5yr Old Jake Gives 2yr Old Shauna A Haircut :-) - No Tough Areas, They're All Tough! - Taylor's Hears His New & Improved "Strong, Unshakable Testimony" In English For The First Time / Shocking Himself - Juan Baptized - Hector's Birthday - "Real American, Mexican Tacos :-) "

During the mission there are always going to be hard weeks. But the funny thing for me is the “week after the hard week” (2 weeks ago), I felt pretty upset. Everything was going wrong and the world was just out to get me. Now I realize how silly I was for worrying about such trivial things when I have the Lord on my side. :) So I guess that’s a great thing about my mission. I always find a way to
feel better and laugh about the hard times. This kind of reminds me of a funny experience I had when I was younger.  Jake (5 years old) had gotten a hold of the scissors. Shauna (2 years old) sat in
the playhouse clueless. Jake asked Shauna if it was okay if he cut her hair. She said, “Okay!

 Well, my mom wasn’t very happy about that. But I do remember to help herself calm down she said, “Well, I know in few weeks we will just be laughing about all this.” I remember thinking, “Mom, are you crazy?! She looks like a boy! This is not okay!” But my mom was right. Sometimes God gives us tough situations to help us realize how blessed we really are.

Victor sadly was hit with some of those tough situations early in the morning so he could not make it to church. :( But we saw him in a bus today as we went shopping this morning. I am sure that after he is baptized he will also look back on the things that he went through and laugh at himself realizing that they really are silly and trivial. Although we were quite disappointed that Victor didn’t come, we have somehow managed to have 9 progressing investigators! Each of them is going to church (at least 1 out of every 2 weeks), reading the Book of Mormon and receiving the discussions. I think I have expressed before how I felt like this area is pretty difficult. I got here 4 months ago almost and spent about 5 or 6 weeks without a single progressing investigator. Now we have 9. I guess what I have learned here is that there is no such thing as a tough area. They're all tough! But if we put all our efforts in, ALWAYS, the Lord will bless us to see some fruits of our labors.

One of the new progressing investigators is a 75 year old man named “Pedro de la Cruz”. He lived in New York for a year, Miami for a short time, and Alaska for 35 years. He speaks almost perfect English and unless there is difficulty explaining something, we teach him in English. As I am teaching him in English, I am shocked by the testimony that I now have been able to develop. It is hard to explain, but because I have been speaking in Spanish for so long, I have almost forgotten my English “voice”. Not my literal voice, but the personality I have. It’s like my mind remembers the weak unstable testimony the “English Taylor” had before the mission. It knows the strong testimony that “Spanish Taylor” has, but when I heard myself with an non-doubting, unshakable testimony in English, my mind was kind of shocked.

I’m sure what I just wrote makes no sense to anyone, but to me it does. :)

Juan, an investigator who we have taught, but is in the Sister's area, was baptized this Saturday! It was a long ride, but he did it! What a great day that was!

 Happy Birthday Hector!

This is us when we by chance saw Victor in the Colectivo.. oh yeah thats not english... the bus.

 Today for P-day, we just sat back and relaxed and enjoyed listening to the rain while we made some "Real American, Mexican Tacos" They were really yummy :)

I love you all and I love this gospel.

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE
JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

 

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

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

Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 3 ways  :

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. 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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Physical Mailing Address:

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