Forgive Us of Our Fishes

Hey Everyone,

I heard that it snowed. Hahaha of course it would snow after what I said last week haha. Anyways I hope that you all are staying warm and safe but also building lots of snowmen and enjoying it for me!

This week was pretty crazy. We now have two investigators so we teach completely in spanish every morning and every evening. In spanish the word for fish is pescado and the word for sins is pecado. In the middle of a lesson this week I was explaining to our investigator how the atonement can help us repent of our sins and I got the words messed up and I said that we could be forgiven of our fishes. Um oops. Our investigator thought it was hilarious and she knew what I was trying to say so it was all good.

Here at the Mexico CCM they really encourage us to sit by the Latino missionaries during meal times. This past week my district made it a goal to sit by latinos two meals every day. A couple of days ago we were sitting by a group of latinos and we were trying (and hardcore failing) at speaking with them. Finally one of the Latinas just spoke to us in perfect english with zero accent and told us what they were trying to say to us. One of the girls in my district commented on her perfect english and the Latina responded in the most monotone voice and said "I'm from New Mexico." Hahaha we felt so awkward but oh well. She also told us that apparently here in Mexico a "gringo" is a burrito not a white person. Woops.

My district is going through some pretty big changes right now. They decided to make a intermediate district for all of the more advanced missionaries. On Tuesday we will lose a set of Hermanas and a set of Elders. I'm sad to see them go but it will all be okay. Speaking of changes next week the people left in my district will all be on splits from our american companions with latino companions. I'm excited to get to really try out my spanish!

With all of this change and the usual struggle of trying to learn spanish, this week as been a little tough. But I have learned that if you focus on the little things that make you happy life is a lot more livable. For example, today is my comps birthday and the CCM president got us a piñata for her birthday, it rained this week so I finally got to wear my red rain boots, I found a violin to play, and I got to play volleyball lots this week! The Youth 2018 Theme Song, "Peace in Christ" is one of my new favorite songs. I love the line where it says "there's no peace on earth, there is peace in christ." I encourage all of you to go and listen to it. I promise you that Christ can help you get through whatever difficulties you may be facing in your life right now. Life is meant for us to be happy :)

Stay safe and go out and have the best week ever. I love you all!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

Scarf Saturday:

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My cute Roomies, Hermana Cozzens, Hermana Hatch, Me, and my comp:

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I'm not sure who came up with it but our district does something called "Gringo Domingo". Basically we just wear green and celebrate our terrible American accents:

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MY RED RAIN BOOTS:

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PeopleDon'tThinkIKnowAButtLoadOfCrapAboutTheGospelButI DOOOO!!!!!

Wowza. Things are absolutely crazy down here but I love it already (sorry not sorry Utah but I don't actually miss the freezing temperatures and zero snow haha). 

The flight down to Mexico was super... interesting. I sat next to a guy who tried to convince me to become a quaker and then we "debated" about medical politics? Yep. Basically I just listened to him talk for a solid 4 hours. But it was good! Going through customs in Mexico was super great because they were speaking to me in rapid fire spanish. Yeah I had no idea what they were saying. One other Hermana and I had gotten stuck in a different line than all of the other missionaries had gone through customs besides us. When you go into a different country you have to get a temporary visa. In order to get our visas, Missionary Travel wrote a letter of recommendation for all of us missionaries. When we handed the customs officer the letter of recommendation he got really confused and said "this letter isn't addressed to me. It is addressed to Jesus Christ." Somehow we made it through. When we finally made it to where all of the other missionaries were we all had a pretty good laugh about it. Driving here in Mexico is VERY different than it is in the USA. Pretty sure that they have blinkers and car horns mixed up because instead of using their turn signals, they just honk their horn and change lanes. Woo! So after the craziest bus ride of my life, all of us missionaries made it to the Mexico CCM where we tried to use our very broken Spanish, gave up, and then played the most insane game of charades I have ever played in my life ahaha. Anyway long story short, surprise, I made it safely to Mexico CCM. 

