Maplesicles, street contacting, exchanges, a really great week...

Hola!!!!! Well...i'm kinda running out of time because of my intense emails today!!! bahahahhaha! oh manny... they've been awesome today :) well!! at least i've been able to send lots of pictures so if i don't get to say a lot now at least you can see what i've been up to all week! a picture says a thousand words right?? right!! hahah... so it's been a pretty awesome week!!!!! I'm sorry you're gonna have to get the super quick version of everything!!!! Alrighty...so!!! last monday was super fun!!! After emails we went to the elders apartment and then they drove us all to Augusta!!! we went to the state library and got to see one the first copies of the Book of Mormon!!! It was super cool! you just go and tell them you want to see it and they go get it out of a safe and bring it out and you have to put on gloves and then you can take pics and everything!!! it was pretty neat!! So we were there for a bit and then we went to the church and played games with the rest of our district for district pday and had birthday cake for elder hudson's birthday!!!! Then we came back to damariscotta and met the Yarmouth sisters at our church and then I went to Yarmouth with sister Buxton and Sister Davis stayed with sister Huefner!!! So then we drove to Yarmouth!! so we went through Topsham!! That was exciting!! I got to hear all the latest about what's going on there cuz Sister Buxton is in their district!! crazy news...the elders and sisters switched areas!!! so now the sisters are in bath and the elders are in brunswick!!! what the?!?! crazy right?!? uhh yeah. haha so we got to yarmouth...planned and went to bed!!! then got up in the morning and we walked to the library to do service!!! sister buxton asked me if i liked walking...i said yes but I'm pretty sure i regretted that the next day! bahaha! sister davis is allergic to the cold!! so they are usually in the car! so she was so happy to get to walk all day and I was really enjoying it too!! it's been a while!! haha! so we cleaned some books and stuff and then walked home for lunch! and on the way home we saw these icicles hanging off the trees but we were a little to short to reach... so this guy is walking along and we stop him and say "hey! do you think you could reach that for us??" and he said sure! and got the icicle down and we licked it and it tasted like maple cuz it was a maple tree of course!! haha so we had maplesicles and talked to him for a bit, gave him a mormon.org card and then continued on...he probably thought we were crazy...haha! It was a pretty nice day out so it was super great that we got to be out and walking!!! Street contacting is so fun!! and it definitely helps when the weather is nice so there's actually people outside... haha! then we had lunch...then walked to the church to do mormon.org! then we went and tried to see some potentials and then we had dinner at a members house and did a object lesson about the Book of Mormon with them!! I started to do it and they were like..oh the elders did this last week! hahah! oh dang... so i had to whip up a different way to apply it to make it different!! haha and it worked out! :) haha then we drove back to Damariscotta and exchanged back!!

Wednesday we had district meeting in augusta and then we had district lunch at red robin!oh and i got to get a picture by the Chelsea sign!! spelled wrong but still my name!!! :D then we came back and we went and saw the Creamers (potentials that we tried to see a few weeks ago) and they were both home and let us right in!!! they talked and talked and talked!!! haha... and told us fun stories about how they always adopted the elders and loved them so much! we're hoping we can get teaching them and make them new investigators soon!!! :D Then we went over to the Royers for coordination with the elders!! and we got to see the new baby lamb!!! Gilbert!!! He was so big and so cute!!! We got to see him wednesday and thursday and so glad we took lots of pics cuz his mama Ahja didn't make it through the night and then he only lived three days :( So that was super sad :( But coordination meeting was really good and hilarious as usual.. there's just something about getting that group of the six of us together...never ending laughter!! haha it's great :)

Thursday we had a lesson with linda and arnez!!!! It was really good we are reading over the restoration pamplet with them and it's been really good! Then we went over to melanie's and helped her load some furniture into her car! then we went to the royers for a little bit! and then we went to the youth activity! Chopped!! We were the judges and it was super fun!!! what better judges than the missionaries...they eat weird food all the time! ;) hahah! it was lots of fun :) oh and i found my awesome official judging glasses from the royers :) those were fun :)

Friday we did some weekly planning and then we went to the Kanewskes and finished up the food storage organization project!!! and then had some fun with their inversion table taking upsidedown pictures :) haha! and then we came home for more planning! 

