Carless, Carless, Just like the Christ child was

Boy oh boy has this week been one for the books. It has been so busy I haven't written in my journal all week! To start off yesterday was my 2 month mark and I didn't even realize it until the day was almost over. We celebrated it by having our mission Christmas conference. It was so awesome. We had to get up at 4:45 so that wasn't so fun, but the rest of the day was great. We watched Ephraim's Rescue and Sister Blume thought it was crazy that I cried almost the whole time. She stills think I don't ever cry haha. I guess I hide it well in the bathroom. This week was transfers. Thankfully I didn't get transferred that would be awful right before Christmas time. We did however have to move apartments last minute to make room for the new elders in our area!! We haven't had elders here for awhile so it is quite a change. The even bigger change is that they stole our car!! Sister Blume and I are now on bikes! When we split the area we got the smaller part so bikes are our new best friends. It has been an adventure to say the least riding a bike in a skirt. I will figure it out soon haha. The day of transfers when we lost our car was quite a day. We forgot our phone in the sisters car and the elders weren't back yet so we couldn't get our bikes out of their apartment. So that day we were carless, bike less, and phone less. It was quite the day. We had zone conference this week and got the best training on weekly planning. It made planning so much easier. I actually don't hate it much anymore. I would dread weekly planning, but now I am trying my best to invite the spirit to help me work with my investigators. The best lesson of the week was with Jim. He is just awesome. He is a Taylor as well so we got along great from the beginning. I have been able to commit him to a lot of things by saying come on Jim do it for me your sister! He thinks it is funny so he says yes. We had a breakout through with him and he is going to read the book of mormon to find relevation about it being true! He finally opened up to us thanks to a member that was with us. We found out he is nervous about what people will think of him being a mormon, but he is doing great. He came to chruch and stayed for Sunday School, but the turd was sneaky and left during priesthood. I am going to have to make sure the elders get him to stay next week. During zone conference I got a confirmation that he is getting baptized! It was a great feeling. We just need to pray about a date and commit him to it. I am really starting to enjoy this work, and losing myself in it. I am glad that it didn't take any longer to learn to do that or I don't know what I would have done. Okay I am getting emails about not getting back to everyone so I am going to try to add in a few sentences here for everyone. Try to figure out what is for you! I am hearing great things about Big 5! Sounds like there is an awesome crew, but it is okay if you have been struggling without me. I understand it is hard to replace me there ;-) I can't believe how big the babies are getting that I hear about! I expect pictures of them and such. I expect to hear emails about pickleball and sports. I haven't heard any news about sports! I am dying out here! I have been praying for those who asked me to do that. Just keep pushing forward and the Lord will help you through your trials. Some people are annoying and judge you before they have all the information they need. Ignore that. It doesn't matter because they aren't the ones who judge you in the end. Just be a bigger person and move on. For those that are struggling with pressing forward read 1 Nephi 13:37 it really helped me when I was feeling down and wasn't being the best missionary I could be. (And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be. People I just want to say the power of prayer is real!! I just had the most powerful experience with it this past week. I was having a rough day from the moment I woke up. I was grumpy, anxious, and just generally in a terrible mood. Sister Blume was trying to get me to talk to me all day and I wanted nothing to do with it. I felt so bad because I didn't know why I was having such a rough day. I didn't want Sister Blume to see me pray so I went to the bathroom to pray. Boy did I pray a lot that day. I think I went to the bathroom once every hour to pray and nothing was happening. I was trying to so hard to make it through the day. My teaching suffered from it and working with Sister Blume suffered, but by the next day I was over the funk. I prayed and was thankful that the next day was better. I found out later that every time I went to the bathroom to pray Sister Blume was doing the same. We had no idea that we both were praying. My prayer wasn't answered as soon as I wanted, but it was answered. The Lord answers prays on His time so don't get discouraged when the answer doesn't come right away. I love you all. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!! I miss you all but this work is so important. I am thankful I am out here on the Lord's errand. Love, Sister Taylor

Secret Santa sisters with some sweet new rides. Packing to move to a new apartment is easy when you just wear all the clothes you can.