Week 3

Friends and Family!

Every time I write an email I just think how crazy it is that it’s already p-day again! The saying "days are long and weeks are short" is the truest statement of my life. I love it here.

Me and my companions are seriously struggling with staying healthy. First, Hermana Sherrow had strep throat, then she threw out her back and has to get physical therapy, and now she has bronchitis! Hermana Barker has a really bad cough and cold but the doctor gave her some meds so she should be fine. With all of this sickness, we have been doing splits a lot so I got to spend a day with Hermana Haacke and Hermana Hubble. They are hilarious and can make anything fun. 

For our service hour that we have each week my district has been assigned to clean 1M, which is the main building. It’s pretty fun. I will send pictures later of us recreating some of our favorite pictures in the building. The pictures make us laugh, but there are so many cool ones so I love that we get to clean that building. Plus, we never get bathrooms like the Elders in our district. So that’s sweet. I was on splits with Hermana Haacke and Hermana Hubble when we were doing service and we got assigned to sweep the sidewalks around the building. I think everyone studying around us thought we were insane because we just could not stop laughing the whole time. Missionary work is a blast if you let it be!

This week we got a new investigator, “Remundo,” who is actually our teacher acting as someone he met on his mission. The most awkward moment of my week was when our door approach with him was so incredibly bad that he wouldn't let us in the room. Which is awkward when it’s your teacher expecting you to give him a lesson. He let us retry and it was a thousand times better. The lesson went okay, but afterwards he gave us feedback (which we do not usually get after teaching) which was SO helpful. I feel like I learned so much from that lesson that I didn't care that it started off on such a bad note. That is the great thing about the MTC. No matter how bad a lesson, teaching experience, or assessment goes, you are always learning so much that it's easy to keep a positive outlook. 

I had the most amazing experience this week that there is no way I can express it the way I want to, but I will try my best! Because Hermana Sherrow hurt her back, we had to take a shuttle to a few different doctors offices. We ended up waiting in the lobby of one office for about an hour, even though Hermana Sherrow never even got helped. So we were talking to this lady and she was just talking about her life and her struggles with the church (hashtag first real missionary opportunity HOLLA) when a girl who was probably in her early twenties walked in with her boyfriend. She looked like she struggled with drug use, and was in a lot of pain. They sat down across the room from us. I just had the strongest impression that I needed to go give her a tissue. She wasn't crying so I was really confused and didn't want to be weird so I just ignored it at first. Then it got stronger so I just thought, well I am a missionary so I guess I should just do it. As soon as I got out my tissues and stood up to walk over to her she started crying. Her boyfriend was being really weird towards her and wouldn’t touch her even though she obviously needed comfort. I walked over and handed her the tissues and rubbed her back for a second. She looked so grateful. Then the doctors came out and called her name so I went back to my companions.

I was shaking so hard. I just had a feeling like I needed to talk to her again. Like she needed more help. So I just waited for her to get back and hoped that the shuttle that was going to take us back to the MTC wouldn't come before she came out. She came out about fifteen minutes later and sat down. She looked really shaken up, but mainly she just looked like she was in a ton of pain. I knew what I needed to do so I just stood up and walked over to her. Her boyfriend was really surprised and rude and asked "Can I help you with anything?" but I wasn't even scared. I just ignored him and looked at her. I asked her if I could give her a hug. She just stared at me for a few second. Then she started to cry and stood up and hugged me. She sobbed on my shoulder for a good five minutes. I think everyone in the room was really confused. I told her that she was going to be okay and that life would get better. She kept saying thank you to me. We stopped hugging and she just looked at my nametag. 

I would love to think that by seeing my nametag she will find the church some day, but the shuttle came right then and I had to go. I felt confident that I helped her get the comfort that she needed. Even if all that did was help her in that moment, I already feel like my mission had a purpose. It was one of the most spiritual moments of my life. There is no way in the world I would have ever done that if I had not been prompted by the spirit. The nametag that I wear gives me the courage that I need to help others. I just felt so lucky to have had that opportunity. I am grateful that my Heavenly Father trusted me enough to tell me to help another one of his children in need. I am honored to wear my name right next to Jesus Christ's everyday. I LOVE being a missionary. I wish I could have moments like this one every day because it was the coolest thing ever to just help someone. I pray every day to find the people that need my help, and that I will be ready and listening to the spirit so that I know what I can do to help them. 

