tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27067212160577463682024-03-05T03:57:33.514-08:00While in the PhilippinesSarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-5811422038005262992014-12-08T18:58:00.000-08:002014-12-08T18:58:00.317-08:00AND I CLOSE WITH A BANG<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If the typhoon doesn't hit us....</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll see you all next week:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This has been a year and a half with the Sister Taylor turned filipino.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-34997502262104262782014-12-01T19:21:00.000-08:002014-12-01T19:21:00.107-08:00THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They sent the first ever missionaries (there's two of them) to open up a mission in Sri Lanka. They are from the San Pablo mission here in the Philippines, and our branch met them as they were at the temple last week. Cool thing to think about as missionary work just keeps expanding!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remember how I always felt (and still feel sometimes) like showering was a waste of time? One of the first things I learned way back long time ago was that you have to shower every day here. BUT. I found out this week that I can now shower in a record time of 6 minutes! One of the sisters timed me, because I'm know for the short showers:) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My companion, Sister Bautista, is really good at charcoal paintings! After a year of being together, there are still things I learn about her. The conversation that led to finding that out? Secret:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And for the final one. People keep asking me what the biggest thing I've learned on my mission. And I've thought a lot about that one too for the last couple of weeks. I kept thinking, how am I supposed to fit everything I've learned here into a couple of sentences. How do I describe or type out the changes I've made? I thought it might be hard work, or charity, humility, patience, or how to have fun, how to change, teaching skills....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For me, it all eventually came down to the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There was an Apostle that says everything in this church is just a facet of the Atonement. And I figured that out here. Everything I've learned, done wrong, improved, and changed is because of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, and the plan He gave to us here on earth. A plan that includes faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I spent a year and a half teaching that to people, and in the process, I became another one of my own converts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wala na akong ibang masasabi maliban jaan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: Our lesson <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1989410602" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="margin: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">last Sunday</span></span> in gospel principles (our class for investigators and recent converts) class was talents. I always cringe at those kinds of lessons, because I have weird talents. But this is the great part about Filipinos. Our teacher, Brian (who is hilarious), asked me what my <i style="margin: 0px;">hidden</i> talent was, and for some reason I told everyone that I could touch my nose to my knees..... I still can't figure out why I told them that, but nonetheless, they wouldn't let me leave class until I showed them. Even worse, because I haven't been exercising for the past couple of weeks, I couldn't even do it. Call it hidden talent fail hahahaa. But, they all just laughed, and it's become another one of the Sister Taylor-isms that are almost too well known to Guagua branch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I LOVE YOU ALL!<br style="margin: 0px;" />SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-11085891516800088442014-11-24T16:45:00.003-08:002014-11-24T16:45:37.141-08:00THE DAY GUAGUA FLOODED THE TEMPLE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">we're on a boat</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The white, 11 passenger van pulled up in front of the 7-11 at the plaza around 3am<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. None of the stores around had opened yet, people were still asleep, but the driver opened the door to find an 84 year old nanay already waiting on the bench nearby. She had a flashlight in one hand, a sweater on her shoulders, and her temple recommend in the other hand. She was ready and waiting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One by one, everyone showed up and piled into each seat in the van.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4FHgyGFYmuMpN6yiJjVY1Gr8srO-bDmsW2LLcNNyVtdEaBSSsCrWysdttC-nOT0V9oWWRt_sHvMnjoOjn9ZmGVD4g-gG1q9BoHodGSyuFrjxpg9Bf9WtFOHmEhQ5cvSckZs7CXRCNoz4/s1600/.right+after+this+picture+their+bed+broke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4FHgyGFYmuMpN6yiJjVY1Gr8srO-bDmsW2LLcNNyVtdEaBSSsCrWysdttC-nOT0V9oWWRt_sHvMnjoOjn9ZmGVD4g-gG1q9BoHodGSyuFrjxpg9Bf9WtFOHmEhQ5cvSckZs7CXRCNoz4/s1600/.right+after+this+picture+their+bed+broke.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Right after this picture their bed broke.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jackie and Rachel woke up to a cell phone ringing, letting them know that they were the last ones the group was waiting for. With no time to shower or cook rice for their kids to go to school, they pulled on skirts, grabbed their temple recommends from the shelf next to the bed, and ran all the way to the plaza. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The van finally pulled out of the lot around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_904926393" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="margin: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">4:30am</span></span>, completely full of still half-asleep Filipinos, but wide-eyed in anticipation for the day. There was a orange-red sun that filled the entire sky, and was just starting to come up behind them, almost waving goodbye. Kids were waking up for school, store owners were sweeping their sidewalks, and 11 recent coverts from Guagua started the trip to Quezon City, Manila.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They were off to storm the temple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was a 4 hour ride, with no air-conditioning on a day that managed to reach a cool 96 degrees outside. Because they were the last one to arrive earlier that morning, Jackie and Rachel were stuck in the back, where Tatay Guanlao kept teasing them and telling jokes that made no sense. The only other loud voice came from all the way in the front. Sister Abella was naming names and passing back blue and pink temple cards to each person in the van. The only other thing to really pass the time was think about what was waiting for them, and what they would be doing with those colored cards once they got to the temple.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv2FuY6JHlbhCW8XDHZ3fk86_tYYYSqFkPU7jJcUYwC4XajdCmqQUYuKXNrvMy7-9vq-WNo_dJSLPTCXhqrlaJ2RGGCh1Diull63n2ITc8-G1FFJJHlP0UaftKFC-XdzVzxTmIjZQDqwH/s1600/a+windstorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv2FuY6JHlbhCW8XDHZ3fk86_tYYYSqFkPU7jJcUYwC4XajdCmqQUYuKXNrvMy7-9vq-WNo_dJSLPTCXhqrlaJ2RGGCh1Diull63n2ITc8-G1FFJJHlP0UaftKFC-XdzVzxTmIjZQDqwH/s1600/a+windstorm.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">a windstorm</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was everyone's first time making it to the temple, and when the van finally made it, everyone piled out with mouths open, admiring the size of the big white building in front of them. They weren't sure what to do, but lots of nice old people soon came out to greet them and showed them inside. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each had brought with them a newly signed temple recommend, that they gladly, proudly showed to the man in front. One by one they went in, names in hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dressed in all white, each member was able to do baptisms for the dead. Some baptized parents, grandparents, children, and cousins. Guagua branch was able to complete over 100 colored cards in that day, each one representing a family member receiving the gospel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nanay Espiranza (my favorite 84 year old nanay) went into the water to be baptized for her mother. When they read the first name (which wasn't her mother) she protested, and proclaimed, even in English, "That's NOT my mother!" The same with the second and third names, until the fourth where she refused to go on until she heard the name of her mother. Her mother's name was finally read, and a big, big smile came to nanay's face as she went down in the water and came up crying. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFvWO8g-Dvc1RlrI2JKpfFFJKj56LdBgWyGqhX-7EIhGPRcMqhEnlDKtgTu_-m1h8SLJ92HvVkcsSe0BFmugLCfVZ_g4faVvSXia6NGrzWZCmWL89SC6n3Xx3qNrmQNlA4ARC5jZHtC0ua/s1600/my+favorite+grandmas+here.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFvWO8g-Dvc1RlrI2JKpfFFJKj56LdBgWyGqhX-7EIhGPRcMqhEnlDKtgTu_-m1h8SLJ92HvVkcsSe0BFmugLCfVZ_g4faVvSXia6NGrzWZCmWL89SC6n3Xx3qNrmQNlA4ARC5jZHtC0ua/s1600/my+favorite+grandmas+here.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">my favorite grandmas here</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She then exclaimed "It's just one more step until I get to heaven!" All the temple workers were a little surprised at the sudden loud voice from a very small lady:). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Guagua branch was at the temple all day, but it came to an end as they all piled back into the big white van that would take them back. Everyone was so sad to leave, all promising to find more names so that they could come back again someday. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The van was silent the whole trip home, still full of 11 Filipinos, now asleep, that were tired from a long trip. Sister Abella still sat in the front (our family history consultant) and sorted all the now complete pink and blue name cards that the temple workers had given back to her. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVS-CAH7cTmzhPf50S8ExWS15Cmu-HeQV0hPzwTI4I3kebK1TiWI7YyL-0e61k_TKP11TP4ELkqFzybpa5UvYs0JBWuOGR3mI8ZXDH_kP9iteMlaBROPRtYg3mOC-e8NsBNMPF4L-H6fOH/s1600/my+grandchild+(the%2Btrainee%2Bof%2Bmy%2Btrainee).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVS-CAH7cTmzhPf50S8ExWS15Cmu-HeQV0hPzwTI4I3kebK1TiWI7YyL-0e61k_TKP11TP4ELkqFzybpa5UvYs0JBWuOGR3mI8ZXDH_kP9iteMlaBROPRtYg3mOC-e8NsBNMPF4L-H6fOH/s1600/my+grandchild+(the%2Btrainee%2Bof%2Bmy%2Btrainee).jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">my grandchild (the trainee of my trainee)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jackie and Rachel walked home after the trip, tired but happy. They turned the corner and found the sister missionaries coming from the opposite direction, who got big smiles and ran towards them, asking question after question about the trip. They asked about every detail, every person that went, until they had asked every question they could think of. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm so grateful to have been put in this branch, and to see the people I love finally make it to the temple. It was so cool to see them go through each step before getting to this point. Finding ancestors, visiting cemeteries, figuring out how to work a computer, and becoming worthy to receive a temple recommend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The temple is definitely where it's all at!!!!<br style="margin: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px;" />LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-50222548118675830892014-11-17T13:03:00.000-08:002014-11-18T13:03:44.188-08:00LET'S GO BACK TO HALLOWEEN FOR A MINUTE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">MLC</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I always have great stories to tell you, and then the week (or sometimes month) goes by and I still haven't told you it. But going back to Halloween, we totally had it Filipino style here. Halloween here is actually on November 1st, and it's called All Saints Day. As their version of trick-or-treating, the Filipinos spend the whole day in the cemetery sitting next to their dead ancestors and partying. It's like a big family reunion in the cemetery, how fun does that sound! People go home to their hometowns, and as you're maybe realizing, no one is home. No. One. For the missionary, All Saints Day becomes more like a No Work Day. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, aaaaaand waaaaaalked (there's the reference to the primary song). When it got dark, we finally got to go home, because everyone starts drinking, and had a cute American style halloween party. Maybe you saw it in one of the pictures I sent. I was a gypsy, Sister Bautista was a flamingo, and there was a pumpkin and 80's girl too. We played stupid games, made videos that have absolutely no point (I've gotten really good at that), and ate no food because it was fast Sunday</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. Ha. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8lUFeiJ_2L7oJw6niD-KGwFVl_0khTbRs18AobqV553iO7VAZHDtHWah0OCwv5Xdw0nSJUeeZGbhB1Aat6OL7Lm85RApXOIOx8PZ7_WM_fpcdqu8f5_wDKbVylQtW3sLkV5BOOusQAWP/s1600/floods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And that was how we spent the week before transfers. We also called it a transfer party, because everyone made bets I was transferring. I even made bets that I was transferring! Transfers came, transfers went. I'm excited to still be here in Guagua, after I had been here for 6 months I figured an extra month and a half can't make that much of a difference. I asked president if there was a reason he didn't transfer me. All he said was "revelation." But I figured that seemed like a pretty good answer too. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Q-0I004axmx5lBWuYd0WleO1qRTt2JYf7uGCmBRG0qyaTZSzb_mXDp1iuGUIScnV_p8DVmuOaOKTCsgyNyAdZbRY-DlQr4z1hF6V5Kb51onklEX8vLBdAQyXKpUc3xqQKCZiU5mK2pwA/s1600/ice+bucket+challenge.jpg" height="148" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">ice bucket challenge</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Q-0I004axmx5lBWuYd0WleO1qRTt2JYf7uGCmBRG0qyaTZSzb_mXDp1iuGUIScnV_p8DVmuOaOKTCsgyNyAdZbRY-DlQr4z1hF6V5Kb51onklEX8vLBdAQyXKpUc3xqQKCZiU5mK2pwA/s1600/ice+bucket+challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We went to visit a less-active yesterday who we hadn't been to in a couple months. She opened the gate and was really surprised when she was us. I thought she was going to tell us to come back another day, but the first things that came out of her mouth was "I thought you moved Sister Taylor!" And I wanted to reply, "They said it was revelation....", but instead we just laughed and she fed us spaghetti.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6i0GpRTtniLkuQtLpSIPWP5wy6l4rAWO4zXEIyPCo5FKgdrEuVLoZN9Hzt8Wg5xPOgE3gsbZfUanpINCaP9DplCQS0bdk70ygEEioKVLSU-S4-PSzA7aHPIE1npBPpBDOx4xNiVHQ4Bm/s1600/our+companionship+shirts.jpg" height="200" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="148" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">our companionship shirts</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6i0GpRTtniLkuQtLpSIPWP5wy6l4rAWO4zXEIyPCo5FKgdrEuVLoZN9Hzt8Wg5xPOgE3gsbZfUanpINCaP9DplCQS0bdk70ygEEioKVLSU-S4-PSzA7aHPIE1npBPpBDOx4xNiVHQ4Bm/s1600/our+companionship+shirts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But I've gotten unmeasurably close to the branch in the time that I've been here. We had a service project at the branch president's house last week and pulled all the weeds out of their yard. It was more like digging in the sand though. We worked (and got really tan) for a couple hours. And then ran through rice fields, had a water fight, carried Sister Bautista around in the wheelbarrow, and ate cow tongue that they cooked. Yummmmmy. You'll get to meet them when you come, I love their family. But they won't feed you cow tongue:)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTziEjesdYS-kgit9P7bpiLwim6UGLniZvvgolacEjFpr1Do5Oj1triQCRjBNLZIbBglbtbOrGhUXNoHcsH_2RxpqLfyRD8HP8acqVO7YC6MRsUhtAKuH3iW7GP4RNdnsp99RnoGWZG2xr/s1600/service+project.jpg" height="148" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">service project</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTziEjesdYS-kgit9P7bpiLwim6UGLniZvvgolacEjFpr1Do5Oj1triQCRjBNLZIbBglbtbOrGhUXNoHcsH_2RxpqLfyRD8HP8acqVO7YC6MRsUhtAKuH3iW7GP4RNdnsp99RnoGWZG2xr/s1600/service+project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When you come, it will probably still be just as hot as ever here in Guagua. Some things just never change. Even in eight months. We didn't get any rain this season and I think last week we had straight 90's. Are you ready for that? Or a better question, am I ready for winter in America? No.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I slowly am starting to think more about coming home. Sister Malig in our branch here has a daughter coming home <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_822262420" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span> from the San Pablo Philippines mission and I was talking to her about it yesterday. She said she can't sleep anymore from counting down the hours, and just keeps thinking of all the things she'll cook when her daughter gets home. Her daughter sent a backpack home last week to them and Sister Malig told me the minute she opened she started crying (on the crowded bus) because it smelled like her daughter. I could relate, and thought it might be a little bit of what you guys are feeling. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-68643152652464616692014-11-10T11:51:00.000-08:002014-11-10T11:51:16.290-08:00I GOT TRANSFERRED TO MANILAAAAAAAAAAAAA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">we tried to make our hair curly</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm proud to say that I'm (very rushed) in writing my email from the very heart of Metro Manila!!!!!!! I laughed too when I emailed you guys all last night from the mission home, and figured I would get a good reaction.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWx2eOjQE23vfyBXwJG6YiTEUVEzT70RGjTyhsQB5pUIWkZC8-gXITQramI6YdF-pnNlPuq5PiLHE3xxTDqPlYWxSw-drc5NuyHI51m9XXxLkgOHCSIAJxWXpxhN0y62150SuIYWO7qrK/s1600/FHE+before+our+investigators(that%2Bwere%2Bgoing%2Bto%2Bbe%2Bbaptized)%2Bleft%2Bto%2Bwork%2Bin%2Bmanila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWx2eOjQE23vfyBXwJG6YiTEUVEzT70RGjTyhsQB5pUIWkZC8-gXITQramI6YdF-pnNlPuq5PiLHE3xxTDqPlYWxSw-drc5NuyHI51m9XXxLkgOHCSIAJxWXpxhN0y62150SuIYWO7qrK/s1600/FHE+before+our+investigators(that%2Bwere%2Bgoing%2Bto%2Bbe%2Bbaptized)%2Bleft%2Bto%2Bwork%2Bin%2Bmanila.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">FHE before our investigators<br />(that were going to be baptized) <br />left to work in manila</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I'm totally joking, I'm still in Guagua. Transfers came and went, and nothing came or went for Sister Taylor. I will be finishing out my<i> fifth</i> and <i>final </i>transfer there before I take the first flight home to 'merica. I've been there seven and a half months now.... But I have become pretty boss in speaking Kampampangan to most people here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But... I really am in Manila right now. We got here around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_945926819" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">5am</span></span> this morning after taking 2 jeepney rides, 3 bus rides, and a van, all of which induced a good kick of car sickness. Why am I here? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BECAUSE SISTER TAYLOR IS GETTING CLOSER TO COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CzgnaVy0qbhnoCSPXO2RcFSmmIZRF2VJWS-wjdp9iHWkbwCWdbpBDElaM0FEwQvihgfLwnUkBInssShvluhtxy7fwn0glGd_C8lTjOmItBSUjFNXtMMNKRzofZ6NXfAqDDfHUYZU2pu/s1600/halloween.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CzgnaVy0qbhnoCSPXO2RcFSmmIZRF2VJWS-wjdp9iHWkbwCWdbpBDElaM0FEwQvihgfLwnUkBInssShvluhtxy7fwn0glGd_C8lTjOmItBSUjFNXtMMNKRzofZ6NXfAqDDfHUYZU2pu/s1600/halloween.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">halloween</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We got a call <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_945926820" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> night around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_945926821" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">11pm</span></span> (we were asleep at the apartment) telling me to pack my bags, pick another sister and travel to the mission home<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_945926822" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> afternoon. All the missionaries going home this transfer (9 sisters, no elders) were going to take a wild one day trip to the international immigration offices in Manila to get fingerprints and have our passports released. We got about 3 hours of sleep <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_945926823" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> night, and haven't had sleep since. Traveling to Manila was brutal (like, who wants to ride winding roads with crazy bus drivers in the wee hours of the morning?), but we got here and after around 4 hours of lines, interviews, and paperwork, I'm allowed to come home!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know, what a big relief, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And now we may have gotten a little lost trying to find this computer shop in the middle of the biggest city in the Philippines, and might have a really hard time later finding the bus station again. You'll see next week if we managed to find our way home again. But in the meantime, I got to eat a real, bean and chicken burrito earlier for the first time in a year and a half:)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmuEIVB9SRMQIpP-xa6MyILv7vegATDZXzf1pr5aW7n1JezPt7Cev2_P_DLESm6aT464QTesOUvRZmTJTuhYCVLtZDMBIRE-2OuP-gfUp46PPa4fT47oHYFh5aDobhY_CNZwq5lQ1j3QGl/s1600/travel+plans!!!!!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmuEIVB9SRMQIpP-xa6MyILv7vegATDZXzf1pr5aW7n1JezPt7Cev2_P_DLESm6aT464QTesOUvRZmTJTuhYCVLtZDMBIRE-2OuP-gfUp46PPa4fT47oHYFh5aDobhY_CNZwq5lQ1j3QGl/s1600/travel+plans!!!!!.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">travel plans!!!!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The only other time I've seen Manila was when we got picked up outside the airport to go to our mission the first time. That was almost a year and a half ago and the place is still as dirty and crowded as ever. I had really strange flashbacks to when we were all on the bus for the first time in the Philippines, freaking out because we had no idea where we are, where we were going, and nobody could figure out how to use the showers (in our defense, it's pretty much just a pipe sticking out of the wall). But I love looking now to how far I've come, and realizing that I made it through all this:).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And all the 'lasts' are starting to pile up. I am now in my last area (which is only the third), with my last companion (still with my lovely Sister Bautista), will go to my last MLC in a couple weeks, and started using my last planner last week in our weekly planning. I have my departing missionary x-rays to give to the mission office! It's just becoming more and more sure everyday. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*secret- I can now count the weeks I have left on ONE HAND. Wow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">alskpqoweiur;<wbr></wbr>laksjdpoqwieu0u3ekdsjfkalsdruo<wbr></wbr>pqweifjal;sdkjmz,<wbr></wbr>nlsdqpwoeirjkal;skdnav;<wbr></wbr>oweirtaskldmfal;sekj <- that seems like a good expression of feelings</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCRIryRc296UPKLsIbWUJIT4RwIOt9-hWjhqZA4JRF8XyhHsKkAjquFl6frTk_buy4b_guu9-uS70LIAuKSb7uYb3ghlismFlxW9PlPYEREY-dp0OMTSikuNT-EQdV87dyX_Y08VB4uP_/s1600/what+my+companion+does+at+night+when+she+can't%2Bsleep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCRIryRc296UPKLsIbWUJIT4RwIOt9-hWjhqZA4JRF8XyhHsKkAjquFl6frTk_buy4b_guu9-uS70LIAuKSb7uYb3ghlismFlxW9PlPYEREY-dp0OMTSikuNT-EQdV87dyX_Y08VB4uP_/s1600/what+my+companion+does+at+night+when+she+can't%2Bsleep.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">what my companion does <br />at night when she can't sleep</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: Sister Bautista and I left the apartment to go out to work in the afternoon, I asked her if she had the cell phone. She said no and smiled, but I thought she was joking (our whole companionship is just a lot of strange and not really funny humor). She asked me if I had the cell phone, of course I said no. So I let it go, pretty positive that she really did have the cell phone (she always tells me she doesn't have the cell phone when she really does). Later that night we went to call our investigator to tell her we were coming to visit and I asked to borrow the phone. Sister Bautista said she didn't have it. I was like "ya, that's a good joke, but I read you too well. Just let me borrow the cell phone." "No, I know you have the cell phone Sister Taylor. You're awful at joking." "I promise I don't have the cell phone..." And we realized that neither of us really had the cell phone. We had gotten so used to each other's really bad joking that neither of us had thought the other was serious. But a day without the cell phone ultimately proved to be a peaceful workday with no one calling:). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You'll find that my (kind of strange sometimes) sense of humor still hasn't changed too much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVES,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-40812249869207220962014-10-20T15:12:00.003-07:002014-10-20T15:12:52.454-07:00I REALLY DO LOVE MY COMPANION<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvQJy3OqLKVpt8UqUFLIoWlFDWI7_iHenc_-G47lWTBN05m3i1AP_gNsSCHHlX9jt46UmAZT1ZpubN4uNh0h2tuefIqZ61TUiUU6pbRuoWJqGkn-U2YqmIa0-J2cdsO73Tidb0BCR6NMJ/s1600/the+sun+is+shining!%2Band%2Bthere's%2Ba%2Bflood!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvQJy3OqLKVpt8UqUFLIoWlFDWI7_iHenc_-G47lWTBN05m3i1AP_gNsSCHHlX9jt46UmAZT1ZpubN4uNh0h2tuefIqZ61TUiUU6pbRuoWJqGkn-U2YqmIa0-J2cdsO73Tidb0BCR6NMJ/s1600/the+sun+is+shining!%2Band%2Bthere's%2Ba%2Bflood!.jpg" height="296" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">The sun is shining! and there's a flood!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I just was so so excited to update you on our family history trip yesterday! It took us 6 hours, but we were able to get 15 recent converts to start and finish their family tree and almost 20 names printed out for them to take to the temple! We're one step closer to making it to Manila (hopefully we make it before I go home...). We started the second batch of recent converts yesterday in our class, so we'll be making the trip again in about a month! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The rest of this week was just a disorganized mess of funny stories and bloopers. And it's in my email as well this week as a disorganized mess as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After I showered one morning, I tipped the shower head up so that Sister Bautista couldn't reach it to tip it down to shower. She was the next one to shower, and within about a minute I heard a series of fast, high pitched Tagalog and then my name yelled:). She tried to get me back by doing the same thing (I still don't know how she reached the shower head) but to say the least, it didn't do much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was coerced into eating chicken brains fried in egg. They wouldn't tell until after I was done chewing.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOok6n2YwiDqmE-FajQK0036tQ-TUIi8Uj0LeNSL2LWIuc4rwUFFwCuZq5qKvjbC3K_vJ2J63y5QGBO281DjLwUn38Cw_7uHrP4TQzFtL9FP2_9OJORrSME8NZDGNEh9yeihAxsv_erDxP/s1600/Sister+Taylor+&+sister+Bautista+Selfie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOok6n2YwiDqmE-FajQK0036tQ-TUIi8Uj0LeNSL2LWIuc4rwUFFwCuZq5qKvjbC3K_vJ2J63y5QGBO281DjLwUn38Cw_7uHrP4TQzFtL9FP2_9OJORrSME8NZDGNEh9yeihAxsv_erDxP/s1600/Sister+Taylor+&+sister+Bautista+Selfie.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Taylor & Sister Bautista Selfie</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A sister missionary that's companions with my old trainee told me a story of how she got a stain on her shirt and couldn't get it out. Sister Penaranda (my trainee) told her to just use a white-out pen over the stain and it would come right out. She told the sister missionary that's what her trainer (me) used on her clothes. But what Sister Penaranda thought was a white-out pen was my <i>tide to go stick </i>that I kept in my bag:). But this poor sister missionary used white-out on her shirt, and when the stain still didn't come out, Sister Penaranda couldn't figure out why it wasn't working for her companion. The conversation ended, and the shirt ruined. All my trainee could say was "well, that's what my nanay always used, your shirt must just be different."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That's about all for the week. It's a little short. Just like my beloved companion:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-2186131224169354752014-10-13T14:11:00.001-07:002014-10-13T14:11:05.647-07:00THE LAST TIME I WATCH CONFERENCE IN TAGALOG (AND IN THE PHILIPPINES)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9X9Ngn6mO9arhdbf3bZReuwaR8kE2RlrDAToehK014erzaez41zgZZQNEt55X1zzDCTLmZDgk6EQ7E-NcQmoNtTee_e8nDIEnkGv4g_SaUU24979TZJhdkPfyH8TEWxi-ld7DobMmkvtl/s1600/Sister+Taylor+&+Sister+Bautista.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9X9Ngn6mO9arhdbf3bZReuwaR8kE2RlrDAToehK014erzaez41zgZZQNEt55X1zzDCTLmZDgk6EQ7E-NcQmoNtTee_e8nDIEnkGv4g_SaUU24979TZJhdkPfyH8TEWxi-ld7DobMmkvtl/s1600/Sister+Taylor+&+Sister+Bautista.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Taylor & Sister Bautista</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Isn't that title such a great sentence? That was the first time, just yesterday, that I thought of the fact that there are some things that I'm doing for 'the last.' But, I'm not too sad, because it means there is even more that is waiting in the subject line 'to happen.'</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I came out of conference <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2080764584" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> afternoon with lots of answers, plans, and new goals. A great part about conference that no matter how world-wide every conference is, Heavenly Father still uses it to touch and help the individual. I figured out almost exactly what I'm doing when I come home, and what I want to be doing the next couple of years. I learned about the Atonement, and gained a new perspective on pondering (you'll laugh at that one Mom and Dad). I also spent the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">whole time looking for the old elementary music teacher in the tabernacle choir, but I couldn't find her! Did she retire??!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was almost 20 hours of new revelation that we listened to (how many hours does it take to listen to the Book of Mormon?), that's like an entire new book of scripture! I got ready for all that time at the church, sitting in a plastic chair, by picking out my most comfy skirt and buying all sorts of snacks. There were cookies, dried mangoes (of course), a chocolate bar, frozen grapes, and Filipino-style dried potatoes. Some of the time we squeezed into the only room of the church that has air-conditioning, and a lot of time was spent standing up over and over again to try to fix the tv connection. I loved the time Elder Holland commanded the entire conference center by the way he spoke, and the times revelation came for me came with furious writing and thinking.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVRgGNYMR_2bcos126tw8xJenyV5lEOtkgfxOiDzfTkQVtq7ixgMFl3P1MioDzYHjSB1QJ231ybgU8RaI10rv2wbwml3AZXIBh91jH_ESfGS-Ooe6-JF2YKS_IusgH7bedAzJf6vb787o/s1600/those+are+crickets-+they+taste+a+little+crunchy,+and+it+left+a+couple+legs+in+my+teeth+haha+part+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVRgGNYMR_2bcos126tw8xJenyV5lEOtkgfxOiDzfTkQVtq7ixgMFl3P1MioDzYHjSB1QJ231ybgU8RaI10rv2wbwml3AZXIBh91jH_ESfGS-Ooe6-JF2YKS_IusgH7bedAzJf6vb787o/s1600/those+are+crickets-+they+taste+a+little+crunchy,+and+it+left+a+couple+legs+in+my+teeth+haha+part+2.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">those are crickets- they taste a little crunchy, <br />and it left a couple legs in my teeth haha</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My favorite talk was by Elder Jorg Klebingat (is that the right spelling?), I love the way he combined the importance of spiritual and physical well-being. I got the chills when he talked about trials seen as a time to prove our self, given at a time because of what we are doing <i>right</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I loved too the focus of temples and the little bit that was said again about family history work. It's been amazing to see in all the emails I get every week, how my family is getting involved in the work of salvation. Reading all the different things you're doing (temple work, missionary callings, family blogs, indexing, and Anna's calling) makes me so much more sure how Heavenly Father is rushing his work now to the finish line. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazyqYErzq8EfiaKwfE-3viWohI5wC80WNFERfenrwt8hm5kSsQuaGBh6UT0uhUjzDBm5Zjb0L1WS2YKqOoOOt6AcM6WeKiesX12ToGsmZdC3t1iJssD0-7Fjp4_l6VDRoXbu9kmIYqqqQ/s1600/those+are+crickets-+they+taste+a+little+crunchy,+and+it+left+a+couple+legs+in+my+teeth+haha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazyqYErzq8EfiaKwfE-3viWohI5wC80WNFERfenrwt8hm5kSsQuaGBh6UT0uhUjzDBm5Zjb0L1WS2YKqOoOOt6AcM6WeKiesX12ToGsmZdC3t1iJssD0-7Fjp4_l6VDRoXbu9kmIYqqqQ/s1600/those+are+crickets-+they+taste+a+little+crunchy,+and+it+left+a+couple+legs+in+my+teeth+haha.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read somewhere that the Spirit of Elijah is actually a manifestation of the Holy Ghost that is given to accomplish the eternal work. We can all feel it, even non-members, and no matter where we all are around the world, it seems to have the same effect. To move the effects of salvation to every one of God's children, living and dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So while you've been busy with Elijah in the United States corner, he's been just as busy over here in my corner! Last month, I started a family history and temple prep class in Guagua branch! We got to the classes the first <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2080764585" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> (I teach family history, my companion in temple prep), and realized no one knew anything about family history, only 2 relief society had even made it to the temple in the last decade and we had no access to computers. But I went to work. We've been training family history consultants, gotten half the ward members so far through the newly established family history 6-week program, and we have a branch temple trip finally planned for December. The whole branch has felt the Spirit of Elijah as we started to look towards the temple, and our branch president has been dealing out temple recommends like money:) We have a trip for all our recent converts this week to visit the district center (1 hour away) to start their pedigree charts on <a href="http://familyseach.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">familyseach.org</a> and our district president is also meeting with our companionship this month to be able to implement this program we've started within the whole district next year. This small manifestation of the spirit is impacting lives here for eternity.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRoVwIaiAOv7IUYYnwVJL37wq8XmLtaoefqj4eE0NiB92iS5CKJ-h2I2l_1cWiaCWI6oFOHnpIfuPYSr0jAst-ZKScB2Gm6_ErOwrbUxMBlrJtRW1LSuK-J75_NIpobiRPW6D0eu1tR7O/s1600/those+are+crickets-+they+taste+a+little+crunchy,+and+it+left+a+couple+legs+in+my+teeth+haha+part+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRoVwIaiAOv7IUYYnwVJL37wq8XmLtaoefqj4eE0NiB92iS5CKJ-h2I2l_1cWiaCWI6oFOHnpIfuPYSr0jAst-ZKScB2Gm6_ErOwrbUxMBlrJtRW1LSuK-J75_NIpobiRPW6D0eu1tR7O/s1600/those+are+crickets-+they+taste+a+little+crunchy,+and+it+left+a+couple+legs+in+my+teeth+haha+part+3.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: This perfectly demonstrates the cultural differences in the Philippines and America, a little of what you'll be seeing when you guys come! There was a nanay (old grandma) that told us a story when her daughter was married a couple years ago to a foreigner. They had a reception in the states and the mom came with. After a wedding here, there are roasted pigs, cauldrons of rice, and all sorts of meals. And then they spend the day eating. The nanay said that when she attended the wedding for her daughter in the states, she didn't eat before the reception so that she could eat a lot at the reception. She got to the reception to only "a really sweet cake that tasted like sponge and colorful juice" in her own words. And she spent a little while trying to convince me to just get married in the Philippines because weddings in the states are "full of weird decorations and flowers you can't eat." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Would you guys ever come over if I wanted to get married in the Philippines?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. That question is a complete joke.</span></div>
Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-44899305291535423152014-10-06T14:50:00.000-07:002014-10-13T14:12:56.064-07:00DO YOU WANT TO KNOW SOMETHING GREAT?<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Did you know Tagalog is the 4th most spoken language of the church?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Did you know we ate chocolate cake for breakfast this morning because my companion hit her halfway mark this week?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Did you know? I love being a missionary:)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWx2yLO85tzT1PQYz1LPpuwfDVG6IL3hb66UN4PJtT1YqEfLQMRntPQEsoB1xzrQv62wjdmfih_Fi5gAL45KWTP8TszBc-TRgAdMUJISI1VoY11lSEQKaVN3ky3xRT9g3qfp9IYGiSlBRY/s1600/Elder+and+Sister+Winters+with+Sister+Taylor+and+sister+Bautista.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWx2yLO85tzT1PQYz1LPpuwfDVG6IL3hb66UN4PJtT1YqEfLQMRntPQEsoB1xzrQv62wjdmfih_Fi5gAL45KWTP8TszBc-TRgAdMUJISI1VoY11lSEQKaVN3ky3xRT9g3qfp9IYGiSlBRY/s1600/Elder+and+Sister+Winters+with+Sister+Taylor+and+sister+Bautista.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Elder and Sister Winters with Sister Taylor and sister Bautista</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am 101% aware of the fact that sooner that I'd like to think, I'm getting shipped back home to America (yiiiiiiiikes). Actually, we got flight plans at the mission home last week. But for right now, I love my calling. We watched a movie with a less-active last week about John Moyle, you've probably seen it before, where he works on the Salt Lake temple as a stonemason? Anyway, we watch it with eeeeveryone, member and non-member.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And in the 50+ times I've watched it, there's one sentence that never fails to widen my smile. John Moyle has lost his leg, made himself a new one, and his wife asks him why he would ever even think about trying to walk again to Salt Lake to work on the temple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> "It's <i>my</i> calling, and callings are seldom convenient." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Sister Taylor</i> has been called to the Philippines for almost a year and a half, and there is no way that year and a half has in any way been convenient. I've never found it convenient to talk to strangers that don't like me, walk around when it feels like I'm actually just swimming in humidity, or have to figure out what these strange people are talking. But in those times, I have never been more certain that this is <i>my</i> calling. Heavenly Father has helped me to realize that in a couple really special ways, and sometimes my heart just wants to burst right out with the definite, infinite knowledge that I've gained. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fkWOtoWnB1oSiq5XL80-OSkuAhhS3zxnNz5sDV8NQpKei-WfCu3WLS1bg1MYxen2lqgFCkCC0qAnaSQHyWVH7sKgcrPr3UQ2ypyqhVewfsEtGt2QJtgjChAADtyqNaN91ch1sO2f7ew_/s1600/our+investigator+made+us+stools+with+our+names+on+them!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fkWOtoWnB1oSiq5XL80-OSkuAhhS3zxnNz5sDV8NQpKei-WfCu3WLS1bg1MYxen2lqgFCkCC0qAnaSQHyWVH7sKgcrPr3UQ2ypyqhVewfsEtGt2QJtgjChAADtyqNaN91ch1sO2f7ew_/s1600/our+investigator+made+us+stools+with+our+names+on+them!.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">our investigator made us stools with our names on them!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Again, I love my calling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We were going to Gary's house one day (investigator) and so excited because he is so so progressing. He's made us stools to sit on (we rarely ever teach people here that have actually tables and chairs in their homes) with our names painted on them, and waits for us to come every <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_514051570" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Tuesday</span></span>, <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_514051571" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span>, and <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_514051572" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span>. And the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_514051573" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span> afternoon that we went to him, we found him drunk. Halfway through us trying to figure out what was going on, he started crying (just picture that in a grown man who does construction for a living) and was angry at us (in a kind of funny, drunk way) because all the sudden he felt bad for drinking. But you know what, I loved being able to explain the influence of the Holy Ghost and need for repentance in our lives. "Repent is perhaps that most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary." It's been a long process of repentance for him, but he's done it and is finally getting baptized this week! Can you see the greatness of my calling?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">squid!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We get to watch conference this week too! I'm so jealous that you all get to watch it early, but all the things I've heard makes me even more excited to listen. I spent the last couple of weeks re-reading last conference, and my binder of church talks just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I wish I realized back then how great an opportunity conference is. Next April, I want tickets to actually be in the conference center:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: Okay, so back to Gary. At the end of our (very short) lesson, we made him a little banner to tape on his table that said "gary will not drink anymore" and we asked him to borrow some tape to stick it on. He was gone a really long time, and Sister Bautista and I just kept looking at each other with a big question mark. He finally came back and told us it took him forever to finally "the small tape." We looked at what he had brought out and it was <u>correction tape!</u> No matter how many times we explained, he didn't get that you couldn't use it to stick the paper to the table:). Oh, Gary when he's drunk. But he didn't really remember it the next time we went back to him.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">LOVE,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-756070532227592412014-09-15T09:59:00.005-07:002014-09-15T10:01:02.795-07:00LIZARDS LOVE MY HAIR<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0c59dq5EseGwBgqDAw1yXINTh0WmPYWqiQ-rym6fVTQGIpnoiqGcr9AxGE_NKlm5wKR0lMAVhOuWr-YhVDNabhO5YVtNgeN2-0qutboNLnhrlfIiSmcjzaLyJHK3KgJZyim_LX7HaGfo/s1600/this+is+what+happens+when+there's%2Bonly%2Btwo%2Bof%2Bus%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bapartment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0c59dq5EseGwBgqDAw1yXINTh0WmPYWqiQ-rym6fVTQGIpnoiqGcr9AxGE_NKlm5wKR0lMAVhOuWr-YhVDNabhO5YVtNgeN2-0qutboNLnhrlfIiSmcjzaLyJHK3KgJZyim_LX7HaGfo/s1600/this+is+what+happens+when+there's%2Bonly%2Btwo%2Bof%2Bus%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bapartment.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">this is what happens when there's only two of us in the apartment</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today seems to filled with all sorts of "well, this was supposed to happen, but because of the typhoon..." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We planned a service project for a member today (we were going to paint her fence pink) but it's raining, so that won't happen. Then Sister Bautista and I were going to do the ice bucket challenge later, but you can't do anything outside when the winds are blowing roofs off places. Ice cream isn't worth buying either, and we have to be home early just in case the street outside our apartment floods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So this is how our typhoon-style P-day is actually going. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8RqhzkbG_Bb9huCBgvFl_H5gIAh5oHg1sbt6j0TB8DMhHiCbrwd9S9W0FtKNAIgamvinJJN299aqS-P1plaSdGbpl-KE029Rim40ybl71gOKts_SByxXs76Ub0e7G53PzyDGlfVDd00NZ/s1600/a+less-active+that+I'm%2Balmost%2Bpositive%2BI%2Bknew%2Bin%2Bpre-existence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8RqhzkbG_Bb9huCBgvFl_H5gIAh5oHg1sbt6j0TB8DMhHiCbrwd9S9W0FtKNAIgamvinJJN299aqS-P1plaSdGbpl-KE029Rim40ybl71gOKts_SByxXs76Ub0e7G53PzyDGlfVDd00NZ/s1600/a+less-active+that+I'm%2Balmost%2Bpositive%2BI%2Bknew%2Bin%2Bpre-existence.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">a less-active that I'm almost positive <br />I knew in pre-existence</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We woke up at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2004728447" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6am</span></span> (and actually got out of bed by <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2004728448" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6:20</span></span>) to go to the market. There was an overwhelming amount of fish this morning (it's a fish flood too!!!), so we bought a couple of kinds that we've never seen before. Came home, cleaned the apartment (killed a couple cockroaches in the bathroom), and the breadman delivered hot pandesal for breakfast:). I planned to exercise ...but blamed not doing it on the typoon. We danced around with mops to Christmas music for a little bit instead:) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After we email, I want to buy a cake (it just sounds good right now), develop pictures I'm sending you next week, and then we're going to go try some hole-in-the-wall restaurant for lunch. The rest of the day will be sleeping, planning our workshop for <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2004728449" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span>, and updating the area book that I was to lazy to update yesterday...or the day before. Hee, oops. I blame that on the typhoon too. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3n5LJ-cDkh83BGATLQjSoxZSHHNnmv9NGeiNQ-5ZYNocVpUXhU5Ocj7QxbxoK8m2fQkBbwDjHlnCRNDXVImx7SCLI6vdpXhmVYCJabA5ydmjo3gNywdHMSkTs-Fb_qWef7XojgybzNnN/s1600/for+some+reason,+all+my+pictures+are+of+cats,,,.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3n5LJ-cDkh83BGATLQjSoxZSHHNnmv9NGeiNQ-5ZYNocVpUXhU5Ocj7QxbxoK8m2fQkBbwDjHlnCRNDXVImx7SCLI6vdpXhmVYCJabA5ydmjo3gNywdHMSkTs-Fb_qWef7XojgybzNnN/s1600/for+some+reason,+all+my+pictures+are+of+cats,,,.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">for some reason, all my pictures are of cats,,,</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, fun news for the week, I FINALLY MADE IT TO THE NORTH. FOR AN ENTIRE DAY. Last week we found out a general authority was coming to visit, so they shipped all the leaders up to Luizon for a day for some meetings with him, let us stay the night up there and then travel a little bit west for another combined conference. It's really reaaaally pretty up there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's an American that just came into the computer shop, and is speaking English. I keep getting distracted from my email from wanted to stare at him! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh ya, that north. I just want it to call my name next transfer!! </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-TWtOViNK3K75sMXzGpagegno87VmTlj0xR2nfERo1fLD4fhyieG7MhyphenhyphenebqkyRByJ0b5aa4FA69zKDB21iUOYStZIhLRPd4eb83jd1iSHgURUG7RPnb3QYAaGCnPyjcDwlN3b2-tKpqX5/s1600/recent+convert.+this+is+the+one+that+knows+how+to+sew+anything!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-TWtOViNK3K75sMXzGpagegno87VmTlj0xR2nfERo1fLD4fhyieG7MhyphenhyphenebqkyRByJ0b5aa4FA69zKDB21iUOYStZIhLRPd4eb83jd1iSHgURUG7RPnb3QYAaGCnPyjcDwlN3b2-tKpqX5/s1600/recent+convert.+this+is+the+one+that+knows+how+to+sew+anything!.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">recent convert. this is the one that <br />knows how to sew anything!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think rainy season finally decided to come down to Guagua. After a couple looong weeks with the el nino (no rain, all humid), the rain might finally be here to stay. I've spent quite enough time roasting in the heat, and this sister missionary might be becoming a little, over-roasted. Plan on welcoming home a daughter who now looks like a slightly whiter version of an African-American. Big, frizzy hair included.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: Oh yes, lizards love my hair. We could just generalize that and say insects and crawling things love Sister Taylor's hair. We were teaching our investigator, Roland, as our last appointment that night. He's still trying to figure out if he's feeling the spirit, so we were grilling him with super deep, spiritual questions. I'm asking about President Monson, and all the sudden two giant lizards fall on my head, squirm around in my hair for a couple seconds before running down my shirt and onto the floor. Time it, and the whole thing happened in about 5 seconds, and Sister Taylor didn't even miss a beat. But I don't know if Roland noticed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-82907084955597218412014-09-08T13:29:00.001-07:002014-09-08T13:29:23.833-07:00Picture Week!!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTk0lJeuk29kpxdGbRbTlL2uxKhRc3kDwY4M679_HUwIOe0dZ9t6pm5QPu84Id42qgnpdCmMrpkHewclM4M_O99HO_6tf1kUPs4W6KluWnu8ZyWMEdFF8EdvSOkxNZ2LyZBoD6E1O6pBLr/s1600/branch+members.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTk0lJeuk29kpxdGbRbTlL2uxKhRc3kDwY4M679_HUwIOe0dZ9t6pm5QPu84Id42qgnpdCmMrpkHewclM4M_O99HO_6tf1kUPs4W6KluWnu8ZyWMEdFF8EdvSOkxNZ2LyZBoD6E1O6pBLr/s1600/branch+members.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">branch members</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hnZCfpdHVXo9ob0UeVN62DnHR_yY2iTI4Ht5bG5291YglMCdyIlZdD54BBLZv-Ctj-NjoffheWyUKXeESDGklA7ZLL7Yx_i3-4wXTSodLRZnlRPXTMJS_SdThLLMaw3RrGhms-rCGKQK/s1600/I+finally+skinned+and+cooked+my+fish!%2Bpart%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hnZCfpdHVXo9ob0UeVN62DnHR_yY2iTI4Ht5bG5291YglMCdyIlZdD54BBLZv-Ctj-NjoffheWyUKXeESDGklA7ZLL7Yx_i3-4wXTSodLRZnlRPXTMJS_SdThLLMaw3RrGhms-rCGKQK/s1600/I+finally+skinned+and+cooked+my+fish!%2Bpart%2B2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">I finally skinned and cooked my fish! part 1</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_OVmOK6iYqsA_QhWqdy56x5rWqo92zPA_FMKyVEyIbMqRCzyP6SdDCkLtD0rTClThSi-EXGJi-h7ZTEhuHeSVpE7C7zrEF9hQQVcn77fBg2GmZlKziCFdxzjv2hfRv_yh_u7BPtLDvQ6/s1600/I+finally+skinned+and+cooked+my+fish!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_OVmOK6iYqsA_QhWqdy56x5rWqo92zPA_FMKyVEyIbMqRCzyP6SdDCkLtD0rTClThSi-EXGJi-h7ZTEhuHeSVpE7C7zrEF9hQQVcn77fBg2GmZlKziCFdxzjv2hfRv_yh_u7BPtLDvQ6/s1600/I+finally+skinned+and+cooked+my+fish!.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">I finally skinned and cooked my fish! part 2<br /></span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixeAhVzkk3rcjeb22KiXfgRmuL9TRlNXWZi6fjWzvxMaTCfBo8QW20JYEGrfGG_Ty-bm20fMDwMZpGkhYcg0jJkq5yWpB9wIfL-rXOTwHi6qUbIAP6TZ8294DBSq6SygtAhDJRf_5eeJf/s1600/this+is+what+a+little+of+the+bargin+market+looks+like.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixeAhVzkk3rcjeb22KiXfgRmuL9TRlNXWZi6fjWzvxMaTCfBo8QW20JYEGrfGG_Ty-bm20fMDwMZpGkhYcg0jJkq5yWpB9wIfL-rXOTwHi6qUbIAP6TZ8294DBSq6SygtAhDJRf_5eeJf/s1600/this+is+what+a+little+of+the+bargin+market+looks+like.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">this is what a little of the bargin market looks like</span></td></tr>
