Learning To Build With Dad - Construction Service Hours Yielded A New Family To Teach! - God Answers Prayers Sometimes In Ways That Are Unexpected - Many Attended Church - Baptism Planned - The Gift of Tongues - Testimony

This is Taylor's Dad: 
Taylor was unable to send pictures this week, but we have lots of pictures of him :-).  If you read Taylor's letter last week, you know that he and his companion have been helping to build a home for a single mother in need.  Kirsten, his AWESOME mom, suggested sharing this picture from the early days of his construction career :-) .  It was taken in our backyard (in TX) while Taylor, Jake and Amber helped with the construction of my soon to be workshop/shed.  Our cute little Shauna was not pictured - she was too small to be of much help :-).  I miss those cute little kids.  They were so much fun!  If you can't figure it out, Taylor is the boy in the middle and...yes that is me with the torn pants.  We weren't as poor as I made us look, but...I guess that project was hard on my pants (repeatedly kneeling then standing) and I ripped both my pant legs.  Kirsten made me toss them after that :-)
 

 
Here is Taylor's letter:
Well once again it looks like I will not be able to send any fotos ;( .  I cant seem to get this computer to work with the pictures. That always makes me sad when I can't send you guys any pictures :( .  But thats okay I can still share some experiences of this week!

So when we built the house (I have awesome pictures of the finished house) we kind of were hoping that the lady would be curious about the church, and she seemed a little curious, so we taught her a lesson about Joseph Smith and how he restored the true church through the power of God. She was pretty far from interested it seemed like, and honestly we were kind of disappointed. But there was another family, there in her house, listening in on the lesson. She later on asked for a pamphlet about the Restoration, and we gave it to her, and told her she should read it and we could pass by and talk more about it with her.

Now you have to remember, sometimes when we give someone a commitment to read something, we don't always expect that they will actually read. We give out SO MANY pamphlets, that sadly go unread.

 

I was on divisions with a missionary who will be going home in 2 weeks named Elder Bogardus, and we passed by that family's house to see if they had read any of the pamphlet. We got there, and she had read every page! Every page was marked had notes on it, questions that she wanted to ask us, and some parts were underlined. In my 7 months on my mission I have NEVER seen someone do that. She came to church yesterday and we are really excited for the potential she has. Tonight at 7, my time, we will be trying to put a date of baptism with her, so if you could please pray for us!

The "moral of the story" is that God sometimes answers our prayers in ways we don't expect. We helped this family build their house, and we hoped that as we did she would find an interest in the message. That is not what God had in mind, but he had something else in store for us. 

Here in Posadas, things are looking really great. We had a bunch of  investigators in the Church yesterday and we will be having a baptism in two weeks. I really do love it here.

To give an update on how I am doing with the language, lets just say I feel like my English is struggling in these emails. So, forgive me if I sound weird. I have had several members / investigators tell me that my Spanish is perfect. Now that is far from true, but it is amazing how quickly the Holy Ghost has helped me progress with this language.

I want you all to know, that I have knelt down and asked God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true. I have received an answer, and I will never doubt that this is the true church. My testimony continues to grow, and I love this mission.

 

 

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"

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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.
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