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I got to go to the temple this morning and it just solidified my knowledge of Jesus Christ. I would have nothing without Him. I love Him and am grateful for the opportunity to serve Him as a missionary. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, I pray for you all! Thank you again for all the kind notes and packages and emails. I love them more than I could possibly express. 

Much love,

Hermana Doxey

Week 2

Friends and Family!

Holy cow another week has flown by! The time is so messed up here, it is 100% true what they say: days are long but weeks feel so short. 

I just wanted to start off by thanking everyone for the packages, emails, and dear elders. I love them so much! They make my days so much better. 

Me with the succulent mom sent - I love it!

My zone is amazing. The girls in the other districts are so nice and willing to help us with anything. We have a group leaving this week so we are all pretty bummed about it, but we are getting a new district with eight elders in it. Then we have two groups leaving the following week with no one coming in, so it will just be the new elders and us. It will definitely be a different dynamic, but we are excited to meet new people. 

Celebrating Ellen's birthday!

When you meet someone new at the MTC you will most likely be asked three questions: Where are you from, where are you going, and have you broken down yet? Well, this week I had a total break down. Me and my companions were really struggling to agree on which direction to go for our lesson and we were all getting so frustrated and stressed. The lesson was supposed to start the next hour. I started crying in front of my district, which makes the Elders super uncomfortable (which looking back is a little funny). I went to the hall and my teacher, Hermano Irizarry, was outside. He took me into the office and just let me talk and calm down. You don't realize how much you love your teachers and how much they love you until you realize how comfortable you are ugly crying in front of your twenty two year old male teacher. My teachers are the best. I calmed down and then Hermano Irizarry helped us plan our lesson. We were able to get on the same page and had the best lesson we have ever had. The spirit was so strong, and the investigator, Jorge, told us that he could feel the spirit and he even committed to baptism! We were so excited. The high moments here are so much greater than the lows. And even in the low moments you just feel loved from you zone and your teachers.

Our district

I have two main teachers, Hermano Tuft, who is with us everyday and teaches the main lesson, and Hermano Roberts, who teaches the secondary lesson. Hermano Roberts is out of town this week so Hermano Irizarry has been his sub. We love them all. We appreciate Hermano Irizarry because he starts and ends every lesson with a cool story from his mission. Their testimonies are so strong and amazing to listen to. I am so happy to be in the zone that I am in. 

Hermano Irizarry - he's the teacher I cry to on a regular basis now...

We played a joke on Elder Stapely this week. He fell asleep in class right before lunch, so we all left and turned off the lights. Then we had a teacher from the zone next to us go in and ask him where his district was and why he was alone. He was super confused and when he came out of the room and saw us his face got really red. It was great. 

Our district had a really cool moment together this week. We went to a devotional and then had a district review together. District review is when you get an hour and a half to talk about what you learned and you get to hear from a member of the branch presidency. Our branch president is out of town this week so we were alone and had nothing to do for the last forty-five minutes. We decided to go around and have everyone read their mission scripture in Spanish and then in English and then say why they chose it. It was so cool to see a little peak into everyone's lives through their favorite scripture. We got more unified and the spirit was so strong. I love them! (My mission scripture is Words of Mormon 1:7 if anyone was wondering)

Me and my sister training leaders

Along with teaching our investigators, this week we also got to teach members. It was the funnest thing ever. Even though it was still a struggle because we were speaking Spanish, it was fun to just bare testimony to them. With the investigators, there is always the stress of getting asked a question that you don't know how to reply to in Spanish (or worse when you have no idea what they are asking). With the members we are able to just relax and teach. I was able to say everything I wanted to in Spanish, which is insane because my Spanish is still pretty bad. I know that God is helping me because there is no way I could know as much as I do without Him. 

Other than the rare stresses and frustrations of the week, it was pretty similar to last week. We spend about ten hours a day in class either learning about Preach My Gospel, the scriptures, or Spanish. We eat in the main building cafeteria most days, with the occasional sack lunch on P-days. Sadly we did not get to go to the temple today because it is Pioneer Day, which is apparently a big deal here. I think we might get to go watch fireworks in the parking lot tonight, but that might just be a rumor.

I love you all and I pray for you all the time! Yo se que La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Días es verdad. I am so happy to be a missionary here! 

Have a wonderful week! Keep sending Dear Elders, they are the best!

Hermana Doxey 

Week 1

Friends and Family,

Week one is done! Holy cow this week has been the longest, yet most rewarding week of my entire life. Missionary work is hard. Being with companions for 24 hours a day is hard. But being able to feel of Christ's love for everyone I meet is the coolest experience I could have ever asked for. 

