The Unexplained Silence

Dear Everyone, 

We needed to write and explain the silence that you've been experiencing. The reason that you haven't been receiving updates from New York and Connecticut is that Ariana is not there anymore. She has returned home. 

She was experiencing some mental health struggles in Harlem. So Ariana and President Smith tried Connecticut to see if things would get better. They got a little better, but it still wasn't working. After much prayer and fasting, it was decided that the best thing for Ariana would be to come home. 

So on May 25th, Ariana flew into the Salt Lake City Airport. The next day, she was honorably released by President Beeson, our Stake President. We've all started the healing process. 

Ariana has started working through her mental health challenges with good people. After a couple weeks of "vacation", she'll start working in the Production department at Wavetronix, where Peter works, this week. And if things happen right, you might even run into her at the Provo Temple, where she's volunteered to work. 

What the future holds, only our Heavenly Father knows.  The possibility is open for Ariana to return to New York. For now, we're just taking things one day at a time. 

What we really need from you is your love and support. This is a hard thing, for all of us. Ariana could use your hugs, love and understanding. She could also use some people to practice her Spanish with and if you get her in the right moment, she'll tell you cool stories about her mission, some funny, some strange, and some miraculous. And if you have any experience parenting adult children, Wendy and I could use some ideas. 

Love, 

Peter & Wendy

 At the airport. Myla made the poster. it says, on the other side, "Welcome Home, Hermana Taylor, OXOX We missed ya!"

Ariana & President Beeson (After she was released. He would only shake her hand until then.)

Part Two

Hey everyone! 

This past week was super fun. We had transferred and so now it's just me and Sister Christoffersen!! We had a really bad storm out here yesterday so we have been spending a lot of today trying to get power back on here in New Canaan. Long story short, sorry but this is gonna be a short one!

I hope you all had a wonderful mothers day. It was super great to talk to my sweet family and my wonderful grandparents! I feel like Alma 56 says it best:

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

I am so grateful for all of the wonderful women in my life who have shown me through their faithful examples how I can follow Jesus Christ. 

New Canaan is the best. I have met so many wonderful people already! My p days are changing to Monday's so this is my last Wednesday p day!

More to come next Monday!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

 - Beautiful New Canaan 

- The 3 Nephites ;) 

Ciao Spanish Harlem 🏃‍♀️

Hey everyone! 

This past week was probably one of the most crazy weeks of my life. The biggest new is that I am now in a new area! Monday I got transferred to the New Canaan, Conneticut Area. I am now in a trio with Sister Christoffersen and Sister Neria speaking English!  

Hermana Leon and I saw so many miracles this past week. Last Friday we had interviews with President Smith so we had our phone on silent for most of the day. When we made it back to the apartment I finally pulled out the phone and we saw that we had a missed phone call and a voicemail from the mom of the 8 year old twins that we had been teaching. (Sidenote: investigators never call us!!) We thought it was kinda weird so we listened to the message that she sent us first. All that it said was"Hi Hermanas. So we talked as a family and we made the decision to be baptized. Have a nice day!". Hermana Leon and I were DED. We kinda just went insane for 30 seconds and jumped around our apartment screaming we were so excited!!! Then we calmed down and called the mom back. When we asked her how she had come to the conclusion that they wanted to be baptized she told us how she went onto mormon.org and just read and read and read. Um. WHAT?! Sunday we were super pumped and 100% believed that they would be at church. We waited, and waited, and waited some more but they never showed up. (One of our other investigators did come though!) We visited them that night and asked them where they had been...? Then the mom told us that the dad had been super excited to go to church but that they had gone to the "family church". Aka Catholic Mass. SO. We retaught the Restoration and Priesthood Authority. I have full faith that one day that family will truly figure it out and be baptized though!

The past few days in New Canaan has been really different. In the city you are always on a bus or a subway or a train. Out here we have a car and we live with a family from the ward in their mansion. Best part? I got the mission violin and the family has a grand piano. Sister Neria plays piano and so we have super fun jam sessions! The work is a lot slower out here. In Harlem we had like 40 uncontacted referrals and a ton of progressing investigators. Here, we have about 3 progressing investigators and no referrals. BUT. The members here are so amazing. We work a lot with part member families. Oh. And last fun fact, Harlem was like a mini Dominican Republic. New Canaan is a mini Europe. For example, last night we got yelled at in Georgian! 

