August 15, 2011

I want you all individually to know that I love you. I keep learning more about the importance of family. This week me and my companion have been studying prayer and the atonement. Everytime I feel more and more about the importance of the gospel in my life. We talked with an investigator about movies the other day and I realized how distant I am from the world right now and how much I love being distant. The world offers so much that isn't worth the time. It was cool for me to see. Not just movies but so many things. True, clothing and shopping as well. I have such a diminished desire to shop. CRAZY HUH :)

I love you all, the Gospel changes lives.

We are teaching a family that is GAUCHO mesmo. Everyday he wears the traditional gaucho clothing but they didn't go to church Sunday which broke my heart. If you all could pray for that that would be nice, Claudia, Robson and their son Davi.

So much love.

Sister Taylor

If anyone is looking for something to study Mosiah 4 is great!

August 8, 2011

Hello Wonderful Family!!

I hope that you are all doing well and that everyone is loving summer time there. It has actually beeen really hot here this week. Then it rained and because of the humidity our house was all wet. So crazy.

Exciting news, I am training. She is the daughter of a stake president and acts like one, I don't know how to explain it but she is always pushing to do more and be better, its great! Its just hard sometimes because I feel like for the first three or so months here in Brazil I didn't get what was going on so I don't feel like I really have all that much practice in doing all of the little things I need to be doing right now to teach her. Also I am starting to depend on her because she speaks Portuguese and so I expect her to take control of situations sometimes. But I can't do that. When it was just two Americans we just jumped in and did all that we could to explain and talk with people. But I need to do better in SOOOOO many things. Definately a chance to learn and grow, I have to remember 1000 things at the same time and I feel like I am barely afloat sometimes. But she is good and very much GET IT DONE attitude. But with a very Brazilian side to it too. It's hard to explain. But I love her, Sister Pinheiro.

I am learning that its personalites that help us grow a lot. With change and new personalities we adapt and learn how to handle life differently. With every change we have new opportunities and its never easy but growth never is.

I can't believe that harvest was so fast this year!! I think that is amazing!!!

I have one minute left. I want you all to know how much I love you and pray for all of you. I am continually learning about the importance of the family and I am so grateful that we are a family. We need to do all we can to ensure that we will be an eternal family. It's not easy but the blessings are so big! I love you all.

Love, Kat

August 1, 2011

Today is tranfers but we don't have a phone officially because it got lost before I got here, and we don't know what it happening!!!!!! We totally want to stay together and we feel like we are learning a ton and we love our investigators!!!! But we are trying to be ready for whatever is going to happen and trust that we are ready for it. Our District Leader is headed over here to talk to us but he hasn't come yet and I am feeling nervous!!! I might be training in a different area or we are just moving houses or the other Sisters will move in with us. Lots of stuff. We just don't know yet!!

Our investigators, I have told you all a little about the faith of Alex e Laura. Here are some pictures of them and their 2 little boys. We had lunch with them yesterday, she saved up all week to give us a nice meal, I think it's the best I have had during the mission because I knew the HUGE sacrifice that it was for them and that they so willingly gave it!!!!!! Wow I love them. (Also everyone here makes potato salad, but it's so much better here!! I love it). Then they went to church! I just love them so much. They don't know everything about the gospel but they have so much FAITH!! So can't wait to be baptised and their marriage papers are finally coming. It's been like a two month wait and its finally on its way!!!! Kind of funny the age difference between them. She is 19 and he is 37...... :) It's weird to think about sometimes but they really are so happy and have so much personality. They are not perfect but they are willing to do everything and they have seen the blessings come into their lives!!! They are such an example. They live in the worst place!!!! Every one there is a crack addict and they are just this little diamond in the rough. We can't even go there with out a member. So to feed us lunch we meet them way far away from their house and they walked us there and back. It's so amazing. And they like us!! That is a bonus. ;)

Our bedroom doesn't have a door handle that works from the inside so we have a towel on the corner so we dont accidently get locked in our room!! But one night it was really cold and we we had the heater on, so without thinking I shut the door really hard with the towl on the corner and we were locked in. My lovely companion climbed through that little window in the bathroom (which leads to the laundry room) after a long hard day and we laughed so hard and had to get a picture. That is my guilty face with the door!!!