Saturday we had a lesson with linda and arnez!!! guess what?!?!??! Arnez is getting off probation early!!! April 23!!! so we will probably have a baptism coming up soon!!!! :D linda will probably get off early too so we're hoping for may but we will see!!!! ahhhh!!!! well as soon as we work out a few other kinks... they weren't at church yesterday!!! :( no gas and they forgot to ask for a ride :( man! so sad!! but we'll get them there!! they're doing so good!! Then we tried to see a few other people! oh and that was a super amazing sunshiney day!!! we didn't even have to wear our coats!!! we went and washed our car!!! it was wonderful :) haha and then we went to the church and finished up some planning and then had dinner with all the sisters in the branch that came to watch the broadcast!!! and then watched the general women's broadcast!!! It was soooooo good!!! So pumped for general conference now!!!!!!!!!! :D 

Sunday we got to play a duet in sacrament meeting!!! It was My Heavenly Father Loves Me! It was lots of fun!!! And guess what? Sister Paradis was there visiting the Goldrups cuz she's bro goldrup's mom!!! So i got to see the Paradis!!! (from topsham) I'm pretty sure that was the first time i've seen brother paradis at church!! haha! pretty awesome!!! So that was good!! we got to go to primary again :) this time sister huefner played the piano and I got to sing with all the kids! and i also got to give a talk!! fun fun!! :) and then we had lunch, then went and saw some less actives!!! and also found a wishing well!! :D and i think that was it!!! :D

So it's been a pretty great week :D I think i told you all the good parts... phew!!! haha! well i hope you all have a wonderful week!!! have fun watching conference!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's gonna be so good!! :D can't wait!!! well! i'll talk to ya'll next week!!! LOVE YOU LOTS!!!! :)

Teaching, serving & a little mischief...decorating eggs...

Spring is here!!!! :D ahhh! finally! well...sort of... haha it's still only 22 degrees out there today...but the sun is shining!!! and we can say it's spring! :) So last monday after emails we went to Al's Toy Barn! Actually I think it's just called Big Al's but it makes me think of Al's Toy Barn on Toy Story...haha :) and they had lots of random things to buy! I got some super awesome smiley face tape! who could resist?! and then some postcards :) Then we stopped at Moody's Diner and picked up peanut butter pie and went to Sister Gove's house for FHE! We decided to surprise her with the pie because it is her favorite and she was going into surgery the next day!! So we visited with her and ate delicious pie!! :) It was great!! Then we came home and there was a St. Patricks Day package full of cookies!! 

Tuesday we had a lesson with Linda and Arnez and we watched a conference talk with them "The First Generation". It was really good for them and we had a good discussion with them and also got to talk a little about the word of wisdom! Arnez is still struggling with it a bit but knows she's going to have to stop before she gets baptized and says then she will be done forever! Hopefully we can get her to quit sooner rather than later! After our lesson we went to the Zauggs and had lunch with them and shared a message about the Book of Mormon! Then we didmormon.org and then after that we went and contacted a referral! Elder Pritchett who served here at the beginning of his mission is now our zone leader and so he gave us the referral to go see Bill and Candy! He said that their daughter got baptized in Topsham a few years ago but I wasn't sure who it would have been! So we went to the house and Candy came out and talked to us and said that the rest of her family was sick but that we could come back another time! And then she was telling us about her daughter that got baptized in Topsham and was married now and then it clicked in my head who it was! and I said oh Jade?!? and she said yeah! and so I told her I used to be in Topsham! So I know her daughter (but her and her husband were kind of less active when i was there and we tried to go see them a few times but they were always super busy) so the parents aren't members..(yet) but we are gonna go back and see them again soon! :) So after that we went to the church for the Relief Society meeting and it was all about family home evening!! It was super good! There were three different sisters that shared experiences and how they do it! Sister Barker has a neat way of doing it and every monday of the month has a different theme so like the first monday is family history (doing family history, indexing, telling stories about ancestors) then the second is focus so they focus on one thing (maybe a kid's science project or something) then the third monday fun (like going somewhere, ice skating, baseball game) and then the fourth monday free! (so like board games, or a movie) I really liked that idea!! :) They also had a clothing swap and I scored a new skirt :) So that was fun to go to!

