Hermana Taylor: If You Give A Missionary A Orange Sticker

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a great Valentines day and that you are all enjoying the Olympics 😊

It's insane how time works when you are on your mission. The days really do feel like years and the weeks feel like days. Fun fact, Mexico is wack. And by wack I mean I love it here and I am sad to leave but l I am also SO excited to leave the CCM on Monday and get into the field, get wrecked by spanish, and start teaching someone that isn't my teacher. (Plus what better way to celebrate Presidents day than by returning to the USA?) Okay so here in the Mexico CCM there is no such thing as a "dork dot". Instead they have the coveted "orange sticker" that you get to wear on your name tag when it is your last week in the CCM. I guess they decided that it wasn't necessary to point out who the newbies were since they usually have this look of panic and exhaustion on their faces anway. For some reason they ran out of Orange stickers this week soooo I got a Red Sticker instead. But hey, it's a sticker.

So I have always been a big believer in the concept of karma. Not in the sense that I think it replaces God or worship it or anything like that. More along the lines of what my lovely physics teacher's (Ms. Layosa. S/o to all the OHS kids) favorite quote "what you send out into the universe will come back to you". One day during gym time this past week there were a lot more people on the court than usual. Which to be completely honest isn't my favorite. Usually when that happens we play "elimination" which is basically where if you are at fault for messing up and losing the rally you are out. One of the Elders that was on my team got a little too into the game and wouldn't take the blame and just go out. Aaaanways long story short we all were getting a little frustrated. When it was one of the Elders in my districts turn to serve the ball he asked me if he could just "accidentally miss and serve the ball into the back of that Elders head". So literally the day before we had been talking about Christlike attributes and we picked out a attribute to work on. I chose to work on patience. Mistake. Anyway so I told Elder Fisher to remember his Christlike attribute and neither of us served the ball unto the back of this Elders head. I kid you not, 2 rallies later that Elder took a spike to the face that laid him out flat. One of the Elders in my district yelled "pop that ego" and we were all laughing (after making sure the Elder was okay of course) and he admitted that maybe it was time for him to cool off and take a break. I felt bad but it just deepened my belief in karma.

Usually when we practice teaching a investigator our teacher will show us one of the 12 Steps to Recovery videos as a investigators background. (I wouldn't recommend watching them because they are really heavy but they do have good messages at the end) One of the hardest things about being on a mission for me has been the fact that I can't listen to my favorite songs. While I like MoTab and classical music and hymns, I believe there is such a good thing as a good, uplifting, pop song. In the video we watched, the investigator told how the words of Coldplay's song "Fix You" came to his head when he was at his lowest. Specifically the part in the song where it says:

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try

To fix you

This man felt like it was God that was saying those words to him. That God wanted him to come home to him when the time was right and that through God and Jesus Christ that his broken state could become "fixed". That there was hope for him. I know that we are not our mistakes. They do not define us. It's not about who we have been, it is about who we are becoming. The atonement is so real.

I head out into the field on Monday so I have no idea when my next pday will be. Until then, take care and know that I love you all!

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

Districts that take mirror selfies in elevators, stay together: