The Fruits of Our Labors......and an experience of a new Church

Hey Y'all,

Well as you can see from my title this week it was amazing but also very interesting! We are finally starting to see some progress in our investigators and I just continue to be surprised and amazed and so grateful for all the thing I get to witness and be a part of. I just heard today that the little girl I started teaching in Hillsborough was baptized on the 17th and as I witnessed in the picture she was so happy and looked beautiful in white! I wish I could have been their but I know that I was there in spirit!

This week we had exchanges with the Sisters and I went to Sanford. It was a big change from Pembroke but it was great too. We didn't get to do much but I loved getting to know Sister Barney! She is a great missionary and is going home next transfer and so I made sure to prick her brain of anything from advice to questions to all kind of things that I can try to make sure I am using my time I have left to truly be converted and dedicated to the Lord.

One thing I love about this area is that we visit the Elders Investigators just as they will ares and we got to visit one of theirs. she is sweet lady has some Word of Wisdom she is working on but she is an amazing women has so much love and so much potential. she wants to learn and is so amazed at the church's organization and all that the gospel has to offer.

Friday we had a lesson with one of our investigators who are really dedicated and cannot wait to be baptized. We were teaching her (Mary) about Eternal Marriage and she wasn't really paying attention but we let her talk and she bore her testimony. She said how much she loves the church and is so excited to come to church on Sunday. She has even said that she has stopped cold turkey with smoking and feels so good.

Sunday was again my favorite day of the week like it always is! It just must be something about it being the Sabbath! :) We had two of our investigators come. We were asked to teach the Gospel Principles class on Eternal Marriage! Ironic right.... not so much actually. Our investigator Mary came and brought her daughter. It was an experience of a lifetime. I really enjoyed being there with her. She came late and so we didn't see her coming in so Sister Olive sat with our other investigator and I went and sat with her.She was just amazing. While the Sacrament she kept leaning over her daughter to tell me that she could feel it, she could feel Christ helping her and feel of his love for her. When we were done and the young men were going to sit with there families she looked at me and was like wait what's happening. I just told her nothing there just going to it with there families. She asked me. If I was going to sit with mine. At first I was kind of confused but I couldn't remember if e ever explained it to her before. She was amazed by what we do and I even told her of the Elders who were sitting behind us. She kept looking at them and I knew the Elders were probably thinking "Sister Farr what do you tel them?" We had great talks to. One sister talked about the Temple and Mary would look at me with so much desire and happiness and excitement! " I want to go to the temple." The other speaker was from the High Council and he was talking about his conversion story and Mary would look at me and say " He talking to me, this message is for me." I sometimes couldn't help but giggle but I am so glad that she felt the spirit and knew that this is where she belong and that she was humble enough to be able top notice that God is trying to tell her something. Our Gospel Principles class went well and Mary and our other investigator I think enjoyed it too. It was o great to see that they are stating to really learn and grow and understand. I am so excited for them. Mary started asking questions and talking about what other members said and it ended with her bearing her testimony to the whole class and lots of them telling her that she is here because God knew she was ready. It was great to hear that and it rang true to me. We found her and started teaching her because she was ready! Relief Society was great too ad they both enjoyed it. They like that they could share there comments freely and enjoyed being with all the women. They are both planning to come to the Trunk or Treat and Mary's daughter wants to come so bad that she is willing to walk over.

After church we had lunch with members and then went to a funeral for Sister in the ward's husband. It was in a Methodist church and I have to say it was an experience! I experienced some screaming and I didn't like the way the reverend shared his message. I couldn't understand him very well and what I did hear confused me. I loved being able to be there with the family to support them. There was a lot of people but we had an entire row of Mormons and I am glad that we were able to be with them. A lot of the members came. It showed me love even though her husband wasn't a member.

This week has taught me a lot about how things happen for the right reasons ans they can happen with our without us. I was not expecting Mary to enjoy her time so much or bring her daughter. I wasn't expecting to see that our other investigator enjoyed it to much and for both of them to be progressing so quick. we have been very busy with all of the people we are teaching but I continue to be reminded that with everything we have to do and everything that we have to prepare for and sometimes we can't make something happen a certain way or help someone know we are just the messenger and we can be that guide but eventually we have to stand back and let God do his work on them. I have been so amazed an she excited to see all these people I have come to love so much changed so easily and so willingly to follow the teaching and work toward the gospel and baptism. They are all trying to be better and it is hard but they all say I know its hard but I know Christ and you will help me and I can do this! I am so grateful to be able to be here to meet theses people and be along there path with them. I knew one of my talents from God is loving people but I see me fully why. Because when I love them and I am close to the spirit I can see to an extent how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them. They are teaching me love to hoe to love God we can't just say we believe and love him we have to proof we do by action and deed. To me this is what I am grateful for learning this week. I hope that I can remember this so when ever I may doubt I can remember! I hope you all can too and I love you and hope your week goes well and you can see many miracles!

