Jumbled

Isn't this just a wonderful time of year? I am just enjoying all of the christmas trees, lights, music, spirit, everything. Everyone seems just a little bit happier and giving.

This post will have so many emotions. I have been thinking and a lot has been going on. But that's life, right? There's always something going on. Remember me telling you that I had applied for a manager position at Wendy's? Well, I got it! I like the higher pay and free food (: But I also really like being in the position. I really get tested a lot, but I figure out how strong I can be, and I am learning skills that will help me later on in my career life.

So far, I am not in school.  I am going to be transferring to Utah State. I am so excited to just be in the valley. I move out in a month and I am so stoked. It's been a while since I've been on my own, but it's gonna be a blast.

Kamille got a boyfriend. It's weird. But I love it. I am a hopeless romantic that loves the love stories of other people. Matt and Kamille have known each other for quite a while, so it's kind of meant to be. He's a sweet guy and I definitely approve.

I've been missing my friends that are on mission. Particularly, Sister Bishop. Every time I think about how much I miss her, I shed a tear or two. She's doing great though. I just miss her so much.

I'm excited to be able to be my own person again. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

XOXO - Taylor

Taking on the World

Have I really only been back from serving an LDS mission for two and a half months? That can't be right. But when I think about it, it really has been. The past two and a half months have really been a whirlwind. 

I returned from my mission because of many different reasons. I don't really want to go into detail about it, not because I don't like to talk about it, but because it's hard to explain. Unless you've had the same thing I've had, it's hard for anyone else to really understand. The hard thing about returning home and knowing I wouldn't be going back out to the field, was being about to remember that I did in fact, serve a mission. In my mission call, I was told that "it is anticipated that you will serve for 18 months." I only served for 2. But I still served a mission and was still forever changed by those I served. I've had many experiences that I will never forget. I've grown in many different ways. Ways that are a constant reminder that I am capable of doing something good. 

Since being home, I have gotten my job at Wendy's back. I am forever grateful to my boss for re-hiring me. I love working there and have recently applied for a management position. (Keep your fingers crossed, folks!) I also have taken on the responsibility of buying a car and having a car payment. Sometimes, adulting is hard, but that's life, right? We have hard things, so that we can learn and grow. I feel like I have to continually remind myself of that. Being vulnerable and "cut open" emotionally, is how we are growing. We can't go through life with no hardships. That's not how we were created. We live, we learn, and we move on. Hopefully, becoming a better person as we go. 

I have been so blessed with amazing family and friends who are continuous in their support and love for me. Life is hard, I won't deny that. But it is so much more worth it, when you have those you love by your side. 

XOXO

Tay

Week 4

Hello All!

Man, oh man! This week has been a riot of different emotions and experiences. Where in the world am I going to start? 

We had quite the adventure this week while traveling to Michael's home. Our GPS went whack and took us on the most epic back road/off roading road I have ever been on. Turns out, that when it rains for a day, dirt roads become swimming pools!! I cannot believe that we, as missionaries, can't go swimming, it was super duper sad, but I think that there may have been some gnarly creatures/bugs in that water... so maybe I'm okay...

Anyway, so we get to Michael's. We were helping him to clean his truck because it hadn't been cleaned for 2 YEARS! (We had asked him to give one of our investigators a ride to church, she called us on Saturday and asked us if we could find her a ride for church! We have been trying to get a hold of her for 4 weeks, she kept canceling our appointments, so we were pretty excited that she called) He said that he would and that he needed to clean his car out. OH MAN! It's amazing how much stuff can be gathered in just two years. We vacuumed out his car really good. There was just the most random stuff in the bed of the truck however.... Rotting wood, car chemicals, leather with naughty sayings and pictures imprinted on them, car parts, and just about anything else you could think of. The smell was down-right horrific. We got it all cleaned out, but as Sister Petersen was shoveling out the wood, Michael got a mosquito on his forehead, and she told him! AND HE JUST SMACKS HIS HEAD WITH HIS HAND!! HE DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO THINK ABOUT IT, HE JUST DID IT!! There was blood all over his forehead. Sister Petersen had asked me to take pictures of her shoveling the wood out for her email home, but I decided to video it. And I caught that whole scene on camera!!! I am so excited for you all to watch it! hehehehe (:

I have been kind of battling with the mission nurse on how to proceed with helping my headaches. I finally got an okay to go to the chiropractor. She gave me a name and number and I called them. I was blessed because they had a couple of cancellations and they were able to get me in that day. I go in to the appointment and find out that it was actually a physical therapy place. They rubbed my neck so hard. And it hurt so bad. But it didn't relieve anything. I called Sister Simpson (mission nurse) about what had happened. And that I scheduled two more appointments with them. She told me that if I needed more than three, I was going to have to be sent home from my mission.

