Taylor Graves' Mission - Posadas Argentina

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Miracle Of A Priesthood Blessing - Picture Of Finished House - Member Missionary - Bejerano Family - Sunken Ship - Running With Companion - Zone Activity/Ruins

Okay to try and make up for last weeks lack of pictures I am going to make the email kinda short and just send lots of pictures!

I will just share one experience from the week.

We were searching for a woman that someone had told us was a member of the church but hadn't been to church for a long time. They told us that we should look for her and try to help her return to the gospel. We found her and we were very excited to teach her. She started by emotionally telling us that she was so sad that she hadn't been to church in so long and wished that she had been going the last seven months but told us that she simply couldn't. We asked her why? She told us that her foot was severely broken (and had been like that for more than 7 months) and could not afford to go to the doctor. Because of her broken foot, she could not make the walk to the chapel.

My companion asked if she wanted a blessing. She anxiously said yes and awaited the blessing. She chose my companion to be the voice of the blessing and I participated by laying my hands on her head as well. My companion humbly gave the blessing using the words "you will be able to go to the church with the body you have." Three days later we came back to see how her foot was doing so we could know if we should expect her at church the next Sunday. She greeted us and yelled, "It's better! You cured me! You two are my angels!" We looked at her foot, and it was NOT purple like it was 3 days ago, it was NOT enormous because of the immense swelling that she had suffered for 7 months, and it WAS perfectly healthy.

I know the priesthood works, and I know that miracles happen. I have seen it.

The next day she walked in the chapel with the biggest smile and when she entered she put her two arms up with her fists and said to me "¡Elder! ¡Estoy Aqui!"

I am so grateful for this mission that has given me so many opportunities to see God's hands showing the mercy he has for each of us.

I love this gospel!

This is me and a member that works like crazy with us in this ward! He is incredible and a good example of what a "member missionary" should be.

This is the house all finished! Keep in mind, we didn't do it all, we can't take all the credit, but a lot of time, sweat, blood and tears were put in and I am glad to say we could help this woman find a home. The woman that I mentioned that we found (because of this project) continues to take lessons from us, and I will try to keep you all updated on how her story progresses.

This is the family Bejerano and two random elders who were visiting us because of paper work! The one on my right (looking at the picture) is leaving in a week and is probably the funniest person I have ever met!

We woke up early so that we would be able to go see the beach before we had divisions with some Elders in another part of the mission! I liked this view because my dad has a ton of pictures that are similar from his mission.

Here is a picture of me and my companion after a REEEEALLY long run! (well for missionaries anyway) I LOVED IT! We were pretty tired though.

P.S. This is right in front of my house, and we live in downtown Posadas basically, and there are still lots of dirt roads!

Lets just say we had a pretty cool Zone activity this week :)

LOVE YOU GUYS!

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

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

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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Monday, February 2, 2015

Miracle For A Single Mom In Need - Building a house - Work Hard & Grow! - District Reunion

The summer before my Junior year, I would run to basketball practice at 5:30 in the morning. I remember I often was so tired that I couldn't even keep my eyes open! I would literally close my eyes while running for a good space of time. I practically was sleep running. I would do this every day, for weeks on end. I now look back, and wonder why I would do that along with 2 or 3 other runs through out the day. Why would I put myself through so much difficulty?? Haha Well as I walked out here in the road after a long Fast Sunday to dinner, burning my skin from the intense rays of the sun, searching like a maniac for whatever shade I could find, falling asleep as I walked, I remembered those days of running asleep.

Why do we put ourselves through times that are so difficult? So that we can grow! Ha its awesome!

Recently we had a reunion of our district and it was awesome! The new district leader is really great and is a big help to everyone, his name is Elder Mechan.

This is a picture of the District of Tacuari! (I am really trying to get rid of the thumbs up habit! Everyone hear does it and it is starting to bug me that I always have my thumb up in the pictures!)

Well the most exciting thing that happened this week is that we were teaching a group of about 8 adults. At the end, one of them (a single mom with a little baby boy) mentioned that they were going to be kicked out of their house in a week. They weren't going to have a place to stay and didn't know what to do. We told her we would help her (although our schedule is insane and really there isn't much time for anything!). When we said we would help her, I wasn't really sure what was going to happen. She didn't have any wood or tools to build with, the only thing she had was a small piece of land that she owns. We told her we would come back and work soon (not really knowing how it would happen) and try to build her a house.

