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: 

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We have been having a pranking war this past week. 

We tried to barricade the door with our rollie chairs and uhhh talk about a Les Misarables fail: 

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Our Pachonga the night before our Latina Comps left: 

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District 13C for the Last Time: 

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The Laman to My Lemuel

Hey everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! 

This week in Mexico has been the epidiomy of an emotional roller coaster. 

Going to the temple here in Mexico last week was one of the best experiences of my life! After another chaotic drive in the city I was super excited to reach the temple. They gave us some time to take pictures and then we went and did a session. Wow. Sometimes it's mentally exhausting for me to be in such a forgein place so it was so nice to walk into the temple and feel like I was back home. 10 out of 10 would recommend going to the temple if you haven't been in a while. 

Okay so like I said, emotional roller coaster. Last Thursday when we got back from the temple I started feeling sick again. Long story short, I ended up being sick enough to have to take some antibiotics but I am doing a lot better now. The next night Hermana Lykins and I spent our evening meeting the new girls that had arrived in our Zone the previous Tuesday. I don't know what we expected these new Hermanas to do or say but we definitely didn't expect what happened. We took the first set of 3 companionships out into the hall to visit with them and we spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince one of the Hermanas that she could do it, the next 40 minutes talking to the next companionship learning about all of the medical difficulties she is going through. Literally 30 seconds before we talked to the last companionship, one of the Hermanas fell out of her chair and sprained her ankle. So we spent the rest of my night trying to wheel the poor Hermana to the opposite end of the CCM to the infermieria so that they could help her. Ahahaha good times. Speaking of STL responsibilities, we got 2 new districts yesterday which is basically unheard of. Hermana Lykins and I are now responsible for 26 Hermanas. It's super crazy but also super fun. Also get this. Nikki Snowden, as in Timpanogos High School Nikki Snowden, is one of the new Hermanas in my Zone! I also ran into Juliann Mecham this week! #thsthebestttt

So all of us missionaries here in the Mexico CCM are completely convinced that we are in the hunger games. Usually we hear firecrackers going off during the weekend but they usually don't start until 5pm and they only happened every 30 minutes or so. Last friday was a completely different story. Last Friday morning we all woke up to these cannons going off at 5am for no apparent reason. Then throughout the day they were going off ever 10 minutes and we were all so confused. We asked one of our teachers and he said that this last Monday was a Mexican holiday but they celebrate it all weekend long. Wow it was really funny because in the middle of teaching a real investigator a really loud firecracker went off and he straight up did the hunger games salute. We've decided that the arena is the grounds of the CCM, the MTC presidency are the Capitol, our teachers are our versions of Cennia. In fact, we are District 13. Hahaha! 

Like I said earlier, I got sick this week. It got so bad that at one point I couldn't even talk. When you are a missionary trying to teach people you kind of need your voice, right? Haha good times. Basically I have the best companion in the whole world. She got us through 2 lessons and even got a person to commit to baptism all while I just sat there and listened. In all reality, that was really hard for me. It's hard when you fee like you are doing a good thing and yet you are still sick. But something that I learned this week was that sometimes Heavenly Father cuts us down so that he can build us up to become who he needs us to be. We watched a mormon message called "The Will of God." If you haven't seen it before it talks about a gardener pruning a current bush. The bush asks the gardner why the gardner cut it down when it was growing so beautifully. The gardner responded that he cut the bush down so that it could be what it was meant to become. In the end the bush says, "thank you, Mr. Gardner, for loving me enough to cut me down." This past week I felt exactly like the current bush. I tried my best to be the missionary I thought I needed to become but obviously heavenly father needed me to stop and take time to listen to the people around me. I know that sometimes we feel like the bush and wonder why bad things are happening to us but I promise that in the end, God's plan is always better than our plan.