Wednesday we had district meeting and I took the shamrock cookies to share with everyone and they loved them :) Then we had a church tour!!! The couple came and it was so awesome!!! We showed them the whole building, all the pictures and everything... my favorite part was when we got to the picture of the first vision and I got to tell them about it and tell them of Joseph's Smith experience in the sacred grove!! Ahhh!!! The spirit was so strong! I just love being able to tell people about it and to bear my testimony of the restoration of the gospel!!! :D We gave them a restoration pamphlet and they have both our numbers so they said they would give us a call! It was really great :) Then we went and saw sister russell! Read the Book of Mormon with her! Then we had Book of Mormon class and had two people come!! And then went home for dinner!

Thursday we went over and had a lesson with just Linda and watched another conference talk with her! Then Arnez and Tom got home so we got to visit with them for a bit! and then we went to the food pantry! It was super fun as always!! Then we went to Melanie's and we helped her to clean out her spare bedroom and then she had pizza for us! and then we went over to the Royers for a little bit!

Friday we did some weekly planning and then we went over to the Kanewskes and worked on the food storage room and got a lot done!! We were there for a while and then when we came home we made brownies, ate dinner and did some more planning!

Saturday ended up being a day full of studying the scriptures!!! Sister Huefner wasn't feeling well so she slept for a little bit and I decided to start the Book of Mormon from the very beginning again! So I got a brand new one and I decided that I would mark every reference to Christ! So I started doing that and then started drawing hearts every time it said heart or love... and then every time that it said "I know"... haha you want to know the best scripture marking tools ever?? crayola twistables. they're the best :) and i've converted sister huefner to them also now :) haha so pretty much all day I was just reading the Book of Mormon and marking it up! I read 276 pages!! It was crazy!!! I just didn't even want to go to sleep cuz I was glued to the book! haha! so I guess that's how to get me to like reading!! just let me color the whole way through!!! It was so much fun! and I was learning lots just speed reading my way through!! haha it was awesome! So now I'm almost done with the Book of Mormon again! 

Sunday I woke up and went straight to my Book of Mormon to continue my marking and reading :) and then we went to church! We got to do primary again and there were a whole 3 primary kids!! :O man..we really need to find and teach some more families!!!! But it was fun! and then we had lunch at the church! then that's when we found the elders eggs...decorated them...then dropped the off! and then we went and saw sister gove! her surgery went well and she was back at home! So that was good! and then we stopped by the Royers on our way home and had dinner with them!

And now back to Monday! We woke up...studied! cleaned our apartment...then came to do emails!!! and now we are just finishing up and then we're headed to Augusta for district pday! and then we come back and I'm headed to Yarmouth for exchanges!!! should be fun!!! So I hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Happy Spring!! :) LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Tait

Happy St. Patricks Day, stake conference, old friends...

Oh good a monday holiday where the libraries are still open!! :D I like this one :) haha! Well! it's been a great day so far! We had our st. patricks day shakes for breakfast with cute shamrock straws and then we went to the royers to do our laundry! still no baby sheep... but we did play Phase 10 so that was lots of fun! and now we're here emailing :)

So! Last Monday after emailing we went back to the Royers and we finished up writing letters and then we made apple crisp!! Brother Royer gave us the recipe to use and it made tons! haha one for us, one for the royers, and one for the elders! :D So we made that and Sister Royer gave us cute aprons to wear and took pictures of the whole process :) i forgot to get a picture of the final product though...we ate it too fast! ;) haha so the elders came over after pday and we had coordination meeting and then we ate lasagna and apple crisp for dessert!! And lots of laughs! haha :D it was a great meeting :)

Tuesday we went over to Melanie's and we organized a book shelf for her! and then we stopped by to see Linda and we visited with her for a little while and she was telling us about her friend who said he would like to come to church! So hopefully we'll be able to get to know him soon...I think Sister Huefner has met him before...so now we just need to teach him and get him to really come to church! :D Linda is already an awesome missionary :) Then Arnez got home from picking up her grandkids from school so we talked with them for a little bit and then we went to Damariscotta! We went and saw Sister Gove for a bit and just talked with her, listened to more of her stories :) and then it was time to go home!