So I just decided that I didn't need physical therapy anymore.... I found out that my headaches are caused from stress so that's really good. I am grateful that it took me almost a whole transfer to find out that all I needed to do was stress relieving exercises....... -_-

Thank you all for your prayers on behalf of my investigators, Angela and John. We went over for our second lesson with them and there was a palpable tension in the air. They made us really yummy cheesecake...and then they proceeded to tell us that they didn't want the lessons anymore... Instead of reading the Book of Mormon and praying about what we asked them to, they went online to wikipedia and researched Joseph Smith. There are some pretty crazy stuff on there that isn't true. They wouldn't let us answer their questions. I felt like I was being broken up with a boyfriend or something, it was super awkward and sad. BUT! Sister Petersen and I feel like we aren't done with them, so we are going to invite them to do service with us whenever they can! Please keep praying for them!

On Sunday, Cami (less active) came to church and we had committed her to stay for gospel principles. She has been born and raised in the church but never went to all three hours of church. EVER! So we asked her to come to gospel principles and she did. We expected her to leave after that, BUT GUESS WHAT?! She decided to stay for relief society!! And she loved it! Isn't that exciting?! 

How is your work on inviting someone to come unto Christ? I hope that it's going well. I love reading your emails! Thanks for sharing your experiences with me. I am going to apologize and let you know that since I am having a lot of stress right now, I won't be able to respond to all of you right away. I am going to be taking a break from just emailing everyone individually until my headaches subside! Thank you for understanding. 

My companion and I have decided that we both need to wait to read the letters that come in the mail. So we are going to save all of them in a box in our car and wait to read and respond until Monday! Please keep sending me them, I love getting them, but just know that it will be a while before I can read and respond to them! Also, with transfers coming up in the next week and a half, please just send me letters to the mission home, that way I will get them and they won't be lost if I do transfer. The address is:

2 Bedford Farms Drive. Suite 208
Bedford, NH 03110

HAVE SUCH A GREAT WEEK! I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH!

-Sister Wanlass

PS. Scripture of the week is D&C 121:7-14

Week 3!

And here is this weeks letter!

Yoohooooooo, hello family! (and friends) (that line from Frozen is always stuck in my head haha)

Summer is right around the corner here in Bethel, Maine. there hasn't been much humidity, but I can definitley feel the climate change. It's crazy!! I feel like I am a mermaid and I just breathe water now.

I know that, since I am 19, I am very inexperienced when it comes to life. My poor, yet sweet, companion probably feels like a mother to me! She helps me cook, and she helps me when my toenails are ingrown (sorry tmi) but she is great. I am so blessed to have her.

One of my very favorite moments in my days are lunch and dinner hours. Since we are told to decompress from the labors and work of missionary work, we get to do whatever really. And so this is what I do.....

 

The black and white pictures are of Sister Bishop, Elder Williams, and I. Sister Bishop was with me in the MTC and we laugh all of the time. Pretty sure she is my soulmate companion! And Elder Williams sat by me on the plane. He talked to me the entire time and helped me not to focus on my motion sickness. Isn't he the sweetest? The picture of the older man, my companion, and I is of Michael (remember my last email?) He is such a sweet man. He makes treats for all of the little ones, (primary kids) as he calls them. He also makes me homemade bread, and this past week, he made me a beautiful leather pouch. The silly ones of me, are my way of decompressing from all of the hard labors of missionary work. I just giggle!! I AM SO IMMATURE BUT WHATEVER! 

