MIRACLES HAPPEN WHEN YOU BELIEVE!!!

Loved ones!

It's been an amazing two weeks! I had "Golden Retraining" which was AMAZING! We got to watch a talk by Elder Holland so obviously it was pulpit slamming out of this world! One of my favorite things about being a missionary is when the missionaries gather together. It doesn't matter for what, but when you get a group of missionaries together...there is nothing like it. It's my favorite. (Also, there are FIVE Elder Taylor's in this mission and I'm the only Sister Taylor, and that's pretty awesome.)

I got mail like FOUR days in a row this week! You guys are the best.  (: And yes, I still have the best friends in the world! (Shout out to my Rexburg peeps for that AMAZING package full of love and chocolate! I LOVE YOU GUYS!)

A story that I'm sure all of you will appreciate...We were driving to go look at an apartment that we are hoping to move into this next month, and we had a member friend named Melissa with us. She's awesome. Well, we forgot to pray before we left the house so we asked her to offer a prayer for us while we were on the road. And  I quote, "...And as Sister Taylor is driving we pray that we make it to our destination safely and with minimal complications..." Wow. It has been confirmed by an outside source that I am indeed a horrible driver. I obviously thought otherwise. ;)

You ALL need to read OurWonderful Journey Home from the YW broadcast of April conference. It's by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Go. Now. Read.

MIRACLES HAPPEN WHEN YOU BELIEVE!!! A member of our ward has a cousin who just moved in. Her name is Kristie. She immediately began to ask questions about the Church! She couldn't wait to meet with us and "has a completely open mind, and wants to hear all we have to teach her about the Church." I AM SO HAPPY!!!!  We are setting our second appointment up tonight! She came to church on Sunday with her daughter! She has also been reading the Book of Mormon! It is such a blessing to know that anyone can prayerfully read it to know of the truthfulness of it for themselves! She is so open to learning more! I don't know how we got so  blessed! I love her so much and hope to continue to watch her grow closer to 

her Savior!

ANOTHER MIRACLE! We live on the 3rd floor. Heat rises. We have no A/C, you do the math ;) We have been so blessed because the past couple of weeks it has been slightly rainy and cool outside. Well this past week, there was a particularly hot and humid day, probably the hottest we've had so far. There is a man named Todd who lives at our apartment complex and we are convinced he has been sent here to help us. On this particularly hot day, we pulled up to our apartment one evening and Todd was outside and said "Hello!" to us as we came in. Then, out of nowhere, he says to us, "You girls need an A/C unit don't you?" We were stunned, because we had not mentioned our air conditioning-less environment to anyone. We told him that we indeed had no A/C. He then told us that he'd go get one and he'd be right up with it. Not more than 10 minutes later, he is at our door with an A/C  unit for our window and a giant fan for our kitchen. SO AMAZING! God is aware of our every need! And then...he sends others to be our angels (: Always follow promptings from the Spirit, you never know when you might be the answer to someone's prayers. And guess what? My companion also likes green bananas. That my friends, is a HUGE  blessing.

We had a "Special Stake Meeting" yesterday! Elder Bednar came and spoke to the Scranton stake! IT WAS AMAZING! Elder Hamilton from the seventy also came, and all of the talks were exactly what I needed to hear. Isn't it amazing how if we spiritually prepare, we can receive personal revelation at ANY church meeting?! I know this to be true!!! For starters, he took 30 minutes of his talk just to speak to non-members that were present. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!?! Everyone there pretty much got every missionary discussion in 30 minutes. And to quote a couple of things that Elder Bednar touched on while addressing the saints...

• We don't have agency to do whatever we want, we have agency to choose to follow Christ or suffer the consequences.
• We will never stop inviting those we love to hear the glad message of the restored gospel!
• We no longer live in obscurity. We cannot go back to the darkness, we are sitting in the spotlight and this is the Mormon Millennium!
• Don't be afraid to give a reason for the hope that is in your heart!
• The 13 Articles of Faith can answer every gospel question someone will ask you!
• We are not better than other people, but we know better.
• Agency  =  the ability to act and not be acted upon
• Our agency is elevated as we are baptized. It is merely the beginning of taking His name upon  us. You now have representative agency.
• The temple is where we take His name FULLY upon us. What He wants now trumps what we want after we've made temple covenants.
• Make your home the MTC.
• Stop praying for the missionaries to find people to teach, that's YOUR job! (ward members)
• RISE UP and stand as a witness of Him at ALL times, and in ALL things and in ALL placesand in ALL that you do! You are a member of His church!
• Stop praying for people to show up to church next week...GO GET THEM! NOW!

What more is there to say?! Take heed my friends! (:

We had Zone Unity today! It's where a bunch of missionaries get together and play softball and eat Rita's. It's pretty awesome. We serve with amazing missionaries! And I cannot hit a ball with a bat to save my life. I made it to second base...once. It was miraculous.

Sister Earl and I were able to do a lot of service this week! Sister Scavnier is an older lady in our ward who can't get around very well.  We went over and weeded her flower beds! She was hilarious and awesome! She fed us Chinese food and cake for lunch, and then kept rambling on about some IRS scandal? Beats me. She's awesome. THEN we went to Sister Wheelis' house and helped her do some gardening! It was so much fun! :D She grows EVERYTHING! If it comes up out of the ground, this lady plants it. And she has 1 million helpful hints on every subject. I told her that she needs to write a book. I also told her that someday, 10 years from now when I'm married, I would call her up and ask her for all of her recipes. She's the coolest.

We started a Book of Mormon class in Tobyhanna (a nearby town) for all of the members that live out there! Our ward boundaries are about 900 square miles total....crazyness. It was so much fun! Partially because we don't have to teach the class *thumbs up!* We had way more people there than we thought we would! Especially for it being the first week of the class!

We are moving soon! Not sure where though...The Elders' lease is up on the 30th so we have to be out by then because they're moving to our apartment. And...We're getting a set of Spanish speaking Elders!!!!
(GREATLY NEEDED!!!!) We are SO excited! We're not sure if anyone really knows that yet...but the office Elders told us :D

We drove to a town called Blakeslee today, which is about 45 minutes away from where we live. AND NO ONE WAS HOME! You can't just call and make appointments with people, they'll tell you that you can't come over, so obviously you need to sneak attack them and just show up at your house! Poor Melissa, she came out teaching with us and we didn't get to teach anyone!! :( BUT! Sometimes, courage is saying, "I'll try again tomorrow!"

I love you all. I know that as we strive to fulfill our Heavenly Fathers will, we will be set free. When we lean on the Savior's Atoning sacrifice to help make us stronger, He will lift you up. I know this to be true. In all things strive to represent the Savior. It is only because of Him that we can return home to live with our Heavenly Father. Study the Atonement and come closer to your Savior every single day. He is your brother and your friend.

I love you all! The Lord lives and loves you!

Sister Kadee Taylor