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<br />Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-50536814567848992402014-09-01T10:25:00.000-07:002014-09-02T10:27:36.010-07:00MERRY CHIRSTMAS!!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZBTLZfKuI90eG-J6MjVoe9RY-O3iMliuU7AX8f2dmHV2fZTFMSgVosVxxAPV8IL5CB2cyAlkUIRTw3vpKP93MKR9EQ-q-ATOpxkq4GmMPvh7jOs3mCKT_JRH6QwWJxoBalfhyphenhyphenI35to3-/s1600/it+almost+looks+like+an+american+dog!%2B(those%2Bare%2Brare%2Band%2Bfew%2Binbetween).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZBTLZfKuI90eG-J6MjVoe9RY-O3iMliuU7AX8f2dmHV2fZTFMSgVosVxxAPV8IL5CB2cyAlkUIRTw3vpKP93MKR9EQ-q-ATOpxkq4GmMPvh7jOs3mCKT_JRH6QwWJxoBalfhyphenhyphenI35to3-/s1600/it+almost+looks+like+an+american+dog!%2B(those%2Bare%2Brare%2Band%2Bfew%2Binbetween).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">it almost looks like an american dog! <br />(those are rare and few inbetween)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's officially Christmas season here! We walked into the computer shop this morning to "All I Want for Christmas" and a couple of homemade Christmas lights (gotta congratulate the Filipinos on that one:))</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkcDmnwOlmNq74spGCF0ChFNbxkNwA3VAUfjtufclzTaQlZ4y86MadNyXvkFRQQyKF8JjYshlKHCZPyoUkZ54CiJE683a4otgJ1PuQqWcLHieqcUg9qquhKchm6X0F_hb9zhPcM-oZLUy/s1600/edmar's%2Bbaptism!!!!!!!%2Band%2Bthe%2Bgarcia%2Bfamily.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkcDmnwOlmNq74spGCF0ChFNbxkNwA3VAUfjtufclzTaQlZ4y86MadNyXvkFRQQyKF8JjYshlKHCZPyoUkZ54CiJE683a4otgJ1PuQqWcLHieqcUg9qquhKchm6X0F_hb9zhPcM-oZLUy/s1600/edmar's%2Bbaptism!!!!!!!%2Band%2Bthe%2Bgarcia%2Bfamily.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">edmar's baptism!!!!!!! and the garcia family</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's not much to report this week, we just keep chugging along, and stopping to talk to new people as we chug. ha.haa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the new investigators we found this week was really nice to us. She even let us come back and teach her more than once! The second time we came back she welcomed us inside her house, took two cha</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">irs from outside and she sat on their bed. She had the pamphlet we had given her in her hands, almost like a worn copy of a well-read book. Her house isn't big, just big enough for the bed, a plastic dresser for the family, and enough walking space for the door to open. When you walk outside, that's the kitchen. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9iFiNgeAuzf4offNuaCd2mUT5r3q9gx-sj5ef4owfrP5NyirRFokv1GQnkJ3LIXWWpX6sd5aTc3u2ieAR5wvIRXqoYLjUdY4AqlOrpkRP_McpP9O08RD8dXKNXSkuOIezjkCoUm4CVzN/s1600/FLOOOOD!!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9iFiNgeAuzf4offNuaCd2mUT5r3q9gx-sj5ef4owfrP5NyirRFokv1GQnkJ3LIXWWpX6sd5aTc3u2ieAR5wvIRXqoYLjUdY4AqlOrpkRP_McpP9O08RD8dXKNXSkuOIezjkCoUm4CVzN/s1600/FLOOOOD!!.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">FLOOOOD!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And she was wearing the greatest shirt. Filipinos seem to always be wearing shirts with words. Usually those words are words that shouldn't be on shirts, or things that don't make much sense in English (oh, the good ole Chinese imports here). But her shirt made sense. So much sense, I'm writing my email about it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"The sun is shining, I'm alive, and it's a new day."</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyukP5aLdbL6paSLUet2DFNpqbHZk8uIZLUR8KAAJcD1vmturRfKgF1yctj2_Oapvibo-WdvKI5k1j52hGRNYrcUaIOBG5blOt4GJI__6vq7vIBeRXn0qX-v3aPPTF2f3BomFF1DF_goG/s1600/it's%2Ba%2Bhaunted%2Bhoussse!!!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyukP5aLdbL6paSLUet2DFNpqbHZk8uIZLUR8KAAJcD1vmturRfKgF1yctj2_Oapvibo-WdvKI5k1j52hGRNYrcUaIOBG5blOt4GJI__6vq7vIBeRXn0qX-v3aPPTF2f3BomFF1DF_goG/s1600/it's%2Ba%2Bhaunted%2Bhoussse!!!.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">it's a haunted houssse!!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple of words that helped change my attitude for the whole month. I don't know if she realizes the impact of those couple of words, or the implication of her wearing that shirt. A wife, with kids that only eat when there's money, a husband that doesn't come home, and in a house I can't even stand up straight in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But despite that, she was right. The hot Philippines sun was up, the day was waiting for her to make the most of it, and she was alive. </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzarTpAru-Qp2u4xiHF-BOd68iJOAj7pyAeuvh7qSliYffbwo6ecDEifRMZ15yAWcu76y3adZIB9DPsuc673Zvoy7WcHtfbG8qhHoZGQhJVaBTu4mC0ovGLSQZhHRubHAxwaWxHOq3Odee/s1600/haunted+house!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzarTpAru-Qp2u4xiHF-BOd68iJOAj7pyAeuvh7qSliYffbwo6ecDEifRMZ15yAWcu76y3adZIB9DPsuc673Zvoy7WcHtfbG8qhHoZGQhJVaBTu4mC0ovGLSQZhHRubHAxwaWxHOq3Odee/s1600/haunted+house!.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">haunted house!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our attitude determines our destiny. What we think becomes what we do, and what we become. I am so glad to be able to have a good attitude, even on days where it's easier to not try. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvzzVx1DguOGvoAC8C8RjlzhHnjPJWTHefslJqBzFHgnJJJkxGhCzNrwAuh0cNAai37FFfxq50DEKWhzxKVO1w1ZgPh7LKdKCS33cL83yQ8ccjemuaQAkAVPUEieWskFajfceKVxazGVi/s1600/we+had+exchanges!%2Band%2Bi%2Brode%2Bbikes!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvzzVx1DguOGvoAC8C8RjlzhHnjPJWTHefslJqBzFHgnJJJkxGhCzNrwAuh0cNAai37FFfxq50DEKWhzxKVO1w1ZgPh7LKdKCS33cL83yQ8ccjemuaQAkAVPUEieWskFajfceKVxazGVi/s1600/we+had+exchanges!%2Band%2Bi%2Brode%2Bbikes!.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">we had exchanges! and i rode bikes!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: I always seen to include in my emails how small my companion, Sister Bautista is. And almost all the funny things that happen during the week, somehow end up revolving around her smallness. Yesterday we were walking on a bridge, over water that was a green, grey color, with floating fish at the top and some kind of... plant I think. She was closest to the rails of the bridge and I was on her left. Halfway across the bridge, I pick her up like I'm going to push her into the river and she lets out a scream that stops all the people on the street. The street in a big city with lots of people. We both were laughing until our stomachs hurt, trying to make it across the rest of the bridge without collapsing on each other. But the people going the other way gave us a couple weird looks about why the foreigner was trying to drop a small filipina in a river. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love you all, enjoy the mountains. And Nate, remember don't drink the orange juice:)<br /><br />LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-27884558252049662812014-08-25T06:58:00.001-07:002014-08-25T06:58:13.629-07:00A WEEK OF FINISHING<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are finally finishing August!!! Big hip hip hooray! I've started to feel like I'm going through these months kind of like I go through bags of dried mangoes from the corner market (my dried mangoes never make it past a day...). I'm just about to put a big slash on the calendar. Me and Sister Bautista like to make a big deal of this.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also spent the week finishing the Book of Mormon again. Every time I close the pages after Moroni 10, I go through a little flashback of the things I learned, my changed perspective, and my widened understanding. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That sure is quite the book. And it makes quite the testimony.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I should be finished buying clothes starting this week. Should be... I was trying to organize my suitcases last week, AND, not everything fits. And I didn't even try to pack in my clothes I wear right now. Patay! ako! God has a plan for everyone, which the above could be a very valid reason for why I didn't transfer:) A blessing in disguise?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our mission president's wife gave us an exercise/fitness challenge to do every morning our last meeting. And happy to report, I finished the challenge and got a nice pat on the back from her.:) I also made the expert observation the other day that it looks like what appears to be muscle may be forming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In my spare time, I read the church handbook of instruction. I finished reading that too this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Garcia family is struggling right now:( We finished teaching all the missionary lessons. And they still aren't going to be baptized (sometimes family just annoyingly gets in the way). It just might not be the right time for that golden, golden, family. But I'm not ready to give up this week. If needs be, we'll finish teaching the missionary lessons all over again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finishing is a good feeling. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finishing makes me want to start new things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There has always been a need for people that could be called finishers, the question throughout our life can come down to, "Shall I falter or shall I finish?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">King David faltered after becoming one of the Lord's greatest leaders. Judas Iscariot took the one faltering step that took him from a beloved apostle to a betrayer.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjoo3uhz80qOozl-newO7QrNmuPTAZAKKR5pW0sdGlwP3AFEc_tvqnbSXERbD0TQo7VrzvxtgYgoSIe740M5iHBSXj5CTRnCPNfDRk6sK2jci7LpHTkT4By8QbTSmGW5-c_MpXJs7qYWmp/s1600/My+pinky+finger+is+as+big+as+Sister+Bautista's%2Bindex%2Bfinger).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjoo3uhz80qOozl-newO7QrNmuPTAZAKKR5pW0sdGlwP3AFEc_tvqnbSXERbD0TQo7VrzvxtgYgoSIe740M5iHBSXj5CTRnCPNfDRk6sK2jci7LpHTkT4By8QbTSmGW5-c_MpXJs7qYWmp/s1600/My+pinky+finger+is+as+big+as+Sister+Bautista's%2Bindex%2Bfinger).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But Job took the step of faith from the pit of trials to the right hand of God. Paul the Apostle wrote the famous words, "I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Visions of effort, faith, virtue, courage and prayer become the marks of a true finisher. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">President Monson could not have organized the feeling of this American missionary any better. It doesn't mean finishing is easy, I mean, even an apostle couldn't finish. But we propose that question to ourselves and then we create the way for it to happen. Heavenly Father needs those finishers now. And I'm not talking about a paint finisher:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: My pinky finger is as big as Sister Bautista's index finger:) #filipinosized</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE YOU ALL!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-2146679686878835752014-08-18T12:31:00.001-07:002014-08-18T12:32:42.668-07:00IT WAS A FLASH BACK RAPUNZEL MOMENT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3UxGQXfC6W3MJgGiYRtPuyUndC6M4QSgfK75UJv3yGmePrR0xi5ltOHBgNY5uESl9GryPopKUKhwOCGGFZMlTXhbCWP0-QmZb_IKOxWrnk2iAmXTvsn6K3si1BWCbtT_fV4doB5-S76b/s1600/back+to+the+curl~!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3UxGQXfC6W3MJgGiYRtPuyUndC6M4QSgfK75UJv3yGmePrR0xi5ltOHBgNY5uESl9GryPopKUKhwOCGGFZMlTXhbCWP0-QmZb_IKOxWrnk2iAmXTvsn6K3si1BWCbtT_fV4doB5-S76b/s1600/back+to+the+curl~!.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">back to the curl~!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's take a minute to go back to the good old days where I spent all my time watching, thinking, and obsessing over Tangled. Those were the good days:) And I always laughed so hard at the part where Rapunzel finally leaves here castle to find 'the stars.' </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She spends two seconds running around excited, and then a couple minutes crying. And then she rolls around in the flowers because she can't control her excitement, and then gets scared and wants to go back to the castle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That is a perfect explanation of how I felt on transfer day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoJCy56KqW6hOwUANr2A1FdlAk6l_MXbipwMxcfZAxEint1DjbAqOFRtsHBwfZG98O48m0xpGk6gJ9Y38QhdaoRiYnmNdrzYiqmnGxP4P1NQaiRStGfwaIzvVYLAI2oVqoD4wq8djDDa-/s1600/our+recent+convert+(my%2Bfirst%2Bbaptism%2Bin%2Bguagua)%2Band%2Bhe%2Bjust%2Bleft%2Bfor%2Babroad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoJCy56KqW6hOwUANr2A1FdlAk6l_MXbipwMxcfZAxEint1DjbAqOFRtsHBwfZG98O48m0xpGk6gJ9Y38QhdaoRiYnmNdrzYiqmnGxP4P1NQaiRStGfwaIzvVYLAI2oVqoD4wq8djDDa-/s1600/our+recent+convert+(my%2Bfirst%2Bbaptism%2Bin%2Bguagua)%2Band%2Bhe%2Bjust%2Bleft%2Bfor%2Babroad.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">our recent convert <br />(my first baptism in guagua) <br />and he just left for abroad</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I didn't transfer:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I still haven't traaaanssferred!!!!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I get to still teach the Garcia family:):)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm probably going to spend my whole mission in one place:/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy am I still hhhhheeeere??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I looooove Guagua!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And that's a little bit of how my day went on transfers. Because I'm still here in Guagua, and they closed our area and combined me with the other area and the other sister. Which means that our area just became the size of the entire Salt Lake city and then some. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTz4saU1yS8WxdnLhTkB1t5eUQTyEvgKDpfiP4p7CnZKAXTNtIKomkKOnZ8Q-YASIoxV2dGcODPlmMPyw628lstqWnT3M9CF2o9JGqv-JhM3qQezn6wS4bwvziPKIbAnIevnyUU8LltEsn/s1600/I'm%2Bon%2Ba%2Bboat!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTz4saU1yS8WxdnLhTkB1t5eUQTyEvgKDpfiP4p7CnZKAXTNtIKomkKOnZ8Q-YASIoxV2dGcODPlmMPyw628lstqWnT3M9CF2o9JGqv-JhM3qQezn6wS4bwvziPKIbAnIevnyUU8LltEsn/s1600/I'm%2Bon%2Ba%2Bboat!.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm on a boat!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj696BsZn_Y_ll3A0Y6ZqF-xoatvIKvWJhqSdWi7kTp5bUyUMrV2oK3V5XmZUuusZ4aR-lLTxNMftUfLb15t-O0OQRvNjo4L2ZxJyUMFjDDzrUei6IPHjalVQqhAEpNrzc7DliMFp42WMf2/s1600/me+and+Gonzales+got+matching+skirts+made...+one+of+8+I+had+made+out+of+home+spun+cotton).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj696BsZn_Y_ll3A0Y6ZqF-xoatvIKvWJhqSdWi7kTp5bUyUMrV2oK3V5XmZUuusZ4aR-lLTxNMftUfLb15t-O0OQRvNjo4L2ZxJyUMFjDDzrUei6IPHjalVQqhAEpNrzc7DliMFp42WMf2/s1600/me+and+Gonzales+got+matching+skirts+made...+one+of+8+I+had+made+out+of+home+spun+cotton).JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">me and Gonzales got matching skirts made...<br /> one of 8 I had made out of home spun cotton)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been a week of running around the entire city, trying to make it to all our appointments, and trying to figure out what in the world me and Sister Bautista were supposed to be doing. But I have a great companion! and lots of work! and lots of things that apparently I still need to work out here in good ole' Pampanga (maybe I'll finally learn their crazy language!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And this transfer I also got a grandkid! My trainee is training! I now am a proud mom <i>and</i> grandma haha. Now I just need to find a couple good knitted sweaters and a fuzzy cat...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And on the topic of cats. We had a mission meeting a little bit ago and I decided to change up the dress code a little bit. Usually the missionaries come wearing black, in cardigans, and plain professional. I wore a polka dotted shirts with pink dancing cats on it. And then I paired it with a blue polka dotted pencil skirt. It was quite the entrance I was able to make with all the seasoned missionary leaders:) I felt like true, blue, Sarah Taylor in that moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: This week, it's just the fact that I have been dubbed "the southern side missionary."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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</div>
</div>
Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-33121732708863833942014-08-11T20:41:00.000-07:002014-08-13T20:43:55.615-07:00I SET A GOAL TO THINK SHALLOW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKZzulhDP4xJR4mb_yJmnvNbURFGVTqgLi5q_YU7ZP8Y1URy9bTr-MvmWXhfzrSt3v3JgvTO_TaEuFBgE5pO0Rc65C9vGRXTeJRbzzGKAYl8wCoHOFdV9vlUqiACdMlxbdqSzachHbjH0/s1600/gotta+love+my+coke).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKZzulhDP4xJR4mb_yJmnvNbURFGVTqgLi5q_YU7ZP8Y1URy9bTr-MvmWXhfzrSt3v3JgvTO_TaEuFBgE5pO0Rc65C9vGRXTeJRbzzGKAYl8wCoHOFdV9vlUqiACdMlxbdqSzachHbjH0/s1600/gotta+love+my+coke).JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">gotta love my coke)</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a thorough conversation with Sister Snow one meeting, we came to the conclusion that I think waaaay too deep sometimes. I was telling her that sometimes I give myself an entire hour to just sit at my desk, prop my legs up, and think. We realized I had a problem. And that's where most of my headaches were probably coming from. So, for my email this week, I present my solution! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I made up a couple new songs while we worked this week:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to the tune of "Part of your World"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanna be where the Americans are</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanna see, wanna see them speaking English</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eating burritos and being able to drink....what's it called..... miiiiiiiilk!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Up where they drive,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Up where they ride,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Up where they stay all day in air connnnnnn! (that's air conditioning in Tagalog)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wanderin' free,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Someday I'll be,</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8aQIGs4MIT2Q0ZxPZN86Pd1dNLXg09Kc8P4njitJHdxccEtue0YnQIS53myTX7Yi-ARPfHyEG8nKHVASJHSuHShCLxOQB3duux0lXzKyb3pW8ZtP2BGPbXDpDUM00BhHHqLXZn7BZvcZ/s1600/doesn't%2Bit%2Blook%2Blike%2Bsuch%2Ban%2Bamerican%2Bbreakfast!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8aQIGs4MIT2Q0ZxPZN86Pd1dNLXg09Kc8P4njitJHdxccEtue0YnQIS53myTX7Yi-ARPfHyEG8nKHVASJHSuHShCLxOQB3duux0lXzKyb3pW8ZtP2BGPbXDpDUM00BhHHqLXZn7BZvcZ/s1600/doesn't%2Bit%2Blook%2Blike%2Bsuch%2Ban%2Bamerican%2Bbreakfast!.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">doesn't it look like such an american breakfast!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Part of their worrrrrrrrld (again)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to the tune of "Grandma got run over by a Reindeer"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sister Taylor almost got run over by a bus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Walking out to their work one hot dayy!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can say she's got real quick reflexes,</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cause as for her companion, she just stareeeeeeed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to the tune of "You Belong with Me"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm on the phone with our zone leader,</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">he's upset.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He's going on about something I don't get.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But that's okay,</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cause it's our P-day tomorrow.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxd0u9maJoxdL62DOu-GPUTYnZH1oSHH8LKLbS1nWrEmkW-GCSGgYil1MNZ2RVwxR3QiN2LjLuhgg7PPiIXIBz9uQSAaxuOEZ4KNV-USPm7UrxgrM-tbnAIO1iaeOKb3EftoQwBwHKaYV7/s1600/the+only+picture+i+got+after+the+typhoon.+at+the+chapel+a+couple+days+after.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxd0u9maJoxdL62DOu-GPUTYnZH1oSHH8LKLbS1nWrEmkW-GCSGgYil1MNZ2RVwxR3QiN2LjLuhgg7PPiIXIBz9uQSAaxuOEZ4KNV-USPm7UrxgrM-tbnAIO1iaeOKb3EftoQwBwHKaYV7/s1600/the+only+picture+i+got+after+the+typhoon.+at+the+chapel+a+couple+days+after.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">the only picture i got after the typhoon. <br />at the chapel a couple days after</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We wear long skirts, they wear white shirts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They fight for high stats and I just forget it,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thinkin' bout the day where I'll go home and find that all my friends I left,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All have jobs, and wives, and kids....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Can't they see that we've been walking in a high flood,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Punted all day</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Can't they just let us iinnnnnn,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your house is biiiiig,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and I have to pee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's all I've got.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just take me and send me to Nashville!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheflzIyNkQNkzfFsQxMb2CvLT2HljU9V0tU32L6M7pVyME7MJey9TncZQWlKuTnQbB4HVsBXwCbJEe7B7BCV_HTLU3SyPvMubjDsQ1odmKniPvoUS68JqVLYooJ3L-dKM4u9DAmY3AcYN2/s1600/THIS+is+the+Garcia+fam).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheflzIyNkQNkzfFsQxMb2CvLT2HljU9V0tU32L6M7pVyME7MJey9TncZQWlKuTnQbB4HVsBXwCbJEe7B7BCV_HTLU3SyPvMubjDsQ1odmKniPvoUS68JqVLYooJ3L-dKM4u9DAmY3AcYN2/s1600/THIS+is+the+Garcia+fam).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">THIS is the Garcia fam)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, yesterday the Garcia family was supposed to be baptized... But their family still hasn't changed their mind, and so just one of them, Edmar, was baptized. But at the same time, Edmar was finally BAPTIZED! He stood up to bear his testimony and starting crying so hard nothing came out, so after a couple of minutes, he just sat back down again. I LOVE SEEING PEOPLE I LOVE BE BAPTIZED!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjl_SUeQhxtN15PdYUB8Tz237HnGGokq3WIDbKcu_pjtk79SQXCdDULZaMVJP0UMp-qM0nVh5aqiPXslQ_kBXb_m53QRjoPDsx-PeDmIScsLIk5mNKtncOzb9edPiD5WcGa4vSds5OqfV/s1600/zone+conference+last+month+(while%2Btyphoon%2Bglenda%2Bwas%2Bhappening).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjl_SUeQhxtN15PdYUB8Tz237HnGGokq3WIDbKcu_pjtk79SQXCdDULZaMVJP0UMp-qM0nVh5aqiPXslQ_kBXb_m53QRjoPDsx-PeDmIScsLIk5mNKtncOzb9edPiD5WcGa4vSds5OqfV/s1600/zone+conference+last+month+(while%2Btyphoon%2Bglenda%2Bwas%2Bhappening).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">zone conference last month<br />(while typhoon glenda was happening)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: First. I don't think this story is very funny. I'm scarred for life. But everyone else I tell it to seems to find it funny when I tell them. So. Sometimes we pull down all the mattresses in our apartment downstairs and sleep on the floor because it's way too hot upstairs at night. We were all sleeping in a row one night, and the lights might have been off for about 15 minutes and I was just about to fall asleep. Then my leg was a little itchy. Lots of mosquitoes are normal at night so I scratched my leg and turned over. Then I felt something again on my arm. By this point I'm awake, move my head, and then I hear a little scuttle across my pillow. I sit straight up on my bed and see all these cockroaches scatter off my bed (and body) into the darkness. BIG heart attack. I'm screaming, climbing on top of our kitchen table, everyone is waking up. And my companion is running around with my flip flop, killing the cockroaches like we usually kill ants. I don't know if it was because I was so tired, or still half asleep, or just really scared, but I started crying. Standing on top of the kitchen table, in a muimui dress, crying and laughing at the same time while there are smashed cockroaches all over the floor. Now I have this overwhelming fear of sleeping on the floor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR (who was not infected by those cockroaches) </span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-68159237707147871352014-07-27T15:09:00.000-07:002014-07-29T20:51:43.971-07:00AS EXCITING AS LAST WEEK WAS, THIS WEEK WAS NOT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgT27VIMjWJioxyVhme5OwILCp3M9zy13EYsAFA99TRO_gNAFHFJBFJyUwOAD0Zt9YHTtcfOS35jY5hiA27hDUKc4rNsryCgi5n0S3ebMjPAw5pR5A4NzvczbcZCd213KUsUlzVT0Xr5n/s1600/a+district+Philippines+North+broadcast.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgT27VIMjWJioxyVhme5OwILCp3M9zy13EYsAFA99TRO_gNAFHFJBFJyUwOAD0Zt9YHTtcfOS35jY5hiA27hDUKc4rNsryCgi5n0S3ebMjPAw5pR5A4NzvczbcZCd213KUsUlzVT0Xr5n/s1600/a+district+Philippines+North+broadcast.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">a district Philippines North broadcast</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Things here are pretty much back to normal, it's cool to see how fast Filipinos can bounce back from a storm and fix everything right up! They're like little ants... haha.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We've gone back to working, teaching, being rejected, and preparing for baptisms this week and next week. I love seeing an area start to progress, and this one is finally getting to that point too! And just like all the other times my area finally starts to progress, I'm probably going to be transferred next week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even the Filipinos are going back to the normal. We went to one of our investigators last night, and she had gone right back to her habit of picking the little rocks out of the rice before it gets cooked. 6 hours, a couple kilos of rice, and an old lady with a strange (but calming) habit. It is definitely back to the normal here. If that's really normal...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As for the exciting parts. I've changed my favorite color to white. I LOVE WHITE! Maybe it's because I rarely see something actually that color here or maybe because white means clean (which I also rarely see) but, I really have just gained an odd obsession for white. All the clothes I've bought the last month have been white and black. Nothing catches my attention until I see that oh so classy combination of black and white. I don't know if that's what's cool in America, if it's not, I'm making it cool. WHITE. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaQs0rpz_9n9rhatrqHyj0epfCxdeXqCBBpMG0w970jruu6sX_WzrmoXyN5dEX-vP2pb-nOxIndpMnEC83XjTKnslBgFkeHxO39Pk8FbBbI9n_ysSmAkwaBzAKXAwgnuDX7JpLiB1vjpE/s1600/sister+gonzales.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaQs0rpz_9n9rhatrqHyj0epfCxdeXqCBBpMG0w970jruu6sX_WzrmoXyN5dEX-vP2pb-nOxIndpMnEC83XjTKnslBgFkeHxO39Pk8FbBbI9n_ysSmAkwaBzAKXAwgnuDX7JpLiB1vjpE/s1600/sister+gonzales.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">sister gonzales</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, we were walking down a street with a little market on the side. And a couple shirts caught my eye. But they weren't white. Or black. Or white and black. I just happened to see t-shirts with the giant faces of SPONGEBOB AND PATRICK. Their big, smiling faces were printed onto t-shirts that just called the Taylor family name. Maybe it was nostalgic or something that got me, but I bought them. hehe:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanted to send one to Nate, but unfortunately, he just doesn't fit in filipino clothes. So I just kept them and put them in a little spot in my suitcase to save for when I come home:) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I really need to stop buying things...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I got to go on exchanges too with the other sisters in our zone, and they ride bikes! I don't know if that's a normal thing in the states, but here it's not. Needless to say, I got to spend a day riding bikes in their area. I forgot how to ride a bike for probably the first 5 minutes. It was a little embarrassing. But then we got going and rode through forests (of palm trees), pineapple farms, along a river, and fell in a couple giant puddles along the way:) It was pouring rain the whole day and we came home soaking. wet. And with the Biggest smiles ever. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU44KzXcKxjoiD3VtaUrShzatXo37hIPTO-EIOQdTDS13EZyvlW5vVonp2BbYO19gY_bHmxcW6UELP9GxVHSTTUIGG4dYLvYg4JGcqNkiiLtoV9afmUzBC5mihyphenhyphenQMuiqLPPuV-yG_2bM-i/s1600/standing+on+a+pile+of+dirt...+and+a+pretty+view).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU44KzXcKxjoiD3VtaUrShzatXo37hIPTO-EIOQdTDS13EZyvlW5vVonp2BbYO19gY_bHmxcW6UELP9GxVHSTTUIGG4dYLvYg4JGcqNkiiLtoV9afmUzBC5mihyphenhyphenQMuiqLPPuV-yG_2bM-i/s1600/standing+on+a+pile+of+dirt...+and+a+pretty+view).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">standing on a pile of dirt... and a pretty view)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: We got a pet too this week, a giant spider the size of my hand that refused to leave from his web above our kitchen sink. He stayed there all week, until <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1448304664" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> when we woke up and he was gone. Which I think is even more scary because he could Pop out anywhere now... But he did leave the skin he shed (didn't know spiders did that?). We put the skin (it looked just like the spider) on one of the sisters desk (we used a mop handle to move it there) to scare the sister when she got home:) A good, good reaction followed:):) But now we don't know what to do next with the spider skin, so it's in a container on our microwave. YUM:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE LOTS,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-15163216609494107112014-07-20T15:08:00.000-07:002014-07-29T20:51:29.208-07:00THIS EMAIL IS ALL ABOUT OUR INVESTIGATORS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhve-IABPyH9Z7JZl2631ekdtzh1BM5ejEy6ia36jjLGIvcLG28VNz1gvQFa4q1lCdAIVJXe8f4ebm580a53A_lJSzt4uFALoHxOGofL7q3iYL94ntggNC0hp9IZH8bgtZg8yScopsjWhuo/s1600/the+old+nametag+finally+gave+up+the+ghost.+The+church+name+was+worn+off+and+they+told+me+I+couldn't+wear+it+anymore....JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhve-IABPyH9Z7JZl2631ekdtzh1BM5ejEy6ia36jjLGIvcLG28VNz1gvQFa4q1lCdAIVJXe8f4ebm580a53A_lJSzt4uFALoHxOGofL7q3iYL94ntggNC0hp9IZH8bgtZg8yScopsjWhuo/s1600/the+old+nametag+finally+gave+up+the+ghost.+The+church+name+was+worn+off+and+they+told+me+I+couldn't+wear+it+anymore....JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">the old nametag finally gave up the ghost. <br />The church name was worn off and they <br />told me I couldn't wear it anymore...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I realized that people keep asking me about how our investigators are doing, and I never really mention them. I promise, they do exist. And they all are pretty awesome. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not that we got to go visit them very much this week...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We had a couple typhoons hit our little side of the island this week, and they have the cutest names! Glenda and Henry:) I could definitely give my kids names like that. The Weather Forecasting Center picks very classy typhoon names.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Monday night after our P-day, we started getting all sorts of texts from the mission about being safe, 72 hr. kits, and the whatnot. Last typhoon season, no one made a very big deal about any of the storms or sent us texts about hiding under tables if anything gets really bad. So, I was a little worried. Tuesday, Glenda came and knocked out our electricity, water, and part of our roof. There wasn't a lot of rain (but I guess that's all relative here...), but the winds came full force for the entire day and we found out that wind does a lot of damage. I've lived without running water here, I've lived without electricity for even a couple days here, but this week was the first time we lost it all. Haha </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The power actually just came back on on Saturday (just in time for church!) so we didn't have much work this week, especially at night. The entire city was closed down too for a couple days, no one came outside and the clouds hung over us, staying a kind of deep greyish, greenish color. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Taylor and Sister Snow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The whole no water thing was a little harder, we aren't allowed to drink anything here but bottled water or filtered water from our apartment. Also, the whole showering, toilet, doing laundry thing was kind of hard too haha. The times that we did have water for a little bit, we filled up all the washing bins, buckets, and bowls we had. And then the times we had no water, we left all those buckets outside to catch the rain. Thankfully we had stocked up drinking water and didn't die of thirst this week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sounds a little dramatic, right?:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I 100% love all these storms that come, getting to experience all sorts of things like this that would never, ever happen in America. I get to just laugh at times that we're not sure if our apartment is going to make it or play cards in our apartment with candlelight, taking bets on when the power will come back. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The days after the typhoons came were a little bit harder though. Almost all we did was visit members and check up on them, their food supplies, and homes. There wasn't any clean drinking water, and people were starting to get sick. Most of the members we went to had lost part of their houses but weren't able to do anything yet to fix it. My heart hurt so bad for them, I thought those things only happened in movies, things that I only saw in pictures. It's just different to actually be a part of things like this. It changes your life. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">one of our areas here in guagua</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But typhoon or not, our investigators still came to church! And the GARCIA FAMILY!!! Back to the whole 'talking about investigators,' we actually have people to teach right now! I got here, and usually all we did all day was walk around letting people reject us. But we found the people willing to let us in, and it includes a drunk man, a college student, and 2 entire families! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>Edgar</u>: He's the drunk man that we found one day, about ready to pass out he was so drunk, all by himself on the side of the street. But we taught him (although he was drunk half the time), he read the Book of Mormon, and is now a former drunk man. Every time we went to him, he would have been drinking and I was about ready to give up because all we were doing was teaching a brick wall. Then we had a lesson with him about the Holy Ghost. He said he wanted to finally change his life, we promised it would happen if he would be baptized, and then that Sunday was the first time he came to church (and there have been many more).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>Garcia Family:</u> I like to call them my miracle family. They are the biggest, bestest miracle so far on my mission. There are 10 of them. They are the first families we've found and all of them are going to be baptized on <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1448304663" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">August 9</span></span>. They had no problem accepting everything we taught them, the sons stopped doing drugs and drinking the week we taught them the word of wisdom. Every lesson is a spiritual bomb with them. When I get home, they will be the first family I tell you about. Their stories could fill an entire book. Their favorite part this week was when we gave them a hymn book so we could sing before we taught.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw-R1CSOgcwtDe4fB8tLMGnHTOYAVdC7ChvncYYQIkq2m2_RSvLU-dV48H_cPoi1VtKPHCbfyQZrYaDdthuJxLdBUOUDw9So-0Ymgh60Ug5UXVPxEKR77RPyB0euuF8nYYMBQTkX81IKbd/s1600/reunited+with+one+of+my+children+on+the+mission!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw-R1CSOgcwtDe4fB8tLMGnHTOYAVdC7ChvncYYQIkq2m2_RSvLU-dV48H_cPoi1VtKPHCbfyQZrYaDdthuJxLdBUOUDw9So-0Ymgh60Ug5UXVPxEKR77RPyB0euuF8nYYMBQTkX81IKbd/s1600/reunited+with+one+of+my+children+on+the+mission!.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">reunited with one of my children on the mission!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u>Clarence:</u> She is actually getting baptized this week! She waited ever since she was in primary to be baptized and this month she finally turned 18! I just got so lucky to be here and to be able to teach her. The first lesson, the first thing she told us was that she knew the church was true before she met the missionaries. WhaAT? Her aunts and uncles are members but because her grandma wouldn't let here be baptized, she had to wait until now. But it's finally going to happen!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Those are the best of our investigators right now. The other's stories aren't quite as awesome as that. More times than usually, we end up dropping our investigators, the drop us, or they just won't do the things we ask them to do. Most people here are stubborn, and their time isn't here yet. But we've found the ones that are ready. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny story: We had FHE with a recent convert and her son on Monday and watched Finding Faith in Christ. I love a good ole' church movie, it always reminds me of when I was little and that's all that was allowed to watch on Sundays. We get to the part of the movie when Jesus is carrying his cross, and then all the sudden I see Uncle Marshall in the background! I couldn't control myself, and told them in the middle of the movie that that guy was my uncle. They think I'm pretty famous now. So, shout out to him this week:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(the still very alive) SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-83047703413910701912014-07-13T15:07:00.000-07:002014-07-29T20:51:03.590-07:00MY WEEK...IN A LIST<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">MONDAY: So just as an update on the whole ukulele thing, I printed out the pictures you sent of different kinds of ukuleles. The guy who owns the computer shop was printing all my stuff out and asked me what I was going to do with pictures of ukuleles. We had a cool conversation about how he played the guitar and that I could probably pick it up in just a couple months. I thought he was a pretty cool guy. And then earlier, we came back to email again, and he had brought his guitar. As I sat down, he came and sat down in the chair next to me and serenaded me, with his guitar and in Tagalog. Dude, trust totally broken. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">TUESDAY: We had a teaching appointment with a less active member. We had to teach him outside because his wife won't let "the mormon missionaries" inside her house. So there we were sitting on a mold covered, wooden bench, holding our umbrella so we won't get wet as we're teaching him. There have been worse situations though. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then I hear this mumbling coming from their (now locked) door, and it gets louder and louder until I realized that his wife was praying the Catholic prayers while we were teaching. As in, candles, hail mary's, and some kind of bumping against the door. Got to love the Catholics here:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">WEDNESDAY: I took a break of all the craziness happening (mind you, we are still only on Wednesday) and bought 5 bags of my favorite snack, Loaded. It's too yummy to even try to explain. But I tried sending it to you in the mail earlier... And then I took a deep breath and geared up for what might happen on Thursday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">THURSDAY: We lost all power and water in our apartment. We got home at night, and there was Nothing. The best part, is we had no water to use to flush the toilets (there's no such thing as flushing, we use buckets to flush the toilet here). Sister Larkin couldn't hold it anymore, and so we just found a dark, hidden spot with a bush outside our apartment. We'll just say, it was her first time having to pee outside:) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">FRIDAY: My favorite part of the week is when we have the chance to teach Raymart, who was baptized two week ago. His favorite hymn is the Star Spangled Banner. It's become routine that every Friday at 2pm becomes a little bit more American for me and my companion. He wanted to sing it as the opening hymn for his baptism but got shy last minute and decided not to. Now we just sing it as the opening hymn every time we teach him. Currently, he's making me memorize it on the piano.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SATURDAY: It was my day to cook breakfast. I was making eggs in the wok and all the sudden I have a cute little maggot run across my foot. A couple seconds later, another one wiggled onto my toe. I look down to find a trail of them wiggling in from the back door, where we keep all the trash. Just imagine in your minds me that morning, cooking eggs with one hand, leaving the stove every couple of minutes to try and wash the maggots out from our house and into the drain. "...come on little maggots, just wiggle down the stupid drain!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SUNDAY: I was talking to the cutest lady after church got out. We were talking about something really interesting (I don't remember what it was, but I remember it was cool), and I was trying really hard to be a good listener. But then I got distracted as her teeth started to move as she was talking. And then the front part of her teeth started coming out! But she just pushed it back in, and kept on talking like this was an everyday occurrence. I smiled, and just tried to look at her eyes instead of her mouth. Which is really hard, if you've ever experienced anything like that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know why I managed to collect enough funny stories this week to last my whole mission, but to say the least, it's been quite the week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I got way nervous reading about all the things Nate is doing to get ready to leave to the MTC, it made me remember all too well what I felt that week right before I left to go on the greatest adventure so far in the life of Sister Taylor. He will love the MTC, and probably grow a lot, and learn to do things on his own. I want a copy of his sacrament talk, since I won't be able to be there. And I need his addresses, I'm going to become the most awesome letter writing sister ever! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLORRRRRRR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-84006348143959427252014-06-25T19:54:00.000-07:002014-07-29T20:53:59.104-07:00MOM AND DAD, I'M GOING TO LEARN THE UKULELE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">the jelly shoes</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, I kind of am getting a customized ukulele done from a member in one of our areas. Forget the whole part that I'm not musical and have no idea how to play a ukulele... It was just one of those weak moments where I could imagine myself all musical-like and cooool. I couldn't help myself. So, maybe Dad can help me learn that kind of thing when I get home?:)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe there was no real reason that I decided to buy a ukulele, but half of me likes to justify it as a whole 1 year mark, self-given present. I think back to a year ago, my first time emailing you guys from a small, dark computer shop, realizing that I was on an island on the other side of the world. I couldn't speak anything but American language and was slightly worried about getting this whole missionary thing down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fast forward a year later, and I'm still here:) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first day in the Philippines, most of it spent driving in a van to my first area, wide-eyed with a still shiny name tag. I sat in the back, squished in between my suitcases, looking out the window as rain pelted the wind-shield. I wondered how I was going to walk in the floods I saw outside, how I was going to teach people that only came up to my shoulders, and how I was ever going to get through a year and a half of this. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Samau & Sister Taylor</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last Wednesday was another transfer day. I spend the day riding a bus, looking out the window at the floods and wet people and watching the raindrops fall from the window. 3 areas, 7 companions, 2 mission presidents, and 365 days later. The first was spent the same as the 365th, getting off a bus stop, waiting for a companion to come and another adventure to start. Wet shoes, tired eyes, and lots of people talking in another language. But a year later, I better understand it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been a year with lots of walking, laughing and meeting new people that I love. It's been 12 months of figuring out who I want to become and the kind of person I should be. And if you think about it, 365 days is a lot of time to think. Time I've had to change and time to improve. It's so cool to look back an entire year. Look at year-old pictures, year-old journal entries, talk to year-old companions, and realizing how much I've changed everyday of that 1 year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And the even better part is to think of that whole 6 months I still have left:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But we have reached the rainy season once again. The umbrellas, plastic bags for BofM's, and my good ole' jelly shoes have come out again! Guagua has the biggest floods in the whole mission, we have been told to be really careful in our area, make sure we always have our 72hr. kits, and have also been prepared to work only a little bit because of all the floods we get here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...Bring it on:) Missionary work gets so much funner when you have to do it in knee-high floods. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But like I said, my companion transferred this week and left me in our area. I miss her. We got along really really well, as in probably one of my favorite companions. We were both non-emotional, 'get it done' kind of people and were good at not taking things very seriously. She taught me to eat like a Samoan and be patient, and I taught her to.... play solitare (I'm pretty sure she learned other things from me too?). We spent all our free time playing speed and cards in the apartment (especially when she was sick). But this week, I was left all alone to play cards by myself when I was bored, eating 4 month old m&m's, and trying not to think how fun our companionship was... My companion right now is Filipina. She told me she doesn't play cards.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Memorial Park</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: We were walking around our area this week with not much to do and walked past a sign to "Memorial Park." Usually when you see signs like that, it means subdivision. And for a missionary, it means lots of rich people houses:) So we followed the sign, went in the gate and found a big, long road with houses all up and down. I was SO excited. We start walking past the houses, and I see that there's no furniture or... anything inside but a big box. At every house it's that way. Turns out this memorial park, what I thought was a subdivision was a cemetery. We had a great plan to find all these people, and they just happen to be dead. In the Philippines, it's normal to build big, fancy houses for your dead relatives to stay in. And I took a picture at the dead people's house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE x10000000,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span><br />
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-23228083602915460952014-06-09T13:11:00.002-07:002014-06-30T22:50:12.277-07:005 NEW THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8oMXF0lH768I3FT6umVuWP2gpIVhsUqqXe50E_ABWnKW4Op7QYOQwaUIhfELBIvjCuFV7Njo7FWmv4AQKHRFWNkUVeJq-Uvu9S_7oq3tVR_o5vQVtTAZ6feAXIlvwsO-qo0XK7r-g83cp/s1600/the+kids+that+follow+me+around+(I+found+nerd+glasses+againnnnn)!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8oMXF0lH768I3FT6umVuWP2gpIVhsUqqXe50E_ABWnKW4Op7QYOQwaUIhfELBIvjCuFV7Njo7FWmv4AQKHRFWNkUVeJq-Uvu9S_7oq3tVR_o5vQVtTAZ6feAXIlvwsO-qo0XK7r-g83cp/s1600/the+kids+that+follow+me+around+(I+found+nerd+glasses+againnnnn)!.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">the kids that follow me around <br />(I found nerd glasses againnnnn)!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can pretend to have to reeaally pee in order to get inside someone's house, use their CR, and then by chance ask to share with them about Jesus Christ:) Take that, tricked new investigators!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />The old Chinese embassy is in our area. It's this big, really strangely decorated white, two-story building with really pretty. big red flowers everywhere. The architecture is amazing. We always go past it and I always look, hoping one day I'll see an actual Chinese person come out. Then, earlier today, they finally told me it's the OLD embassy. As in, no one works there anymore... (but I still look for them:))<br /><br />Most of the call centers for the electronic companies are in the Philippines, it turns out. One of the members here works for one. He also told us that all the "annoying Americans" that call always ask to talk to someone that speaks English because they don't und<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqr-vy2ceEhueocZ7EH7zXrqDGEyyHE6zV2JhU4E8DAZq2Vbgoi8JSdcUphU9ySYD-ufnE09mOz8ZAlz3U6x0FQGYocnRabu7kk_HxYgMS4OYXoPaEhhyphenhyphenGIuGgSp2cgyAUROjhu9qpoSn/s1600/MLC+(the+only+day+we+actually+get+ready).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqr-vy2ceEhueocZ7EH7zXrqDGEyyHE6zV2JhU4E8DAZq2Vbgoi8JSdcUphU9ySYD-ufnE09mOz8ZAlz3U6x0FQGYocnRabu7kk_HxYgMS4OYXoPaEhhyphenhyphenGIuGgSp2cgyAUROjhu9qpoSn/s1600/MLC+(the+only+day+we+actually+get+ready).JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">MLC (the only day we actually get ready)</span></td></tr>
