Yay the library is open!, exchanges, teaching, remember who you are!

It's Monday!!! and not a holiday!! Which means...Emails!! :D That was kinda lame that we didn't get to email last week... :/ just snail mail.... how did they ever survive back in the olden days ;) haha! Well anyways..here we are! Already on to week 3 of the transfer!! This is going way too fast!! we had a good week though!! After writing letters and playing games at the Royers house we grabbed some food and drove to Augusta for exchanges! I stayed there with Sister Wray and Sister Lassen went back to Waldoboro with Sister Huefner! We had a really good day in Augusta! First we went and saw one of their investigators Lawrence and we taught him the restoration with the apostasy cups :) I love object lessons! It was good cuz it really helped him to understand it more and to understand the importance of the priesthood! so that was a good lesson then we tried to see some less actives and potentials but no one was home... so we went and did mormon.org! That was fun as always...then we had lunch! and then we went and saw a potential investigator, talked with him about the Book of Mormon and then we picked up the elders and went to coordination meeting at the church! After that they were supposed to have Book of Mormon class but no one came...so that was sad...but then we went and saw a less active and had a really good lesson with her! She was telling us about some things that were going on and struggles with her job and we had planned to talk about something else and then the spirit said nope! teach this! so we flipped to the scripture that we were memorizing for the day which was Ether 12:27 and we read that chapter! It was so good! The spirit was so strong and the lady was crying and saying it was just what she needed! I love those awesome moments when we listen to the spirit! It's so amazing!! :) So that was a good way to end our night! then we headed home did nightly planning and went to bed! then we got up the next morning had time to study and then went to district meeting! Our district has eleven people in it so it's pretty big this time! There's us, the Damariscotta elders, the Augusta elders and sisters and the Gardiner elders which is a trio so that's how you get an odd number...haha don't worry yes i can count! :) and this week the zone leaders came so it was an extra big district meeting!! It was fun! So after district meeting we drove back to Damariscotta and we went and saw Sister Russell...we read the Book of Mormon with her again and she gave us hot chocolate...cuz it was freezing!!!! haha then we went to Sister Gove's and took down some Christmas decorations! Then we had dinner and had a coordination meeting with the elders! We are starting a Book of Mormon class but we kinda sorta forgot to announce it or tell anyone about it so it is starting next week! haha so we went to the young womens activity for a bit and then went home and that was Wednesday!

 

Thursday we went and saw Linda and Arnez... while I was on exchange Sister Huefner found out that Arnez decided to start smoking... :( so that was disappointing... we decided to teach about agency and forgiveness. but it didn't go so well... we ended up leaving early and went to the Royers for a little pick me up after a bad lesson... They made us laugh and then we changed into our service clothes and helped them cut a tree and stack the wood into their truck and then took it to their house for their wood stove! ...we found out that we really need to work on our upper body strength...bahaha we're a little weak :) but that was fun! Then we went and contacted some referrals and then we went back to the Royers for dinner! :)

 

Friday we worked on our weekly planning for the most part! Then we went and saw the Seversons and they fed us dinner! we didn't really have much of a lesson with them but mostly just listened to stories about their daughter Tammy who had special needs and passed away a few years ago. We really want to teach them more about the plan of salvation and have been trying to get more of it in but I think just listening to them and letting them tell stories helps them :) After that we went and did some service for Melanie! and miracle...she told us she wants to do the stop smoking program!! So on Tuesday we're going to do that with her! She's not really an investigator yet...I guess she's just a potential but we go over every week and do service and always leave her with a prayer! So that was pretty awesome when she asked about the stop smoking program! So she'll do that and then just wait! she'll be a new investigator and then she'll be baptized! it'll be great :)

 

Saturday we had a good lesson with Linda, Arnez and Tom! Sister Duffy came and we talked about baptism and confirmation and the sacrament! It went really well and Linda and Arnez had cleared things up and forgiven each other and it was much happier :) They are all progressing and excited for when they can get baptized! After that we had lunch and finished up our weekly planning...then we saw a less active who wants to bring his family to church (his wife and girls are not members...yet) :) but they were sick :/ and we saw another potential who also wants to come to church soon! And then we went to the Royers for dinner and had a nice lesson with them :)

 

On Sundays of course we go to church...it's starts at 10 here which is nice :) the church is in Damariscotta so it's like 12 miles away from our house... so we just pack a lunch and then work in Damariscotta on sundays :) Yesterday we had lunch and then did our companion study at the church! then we went and saw sister gove and finished taking down all of her decorations and then it was time to go back to the church for the youth fireside!! that was really good! It was about temples so all of us missionaries got to share experiences about our youth temple trips! A little different from us from Utah with all the temples close by then it is for the youth here! and even though it's not too far it's just out of our mission boundaries so we can't go :( ahhh! I miss the temple! But I'll just be even more grateful when I can go back!! So that was fun hearing about the leaders experiences and some of the youth :) Then we came home and planned went to bed, got up, studied, cleaned, wrote letters, and here we are! Emails! and now time is running out! So! oh I just wanted to share this quote with you that sister huefner shared with me!! i love quotes!!! :) "If you could look into the heavens and see who you really are, you would be overwhelmed with your capabilities  your talents, your spiritual qualities, and the vision of what you are able to become. If we knew now who we really are, we would feel different about ourselves. We would be excited and enthusiastic about this life even with its burdens and frustrations." - Harold B. Lee :) So good!!! I hope that we can all remember who we are - children of God! and the divine potential that we have! "Remember who you are and whose you are!" I love you all so much!! Have a super great week!!! :)

p.s. Here are a few pics...Sister Huefner and I at emails, us with Brother Zaugg, & our awesome closet! we made these awesome belt/jewelry hangers with some tacks :) genius.

Snail mail update, loving Damariscotta, love being a missionary, so happy, He knows us and knows our needs...

Surprise! We got our letter(s) in the mail today and Sister Tait wrote this blog post and asked me to type it up and send it out....so, here you go, the latest update from Sister Tait. And we only have to wait two days till the next one!! Yippee - we are doing a happy dance over here :)  Have a great weekend everyone!

Hey Everyone!! Well, I am loving Damariscotta!! So many great things to tell you!! Kinda lame that we have nowhere to email today so I have to write all this and send it as snail mail---but oh well! So we just got done helping stuff live chickens into boxes :) That was quite exciting :) We're at the Royers house doing our laundry/writing letters and they live on a farm. Today they were taking some chickens, pigs, bunnies and a horse to auction, so we helped them get them all into the truck. There was one escape chicken so we chased him around and then caught him! And now they're off...so we're just holdin' down the fort...hanging with the 6 golden labs and later we'll go say hi to the other horses, donkey, turkeys and goats. We live with a member - Sister Brooks  We have our little apartment half (bedroom, study room, bathroom) and then we share the kitchen. Sister Brooks has a horse named Silly and we're becoming really good friends cuz I eat lots of apples and then give the core to Silly. :)

So let me tell you about my journey to damariscotta!  Haha! We got the record for shortest transfer - Sister Huefner just came down to Topsham, picked me up and back to Damariscotta we went. Easy peasy! We're still trying to get used to the fact that we're actually companions and not just on exchange! So first things first, we stopped at McDonalds and got some breakfast, then we had mormon.org tim so I got on there and Sister Huefner finished applying for grad school. We were there for a while then for lunch we stopped at Hannaford and bought some food for the week. Then we came to the Royers to let the dos out since they were at the temple - then we had a lesson with our investigators, Linda & Arnez & Tom. They all want to get baptized and it will be very soon hopefully. Anyway, that's what we did on Tuesday. We came home and did our personal and companion study since we missed it that morning...then we had dinner, did our nightly planning, unpacked and a little and went to bed. We were a little worried about mornings because we know that both of us don't really enjoy getting up so early haha, but so far so good & it turns out 2 negatives make a positive! So we woke up on time, bright and early Wednesday morning and it was a bright sunshiny day! We've been having the January thaw this week so it's been relatively warm - All we needed was our rain jackets outside. And then the snow came back yesterday - but it was nice while it lasted. 

Wednesday we went and did service for Melanie - a potential investigator. We painted a bed set for her granddaughter  Oh and funny story...so Melanie was on the phone and there was a knock on the door...Sis. Huefner went and answered it and guess who it was? The Jehovah's Witnesses!  Haha it was really funny to see their startled faces when they saw our name tags  First they thought we were the physical therapists and then we said nope, just visiting. They weren't too happy...they asked if we could give Melanie a pamphlet, so we did and then she thanked us. Maybe they won't come back haha - it was just really funny! Then we went and saw a less active Sister Russell and read the Book of Mormon with her. After that we went to the church and coordination with the elders and Brother Royer (he's the branch mission leader), then we got to go to the youth activity and play scripture charades with them. 

Thursday we had zone meeting.  So with transfers and everything, they changed up some of the mission boundaries, so now Topsham is not in our zone and there is no Topsham district anymore! We're in a whole new district now and I won't get to see Sister Hoffman now and we won't go on exchanges there cuz we're in different zones! Zone meeting was good. Our zone leaders made another challenge like the 12 days of Christmas, but this time it's Family History Madness! Unfortunately we're not as dedicated to the challenge this time since our district was demolished, but we'll still do our best and see how it goes. After zone meeting we went and saw Linda and Arnez, did the challenge and went on family search.org and showed them how to do a fan chart. 

Friday we did weekly planning and then went to see Christy - an investigator  but she was sick. After that we went to the Seversons and had a lesson with them and then they decided to feed us dinner. Then we went and did more painting for Melanie. 

Saturday we did the stop smoking program with Arnez and it went really well! Sister Duffy came with us and Arnez's grandkids were there and helped put signs all over the house. So, that was good. It just takes 7 days, so next Saturday we are having a victory party! We tried to see some other potentials/formers that day and then we did transfer planning. 

Sunday was great! Church starts at 10:00 here. It was pretty snowy so it was a small crowd in our little branch, but Linda, Tom and Arnez were there! I love the branch and all the members here. They're so great! Sister McInnis is Betsey's mom, so she wanted to take me with here to Cory's baptism. I wanted to go so bad but I couldn't. But hey! Corey is baptized now!! Woohoo!! We got to go to primary and play the piano because there were no other pianists, so Sister Huefner & I will just switch off being the primary pianist :) After church we had a linger longer so that was fun and delicious! We stopped by a few less actives, had a meeting with the elders, then home for dinner. So, it's been a pretty great week. We've got some really great goals for this transfer. We are sad because we know we'll probably only get one transfer together...but it is going to be one wicked awesome transfer!! Last night we were talking about life and such and about our missions. We were really pondering and thinking about how great Heavenly Father is. He really is so aware of us - of our wants and needs - he know what's best and it always works out. He has a plan! It's so cool to see how all the pieces fall into place! We were thinking back to our first exchange together & afterwards we had both written in our journals similar things about how we wished we could be companions. But, we knew it probably wouldn't happen, then how last transfer when we were all sure I was being transferred and then surprise! I wasn't! That was pretty crazy - it caused me to have some doubts and I was quite confused. Sister Huefner was confused too, but now seeing how it all worked out, I know that there were several reasons why I had to stay another transfer...but one big reason was so that then Sister Huefner and I could be companions! Tricky tricky! Oh Heavenly Father - He's so cool!! I love Him! He just knows how to make it all work! I love this gospel so much and I love being a missionary. And I love all of you!!! 

Love,

Sister Tait

An update from mom…no emailing this pday cuz of the holiday :(

Well - the library was closed on Monday so we got word from the mission office that there would be no missionary emails. Boo :( but on the bright side I got to connect with Sister Huefner's mom and that made this mom's day!! Sister Tait was so excited to have Sister Huefner as her new companion since she had such a great time when they went on exchanges together. Sister Huefner is the sister training leader. We are anxiously awaiting this Monday when we get to see how she likes her new apartment and area. Here are a few pictures I forgot to add last week from her last week in Topsam with cute Sister Hoffman. Enjoy! Talk to you all on Monday!!! :)

Sister Wallace!!! She's the cutest!!! :)

Here's the soup kitchen crew!!! 

This is Megan! She comes and eats at the soup kitchen! i love her! she's so cute!

The Jones Family!! I love them!!

Goodbye?? well sort of…last week in Tomsham

Oh man! Crazy things happening here! haha you're never gonna believe this but... I'm being transferred!! Okay so that part is believable but you'll never guess where I'm going!! ....haha I'm going to Damariscotta!! yup! just like 40 minutes away from my area now... haha and my companion is going to be Sister Huefner!!! :D no way right?! Before my mission I thought it was a one time thing...all that suspense and excitement waiting to get your mission call... but nope! It happens every six weeks! (or at least the possibility of every six weeks) haha! all that all over again! wondering where will i go?? but this time it's not where in the world will i go... but where in New England will I go?? haha so Saturday night is when transfer calls happen... we were out in Lisbon teaching Corey so we were driving home and we stopped to get gas and I checked the phone and said Sister Hoffman we missed our call! well...guess i'm not leaving! haha...so that was at 8:18 missed the call...oops.. haha then we got a text from the Damariscotta sisters saying "and transfer calls have officially begun...may the odds be ever in your favor" so we knew they had gotten their call so we asked what was happening!! they said sister lundahl was leaving and sister huefner was staying sister training leader and staying in damariscotta! so then we were home...doing our nightly planning and since we missed our call we had to wait til they called again since they were calling everyone else... haha so then 9:20 rolls around and we get a call from the assistants! and no surprises! he just told us that sister hoffman was staying and I was being transferred!! We texted the Damariscotta sisters and told them and they said we'll miss you sister tait!  so then.... Sunday morning the zone leaders call to give you your travel plans... I answered the phone and he said "you need to get a member ride to the Topsham chapel... be there at 6:50... Sister Hoffman will go to transfer meeting to meet her new companion and Sister Tait you will meet Sister Huefner and go to your new area.. Damariscotta!" wait are you serious??? haha he was like yeah crazy i know!! haha but i said well alrighty!! awesome!!! haha :) So then we texted the sisters and asked if they got their travel plans and then Sister Huefner said "well looks like i won't be missing you sister tait!" haha it was just funny and awesome!! :) i can't believe it!!! so yeah! that's how it happened! haha normally you don't know where you're going or who your new companion is... unless your travel plans are close by or you're meeting your companion there or whatever... so anyways!! it's gonna be great!! haha :D sister jones will pick us up tomorrow morning at 6:30 and take us to the church then i'll go to damariscotta with sis huefner and sis hoffman will go to manchester and get her new companion!! crazy crazy!! :) So i'm not really going too far! Yesterday at church all the members were anxious to hear what was happening! It was so great to tell them I wouldn't be too far! cuz of course that's the hardest part! see it's not just a one time call and not just a one time goodbye... but no goodbyes, just see you later.. and this time it's more like sooner than later...just a hop, skip and a jump away :) haha too great :)

So it's been an awesome week!!! Great way to end the transfer and my time in Topsham!! It has been an awesome 7 months...crazy that it's been 7 months... but it's been so cool to be here and really see the area grow!! So many miracles have happened in the past 5 transfers! It's so great! This morning we were doing some reflecting on just this last transfer and we had 8 new investigators!! Wow!! I remember back in the day when we had like one investigator and we were just so focused on less actives! Now our less actives are active...we have to hunt down more less actives and we have people that we are teaching regularly! It's wonderful!! It's cool to see how all these investigators have come from so many different ways too! Tracting, street contacting, referrals, part member families... I know that as we have just tried our hardest and didn't give up the Lord blessed us and led us to those prepared people! It was just an instant & here's all these investigators... there were lots of ups and downs... It's like a roller coaster! Well life can be a roller coaster...but a mission...it's a whole other kind of roller coaster... haha! It's been a crazy one! There are really hard days...really hard hours...but then really amazing ones that make it all worth it! You just can't give up!! I know it's because of that that we were able to find these amazing prepared people! And guess what! Sister Hoffman and I will still be in the same district so I'll still get to hear all about these people :)

So Monday we had a great pday and then we had dinner with Sister Wallace :) She is seriously the cutest ever! Yesterday she told me she didn't want me to leave and that she might just drive over and kidnap me! haha! Tuesday we went to the soup kitchen and we told them I was probably leaving...for reals this time... and they said oh sure... haha so i said i needed a picture! I got my picture but it's gonna be really funny if I come back to topsham for exchanges on a tuesday and i'm back! haha not sure if that will happen because sister huefner might not be over topsham...but we'll see! :) We met with John who we met at the soup kitchen the other day and had a really good lesson with him! We told him I was probably going to be transferred so he wanted to meet again before I left so tonight we have a lesson with him! He is going to bible school...and has lots of good questions...so should be good! We had a great lesson with Shawn and Megan on Wednesday! They had lots of good questions and we taught them all about the plan of salvation! It was so good! Then Thursday we served at the hospital..did some tracting...visited some less actives! Friday we had a good lesson with the Jacksons then Saturday taught Mike and Corey!!!

Ahh! i'm out of time!! sorry i can't tell you more!! haha well!!! I love you all!!! hope you have a great week!!! :)

Love,

Sister Tait

p.s. My new address is... 447Goshen Rd.

Waldaboro, ME 04572

The Raineys - love them!!!!

Mother...daughter...sister!! :)

Sister Hersom!!! I lover her so much!! :)

Brother Eldredge!!! the man with the mustache :)

Sandy & Mike

The Flaggs! Corey is beting baptized this Sunday!! :) and Brianna  (Betsey's cousin) wants to learn more so we are teaching her!

The Mullins!!

Happy 2014, transfers this week!, wicked cold, continuing the journey...

Well guess what is coming up this week...yup...transfer calls.... :O and I am 99.999999999999% sure that I am getting transferred! So this will be my last full week in Topsham!! then Saturday we'll get the call and Tuesday will be transfer meeting! So monday i'll be able to tell you if i'm staying or leaving...but i won't know where or with who!! We'll see what happens!! watch...i'll just stay here again....haha everyone here keeps saying I should just have my records sent to the Topsham ward! haha who knows what will happen! I do love Topsham though! So whenever I end up leaving it's going to be really hard!! We had another really good week! Another new investigator!!! good way to start off the new year! :D Lots of good things happening already! :) We've had some extremely cold days... but today has been really nice! All the way up to 50 degrees!! :D and tomorrow we're back into the teens...brrrrr!!! wicked cold!!! Oh funny story about the word "wicked"... so everyone here says "wicked" like all the time! maybe i've already told you this.. haha but anyways we went to one persons house and they were saying it non stop! and then later we were thinking about The Incredible's when the little boy says "that was totally wicked!" so i told sister hoffman "did you know they filmed that movie in maine?...haha she was like "really??" and believed me... she's wicked gullible sometimes... ;) 

 

So Tuesday was New Years Eve...we went to the soup kitchen and then after that we went to the library and we met with Amy! I think I told you about Amy a while ago... it was probably in November! We were tracting in Lisbon and we met her...we gave her a Book of Mormon and we sang I am a Child of God to her... well! last weekend we were in Lisbon so we called her to see if we could stop by possibly... she said during the week would be better so we told her we don't have a car during the week...and then she said she would come to Brunswick!! awesome!! So she drove to us and we met at the library!! She said that she has been flipping through the Book of Mormon but is confused so we answered some of her questions and then taught her the Restoration! The best part was when I got to recite the first vision to her! The spirit was so strong as I told her about Joseph's Smith experience when he went and prayed! She wants to come to Book of Mormon class now and hopefully to church! Church is just a little too early for her though so she's gonna work up to that! :) But it was a really good lesson with her and she wants to learn more!! We're planning to meet with her again tomorrow after the soup kitchen! That was pretty much all we did on Tuesday...we had dinner with some members and then we had to be in at 8:00! So we spent some time setting goals for the new year!! We took some pics and then we were in bed by 10:30....oh the life of a missionary... not your regular new years eve! haha but it was great!

On Wednesday we had district meeting and we were talking about the importance of family home evening and how we can use FHE to find new investigators and having fun object lessons. Our goal as a district this week was to do object lessons so we've had lots of fun with that this week! Our favorite this week was the iron rod...we would blindfold the kids and have a rope leading to their parents and had them hold to the rod and then we read in 1 Nephi 8 about Lehi's vision and talked about it! It was so fun! We did it with three different families this week! :) We still had Book of Mormon class even though it was new years day! And Brother Eldredge came! and Brother Rainey! and Sister Hersom!! :) 

Thursday...well we got a text from Brother Jones saying that schools were closed...which means our car is grounded...but not just that but it was -30 with windchill! Extreme cold and blizzard conditions, frostbite warning...so he told us to stay in unless we had an appointment and a ride! A little later we were able to get to the bus so we could go do service at the hospital...but then we got a call saying she didn't need us...so we just stayed on the bus and came back home! it was a nice little adventure to get out of the apartment! haha... then since we were just stuck inside guess what we did?? well... our mission is starting this scripture memorization program! and we are memorizing one scripture everyday!!! :O crazy huh?? so we spent our time writing out all the the January scriptures on 3x5 cards and decorating our little boxes :) and then we started memorizing!! it was quite exciting :) haha so, so far i've got 6 scriptures memorized!! pretty awesome!

Friday...we were supposed to stay inside that day too! :P We did our weekly planning...worked on the scriptures some more... and then they said it was "warm enough" to go out! haha so we went and saw a less active! and then on our way home we decided to stop at gelato fiasco... They have this great deal where for every degree below freezing you get that percent off!! So of course we had to stop and got 31% off!! :) haha it was great :)

Saturday we were finally able to get the car from the elders! It was safe to drive so we were able to go to Lisbon and see some people!! We were able to see Sandy but Michael was busy....she has been talking to him lots about the gospel and said that she told him about the word of wisdom and they are both going to quit smoking together!! :) We were able to meet with Corey!! I was so hoping that we could just teach him the rest and then he would be baptized this saturday... but he said he could use another week.... so his new baptismal date is the 19th!! probably i'll be gone... but i'm super excited for him!!!! :D After that we went to Orange leaf to celebrate our... 7 month mark! Ridiculous!!! So that was exciting :)

Sunday was really good :) great testimony meeting!!! Lots of good things that we talked about at church! I loved the lesson in Relief Society we talked about goals! and there were so many good quotes! i'll share some of them with you... :) I loved this - it's from the January ensign... "We can be empowered...even though we might fall short of our finish line, just continuing the journey will make us greater than we were." -President Uchtdorf  I loved what we talked about how it's not perfection now... it's progress! We talked a lot about the Atonement and how it plays a big part in our goals. "Perfection is our long term goal, but for now our goal is progress in that direction - continuous progress that is possible only through the continuous Atonement." This week I have been thinking a lot about perspective. It seems like a lot of the people that we went and visited this week we talked about the plan of salvation and having an eternal perspective. I have a strong testimony of the plan of salvation and I know that central to that plan is the Atonement. I am so grateful for my Savior. I know that He is always there for us. I know that we all have weaknesses, we go through hard times, and have many challenges, but he gives them to us so that we can learn and grow and progress. Joseph Smith taught that true faith is more than knowing there is a God. It is knowing God - knowing His attributes and His relationship to us. It is knowing that He has a plan for us and that we are living in accordance with that plan. It is knowing that His Atonement is real, that its purpose is to transform us, and that it will be available as long as that perfecting process takes. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us! We are His sons and daughters. he loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us. And I know that our Savior loves and cares for each of us. I hope that this year we can all strive to not only know there is a God...but to know God. I know that by reading the Book of Mormon we truly can come closer to Him and that we can pray & He will hear us. I just love this gospel so much!! i love all of you!!! hope you have a great week!!! :D

Love,

Sister Tait

Happy 2014

Gelato!!! 31% off!!! haha so worth it! :)

Look at my awesome new mittens!!! I LOVE U!!! :)