Wednesday we didn't have district meeting because we had zone interviews this week! So instead we went over to the Kanewskes and did service there! Good news is they got the fox! And we were able to get a lot done with the food storage organizing project! And the elders were able to help Brother Kanewske chop wood and then we all had lunch together! Then we went and didmormon.org and then the elders were doing a family history workshop class thing in Damariscotta and we decided to join them! It was a really rainy day and just not the greatest weather so we didn't know if anyone would show up! But there was a couple who came and guess where they live? yup Damariscotta! so that would be our area :) The elders had a nice presentation and went over a bunch of stuff and answered questions and everything and the people really liked it and... this wednesday they're going to come to the church for a tour! So that will be awesome!! Then afterwards we went to the church and had a little coordination meeting with the elders! and then the youth activity got cancelled so Book of Mormon class got cancelled so we went home, had dinner and finished some transfer planning!

Thursday the weather just got worse and there was a lot of ice! We had to cancel our lesson with linda and arnez :/ and we didn't make it up to Sister Andersen's :( But we were abel to do our weekly planning! And then we went over to the Royers for dinner and that was about it for thursday!

Friday the elders came to our apartment and then we all drove to Augusta for interviews!! We had the zone meeting part first where the zone leaders do a lesson and training and also the sister training leaders came and did some training too! It was super good! and then we had lunch and then interviews and they went really well! :) After that we took advantage of being in the city and took a trip to Walmart!! It was wonderful! Oh and then we went to Wendy's for dinner! :) Then we drove home and finished some planning!

Saturday we didn't have a lesson with linda and arnez cuz they were sick :( so we tried to see the Osiers but they weren't home... we tried to see a few others but not much luck! But we drove to Topsham with Sister Brooks that night for Stake Conference!!! That was so much fun!!! It was a really good meeting all about hastening the work! and we were sitting there and there was an empty seat next to me and guess who walked in?? Sister Giveen!! She came over and asked if anyone was sitting there and luckily I had saved it just for her :) It was so good to see her! She is a less active in the Topsham ward that we used to visit lots but she was really busy and sick and I never got a picture with her! So I did! :D I got to see the Smiths and Bro Rainey and lots of other old friends :) It was the greatest!!

Then on Sunday we went with Sister Brooks, Linda and Brother Duffy down to Portland for stake conference! They have it at a middle school down there! And i got to see lots more of my friends!!! The Raineys!! and guess what!? they're moving to Oregon in May!! :O crazy!! and I saw the Mullins!!! and lots of others :) oh and the Flaggs!!!!!!! They were all there so that was super fun to see and talk to them!! :D And it was a really good meeting so that was an extra bonus :) Ahh!! It was just so fun to see all of them :) I love being a missionary and meeting all these amazing people!!! Then we came back and we went over to the Royers and we ended up having dinner with them! 

So that was it! It was a pretty good week! And here we go on to week 4 of the transfer!! AHH! time is flying!!!!!! Well!! I hope you all remembered to wear green today!!! Happy St. Patricks Day!! LOVE YOU LOTS!! :)

Shearing sheep, fun on the farm, 1/2 way, a grandspacular week!!

It has been a grandspacular week!!!!! We have had some more crazy adventures! Monday after emails we just went back to the Royers and we played games and played with the baby goats... and then later that night we just did some weekly planning! 

