Monday, May 26, 2014

{Week 24} Polanco - May 26, 2014

So.... it happened again! It's cambio time, and Sunday night we got the phone call that I had cambios! We were positive that if anyone did it would be Hermana Bravo, because she's already got 4.5 months in the area, but nope! It was me! The cambios for all the Hermanas was this morning at 11 - my new comp is Hna Mercedes and is from the Dominican Republic! We were in the same district when I first got here. My new area is P 3, in the zone N. P is the ward, and we use the same chapel as my old area Par---, so I'll still see all the members from that ward on Sundays. N is the stake and the.... area? of Mexico City that I'm in. It's actually N------------, but the people here are smart and don't like saying that every time, so we call it N---. It's apparently not as dangerous, but I'm the first white sister here so we'll see!

But my biggest news is that on Sunday, we got a phone call from Hna Gutierrez! Turns out her sickness is extremely rare, and the closest doctor to Chile that knows about her sickness is here in Mexico City, so she came back to visit members and the doctor. We had plans to go to the mall together today, but then the cambios happened, so she just agreed to meet us at the chapel where the cambios were. We got there, and were waiting, and then I saw her walking across the parking lot and we ran and hugged! It was like a movie!  I was so happy to see her. We were both in tears. She's my Mom here in the mission, and it was great to see her.
Hna Gutierrez and I.

 But now to tell you what happened in Par--- for my last week there.

One day after the comida - food - Hna Bravo grabbed Hna Williams (we eat together) and they left to work in the other area! So Hna Zambrano and I went on impromptu divisions and worked in my area for the day. It was great - she works super hard and I learned tons.

On Saturday we helped the ward do a deep clean of the chapel - that was a lot of fun to do physical labour. I've missed doing stuff like that! Hna Bravo and I and a few others swept out the entire parking lot - reminded me of working with Dad :) And now the chapel looks great! The chapels are generally really dirty here.

And on Friday was the cumpleaƱos of Elder Avalos - the District Leader. So we all studied together in the chapel and ate pizza and gave him presents - minions because he's obsessed with them. That was a lot of fun.
Hna Bravo, Elder Avalos, and me, and the minions!

Everyone that was at the party! Bravo, Avalos, Elder Hammond behind Avalos (he's one of the ZL's) Elder Gutierrez - he was there on divisions with Hammond, Elder Ramos is sitting down, then me, Williams, and Zambrano!
And on Sunday there was a miracle! We had put a baptismal date during the week for one of our investigators - Rosio - for the 21st of June. But we've been teaching her for a month and she hadn't come to church. On Sunday morning we went to get her at 7:30, and for 15min she didn't answer our knocking, our shouts, our phone calls, or the the pebbles we threw at the window. But she finally came out, and of course had just woken up. She told us to go on ahead and she'd come later - but they always say that and never do. So we were sitting in Church, feeling down yet again no investigators, and I was just praying so hard that she'd come. And every time the door opened I would turn to see who it was. And then, 30 min late, the door opened and there she was! With her 3 kids! I was so happy! and she stayed the whole time and seemed to enjoy the classes. And I was talking with her later and she had read the chapter we gave her - 2 Nefi 31 - and was able to tell me all about it in pretty good detail! And she had been praying, and she wanted us to teach her kids too! Her sons are 11 and 13, and her daughter is 4. It honestly made my week to have her there and for her to be so interested. And then of course I have cambios :P but I'll see her on Sundays if she comes, so that's great!

And the other big news this week is that we contacted 88 people! Hna Bravo hates contacting, so I've been pushing this whole time to do it more, and we did, and had a miracle - an investigator in church. It really strengthened my testimony this week of the results that come when we work as hard as we can. I'm looking forward to working hard in this area - Hna Mercedes has 6 weeks more than me, and from what I can tell likes to work hard. And I don't know any of our investigators yet, but apparently we have several who are progressing and a few with fecha! (date - for baptism). Yay!

And that was super sweet what Sis Stutznegger said - I'm super excited to meet them! But I'll be sad to see Pres and Sis Morales leave - they helped me tons in the hospital, and I'll be sad to see them go. But changes are part of the mission! 3 areas and 6 comps in less than 6months have definitely taught me that!

I loved the pics of you all - last week I printed off several pictures because there was a place in our area that did that, so I've had fun showing everyone my beautiful family. I love you all tons! Next week I'll have a bunch of my new house and new comp.