My favorite part of the week was Saturday. This super cute familiy with 3 little girls from the Harlem ward got sealed together. It was a super special moment for Hermana leon and I to be there in the temple with them and see this beautiful family be sealed for time and all eternity. I couldn't help but feel like I was watching my own sealing to my parents and beautiful little sister. The father was crying, the mom was trying to get the 3 year old to calm down and the two other little girls just looked so happy. I am so grateful that I have an eternal family. I know that because we have been sealed for time and all eternity that death isn't the end. 

I love you all. Have a wonderful week. To all of the mothers, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

 - Hermana and I got on the Subway the other day and it was empty besides us?

- Sister Neria, Sister Christensen, Sister Petris (a member), and I

Hermana Taylor VS The Headless Horseman

Hey everyone!

Sorry about last week! I had the oppertuity to go to the Manhattan Temple! It was super amazing and I would defiantly recommend that you all go to the temple soon. It's one of those things that is super easy to take for granted, but if you have the chance, go! :)

This past week was super hectic but also full of lots of miracles! 

Monday there was a big leadership meeting at the mission home in Scarsdale. Because my companion is a STL, we had to go into Scarsdale. We ended up staying the night at the mission home Sunday night. Sunday evening, I went on a split up in Sleepy Hollow, NY with Sister Sutton!! (fun fact: Sleepy Hollow is the town that the headless horseman story is based in. It's actually super pretty and not at all sketchy like the hood here in Harlem) I think that I may be a little too used to the city because the second that we got to our first visit, I was completly supprised to find out that the investigator lived in a house with no other families.... haha. After we finished the quick lesson with the investigator Sister Sutton turned to me and straight up sang "it's tracting timeeee" then proceeded to practically jog down the street to this little apartment building. When I finally caught up to her she looked at me and then basically pulled an "elf" and pressed all of the door bells for the apartment. Someone buzzed us in and then we started knocking on doors. We decided to go upstairs and see if anyone would open the door. Sister Sutton knocked on a door and these two teenage girls opened the door. Sister Sutton introuduced us and then she paused and asked if they had lost someone in their family recently. I was kind of confused and like "ummm why did you just ask that instead of asking their names.....". The girls looked us and then said that they had actually just lost their grandma. We were able to bear testimony on the Plan of Happiness and now the Sisters of Sleepy Hollow have two new investigators. Sister Sutton taught me a lot that night about listening to the holy ghost. Sometimes the promptings that we get seem strange and we second guess them, but when we follow through and act on those promptings... that's when miracles happen. 

Something fun that happened this past week was that I got the mission violin! The first night that we had it, Hermana Leon asked me if I would teach her something. Soooo either I'm a pro teacher or she's a pro student because in the past two nights she has learned how to play a scale, I'm a Little Flower, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. #getonourlevel 

I love you all. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I have felt it so much this past week. Please know that you are all in my prayers as well. Have a great week and enjoy the spring weather!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

- One of the cutest 6 year olds I have ever met! 

- My most talented student, Hermana Leon

- While our companions were in MLC, we all went to a restraunt and celebrated our non STLness. And yep, I GOT TO SEE HERMANA SEARS FRO MY CCM DISTRICT.

Basically I'm the worst but #Mishlyfehappes

Editor's Note: Ariana and her companion, Sister Leon, got permission today to go to the New York City Temple today. So rather than a full p-day to do everything they usually do, they had 1/2 day to do it. As a result this is all we got today:

Basically since I have no time this week, for my weekly email will you just kind of explain that I'm doing okay but that I just didn't really have time to email and that I will make sure to get a big group one out next week? 

Thanks. I love you guys!!

Ariana did answer some questions, so we'll use that as her letter this week. I'll put her answers in BOLD so you know which words are hers.

1. Tell me a funny story.

A random guy came up to us on the bus last week, called Sister Leon royalty, and then kissed my hand. 

2. What's the weirdest thing you've eaten this week? So far in your mission? 

We don't really eat weird things.... but maybe the fried bananas? But they are really good.

3. How many cat calls did you get this week? 

Not as many but less because the weather has been colder 

4. What shoes are you wearing now? Still boots? 

Yeah boots every day all day [Evidenced by what she is wearing in the picture below]

5. How's the Spanish coming? 

Poco a Poco [That's little by little for you non Spanish speakers.]

6. Is your apartment clean? 

YES hahahaha because I live there 

7. Have you run out of anything? 

No, luckily. Well besides hot water but its not like you guys control that. 

How often to do you run out of hot water?  