We came back as we promised with a set of nails and a hammer, without any wood, not sure how we were going to make a house. (So you all know, the type of "house" in this area that I am talking about is like 10 by 20 feet, 4 walls a roof, dirt floor.) We arrived, and wood was there. TONS of wood. We asked the woman where it came from, and she just told us that she was praying the whole night that wood would come and it did.

It turns out the government or something like that had a bunch of extra leftover wood from an old project and didn't know what to do with it, so they just dumped it all about 50 feet away from this woman's land. We carried all the wood over to her land, and with the help of lots of men from her neighborhood, we built her her own little casita, house.

This obviously was an answer to a prayer and a miracle. As I tell this story, I realize even more how amazing and how incredible it was, and how much God really loves us.

I don't have pictures of the finished house, but a few pictures of while we were building it.

I will send more pictures of the finished house in the week that comes (I really just wrote that... that is how you would directly translate the Spanish version of "the next week".

Well sorry the pictures arent that nice... but still! haha

I am gratefull to have had the chance to talk to you all today!

Love you guys!

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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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

New Companion - Running With The A.P.s - Waiting For Phone Calls - Singing While Teaching & Testifying

Here is a picture of me and my new companion in the new pension! Dont make fun of us because our wall is pink...

Got to go running with the Assistants early in the morning the other day! On the side of the river. Some of the most beautiful runs I have had are here in Argentina... (although nothing beats a mountain run!!!) This is Elder Magdeleno, and when I first got here in Argentina, I noticed he said something in English, like "hello, how are you?" I then told him "good job your english is really good!" He said "thank you" and then we went our separate ways. A couple hours later, I noticed he was speaking FLUENT english. He was pulling my leg the whole time. He is from Idaho, but his family speaks Spanish in the house...

With my new assignment I have to wait for a lot of calls late at night, and the whole time we have to be dressed in church attire. This is me waiting for the last call to come! Missionaries get tired sometimes!!!!

The following blog entry is an entry from Taylor’s journal (written January 24, 2015)

A day in the life of Elder Graves...

Okay we had a pretty great experience this week! When we walked away from the it, I said to my companion "esa fue un experiancia que nunca vamos a olvidar" or that was an experience that we will never forget.

When this experience happened, we told each other that we were going to take special time in the night to count this story in our journals. Let’s just say that I have never come home wanting to work MORE. We usually come home SO TIRED, but today we really felt the love of Christ in our last lesson.

We were working hard today in the morning and had a couple lessons fall through, taught some people who didn’t really want to be taught. ;-) We had lunch with a SUPER awesome family (Familia Gutarza con el Hermano quien tambien se fue en su mision a Bahia Blanca). We ate Tacos! Then we had studies. We had a blast talking about new ideas for making contacting more fun. We are thinking about making a Bandera (had to ask my companion for this word) banner that would be HUGE and we would use it to teach the Plan of Salvacion. Then we left to go on divisions with two brothers from the ward. I went with Hermano Ruben Cabrera. He has 2 years in the church and has a huge testimony. We taught 3 really great lessons. After which we shared a good spiritual thought with the family Duante.

Afterwards we decided to go visit one sister who we invited to church but haven’t really taught her much yet. She is super funny and told us she really would like to go to church and have help to quit smoking. But we had passed by her house the other day and she seemed to have avoided us. So when we arrived she seemed very protective and defensive, but still we wanted to re-extend the invitation to the church next week. As we talked to her, her hija came and she was also with her friend. They didn’t really look like they wanted to keep talking.

Then we found out that the hija’s name was “Luz” or in English “Light”. We told them we wanted to sing the song “Lead Kindly Light” Or “Divina Luz” in honor of her name. We sang the song and it sounded pretty good. Honestly, I received an impression that told me we needed to sing for them. My companion thought it might be weird, but we still did it. When we finished singing we looked up from our hymn books and more than ten children had gathered around our feet to listen to us sing. They screamed and told us to sing again! We sang in English and then in Spanish the song “Nearer my God to Thee.” They were in shock with the English part and you could really feel the Spirit. Afterwards we started teaching the little children about the story about Nefi and how he learned the importance of keeping the commandments. When we started talking about the importance of obeying what our parents said, the two moms got excited. They said, “Listen to them kids! What they are saying is true!”