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erstand their accent. They are trained to always say that they are the best person to handle the situation and the supervisor isn't available. But turns out, when they say that, it really means there's no American that works there:). Haha The bad accent is just something they have to deal with.<br /><br />Sleeping for 2 hours a day as a missionary is not smart. Especially the day before you have meetings all day. And the speakers talking have the most calm, soft voice when they talk. I would from now on recommend foregoing the games/late night talk, and actually sleeping...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6A5S4yMComAB83RohwjBCiSNqZLaHHCU5gDDJrYcjsxcWKMMp0DE9rvgQNSi-yg7ublN1kFONzVgE9WA5u9nMlz7sSes6075U_n7orm9Pu89hc7gKPKBCE8f_XpT7OEEsf39vEh-qhhi/s1600/guagua+zone+right+before+transfer+day,+we+had+an+activity+because+we+achieved+our+goals.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6A5S4yMComAB83RohwjBCiSNqZLaHHCU5gDDJrYcjsxcWKMMp0DE9rvgQNSi-yg7ublN1kFONzVgE9WA5u9nMlz7sSes6075U_n7orm9Pu89hc7gKPKBCE8f_XpT7OEEsf39vEh-qhhi/s1600/guagua+zone+right+before+transfer+day,+we+had+an+activity+because+we+achieved+our+goals.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">guagua zone right before transfer<br />day, we had an activity because<br />we achieved our goals</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here, the Filipinos can take any kind of trash and make it into something new. They don't waste anything! Last week, we had to sell our old, broken refrigerator, and the people that came ended up fighting over it. They have a big piece of plastic to now recycle and our apartment now has money!!!! (which we are using to finally buy some spoons!).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtGCX6jsINMyoV-a_ihLrn8MoqYPhHB6EksuHMtZ5WDodbvMssvqV7yewbuMHhgNO8y1zTnXJ4Nndai3_wB61hnwOUkgrjGNeiYZSoCSshLVIN9UsXPVH8JO7azYevzTaybKtvuxTcvIoH/s1600/second+of+the+matching+skirts).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtGCX6jsINMyoV-a_ihLrn8MoqYPhHB6EksuHMtZ5WDodbvMssvqV7yewbuMHhgNO8y1zTnXJ4Nndai3_wB61hnwOUkgrjGNeiYZSoCSshLVIN9UsXPVH8JO7azYevzTaybKtvuxTcvIoH/s1600/second+of+the+matching+skirts).JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">second of the matching skirts)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Looking over that list, it makes missionary work sound really 'work' based over here. Haha. But our work here is actually really doing well. It's slowly picking up and there weren't as many doors slammed at us!:) We've started coordinating with our branch president every week (and he's feeding us) and actually are filling up our whole day with members! I'm happiest when I have work to do and a purpose to find:)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting here, I'm realizing how important my attitude is. My attitude has changed from thinking of all the frustrating things happening to all the things I get to help with here in Guagua. It has changed into an<br /><br />'I'm so lucky to be able to leave my family and work for Heavenly Father!',<br /><br />'It is so great to be able to get tan, laugh with a good companion and exercise all day!'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'I'm so glad these people are humble enough to at least believe in God.'</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0TAEdQvVkCHz7xLJs2dn8tidC4mKogp54OgbX2HBDKWZVh0l2cL3_2P-M9QP2HJ3GH0zsdzpbFC-UxH6qbGM6FH-VE05djpUKXz5HO4PaxLHzLF_atV1ze-CyjrnM6erGANZkoemuE_m/s1600/We+had+pig's+blood+for+our+meal+on+fiesta+day!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0TAEdQvVkCHz7xLJs2dn8tidC4mKogp54OgbX2HBDKWZVh0l2cL3_2P-M9QP2HJ3GH0zsdzpbFC-UxH6qbGM6FH-VE05djpUKXz5HO4PaxLHzLF_atV1ze-CyjrnM6erGANZkoemuE_m/s1600/We+had+pig's+blood+for+our+meal+on+fiesta+day!.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">We had pig's blood for our meal on fiesta day!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Everything has become an attitude game for me. Days can be so happy with a good attitude. When the trials come, we can get dragged down with the details, become a rock at the bottom of the ocean our problems can be so big. Everything is dark, you sit and wait for things to change, and the only other thing around you is probably other rocks. But I would much better like to be a cork. When the trials and hard stuff comes, be a cork. Bob at the top of the water, going with flow, changing your course to learn from your trials. Be a cork and don't let the hard stuff drag you down. I put a sign above my desk this week that says "be a cork." Sometimes, we come home with almost all punted appointments and dirty feet. Sometimes, nobody listened to us that day. But I'm learning to become that cork. I'm trying to just bob on the top of the water and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm not letting any of that get me down. Because I am so lucky to be here.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vg4GW6tPooh7B7zht2SlaP_tzPnMtA_q8fZIlwW0C1Z8fxWauvt5WXJCJs796N9UuGHl4TQRge6iGGsvWpuNhp7gFthIT2RqCuXlfrUNWOzWbK_c8sDSgXt3NKneJKpnOpgNTW8cg-J2/s1600/one+night+we+just+decided+to+do+oatmeal+face+masks....JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vg4GW6tPooh7B7zht2SlaP_tzPnMtA_q8fZIlwW0C1Z8fxWauvt5WXJCJs796N9UuGHl4TQRge6iGGsvWpuNhp7gFthIT2RqCuXlfrUNWOzWbK_c8sDSgXt3NKneJKpnOpgNTW8cg-J2/s1600/one+night+we+just+decided+to+do+oatmeal+face+masks....JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">one night we just decided to do<br /> oatmeal face masks...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny story: I got the April general conference Ensign this week (thanks mom!) and the first thing I did was look at all the pictures in it, to see all the different things the people were wearing. The Ensign has become my only source of information of the what the styles are in America right now. It's funny to look back at the past versions and see where the styles have changed haha. I actually cut some of the outfits out to copy this week with one of my skirts. Even on the mission, I've realized I haven't changed too much:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOTS OF LOVE!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-19362857833696844882014-05-27T14:13:00.002-07:002014-06-30T22:44:23.656-07:00I BECAME A HAIRDRESSER, MARRIAGE WITNESS, AND DISHWASHER ALL IN THE SAME DAY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">the one on the left is maria, the one <br />whose son died. i miss them</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, it's been a week. Apparently, this is the summer of weddings. Friends, family, and a couple of our investigators:) I'm a pro at the whole Filipino wedding thing. Last Sunday, Ronalyn (my favorite investigator that's so hard headed) got Marrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiied!!!! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was so excited, I really like this wedding planning business... so fun (even if I didn't have anything to wear as a bridesmaid...we'ere just always in a skirt) and her wedding was addddorable. We went over to her early in the afternoon and got her all ready. We did her make-up, her hair, and <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSr9WsFeP7LOT7aY45bs3dr7HSUb0xSImtczZqkPSTvQgMwUCRVXzd74I5ch0zn8dOZR1IriMoFyZOzS_ruT9TgHAbC9W3SUBC7W-Wn5yW82fqk-deNbTo3kveAnM9u4LQJOpOs8ZXghYc/s1600/maria's+baptism+on+saturday))).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSr9WsFeP7LOT7aY45bs3dr7HSUb0xSImtczZqkPSTvQgMwUCRVXzd74I5ch0zn8dOZR1IriMoFyZOzS_ruT9TgHAbC9W3SUBC7W-Wn5yW82fqk-deNbTo3kveAnM9u4LQJOpOs8ZXghYc/s1600/maria's+baptism+on+saturday))).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">maria's baptism on saturday)))</span></td></tr>
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made her pose for all sorts of pre-wedding pictures. (The whole time I was trying to channel what the lady off the "Wedding Planner" would do)... and then we made our way to the church, I posed as the wedding photographer, marriage witness (where my signature will forever be on her marriage contract), and then ran home to get allllllll the food ready. We're talking crazy, doesn't fit on the table, people eating off giant banana leaves, kind of food for this wedding! And as people ate and sang off-key karaoke, we became the designated dishwashers. It was a good way to end the day, the week, and my last times in Mandama.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because I'm not there anymore. The Sister Taylor that was re-called to Bataan Mission (that's just my joke), has moved a WHOLE 30 MINUTES again from her old area. I literally think I am meant to just stay in the southern, hot part of the mission where everyone's head is just a little harder that most. I moved to Guagua. The weather got hotter, my area got maybe a little bigger, and I realized while I was moving just how heavier my suitcases got. Oh ya, and the language is different here is Guagua. Thankfully, everyone knows how to speak Tagalog, but they will only speak it to the missionaries and then change right back into (almost like baby language) Kapampangan to talk to the people around them. Talk about feeling like a greeenie all over again...</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMueov-1vyJN_4krUTjlnxBNMJZsBuR9ccVO8uhV5AjW9C1OqBtxC3WjP0z2IBfRZVYkR-G1nqHYgY6JMkv1CLnkG4t9q9Yixrqo_wUxOebCogJeDuFkRZvXHkYOCvKM-9AQIX4eD3VLR/s1600/our+wedding+yesterday+(full+pictures+to+come+next+week)).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMueov-1vyJN_4krUTjlnxBNMJZsBuR9ccVO8uhV5AjW9C1OqBtxC3WjP0z2IBfRZVYkR-G1nqHYgY6JMkv1CLnkG4t9q9Yixrqo_wUxOebCogJeDuFkRZvXHkYOCvKM-9AQIX4eD3VLR/s1600/our+wedding+yesterday+(full+pictures+to+come+next+week)).JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">our wedding yesterday </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a missionary, moving and changing has become second nature (it still doesn't make me like it any more than I used to), the only question is how long it will take to unpack. I made a new record here of unpacking just yesterday. It was partly the fault of our zone leaders when they called us the night I got here and kindly let us know we were in charge of teaching the zone meeting workshop the next morning... As I'm writing my email, my clothes still have a couple of those good ole suitcase wrinkles:) </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiBKVuFc0XjLEKMFBgP23-i2plS1uAI21G39evG1Ft7aZbRqu8axb2RYsMpWfQFSguoPhWOmC_9jQjjAfby1CaqaCiShBqBRI29oBKXSxSktkHkSJLAKipFUnFo18JRGSr5kAoiOlOe8ho/s1600/ronalyn,+her+wedding+right+before+her+baptism+in+my+last+area.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiBKVuFc0XjLEKMFBgP23-i2plS1uAI21G39evG1Ft7aZbRqu8axb2RYsMpWfQFSguoPhWOmC_9jQjjAfby1CaqaCiShBqBRI29oBKXSxSktkHkSJLAKipFUnFo18JRGSr5kAoiOlOe8ho/s1600/ronalyn,+her+wedding+right+before+her+baptism+in+my+last+area.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">ronalyn, her wedding right before <br />her baptism in my last area</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My area is the place everyone talked about where they crucified and whipped people on Easter (they said it was for Jesus?...). That's how crazy these people are. And they are sooo Catholic. But it's not even a smart Catholic. We were walking down to the city yesterday (oh ya, I've also been assigned to the smack middle of the city) and someone had posted the 10 commandments on the wall. The only thing a little off about it was they had gotten rid of the 2nd commandment (don't have false gods) and made the last commandment into 2 separate commandments... I am in for a great ride here in Guagua, that's all the other missionaries keep telling me:)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">that's me) old area</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first day we rode a row boat to get to the other side of our area (looked kind of like the boats we rode in Bolivia). Talk about a change of scenery from my last area!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And also, my companion is way too cool for me. The Sister Samau! She's been here a transfer longer than me, is a Samoan/New Zealander who doesn't deal with fake people, and has a great sense of sarcasm that I've been missing with all my filipino companions. She likes walking fast too.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-JKTLFI5QCJt3aK8-Twxtly-ExO4mgxUvtX8QSngD45E83SIFxmvAUFpZEVBAyG0Jfm_S4qVAE1QVA_4iAr999tSOr0qCtNTUziuJlBTvGdyHmns2hH9M_BBnlWCbSAhl_dVqSNhsXGjx/s1600/this+face+changes+everyday+haha+our+apartment+is+obessesed+with+it.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-JKTLFI5QCJt3aK8-Twxtly-ExO4mgxUvtX8QSngD45E83SIFxmvAUFpZEVBAyG0Jfm_S4qVAE1QVA_4iAr999tSOr0qCtNTUziuJlBTvGdyHmns2hH9M_BBnlWCbSAhl_dVqSNhsXGjx/s1600/this+face+changes+everyday+haha+our+apartment+is+obessesed+with+it.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">this face changes everyday haha our apartment is obessesed with it</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: I don't know if this is gross or funny... A couple weeks ago I got a reaaaaally bad cold sore. Or least that's what I think they're called. Anyway, it hurt like nobody's business and by the end of the week I was having a hard time eating rice (which is when you know it's serious). My mouth hurt. so.bad. So, I'm complaining to Sister Echon how bad my mouth actually hurt (wahhh...) and how hungry I still was when she suggested putting tawas on it. That's the filipino version of deodorant, but it works really well at soaking up water, because of course, that's its job. I'm like, okay, why not? So, I tried it. We put it on at night (because she told me it would hurt so bad I wouldn't be able to move, which wasn't true), and I woke up in the morning and it was gone! So, thanks to filipino deodorant, I'm able to eat rice again!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> And with that wonderful story, I will leave you until next week! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-81984055600902026932014-05-23T19:57:00.000-07:002014-06-25T19:58:04.978-07:00Transfer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Philippines, Olongapo Mission<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<b>Km. 140 National Highway, Mangan-Vaca<u></u><u></u></b></div>
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<b>2209, Subic, Zambales<u></u><u></u></b></div>
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<b>Philippines<u></u><u></u></b></div>
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23 May 2014<u></u><u></u></div>
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Mr. and Mrs. Tim Jack Taylor<u></u><u></u></div>
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5101 Lucky Clover Ln<u></u><u></u></div>
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Murray, UT 84123<u></u><u></u></div>
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United States<u></u><u></u></div>
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Dear Brother and Sister Taylor,<u></u><u></u></div>
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We are pleased to let you know the great job your daughter, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 19.16666603088379px;">Sister Sarah Rebecca Taylor</span>, has done here in the Philippines Olongapo Mission. She has been working hard and we have recently called her to serve as a Sister Training Leader in the Gua-Gua Zone. <u></u><u></u></div>
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Because of this new assignment she has been transferred to the Gua-Gua, Gua-Gua District, Gua-Gua Zone. Her new companion is Sister Eufirate Samau. She will do a great job in her new area and serving in her new calling.<u></u><u></u></div>
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Sister Taylor has shown great leadership ability and we know that with the service she will give, she will grow even more. The service she will give to the sisters she is working with will be greatly appreciated. We know she will do a great job.<u></u><u></u></div>
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We wish to thank you for raising such a fine young woman. She has a great testimony of the gospel and she is doing a great job here in the mission field. She has helped many come unto Christ and we know that she will continue to grow as she serves those she is in contact with.<u></u><u></u></div>
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May the Lord bless you and your family for the service you are giving to the Lord.<u></u><u></u></div>
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Sincerely,<u></u><u></u></div>
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<img alt="PRBQ signature" height="99" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=07b03503db&view=att&th=14628903ec00b07d&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1" width="359" /><u></u><u></u></div>
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Roberto Bayobo Querido<u></u><u></u></div>
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Philippines Olongapo Mission<u></u><u></u></div>
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Mission President<u></u><u></u></div>
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RBO/<i>mfg<u></u><u></u></i></div>
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<img alt="Signatures" class="" height="171" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=07b03503db&view=att&th=14628903ec00b07d&attid=0.2&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1" width="472" /><u></u><u></u></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-13498674363801112282014-05-23T15:22:00.000-07:002014-06-30T22:32:27.239-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.46666717529297px;">Philippines, Olongapo Mission<u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<b>Km. 140 National Highway, Mangan-Vaca<u></u><u></u></b></div>
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<b>2209, Subic, Zambales<u></u><u></u></b></div>
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<b>Philippines<u></u><u></u></b></div>
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23 May 2014<u></u><u></u></div>
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Mr. and Mrs. Tim Jack Taylor<u></u><u></u></div>
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5101 Lucky Clover Ln<u></u><u></u></div>
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Murray, UT 84123<u></u><u></u></div>
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United States<u></u><u></u></div>
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Dear Brother and Sister Taylor,<u></u><u></u></div>
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We are pleased to let you know the great job your daughter, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 19.166664123535156px;">Sister Sarah Rebecca Taylor</span>, has done here in the Philippines Olongapo Mission. She has been working hard and we have recently called her to serve as a Sister Training Leader in the Gua-Gua Zone. <u></u><u></u></div>
