Finishing With A Runner's "Kick" That Started With 3 Days Of Rest :-) - It Is Not About How Much Time We Spend Working, But More What We Do With The Little Time That We Have

This is Taylor's Dad.  Since Taylor wasn't able to send us any pictures this week, I have attached a couple that we received a few months ago from some of the people that Taylor and his companions had visited.  The pictures are not related to this letter and are not the people that he spoke about in this letter, but I wanted to include some pictures (applicable to this letter or not :-)  )

Here is Taylor's letter:

Last week I had lots of pictures, this week, 0... sorry!

It is interesting the way that the Lord humbles us sometimes. This past week, as I was starting my first week of my last transfer, I set some of the highest, and craziest goals with my companion to try and finish my mission with a "kick", as any runner would say. I was so excited to give it my all in these last few weeks that I have left! When, all of a sudden, my companion became very sick, and we have been stuck indoors for the past 3 days :( At first, I felt kinda like my last transfer in the mission had already become a failure. I felt sad about it, but then I realized how many of you constantly are praying for me, and how many of you are there supporting me. I realized that their must be a reason for this pause that we had to take. I tried to take advantage of my time, and get to know the Lord better through prayer, the scriptures, know my companion better as well, and write a few letters to my family. I learned that it is not so much how much time we work, but more, what we do with the little time we have.

To give a quick update on our investigators...

Corina is still amazing as ever. She has almost read the whole Book of Mormon, but is not able to be baptized because her husband has not been married with her yet. He says that he will do it to let her be baptized, but he is not wanting to pay the fee that the state requires to be married. I must be honest, I was tempted to just pay the fee, because it is very small, but they need to learn from the beginning of their membership to be self sufficient. I know she will be baptized, but I just pray that I will be here to witness it.

Luisa and Julian are doing great, but Julian must be divorced before he can get married to his "wife" to later be baptized. Here in Paraguay, divorce is something that will take at least 6 months, and probably a bit more. However, they always do their nightly prayers, come to church and have family home evening. They are what we called "Dry Mormons" ;)

Francisca. We just found her and she is coming to church and in the very first lesson we had with her, we asked her "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?" She almost yelled in her response, "YES I WANT TO!" 

There are many more, but there is not enough time to write about each of them.

As the weeks go by, my mind cant decide to be happy or sad about the fact that my mission is coming to a close. All I know is that I have done my best, and I am going to finish with everything I have.

I love you all.

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Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 3 ways  :

1. E-mail -  tgraves@myldsmail.net

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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

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3. Physical Mailing Address:

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

Amazing Physical Transformation - Protecting Skin With Hats & Looking More Like The Texan That He IS :-) - I Think I See A House!!! - Walking, Walking, Walking & Sometimes A Ride :-) - Working Together Towards Physical Fitness Goals - Mom's Birthday Gift

A picture is worth a thousand words. This week will be all about pictures :)

 

Just off to work in a normal day in Agua Blanca...I love the wide variety of nature that we see out here. 

I love it when we are walking out in the nothingness like you see in this picture, we will see a house off in the distance, and my companion will yell, "ELDER ELDER! I SEE A HOUSE!!! LETS GO TALK TO THEM!"

As you saw in the last picture, it is very common that we have to walk great distances to get to our lessons in Agua Blanca, however, sometimes the good people out there see us and tell us to get in the back of their trucks and give us a ride!

 As you can see here we decided to buy hats... don't worry, it is allowed in our mission, but I have avoided hats like the plague, because... they are just goofy! But my companion convinced me that I look like a "real Texan now" so I guess I thought it would be alright to protect our skin from the sun now with some good old straw cowboy hats.

This is my companion! He got here to Agua Blanca, and asked if I could help him lose weight so he could more effectively serve the lord.

Through lots of hard work and dedication, he has lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks! He is a very hard worker and I am so proud of his dedication (even when the workouts I give him...he thinks are crazy!)

As I am able to serve him in just a small way by helping him with his exercises, he asked if there was anything that he could do for me. I told him that my Mom's birthday was coming up, and I wasn't sure what do do yet. He said he had a good idea. He is a very good artist, and drew my family in front of the salt lake temple! (As we don't have hardly any extra time, he sacrificed a few minutes of sleep here and there to finish this for me. He is a great friend to me.)

So mom, even though you don't get to see the original yet... here is a picture of your Birthday present. You are lucky you get to "open" it early.

If you cannot tell, it goes, Shauna, me, Mom, Dad, Jake and then Amber.

I love being a missionary, and hope to "sprint to the finish!"  I love this gospel and will keep doing my best to the end... and then keep working in this work once I get home.

Love you all. 

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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

 

Sabbath Day For A Missionary = Anything But A Day Of Rest, But Worth Every Moment

As a missionary, we frequently struggle to take advantage of the Sabbath day. There are various reasons that this is the case. One is simply the fact that we are constantly working and teaching the gospel, so when Sunday comes, we continue doing what we were doing during the week. Sometimes, we don't experience that "change in feeling" that I so often felt while I was at home able to rest from my labors (as well as, experience a change of focus to the things of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). Another reason that sometimes we are not able to feel the power of the Sabbath Day is because often times we allow ourselves to get stressed about if our investigators are going to come to church, and when they do come, if they are enjoying the experience there. At times we forget about ourselves (which normally is a good thing, but perhaps in this case not so much) and we don't focus on the true reason we are there - to come closer to our Maker and take part in the bread and water that represents the flesh and blood of the Savior.