Sister Farr

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Sister Tayler Farr

The Temple, Zone Conference, and a little bit of everything!

Sister Farr, Sister Olive and Mama Ang

Hey Y'all,

As from my title you can probably guess it was a busy week. However, more than just busy there was a lot of sitting and driving in the car. We had a lot of things to do. We even were going to have exchanges but we had to cancel that.... one of the Sisters got sick. As much as we had to do we still accomplished a lot and I am not always sure how that was possible.

We have been going through our Area Book and looking for some people who may need a visit. It just so happens that they have all wanted one and miss us coming. On Tuesday we saw a lady who had been investigating for a while and then the Sisters just stopped coming by. She was so excited to see us. Weird though she said she recognized me!.... It wasn't the first time! It has happened a couple of times now. I must have a familiar face or am just so meant to be here everyone knew I was coming! :) Just kidding!!! We taught about mothers and shared one of my favorite scriptures in Alma 56:47. Her mom has Alzheimer and she is having a hard time with her and is starting to get exhausted. We came back Wednesday and taught the Restoration to her and she is excited to have us come back. I feel though that she is converted to the missionaries and not to the things she is learning, but we will see how it goes.

Sister Farr and Sister Olive at the Temple

Thursday we drove all the way to Apex which was a two hour drive. We had to be there at 8:15 so we left at about 6. I didn't like having to lose an hour of sleep but of course it was worth it! It was great to see my old Zone Training building from when I was serving in Garner. I loved  seeing the Temple again. I saw old companions and we had a great conference. We talked about working with the members, teaching with bible scriptures on the restoration from President James, and lot about unifying our companionships. We talked about our studies and how we can improve them and to have a better productive morning routine which I felt was something I need to work on. We all were told that we had to drive our cars if we had one. We weren't told exactly why we had too. We heard some Rumors about "The Black Box"....... So the Black Box? Well, we named ours Sirius Black from Harry Potter and some called there Satan and anything they wanted. It is like being in a driving test 24/7. It is not as bad though but if you go over the speed limit it says "check your speed." And says if you turn, slam on the breaks, accelerate to fast, or something like that. It says " aggressive driving." I am happy to say that since I am not the Senior Companion I don't have to drive. However my companion is a great driver and we have only heard "Check your Speed." I was more nervous than I needed to be (of course I was :)). It is a little annoying when we have lessons go over and we are trying to get to the next one on time and the only way is to speed. But the brother who came from Salt Lake to tell us about did a great job in telling us that it is only to protect us and they are trying to decrease the amount of accidents. He closed with saying that he does a lot of flying and loves being in the Salt Lake airport seeing return missionaries coming home and seeing them hug there family and that is what he wants for all of us to have. He wants us all to come home to our families and he and the Prophet think the Black box will help keep us safe. When he said that all my reasons to be annoyed and mad, and thinking it must be because they don't trust us, all these thoughts went away and knowing that they really think that this Black annoying Box can help as we are being more careful. It has been some getting used to and it scares me every time it says something. The voice is a little annoying and some says it could sound like Satan!

Sister Farr's District at the Temple

Friday was probably the best day. We got to go to the Temple. The Elders couldn't find a ride so we all went together with one of the Sisters. It was a great time and I remembered Grandma Massey sending me some family names and so I got to go through the temple for family and that was a great blessing and I felt it was a better experience because of it. I loved going into the Celestial room and having time to pray and receiving  some answers. I loved being able to be with all of my Zone and with President and Sister James. What really made me happy and changed my idea of the Temple was when we all got to the Celestial room and sister James came to give me a hug she looked at me and said "You look good in here." I stood there for a couple of minutes and felt the spirit so strongly. I sat down in a chair and started to pray. I was so amazed at what that meant to me. sister James has such love for us missionaries. I had the thought of I want to be with my family in the Celestial Kingdom but I also want my mission family together. That is what I thought of when she said that and boy that was amazing to think that I really can make this happen, we can all make this happen. God wants us happy and is making it possible for us to return to his presence but we have to do our part. I was so excited and love learning and growing and I love the feeling in the temple. We even had a the Temple President come talk to us after we had lunch and asked us if we had any questions about the temple. Of course he couldn't answer probably all the question we may have asked but it was great to hear answers to questions I had or never thought of. I even had someone from Garner come up and see me! She told me that someone I had found their has gotten with the Sisters and now has a baptism date. It was so nice to hear that my planting that seed in her is now starting to sprout.

