So my pday has moved to Thursdays now, yay!! Also, I am now allowed to use Facebook as a missionary, so you might see some posts from me. Don't worry, I'm not being naughty! I can only use it to teach people and share uplifting thoughts. I can't communicate with any of you through Facebook so if you talk to me through that, I won't be able to respond for another year or so... so just stick to email!
This week I've been able to work at some fantastic places! The first of this week was at the Sarah Granger Kimball home. Wow I just love that place more than I can say! I get a bit of sitting time at that home because its further away from the rest of Nauvoo and people don't think to come see it. That just means I get to study my scriptures for a long time! Hours even! Sister Miskin gets to study a lot too. That means we get to prepare with the Spirit for a long time for the few people who may come to that home. Wow, every tour we give is so powerful! The Spirit is always obviously present. I got to talk to a young woman for a while about her preparations for going on her mission. Her grandparents were wandering the house and talking to Sister Miskin. We talked for a good half hour about missionary work and what to maybe expect and what to learn and prepare for. I told her that missionary work is such a joy and a blessing, the greatest cause on earth. She left really excited to go and serve. I love the youth!
Yesterday and the rest of this week Sister Miskin and I get to work at the Land and Records. This is an extraordinary place, if you come to Nauvoo you cannot leave without coming here!!!! Any information that researchers have found about the people of Nauvoo are here at this site. You cannot find it anywhere else in the world! I have found pages upon pages of my ancestors who lived in Nauvoo and I had no idea until I came here! So many amazing stories! I got to find my family members whenever I had a break, but that site is so busy. We were helping people from the moment we opened to the moment we closed! I helped tons of people find their relatives and save the information so that they could keep those documents forever and put them on family search. You should have seen the light in their eyes and the excitement that filled these people when they found a relative they had no idea existed! Wow it is so fun and exhilarating to work there I love it!! I hope I get to work there a lot more! There was a couple of young men that came in with a group. They didn't look very excited to be there and probably didn't expect to find anything. Well I helped them print out their family pedigree chart and start finding people. They both found multiple relatives in the 15 minutes they were there. They got so excited and would call me over to tell me a cool story about the person they found. It was amazing to see how they changed so fast. I have always had a slight, well actually major, obsession with family history, so this place is totally where I belong. I know without a doubt that Nauvoo is my mission!
So I mentioned last week that pageant is starting up soon, and that will bring lots of people. Pageant is two shows/ performances here in Nauvoo. They tell about the experiences of the people of Nauvoo and about the experiences of missionaries who went to Great Britain to serve. I am so so excited for it to start! I have been practicing my ASL a lot lately, trying to get it down so I can be an interpreter. Its so hard! I'm really nervous that I'll mess up and the people who need the interpretation won't know what's going on... I hope they get the main idea! Even though Pageant brings lots of great people, it also brings lots of protesters. These people come by the bus load and are paid to stand around Nauvoo and tell people about "how bad this church is." They yell and hand out flyers and try to get in arguments. Its pretty scary, but my job is to ignore them and help people avoid them if at all possible. It makes me really sad that people think they need to say so many bad things about this church, they have no idea how great it is!
A great quote I wanted to share with you is something that has really helped me this week. Its from President Dallin H. Oaks, he said,"Trust in the opportunities of the future rather than the disappointments of the past." I learn new things about repentance all the time. This week I learned that I may be repenting for myself and allowing myself to be free of that guilt, but am I letting others do the same? God has promised us that when we repent, He remembers our sins no more. If God is willing to look past our faults and forgive us of our sins when we ask, then can we look past the faults of others and forgive them when they may wrong us? Do we hold grudges? Do we not give second chances? Do we still hold onto the one bad thing someone did like 5 years ago? We all make mistakes, and it is so important to remember that. Everyone will do something that is wrong. We need to learn to grow with these people, allow them to change. Don't hold them back when they are trying to become better! Remember, our inability to love someone is not their fault.
I was able to finish up reading The Book of Mormon this week, so I got to start it over again! I wanted to leave you with a scripture that just gives me so much happiness and hope. Its Moroni 10:32, it says,"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." I love The Book of Mormon! I promise, if you read this book, it will protect you from the temptations of Satan. It will give you power.
I love you all!!!! Keep up the great work!!
-Sister Taylor
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