Last Minute Transfers To/From Paraguay Due To Paperwork Legalities - New Companion Elder Gardner - Feeling Great Responsibility For The Zone/Searching For Guidance - Flat Stanley From Cousin Bailey - Computers Slow = No Pictures This Week - Happy Mother's Day Mom! - Happy Birthday Elder Braden Birch!

This is Taylor's Dad: 

As you will read below, the computer was behaving poorly (very slow) this week and in-spite of his efforts, he was unable to send the pictures that he had planned.  He had written some special things to his Mom for Mother's day and had some pictures (which Mom loves - as do I) but could not get them to load.  We will have to wait to see them.  For now, I found a picture of Taylor and his companion from his last area (Elder Hawke).  Here it is:

Here is Taylor's letter: 
Well this week was a fun one. Very eventful, very difficult, but very fun. We were doing some divisions, I was with an Elder in our area, and my companion Elder Morales was in another area with a different Elder. While I was working in my area, I received a rather interesting call. It was from the President of the Mission, President Lapierre. He called and said my companion was going to have to leave immediately to Paraguay. Another missionary (my new companion) was not legal in Paraguay because of paper work problems so he had to come here to Argentina for a time. My companion left without being able to say goodbye to many people here and he has been here for a long time. Poor guy. Anyway, what President told me is that the new companion (Elder Gardner) most likely wasn't going to be staying for very long, so he would not be a Zone Leader with me, this putting all the weight of the zone on my shoulders! Ah!

Anyway, as I have felt the weight of the world on me, I have found myself desiring to spend more time praying searching for answers, looking for ways that I can help the new elders in the Zone, the ones who are struggling, and I really feel like I am able to receive revelation in this way.

My little cousin Baily Sampson sent me a "Flat Stanley" as a project for her class in 3rd grade. The goal is to see how far in the world their Flat Stanleys can make it. I am going to send a few pictures of Baily´s Flat Stanley with me here in the great land of Argentina!

------------------------Unable To Upload Pictures This Week :-(  -----------------------------

... well it looks like Flat Stanley is going to have to wait for next week...  The computers here are extremely slow, and currently are not accepting me fotos. Sorry Baily! Next week for sure!

Well as I just wasted about a half hour of my hour trying to get pictures going I wont be able to write very much this week :( But if there is anything you should all know, it is that I am Happy :) clap along...

I'm super excited to be able to talk to my family this Mothers day and also want to publicly wish (without the picture letter and pictures I had taken for her :(  ) a super HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best mom in the world! I love you Mom you are the best :)  

It is also one of my best friends birthday tomorrow, he is also my cousin and is serving in Oklahoma right now! Love ya bud happy bday.

I love all of you and apologize for not having the pictures... They were pretty cool :( We also had a pretty awesome Zone activity (which was also quite difficult planning alone) but was very fun to enjoy a less hot sun. 

I love the Lord and the work I am doing.

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

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Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways  :

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

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2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150

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4. Physical Mailing Address.
Elder Taylor Graves
Córdoba 1243
Posadas, Misiones 3300
Casilla 12
Argentina

Hurry Fill The Font! - Guided To Help A Daughter Of God - Pics With Elders Christensen & Collins - Lunch With Members

We really have had to do a "start over" in this area, but I am starting to feel like things are finally getting going. We are finding a few investigators here and there, and are enjoying the process of looking...searching... and sometimes when you get really lucky, finding.

I have only a few thoughts to share today, one is an experience that we had with a baptism that just happened here in the ward (the sister's baptism), that I had written about in my journal, and will have my mom type, what I took a picture of.

18 de Abril journal entry:

Well today was good.  The sisters in our ward had a baptism.  It was pretty crazy.  We got there about a half hour early to give a lesson to the Barto family in the chapel.  This is Taylor's Dad - this part of his journal entry was slightly illegible due to a blury copy of the journal, but I think he was saying that they got to the chapel a little early to teach another family, but then found out about a problem with the sister's baptism.  Taylor's journal continues,  The sisters told us that there was a small problem.  The member that was supposed to fill the baptismal font...didn't fill the font.  We had less than an hour to fill the font, which normally takes 2.5 hours.  We turned on the water pump and it was pumping out water very slowly.  We knew we were in trouble.  We got like everyone in the ward who was there working on finding buckets and using basically every water fountain, drinking fountain, even using the grass sprinklers to fill buckets and buckets of water.  We all worked hard and like crazy, but after about an hour and a half we filled the baptismal font and the Sister Paula was baptized (who has an incredible story finding the church).  

The people in this church are amazing.  In the face of a situation that was potentially horrible, the ward worked together to get this baptism to happen.  I learn to love the people of Argentina more every day.  

Amo este evangelio 

-End of Taylor's Journal Entry-

Now this is another experience that happened to me and Elder Hawk about a month ago, but never got around to telling the story, and I was just thinking about it, hoping that the woman involved is doing okay.

What had happened was that Elder Hawk and I were walking home and we were going to arrive at about 9:25. We can not be outside of our pension when it is later than 9:30. But as we were walking, we both had the impression to go say hi and invite a less active member to the church the following Sunday. We hadn't talked with him in a long time, so it was interesting that we both had the idea to go visit him. We arrived in his house, knowing that we didn't have anymore time than to say hello and make the invitation to him, but when we got there he wasn't there, but his wife was, who is not a member. She looked extremely sad. My companion had the impression to ask her if she would like to tell us her situation and why she felt sad. She told us everything. She was sitting there, in a deep depression, wondering what she was going to do next in her life. She owed an enormous amount of money, and her relationship with her husband was not going well. She told us that as she sat there she was contemplating the idea of taking her own life. She told us that her sins were to big and couldn't be reversed.

I told her the story of when the pharisees had brought the woman found in adultery to Christ wishing to stone her. But they asked him what he thought. He said that the man who did not have sin could cast the first stone. They all left. I told her that the power of repentance is real, and she began to cry. We sang "Mas cerca Dios de Ti" or "nearer my God to thee" to her and then we left. She felt the spirit and understood, at least partially the value that her life holds. I know that the spirit guided us to find her.

This is Elder Christensen. He has had the EXACT same mission as me. He started in Carlos a. Lopez replacing me when i left, after 3 months he went to Obera replacing me, then he took my spot with 7 months in the mission in Tacuari, just like I did... weird.

This is my "Dad" Elder Cashe Collins. He trained me in my first 6 weeks here and I owe a lot to him!

 

Here is a typical lunch in a member home :) I'm with Elder Nielson (the blonde missionary at the end of the table) again! He is in my Zone! If you remember he was in my district in the MTC!

Thank you for all the support shown. I really enjoy reading the experiences from so many missionaries, friends and family from all parts of the world. You are all great :)

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

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Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways  :

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Elder Taylor Graves
Córdoba 1243
Posadas, Misiones 3300
Casilla 12
Argentina

Week Of Change - Clean (Without Mom :-) ! - Noises In The Ceiling - Pictures Of Friends - Trading Shirts/Jerseys - Churipan (The Healthy Diet) - Miss The People, Elder Hawk, The Ward and Tacuari

Well this was definitely a week of change! I changed areas, companions, and many other things. One of those things was that when I was with Elder Hawk, we always kept things really clean so that we could always feel the spirit. When I got to the new pension, I was a little bit worried of the spirit would possibly be able to be in our little home. Haha lets just say it needed some work. I decided that we would just get down and CLEAN today. It is super weird, but it seems like finally that my mom isn't here to clean for me, my desires to have things be cleaned has increased a lot. Haha.

Last night we were sleeping and all of a sudden I heard a crazy loud noise. I wasn't sure what it was. Then it just kept going, it sounded super creepy kind of like a bat but extremely louder than normal... I got up and said "Elder what is that??" He said he had no idea. We turned on the lights and tried to figure it out, but there was nothing! The noise kept going, and then we finally decided there must be rats, but we are talking REAL BIG RATS in our ceiling. Don't worry, at least now we will always have food, even if the mission money doesn't come in time ;)

1. This is a foto of me and the 2 converts Elder Hawk and I were a part of during my time in Tacuari. Dario and Grasiela. Grasiela was a reference of Dario, and Dario was a reference of the other woman (his mom) Monica. The Church is like a chain. When we realize the blessings we have from this church, we want to keep sharing them and help others receive the same blessings.

2. I have to include this foto because this lady really took care of us a lot. She sowed pants for us, made a new laundry bag, makes the most amazing American food, and is just always there to help the missionaries.

3.This is the family that we had just started working with. They are named the family Neira and really remind me of the Merrit family that my family had the privilege to fellowship and help them return to the church, as well as have their son baptized. The boy of 12 years should be baptized soon, but the goal was to wait until the dad would be worthy to be the one to baptize him.

 
4. This family is sooooo awesome! I really am going to miss them and still cant comprehend being on a mission and not having the Duarte family there. This is just a very small part of the family, but I became very good friends with Alejendro here and he gave me a "Boca Jersey" which is the equivalent of BYU here, where River is the equivalent of UTAH. After he gave me the shirt I decided to give him my Captain America shirt.

5. Well this is Enrique. He is just waiting for some papers of his divorce to go through, and he will be baptized in a few short weeks if all goes well. I really enjoyed teaching him and feeling of his sweet and humble spirit.

6. Well I have seen far to many pictures of my dad eating churipan to not send one of me eating churipan here. This was one of my first days here in Garupa and the members are already treating us really well (in other words, not allowing us to follow a healthy diet ;) )

If there is one thing I can say it is that I could have stayed in Tacuari for a very long time. I also could have remained being the companion of Elder Hawk for a very long time. He really helped me grow spiritually and I owe him so much for that. I have never learned so much as I have in these past 3 months with him and with the people of Tacuari. It is amazing, how much you can grow to love some people, and I will truly miss every member of that ward.

I love you all, and thank you continually for your support!

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

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(Taylor can now receive packages too!  Physical mailing address is #4 below)

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Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways  :

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
TAYLOR CAN NOW RECEIVE PACKAGES along with regular mail, so don't hesitate to mail him an occasional trinket or two :-)  I am sure he would love it!

Elder Taylor Graves
Córdoba 1243
Posadas, Misiones 3300
Casilla 12
Argentina

Transferred from Posadas :( - Incredible Sacrifices Made To Reach Baptism/Eternal Life - Miracle Meal Provided - Hello To Elder Roberts Mom :-)

Apparently the cool thing to do here in the Argentina Posadas Mission, for those of us who have blogs, is to give a "shout out" to the Mom of Elder Roberts (our financial secretary of the mission) because according to him, she often reads the blogs of other missionaries here in Posadas. So, i will start with a big SHOUT OUT to Elder Roberts Mom! Hi Elder Roberts Mom.

Well it looks like I will be leaving Posadas :( I am super sad that I have to leave, I have grown so close to so many people here and really will miss them. I will likely send pictures of all of them in the week that follows because I will be saying goodbye to everyone tonight and tomorrow. I will be going to a city that is only about an hour away called Garupá to lead the zone with my old Zone leader Elder Morales!

Well I am just going to do another "day in the life of Elder Graves" so that I can write more specifically to my family this week, but I wanted to let you know about an investigator named Enrique. He is a very wealthy man who has been separated from his wife for 30 years but never has been able to get around to divorcing her. He found the church a year ago (because of the missionaries who helped him build an additional ceiling to his house) and really liked it. He has continued reading the Book of Mormon and praying and recently started attending church without our help. We fasted so that his divorce would go through so that he could reach his goal of being baptize the 25th of April. There are major complications as his ex-wife desires that he give her half of what he owns. 

We taught him about the sacrifice of the pioneers and how they were willing to give up EVERYTHING to make the move to the west. We also taught him about the Father of Lamoni who was willing to give up half of his kingdom to live, but was willing to give up his whole kingdom to achieve eternal life.

We asked him what he would be willing to do to be baptized? What would he be willing to give up? He told us anything and everything. He will be baptized this 25th of April if all goes well, unfortunately I won't be here to see it, but I am still so  proud! 

Okay Mom, you are not allowed to freak out on this story! It is an extremely spiritual experience that my companion and I went through, and I don't want you to worry! We have all we need, and are very well taken care of by the Lord and by the members of his Church.

Journal entry from Viernes 3 de Abril, 2015

Today we experienced quite the miracle. Well, actually it started on Monday. We had been really busy with all our P-day things that when it reached 5:30. We realized we still hadn’t done our shopping for the food that week. I told my companion that even though we would not be able to start working exactly on time it was necessary that we have food. My companion immediately quoted a scripture and told me that we should rely on the Lord and we would be fine if we just worked and didn’t worry about food. Well...on Thursday we ate the very last amount of food that we had in the apartment. So we went out to work that morning (without breakfast) ready to work. Luckily we had planned a lunch with an hermana so we were planning on eating with her family at 12:30. We arrived and she had completely forgotten to make lunch so we didn’t know what do do! Luckily, we live in the big city so we decided we were just going to go eat in a burger place around the corner. We got there...it was closed. We passed by another place and it was closed. We started realizing that even the biggest super markets were closed because it was the day that Jesus Christ died so everyone just stayed inside ALL DAY. We had no clue what to do. We couldn’t buy anything, the stores were closed. Our lunch canceled and we didn’t know where to find food because we didn’t even have any at home. As we walked - thinking about what we were going to do, I honestly wasn’t at all worried. As we walked, a lady came up to us yelling, “Elders! Elders!” and she said she had something for us. She said that she had been thinking that she needed to give us food as she saw us pass by, but didn’t know why she felt that way. She ran back and got a big bag of bread, a lot of fish, rice, and vegetables and gave it to us to eat. We told her thank you and that she was a miracle for us. I trust that the Lord protects his missionaries when they are obedient. Don’t worry, tomorrow we will be buying breakfast as all the stores will be open again, but I want you all to know that I know that this was nothing smaller than a miracle.

 

Us with an empty fridge.

 Post Priesthood Party

Amo a este evangelio!

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.com
They will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp).  This is a free service.

www.DearElder.com Instructions:
Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Physical Mailing Address.
Due to exorbitant costs incurred in the country of Argentina by the church, He can not receive packages :-( - not even a bubble envelope. Please refrain from sending anything other than an envelope/letter - anything else will likely be returned to sender.

Elder Taylor Graves
Córdoba 1243
Posadas, Misiones 3300
Casilla 12
Argentina