Tuesday was a really great day!! We had a lesson with Linda, Arnez and Tom which went really well! We read the Living Christ (well the first half) and had a really good discussion about the Atonement! Then we had lunch and then we went to Melanie's and we helped her move some furniture and then we made necklaces and bracelets! Then we went and we saw a less active and found out that his wife is also a member we just didn't have her records! So that was pretty exciting! We shared a scripture with him and he said we could come back! Then we were in the car and we were trying to figure out what we should do next... We had a bunch of people that we had thought about seeing but we just weren't sure where to go next... so we pulled over and decided to pray about it! I said the prayer and then we sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do... and then it popped in my head... "the smiths!!!" and so sister huefner turned to me and said..."what do you think?" and i said... "well the smiths just popped into my head...." and she said "that's what came to my head too!!!" :O "oh my goodness guess we're going to the smiths!" I can't remember if i've told you about the smiths or not... they are potential investigators..maybe formers...i can't remember now... but either way... they've got potential! and we were trying to help them with family history and we had sent some of their info to brother shuck who does four hours of free family history research! but they didn't have enough info for him to find much... so we were going back to see if they had found any new stuff... so when we both had the same idea then we prayed to know if we should go right then or later that night! and then we decided it was time to go! so we headed over there and when we pulled in...there was no car. :( no one was home! so we were a little disappointed but glad that we listened to the spirit and did what we felt was right... so then we just went and tried to see some members down the street...they weren't home either! so we tried a different potential and they didn't look home either... so we were headed back home for dinner and decided to stop by the smiths again on the way back... and guess what! they were there!! :D so we went in and they said they remembered another name! and so we wrote down her grandparents names and we were just trying to help them think of any other way they could find dates and names and then the dad walks out with a picture asking if it will fit in an envelope and then we said wait!! what is that?!?!? and it was a picture of a headstone of one of their grandparents so it had all the names and dates that we needed! so now hopefully we can send that info back and help them more with their family history :) so that was pretty awesome!!! Then we stopped by Dwayne and Katie's and they were sick but hopefully we'll be able to meet with them soon and make them new investigators! 

Wednesday was district meeting in Augusta! It was all about family history work and we played dip dip dip for our lesson activity and that was pretty funny! Then we came back and we read the Book of Mormon with Sister Russell and then we went and saw Sister Gove! We also hadmormon.org time! Then we were supposed to have BOM class but no one came... so we ended up just having a long coordination meeting with the elders!

Thursday we had a lesson with Linda and Arnez and we finished up reading the Living Christ! Then we had a quick lunch and then went to the food pantry! That was a lot of fun again!! they were all so excited that we were back! :) After a few hours there we went to the church and made some copies and practiced our piano duet :) and had dinner! 

Friday we went to the Kanewskes and we started helping her organize her food storage! and then we had to pause that because the dogs were barking so we went upstairs to go see what was going on and found out that there was a fox that had got one of their chickens!!! So then we were counting all the chickens and trying to make sure everyone else was okay! oh and we wrote a song.. sing to the tune of "Count Your Blessings" here it is... "count your chickens it is so much fun, count your chickens while around they run, count your chickens, name them one by one, count your many chickens so the fox has none!" :) haha so that's what we did for the first half of the day! Then we went over to the Royers for a little bit and then did our weekly planning!

Saturday we had a lesson with Linda, Arnez and Tom and the Duffy's came too! We read the family proclamation and had another great discussion! and then we went home changed our clothes and went over to the Royers to help them with all the animals!! We got to shear a sheep! :D that was fun :) and then we ending up taking selfies with all the animals :) haha and then we got to help clean the stall!!! woohoo! :) then we ate pizza and then went home and did more planning! :)

Sunday we went to branch council and then had church! I got to go to primary again and played the piano while sister huefner went to relief society! then we went to the McInnis' for lunch and then we went and saw Sister Andersen a less active who was close by and that ended up being really good! She is just this cute little old lady! my favorite!! Her son has cancer and he had just gone to the hospital and she just needed someone to talk to and cry to! So we got to spend some time with her and she told us that she wants to go back to the temple!! We're going back on thursday to help her sort through old clothes and clean so that will be good and then hopefully we can help her get back on track so she can get to the temple!! :) after that we went to the royers and talked with them and then came home and had dinner!

So there you have it! another great week and fun on the farm!! :) oh yeah and it was my halfway mark this week! what the?!?!? that was crazy :) I cannot believe it!!!! SO WEIRD! haha well I hope you all have a great week!! LOVE YOU LOTS!!!

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Lots of pics this week!

Fun on the farm...

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Your mom said you might be on. Don't know how but love you if it works.

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Holding down the fort, teaching, serving, cleaning, goats in shirts?!?