Finally when we finished our presentation of the story of Nefi, one of the little kids asked me if we would sing again before we left. I told him yes, one more time.

We sang the first verse of “I am a Child of God”. The Spirit was so strong confirming the truth of those words to me and my companion, but the children were simply enjoying the song. But when we sang, “Soy un hijo de Dios” and they finally understood the meaning of the song, the spirit testified to them also that the song was true.

The sister (Claudia) then told us she wanted to come to church with her family to feel that feeling again.

I realized today that experiences like that are the reason that I am here on my mission. Not necessarily to baptize or convert a million people, but to help people, families, feel the love of God and to help them know QUE SON HIJOS DE DIOS, that THEY ARE CHILDREN OF GOD.

Amo Este Evangelo

Well I hope you all enjoyed reading today! Thank you to everyone who is writing me! I feel bad because I can never respond to everyone the week they write me, but I always try to at least write them later on. So if you dont get a response right away, know that I still love you! ;)

Have a great week!

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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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Pictures From Taylor's 1st Primary Talk (age 3) - Posadas vs Tacuari - Dario Preparing For Baptism - Committed To The Work Of The Lord

This is Taylor's Dad:

Taylor was unable to spend much time writing to us nor was he able to send any pictures home this week :-( He has been very busy in his new assignment in Posadas, Argentina

Kirsten (Taylor's Mom) and I have been reminiscing - thinking of Taylor (and our other children) when they were younger. We watched a home video this evening of Taylor practicing his first primary talk (3 years old) - all by himself (but practiced with Mom at home) about having faith in Jesus Christ. He taught that if we just plant the seed of faith, it will grow "like a plant". Taylor began his preparations to serve from a very young age. We sure love him!

In the absence of any new mission pictures, here he is preparing to serve a mission:

Scroll to the bottom for more pictures of 3 year old Taylor, preparing to serve.

Scroll to the bottom for more pictures of 3 year old Taylor, preparing to serve.

Here is Taylor's letter home:

Well I have to say that I am sorry because this week I will not be able to write very much to you all. I really wanted to, but I have really become quite busy recently and had to write a couple of urgent letters that took a lot of time!

This week we arrived in Tacuari which I found out really is a street name in Posadas, (the main part of our mission!) and really got to work. The potential for this area is phenomenal and we are really excited to get going. We already have someone who is preparing for baptism on the 31st, his name is Dario and would be an incredible addition to the Ward here!

Well, I really have no time, but before I say goodbye for the week, I want to share something that Thomas S. Monson said when he become an Apostle of the Lord. In words something like this he said I now pledge my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that with such power. I had the opportunity to listen to his talk when he was made an Apostle I realized something. I have pledged my 2 years to the Lord. How small is that. How small is that really. I ask my self, am I willing to put my WHOLE LIFE into this work? I hope the answer would be yes. That should be the journey for each of us, to be able to basically hand over our life to the lord, and tell him, as said Jesus, not my will, but thine be done. Every day, we have the choice to do the will of God, or the will of our own minds, and I pray that we all have the opportunity to do as the Lord would counsel us.

I apologize for not sharing experiences this week, but there really is not time and I have to go now, but expect lots of interesting things in the blog entry that follows!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

P.S. I was going to add fotos! But the computer here isn't working with fotos! I will send lots next week I promise

Elder Graves

Argentina Posadas Mission

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS


Dear Brother's and Sisters...

Faith is like a seed...

If planted it will grow...

and grow...

I have faith in Jesus...

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Write to Elder Graves in 1 of 4 ways:

1. E-mail - tgraves@myldsmail.net

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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

New Assignment! - Missionaries Follow Street Sign Called 'Holy Ghost' - Finding Things To Smile About - Please Keep Praying For Rafael's Family! Your Prayers Are Being Answered! - A Family Reactivated & Children Baptized! - Saying Goodbye To Obera, Argentina And To Elder Venegas - New Assignment - Pray Always! Testimony Of Prayer

Well as missionaries, we are always trying to follow the Holy Ghost, and for at least this day, we were able to do so ;) Espiritu Santo means Holy Ghost for those of you who don't know.

