Highland East, Week 3

Dec. 21, 2015
Hello Family and Friends!!!
Hope you all are enjoying your prep for Christmas!! This is a wonderful time of the year when we all get to focus on the Savior of the World!! I encourage you to make Him the FOCUS, not the afterthought!

First, the highlights of the week!!
KARLY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! It was absolutely incredible!! I love that girl so much!! It took a while for her to work up to going all the way under the water, but SHE DID IT!!! It was an absolute miracle!! I am BEYOND excited to meet her after the Resurrection. She is so smart and powerful in the Gospel and in life, and I’m excited to get to know her when we don’t have to deal with physical difficulties.
Also on Saturday I got to go back to my old area to attend the baptism of two of the people I taught. It was cool to go back, but it felt so different, because it is no longer my area, so I no longer have the responsibility for those people. It was so special to watch them be baptized though. The Gospel is a light that you can see in people’s eyes as they are truly converted.

Funny Stories of the Week:
We got stuck in the snow……twice. The first time we had just pulled to the side of the road and the snow was deep enough that we got stuck. I just pushed us out. The second time, I was backing Sister Ortiz and backed her into some snow that I THOUGHT was just unshoveled driveway. Turns out it was just an oddly shaped driveway and I had backed her into the grass. A half hour and two elderly ladies later, we finally shoveled enough snow away to push us out. Lucky designated driver Sister Ortiz doesn’t have to push, because she is the only one allowed to drive the car. 

You know you’re a Sister Missionary when……..you drive past a blow up thing of Santa and his wife, and you say “Aww, look at Sister Claus!!” and don’t realize for 5 minutes that she’s not generally referred to as “Sister Claus”.

We went to visit this 93 year old lady who owns a mink farm in the middle of nowhere. We parked at the bottom of this hill, climbed clear up it, then hiked through a foot and a half of snow in fields for half a mile to her house. Needless to say, it was an adventure! 

We taught Myshima at one of our Ward Mission Leaders houses. He is a French Canadian, and Myshima speaks French better than English, and Sister Ortiz speaks French as well. So 99.9% of the hour and a half lesson was in French. Guess who can't even count to 10 in French? Yup. This Sister. So I tried to understand anything for the first 45 minutes, then I gave up and started planning how my future Christmas tree would look so I wouldn't fall asleep. Not the most missionary-like I've ever been, but according to Sister Ortiz, the lesson was AMAZING. So that's good. :) Aww, the life of a Sister Missionary in Highland.

Last story: We met this adorable couple named Darcy and Jonathan. They’re both return missionaries, but not exactly active. We love them a ton though. They’ve become like our second set of parents. We have so much fun with them. It’s interesting to teach them though, because they know all the answers, and the terms that missionaries use. For example, we challenged them to do something, and they asked us if we were going to follow up. They have solid testimonies, they’re just relearning how to USE them.

I am so grateful to know the true meaning of Christmas, and be able to share it at this time of the year. This Church brings so much Joy to me and to those that I teach, because of the Savior.
I love you all, and hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Love,
Sister Taylor