This week, I had the great blessing to truly be uplifted in every sense of the word during this fast and testimony meeting. We woke up to a call of an investigator who had gotten up early to go to church (for the first time). His name is Hugo, and he knew that church starts at 830, but he wanted to get there early with his family, so we quickly got ready and headed over to the chapel, to open it early so that they could wait an hour and a half for the meetings to start. That was the best way to start the day! As church started, more and more investigators piled in, and many members were there as well. In the second hour of church, I gave a class on the importance of the Mission Labor. I gave my testimony on how important it truly is and how much I love it. I also mentioned that I loved the fact that I am able to serve in the same region of the World as my dad, because I have always wanted to be like him. The people here of Katuete truly know how much I love my Dad, (as well as the rest of my family ;)).

This Sunday we were also blessed to be able to fast for several different purposes. One of them, was something very unusual. There is a very faithful man named Virgilio. He has never missed church even once in the 4 months that I have been here. He is completely blind. He blesses the sacrament each week by memory. It is truly a humbling experience to be next to him as he does so, and then afterward I kneel down with a piece of paper in my hand, so that I can read the prayer. My companion and I had talked to him about giving him a blessing, and he really liked the idea. We told him that we were going to fast first. In the final hours of our fast we were able to give him a blessing. The group leader anointed his head with oil, and my companion gave the blessing. I don't know if I have ever felt the Spirit so strongly. He was not healed in the moment, but he was promised that before his spirit left his mortal body during this life, he would see once again. As my companion said these words, I truly felt something within me that what he had said was true. (I just spent a minute trying to describe the feeling that I felt, realizing that it is not possible. Just know that I truly felt the spirit of God).

This was only part of my Sunday. It seemed like each moment of the day was making it more and more of a delight.

We had testimony meeting, and a very active sister Miguela, got up and started crying. She said "We see the missionaries, time and time again, come all the way to Agua Blanca walking, or biking. They arrive in our homes with sweat on their brows, skin burned from the sun, yet they have a smile on their faces. The sacrifices that they make for us, and for this work make, me want to sacrifice more for the Savior." Her saying this moved me so much. I had often wondered if the difficulties associated with working in Agua Blanca was really worth the effort (because it truly is difficult physically to get there).  Now I see that even had we not baptized a soul there, we have put a good example for the members, that for the Lord, every sacrifice is worth it. She sat down, and her sister Benita (we baptized her a few months ago) got up and bore her testimony for the first time. With tears in her eyes, she also thanked us for our sacrifices. She bore a sincere testimony of the reality of what we teach all the people out here. When she went to sit down, Miguela stood up again and almost ran to her and they hugged and hugged, and cried with tears of joy, because they knew that they were together in the truth.

This was perhaps the most delightful Sabbath day of my life. I hope that I can remember this feeling always, and strive to have it weekly.

Also, as a reminder, I hope that if you have not yet done so, that each of you can try to be a part of the mission work, and help the missionaries in some small way.

With love, Elder Graves

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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

Watching General Conference Together From With 6,000 Miles Between Us - Sharing The Gospel Brings True Happiness

During my mission, I have had many good times, and there have been some difficult times. I always knew this would be the case. The good times, I have learned, come when I get the chance to teach the restored gospel. The harder times are when something impedes me from doing so. In my mind I think I figured that this way of thinking would come to a close when my mission ends, but as my mission is nearing its close each day, I realize something. My happiness will continue to grow as I share this Gospel, even when I am home.

The only thing that I would like to say this week is that, as we have all been inspired by real prophets and witnesses of the Lord during this conference weekend, that we might follow their example and go out and serve.

Could each of you do me a favor? Could each of you go have some sort of interaction with the missionaries? Be bold! Invite a friend to meet them! Invite a neighbor family to Family Home Evening and invite the missionaries as well! Even if it is just a dinner appointment. Our true happiness comes from sharing the gospel. So, this week, instead of telling a fun story, and hoping that you feel the spirit from that, I give you each an invitation, and hope the Spirit works to move you towards sharing the gospel.

I love you all! Have a great week.

This is Taylor's Dad:

We were thrilled to know that Taylor was watching conference with us (though he was 6,000 miles away - for that particular day, we knew exactly what he was doing - He was listening with us).  As Kirsten and I were grateful to know that all of our children were listening to conference with us, Taylor sent us this picture that reaffirmed our thoughts of being "together" as we listened.  

Near the very end of the first session, Kirsten thought that we should take a picture of us in front of the TV so that we could also show Taylor that we were actually watching "with" him too.  Kirsten grabbed the camera and told everyone to line up in front of the TV.  She tried and tried to get the timer to work so that we could all be in the picture, but no matter what she tried...it just didn't work.  So...she finally took a picture without the timer, but wanting to be in the picture also, she asked me to take a picture with her in it.  We traded spots.  I took a picture with her in it and then I tried to get the timer on the camera to work as the closing song ended.  The problem was that conference was ending and it was time for the prayer.  Finally, I was able to get the timer to start, but not until the song had finished.  I yelled "I got it" but everyone knew that the prayer was about to begin, so nobody knew what to do.  As people started to sit down, I told everyone "wait!  It's going to take it!  Wait!  We need a picture to send to Taylor!"  The timer was slow and the prayer began.  Everyone was uncomfortable and unsure what to do, so...for a couple of seconds after the prayer began, we fidgeted and smiled waiting.  Kayla was caught in the picture, finally too uncomfortable to keep her eyes open, but still smiling :-)  We got our picture and proved that this really is a world wide church gathered in a technologically created  "world wide hall" like Henry B. Eyring referred to in the first conference talk on Saturday morning.  Anyway, now you know why, we were taking a picture after the prayer was started.  It was a fun experience that we will all remember with fondness.  Next time we will take the picture a little earlier :-)

Here are the pictures of our efforts :-) :

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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