And just like that February is gone! :O It has been a good, fun week! But still no luck on finding more people to teach...this week the goal is to have our numbers go from depressing to impressing... haha so we'll work hard to accomplish that!!! But anyways.. last Monday after emails we went to Damariscotta and went to some of the little shops on Main Street and tried to get caught on the web cam! and that's when we found shirts for the baby goats... they were only a dollar so we had to get them! haha and then we went to the Royers house and put them on them and it was so great :) aren't they so cute?! :) They are getting so big! haha oh and they finally got names! The Royers said if they were both girls they were gonna name them after us... haha but we got a boy and a girl and their names are Tayler and Tyler... except Sister Huefner and I call them T-Swift and Franklynn haha so they might get a little confused at first but they'll learn i'm sure :) and that was about all we did on Monday!

 

Tuesday we were supposed to have a lesson with Linda and Arnez but they weren't feeling very good so that didn't happen... instead we went over to the Royers and we did some service at their house! Then we went home and fed Silly because Sister Brooks was gone all week so we got to take care of her :) Luckily we survived the week all by ourselves and kept the house warm with the wood stove! I was a little worried for us at first...but we did it! haha! So then that night we went and taught a new member lesson to Jayden who was just baptized in December in the Gardiner ward and now they just moved to our branch!! So that was fun to get to know her better! She's a super cute girl! but then we found out sad news that she just went back to North Carolina to live with her mom! She was living here with her aunt and uncle and decided all on her own that she wanted to get baptized! So actually we aren't going to be able to teach her...but it's really good because now her mom will start going to church and that will be really good!!

 

On Wednesday we had district meeting and it was fun cuz we had a whole new district! So we had a fun time getting to know each other! Then after that we usually go see Sister Russell! So we went to her house and she wasn't there!! So then we went back to Wiscassett to contact some referrals! We met Tammie and then Marjorie and they both seemed to have some good potential!!! We were able to get a phone number for Tammie and hopefully we'll be able to go back and see her! and then Marjorie had the cutest little girl ever and we just were at her house talking to her for a while and she said we could stop by anytime and she'd let us know if she needed anything! Then we went to the church and we had a coordination meeting with the elders! Then we had Book of Mormon class and then went home and fed Silly and went to bed!

 

Thursday we had a good lesson with Linda, Arnez, and Tom! We decided to read the talk "The Book of Mormon Keystone of Our Religion" by President Benson with them and it went really well! It was really good for Arnez especially because she realized what a difference it makes in her life to have the Book of Mormon and to read it. They used to be really good at reading it everyday and now that they've finished it they've been working on Doctrine and Covenants but haven't been as diligent in their scripture reading... and Arnez says that she's definitely seen a difference! That she was so happy when she was reading the scriptures and now that she hasn't been reading everyday she has just felt so down and things haven't been going so great! So it was cool that she was able to recognize that! Now hopefully she will do something about it! :) It was a super good talk though and we had a good discussion along with it! I actually just finished the Book of Mormon again a few weeks ago and strengthen my testimony even more that it is true! and that it is the keystone of our religion! Cuz really without it...we wouldn't have a religion! I love what Joseph Smith says about the Book of Mormon " told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." I know that that is true! The Book of Mormon helps us draw nearer to God and to become more like Him! I've realized that on my mission I am learning so many things and learning so much about myself! I think that we can all learn so much about ourselves as we read and study the scriptures!! We are told that as we do that we will come to know God better...and He created us so of course we are going to come to know ourselves better along the way!! Pretty awesome! I know that there is power in the Book of Mormon and it can help us and strengthen us so much in our lives! I know that it is true! And all you have to do to know for yourself if it's true is to read and pray to know! Anyone can do it and receive that witness and know that it is true, that Christ lives and loves us, and find all the truths of the gospel within it in plain and simple ways! I know that it was written for our day and that we need to read it, not just once, but continually and as President Benson said make it a lifetime pursuit!! So yeah. that was a good lesson :) then we went and saw Melanie and we made cookies and organized more of her crafts! Then we went and did mormon.org time! and then we went home for dinner!

 

Friday we sort of started our weekly planning...but mostly we did lots of cleaning because we wanted the house to be all clean for when Sister Brooks got home :) so we went out and brought in all the wood (that wasn't frozen solid) into the wood shed! and then we cleaned the kitchen and the living room! then we went to the Seversons for dinner and had a lesson about Genesis 1:26-27 and then their daughter and her fiancé showed up again! So we talked to them for a while and they invited us to come to their wedding! So if i'm still her in July I get to go to the wedding that they've been talking about and planning for a while now! :) we will see! haha and then we came home and finished up cleaning and a little planning!