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Because of this new assignment she has been transferred to the Gua-Gua, Gua-Gua District, Gua-Gua Zone. Her new companion is Sister Eufirate Samau. She will do a great job in her new area and serving in her new calling.<u></u><u></u></div>
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Sister Taylor has shown great leadership ability and we know that with the service she will give, she will grow even more. The service she will give to the sisters she is working with will be greatly appreciated. We know she will do a great job.<u></u><u></u></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXODiOz6NaVmt_zzc2fs54h2vOueQxLqj-3wdZQcg5divvlDrJokH_u13rQ0JmA3dyvEEXvAm8qwwVJiiwh93k7K86bTocifBaJxya7Q0fb9yyvdFlG1Ebnle6w4z_YTda7pKamu1HRNhe/s1600/IMG_1544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXODiOz6NaVmt_zzc2fs54h2vOueQxLqj-3wdZQcg5divvlDrJokH_u13rQ0JmA3dyvEEXvAm8qwwVJiiwh93k7K86bTocifBaJxya7Q0fb9yyvdFlG1Ebnle6w4z_YTda7pKamu1HRNhe/s1600/IMG_1544.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>We wish to thank you for raising such a fine young woman. She has a great testimony of the gospel and she is doing a great job here in the mission field. She has helped many come unto Christ and we know that she will continue to grow as she serves those she is in contact with.<u></u><u></u></div>
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May the Lord bless you and your family for the service you are giving to the Lord.<u></u><u></u></div>
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Sincerely,<u></u><u></u></div>
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<img alt="PRBQ signature" height="99" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=07b03503db&view=att&th=14628903ec00b07d&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1" width="359" /><u></u><u></u></div>
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Roberto Bayobo Querido<u></u><u></u></div>
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Philippines Olongapo Mission<u></u><u></u></div>
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Mission President<u></u><u></u></div>
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RBO/<i>mfg</i></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-35194781573330222572014-05-19T23:14:00.000-07:002014-06-30T23:15:35.572-07:00Picture Post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNw_jw5z-erV13CWTtn0H8QY1fAoNsXC5pXOIvk_knJuJk4HPYsi9Xb0CWt5-Lvq1RaEZLRifOUr__6z2olQWILzDBimdJM21J-QjLQmLVZYmgtQ6_D82j8K0eHQtXLcNDPMXFKbIrE3Di/s1600/I+ate+oysters.+It's+gross,.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNw_jw5z-erV13CWTtn0H8QY1fAoNsXC5pXOIvk_knJuJk4HPYsi9Xb0CWt5-Lvq1RaEZLRifOUr__6z2olQWILzDBimdJM21J-QjLQmLVZYmgtQ6_D82j8K0eHQtXLcNDPMXFKbIrE3Di/s1600/I+ate+oysters.+It's+gross,.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">I ate oysters. It's gross,</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUn3VtBfJ1QcphAVcBVduQVmqh0dJXSGMrGvjLkNu4tng6gOCmzEPQF2KkZ6gb_ekhBBLXE9WkaWLdf229zgLgObKxVqdWljD_IEqBjpw4mUXtomSUPs7N_MFnBWq2XXk2cHBUf-pEF_gN/s1600/We+met+real+live+korean+kids!!!!!+They+are+so+fat!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUn3VtBfJ1QcphAVcBVduQVmqh0dJXSGMrGvjLkNu4tng6gOCmzEPQF2KkZ6gb_ekhBBLXE9WkaWLdf229zgLgObKxVqdWljD_IEqBjpw4mUXtomSUPs7N_MFnBWq2XXk2cHBUf-pEF_gN/s1600/We+met+real+live+korean+kids!!!!!+They+are+so+fat!.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">We met real live korean kids!!!!! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU7LXqt3msRYjnAEccKte82T7wK0lgpCqr89P-ezs-GoIQ-1IWeRn4rMQQBOhHhyCk-eBtIrLboO2box_gyMrDT_FGAuR6IcXJCu4B6OWfhHDTuh1t_vDON2AmUlRcru97TryDaOA2katj/s1600/We+had+pig's+blood+for+our+meal+on+fiesta+day!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU7LXqt3msRYjnAEccKte82T7wK0lgpCqr89P-ezs-GoIQ-1IWeRn4rMQQBOhHhyCk-eBtIrLboO2box_gyMrDT_FGAuR6IcXJCu4B6OWfhHDTuh1t_vDON2AmUlRcru97TryDaOA2katj/s1600/We+had+pig's+blood+for+our+meal+on+fiesta+day!.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">We had pig's blood for our meal on fiesta day!</span></td></tr>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-46236732457753540892014-05-12T21:33:00.002-07:002014-06-09T13:14:59.049-07:00THE BEST TWO YEARS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg209XkFYt4ScHf8W5hA7uQT-2vjyUkjcsYFAujtXwW8oMeKHpI1fwl2CGLqo4NNz4nZbWp-V5hzpSt5hlL2R81hDN1WlwjC4ap8_omVPuQOaFBmP87H7E7Xxm9MlrylBio1sD5meHp2N7Q/s1600/Sarah+at+Zone+Conference+May+12,+2014+%2313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg209XkFYt4ScHf8W5hA7uQT-2vjyUkjcsYFAujtXwW8oMeKHpI1fwl2CGLqo4NNz4nZbWp-V5hzpSt5hlL2R81hDN1WlwjC4ap8_omVPuQOaFBmP87H7E7Xxm9MlrylBio1sD5meHp2N7Q/s1600/Sarah+at+Zone+Conference+May+12,+2014+%2313.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Taylor at Zone Conference May 13, 2014</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you remember the movie, The Best Two Years? About that poor new elder? So I realized those stories in that movie, that you think are exaggerated, they really happen. I don't think you realize how funny that movie really is until you have stories just like the movie. Whoever thought of the movie is so. funny. So. Genius.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAXlU-Y5UzFoeHt_I26mYdLNlPztm50Q6_Yd7B-M5rQpne_F0ua_QCNY5ypasO-4-sGGhUStJ9VsKLqOniZkHfu2j_8T3YGo64aN-zh32C5X82Dkzynp0EBI7j0CQBs9moZPBqGihcSAT/s1600/Sarah+at+Zone+Conference+May+12,+2014+%232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAXlU-Y5UzFoeHt_I26mYdLNlPztm50Q6_Yd7B-M5rQpne_F0ua_QCNY5ypasO-4-sGGhUStJ9VsKLqOniZkHfu2j_8T3YGo64aN-zh32C5X82Dkzynp0EBI7j0CQBs9moZPBqGihcSAT/s1600/Sarah+at+Zone+Conference+May+12,+2014+%232.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Taylor at Zone Conference May 13, 2014</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At our district meeting, the elders in Hermosa area where way late for our meeting. Which is really not okay haha. Everyone looks at you (especially the zone leaders) as you walk in the door, past all the chairs, and all the missionaries (that are on time:)) and take the very furthest away, very last chairs. One of the elders told me afterwards, the were late because one of the new elders under training washed all their dishes with laundry bleach. He figured it was just the same as using soap...</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPYQtGyvddPJxiYfXulkddgjZ8w16OkWxz178YYkHgjmQ6PPJhDSMoRKLDMRCF2sjkMyZwxVUEnt_W6qqOQd6ZwjdH6KuKN6LiVQAlmuOjy-oIh9OS8b5kG4W2O55j7mzuF5zXqIUYNlv/s1600/Sarah+at+Zone+Conference+May+12,+2014+%238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPYQtGyvddPJxiYfXulkddgjZ8w16OkWxz178YYkHgjmQ6PPJhDSMoRKLDMRCF2sjkMyZwxVUEnt_W6qqOQd6ZwjdH6KuKN6LiVQAlmuOjy-oIh9OS8b5kG4W2O55j7mzuF5zXqIUYNlv/s1600/Sarah+at+Zone+Conference+May+12,+2014+%238.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sister Taylor at Zone Conference May 13, 2014</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I overheard one of the sisters earlier talking about Nacho Libre. And I quote, "You know that one movie where that guy says he's had diarrhea since Easters? Well, one of the sisters in our house has totally had diarrhea since Christmas."</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirgu_yQl4WoGhNGTzClhEJO2qcs_BhTDkPr5rIi4bRd9qg6KkwbRfWngtnWnTx22OqhNT2TKbdPNz1ovdP7YKMVCboKeBfcppJlDFZ1EmHFo1tGStQJ2_MjJXUOUHprawgmQ8EFNKtwcor/s1600/orani+zone+at+zone+conference+%2528after+we+drank+bitter+melon+shake%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirgu_yQl4WoGhNGTzClhEJO2qcs_BhTDkPr5rIi4bRd9qg6KkwbRfWngtnWnTx22OqhNT2TKbdPNz1ovdP7YKMVCboKeBfcppJlDFZ1EmHFo1tGStQJ2_MjJXUOUHprawgmQ8EFNKtwcor/s1600/orani+zone+at+zone+conference+%2528after+we+drank+bitter+melon+shake%2529.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">orani zone at zone conference <br />(after we drank bitter melon shake)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The elders are making our zone drink bitter melon shake <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_766519364" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span> at our zone conference (mind you, our mission president, AP's, and all the senior couples are there) because we tied in this week's competition. The whoooole zone gets to try it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not to mention names, but someone in our apartment is collecting worn-out shoes so that she can show how hard she worked when she goes home. Our room right now smells like dirty feet:) yum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, just figured I'd send off a couple good stories before calling you:) I've still got to set up all this skype stuff at the computer shop, so until next week!! (or in about an hour:))</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LOVE,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SISTER TAYLOR</span><br />
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2706721216057746368.post-36908035666604386452014-05-06T13:13:00.002-07:002014-06-30T23:10:36.429-07:00I JUST LOOOOVE MY FAMILY!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I LOVE writing letters to you every week.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3eRgBSHR3I1phnV5BLX2fa0pFpdw5StyEbwiYo6xP60c9fdblmnjX64PlcfJaEQN0I3nZXOHqvgSkyAy3fiiDIC9NY2mSZ4tTQkbnBBvyh9GgZNZN2hqFYsInbwSMHI7d1QZNyqbfgN2/s1600/third+of+the+matching+skirt+companionship.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3eRgBSHR3I1phnV5BLX2fa0pFpdw5StyEbwiYo6xP60c9fdblmnjX64PlcfJaEQN0I3nZXOHqvgSkyAy3fiiDIC9NY2mSZ4tTQkbnBBvyh9GgZNZN2hqFYsInbwSMHI7d1QZNyqbfgN2/s1600/third+of+the+matching+skirt+companionship.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">third of the matching <br />skirt companionship</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That was the first thing that came out of my mouth after I read you emails hahaha, I just love you guys! Your emails are soooo good, and this week sooo funny. My favorite is that I am now Ben's favorite sibling and then the really awkward picture that president Querido managed to get of me and my companion. I obviously was not paying attention. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I just hope that's not what I usually look like when I'm talking to people I haven't seen in awhile...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SO, lets just review all the qualifications I got this week making me a certified, genuine FIlipina:) (Again.)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zvXKuoqT-cR34DGtdUa5i3EO7HqzxpnKZmyNumlM7Tw9le6Mte0VF9fP087mhuewJt0LtlMFxUvNNtwtyZeiXQ4qwF9nYafFIR6o4xew7CGH8LXJ62Hx5GNWaIjSl7LNcqZryjvxCffy/s1600/this+is+the+most+annoying,+disobedient,+and+loud+kid+I+have+every+met+in+my+life.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zvXKuoqT-cR34DGtdUa5i3EO7HqzxpnKZmyNumlM7Tw9le6Mte0VF9fP087mhuewJt0LtlMFxUvNNtwtyZeiXQ4qwF9nYafFIR6o4xew7CGH8LXJ62Hx5GNWaIjSl7LNcqZryjvxCffy/s1600/this+is+the+most+annoying,+disobedient,+and+loud+kid+I+have+every+met+in+my+life.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">this is the most annoying, <br />disobedient, and loud kid <br />I have every met in my life</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This week was filled with eating and eating, and talking and eating. I have become even more talkative (thanks to my ever so talkative companion) and we realized this week that talkativeness=dinner appointments:). We managed to score dinner appointments almost every night this week!!!! Yesssss. One of those dinner appointments I learned to make leche flan (get the egg yolks ready for when I come home!) and then one of my favorite members here, Chat Nobleza made REAL, live, eatable sandwiches, WITH LETTUCE!!!!! I didn't fully appreciate the leafy, tasteless stuff until I ate it for the first time since I left America. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I want a salad for my first dinner home. With ranch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We also experienced the actual missionary life when we ran out of stove gas. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_142822452" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> night. We still haven't been able to buy any because there are a whole bunch of fiestas here, so for the moment, this missionary's diet is crackers, instant oatmeal, and the candy bars that were in my last package.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlsjbm8cpGbtZOXOcY7wmK-e47Z0AGdfwsmuyOdDZ9C9QQs2bAq9nBKDN1V1gL1L09i2EcKrvQB24pPL4X-uqPzzOuWgyjLShLTBO_GJzmiiE-H6_ENBtQyfAsz2jOIiCBxNp9ddLsNOo/s1600/we+had+a+picnic+and+picked+mangos+at+our+investigator+for+lunch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlsjbm8cpGbtZOXOcY7wmK-e47Z0AGdfwsmuyOdDZ9C9QQs2bAq9nBKDN1V1gL1L09i2EcKrvQB24pPL4X-uqPzzOuWgyjLShLTBO_GJzmiiE-H6_ENBtQyfAsz2jOIiCBxNp9ddLsNOo/s1600/we+had+a+picnic+and+picked+mangos+at+our+investigator+for+lunch.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">we had a picnic and picked mangos <br />at our investigator for lunch</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks as well to my companion, I am the proud owner of 5 new pairs of shoes. All of which I am saving to bring home. They are sooooo cute. I'll send pictures next week. One of those pairs has cats and dogs on it, but you won't be ablet o even imagine it until I send the pictures:) Whoever told me that there was nothing to buy here obviously did not know how much junk filipinos are good at saving. And how good I am at finding useless things to buy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last P-day I might have bought a machete.... Are those allowed on the plane?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIniL2CM81oznDCq-MZTDYp5vpS5VHEz3kj3kmRuS0GbqN7l8OMglT13mp3p85pgrTuBCmrsI-nYvTPgs_xnwV23279B8YaaOL5IyICK7X0Iy7kxtyDezLxcjbhaxx4RYDlCy-3ne8I8G/s1600/one+of+the+members+made+real,+almost+american+sandwiches!!!!!.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIniL2CM81oznDCq-MZTDYp5vpS5VHEz3kj3kmRuS0GbqN7l8OMglT13mp3p85pgrTuBCmrsI-nYvTPgs_xnwV23279B8YaaOL5IyICK7X0Iy7kxtyDezLxcjbhaxx4RYDlCy-3ne8I8G/s1600/one+of+the+members+made+real,+almost+american+sandwiches!!!!!.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">one of the members made real,<br /> almost american sandwiches!!!!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This week one of my personal goals was patience. I figured patience is a great thing to learn on a mission, lots of opportunities to grow and really learn. But I realized this week, when you pray for patience, Heavenly Father will reeeaally find good ways to test your patience. I have never tried so hard to be patient and then had more things happen to try that patience. Heavenly Father is a funny guy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, nonetheless, I managed to learn a lot about patience. One day, it was thanks to a puddle. We left from an appointment and we were so frustrated at our investigator just because of some of the things she had told us and then things that she doesn't understand. We said goodbye (this is about <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_142822453" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">8pm</span></span> now and dark) and start walking across the road to go home. My steps were a little hard and forced as we're walking (haha trying to get rid of my impatience) and as my mind was thinking about all the things that our lesson lacked, I managed to stomp my foot into a giant, fresh, really muddy puddle. Right into the middle of it. My companion just stopped, we stared at each other for about 10 seconds, and then just burst out laughing. I managed to fish my now dirt covered shoe out of the water, and hobbled home. Hobbling half because we were laughing so hard and half because I was only walking with one shoe on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But this week was full of great lessons like that about my now very improved patience.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyopSwisY6vn11DRVpMmYlmBf9PS7I0tMu8TTAl2NpnqPSJGk4vATTiOQryL_m61aFCGau7DEbn92uVrx4oXNh8rp_ZnhBnrHr_KYR__xqld9gHg0BSxX4EZs8l98pSd2r-oD7SYSVtXo/s1600/these+are+the+shoes+I%2527ve+been+talking+about%2529+But+the+good+news%252C+I+didn%2527t+buy+any+today%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyopSwisY6vn11DRVpMmYlmBf9PS7I0tMu8TTAl2NpnqPSJGk4vATTiOQryL_m61aFCGau7DEbn92uVrx4oXNh8rp_ZnhBnrHr_KYR__xqld9gHg0BSxX4EZs8l98pSd2r-oD7SYSVtXo/s1600/these+are+the+shoes+I%2527ve+been+talking+about%2529+But+the+good+news%252C+I+didn%2527t+buy+any+today%2529.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">these are the shoes I've been talking about)<br />But the good news, I didn't buy any today)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right after I type this, we're walking to the post office to send of the bajillion letters that I spend the last two weeks writing. I am so impressed with these letters:) Let the Beene's know I sent them a letter too:).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny Story: Our zone is at war right now:) In a missionary appropriate, joking kind of way... As always, our work is focused on goal setting, goal achieving, and numbers of work. We won again for the highest stats last week and so we got to watch last week as the other district tried the cinnamon challenge:) ha.hahaa There were 4 big elders and some cute, small filipina sisters that spent about 5 minutes coughing out their guts and trying to hide spitting out the giant spoon of cinnamon they ate:). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">KAPAYAPAAN!!<br />SISTER TAYLOR</span></div>
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Sarah Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18107951864810078936noreply@blogger.com