The mission has been crazy so far. I haven't had a lot of success regarding baptisms, but I feel like I've learned a ton and have helped a lot of people in different ways. I know my testimony has been strengthened and it will only get stronger. I love the things I learn here - through the trials, the miracles, the discouragements and the uplifts. Heavenly Father really loves me. This I know to be true. I feel His love everyday when I'm tired and someone gives me a smile, or when no one gives us the time of day, and then we meet someone who is interested. Or when our investigators come to church! He loves us all, and helps us to learn and progress. It's different for everyone, but that's because He knows us best and knows what will help us most in the end.

I love it here. I love you all. Richelle, I love you tons and wish I could give you a hug and hold your new baby when he/she comes. Good luck! I'm praying for you!
Be good, say your prayers, and.... I don't know. Just be awesome. Love you all!

-Hermana Taylor

Me being adventurous and cooking pancakes in the closet on the ironing board :)

I wanted to send you this because I love the picture! Hna Bair (middle) was one of our teachers in the MTC, and she just sent it to us.

Monday, May 19, 2014

{Week 23} La Perla - May 19, 2014

Hi everyone!

So still no baby, huh Chelle and Logan. I knew it was possible that it had already been born, and I was getting so excited I had almost convinced myself that you had already had it! So when I logged on and found out that still no, I was actually disappointed lol! Pero esta bien. It will come when it's time - and I guess really it doesn't make much of a difference to me right now since I won't get to hold it anyway!

And dad! I forgot to mention it last week, but I loved your little poem! I even printed it off and I read it every now and then. I love you dad! And I love getting to talk to you 'once in a while'

So funny story! I made the biggest Spanish mistake I've made in a lesson so far. I was trying to say that 'God knows us really well' - but I accidentally used the wrong word, and apparently pronounced some stuff wrong, so it came out that 'God doesn't taste so good'... oops! Our investigators laughed for about 5 min, and then after that they almost couldn't look at me for the rest of the lesson or they would just start laughing again. It was pretty funny!

And our branch mission leader, Hno Carlos has this huge white van - kind of like the Broadhead bus. And the only seats are for the driver and the passenger. But he and his family give us and our investigators rides every now and then to church, activities, and so on. It's always a lot of fun, because usually there are about 12 of us in the back - some sit on the tire wells, some sit on a spare tire he keeps back there, and the rest all sit on tiny plastic chairs - the kind they have in the nursery. It's always hilarious when there are a bunch of us. And the other day, Hno Carlos had to slam on the brakes, and this one lady, Hna Yolanda, fell off her little plastic chair. She's 52, and slightly round in her figure, so when she fell, she just rolled from the back of the van right up to the front, and none of us were able to catch her or stop her. She was fine, and we all just laughed the rest of the way to the church. It was one of the funniest things ever, and she was a great sport about it.

And we had an investigator in church! (por fin!) Gerardo is 18, and he said he liked it, but he wasn't too impressed that everyone was in suits and dresses. He stayed for sacrament meeting and the first class, but then left before priesthood. And it was awesome, because sacrament meeting was this Young Men's program - all the young men and some of their leaders gave talks about different aspects of the priesthood - I'm hoping that seeing all those boys around his age bearing their testimonies helps Gerardo. We've been teaching him and his sister for about a month before he came to church, and he's not doing great with his commitments - still smokes and drinks, and rarely reads el Libro de Mormon, but he keeps saying he wants to get baptized, and he's always making appointments with us - we live in the same street, so we're always running into him. I'm hoping church will give him the boost he needs!

And sad story. Remember how I told you that there was someone who randomly came to church last week? Well her name is Cynthia. She's 15, and 5 minutes into our lesson with her, she said that she doesn't like being Catholic, she felt something amazing at church, and could we baptize her please! She was honestly so prepared! And then when we finished and asked if she had any questions, she said 'I still don't understand prayer very well. Could you help me with that please?' And then she said the closing prayer. Usually when our investigators do that, they say very basic prayers, and you can tell they feel awkward, and sometimes that they obviously don't believe anyone is listening. But her prayer was so sincere, you could tell she was actually talking to her Heavenly Father. She thanked Him for what she had learned and felt, and asked for His help so her family would understand. And this is where it gets sad. She lives with her Grandma - we don't know why, and her Grandma is very Catholic - she was mad about Cynthia talking to us. And then two days later when we came for our next appointment, Cynthia told us that her Grandma had forbidden her from listening to us more or coming to our church and if she did, she would be kicked out of the house. So for right now, we can't teach her, and it's so sad because she was amazing! She was so interested. We're praying for her and to know if we should try talking to her Grandma. I really hope she gets the chance to be baptized some day. It's so sad when Satan works against those people who are ready and willing to be baptized.

We have this other investigator, Rosio, and after the second lesson, she told us her husband just lost his job, and she and her family are doing really badly financially, so they can't come to church because she has to work. We had just finished teaching her about keeping the Sabbath day holy, so I pulled out D&C 59, which talks about how if we we keep the sabbath day holy and go to church, we will receive the fullness of the earth. It was a really great lesson, and she agreed to come, but then Sunday came and she didn't show, and didn't answer when we went to her house to get her. It's so sad when the people don't trust in the promises the Lord has made for us. I know that when we are obedient, those promised blessings come! He will help us, we just have to have the faith to take that step and be obedient to his commandments.

BUT! By knocking doors, we found this really great family - Rosio and Gonzalo, and their 3 kids (18,11 and 6). When we first knocked, Rosio told us they were busy, but come back tomorrow. So we did, and they let us in! And we were instantly intimidated. Most of the people we teach live in tiny houses and are super poor, but their house was huge! and beautiful! Granite counter tops, a kitchen bigger than some of the houses here, really nice furnishings. So we were intimidated. But they sat us down and were super nice and instantly helped us feel at ease. They are very friendly, and very interested in knowing about us - tons of questions. Unfortunately, we had barely started when some customers came. Turns out they are in the music business. All of them sing, and have been on and won shows that are like American Idol here in Mexico. So they are super well off, and very busy. We sat there waiting for awhile, but eventually had to leave because of another appointment. We tried to bow out quietly, but Gonzalo stopped everything and came over to make another appointment with us. So we're going back tomorrow! They're super nice, and we hope they turn out to be interested.

And I was sick this week! It all started on Monday night, when Hna Zambrano got sick and had to go to the hospital. Turns out she had Typhoid and Salmonella! Then for the rest of the week, Hna Williams, Hna Bravo and I all felt under the weather - diarrhea, headaches, lack of appetite, and almost threw up several times. But we all feel better now! But for a couple days, all I wanted to do was sleep.

And on Saturday, a couple of our street contacts said some pretty horrible stuff to Hna Bravo - thankfully I didn't understand it, and then later on some drunks in a van threw beer at us - got my skirt pretty good. And then one of our members who is ancient and a little crazy was telling Hna Bravo 'her future' and it was pretty dreary. Obviously we didn't believe it, but it was a bit of a downer for her. So Saturday was difficult. Usually is, because there are the tianguis all day, so no one is home and all our street contacts are from different places. And then at 5ish they take the tianguis down, and the streets are filthy with garbage and rotten fruits, and everyone gets drunk, so there are borrachos everywhere. Saturdays are difficult. And dangerous! A few Saturday's ago someone was trying to kill someone in the tianguis and missed or something and killed a 3 year old on accident. Apparently the Mafia is big here... so yeah...

But yeah! That's my week! The good, the bad and the ugly. But I do love it here. Sometimes I have to tell myself that over and over until I believe it, but it's the truth. Despite the difficulties, it's great! I love the members. And I'm learning a lot about myself, and about the Lord and His love for me and all His children. I'm reading in 3rd Nephi right now - I love Chapter 11, when Christ comes to the people. First he tells them who he is, then he calls 12 apostles, and then he teaches baptism! Baptism is truly so important - I feel like sometimes we forget that, and why we take the sacrament every week, but it really is so essential.

I love you all! I love talking to you, and I hope you all have a lovely week back home in Canada. The other day someone asked me to describe Canada, and if we were influenced by that earthquake in Japan a couple years ago... I was like 'no... Canada is on the other side of the world from Japan, so... no, we didn't have any problems...' it was pretty funny!

But that's all for now! Chelle - good luck! I wish you and Logan the best! I know you two are amazing and will be great parents. I'm hoping there will be some good news for me next week informing me that I am now a tia! And everybody else, you're all awesome too. Be good, say your prayers, and take a bazillion pictures of the baby for me!