Your prayers are all so meaningful and I am grateful for them! I would like to ask your help in prayers for two of my investigators. There names are Angela and John. They live together and they ran into the sister missionaries and they said they weren't interested in learning the gospel, but the sisters gave them a card with their number on it in case they ever needed anything. Angela and John don't have a car. They bike everywhere, it's impressive because we live out in the boonies, and by car, it takes about fifteen minutes to get to town. They're my heroes!! Anyway, in February, there was a super big winter storm. They needed groceries, so John decided to bike in the blizzard. He ended up crashing and shattering his leg. He didn't know who to call but he found the card the sisters gave him. So he called them and got to the hospital. Fast forward, the missionaries have been going to visit with them, but they didn't want the lessons at all. They just went so they had company. This last time we met with them, Angela expressed a desire to find peace! We had committed her to reading the BOM and she has been. We are meeting with them again tonight and we are praying so hard that they will continue to have a desire to learn. If you would like, could you all pray for them to continue to have the desire to learn, and that they will be able to feel God's love for them? I would really appreciate it!

Thanks again for all of you support and I love you! Sorry if my emails aren't funny. My companion told me that nobody likes to read missionary emails, unless they are funny. I thought that adding the photo booth pictures would help. haha!! Anyway, have a great week and I look forward to next Monday when I can talk to you all again!!

Semana Numero Dos

Sorry I missed a week everyone! Here is last weeks letter!

This week was kind of easy. I got sick a couple of days ago. I think I had a stomach bug. And then my companion is also sick. She has been for two weeks. 

On Tuesday, we met with a recent convert at the library and taught him how to do family history. He had mentioned that he tried to do some when he was younger but could never find his mom's mom. But guess

what?! We found her and there was a whole line connected to her that goes through Italy. Someone else has been doing family history. We don't know who but we were able to get an email for them, so Michael is going to email them and see how they are related. Isn't that neat?! Haha while we were doing family history with Michael, the librarian overheard us. She pulled us aside after we finished with Michael and asked if we could come back and do family history with her on Friday. We were so excited to do that, so we agreed! On Friday, we got there at four and started working on it with her, but she couldn't remember her email password, so she couldn't verify her newly created account. I think it was a blessing because that means we were able to set up a return appointment with her. The Lord always provides a way for us to be able to do His work. 

Michael also got the priesthood yesterday. So that was really exciting. If he keeps progressing as much as he is, then when he gets to go to the temple, I will get to go with him! It's been such an inspiring week. 

There really hasn't been much going on. But we have been assigning active members to go visit less actives and get them to come to church. But yesterday, we went to visit a less active and she said that the reason she doesn't come to church is because she doesn't feel loved. So we told her that we are working on helping everyone feel loved and that we loved her. We invited her to go talk to another less active and invite him to church! Isn't that funny? One less active inviting another! We are really excited and we have the faith that everything is going to go well. 

How was everyone's week? Were you able to find someone to come to church? Did you help bring someone closer to Christ? I'd love to hear about it. I will be following up again next week!

Once again, thank you for the support and prayers. I will be sending pictures to my mom and she can divy them out from there! I love you all and I continue to pray for you. If there is anything I can help you with, or pray for, please let me know. 

here is my address:

750 North Road

Bethel, Maine 04217

Week Numba 1

Hello lovely people,

First of all, thank you for your prayers in my behalf. They are so helpful and I am really appreciative. You are all rock stars!

Life has been so fun.  I am assigned to my first area in Oxford, Maine.  Our area is really big. Everyone lives about an hour to an hour and a half from where the church is. My companion, Sister Peterson, and I live an hour away from church. It's weird to not see a church everywhere. And it is completely rural here. Everyone lives so far apart. The bishop, however, lives down the street from us. 

Our area is hard to go tracking in. We mostly work with the ward and get referrals. We have a ward list of 400, but only 80 of them are actives. We have quite a few less actives. Our goal is to rescue 1000 people this year. It's our mission goal. It even means the less actives.

I want to tell you all something that is really dear to my heart. And I want to invite y'all to do something for me. we went to church and i cannot believe the power of ward members. Ward members have such an influence on those that are less active or those that are inactive. We, as missionaries, have had the awesome opportunity to be there, inspiring members and getting them involved in missionary work. We have seen so many miracles come about. There was a less active man that came to church for the first time in 20 years last week. We had a less active woman attend church for the first time in a year. And it was all because they were invited by a member, or by us. So I have felt inspired to invite you and my family, and my friends to prayerfully ask and find those that need to be rescued. they need those blessings that come from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am extending that invitation and will be following up next week with everyone. I would like an email from everyone answering the following questions:

1. What have I done this week to help increase church attendance?

2. How did I invite someone to come unto Christ?

3. What am I going to do next week to help someone come to church and come unto Christ?

I can PROMISE you blessings and miracles that will come as you do what I have asked. I've been here a week and I have already seen miracles and blessings to those who have done that. I AM BEGGING YOU!!!!!!! there are about 50+ of you on my email list, so I am expecting about 50 emails to be back. I would love if all of you replied to me telling me that you're going to accept my invitation

Once again, thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf. I love you all and cannot wait to get your emails confirming your invitation!