I hope that you all have a great Valentine's Day and that you enjoy watching the Olympics! I love you all and I am so grateful for your support 

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor

Ps

One of our teachers told Hermana Lykins and I that we were complaining too much about wanting to get to the mission field. He straight up called me the Laman to Hermana Lykin's Lemuel. It was super funny. But yeah, 10 more days until I'm back in the USA

Hermana Lykins, Me, Hermana Buchanan, and Hermana Sears. H Lykins, H Sears, and I are all headed to NYC

and H Buchanan is headed to Washington D.C.:

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Shout out to my wonderful mom for sending me Oreos this past week and shout out to Grace Thomas for being an angel and

sending me some yummy snacks. You guys saved me this week!:

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District 13C (Yeah, I know. We are tiny now.): 

The Piñata and My Mission Changed

Hey Everyone,

So there's this saying in the CCM that the days are long but the weeks are short. I completely agree! It's crazy for me to think that I have already been here for a month. I hope things are still going well in your lives!

So you know how in Singles Wards they somehow manage to relate everything to getting married? I thought that by coming on a mission that they would stop dropping the m word every 5 minutes since we are missionaries... yeah no. My comp and I started keeping track of how many times they mention marriage or ask about marriage this week. So far we are at 17 times this week. I'll keep you posted on that talley when we finally break out of these walls. 😂

This past Sunday my companion and I were called to be the Sister Training Leaders (STL) for Zone 13. So far it has been super fun to be able to get to know all of the girls in our Zone a little better and to be able to have the opportunity to be the "Zone Mom's" ahaha. Speaking of Hermanas, we are almost at a one to one ratio with the number of elders versus the number of Hermanas currently in the Mexico CCM. Talk about Hermana power! 💪

Like I mentioned last week, last p-day was super fun because it was Hermana Lykin's birthday! Hermana Lykins really wanted to have a good birthday and so she had been going around and asking our teachers, district leader, zone leaders, and even our sister training leaders where she could get a piñata for her birthday. About two weeks ago, Sister Lykins and I ran into the CCM Presidente on our way home from a fun sand volleyball game. In her very bestest spanish she asked Presidente her usual "where can I get a piñata?" Presidente looked at us for a second and just said "Don't worry about it, Presidente will take care of it. Just keep it on the DL." (No joke, he used "DL" instead of down low ahaha) The Tuesday before her birthday Sister Bennett (the president's wife) took us aside and said that "project secret" was underway. She took us back to her Casa and gave us this gigantic pinata and a ton of Mexican candy to put in it. Somehow we managed to hide this huge piñata from our roomies and the other girls in our district until Friday. Friday we took the piñata out to the soccer fields and had a District Fiesta!! Presidente Bennett and his wife are the absolute best. 

So I got some super exciting news this week. In July the New York New York North (my mission) and the New York New York South Mission will be combined into the same mission which means I will have the WHOLE city of New York!! I am super stoked about this change!! In my Zone there are actually 3 other missionaries headed to the South mission which means that now we will get to interact in the field too!! 

Fun fact, it has been just as cold here as it has been in Utah this past week. Weird, right?! Unfortunately I got a cold because of it. Then I got called as a STL, then we did the ProMix- Latina companion exchange (it was good but hard because they knew zero english), and basically I was just really frustrated with everything. Then during a devotional we watched a mormon message. The guy had been struggling with feeling up to meeting the challenges in his life. He said after trying pretty much everything else he finally resorted to getting down on his knees and said a prayer asking God for help. After he finished praying he heard a voice say, "Will you let me take this?" That line really stood out to me because I realized that I had been trying to handle everything on my own without His help. After humbling myself and asking for help, my cold went away, my STL responsibilities seemed easier, and spanish seemed more manageable. My advice this week would be to stop trying to do everything on your own without God's help. He is right there just asking you, "will you let me take this?"

I love you all and I hope you all have the best week.

Con Amor,

Hermana Taylor 

Ps

My Zone is headed to the temple today and I will tell you guys about it next week!

Basically the best looking district at the Mexico CCM haha:

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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 :)