Every day. We just usually don't have it. Basically since I have been on my mission I have gotten used to showers without hot water. 

Well, you've got what we got. I'm sure we'll get a good letter next week, but the Temple was more important today. Shouldn't it always be? 

Ariana's Ghost Writer. 

This is from the APF  we did on a Saturday with members from the ward. 

What does APF stand for? 

No one knows. APF is just when we do street contacting with a theme 

My Trainer is either Brooke Shields or Mary Poppins ☔⛈

Hey everybody!

So pretty sure that Spring is actually bipolar because the weather here in New York City has been a mess. 

I thought I knew what Harlem was like and then Friday and Saturday happened. I literally felt like we were living in a sauna. Plus what I didn't realize is that people usually stay indoors when it's cold but the second that it's warm, all of the Harlem Crazies come out. Just out of currousity I counted how many times my companion and I were cat called at on Saturday morning... yep. About 17 times. Yay!! That afternoon we did a APF (basically where our district gets together, we pick a place out on the street and we hand out Book of Mormons). Usually they are super fun. This one was a little different. My companion and I were standing in the shade, trying (unsuccessfully) to not get sunburnt and this random guy came up to us, pointed at my companion and said he used to cast famous people in movies and that she looks like Brooke Shields. Shout out to the Elders who had our backs and heard what was going on, got the guys contact info (because refferals are life), and successfully got the man to leave my poor companion alone. Good times.

Sunday and Monday Mother Nature thought it would be funny if she soaked 2 sister missionaries in their big snow coats. Turns out that snow coats are not the greatest rain coats. Sunday night we had some good ole tracting scheduled in. Before we left the apartment, we looked outside and it just looked really windy and cold so we put on our winter coats. Um. Mistake-ish. The second we stepped outside we realized that it was actually pouring rain on top of the wind and cold. By the time we made it to the first potentioals door, we were both so so soaked. The lady that answered the door took one look at us and then asked us if it was raining. We were all "well yeah... it's raining hahah" and then she was like "where is your umbrella?!?" Basically long story short she gave us this chinese looking umbrella and told us we are more than welcome to come back (yay for new investigators!). The second that we went back into the pouring rain... miserable. Leon put the umbrella up because it physically hurt to have each rain drop hit our face and the second that she did that.... SHE TURNED INTO MARY POPPINS. Legit the wind blew and she got blown back so far it was literally like watching the movie.

We also had zone conference this past week. It was SO cool. Sister Bingham, Sister Franco, and Sister Cordon (they are all General leaders in the church) stopped by on their way to a meeting at the U.N. to talk to my Zone. One thing that I really loved that sister Bingham said was "Don't give up a minute of your mission or maybe even better, don't give up a minute of your life." Sometimes life is hard and we have to go through things that seem almost unfair. Sometimes we find ourselves wondering why bad things have to happen to good people. Heavenly Father has got this. So don't give up a minute of your life. Go and be happy! Go dance in that rainstorm (or snowstorm bc spring), climb that mountain, and finish that one thing on your to-do list that has been sitting there for ages. 

I love you all. To those of you who are taking finals in the next few weeks: Bueno Suerte!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

- We took wayyyy too many flights of stairs the other day. When we finally found a building that had a elevator in it we were so happy that we had to take a selfie 

- Pretty sure this courtyard of this building straight up belongs in Les Miserables

- Sometimes you're downtown and you see the Empire State building and sometimes there are random houses made out of green stones... 

Some People's Children

Hey eveyone!

I hope that things are going okay for you all. This past week was one of the coolest weeks of my life. (which I know that I say that pretty much every week but every week just gets cooler and cooler so sorry, not sorry) 

Oh my-lanta one of our investigators who is 8 years old got so excited when we taught her about the celestial kingdom and how we can live with our families for eternity. So the Dominican People have a tendency to give us orange juice every time we have a lesson with them. So here we are, teaching 8 and 9 year old about the celestial kingdom when the grandmother brings us some OJ and the little girl jumps up, grabs the OJ

from her grandma, hands each of us a glass and then proceeds to toast Jesus Christ.... ahahaha!!! Then one of the other little kids asked us if we could bring him a picture of Jesus Christ so he could hang it up in his room. Of couse my comp and I brought him one the next lesson and then he goes "YESSSS. Now I can go and pray to my Jesus Picture every night." Clearly the next lesson with them will be the commandments ahaha. 