We have had a lot of old men tell us that we are really beautiful this week. That is kind of weird and we don't mark to come back and teach them. We have the funniest experiences together but we are learning and doing all that we can to help our investigators grow. I like that we support each other and if one feels like we should do a certain thing we are willing to try and go along happily and put our all into it. We have a member who is in the hospital here so we go and visit her, be so grateful for the hospitals we have back home. It's very different here.

There is a picture of a little gaucho, he is in the full get up. He was playing with a toy accordian and dancing to music on the radio so we stopped to get a picture. Sosososososo cute!!!!

The Gospel is so true. I know I am not great at teaching and speaking Portuguese but I feel the importance of it every day!!! I want to help these people but they have to want it. It hurts so much sometimes when I know the huge difference this will make if they will just read The Book of Mormon, pray with real desire, and go to church. People all over are looking for something to change their lives but if they don't do something different they won't get different results. We have one guy who is 30 and he wants a different life he just isn't willing to do what he needs to. He reads the Book of Mormon but he doesn't pray or go to church. We can't keep coming back to see him because he just talks about changing and doesn't act differently. But it breaks me heart because his life is unhealthy in everyway, he just doesn't follow through.

Family, I love you all. I showed pictures of you guys to Alex e Laura and I missed you all. I have one more year on the mission. I will have a lot more experiences and a lot more trials. But every day I am trying to be better, and trying to learn. In this next year a lot of things will happen and you all will have a lot of experiences, please keep sharing them with me, even if it's the smallest thing!!! I love hearing everyday stuff.

I love you all. I pray for you all, especially at this time I am praying for harvest and that everyone will be safe.

With all of my love.

Sister Kathryn Adalee Taylor

July 25, 2011

So harvest should be starting today!!!!! Wow that is really weird to think about!!! I am praying for all of you and those little cherries! Remember I love you all!!!!

I was reading the last general conference address and Elder M. Russell Ballard said this, "Brothers and sisters the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple, no matter how much we try to complicate it", it's so true and so much of what we teach is simple. I gave a talk last week that talked about enduring to the end. And I think a lot of times we want something new and catchy but it reallly is the basics. We will keep hearing the basics because it's exactly what we need to do!!! It's so amazing and beautiful. As we do the basics and live worthy the Holy Ghost will help us learn how to apply these things more in our lives and that is when we grow, God is just and perfect. He will always bless us acording to our faith in keeping the commandments! ALWAYS! Because he is just, he has celestial laws that he abides by and we have to do our part to receive those blessings. We are teaching a couple right now who want to be baptised and are waitig for their marriage papers. They told us a story Saturday about how they had 10 dollars but had to go to the center to buy what they could. They had no gas for two weeks (for the stove, everyone here uses propane for the stove) which means NO warm food at all and it's been cold some days. They have two little boys, one that is almost 3 and one that is almost 1. Someone crashed on their bike and dropped an envelope. Then got up and left, Alex and Laura picked it up and it had 400 dollars in it, they put it in their backpack and contuinued on. A few minutes later the man came back and started asking if anyone had seen the envelope. Alex called him over and told him he had it (Laura was a little more resistant, she wanted to feed her kids) but the man said thank you and that it was his entire months pay. When Alex and Laura came home the Bishop had sent them some food and a tank of gas. They were willing to do what was right and were blessed. They even said, "if we had kept that money, we might have had enough to buy food and clothes but who knows what else bad could have happened?" They have such great faith. They want to pay their tithing and they have nothing!! It's so amazing.

My comp is amazing. We are working together. Sometimes it's hard to speak Portuguese because it's so much easier in English but we are really trying to focus on speaking Portuguese. The Bishop here is really result oriented and is kind of mean. Actually he is just really ´get-it done´ but it's all good. We are doing the best we can and I actually think we are doing really well. Sister Wells and I were talking the other day that we would like to stay together for the next transfer and see all of our couples baptised (we have a lot that are waiting for marriage papers before baptism). I would love it if that could happen but who knows. I might be transferred again at the end of this week, maybe just a different ward. We don't really know.

