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.