Love you all
- Hermana Taylor

Monday, May 12, 2014

{Week 22} La Perla - May 12, 2014

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you so much! This week was a little bit different and some of the things that happened made me miss you lot this week.


But first of all, I want to talk about skype so I don't forget later. I should be calling around 5:30 - 6 my time (4:30 -5 your time) on Sunday. I can't wait to talk to you all!!
We didn't have much success this week - none of our investigators are really progressing, and none of the new ones we found came to church. So that's a little disappointing... but this morning we had a junto with our zone, and they talked a lot about the prayer of faith, and really motivated us all to go out and work super hard. The Spirit was super strong.
My zone has three districts, and only 4 Hermanas. Elder Torres and Elder Hammond are my Zone Leaders, and are great. And Elder Evans is in my zone - it was funny because we chatted for a bit and were talking about all the people from home who are on missions right now, but we almost couldn't remember who they were, and we even forgot a few people's names. Another Elder was like 'wait... did you two know each other before?' It was funny and nice to talk about home.
And yeah! I got letters! Jordy, I finally got your Sadie Hawkins story - thanks for sending it. I could hear your voice as a I read it, and it was so nice to know what's happening in your life. And I got two batches of stories from you mom - thanks! and I got one from Diana - thank you so much! And I got one from our new mission president! That was super fun. But his name wasn't on the envelope, so I was like 'who's this from?' And my district was all like - It's your novio! (boyfriend) But it was so nice to get a letter from Brother Stutznegger. Thank you!
So the other night we had 20 minutes before we had to be home, so we stopped by the Herbal Life club of one of our members to set an appointment with her to visit her friend, who was a potential investigator, and she gave us free Herbal Life milk shakes (like she always does). But then this super fat dog walked past outside. (The club is open to the outdoors with nothing more than a green lacy curtain for a door.) So of course we went outside to admire the fattest dog that has ever lived. But then, his owners showed up ... two super drunk guys. So we retreated into the club, and they followed us! They were doing the usual crazy flirting in a mixture of Spanish and English, but seemed relatively harmless. But they kept getting closer and closer, so Hermana Bravo and I went and hid in the bathroom while the member chased them away. It was more funny than anything.
But there were two rather large things that happened this week that made me miss you mom. 

 I'm not sure I want my sisters or the people of the blogging world to know about this first one mom. Just you and dad. It was bad. But I promise I'm ok and a lot more careful now.

We were walking down the street when a guy drove past on a motorbike... and as he passed me he grabbed my butt!! I yelped in shock and fear and disgust... then noticed that in the process of assaulting me, he dropped his cellphone. I picked it up, with all the intention of hurling it as hard as I could. But then I remembered Jeffery R Holland's talk about the missionary with the mashed potatoes, and I knew there was no way I could throw it. So I put it back down and we left and watched as he came back and got it. I was honestly so upset I cried for a lot of the day. I couldn't get it out of my head. I really wanted a hug from my parents that day. One of the other Hermanas shared a scripture though as part of the spiritual thought after our dinner and I can't remember where it was, but it talked about faith in our trials and trusting in the Lord, and that helped me a lot. Before a lesson that we were going to have with an investigator, I said a prayer in my heart, and it really helped, and we had a great lesson about the restauration. But I still couldn't forget about is until that night, when the second big thing happened. 