My companion is from Springville, Utah.

The pictures here are Sister Wells with our phone :) and bedroom. Our ward mission leader is amazing!! He goes out with us all the time and our phone got lost a few weeks ago so we have been without a phone, so he gave us his sons phone. He also fed us chahasco...spelled totally wrong, but its Brazilian bbq, by far the best I have had on the mission and better than any other meat I have ever eaten!!! :) Anyways this is her trying to figure out the phone, and our beds in the background.
The other one is Maira, form Camobi, I don't know if I sent this one last time but I love her. She is so wonderful. Then the other one is a picture of her family (posted last week), the dad finally said a prayer my last night there. First time in four months that he prayed out loud for the group. So tender. The gospel is so true and it blesses families. We have to use our faith to recieve an answer from God, but he will answer, he always does.

I love the gospel, I love you all. This is a very special time I have to serve Heavenly Father and help his children learn about how to return and live with him again. Preparing the way for the second coming of the savior!!

Love always and forever,
Kat

What's new with the kids? :)

July 18, 2011

To recap, my last week has been marvalous!!!

Monday night was terrible, my comp was annoyed with me ect. whats new? But then we had a zone meeting Tuesday morning and our zone leader talked about following rules and staying in people's houses too long. It was amazing!! I think hearing everyone else say it was really good and I finally felt that we had hope. One hour after the meeting the Mission President called me and said that he was transfering me to a new area!! Cruz Alta!!! And that I would be with Sister Wells for three weeks until the tranfer is up. Then we don't really know what is going to happen. She is an American and has two months in Brazil. She had a little while in Alabama before she received her Visa, we overlapped in the MTC like two weeks so I got to know her a little bit there. She is way cool. I have learned so much with her this week. It's so fun. When the President called me he said that I was being transfered and that he thought I would finally be happy. It was really precious but a little disappointing because it was the first day that I actually felt that I had hope with my other companion.........but now I am here!! In Cruz Alta!!! We have a lot more funny experiences, and I think the lives of people are just more interesting here. We are both new in Brazil and we speak about the same level, but this area is more humble and real feeling. It's a pretty big city but it kind of has a small town, everyone knows everyone, feeling. I really like it. It's a little more dangerous though so we have areas that we can't walk at night:) But not a big deal. It's all good.

I guess that another Sister got transferred too so I am afraid all of the Elders are talking bad about the Sisters now. It's really kind of stupid but some of the Elders are really mean. Like down right mean. I had never understood that before but the one that is really bad just has two weeks left on the mission so we are just waiting it out for him to leave. The streets here are really confusing and it's kind of crazy but we keep the rules and every day we have something to laugh about. I just need to learn how to do that in Portuguese!!! :)

Brazilians are really nice!!! and helpful. I talked on Sunday and I am pretty sure most of it didn't make sense but in my mind it did :) Its funny to see everyone have pity on my new companion because the other sister got trasnfered when I got here. Everyone really liked her so it's kiind of like Oh sorry I am here now :) but its all part of the process. They will get to know me and love me too.

Attached are some pictures of the investigators I left in Camobi, that was really hard to do. The one of the family with a little boy is really special to me. We had 4months together and the last night there the dad finally said a prayer!!!!! I wanted to cry. It was so sweet and simple. The wife is Maira, she has had amazing experiences with the Book of Mormon and she knows its true and wants to be baptised but we are waiting for the dad, Fernando, to be ready too. They are such a special family I am not sure what other picture I attached it might be a less active, Zeni. She is like 70 but has the heart of a 15 year old but with the wisdom of an old person. Really she is great. I'll miss her.

Thanks for the advice this week, but it really was a good week!!! Over analyzing kind of makes my head spin. But thank you all. I love you all so much and thank you for the prayers. The gospel is true and when we live it, it's all possible. Let me know if I can do anything to help anyone there.

