he is, but that's ok because I think we helped him anyway.

 
My zone on the way to the temple.  They're all awesome!!!
This morning we got to go to the temple!!! We got there, and they were backed up 3 sessions because there were so many people!! It was really packed, but I was so glad for the opportunity to go. I've missed it.

My companion and I at the Provo Temple
 
Thanks for the cinnamon rolls!!! I was going to tell you not to send food but I forgot. We have so much candy and junk in our apartment that was given to us by departing districts. But then the Schedule changed, and now we eat supper at 4:30, so by the time we get to the apartment at 9:30 we're all starving!! The cinnamon rolls provided a more substantial snack and were greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!
 
There are some teachers here known as floating teachers - they don't have a district at the moment, so they travel around and help other districts. One who's been with us for a little while is Hermano Christofferson - D Todd Christofferson's nephew!! He's really awesome. He knows a lot about the gospel, the scriptures, and Spanish. He helps a lot. He also tells us some cool things about the 12 and First Presidency. He said that they are the happiest people you'll ever meet. He said the gospel is a message of happiness, and they all truly live it. He also said they are the funniest people he knows. He told us about how Pres. Hinckley used to play elevator tag with his security people, and they once lost him for 3 hours!! Smalls!!! Trivia!!! Who invented the whiteboard? - Robert D Hales!!
 
The MTC is awesome, but I can't wait to leave... and we got our travel plans!! We leave at 4:30 AM on the 20th. Our flight stops at Atlanta, then we head for Mexico City. The 5 of us going to SE are together, but the 3 elders going to N are taking a different flight together :( It will be sad to say goodbye to them all, but we're all really excited.  If I do phone from the airport it might be around 6 AM.... just so you know.... I'll let you know for sure next Pday!!
 
Hermana Prochello and I.  She's heading to the Canada Calgary Mission, Spanish speaking.
She's in my zone and is super sweet.  You probably won't meet, but if you do, say HI!
 
I love you all. I love MTC life. And I can't wait for Mexico City!!!
See you in 17 months!
-Hermana Taylor

Friday, January 3, 2014

{Week 4} MTC - January 3, 2014

My visa came! I'm headed to Vegas on Monday with Hermana Bennet to go pick ours up!! I'm so excited to go on a plane!!! Our bus leaves at 4:30 AM to Salt Lake, then we fly to Vegas at 8:30. Supposedly we won't get back until late, and they gave us each $10 for food. Hermana Gurley said "That's a lot of money!!! You could get a smoothie and a sandwich for that!!!" It was really funny. But I'm super excited!!

And I forgot to mention this previously, but the temple has been closed since we got here. It opens on the 6th though, so next P-day we'll get to go. That's why there aren't any pictures there...yet.
 
For New Years, I got a package from the Andersons with 4 small Martinellis, some New Year's Hats, some leis, and candy!!
We counted down to midnight (actually it was 10:00... lights go out at 10:30), and toasted the New Year. We didn't have a sleepover, but it was fun. Thank you Anderson family!!! You're all amazing!!!
The Hermanas in my District.
And when we entered the classroom New year's day, the elders threw confetti at us and blew horns and flickered the lights and yelled happy new year!! It scared us, but it was awesome. I love my district.
The Elders in my District.
 
Our teacher Hermano Hardy is being transferred to a new district that's arriving on Wednesday, so Tomorrow is our last class with him, and yesterday was the last time Hermana Gurley and I got to teach "Mateo". We taught him about Jose Smith, el Libro de Mormon, and the Doctrine of Christ, and then committed him to baptism!! It was a super spiritual experience. There was a lot jammed into that 25 min lesson, but the spirit was strong and Hermana Gurley and I both felt really good about. Mateo still has some things we wanted to work through, and I wish we could meet with him again. It's kind of really sad to say goodbye to him.
 
It's also super sad to sad goodbye to Hermano Hardy. He is 23, and is one of the most spiritual and amazing people I've ever met. And he's got a dry sense of humor that cracks us all up. He's really good at motivating us to be better. The old district joked that he was one of the three Nephites. Since Sabado is his last day, he has given us a challenge to study 3Nephi 27 harder, and with more dilligence then we've ever studied anything. He gave us a few questions to ponder, and promised us that as we studied and prayed with faith, we'ed receive answers. The plan is discuss the Chapter on Saturday. He also said that if we didn't put all our effort into this, we wouldn't discuss it. We all want the spiritual experience though, so this morning during personal study, we were all studying that chapter, and it was the best personal study I've ever had. Everyone was completely silent, and the Spirit was so strong in the room. I have never been so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He loves us so much!!! To suffer, not just for our sins and weaknesses, but all our pains, and sorrows, and infirmities... I am filled with such an overwhelming desire to not let this amazing gift He has given us go to waste, and to help others come to use it too. The Atonement is a miracle, and I am so grateful for my Savior, and the opportunidad I have to share that message with others.
 
My companion and I also taught Hermano Eaton "Jacob" yesterday. We invited him to be baptized too. The Spirit was also super strong in that lesson, but he said he needed to think. He said he knew it was important, but would need to think about it. We teach him again on Monday... except I'll be in Vegas... so maybe we'll teach him a different day? Don't know!!
 
I asked my district about the HOV lane/carpool lane, and they were surprised to hear that we didn't really have those in Canada. I told them we might in super big cities like Toronto, but I'd never seen them. So then, I was feeling a little devious, so I explained that we do have a lane along all our roads just for dog sleds... and they believed me! They were freaking out and though it was the coolest thing they'd ever heard of. It was pretty funny when I came clean.
 
Spanish!!! I love spanish. It is like the best language ever. We were the investigators for another class, where they split some companionships so they had a native and a not-so-native teaching, and I understood almost everything the native said!!! She talked so fast - it was crazy. And because it was gospel I did all right. I feel like I could chat for hours with someone about the gospel in Espanol, but when it come to everyday life (not very well, but we could get the point across lol) but when it comes to everyday life I'm lost!! I spend all my study time trying to understand conjugations and grammar and learn vocab that I can use to help my investigators, so I don't get much everyday studying done. I've started taking the last 15min of my study time though to learn words that will help me in that area. And my companion is always a big help.
 
Hermana Gurley. I absolutely love her. She is such a caring individual!! And she is soooo helpfull with my Spanish. And she's got a great southern accent. She's awesome.
 
And we have a new district, made of just 5 Hermanas!! and one is going to Calgary!!! They're all super sweet and we love them :) we now have one more sister than elders in our zone!!
 
I'm glad Mackenzie's arm isn't broken. That would be sad. Tell her I love her so much!!
 
I love you all so much!!! I hope I didn't forget anything.... so much stuff happens here it can be really difficult to remember it all. I bring my journal with me when I write you, but even that doesn't have everything.
The MTC is amazing. There is a spirit here that is so strong. Everyone you meet is doing their best to be like Christ. But as much as I love it here, I can't wait to go to Mexico!!
 
Love you all. Be good. Say your prayers. I'll see you later :)
-Hermana Taylor
 
My name tag!!!