Pictures

Rose is a member in one of the other wards. She is preparing for a mission.
She is wonderful! We sang together for Zorydas baptism.

Zoryda and her family and the ward mission leader before the baptism.

February 20, 2012

Hello!

This week was crazy fast! I feel like I blinked and its lunes all over again! CRAZY!!
First of all I want to say thank you to the friends that have been so good about writing me. All the elders are envious because I am the only one who ever gets letters haha. And to those of you who haven't written me. . . shame on you . . .haha j/k

So this week we taught a ton of lessons. Getting Zoryda and Fernando ready for baptism has been really fun, they both are wonderful in completely different ways. We are teaching some new families and I'm excited to see where that goes.

Zorydas Baptism was Saturday. There was a bit of drama because the first time she went in the water she lifted up her foot. So she needed to have the ordanance done again but I guess when she bent over it really hurt her back and she didn't think she could handle a second time. Hermana Lema said a prayer with Zoryda and instantly her back felt better and she was able to be baptized. So even though it was a stressful experience it ended up really strengthening Zorydas testimony.  Sunday she kept telling everyone about how Hermana Lema's prayer healed her. So that was good, Heavenly Father really can consecrate any situation for good.

I tried to cut my own hair this week . . . that was interesting ha-ha. Just the ends but I didn't really have any success in getting my split ends, so I asked Hermana Lema if shed cut the ends. She started cutting and she did every single hair. EVERY INDIVIDUAL HAIR by its self haha. After about ten minutes of that business I decided I am just going to risk it and get my hair cut at the super market by our house. . . pray for me haha

Fernando is making great progress. I am so excited for him. He was one of those all or nothing kind of personalities. So he really is putting his all into the gospel. It's amazing to see the change in his character his personality EVERYTHING.

All in all this week was good. Time is moving by at super speed. It's crazy.
I love you all and miss you!
Love Hermana Sadie Taggart

Pictures

So in our mission, one of the cool things to do is make team jerseys for your District.
I think the ones we made for the zone Trebol are pretty rad!

In mission talk your trainer is called your Mom and the trainer of your trainer is called your Grandma.
This pictures me, my mission mom, and my mission Grandma

February 13, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos!

In honor of valentine's day tomorrow let me tell you a love story.

We have been teaching a couple Erika and Richard for a while now. They have been married for almost two years, but about two months ago something happened that ruined their relationship. They love each other and want to work things out but it's been hard. Erika's cousins are LDS and they invited them to a Family Home Evening. They loved the spirit they felt with that family and agreed to start meeting with the missionaries, me and Hermana Lema. So the lessons normally go a little like this. They sit as far apart as possible. We teach. They cry. We teach some more. They smile. And by the end of our time there they are smiling, laughing and enjoying each other's company. But then we come back after a few days and it's like we are starting all over again. They have pain in their eyes and they don't know if they can repair the damage that has been done. They like meeting with us because they say that there is a peace and happiness in their home when we are there. One lesson I remember promising them that if they would read the book of Mormon together and pray together that they could have that same peace and happiness When I promised them I could feel in my heart that what I was saying was true. When we left the house I got nervous. What if they read together and it doesn't change anything, what if they pray but not with real intent. Needless to say I lacked the faith that I had in the lesson. But the next lesson something miraculous happened.

We got to the house and they were both smiling. . . Odd. . . we started with a hymn and at the end of the song I looked up for my hymn book and they were sitting, TOGETHER, and Ericka's head was on her husband's shoulder! WHAT!! So we pray and ask them how their reading and praying has been going. Richard reaches out, takes his wife by they hand, kisses her hand and then tells us how ever since they have been reading and praying together they have been able to face problems in their marriage and things are going so much better!!! AAAHHHH!!!! I have never in my life been so happy to see two people holding hands!! I could have got up and ran 5 miles right then and there.

It's true, this gospel really does bless families. Families are central to Gods plan for us on the earth! AH!! So exciting. They still have a ways to go, they want to get baptized. Erika is ready but Richard isn't really digging the whole Word of Wisdom, no drinking, business. This is a huge problem with all of our male investigators. One investigators Elmer explained it to me. He said that not drinking beer with your friends was like if he were dancing at a club and a beautiful women came and started dancing with him and he pushed her away. What would they think? Basically he said, You aren't a man unless you do the things men do, and men DRINK!

So this is a problem we face constantly. The men here drink and they drink alot. We leave our apartment at 11 in the morning and there are already tons of groups of men sitting on the side of the road getting wasted. . . yeah. . .