I have been thinking about service and how it's a covanant that we have made with Heavenly Father to serve others. Like it's literally a covenant with God. Kind of a big deal........ makes me want to be a better person. Love you all and I have been reading the last general conference Ensign. Way good!!!

Love,
Kat

July 11, 2011

This week was like the place where satan lives (I figured little ears don't need to hear that word) but I have been telling myself the real word all week. Last Tuesday we had a zone conference with President. I was ok until I saw the other sisters, then I needed a hug. Later we started talking a litle about it and I just started to cry. The conference started and I kept crying on and off (in a room with 50 other Elders, great) but our mission president is great, after he finished speaking we went and had an interview. I started to bawl, I couldnt hold it in. He said he felt like we needed to be together right now but he doesn't want it to ruin my mission. Anyways, he is such a blessing, really really a blessing.

As you all know, as a peacemaker I don't like it when people don't like me, and she doesn't like me. Sometimes she talks about me in a way that she wants to be funny but isn't and then not keeping the rules. The biggest problem is staying in peoples houses. She wants to stay and talk, but we have to leave and she says OK bye, you can't leave without me. but in a joking way to the investigators but she is serious. Then I start feeling tense because we have been in a house for 1 1/2 hours (45 minutes is the limit) anyways, it's not uncommon for us not to talk. I can't think of anything to ask. I have alerady tried the normal things.

She is quick to point out my flaws but oh well, its true I have a ton. On Wednesday President started with interviews in our district and he said I was a good missionary and to continue on. He had an interview with her and things were a little better after but something always happens. I am afraid of being proud but its really that I want to keep the rules. Its so much easier when people have the same desires.

But i got the package!! In 3 weeks!! I had been praying that I would get it soon and I did! that is almost unheard of to get it in 3 weeks!! it came on the day that I bawled my heart out to President. So it was a huge blessing!! Thank you all so much for the smores!!! and clothes and especially the notes and pictures! warmed my heart!!

We have two really amazing families that are legally married!! And two others that are amazing but not married!!! marriage is a huge probem here but the work is moving forward. I am afraid that if we don't keep the rules they won't be baptised. Its amazing how our obedience will influence people!!

I had a thought this morning, that I need to choose to serve the Lord or have a happy companion. That made it pretty clear for me. I need to choose the Lord. Its not easy, I hate people not liking me. Our district leader is kind of harsh and says I need to be more forward but I know she is going to hate me. We have a zone meeting tomorrow and I am praying that it will help!!!!

I don't think she feels strengthened by the Spirit so she looks for it in other ways. I don't know how to help that.

Sorry these emails have been kind of despressing lately, but I love you all. Thank you for the prayers. They help so much. I pray for all of you!!!!!
Know that I love you and that I always think of you all!!

The gospel is true, Christ lives, we can be better everyday!!

Love always,
Kat

July 4, 2011

Dear Family,

This week was ROUGH!! But I did feel the hope of prayers, so thank you all for that!!! Things are still rough and it's coming slowly. I have been informed about a lot of my weaknesses, big and small, this week and am trying to humbly improve. :) We all know that isn't the easiest thing!

In my house I can see my breath......ya its cold! But huge blessing, the sun is shining today!!!!! My hands and feel are always cold, don't know how to fix that one. I already wear like 4 socks and a plastic bag because my plastic boots (which I happily bought with my birthday money, thank you parents) aren't completely waterproof. :)

I think there is a bug in my bed because everyday I have more and more bites on my body and I try not to itch them.

I have learned a lot about strengthening my testimony this week. It's something we NEED to do every day so that when the hard times come, because they always do, that we are a little more capable of handling them better than the time before. This life is a wonderful process of learning and working and pushing ourselves forward. A Dove chocolate wrapper once said "strecth your body and mind" I would like to include spirituality with that too. We always have this moment to choose what we will do and how to act, let's choose to be a little bit better in this moment then we were before.

How much I love you all and pray daily for you!!!!!

With all the love of my heart.

Love, Kat