Haha thought I would start the blog with something funny. Me and my companion are always looking for a way to make the day a little brighter. Sometimes in the mission things can seem difficult, but if you find something to smile about, it is just that much easier to keep going. My companion and I have been talking a lot about the family of Rafael and how they are so important in our work. I asked you all to offer a special prayer for his family, and we can really see that the Lord is touching the heart of his mother because of your prayers. His mom (for the first time) accepted us and has grasped the fact that our church "makes more sense than the others" and that she fully supports the baptisms of her children. She even is willing to "consider" baptism herself. I don't know if I told all of you but, the family consists of 9 children and the 2 parents. This family would really help the ward grow here!!! Please keep praying for them!

While Rafael and his family still are in the process towards baptism, the Family Wolf has been reactivated in the church, and faithfully today are attending the outside of the temple of Buenos Aires. The children were baptized, as well as investigator of the Hermanas named "Gustavo"

I am very excited for all three of them, and was happy to be a part of that experience for them.

I now have to say goodbye to this area. Just as things seemed to really get started, I have been called to serve in Tacuari Argentina for this transfer that is coming. My assignment is one different from what I am used to right now, and will need some adjusting surely. As I am a little nervous for this new assignment, I hope that each of you could pray for me so that I could be comforted, if you get the time. Saying goodbye to Obera also means saying goodbye to my companion Elder Venegas. This goodbye honestly will be a hard one. He has been such a good friend to me, and I will miss him.

The Elder on top is from Ecuador and is named Elder Lopez and was visiting Obera, because his companion (my second trainer Elder Silva) just finished his mission.

I love you all and hope you know the reality of the power of prayer. Pray always.

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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Monday, January 5, 2015

Answered Prayers - Baptisms! - Mission Focus Is Building Eternal Families - Waterfall/There Is A God And He Loves Us - Don't Drink The Mate! - Family Miracles

Thank you for all of your prayers and the love you constantly are sending my way. I love that I always have an assurance of a great support system at home. Thank you for your letters and for reading my blog.

Though it has seemed difficult these past couple of weeks, the work is finally starting to show some real physical results! There will be 3 baptisms this week here in Obera and I was chosen by one of them to do the baptizing. Also we are teaching someone named Rafael. He is super awesome and is going to be baptized the 24th of January if everything goes as planned! He is 18 and is really learning quickly. The thing is, he has like 7 brothers and sisters who still don't want to listen to us, but as a group, me Elder Venegas and Rafael, we are going to really help this family become an eternal family.

It is interesting to think about how I pictured the mission, before my mission. I thought the whole idea was to get lots of baptisms and teach lots of lessons. While those are things we want to do, the focus, or it would be, the main goal is to build eternal families.

If you have the chance, could you please add to your prayers the family of Rafael. Thank you.

While there was a lot of work going on this week, it being the week of the new year, the president of the mission granted another day of activities! We had the opportunity to go bowling, (yeah they really do have bowling here and yes I was surprised too) and then after we ate at Tihuanas and ate Shwarma (if any of you have seen the last scene of Iron Man 2 you will know what it is) and it is soooo good!

Then we got to go to this Waterfall! It was actually super awesome! (Still not Iguazu falls) but still super awesome! It is fun to have a little bit of time to relax and enjoy nature for a while.

When I was little (as I think about this, I feel like I have shared this before, but oh well!) me and my Dad would always go hiking. When we would get to the top of the mountain, or reach our end point, and see the beauty that we have here on this earth, he would always tell me, "Just seeing this view, these trees, these mountains, these waterfalls, or whatever it might be, is enough for me to know there is a God and that he loves us."

This statement has stuck with me until now and as I watched the beauty of nature, I thought a lot about that statement, as well as the scripture in Alma 30:40, 44.

Okay more of a funny subject... haha here in Argentina a popular drink here (well more like every single person at every single moment drinks it) is called Mate or Terere. As missionaries, we generally aren't supposed to drink it if we are from a country that isn't accustomed to drinking it because it can really make your stomach upset. This is like the classic "Don't Drink the Mate" foto haha!

Well I don't have much more time today, but I want each of you to know that I appreciate the love that is shown toward my family. We as a family have experienced some of the most incredible miracles during my mission and they don't seem to be stopping. I know that those of you that have acted in service to my family are inspired by God and will be blessed for helping my family. Even those of you who show your love towards them in small and simple ways, thank you.

Love you all!

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

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

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

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Monday, February 2, 2015

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Dear Brother's and Sisters...

Faith is like a seed...

If planted it will grow...

and grow...

I have faith in Jesus...

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Monday, January 5, 2015