This week really was great though, Zoryda pushed up her baptismal date to the 18th! Sweet! And Another one of our investigators Fernando is getting baptized on the 25th. I am excited for these two because they have both been coming to church every Sunday for some time now. Fernando reads and loves everything he learns. He is solid! I'm so excited for him.

All in all life here in Peru is going great. It isn't perfect. I still struggle with my Spanish. At this point I can speak well enough that people usually get what I am saying. But I know my grammar is terrible and I know I speak ridiculously. Which drives me crazy. Hermana Lema doesn't really get why I get upset sometimes, so the other day for language study I made her speak in English and would only respond to her in English and I had her teach me the lessons in English and what not. After 30 minutes she was frustrated and I felt better having my point made ha-ha.

Thank you for all your love and support. I really love getting letters ha-ha so don't be shy.

I love you all!

Love Hermana Sadie Taggart

Pictures

This is an average breakfast for me, bread and green olives. Haha
Good thing my father raised me to love green olives. Haha

The birthday banner I made for Hermana Lema

Noche de Hogar con familia Lagoones

After I smashed an egg on Hermana Lemas head

February 6, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos! Como Esta!!

Things in Peru are going well. This week was a lot better than last week. We are teaching some great people and little by little they are making progress. My mission is teaching me a lot about patience. For example....

We have been teaching this women named Zoryda for over a month now, and she has been listening to the missionaries for 7 months. She is more active than half of our ward, comes to church every Sunday, loves the lessons, but refuses to pray and to read her scriptures. Every week we go, we teach lessons and we try and try to strike some kind of desire in her. She likes to talk about faith, but she lacks the faith to act. Yesterday I had just about had it. In companionship study we were planning for what to teach her and I told Hermana Lema that honestly we were wasting our time (not my best moment I'll admit) I vented for about 5 minutes about how nothing we have done is working and nothing we could do would. Then Hermana Lema, like the angel that she is, just gently reminded me that God loves Zoryda, and he would never give up on her. So I got down on my knees and prayed with everything, honesty everything I had, to love her enough and to have patience with her. I begged the Lord to help me to know what she needed, and I promised I would do whatever it took and take however long it would take to help her. I prayed for her for honestly 15 to 20 minutes. I have never in my life prayed that hard for someone else. I ended my prayer and still had no idea what we needed to teach her but I knew that I would when the time came.

In the lesson we taught her about the importance of prayer and scripture study, well Hermana Lema did, I didn't talk much in this part, other than sharing my testimony, and then all of the sudden I knew what I needed to say. I told her the honest truth, I told her that God loved her and wanted  her to follow the example of his son and be baptized so that she could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and have the comforter with her always. Then I told her that today I prayed for her, and only her, that I begged the lord to help me know what to teach her, I told her that Heavenly Father had the answers to every question she has. He wrote them in his scriptures and it was up to her to read them and find her answers. After I finished talking Zoryda cried, and told us that she has been wanting to read and pray, and tonight she would do that. Then Hermana Lema invited her to prepare for baptism on Feb 25th, and she accepted! (Now a lot can change in that time. I know that as well as anyone else. And she still has a lot of progress that needs to be made.) But this experience for me, what a tender mercy, and answer to a sincere prayer. I know that Lord has been preparing her heart and yesterday she was finally ready to receive what we have been teaching her this whole time.

Yesterday I learned that the Lord loves us all, and that he would never give up on any of us. He is always there, always. For me this was a humbling experience. I need to have more patience and I need to love everyone as much as I loved Zoryda the moment I prayed for her. Because over all, love was the thing that was lacking in our lessons, and when we taught with love Zoryda felt it. Love made all the difference. So for me that was a really great learning experience. 

On a lighter note, this Saturday was Hermana Lemas birthday. I wanted to make it special, but it's kind of hard to surprise someone who is by your side 24 seven. I was able to obtain some balloons and colored paper and while she was in the shower I made a birthday banner for her. In my house ever for every Birthday there is always a birthday banner, so it just seemed right. Then that night we did a Noche De Hogar at one of the boom member families in our ward. They gave her cake and a present! It was super cute. But I have to say the best moment of her birthday was when I SMASHED an egg on her head. In Peru for peoples birthday, it's just what you do. At lunch she went to the bathroom and I was able to sneak an egg from my pensioniest. That night after we said our last prayer I looked at her said Feliz Cumpleaños and then BAM! Egg right on the head ha-ha. She got me back good though, she picked the inners up and got them all in my face ha-ha. All in all it was a good time.