Have a great week!

-Sister Wanlass

PS. Scripture of the week: Helaman 3:28

MTC: Week 2

Taylor's letter from 6/1/2015

Hi friends! How have you been? I hope all of you have been doing well. I have been praying for everyone. (:

This week was super fun. We still taught our TRC investigators (the role play ones) and I am pretty positive that both of them were real investigators. I just grew to love both of them. I am so grateful to be here. I wish everyone could at least come spend some time here in the MTC. It is so amazing.

Well, I head out to New Hampshire in two days. I am busy packing and getting my stuff all ready. Its been amazing here and I am so excited to go out into the field. I feel very overwhelmed but completely in a good way. I miss everyone back home. I kind of wish I could see everyone. 

Anyway, back to my investigators, I have committed two of the three to baptism! YAY FOR ME. I am so happy and I am glad I was able to help others come unto Christ. 

I had something super gnarly happen to me yesterday! I had a super scary dream, not last night, but the night before.  I had a dream that I was with some people from high school (people I never talked to) and we were all hanging out. And then, one of the guys brought out a ouiji board. OKAY I HAVE NEVER USED ONE IN MY LIFE. But in my dream, we started playing it. And some super freaky stuff happened. I don't even want to repeat it to you. But I woke up, and I felt so sick. I had the biggest headache, I was dizzy, groggy, and way way nauseous. And all I could think about was that dumb dream. Sister Hamilton woke up around the same time as me and she was feeling way sick too. But she had a dream that there was a demon that was binding her tongue so she couldn't speak or pray. It threw us off really bad all morning. Our teacher noticed that we were both super off. So she pulled us aside and we talked to her. And she immediately had us get blessings from the elders that are now in our zone.These elders are new and haven't given many blessings. But we needed them and they were so willing to do it. I went first. The elders put the oil on my head and annointed it. And then they continued with the blessing. When they ended the blessing, I still felt the same. And then the elders said, "Sister Wanlass, we forgot to seal the annointing. Can we please do your blessing again?" I agreed of course. And the second they finished sealing the annointing, I felt like I could breathe again. And the sickness went away immediately. IT WAS SO POWERFUL! I have never had that happen to me. The power of the priesthood is so so so amazing. I am so grateful for it!

I have some pictures for y'all!! Mom will have to send them in dropbox. I hope everyone has dropbox. If not, then she can post them on facebook! Sorry I can't get them all on to email! Their size is just too big!

​Like I said before, I miss you!! I hope you all have a good week. I am not sure when my next P-Day is because I fly to NH on Monday!

Scripture of the week: D&C 31!

MTC: Week 1

Taylor is just the sweetest! Shes doing good! Here is her first email and pictures to everyone!


HELLO ALL! How is it going? It hasn't been even a week since I've been here and it feels like I have been here for weeks! The days are long but productive.

I have a really sweet companion. Her name is Sister Cox. She is really nice and she has the best spirit. I am so blessed to have her. (I can't figure out how to put my pictures onto the computer, but when I do, I will send some) 

So, Our district is the first all sister district the MTC has ever had. There are no elders at all in our district. It is so awesome to have the spirit of sister missionaries all the time. Anyway, since we don't have the priesthood in our district, we have a sister district leader. And she gave me permission to share something really powerful from her patriarchal blessing. She got it when she was 14. And it talks a lot about her mission. She said there are five paragraphs just about her mission. And two of those talk about the MTC. It said, "You will be able to help the lady missionaries in your district and in return, they will love you and help you." It said LADY MISSIONARIES IN YOUR DISTRICT. We all got chills and the spirit was so strong. Heavenly Father knew and it was so cool to be apart of that.

I keep seeing classmates from school. Elder Colin Heaps, Sister Evin Brown, Sister Drue Zenoffiof, and Elder Spencer Norton. I think there may be more but I am not sure. It's really cool.

I did indeed receive a dork dot. Everyone knew I was new and it's embarrassing. Although, everyone was super friendly, so I may put it back on this Wednesday when the new missionaries get here. haha just kidding.