First day, with the "I'm a new person" orange dot on my name tag

Birthday shout-outs:

Minte, I hope you have an amazing birthday today - this letter will probs be the best part (jokes), and happy birthday to Karen and Ellen next week! I wish I could awkwardly sing to you all over the phone, but this email will have to do. 

Me, mailing Ellen's birthday letter

Thank you all for the Dear Elders! I am getting them and I love them more than I could possible express in words. It is so great to hear how everyone is doing- keep them coming (I especially loved Cooper’s wisdom teeth stories. Welcome to our celebrity obsessed family…)! And, yes, I got your package. I LOVED IT and so did the girls in my zone! You are the best. Grandma, thank you for your bag of treats - it was much appreciated. You are the best! And thank you Granny for your email- I love it here and I love you. Hoping you and Papa are doing well. I wish I could see everyone at the upcoming reunions but have fun without me!

On Friday, we got to watch President Packer’s funeral. It was a cool experience to be able to hear about his life and the thoughts of others about his life. I know he was a true apostle called from God, and I am so grateful for the prophet. We just had our last lesson with our investigator named Alex. I was glad I got the opportunity to try to teach someone in Spanish, but holy moly Spanish is so hard (but so rewarding when I understand what someone is saying to me). The teachers here are amazing and I don't feel anxious when I have to talk to them in Spanish. I am pretty good at handling my stress; I never feel overwhelmed or like I can't do what I need to. Funny story - Hermana Barker was trying to say something in Spanish to Alex and he started laughing and said she accidentally swore at him. Oops. But other than the occasional swearing at our investigators we are pretty good at getting our point across. I am impressed by myself whenever I can say something in Spanish that I hadn't brought notes for. The gift of tongues is real. Our other investigator’s name is Jorge. He is basically my favorite person on the planet. He is a 60-year-old man whose son died of cancer when he was 14. The spirit is always so strong when we teach him. I have already told him that I love him and just want him to feel of the hope and happiness that the gospel can bring to his life. We have a cool bond that I am so grateful for. It helps that he is a Spanish teacher at an elementary school so he doesn't mind if we speak English for the words we don't know. That makes it easier to follow the spirit during the lessons instead of having to follow our notes exactly. 

I just want to say that Hermana Hubble and Hermana Haacke are the funniest people alive. They definitely get my sense of humor and they are so fun to be around. They remind me so much of Angie and I love them so much! This week Hermana Hubble fell off the top bunk of the bed and did a flip in the air landing on her bum. It was hilarious. I am still in my trio with Hermana Barker and Hermana Sherrow. We have very different opinions and personalities but we even each other out for the most part. We have to work hard on communication but it has been good for me to learn how to get along with different types of people. My love for them grows every day. 

On our way to the gym in matching outfits

Sundays here are the best. Dad, you would LOVE our church schedule. We have sacrament meeting at 11:30, then have an hour break for lunch, then go back to Relief Society and Priesthood for an hour. The only down side is we don't get to sleep for the whole day, we still have our regular study time. At the end of the day we get to go to a devotional. This week it was by a former member of the Quorum of the 70. It was amazing! He told a lot of cool stories about missionaries he knew and their experiences, as well as his own experiences being a mission president. It was so cool. They said that the members of the 12 don't normally speak during the summer because they are not in town, but the speakers we have are still super cool! After devotional we get to watch a church movie. This week we watched a talk called the Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. It is only shown in the MTC, but it was the best thing I have ever listened to. I learned so much about Christ and the spirit was so strong. THE CHURCH IS TRUE GUYS.

Sunday walk - seeing people we knew from BYU

The food here is rough, I'm not going to lie. As the Doxey family knows food can sometimes be an issue. Basically everything makes me very ill, but here the food is messing everyone up. We started a new game where we time how long it takes us to go to the bathroom after we eat. Probs TMI, but it’s true. Pray for me. 

Today we got to go do a session at the Provo Temple. It was an amazing experience. I loved going with my zone, it was a bonding moment for sure. It is so cool to see the inside of another temple! And we got to eat breakfast there, which was an amazing break from the food in the MTC. 

Hopefully this picture isn't as weird as it looks on my computer...

Mare - I get the chills so much here it’s crazy, and every time I think of you. Tell all the Young Women that I miss them and I was thinking about and praying for them while they were at camp! Tell them I want to hear all about it in a Dear Elder!