Wow let me tell ya, the days here in the CCM go by so fast. We have 3 teachers. Our teacher is Hermano Gonzales in the morning and then in the afternoon we have two teachers, Hermana Solis and Hermana Rodriguez. (Although I guess technically Hermana Rodriguez isn't our teacher anymore. She trained Hermana Solis and now that the training is up, Hermana Rodriguez isn't our teacher anymore. But, eso si que es) Guess what. My companion and I taught our first lesson all in spanish literally day 2 of being here in the CCM. Thank goodness for my 3 years of spanish in high school that helped me for the first 3 hours I was here. Okay, but all joking aside, the teachers here are amazing and super helpful. 

My companions name is Hermana Lykins, she's from Montana and we will be going to the same mission! She is super great and we get along very well for which I'm very grateful for. Fun fact, we met over a Skype call during a pre-mtc Skype call so we already knew each other  before the mission. #blessed My district is a riot. There are 12 missionaries- 3 Elder companionships and 3 Hermana companionships! I love them a lot. One of the first days that we were here, our teacher took us outside during class (for some reason the classrooms are always super duper cold). I kid you not, we were only outside for maybe 15 minutes and somehow in that 15 minutes I sunburt the one arm that was sitting in the sun. Yep my district voted me the "Whitest Greengo". # skilz 

Not gonna lie, I was super worried about what the food was going to be like here. It's actually SO GOOD. I really don't know what all the other people have been talking about. Apparently the head cook drives 2.5 hours every day to the CCM, cooks for us all day long and then drives the 2.5 hours home. We asked him why he does that and he says it's because he loves the missionaries and the CCM even though he isn't a member.  

Oh another random thing, the key to my closet broke? Not quite sure what happened there because it just decided to break while my closet door was open and just sitting there while it was in the lock. Don't worry, we used our mad tweezer skills and got the key key part out of the lock. OH. The people that work at the reception desk gave me a pretty hard time about it because apparently it's a very "Elder" thing to do. But it's all good because I got it replaced with a semi bent key. Pray that it doesn't break this time. Another random fact, my companion sings the nacho libre song every night before bed as our lullaby. For some reason, everything links back to Nacho Libre in my District? Haha

On a spiritual note, last week I had the opportunity to watch President Monson's funeral. I really loved what his daugher, Sister Ann M. Dibb, said about her father. I especially loved the story about how her father would "paint bright spots on others days" by serving them. If you didn't have the chance to watch his funeral, I highly recommend it. I also want to encourage all of you to go and paint a bright spot on someones day! I know that by serving Heavenly Father's children, we are blessed by the gift of true happiness. 

I hope you are all doing well. I'm grateful for all of your love, prayers, and support! Go out and have the best week ever:) 

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

Ps

I got to see Elder Belnap a couple of times from my good ole Timpanogos Days so that was super fun! He will be a great missionary. Also, I met the Burton's (s/o to all the Melba people). They're  so great!! Oooh and one of the hermanas that Jessica Seaman met on her mission and then visited the C6 ward before Jessica Seaman got home is in my casa!!! So cool.

We all rode from SLC into Mexico together. There were about 16 Elders that came with us too

Hermana Lykins and I

District 13C

Because why not?

I have arrived!

I have to keep this super quick, but I made it safely to the Mexico MTC. 2 quick fun facts. 1) Tonight is pizza night and 2) MY COMPANION IS SISTER LYKINS THE GIRL I SKYPED with with Sis Verhoff for the Pre-MTC. My p-day is next Thursday.

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor :)

Leaving on a jet plane...

I left bright and early this morning for the Mexico MTC/CCM. 

I'm sorry...

In my absence, my parent's will be taking over my blog. So things might look a little rough around here. Sorry... Just go easy on them. It's the content that matters, right?

My Farewell

My farewell was December 31st, 2017. Here is a link to the audio for those that missed it or would like to listen again.

Thank you to all who came and supported me! It was AMAZING to look out and see all the people

The program was:
Eva Green - Youth Speaker
Jamison Finch - Youth Speaker
Ariana Taylor (10:00 to 25:00)
Daughters in Zion/Helaman's Army - Young Men/Young Women
Cynthia Finch - Former YM Leader