Our Branch President is about 35, and his wife, Hilda, 34. They have a son, Ismael (15) and a daughter, Karen (12) and Hermana Hilda was pregnant. She had her baby just fine, they named her Camila, but then she was having an operation, and something went wrong and she died, leaving her husband and three kids behind. So for the next few days, we taught all our members and less actives about the plan of Salvation. Hilda was one of those amazing people who does everything in the church. The type that shows up first when you're sick and visits all the less actives trying to help them come back to church. So she had touched a lot of lives, and a lot of people missed her. Teaching about the Plan that God has for us for about 3 days was amazing. Every lesson was different, as different people brought up different parts and different questions. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation was seriously strengthened. I know God has a plan for us, and sometimes we don't understand why things happen, but if we trust in Him and always strive to follow him, we truly can have peace and joy in our lives.
Friday night was the funeral for Hermana Hilda, so we went (and found some new people to teach while there!). The first speaker, believe it or not, was her 12 year old daughter Karen. I'm fairly certain that every single person there was crying as this little 12 year old girl bore such a powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and her knowledge that she would see her mom again. After she spoke, Ismael spoke, and his testimony was just as powerful. He's a bit of a rebel, and his mom has had a lot of worries because of him, and he told us that the last advice his mom gave him was to be faithful and serve a mission, and that he was going to change his ways and do just that. One of the last things he said was directed at his friends. He said (roughly translated and loosely paraphrased) 'Give your moms a hug, and tell them that you love them, because you never know when things are going to change.' I missed you a lot right then mom.
The next day was Fast Sunday, and once again these two kids bore their testimonies. Ismael was in a white shirt and tie - apparently he hasn't dressed like that for church in awhile. And then, in Relief Society, we talked about Mom's! People were going around the room and describing their moms, and the lessons they had learned from them. And of course, the testimonies and strength of these two young people who are now without their mom was fresh in all of our minds. We were almost all in tears again. And mom, I missed you so much right then that I almost wanted to come home. But at the same time, because I love you so much I knew I never would come home early, because you always taught me to do my best, to be obedient, and to not give up. You taught me to always do what is right. You taught me, through your example, to always magnify my church callings, and right now my calling is to be a missionary. Today on your birthday and the week before Mother's day, I am so grateful to you. I love you so much mom! And I can't wait to give you a huge hug in 13 months. But until then, I am going to do as you always taught me and give my all to this work. Thank you mom. Sisters you better all give mom a hug for me!
I love you so much mom. I love the rest of you too:) You're all amazing and I can't wait to talk to you this Sunday. Thank you for your prayers and your love. The church is true, and I am honestly so glad to be here.
Be good, say your prayers, and give your mom a hug.
I love you!
-Hermana Taylor
I almost forgot, but I wanted to tell you about the pleasure I had of eating mole (mo - le ) for the first time. It was absolutely disgusting! It's like a type of sauce, that can be either really runny or like a paste, and it's made from chocolate and chili powder and who knows what else. It's pretty much the most disgusting thing that exists on this planet. And they eat it here all the time! Apparently it's their traditional Christmas meal! I've heard all the stories from the missionaries who had to suffer through it, and the other day was my first chance to try it. I luckily wasn't served too much, and I almost vomited after the first bite. The trick all the missionaries told me is to eat it with a lot of tortilla, but that really didn't help that much. Luckily, the lady who was feeding us left for a minute, at which point I scooped up all the mole into a napkin and hid it in my lap until we left. It was pretty much horrible. May you never have the torture of being fed mole.
Love you!

Mothers' Day - May 11, 2014

We got to Skype with our missionary on Mothers' Day!!!  We knew the call would be coming some time between 4:30-5:00pm our time.  Around 4:30 she sent an email saying "Hi - are you there?"  She said she was just waiting for her companion to finish up skyping her family and then she would be on.  Her call came through at 4:45.  We didn't hit the Receive button though until everyone was in the room.  And then, wham-oh!  There was our beloved missionary's face on the computer screen!
 
 
We all made a bunch of noise at this point - kind of a combination of "hellos" and "there you are" and "how are you doings" and "oh you look so good" - from nine people all at the same time, interspersed with lots of laughing and giggling through the tears.  Most of the tears came from Jazzy - she was wiping at her eyes for a couple of minutes.
 
It was funny to listen to Hna Taylor laugh at her big sisters pregnant belly.  The baby that will make our missionary an aunt for the first time is due in 12 days.
 
Seven sisters together again for an hour - love technology!
 
We took some pictures but I forgot to take pictures simply of her on the computer screen, so these are some screen shots of some videos we took.  {So don't try to press play!}
 
 
She introduced herself to us as she would to investigators and babbled on for awhile. None of us understood anything, although we got the gist of it - but only because we knew what she was saying!
 
Her lovely companion came on the screen for a few minutes.  Hna Bravo speaks about 70% English so we were able to communicate with her.  It was so cute - she was standing behind Jazzy and playing with her hair while telling us that she loves our daughter and that she's such a hard worker.
 
We also met the lady of the house who was letting the missionaries use her computer to skype  home.  All we could do was wave and say Hi because we don't speak Spanish.  But we sure appreciate her for sharing her computer.  We only lost contact once but it was quickly re-established.  The sound and picture would freeze from time to time, but generally is was pretty good.
 