So basically this week was a good week. I am learning a lot and I still have so much to learn if I am going to really be a good missionary, but I am thankful for this opportunity.

I love you all!!

Hermana Sadie Taggart

More Pictures

So my Mom taught me not to eat Krap. I found these at a street store and thought it was hillarious, Minni Kraps haha. They are crackers here but I thought you might think it was funny. This photo is from today, just me reminding you all that I love you!!!

Cynthia and her fried Dayan

A bunch of the young girls in the ward supporting Cynthia at her baptism

This is my zone

It only took us two weeks to down that peanut butter. The peanut butter in Peru is different and gross so we really enjoyed the Skippy

Hermana Lema is from  Ecuador they wear these dresses on special occasions.  She said her family would love to see us together in these. It's not every day you see a tall white girl in one of these ha-ha

When you tie the skirt to have a lot of white showing it is an even stronger indication that you are looking for a husband! HAHA. I love it! At all the parties you can tell who wants to be left alone and who wants to date based on how they wear this dress

So since I got to wear her favorite outfit I let here wear mine ha-ha. It's a tad bit too big for her ha-ha

The Blue shawl on my head is wore in different ways. Usually women who are grandmothers wear  their shall in this fashion

I blame this women for any weight I have gained. Hermana Gastalo and Her husband. Can you see how much food is one those plates!! Seriously !!

January 30, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos!!

Que Tal! This week . . . was rough. . . I'll be honest. I don't know what was up with me this week. We would have lessons set up and we would even call the night before to confirm that everything was good and then when we would show up at the people's houses no one would be there. . . .Ugh . . . there is nothing I like more than walking in one direction for 30 minutes just to have a teaching appointment fall through. . . Grr... It's all good. Hermana Lema and I came up with a plan to have lots of family home evenings this week with part member families. I think this week will be better. But that's just how it goes on a mission, some moments are amazing and others are terrible. The only thing that bothers me is I really want to make the best use of my time. I remember being told that this time is the Lords time and you will be held accountable for how you use it. So when we walk around for hours and no one will listen and no one is home I get frustrated. I want to teach the gospel!! And I don't want to feel like I am wasting the Lords time.

Anyhow. . . that's my venting for the week ha-ha.

This week while contacting . . . Hmmm I met an Angel ha-ha that was interesting. We were walking and this guy yells out MORMONS!! So we go to talk to him and he tells us that he is an angel. Uh. . . ok so we try giving him a pamphlet and he tooks at the picture of Christ and tells us that he is superior to him and what not. My companion was waiting, trying to find a polite way to exit the conversation and finally I just grabbed her and we left. . . Oh the people you meet while you contact.

One thing I love about Peru is the Garbage trucks ha-ha. Let me explain. So instead of having a set time or date for the Garbage route the truck just drives around all day every day and it has this Loud Song that it plays and when people here it coming down the road they run out with their garbage. Its hilarious. Its kind of like the ice cream man but for Adults ha-ha.

Hmm.... Not much to say this week. I hope you are all doing well. My Spanish is starting to get better. I am understanding ALOT more and people are starting to understand me. Maybe there is hope for me after all.

This week I hit my 3 month mark! Whoot. This last month has been awesome. Hermana Lema is wonderful and I love getting to study the gospel and share it with people every day. I just want to use this time the best I can because I know I won't get another opportunity like this ever again!

I love you all! I miss you but I am doing well.
Love Hermana Sadie Taggart

January 23, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos!

First a story from my week that I hope will make you smile. First the background information. Hermana Lema and I have been together for almost a month now, but the communication barrier has made the getting to know you process really slow. So when we walk from appointment to appointment if we aren't talking about the next lesson or the gospel, we ask get to know you questions. Now it's my opions that in the nine months Hermana Lema has somewhat lost her ability to socialize normally because most of the time,  her get to know you questions sound more like baptismal interview questions. For example I will ask. What did you study before you went on your  mission, or what kind of music do you like? Hermana Lema will ask things like "Have you ever had a problem with the word of wisdom?" or my favorite "How has keeping the law of chastity blessed your life?" ha-ha. Anyways now my story.

