{Week 48} Polanco - November 10, 2014

My finger is fine mom. I don't even have to use a bandaid anymore lol.

Felicidades girls with your sporty life! you're all superstars!

And quick! I want to know where Janae is going on her mission!

Jordy, I loved your letter. It was beautiful and made me cry. You're gonna be a great Sister training leader (Note: Jordyn has this assignment for an upcoming youth conference in our stake.) - I love teaching Lesson 3. I never really understood before why it was so important, but I honestly love it. I recommend reading 2 Nefi 31, and studying PMG - that all explains it really well. The Doctrine of Christ is honestly so important. It's where the people change - when they learn that they need faith and need to build their faith, that's when they start to read and pray and come to church. And when they understand the importance of repentance, that's when they stop smoking and drinking and start keeping the commandments. That's how you can tell if the person really wants it, by the changes that they make in their life. And then baptism... well that's super important because that's when they enter the fold of God and make that covenant that is so essential for our salvation. And then we talk about how they need the Holy Ghost to help them stay true and stay on the path. And that's where we talk about endure to the end, and how the spirit will help them make it, and all they need to do is keep building their faith, keep repenting, and keep taking the sacrament to renew their baptismal covenants. And they just have to keep doing it to the end of their lives! I love how perfect the plan is that our Heavenly Father has for us!

And on Wednesday, we had a meeting for just the sisters in the mission with Hna Stutznegger. It was really great - there's only 20 of us, and we got to talk about the things that we wanted. It was great and I think it helped us become more united. And at the end we had a short testimony meeting that ended with Hna Shingleton singing her testimony with Hna Luque playing the piano. She sang ''I Know That My Redeemer Lives.'' She has a great voice, and the spirit was really strong - we were all in tears lol.

All the Hermana's in the mission and the Stutzneggers.

Pres. Stutznegger and I

All of my companions from the mission that are still here. Only missing Gutierrez and Aguilar!

 And Edgar got baptized! It was so perfect - he was super nervous and felt really awkward in the white overalls. But he was super happy afterwards. I love seeing baptisms and seeing all the changes that they people make in their lives. Hna Luque and I sang ''Mas Cerca Dios de Ti'' - Nearer My God To Thee. It was really spiritual and there were a lot of wet eyes. Then while they were changing, everybody sang ''In Our Lovely Deseret''. That's been kind of our theme song with Edgar - he really likes it for some reason, and the second verse where it talks about avoiding tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcohol was perfect for him lol. He came out just as we were singing the last chorus and everyone was grinning and we were just really happy. And Adolfo gave the talk of Baptism, and told about how he had always seen us in the street, and then one day we suddenly walked up to him and talked to him. He told about how he came to know it was true, and how happy he was that his friend Edgar was getting baptized. It was a great baptism, and the spirit was strong!

Edgar and us

Edgar, us and Elder Gerken

Edgar and Adolfo

And then on Sunday, an 8 year-old girl in my area got baptized so we went and watched. It was so sweet to see her dad baptize and confirm her. It made both Hna Luque and I think about when our dads baptized us. It actually made me cry it was so beautiful. Thanks so much for baptizing me Dad. Thanks for being a worthy priesthood holder. I love you so much Dad! In that moment I honestly missed you a ton and wanted nothing more than to give you a big hug. Love you dad!

And now to tell you all about the biggest adventure of my mission thus far. Saturday morning, at about 3:30 am, Hna Luque woke me up and told me that there were people in our apartment building robbing or kidnapping or something. We both got on our knees and instantly said a prayer. Then we just kind of sat there and listened. From what we could tell, about 2 or 3 men had entered in the apartment building and were robbing the family that lives on the top floor. We live on the main floor right in front of the front door, so as they were carrying stuff out, they all walked right by our apartment door and windows (we were so glad we had just put up curtains in the kitchen!). The Lady that lives upstairs was in front of our apartment in the stairwell crying, and we think that someone was there guarding her with a gun. She was screaming a ton, but then they told her to shut up or they'd hurt her daughters. So then she just sat there crying quietly, saying things like ''I'm so scared, please don't hurt my daughters.'' Hna Luque and I stayed on the floor in the dark the whole time doing our best to avoid the windows and not make any noise. The men took the daughters upstairs with them, and a bunch of teenagers were going past our windows carrying stuff out. So then we realized that we didn't know the phone number for the police! So we sent a text to our District leader Elder Gerken - Hna Luque sent it, and just said that there were robbers and we needed the number for the police. She forgot to mention that they were robbing our neighbour, not us, so poor Elder Gerken kind of freaked out and instantly called us - thankfully we had already put the phone on silent. We communicated through whispers that it wasn't us, it was our neighbours, but that they were right outside our door. So he went and got the Zone Leader Elder Enriquez, who just happened to be on divisions with one of the assistants! So all 3 of them were trying to call us at the same time. Finally we got the number for the police, called it, and... it didn't work! Our phone told us in that horrible robotic lady voice that ''this number doesn't work.'' So that was unfortunate. By this time it was about 4:30. The elders were sending us text messages saying all sorts of crazy stuff - ''we're coming to get you - where do you live?'' or ''we're going to leave to find a patrol car, then we'll come'' but then the robbers left. There was a bit more shouting before they left, then we could hear the mom upstairs with her daughters all crying, and the people left, a car started, and they drove away. Then the Elders decided we couldn't stay there anymore, so we had to call the Bishop and he came and got us. We got to his house around 5:15, and then slept in his kids beds for about an hour. Then all day Saturday, in the middle of preaching and all that, we had to find a new house (because we obviously can't live there anymore) and every spare moment we had we had to run back to the house to pack. We finally found a house around 5, had the baptism at 6, and then at 7 the four elders in our ward came and helped us move in. Our new house is a bit smaller but really nice - I love it! And we are now neighbours with a ton of members, and live in a apartment above a really sweet old lady (we have sneaky plans to teach her and baptize her lol). It was a crazy day, but we were honestly never really scared. After we prayed, it was like we were very calm. I felt positive that the Lord would take care of us and that whatever happened it would be all right. It was like we were on alert - being super sneaky and not making any noise so they wouldn't come after us. But everything's good, and the lady and her kids are fine. And now we have a beautiful little apartment - but I haven't had time to take pictures yet, so next week. So yeah! that was fun... :)

And now it's cambios. I don't have changes! I'm super happy I'll get another couple weeks with Hna Luque, and since we just barely changed houses I really didn't want to pack again. Elder Gerken and his companion Elder Martinez are leaving, so we'll be getting a new DL, and the other Elder Martinez also has changes, so we'll get 3 new missionaries in our ward. And one of our zl's is going home, and the other has changes, so we'll get new zone leaders too! Should be interesting!

My zone before changes - la zona Nezahuacoyotl

 But yeah! It's been a good week... the Lord is taking care of us and protects us. I know that this is His work and we are doing what he wants us to do. Tomorrow I'll have 11 months (11 months on the 11th day of the 11th month... it's like my golden birthday or something lol). My comp and I have decided that it's like dog years - every month equals 5 years. So I'm going on 55, and she's going on 65 lol.

Moto taxi

Us in the moto taxi.

I love it here. Crazy adventures and all. I love hearing about you all. You're all amazing.

Be good, say your prayers, and love everybody. Everything is better when we love everyone.

love you all!

-Hna Taylor