Pictures

Andersons scriptures! He is the best

These photos are from outside of my house. The statue is of the Virgin Mary.  This is one of the ways the people of Peru who are Catholics worship. You got to love Peru!

Walking down the road we ran into this Lama.

September 24, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Wow! Is it Lunes already! I can't believe how fast this week went by! Seriously I feel like I blinked and a week went by! But when I think of all that happened this week it seems like a month went by.
Things are going good here in Santa Isabel. Anderson and his family are preparing to go the  temple :) We had a really great lesson with them this week. I'm super excited. I'm hoping that the Bishop will set a goal with them to go to the temple before I go home. The best would be if they got sealed the end of May when my Mom and Sisters come to pick me up. I'd love to go to the sealing with my family (even though they wouldn't understand anything ha-ha.) We will have to see but I'm really excited for their family. I took a picture of Andersons scriptures to show you all how amazing he is. He is ten years old but he is reading the Book of Mormon by himself and he marks his scriptures with different colors depending on what they mean. Honestly he is AMAZING!

Denise didn't get baptized this week. I'm still worried about this whole situation. I don't feel like she has the family support to stay active. The reason that she didn't get baptized this week is because she was acting out at home and so as a punishment she couldn't go the church. It's interesting how people outside of the church think that going to church is a prize that we get instead of a need that we have. (Wow it took me about five minutes to write this sentence because I couldn't remember the word for prize in English. I'm losing my mind!)

This week we had a mission training with the president! It was really great. We talked about the importance of sharing our personal testimonies. We applied that in our lessons this week and it really made a difference.
Things are coming along in Santa Isabel. We just need to help unify the ward because it lacks a lot of unity. But I know we can do it. We just have to start with the Leaders. We are going to start doing Family home evenings with the ward leaders and they HAVE to invite a family less active or investigators or people who recently got baptized, because this is the problem. As missionaries we visit the less actives and the  recent converts. We build relationships with them, but then after 4 months or so,we leave the area. We have to help people build relationships with the ward leaders and most importantly with Jesus Christ.

Well. . . all is well. I'm happy healthy and basically flea bite free ha-ha.
I'll be sending home letters soon.
I love you all!
Love Hermana Sadie Jean Taggart

Pictures

September 17, 2012

¿Que tal Familia y Yuntas? (Yuntas is Peruivan slag for Amigos, or friends. I tried asking for a Peruvian slag for Familia and they told me Family ha-ha. That's not slag! That's English. . . anyhow. . . )

This week was a good week. Jack got baptized! Whoot! It was a really good experience as always. We also have a baptism for this next Saturday a 15 year old Girl named Denisse. I'm excited for her, but I'm also worried. I've never baptized a teenager who didn't have family who are members. Honestly because I think it's a bad idea. The majority of teenagers who don't have parents who are members end up going inactive. Well I guess Kenji, his parents aren't members, but he was and still is solidly active. Denisse really like the lessons and she wants to get baptized, but I worry about her. The last thing I want to do is baptize someone just to baptize them. We are going to really work with the ward so that they will help her remain active. But It is a concern of mine.

So this week I got letters from wonderful friends and family. It seems like the post offices are FINALLY off strike, but I'm not sure how many letters I lost in that process. I'm sending letters home tomorrow. I've decided I don't trust the post offices so I'm sending it through a private sender.

So something I love is when you tell me in your letters that you read my blog. I also like to think at times that someone preparing for their mission reads this cuz they are a creepy blog stalker like I was ha-ha. Well in case you are that person reading my blog right now I have a tip for you.

When your mom suggests that you bring a flea collar on your mission, don't laugh at her and think that its ridiculous . . . . cuz one day you will wake up with a zillion flea bites all over you body and you will wish that you had a flee collar to put on your bed. Yup basically that's my long dramatic way of telling you all that I have flees, bueno, I had flees. Thankful I was able to track down some medicine that killed them all. I was waking up every day with more and more bites, I thought it was just in my bed, but nope we washed everything and I still was getting more bites, but not just in the night time, during the day as well . I feel like having flees puts my frumpiness to a new level ha-ha.

The other day my companion told me she is learning how to be serious and responsible thanks to my example. . . . Wow. . . . I'm pretty sure no one has ever used the words Serious or Responsible to describe me. It can only be one of two things. Either she thinks I'm serious because she has never had a north American companion and isnt use to the cultural difference . . . or I am getting super weird. All I know is she has me worried that Im getting lame! Am I getting Lame? If I come home serious, lame and frumpy you all have to promise to help me.

Well thats about all I have to report for this week.

I love you all! Thanks for your letters. If you dont get a letter back in about two or three weeks that probably means I never got your letter so you should write me again! I love you all.

Hermana Sadie Jean Taggart

September 10, 2012

¿Que tal Familia y mis Patas?

How are things going.

 

Life is good here. I don't have a lot of time to write. We got to the internet late because we were teaching Jack in the Morning. He is getting ready for his baptism this Saturday! I'm super excited! It's been a really great experience teaching him. He is making some BIG changes in his life. I pray that the members in our ward will help him in this process instead of holding his past against him. I think sometimes as members of the church we read amazing stories about repentance like Alma the Younger who went from destroying the church to being a great missionary and we think wow! The Lord really is amazing. He can change anyone but then when it comes to the situations in our daily lives we aren't willing to help the Lord make a miracle in someone else's life. Jack really is a great man. And He has a long Journey ahead of him that will not end with baptism. I really hope the ward will support him in this Journey.

 

I'm with my new companion. Hermana Venegas, de Columbia. She is wonderful. Super sweet. SUPER SWEET. Sometimes I feel bad cuz I'm just not that sweet or loving ha-ha.