We have 3 investigators right now, of course, it's only role play but it feels so real to me. It is so neat to feel the love God has for each of them and to be able to teach them the thing that makes me the most happy. 

We got to meet our branch presidency on Thursday, and as usual they wanted us to introduce ourselves. They asked us what our name was, why we were serving, interests, and our testimony. When it was my turn, I got up and all I had said was my name. And all of the branch presidency members said, "Wow, Sister Wanlass. Your eyes just sparkle. They are so bright and so full of the spirit." I really needed to hear that that day. They didn't say that to anyone else. It was nice to know that I radiate the spirit because some days I don't feel like I do. It's so awesome to have the spirit.

Life here is hard, but it is so worth it. Every minute is so awesome. I just love it. 

I think that Heavenly Father knew that I was going to struggle. So he made sure to put Sister Bishop in my path. We are both going to the same mission and I just love her to death. We literally can laugh about anything. And we so do. There is this elder in our zone named Elder Laekehe. (Lay-A-Kay-Hay) He is a tongan from New Zealand that grew up in Australia. He is probably the funniest elder I have ever met. He makes Sister Bishop and I laugh so hard. I took a creeper picture of him so I can show all of you. Lol. 

Any way, I hope you all have a great week. If you get a chance, look up Moroni 46:21. And be strong. You can fight any battle if you have the Lord on your side. I love you all. 

Ps. if you go onto www.dearelder.com you can write me an email and the MTC will print it out and give it to me that same day that you send it. (: I won't be able to respond right away, but I will try my best. 

Manchester, New Hampshire

Why hello there! How is everyone? My name is Kamille Bingham, I'm the official Bestfriend of Taylor, and I will be taking over the blog for the next one and a half years. Taylor is leaving to go to the MTC today, she will be serving in the Manchester, New Hampshire mission. I am so excited for her! Taylor is one of the most loving and caring people I know ans I just know she is going to be an amazing missionary. I'll be posting her letters on here are sharing the links to Facebook for those of you who aren't going to get the weekly emails and I'll also be posting the pictures on here, too. I am so excited to hear all about Taylor's grand adventures and to also to be able to watch her grow and change. Stay tuned, there is so much more to come!

Awkward

How awkward. I haven't posted in just about two or three months. Too much to say! Where do I start?

I survived my first semester of college. I was able to accomplish a goal of mine. I am determined to finish the rest of my college career. I figure, if I can do one semester, the next ones will be pretty easy! Right?

I had a great Christmas break and I was able to spend it with my families. They are so great, and I love my families with all my heart. If I didn't have them, then I don't know where I'd be. They help me with so much. I hope that everyone else had a good holiday like me.

January eventually rolled around, and I started a new semester with two new roommates. I connected a lot with them and I feel like we are all pretty great girls. I am glad we are able to be roommates and I hope we can continue our friendships for a long time.

My mission papers are almost finished and I will be able to submit them by beginning of March. I am so excited to go out into the field and help others to feel what I feel when I am doing what I know is right. I love the Spirit, and I love the gospel. I want to help others to see and feel what I do. I want to share everything with them.

We are already to midterms this semester! It's crazy to me to even think about that. My first year of college is almost complete. I love being here and this campus is so beautiful! I have made some pretty great friends, for which I am completely grateful for. They are so great and I love the relationships that I have!

Adi, my sister, is my SUPERHERO! She is such a great girl. She recently just swam in the state swim meet for high school. AND SHE ROCKED IT! She got 3rd in her heat, and she dropped another 7 seconds. Between regions and state, she has dropped 17 seconds. THAT IS ASTONISHING. I look up to her so much. Her caring, and happy personality is something that everyone deserves to see and to be friends with. I feel sorry for those who don't know Adi. She is one of the nicest people and she genuinely cares about others. Her laugh is so contagious and she can laugh at just about anything. She loves everyone around her and has this amazing testimony. I am so lucky to even have the opportunity to know her. I am EXTREMELY lucky and happy that she is my sister. We have this interesting best friend/sister relationship. I love her with all my heart and I would do anything for her. If you don't know her, get to know her. You're life will be forever changed!

I am excited to finish out my semester and be able to go out on my mission. I'm delegating my blog, and all social media, to my best friend Kamille. She will be sending out emails and things like that to anyone who wants to keep up with me. My mom, will also be helping out a lot with that.

XOXO - Taylor