Even though we may not pray to pictues of Jesus or toast him with our glasses of orange juice, we can still be grateful for him and His atonement. If you are going through something hard right now, follow President Nelson's advice in his talk about Personal Revelation. Heavenly Father wants to help you if you will let him.

I love you all! Have a super wonderful week. 

Con Amor

Hermana Taylor

- Some of the cutest investigators ever to have lived

- Madison Square Gardens. Just happened to pass it as we were on our way to an appointment.

- The 9/11 memorial was so cool! 

And Then There Were 2

Hey everyone!

I made it to my second transfer in the field! So something super insane happened. Basially long story short, my area doubled in size and now my companion and I are over the entire Manhattan Island! We have a lot of work to do but we are so excited to see what we can get done here. 

I hope that you all had a great Easter and that you had the chance to watch General Conference. President Nelson is really such a good person and he will be an amazing prophet. He already is! Plus his humor. Did anyone else just die when he straight up laughed at the fact that Layton is getting a temple? #forceface Something super cool that happened at conference was that we had not one, not two, but SIX investigators come and watch it with us! I love being a missionary and getting to be with these people. 

A super cool miracle that happend this past week was that my investigator that is paralized on the left side of her body 1. made it to the church to watch general conference 2. she accepted the invitation to be baptized on May 13th and 3. about 5 minutes after she accepted the invitation to be baptized her paralized left foot started to move around a little!!! We all freaked out! Miracles are so real. 

I love you all. Have a great week and know that I am praying for you!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

- Post General Conference Lyfeee

- The World Trade Center (visited the 9-11 memorial last P-Day)

- Hermana Leon's Birthday!

Happy Easter 🐰

Hey everyone!

This past week was really awesome! One of our investigators that is paralyzed received one of the coolest priesthood blessings I have ever heard in my life, we doubled our goal for investigators at church as a district, and we got the chance to do so much service. 

So I have these two investigators. Lets call them Inv 1 and Inv 2. Both of these people have some very difficult things they are going through in their lives. This past week, Inv 1 needed help moving to an apartment. She is facing lots of medical difficulties and she was living on the 5th floor of apartment building that had no elevator. The entire time we were helping her move, she was in so much pain. You could just tell. But the entire time she had her music blasting and she tried to have a happy and positive attitude despite her difficulties. Inv 2 is also facing a lot of medical difficulties. However, unlike Inv 1, Inv 2 just sits inside all day with the blinds pulled. She tries to stay happy but she, more often than not, finds it hard to be happy. These two people really got me thinking this past week. Number 1. attitude is a choice. We all know that. But it really is. We choose if we are going to be stressed or not. We choose if we are going to be happy or not. That choice is up to us. Number 2. No one on this planet is qualified to tell us that we can get through something hard. The only person qualified to tell us that we can do this is Jesus Christ because has suffered for each and every one of us individually. He gets it when no one else does. 

The other night on the bus ride home, my comp and I tried to be nice and let this older lady sit down but she was super insistent, pointed at me and said "no, I need YOU to sit by me." So I sat down and this lady looks at me and says "I know exactly who you are. You are a Mormon missionary. I need a prayer. Will you pray for me?!" So after getting over my initial shock, I agreed and prayed with her. Turns out she was baptized in 1997 but she moved and lost contact with the church. She had been praying to be able to meet up with missionaries for the last 5 years. It reminded of of a Elder Holland talk where he talks about trials. He says something along the lines of "some blessings come fast, some come late, and some don't come until this next life. But for the faithful saints of the church, they will come." This lady had to wait 5 years until she was able to have her prayers answered but they were answered. 

One last quck thought and then I have to go. So with this being the last week of the Savior's life, I have been getting trying to learn as much as I possibly can about the Savior. I am blessed with a angel mother who sent me a Easter package with these envelopes about each day of Christ's life. The more that I learn about His life, the more the question "what do I want written on my gravestone" comes to mind. When people die you don't see "Here lies the richest person in the world" or "Here lies the prettiest person in the world". Nope they say something along the lines of "Here lies our beloved mother and wife" Or "Beloved friend and brother". As we focus more on the things that actually matter in our lives, I promise that we will find that peace and happiness that we all want. 

I wish that I had more time to tell you all some funny stories but that will probably have to wait until next week. I am sorry! I love you all! Have a happy easter, go watch General Conference, and have a great week!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

P.S.

Go watch the mormon message "Because of Him". It's super cool!

- Hermana Taylor and her district at a APF for Easter. [Ed. Note: I don't know what APF stands for either.]

- Hermana Taylor and Hermana Leon in front of the Lincoln Center 

Yo Spring, Where ya at Homie??

Hey Everyone!

I hope that you all are enjoying March Madness and that you had the best St. Patrick's day! 

Hermana Leon and I had a very interesting week. So you know how you always imagine missionaries having these amazing spiritual experiences every day where they just teach a millioin people and everyone they meet is begging the missionaries to teach them? Well sometimes that does happen. And then there are weeks like this past week. 

On St. Patrick's day Hermana Leon and I were super excited. We had all of these plans to meet with a whole bunch of our investigators, some referrals, and then celebrate the holiday with mint chocolate chip shakes from our favorite shake place! Because this is NYC and people get out of control here when it's the holidays, the buses and subways were all running really behind. The day started out rough. Then everyone that we tried to visit was either not home or didn't have the time to meet with us or straight up just ignored us. After a really long and frustrating day we were really looking forward to those shakes. When we got to our shake place they told us that their shake machine was broken. I was so frustrated but we didn't have time to go anywhere else to find a shake, so we just got on a bus and headed home. The bus stop after we got on the bus, this super dunk guy (probs in his 70s) gets on the bus and plops himself right down next to us. So here I am, practically in tears and then this super drunk guy starts to talk to us. He was all "Are either of you single because you are both drop dead gorgeous and I would love to marry either of you beautiful white ladies." It was super funny! Then we told him that we were missionaries and he then he started singing a song, Coldplay's song that says "missionaries in a foreign field" [Ed Note: Viva La Vida] at the top of his lungs in between chugs of his beer that was "hidden" in his jacket and wowza. Literally have never choked down so much laughter in my life. Basically long story short, Heavenly Father was really watching out for two sister missionaries in Harlem, NY on St. Patrick's day. A lot of times we want Heavenly Father to take away our problems or just give us partially what we wanted, but that's not the point. We are here to learn how to develop our faith in Him. He hears and will answer our prayers but he needs us to learn too. In order for us to learn, sometimes he can't give us what we want. Saturday, He needed me to learn how to laugh. This week I really encourage all of you to take a look at all of the hard things that you are going through and ask yourself, "what does Heavenly Father need me to learn from this." Whether your name is Ana and you are a grandma but you are paralyzed on one whole side of your body or your name is Victoria and you are just trying to get through elementary school, or your name is Hermana Taylor and you just wanna tell people about Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father already knows your problems. Just pray and learn from your trials. :)

I love you all! Have a great week, go Duke, and lemme know if you know of any more gigantic snow storms headed my way;)

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

- Monday we got a frozen hot chocolate to make up for Saturday. 

- St. Patrick's Day at Morningside Park.

- Hermana Leon and Hermana Taylor.

El Muerte of My Red Rainboots

Hey everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great spring break! Even though we didn't get a spring break, spring pretty much is breaking New York. Wahoo! Ookay yikes sorry but it's true. I thought it was bad when the first big storm broke my umbrella but little did I know that two more big storms were headed my way. In fact, the last storm I literally wrecked my red rain boots. So that was kinda sad. But we got to meet a lot of cool people because of the storm!

One set of elders in my district had a baptism this past Sunday. It was so nice to not only be able to attend this little girls baptism but we had 2 of our investigators there. Living in Utah my entire life has really sheltered me. We basically have baptisms down to a science. The primary president always attends along with other members from the ward, someone who knows how to play piano, well, plays the piano, and there are two super solid talks about baptism and then confirmation. Well. That's not how it works here in New York City.

When we first showed up to the church there were no chairs to be found anywhere near the room where the baptismal font is. So we had to take all 36 of the comfy Relief Society chairs on the 4th floor down to the 2nd floor where the chapel is in the tiniest elevator know to man. (our chapel here in Harlem has 5 floors). Then, about 2 minutes before the baptism was about to start the Elders came up to my companion and I and asked us if 1. if either of us could play the piano and 2. if one of us could give a talk about the Holy Ghost. So long story short, I ended up trying to play piano and then my companion gave a talk. Overall, it turned out okay. Well besides one of the time when one of the member's phone went off and he felt the need to answer and take the call during the middle of the talk. And the other two members did some serious napping with the snoring to prove it hahaha. It really built my testimony though. Even when you feel like everything is going wrong, as long as the Spirit is there it doesn't really matter how terribly you play the piano or how last minute your talk is. Two of our investigators came up to us right after the service and asked US if they could be baptized. 