 

Saturday we woke up and went out to feed Silly! (that was our exercise everyday this week we would get up and go out to the freezing cold and feed her haha) and then we decided to clean the stall for Sister Brooks! So that was quite exciting!! haha :) then we got ready for the day, studied, and then went to Linda and Arnez's and finished reading the talk with them! Then we came home and did some weekly planning and then later that night we went over to the Royers to drop off of progress record and said hello to the goats :)

 

Sunday we went to church and it was super good! We went to the gospel principles class because we didn't have any investigators there :( but it was a really good class!! and then we did singing time in primary again!!! so much fun!!! :) and then we basically just lived at the church the rest of the day! we did our studies there and a little bit more of weekly planning and then there was a youth fireside!! That was fun! and then we went with the elders and Brother Duffy to Sister Gove's house afterwards and she told us that she has to get more surgery :( so they gave her a blessing and the spirit was so strong in there!! Then they left and we stayed and visited with her for a while! Then we went home and planned then went to bed! and now it's Monday...again...even though I feel like just yesterday I was sitting here telling you all about the goat in my coat. now it's goats in shirts! who knows what this week will bring!! haha :) well! I love you all so much!!! Have a wonderful week!!! :)

Love,

Sister Tait

p.s. here's silly! our horse!!! (well Sister Brooks' horse) but we got to take care of her this week while Sister Brooks was out of town! :) ...i'll have to get a better picture of her another time... haha

 

here's a picture of her nice clean stall! haha :)

 

and here's a picture of us on our way into the library to email today!!! :)

 

oh and one more of the goats from today :) of course! haha

 

 

Just a couple of pictures...more to come

haha! they grow up so fast!!! look how big they're getting!!!!! haha and we just couldn't resist! we bought shirts for the baby goats!!! :)

oh and then look! my awesome companion made breakfast for me!!!! :) she's the best!

Holding down the fort, goats in shirts, teaching, cleaning, service...another great week!

And just like that February is gone! :O It has been a good, fun week! But still no luck on finding more people to teach...this week the goal is to have our numbers go from depressing to impressing... haha so we'll work hard to accomplish that!!! But anyways.. last Monday after emails we went to Damariscotta and went to some of the little shops on Main Street and tried to get caught on the web cam! and that's when we found shirts for the baby goats... they were only a dollar so we had to get them! haha and then we went to the Royers house and put them on them and it was so great :) aren't they so cute?! :) They are getting so big! haha oh and they finally got names! The Royers said if they were both girls they were gonna name them after us... haha but we got a boy and a girl and their names are Tayler and Tyler... except Sister Huefner and I call them T-Swift and Franklynn haha so they might get a little confused at first but they'll learn i'm sure :) and that was about all we did on Monday!

 

Tuesday we were supposed to have a lesson with Linda and Arnez but they weren't feeling very good so that didn't happen... instead we went over to the Royers and we did some service at their house! Then we went home and fed Silly because Sister Brooks was gone all week so we got to take care of her :) Luckily we survived the week all by ourselves and kept the house warm with the wood stove! I was a little worried for us at first...but we did it! haha! So then that night we went and taught a new member lesson to Jayden who was just baptized in December in the Gardiner ward and now they just moved to our branch!! So that was fun to get to know her better! She's a super cute girl! but then we found out sad news that she just went back to North Carolina to live with her mom! She was living here with her aunt and uncle and decided all on her own that she wanted to get baptized! So actually we aren't going to be able to teach her...but it's really good because now her mom will start going to church and that will be really good!!

 

On Wednesday we had district meeting and it was fun cuz we had a whole new district! So we had a fun time getting to know each other! Then after that we usually go see Sister Russell! So we went to her house and she wasn't there!! So then we went back to Wiscassett to contact some referrals! We met Tammie and then Marjorie and they both seemed to have some good potential!!! We were able to get a phone number for Tammie and hopefully we'll be able to go back and see her! and then Marjorie had the cutest little girl ever and we just were at her house talking to her for a while and she said we could stop by anytime and she'd let us know if she needed anything! Then we went to the church and we had a coordination meeting with the elders! Then we had Book of Mormon class and then went home and fed Silly and went to bed!

 

Thursday we had a good lesson with Linda, Arnez, and Tom! We decided to read the talk "The Book of Mormon Keystone of Our Religion" by President Benson with them and it went really well! It was really good for Arnez especially because she realized what a difference it makes in her life to have the Book of Mormon and to read it. They used to be really good at reading it everyday and now that they've finished it they've been working on Doctrine and Covenants but haven't been as diligent in their scripture reading... and Arnez says that she's definitely seen a difference! That she was so happy when she was reading the scriptures and now that she hasn't been reading everyday she has just felt so down and things haven't been going so great! So it was cool that she was able to recognize that! Now hopefully she will do something about it! :) It was a super good talk though and we had a good discussion along with it! I actually just finished the Book of Mormon again a few weeks ago and strengthen my testimony even more that it is true! and that it is the keystone of our religion! Cuz really without it...we wouldn't have a religion! I love what Joseph Smith says about the Book of Mormon " told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." I know that that is true! The Book of Mormon helps us draw nearer to God and to become more like Him! I've realized that on my mission I am learning so many things and learning so much about myself! I think that we can all learn so much about ourselves as we read and study the scriptures!! We are told that as we do that we will come to know God better...and He created us so of course we are going to come to know ourselves better along the way!! Pretty awesome! I know that there is power in the Book of Mormon and it can help us and strengthen us so much in our lives! I know that it is true! And all you have to do to know for yourself if it's true is to read and pray to know! Anyone can do it and receive that witness and know that it is true, that Christ lives and loves us, and find all the truths of the gospel within it in plain and simple ways! I know that it was written for our day and that we need to read it, not just once, but continually and as President Benson said make it a lifetime pursuit!! So yeah. that was a good lesson :) then we went and saw Melanie and we made cookies and organized more of her crafts! Then we went and did mormon.org time! and then we went home for dinner!

 

Friday we sort of started our weekly planning...but mostly we did lots of cleaning because we wanted the house to be all clean for when Sister Brooks got home :) so we went out and brought in all the wood (that wasn't frozen solid) into the wood shed! and then we cleaned the kitchen and the living room! then we went to the Seversons for dinner and had a lesson about Genesis 1:26-27 and then their daughter and her fiancé showed up again! So we talked to them for a while and they invited us to come to their wedding! So if i'm still her in July I get to go to the wedding that they've been talking about and planning for a while now! :) we will see! haha and then we came home and finished up cleaning and a little planning!

 

Saturday we woke up and went out to feed Silly! (that was our exercise everyday this week we would get up and go out to the freezing cold and feed her haha) and then we decided to clean the stall for Sister Brooks! So that was quite exciting!! haha :) then we got ready for the day, studied, and then went to Linda and Arnez's and finished reading the talk with them! Then we came home and did some weekly planning and then later that night we went over to the Royers to drop off of progress record and said hello to the goats :)

 

Sunday we went to church and it was super good! We went to the gospel principles class because we didn't have any investigators there :( but it was a really good class!! and then we did singing time in primary again!!! so much fun!!! :) and then we basically just lived at the church the rest of the day! we did our studies there and a little bit more of weekly planning and then there was a youth fireside!! That was fun! and then we went with the elders and Brother Duffy to Sister Gove's house afterwards and she told us that she has to get more surgery :( so they gave her a blessing and the spirit was so strong in there!! Then they left and we stayed and visited with her for a while! Then we went home and planned then went to bed! and now it's Monday...again...even though I feel like just yesterday I was sitting here telling you all about the goat in my coat. now it's goats in shirts! who knows what this week will bring!! haha :) well! I love you all so much!!! Have a wonderful week!!! :)

Love,

Sister Tait

P.S. here's silly! our horse!!! (well Sister Brooks' horse) but we got to take care of her this week while Sister Brooks was out of town! :) ...i'll have to get a better picture of her another time... haha

 

here's a picture of her nice clean stall! haha :)

 

and here's a picture of us on our way into the library to email today!!! :)

 

oh and one more of the goats from today :) of course! haha