Transfers Back To Minot

Well, I get to go back to Minot this week:):) I am so happy! I miss my greenie area:) Sister Jarvies and I will be going back this week and we have so many great ideas and plans for the area!  We can't wait to start implementing them up there! 

The weather has been dropping a lot and we are down to the 30's at night now, but from what I have heard- that is pretty warm so I will be mentally preparing myself for winter seems how I already feel like an ice cube. :P  

This week Sister Jarvies treated usto so many fun moments. First she was changing the toilet paper roll and accidentally shot the roll bar that hold the toilet paper, down the toilet and clogged it.. Apparently all of our plunging pushed the bar through the neck of the pipe and jammed it in real good. Haha sister missionaries are so great. But anyways we have brand new toilet. the best part was hearing Sister Jarvies in the Bathroom when it happened. 

"OH!"

"oh no....ahhh!!!!" 

"....oh no...."  hahah and then it was gone. 

This week we had lots of good experiences with our investigators and our Less actives. We taught Cy the word of wisdom and he didn't understand why he cant have coffee. He was quite bothered by it and I got the chance to share one of my own personal experiences about how justifying even the smallest commandments like coffee leads us to justifying them all eventually. I shared how the reason that we don't need to have a reason to follow every commandment is because they all are important whether we know it or not. I know now that I can trust my Heavenly Father and when he says that I shouldn't drink coffee then I wont. After I talked about it, He said 

"That's right! You don't have to have a reason to follow what God says" 

Then he stopped and said " I guess I will ask God about coffee and find out for myself..." It was so good to see him understand that and start to realize that this is all about actually changing ourselves. We as Christs followers actually do the changing, we don't just talk about it all the time. 

We Got to meet with the Turpin's this week. It was so good. we were able to help Brother Dennis Turpin understand the times that he had felt the spirit before. Once we got him to realize that he started to open up a little and a littler more. I know that that lesson and moment was key for him. that He needs to know that he was baptized for more than just peer pressure so many years ago. He says that he has no testimony, but I think that He does, Its just buried under a whole bunch of stuff that he has held onto for so long. I really wish I could see what happens next but I trust that God will watch over them.

I have loved working in Mandan! I am Excited to learn more!:) Thank you all for support and Keep up the work of the Lord:) 

Love Tay

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Sister Taylor Andrus

The Gift of Tongues and Humanitarian

This week was MLC for the leadership of the mission! and because I am serving in Bismarck area where they all meet!  I got the opportunity to meet a few more missionaries and we got to have Sister  Clark come and stay with us for a couple days. As a result of this meeting Sister Anderson got to go to the Temple by invitation. While we had Sister Clark we were able to split up because there were 4 of us, and Sister Jarvies and Clark met a few Potentials. We went back a few days later to try one potential and ran into a guy named Paul. Paul goes to a Protestant Church here in Bismarck and we had a lesson with him. He was trying to convert us and get us to come to his church. When Sister Anderson opened with a prayer Paul treated us with his "gift of tongues" and then spent the next 15 minutes reading random verses from the bible about the gift of tongues. I eventually told him that we believe in the gift of tongues, and sister Anderson explained the gift of tongues and He just smiled and then said "i am so glad you ladies came around today. You have strengthened my faith in my church..." haha So We just went for it, Sister Jarvies whips out her Scriptures and a Book of Mormon. We start Testifying and it was going great until he asked about the Trinity. Then I testified of the Godhead and How they are separate beings and again he just said " thank you for coming around ladies- you have truly increased my desire to go to my church." Ha so we took his card and made a deal that If he came to our church we would go to his. Which I am a little nervous about....they like to Speak in Tongues... So That will be fun! I hope we can actually teach Paul a little bit:) 

We got to go out to New Salem This week! We got to meet Salem Sue the worlds largest cow! It was awesome!  I have been converted to living in cute small towns...So like... Maybe coming back to New Salem for a while isn't such a bad idea....(hint...to those whom it may concern) 

We were able to help out with a Humanitarian project this week as well. The church was giving away free clothes and shoes for the winter! It was such a humbling experience! I loved being involved with that! We got to count their items and also give out hygiene kits and blankets. It was so interesting to me to see how those who needed it the most were the ones who barely took anything... I was able to see so many amazing people there:) on the other hand I think the highest number of clothes that I counted were 115 infant clothes:) wow... right? that's a lot! 

Something amazing that I learned this week was that Christ really is there in the Good times and in the Bad times. There is a family here in Bismarck whose daughter passed away this last week. It was a terrible and tragic situation. Being able to see that family before and after the death was incredible. They are truly reliant on their Savior Jesus Christ. I go out and preach about how Christ will be there with you in the hard times all day. But it was amazing to see and feel that to build my testimony! I know that Christ is with that Family and In their homes. You can know that by the fact that when they mourn, it is a mourning of hope, not of hopelessness. Unlike the Devil, Christ will be there in every good and bad moments. Having a Home centered on Christ and His gospel is what keeps that family going- I would hope that we will prepare our families for hard times that might come unexpectedly by having our homes Centered on the most Sure foundation we have. Jesus Christ. 

Heaven is often described as a family sitting at the dinner table laughing together. We can have that now- we don't have to wait for the post-mortal life to have heaven within our families. We can do that now. I want nothing more than so sit at the table with my whole family, and be happy! :) 

My Ponderizing Scripture: 

Duet 8:3 

And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. " 

Love you all:) have a great week! I cant wait to hear all about the awesome Halloween costumes Ya'll are putting together;) 

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Sister Taylor Andrus

What A Great Week:)

Hey All! 

This week was great! Obviously from my subject line...:P anyways- We were able to go to the Temple this week!! So good!:) and It was amazing! I learned so much! Oh how I miss the opportunity to go every week! If you haven't gone, Don't forget how blessed  you are to be able to go as often as you can. :) 

Two amazing things that happened this week:

1. I was able to share my testimony on how our goal is to get us and our loved ones back to our Father. I was able to realize that the small things in our lives that we do have to go through and deal with are just really really insignificant and we are doing a much greater work! Letting little trials get us down simple only hurts ourselves on that path. We should spend time being sad when we could be happy no matter what! I was also reading Gordon B Hinkley's Memoriam and I loved something that He said: If men would love their wife's more than themselves- we would have a better world" but I like to change it to "If we would love those around us more than ourselves- we would have a better world" I loved that and I have already seen the blessings of that in my life this week! 

2. Sara Waite, and Bill, both Investigators in Mandan came to church on Sunday:) It was so amazing! definitely a miracle:) I was so happy! Bill came grudgingly but at least he came right? when we called on Saturday to tell him that we got him a ride he said 

" you actually got it all planned out? Goll Ya'll are just mean!!!" haha He is like 70 with a smokers voice so that was pretty entertaining:) 

We had Elder Spackman from Canada visiting the Bismarck Stake and we were able to go the the Conference Saturday night. He taught us about the importance of missionary work and every one who helps

Did you know that someone usually comes into contact with the church 7 times before getting baptized? so even numbers 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 are just as important and 7. Yes we all want to be number 7 because thats when people get baptized but without the other numbers there wouldn't ever be a #7. No effort is wasted in that regard and every time we try and reach out It DOES make a difference:) Don't ever give up on sharing little things because even if your testimony was a number 4 or 5 for someone, it makes a difference:) 

Welp, I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the fall season!:) Don't be afraid to Share what you love about the Gospel- lets get some more people ready to reach that #7:) Love you all:) 

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Sister Taylor Andrus