I hope you all of a super great week! Stay safe and enjoy St. Patrick's day on Saturday! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

- 4 Hermanas, 36 RS chairs, and the smallest elevator ever

- Sister Davis and Hermana Taylor. She went to Inwood (the area right above Harlem) for a 24 hour zebra (when a English missionary and a Spanish missionary are paired together) split on Tuesday. 

[Editor's note: Don't worry. New boots are on their way. Thanks to Amazon.]

That One Time NYC Turned Into a Umbrella Cemetery

Hey everyone!

Okay not gonna lie, this past week was insane. From witnessing one of the coolest priesthood blessings I have ever had the chance to be present for, to surviving two gigantic storms, zone conference, literally handing out so many Book of Mormons that we ran out of them, painting a members entire apartment, eating a black and white cookie, and contacting 9 people on the bus at the same time, you could say that I have been just a little busy. But wow, I love being a missionary here in New York City!

So this past week, one of our investigators, Ana J, had a stroke and was in the hospital all week. Ana really wants her kids to have a strong knowledge and belief in God but she doesn't think that the message that we share is for her. Here's where it gets cool. So this family didn't show up to church on Sunday (which was totally not like them) so we called the mom, Ana, to see what had happened. Her husband picks up the phone and tells us that everyone is fine besides the fact that Ana had a stroke that morning and was rushed in a ambulance to the hospital. Um what?!! (Btw she is young and in her early 40s so we were really surprised) Since the Mom's cell phone number was the only way of contacting her, we had to wait a few days until Ana was well enough to text. We asked her how she was doing and asked her if she would like a Priesthood Blessing. Miracle numero uno: She actually agreed and was all for it! Milagro numero dos: After calling pretty much every priesthood holder in the ward, we were able to get members over to the hospital with us to give her a priesthood blessing. Milagro numero tres: Apparently she had been out of it that entire day but when we showed up to the hospital, she was awake and alert enough for Sister Leon and I to explain what a priesthood blessing is, bear our testimonies on them, and then to receive the priesthood blessing. Almost as soon as the last words were said, she was out of it again. Milagro numero 4: We went out into the sitting room to see her family and the youngest girls (they're twins btw) came up to us and were livid. They were all "you didn't come over yesterday and teach us about Jesus Christ. We need you to teach us about Jesus Christ." Okay, they are 8 years old. Hermana Leon and I quickly repented, set a date to come over the next day, shared quick testimony about the atonement and then ran to the subway. Fun fact, the hospital that Ana was in was technically out of our area so we had to get special permission to be there in the first place. So as we are rushing out of the hospital, desperately trying to get home on time, and here 5 ladies go "Oooooh SISTERSSSSSS". Hahahha Hermana Leon turns to me and whispers "How much do you want to bet that they are from Utah?" And of course, all 5 of them were. They were super nice though and it was good to see some members. Long story short, Ana is out of the hospital and doing much better. :)

Storms here in New York are so weird. They always seem to come out of nowhere. Like for example today. We went to Costco to get some food and when we went in it was super nice outside and then when we walked out, there was no kidding one of the worst blizzards raging on that my little Utah girl eyes have ever seen. Aside from feeling like a drowned rat in my sleeping bag of a winter coat, the only casualty was that my supposedly unbreakable umbrella, broke. But it turns out that basically everyone lost a umbrella last Friday. Almost every trash can that we saw had about 8 broken umbrellas in them. RIP.

Yesterday was basically one of my most favorite days of my entire life. So here in the NYNYN mission we have what we call a "New York Minute". Basically the point is that we want to be able to share a quick message about Jesus Christ in one minute or less since New Yorkers are usually in a rush and have zero time. Yesterday I was on a split with Hermana Egbert and she really wanted us to share New York Minutes as much as possible. I agreed and prepped a NY minute for our bus ride to and from District Meeting later that morning. On our way there we tried to do a NYM and... basically I have never seen such a hardcore fail in my life. After District Meeting while we were on our way back to our apartment for lunch, Hermana Egbert was all "you ready for some NYM action" and I was all "uggh please no, but okay". We got onto this bus, I sat down and started talking immediately to the guy on my right. I asked him where he was headed and oh-my-lanta. So I thought that he said that he worked at the Homeless Shelter and that's why he was headed there so I was all "No way, that is so cool!" and it turns out... nope. He actually is homeless and that is his home. The people that were sitting around us all turned and looked at me and basically were laughing at my dorkiness and then a lady saw my name tag and asked "Wait, are you two church people?" As soon as the words "Yes, we are Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" left our mouths, everyone that was sitting right there were asking us questions left and right like what is a Mormon, what is the book that your church has, are you guys a cult. We ended up getting 3 cellphone numbers and names, handing out 4 Book of Mormons, so many pass along cards and inviting so many people to church. Moral of the story? Heavenly Father will use all of our talents, including my talent for being a dork, to accomplish his work. These people were literally so desperate for the gospel, it was amazing. 

WOW. I am sorry that this turned into a novel! I just want you guys to know that we are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. So many people that I met this week had literally no idea that they could see their dead family members again or that there was any hope for them. Never be afraid to share the gospel and stand out. Us missionaries need all the help we can get when it comes to sharing the gospel :)

I love you all! Stay safe and enjoy march madness for me!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor :) 

-Hermana Leon (her companion) and Hermana Taylor painting a members apartment

-One of the many umbrella cemeteries

-Hermana Egbert and Hermana Taylor in Downtown NYC during splits 

-Our "Oooooh SISTERSSSSSS" Friends and Hermana Leon. 

Straight Outta Harlem

Hey everyone!

So I officially survived my first week working in the projects of New York City. It has actually been pretty good as first weeks go! 

Last Thursday we went to the chapel in the New York City temple for a meeting and wowza. If I had not been looking for it, I may have missed it. The temple blends into the other buildings so well. We didn't get to do a session or anything but hopefully we will get to go soon! Speaking of downtown New York, guess how we got there. Yep, on the subways. It was definitely not what I was expecting. You know how in the movies they always make the subways seem cool and exotic? Yeah, nope. They are actually so disgusting it hurts. But it's okay! 

Monday was probably my favorite day this past week. To celebrate my return to the land of the free, my trainer took me to Shake Shack (one of the best places to get a burger here in NY)! It was super fun and a great way to take a little break after such a crazy first week. After our yummy dinner we had a lesson with a girl named Indira. She is absolutely amazing. Her mom, dad, and brothers all live in the Dominican Republic and she lives here in New York with her Grandma to attend school. And she is only 12 years old. So anyway we went over to her apartment to teach her and it was so cool because when we invited her to be baptized, she didn't even hesitate. She looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes!" in the most firm voice I have ever heard from a 12 year old. 

My companion and I share our apartment with another companionship of Hermanas. Hermana Leon and another one of the Hermanas in our apartment are STL's and they had to go to a meeting yesterday in Scarsdale so Hermana Castillo (she is a Greenie too) and I were on our own all day. Fun fact, Hermana Castillo speaks almost zero English and I speak very choppy Spanish so communication between the two of us isn't the easiest. Well our trainers wanted us to go visit a former eternitigator (someone who has been investigating the church for a really long time but won't commit) while they were gone. Something happened to my tablet and I lost all of the directions for the building that this lady lived in. Soooo being the super smart Hermanas that we are, Hermana Castillo and I looked at all of the millions of bus routes that they have here in Harlem, hoped on a bus, and somehow made it to Carmen's building after of 3 hours of trying to get there. Woooot go team! So just a little info about Carmen: she has been investigating the church since 2002 and has wanted to get baptized but legally she is married to a man that she hasn't seen in 18 years and is living with a different man currently. Aka we need to get her divorced and remarried. She has refused to get divorced and remarried so we dropped her as a invest and just were visiting her as a service). When we finally found Carmen, she said that she had some super good news for us. Turns out that she has started the divorce process and wants to get married. Then she turns to me and goes "so how soon can I be baptized?" She asked ME. Hahaha! We were super stoked and we hope that she can get all of this legal stuff out of the way so that she can get baptized! After the lesson Hermana Castillo and I spent the next 2 hours making our way back to the apartment. Long story short, split miracles are real and I should definitely  not navigate here in NYC quite yet.

Something that I have had on my mind a lot this week is the power of the Book of Mormon. I always knew that it had power and that it was a good book but it wasn't until I came out here that I truly realized how much power it has. I have seen people in the hardest situations who have turned their lives completely around just because of a little blue book that I carry in my bag. Do any of us really understand how much power is in our hands or on our phones and tablets? I really want to encourage you guys to read it. But hey, don't take my word for it. Go read it yourself and find out :)

I love you all and I hope you are all enjoying the snow for me (since NY has no snow and it's in the 60s every day...)

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

Shake Shack is the bomb.com haha

We found these really creepy statues that all seem to be looking at something that isnt there? H. Leon was all "go stand there" and yep....

Dearest Hermana Taylor, Welcome to the Ghetto

Hey everyone!

I don't know about you guys but I had the most patriotic Presidents day of my entire life this past Monday haha. My flight from Mexico to New York on Monday went very smoothly. Well aside from the fact there there was a earthquake around 1 am that morning which I apparently slept through? Oops. About an hour later, all of the missionaries leaving that day loaded onto a CCM bus and we had our last ride through Mexico City to the airport. It was completely different than the first time riding throgh though the city to the CCM that very first day. Surprise, not many people are awake at 2am so the streets of Mexico City were essentially empty. So instead of watching all of the crazy traffic and hoping that we would somehow survive the chaos, we just sang hymns in Spanish with each other for the last time. Even though I was just in the CCM, I am really going to miss Mexico, all of the super awesome missionaries that were in My district, and my wonderful teachers and CCM mission presidency. (Side note: we all really needed to get out of there, though. My CCM companion, Hermana Lykins, may or may not have totally chucked her white bible/ missionary handbook at our morning teacher on the last day hahaha)

Speaking of earthquakes and hymns, there was a huge Earthquake this past week in southern Mexico. If what I have been told is correct, at the epicenter it was 7.8. Because we are about 6 hours away we didn't feel it as strongly but there was still some scary side effects in the surrounding city. Some houses caught on fire from some burst gas lines and there were some fires up on the hill around the city. Other than that, there was no damage to the Mexico CCM and all of the missionaries were accounted for and were 100% okay physically. Mentally was a different story. There were quite a few missionaries who had families that lived where the epicenter was. Instead of criying or freaking out, some asked for priesthood blessings, others started singing hymns, and some knelt down to pray. I don't know whoes idea it was, but, we all ended up kneeling down in one of the largest prayer circles I have ever seen on that hard asfault road that goes around the entire CCM. Because there was just so much noise and chaos, I couldn't really hear what the person praying said exactly. For me, it didn't really matter that I couldn't hear. I just had this small thought run through my head that it was all going to be okay. Somehow, someway, HF would watch out for his missionaries and keep His promise to us that he will protect our families while we are away. 

Okay and now for the New York News. Currently I am in the Harlem area. Harlem. It's crazy but also so exciting at the same time. I already love it in its own way here. My trainer/ companion is Hermana Leon. We live in a cute little appartment with another set of Hermanas- Hermana Egbert and Hermana Castillo. They are all so sweet and I love them so much already! So Monday I flew to New York, Tuesday morning I was assigned my new companion/ area, had district meeting, and then that night I got to teach my first lesson with Hermana Leon. It. Was. Amazing. Any doubt I had about coming out here to help spread the gospel... I am most defiently supposed to be here. 

Yikes this is getting really long. Um sorry not sorry;) One more quick story! So. I don't remember who told me about this but someone I talked to had a super tramatic experience out in the field. While they were trying to get off a bus once their companion had already gotten off but they were not able to get off in time before the bus doors closed and they just sat in the bus and watched as their companion disapeared down the street. Terrible, right? So whoever told me that story told me that as long as I avoided that, everything would be prime. Um. Literally 2 hours after being in the field that's pretty much what happened to me. I got stuck on the bus and all 3 of the other hermanas had already gotten off... um. I was so freaked out. Luckily my city instincts (which I didn't even know that i had) took over and I was able to reopen the bus doors and I got off the bus before it drove away. Other than being scared out of my mind, I was just fine and we all laughed about it after! 

I know that I have definitely had some heavenly help this past week. Thank you all for your prayers. I can feel them and I am so appreciative of them. I hope you guys know that I am praying for you, too. Have a amazing week, stay safe, and watch those Olympics for me!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

Ps

My P-Days are Wednesdays now. :)  

- Me and my cute roomies. They went to McAllen, Texas

- The district Hermanas and our favorite teacher- Hermana Solis

- Hermana Solis always told us that if we misbehaved she would hit us with her chancla (flipflop) hahaha. As a parting gift she made us chancla bookmarks

- My new Mission President, David Smith, and his wife, Rebecca, and I at the Mission Home. 

[Editor's Note] Check out my mission's blog for pictures and videos of Ariana's arrival in New York.