 

We had a really fun activity where the ward got dressed up in ropa tipica de Peru and did dances from all the different areas. It was really beautiful. I love the rich culture they have here.

 

Well things are going well. We found a family new family to teach. They have to travel a long way to get to church and all the activities. I'm excited it's a family with two sons. Hopefully we can get them all baptized. This country needs more good men and our ward needs more priesthood.

 

I'm happy and healthy!

I love you all!

Hermana Sadie Jean Taggart

Pictures

My Zone

September 3, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos!

What a week! This week on the 31st Elder D Todd Christofferson from the quorum o the 12 apostles came and spoke to the missionaries in Lima Peru. It was really wonderful. I didn't know that he could speak Spanish! It was really uplifting.  I couldn't help but laugh because I remember a year ago on the 31st of August I was home in Syracuse and I threw two epic parties in one night.  One unforgettable bridal shower for my Cousin Maddy and then a Tragically wonderful Birthday party for Courtney and this year I spent the 31st in Peru on a mission, listening to an apostle ha-ha. It's crazy how things can change in just one year. Sadly we didn't get to shake his hand or anything but it was still really cool. What I was really looking forward to was seeing Hermana Boyer and Hermana Gee, but sadly I think they both must be en el Selva right now because neither of them were there. But you know who I did see, Janae's roommate ha-ha. I don't remember her name and I couldn't take to her because she was super far away but we saw each other from a distance, it took me a while to figure out who she was but when I did I was super excited.

This week was filled with ups and downs. But on the good side Jack is still excited for the 15th of September and Elais says he wants to get baptized on the 30th of September. I'm still not sure if Elais will just keep saying this at the end of the next month and then the next month, but we will stick with him for one more month. He is starting to form friendships with some of the men his age in the ward. I think it will help him feel more confident about his choice to get baptized. We are focusing a lot in the Book of Mormon. He is so funny. He still doesn't like the Book of Mormon because it's not the Bible but yesterday when we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith Repentance Baptism ect) and we did it by reading one verse in the Bible and then Another in the Book Of Mormon. At the end of the Lesson he understood the purpose of the two testimonies of Jesus Christ a lot better and he admitted he liked the Book of Mormon, but he likes the Bible more ha-ha. He is so stubborn, but what can you expect from a 75 year old man.

Hermana Lisarazo leaves for Mexico tonight. I'm bummed. I really will miss her and all her crazy habits and silly stories, but I know the Lord always has his purposes. I'm thankful that I had the six weeks with her that I had. I'm also super excited for my new companion. Hermana Venegus. She is my friend from the CCM. She is from Columbia and is super sweet. I bet she will teach me a lot! I'm excited!

All in all it was a good week! We are just pushing along trying to improve this area of Santa Isabel and I know we can do it. We just have to help the members see the potential that this area has and once they do and get more excited, the other things will really start picking up!

I love you all! Thanks for your love and support!
Hermana Sadie Jean Taggart

August 27, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos. ¿Como la va?

Things are coming along here in Santa Isabel. We having been TURNING THIS AREA UPSIDE DOWN!! Seriously. I have faith in this area and  in these members. I think there is a lot of potential in this area. We just have to find a way to help the members feel that way. I think we can do it. We have been working really had to involve the members in the missionary work and I think it's starting to help the area.

Elais didn't come to church this week. That was sad. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he wasn't sure he could accept it.   But  after I started reading passage after passage to him to show him that it truly is another testament of Jesus Christ, he loved it all but when I said Elais everything I just read to you is from the Book of Mormon he looked at me and said "Well then I don't believe it." I have such a testimony of the power that the Book of Mormon has. It has the power to Change lives, it brings people closer to Christ than any other book and if someone can humbly read this testament of Jesus Christ there is no way that it won't change their life and touch their soul. But the key is having an open heart. We haven't dropped Elais and I hope that he won't get cold to the whole idea, but we will have to see.

But this week we found a really awesome guy named Jack. We meet him contacting and he told us in la mismo contact that he "Knows that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is True." He has lots of friends and family who are members and he got baptized ten years ago, but after he got baptized he saw a member of the church drinking and because of that he never got confirmed to receive the Holy Ghost. But he says he has been thinking a lot about going back o church and he doesn't believe it was coincidence that we knocked on his door. He came to church yesterday, he is reading The Book of Mormon and he has a baptism date for the 15th of September.

The only sad thing is that Hermana Lisarazo won't be here to see his baptism. She has her visa and will be leaving for Mexico next Monday. I'm super bummed. I really love Hermana Lisarazo. I'm so thankful that I had such a positive hard working companion for these 6 weeks. Santa Isabel isn't a walk in the park, but thankfully with My companion we were really able to get some work done and the area is progressing.

I just want to end by tell you all that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really does have the fullness of the gospel. I know God Lives and Loves us. I´ve come to see on my mission that God has a plan, and when it seems like things are out of control we need to remember that God always has it under control. Trust in him. I think that's when we are the happiest. Put all your trust in the Lord and he will lead and guide you.

I love being a missionary! Not every day is Sunshine and Butterflies. Honestly the bad days outnumber the good, but there are moments that are so wonderful that they make every door slam, every blister, ever frustration worth it all. I can't believe I have been gone for ten months! It's crazy how fast time flies!

I love you all. I feel like I should remind you all to write me letters cuz Id love to know how you are doing but seeing that the post office is still on strike I'm not sure there is a purpose. But HEY!! Dear Elders get to me. So don't forget about me! Write me at Dear Elders!! Just go to dearelder.com, write a missionary, select mission (Peru Lima West), write a letter,  It is free so please write!!!

I love you all!
Hermana Sadie Jean Taggart