Sister Olive and Sister Farr in front of the Temple

Saturday was our busiest day. We saw one of our investigators. They were the two young boys who are getting closer and closer to baptism. Their had been some contention after  we gave them a date and so she was going to cancel, but I asked her if we could come over and just talk and talk it all through. It was definitely meant to be and the spirit lead it to where it ended. However they are not going to be ready for the date but they are more excited and more committed I think to work towards it. The mom was able to bare her testimony to her sons which I felt they have never heard. We have been talking about since we saw them on what we are going to do next, but I know they will be baptized. Having these Boys baptized is what God wants and God will always have his way.

One of the miracles this week was we had a girl call us asking for us to get to together for us to start teaching her. We didn't know who she was just knew that her mom had just joined and she wanted to learn too. She told us that she had downloaded the Gospel app and wanted to know what we would be talking about in our lesson about two days before we had scheduled to see her. she keep texting us and trying to find a time that we could come earlier to see her. She is so amazing and so elect. This kind of thing of having them find us never ever happens. But I can see that God knows she is ready and she is so ready to except it. she wants to meet every day this week if we can!!!! Wait What? I was so shocked!!!! It is amazing at how this Gospel influence people. we had two other former investigators who called us to come see them and they want to be baptized. They ironically know one another and want to take the lessons together.

Sunday we had a great day at church and I can see the Lords hand in helping this ward in the work. They had great talks, and lessons that went so well together and I felt the spirit so well. It was my favorite Sunday here in Pembroke. There is a lot to be done and so much that we can help to improve but the Lord is already making it happen. I can see the amazing fruit of our labors starting to come and past missionaries efforts. The ward is starting to flourish.

I am so grateful for the chance I have to serve here and see the new side of Heaven. The time I had at the Temple was like a recharge and I could see the difference in me. I was in the house of the Lord and have been given revelation and my mind open to the possibilities of my work. I have noticed that don't remember who I was when I first came out! That Sister Tayler Farr and gone and the new Sister Tayler Amanda Farr is in the field that is white all ready to harvest! I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity I have to continue in this amazing work. My time is running shorter by the day and even smaller by the month. One thing I know is that for sure I am different because I am doing the Will of He who sent me here to North Carolina and I am where I need to be, meeting who I need to meet and helping and teaching who needs me for who I am and who I am now at this very second. I know that I am doing what I have been sent here to North Carolina and in Pembroke. It is been hard but it is so worth it! I can see the hard day are truly the best. The past 9 months has been worth every minute of every second and I have truly changed to what I can see that I want to become even in the moment of the hard times. The hard days are what makes me change. I love my Savior and I love all of you and I hope you have a great week. Especially to my parents for the time they get to spend in Hawaii celebrating 25 years of marriage. I hope you too have a great time! You both deserve some fun and time to relax. You only got 4 crazy kids out of these last 25 years. Love you! Love you all and till next week! :)

Sister Farr

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Sister Tayler Farr

Another Great Week!

Hey Y'all,

Another great week and so much to be grateful for! This week we have done what we can tell the whole world seems to be doing to. We took the Ponderizing Challenge to ponder a scripture and have it up where we will see often. I put one by my study area, on the frige and in the car my scriptures was Doctrine and Covenants 88: 118. My new scripture this week is going to be Ephesians 6:11-12. I have loved what Elder Durrant has started. I can tell what he means that such an amazing way to have the spirit and have great thoughts in our minds. I have loved thinking about what this scripture really means. I didn't memorize it completely but I know love what it says about learning. We need to study and work for learning but we won't learn without faith. This week we have focused on sharing it will all of the members and Less actives we are working with and some of our investigators.

This week on Tuesday was probably the best day of the whole week. WE had a lesson with one of our Investigators who ha had a hard time with understanding all that we are sharing she is however very open and wants to understand. we taught he Restoration with the Restoration Cups. It you don't know what that is its just teaching the restoration with plastic little cups. With cups with the apostles, levels of the priesthood, Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith,repentance....), modern revelation of commandments to follow and our prophet and Jesus Christ at the top showing who is the lead of our church. we then brake it done when we have the great apostasy and then rebuild it with random cups about how other churches were made. Then we rebuilt it the  again completely showing that Joseph Smith Restored it all fully and completely. Well as we were teaching we got to the rebuilding of the church and just said that modern day Apostles names and she wouldn't let me go any further. She kept repeating I get it, I get it, I get it now. She says why is it that some church or the churches I go to don't share these things with me or help me understand it better or allow me to know and learn for myself. You girls have been sharing all of this with me and it is finally starting to make since. With that we invited her to be Baptized and she, without hesitation, said YES! It was amazing. When we closed I was going to give the prayer and I answered her if there was anything I could pray for her and she said that I can quit smoking. She had never before told us or ever brought it up before. We did explain the word of wisdom to her as we were teaching and she briefly said it but never has she gave us something to pray for you her either. She normal says just my health and family. I can see her changing. She is so amazing and I know she is happy with what she is learning and will soon be able to do. Later we saw a less active sister who has been wanting a blessing from the Elders we just could never get it to work out. It was amazing and so great to see her smiling and knowing that she already felt uplifted. We had a lesson with another one of our Investigators who has been having a hard time wit her feet. She was born without ankles and she is going in on Tuesday to schedule surgery. She was great and it was a great day. She isn't supposed to be walking but she was up doing stuff. the lesson went really well. We talked about praying often and Scripture study. She said she knows each are important and basically she was teaching us.