Jazzy told us lots of details about her daily routine and details that don't make it into the weekly email.  She works out every morning for 30 minutes - she showed us her bulging biceps.  She usually has cereal for breakfast, but once in awhile she cooks pancakes - she's a closet pancake cooker.  It was fun to watch her struggle sometimes to remember the English word for what she was trying to say.  Like when we asked her how you knock on the doors when all homes have locked gates/fences or big garage type doors closing them off - she couldn't remember the word for door bell. 
 
We asked her about the last earthquake on Thursday.  She said that actually they have had 3 recent earthquakes, but they slept through one of them.  She was at the church for the last one - up on the second floor.  She said it was really weird to try to run down the stairs to get out while the stairs were moving.  They had just been handed out mail from the DearElder pouch.  She said the ZL was handing them out to the missionaries, saying, "A page for you, a page for you, and one, two, three, four . . . eight, nine pages for Hna Taylor." She was pretty excited to get so much mail.  So when the earthquake struck, she grabbed her letters and her scriptures before getting out!
 
The room she was in had a corrugated tin roof.  Those houses get really hot.  She said they're so hot when they go to bed that they don't use covers.  But in the middle of the night they wake up freezing and need their blankets.  Dad suggested that we might all like to go see her mission areas some day and she said that she wouldn't want us to.  It wouldn't be safe for her blond sisters.

Missionary Mom and Dad - we loved seeing our happy girl!
 
The first twenty minutes went by nice and slow, but the last half-hour flew by, and then it was time to say our good-bye's until the Christmas skype.  We each took about 30 seconds up close at the screen with her to say our personal farewells.  This was the most emotional time, but as my Grandpa used to say, "You can't have the joyful reunions without the tearful good-byes".
 
 Best Mother's Day gift ever!!!

Monday, May 5, 2014

{Week 21} La Perla - May 5, 2014

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you so much! This week was a little bit different and some of the things that happened made me miss you lot this week.


But first of all, I want to talk about skype so I don't forget later. I should be calling around 5:30 - 6 my time (4:30 -5 your time) on Sunday. I can't wait to talk to you all!!
We didn't have much success this week - none of our investigators are really progressing, and none of the new ones we found came to church. So that's a little disappointing... but this morning we had a junto with our zone, and they talked a lot about the prayer of faith, and really motivated us all to go out and work super hard. The Spirit was super strong.
My zone has three districts, and only 4 Hermanas. Elder Torres and Elder Hammond are my Zone Leaders, and are great. And Elder Evans is in my zone - it was funny because we chatted for a bit and were talking about all the people from home who are on missions right now, but we almost couldn't remember who they were, and we even forgot a few people's names. Another Elder was like 'wait... did you two know each other before?' It was funny and nice to talk about home.
And yeah! I got letters! Jordy, I finally got your Sadie Hawkins story - thanks for sending it. I could hear your voice as a I read it, and it was so nice to know what's happening in your life. And I got two batches of stories from you mom - thanks! and I got one from Diana - thank you so much! And I got one from our new mission president! That was super fun. But his name wasn't on the envelope, so I was like 'who's this from?' And my district was all like - It's your novio! (boyfriend) But it was so nice to get a letter from Brother Stutznegger. Thank you!
So the other night we had 20 minutes before we had to be home, so we stopped by the Herbal Life club of one of our members to set an appointment with her to visit her friend, who was a potential investigator, and she gave us free Herbal Life milk shakes (like she always does). But then this super fat dog walked past outside. (The club is open to the outdoors with nothing more than a green lacy curtain for a door.) So of course we went outside to admire the fattest dog that has ever lived. But then, his owners showed up ... two super drunk guys. So we retreated into the club, and they followed us! They were doing the usual crazy flirting in a mixture of Spanish and English, but seemed relatively harmless. But they kept getting closer and closer, so Hermana Bravo and I went and hid in the bathroom while the member chased them away. It was more funny than anything.
But there were two rather large things that happened this week that made me miss you mom. 

 I'm not sure I want my sisters or the people of the blogging world to know about this first one mom. Just you and dad. It was bad. But I promise I'm ok and a lot more careful now.

We were walking down the street when a guy drove past on a motorbike... and as he passed me he grabbed my butt!! I yelped in shock and fear and disgust... then noticed that in the process of assaulting me, he dropped his cellphone. I picked it up, with all the intention of hurling it as hard as I could. But then I remembered Jeffery R Holland's talk about the missionary with the mashed potatoes, and I knew there was no way I could throw it. So I put it back down and we left and watched as he came back and got it. I was honestly so upset I cried for a lot of the day. I couldn't get it out of my head. I really wanted a hug from my parents that day. One of the other Hermanas shared a scripture though as part of the spiritual thought after our dinner and I can't remember where it was, but it talked about faith in our trials and trusting in the Lord, and that helped me a lot. Before a lesson that we were going to have with an investigator, I said a prayer in my heart, and it really helped, and we had a great lesson about the restauration. But I still couldn't forget about is until that night, when the second big thing happened. 

Our Branch President is about 35, and his wife, Hilda, 34. They have a son, Ismael (15) and a daughter, Karen (12) and Hermana Hilda was pregnant. She had her baby just fine, they named her Camila, but then she was having an operation, and something went wrong and she died, leaving her husband and three kids behind. So for the next few days, we taught all our members and less actives about the plan of Salvation. Hilda was one of those amazing people who does everything in the church. The type that shows up first when you're sick and visits all the less actives trying to help them come back to church. So she had touched a lot of lives, and a lot of people missed her. Teaching about the Plan that God has for us for about 3 days was amazing. Every lesson was different, as different people brought up different parts and different questions. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation was seriously strengthened. I know God has a plan for us, and sometimes we don't understand why things happen, but if we trust in Him and always strive to follow him, we truly can have peace and joy in our lives.
Friday night was the funeral for Hermana Hilda, so we went (and found some new people to teach while there!). The first speaker, believe it or not, was her 12 year old daughter Karen. I'm fairly certain that every single person there was crying as this little 12 year old girl bore such a powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and her knowledge that she would see her mom again. After she spoke, Ismael spoke, and his testimony was just as powerful. He's a bit of a rebel, and his mom has had a lot of worries because of him, and he told us that the last advice his mom gave him was to be faithful and serve a mission, and that he was going to change his ways and do just that. One of the last things he said was directed at his friends. He said (roughly translated and loosely paraphrased) 'Give your moms a hug, and tell them that you love them, because you never know when things are going to change.' I missed you a lot right then mom.
The next day was Fast Sunday, and once again these two kids bore their testimonies. Ismael was in a white shirt and tie - apparently he hasn't dressed like that for church in awhile. And then, in Relief Society, we talked about Mom's! People were going around the room and describing their moms, and the lessons they had learned from them. And of course, the testimonies and strength of these two young people who are now without their mom was fresh in all of our minds. We were almost all in tears again. And mom, I missed you so much right then that I almost wanted to come home. But at the same time, because I love you so much I knew I never would come home early, because you always taught me to do my best, to be obedient, and to not give up. You taught me to always do what is right. You taught me, through your example, to always magnify my church callings, and right now my calling is to be a missionary. Today on your birthday and the week before Mother's day, I am so grateful to you. I love you so much mom! And I can't wait to give you a huge hug in 13 months. But until then, I am going to do as you always taught me and give my all to this work. Thank you mom. Sisters you better all give mom a hug for me!
I love you so much mom. I love the rest of you too:) You're all amazing and I can't wait to talk to you this Sunday. Thank you for your prayers and your love. The church is true, and I am honestly so glad to be here.
Be good, say your prayers, and give your mom a hug.
I love you!
-Hermana Taylor
I almost forgot, but I wanted to tell you about the pleasure I had of eating mole (mo - le ) for the first time. It was absolutely disgusting! It's like a type of sauce, that can be either really runny or like a paste, and it's made from chocolate and chili powder and who knows what else. It's pretty much the most disgusting thing that exists on this planet. And they eat it here all the time! Apparently it's their traditional Christmas meal! I've heard all the stories from the missionaries who had to suffer through it, and the other day was my first chance to try it. I luckily wasn't served too much, and I almost vomited after the first bite. The trick all the missionaries told me is to eat it with a lot of tortilla, but that really didn't help that much. Luckily, the lady who was feeding us left for a minute, at which point I scooped up all the mole into a napkin and hid it in my lap until we left. It was pretty much horrible. May you never have the torture of being fed mole.
Love you!