The Week of Many Meetings!

Holy moly peeps did you enjoy conference or what?! I can now say without lying that I stayed awake for all the sessions! Miracles happen! My mother would be so proud. I am sad I missed out of conference bingo with the family though. The motto will always be if you ain't cheatin you ain't tryin! This week has been one that I have never experienced before. We had a meetings almost everyday. That is something else I tell you. I hate being stuck inside when I could be out doing something, but I am thankful for all the trainings and talks that were presented. Monday was an eventful day. We drove all around town buying birthday presents and items we needed to prepare for Sister Cotton's hump day! It was a pretty normal day. We ditched out on playing games at the church with the rest of the district. We bought some awesome shark hats and decided to be sharks that night before bed. We took some funny pictures. Yes we took them in the tub because sharks live in water. I yelled," BREACH!!!" (in honor of shark week) Then Sister Cotton had the genius idea of grabbing her blue towel and using that as the water. Needless to say missionaries find interesting ways to entertain themselves. Tuesday was zone meeting. We were a little late because Mr. Jack said he needed to talk with us right away. On the way there I was praying that it wasn't about another flower bed. When we got there he told us he was very concerned about Darrell who is always one of our investigators. He told us that he was asking Darrell to leave because he couldn't handle it anymore. He told us he could see patterns that don't bring you close to Christ. He said he couldn't have that in his house and we understood. He wanted us to be aware so we could Help Darrell. Sadly Darrell does this weird thing were he disappears for a week or two. Right now he is doing that. Sadly we don't know where he is right now. We call him everyday and pray for him. We know that he will come back when he is ready. Wednesday we had interviews with President. It was the best interview I have had so far. Well I have only had two so I don't have much to work with. President Ashton called me in and the first thing he said was, "You seem happier Sister Taylor!" I told him thanks and laughed. He then asked me how I liked my companion. I said I loved her and he asked if she was my favorite! I couldn't answer that. I have learned so much from all of my companions and he said that doesn't count and then told me she was my favorite. I laughed and said sure I guess. He taught me about the Atonement and how that is what is going to get people to stay involved in the church. It was really helpful. Thursday was weekly planning and HUMP DAY!! We started our day with a hand off lesson with the sisters, but the people weren't there. We went to Olive Garden to celebrate Sister Cotton's 9 month mark. We saw Daytn who is one of the elders investigators. We talked to him about conference before we left. We had dinner with the Rippsteins and they are some of the funniest people ever. Dinner was a riot. I felt like I was at home. They were making fun of each other and cracking jokes left and right. Not much happened on Friday besides spending the day trying to get to know less active members in our area. We started off our conference weekend by volunteering at a 5K race. All this missionaries in our zone and Galveston zone were pointers and cheering at the corners. Nothing like cheering on those runners as they were on the last stretch. I thought about it later and how Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are always right there beside us cheering us on. Talk about the best cheering squad! And then conference! Oh man that was the best way to spend the weekend. I really enjoyed the talk about the Olympics. Sport analogies speak to me best. There was a lot of warnings talked about. Sister Cotton and I discussed that Saturday night. We are living in the last days and we need to do everything we can to be ready for the second coming. We need to strengthen our testimonies and the testimonies of those around us. We need to do everything we can to hasten the work. One thing that really stuck out to me was doing temple work for our own family members. We need to attend all our meetings and study the scriptures daily. I hope you all got as much out of conference as I did. Remember what President Thomas S. Monson said about going back and study the talks again. I know I will because there is so much to take in at once. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Eu Ti Amo!!! I love you in the little Portuguese I am learning from Sister Cotton! Love, Sister Taylor