We had two great lessons with one of our young investigators who has ADHD and they both went great. We used visuals and that seems to help a lot. We decided at the pace we are going we didn't think she would be ready for the end of the month to be baptized so we moved to December.

Sunday we had one of investigators who hasn't come to church at all finally came and she really enjoyed it and lots of h members came and said hi to her. We looked through our former investigator and visited some and now have two new investigators with an appointment and a potential new one with a lesson this week.

Great week and so much work to do. I feel like we are always moving. We have the greatest people to teach and all starting to progress or close to it.

Another great week and so much fun. Missionary work is the greatest and the most rewarding. I love the people and I love getting to ask about there History! Pembroke is full of amazing stories and amazing people. The Lumbee people are just the best. I love it here! Well, I hope your week is great!

Love Sister Farr

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Sister Tayler Farr

Pembroke Loves The Book of Mormon

Hey Y'all,

So again can't believe it is another start of a week and that I can now say that I am halfway and boy that is so weird! It was a great week! We had great lessons and found new investigators with lots of potential and a great General Conference to finish the week!

My favorite Talks are...... I am happy to say that I don't have one! I loved it all and I had lots of my questions answered that I had written down. I really liked on Saturday Elder Holland's talk. He is such a great example of lovingly Bold and so loving and very very sincere. Loved it and I thought of my family through the whole talk. President Uchtdorf's was very powerful I thought and I felt kind of like he was giving me a slap in the face. I probably am making the gospel to hard and that makes it hard for me to ten teach it. I am going to commit to focusing on being more simple in my teaching and in my studies. I loved Sister Marriott's and am definitely a strong believer that "It will all work out" I see myself saying that a lot as a missionary and know that I have to trust God in everything. Sunday I loved President Monson's although I could see he had a hard time and I felt like he might fall or faint but I know he felt the spirit and knew that God would help him give us his message and love! I felt the spirit so strongly and love the prophet so very much and have made a new motto for myself " Be an example of Faith, Trusting in God and Christ, by showing them you love them with an anchor in your faith!" I absolutely loved President Nelson's especially as he called his talk saying that he testifies of these things as our brother.

This week I felt like we had a lesson all day long every day this week. It was great but I loved it when 10:30 came around! I especially love that Sister Olive is such a great missionary and wants to work. We get stuff done! This week we found two new investigator one from a referral from the primary president. She was a friend from High School and we taught her the Restoration. We are coming back tomorrow to teach the Plan of Salvation and so excited. She has great potential. She has a hard time understanding and so we are going to use visuals. A lot of the people here haven't had a really good education and so using visuals are so needed. We got with a less active we haven't been able to get to see and no has seen her in years. She was so glad when we asked her if she would like a Priesthood Blessing. On Thursday was my first time to our Book of Mormon class where us and the Elders lead a discussion as we all read the Book of Mormon together. We had a couple of people come and we read in 1 Nephi 14. It was amazing and I absolutely loved it. I had more questions than comments that I wanted answered for me and it was great to feel the spirit there. On Saturday we finally got with our two young investigators who are brothers and are 10 and 9. They are great and one was glad to hear that we had something in common. He liked that the fact that I have had seizures and that I have brothers who have ADD and ADHD. When we left he gave me a big hug! They are the greatest and so glad to have finally meet them. We taught them about Missionary work and Service. Yesterday we had another lesson with one of our younger investigators too. She also has ADHD and she hadn't taken her medicine that morning and so she has had a really hard time. Amazingly when we pulled out my whiteboard she was able to focus and we finished teaching her the Plan of Salvation. I love her and she is getting so close to baptism. She is going through the lessons again but she is starting to really learn everything so quickly. It's amazing how just a little child can learn so much.

I love it here in Pembroke! It was quite and adjustment, but I really am starting to see why In was sent here. Every time I feel inadequate I hear in my head "trust me and you will be fine. Remember this is my work and I use the weak and simple. I sent you here because these people need you for who you are. Get working" Just this weekend we heard that the spirit will tell us things we don't expect but sometime he tells us the obvious. Love it here and love Pembroke and all the Lumbee people. Although I am so tired of all this Rain! If anyone is praying for rain can you please pretty please stop! Love you all and have another great week!

Sister Farr

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Sister Tayler Farr