So we are walking the other day and Hermana Lema asks me (in Spanish obviously) if I think something, but I didn't understand the word. Hermana Lema knows a tiny bit of English so she thinks really hard and puts together the sentence in English. "You like Beer?" . . . . so I am thinking this is another one of her strange get to know you slash baptismal interview questions haha. So I respond "No" then just to be funny I ask "Do you like beer?" and she responds "Oh Si Me Encanta Beer!" or basically yes I love Beer! And she is speaking in Spanish except the word beer. So I am confused right. I am thinking maybe she means before her mission of before she converted or something so I ask " Before your mission" and she says. "No I love the beer here in Peru. I love to look out the window every morning and see the Beers!" So now I am concerned and confused ha-ha. So I ask her "Hermana Lema what do you think beer means" She looks around points at a pigeon and says "Beer!" HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA So I explained that, that was a Bird and then I kicked an empty beer bottle on the ground and told her that, that was beer. HAHAHAHAHAHA she was so mortified that she had been saying that she liked Beer. HAHAHAHA Basically made my week, I hope that story makes you smile.

This week was GREAT!! Cynthia got baptized!! It was a wonderful experience. She was so excited. She just kept telling me how excited she was to change, to be a better persona and leave her old self behind!! AAHH!! If only everyone had the desire to be better like she does. On Sunday she got called to be first counselor in the young women's presidency. She was shocked! First Sunday as a member and she gets a calling ha-ha. I am so excited for her Young Women.  She is the best and I know she will do great with them!! AAHHH!! I just can't even explain how excited I am for her.

Other than that this week's lessons and contacting had good moments and bad moments.
My Spanish is still Terrible but people are starting to understand me more and more every day. So that is exciting.

Life is good. I LOVE being here. I love our ward and the members. I love teaching lessons. The only thing that really gets me down is when we teach people and they believe what we say but they don't see the importance of changing their lives. How do you teach desire? How do you teach change? Really what it comes down to is how do you teach Faith?

I ask myself that a lot!
I love you! I hope you are all doing well. My Zone leader tells me I have lots of letters this week. Guess my blog begging must have worked ha-ha. Thanks for your love and support!

Love Hermana Sadie Taggart

January 15, 2012

Hello Family and Friends!
Greetings from a super frumpy Hermana in Peru. . . Yes its true with every passing day I am getting more and more frumpy. I'm pretty much rocking the super hip sister missionary side braid every day. Make up is only for special occasions and either Peru is starting to smell better or I am starting to smell worse ha-ha. Oh and I am pretty sure I am getting fat. . . I am trying not to . . . but there is this thing. The veil of ugly. I believe  its placed upon all us sister missionaries to keep the cat calls and glances to a minimum ha-ha. When I come home someone needs to be assigned to help me unfrumpify, but until then, I am just accepting it.

The work is going good. Cynthia's baptism is this week! I can't wait. She has a strong testimony and lots of friends in the church, which is good. Friends in the church makes the odds of her staying active better. She has a strong testimony, but so do a lot of our inactive ward members. They know the Gospel, they just don't understand the importance of living the gospel. We visit a lot of inactives and we try to get that point across.

We are teaching a new couple, Erica and Richard. Their cousins are members and they see the happiness in their lives so they asked to start meeting with the missionaries. That's what you want to happen. It's so nice to meet with people who are excited for the next time you will come to visit, instead of feeling like you are pulling teeth trying to get people to listen to you. I hope they keep up the progress they are making. It would be great to bring a couple into the gospel.

If we aren't teaching then we are contacting. Which is walking the streets and knocking doors looking for people to teach. This isn't my favorite thing, it's hot and people aren't that excited to hear from you, but contacting never fails to give some interesting experiences.

Like the other day when we were contacting, this little old women saw me from her window and came running out and starting kissing me on the cheek and calling me an angel. She obviously had really bad dementia, it made me sad, but we talked to her for a while. She was super sweet and super out of it.

Oh and then one night we were walking down the street and honestly I wasn't even comfortable being on this street, there were lots of drunk men and we were power walking it. I see this little girl about 3 or 4 years old all by herself on the road. She saw us and came running over and said. ¨Help me I don't know where my mommy is!¨AAHHH!!! Broke my heart. We were able to walk with her to a main road and from there she knew where her house was. Her mom didn't even notice she was gone. I was glad we were there. I would never let my niece and nephews be alone in that environment that's for sure.

Um what else. . .
I am falling in love with Latin music. I have to work hard to keep my hips under control when we walk past a house with Awesome music. There is no such thing as a noise ordinance here, so they just play their music as loud as they want ha-ha.

Life is going good. My Spanish is still terrible but I am understand a lot more. I just can't speak back without sounding like an idiot ha-ha. But It will get there.

I love you all! I miss you! But I am doing well!
Love Always!! Hermana Sadie Taggart