Don't worry about me at all - I'm having a blast here. There are bad moments and times when I could really use an hour on Netflix or even just a nap, but I am learning so much. The good times make up for the bad times 110%. I pray for you all the time, I hope that you are all doing well. I wish I could tell you what was happening every day so I wouldn't forget by the time Friday comes around. I try to make notes of the big things that happen but I forget a lot of them. I also forgot to bring your Dear Elders with me so that I could answer questions. My bad. 

Have a wonderful week - I love you all!

Hermana Doxey 

Week 0.5

Note before Taylor's email: as you'll read, Taylor switched zones so her box unit number changed. If anyone has sent a Dear Elder letter it most likely did not get to her if you used the old number. Feel free to resend them if you'd like but from now on use "177."

Friends and Family!

D&C 31:3 "Lift up your heart and rejoice for the hour of your mission has come"

It has only been a day and a half but already so much has happened!

After I got dropped off I went into a room and received my nametag. I'm in love with it. Then I was lead to my classroom. My district was me and nine elders but my companion never showed up so I had to be reassigned to a new district in a completely new zone at dinner time. Which was a little sad because my district was full of really awesome people. But I am counting my blessings- because I was alone for dinner I was able to eat with Sister Caroline Gallegos! It was awesome. I love her so much. It is true that the food isn't great, but if you take a few extra minutes to look around before you choose what you are going to eat you can normally find something that's okay. 

A new zone also means I have a new box unit number! It’s 177 now. I am now in a trio with Hermana Barker and Hermana Sherrow. Both are very sweet.

Everyone here is so friendly. Which is a little off putting at first, but everyone is so helpful so that's awesome. My most used word by far is Gracias. Thank you senor Ricardo for teaching me that (jokes). 

The first day we got to learn a lot of Spanish, (our teachers only speak to us in Spanish) which is awesome. I have already learned so much in such a short time. I keep little flash cards on my name badge that I can look at whenever I have a few minutes free. They are so helpful I already made over 50. Spanish takes a lot of patience because it does not come easily. Once we learn a Spanish word we try not to say it in English anymore. We try to pray only in Spanish, which I am okay at but need a lot more practice. Tonight we are teaching our first "investigator" in Spanish. "It’s going to be horrible" - quote from a member of our branch presidency. His name is Alex and we have prepared a lesson in Spanish, lets hope he doesn't ask any questions because we probably wont be able to understand much of anything. 

We get to go to this class called ‘People and Our Purpose’ where they have staff act as investigators and as a group of about 50 Elders and Sister we talk to them and try to teach them. Each investigator has a back-story that we try to relate to. We rotate through different investigators. When we got into the second room and I saw the investigator I started laughing because I knew him! His name is Dylan and we had a class together at the MTC. We both kept laughing during the lesson because he was saying all this stuff about himself that only I knew was completely false. But it was so fun to see him and I got to talk to him for a minute after. I have seen SO many people that I met at BYU, from home, even EFY. I love seeing people; it's one of my favorite things here! I got to eat Breakfast with Elder Koncerat (totally not how you spell it) who was in my ward at BYU and also in my philosophy class, it was good to hear what he was up to. 

Hermana Sherrow wasn't feeling well so we went to the doctor yesterday. She had an extremely high fever and has strep throat! Which is super sad because it is obvious she is in a lot of pain (pray for her!). It also means that we have to stay in our room most of the day. Thank goodness we are in a trio because Hermana Barker and I take turns being with Hermana Sherrow in our room and going with the other Hermanas in our district to class. It just shows me that everything happens for a reason. It is pretty hard to have to have someone stay in the room because it take a lot if coordinating to make sure we can all eat and get the notes from class. But hopefully Hermana Sherrow will make a fast recovery and we can get on a normal schedule! "Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles." We are trying so hard to be exactly obedient because we really want Hermana Sherrow to feel better!

My room is pretty small. We share with five Hermanas but there are only four closets. We have taken advice from Tim Gunn and have “Made it Work!” My district is the five Hermanas in our room and six Elders. Everyone is nice, and VERY talkative. Our zone leaders get a little annoyed sometimes. 

Today we get to watch President Packer’s funeral. The rest of the day is pretty up in the air because the schedule is very different then our normal P-day schedule. 

I also can't send any of the pictures I took because you need a special memory stick converter thing that I haven't been able to get yet (down side to having your P-day on your third day). But I will try to send a lot next week!

The MTC definitely is hard. We have had our fair share of trials with switching rooms, companions, and Hermana Sherrow being sick. But I am so happy. I have never felt the spirit like I feel it here in my life. It is so incredible to share my time with so many people who are trying to better themselves and grow closer to God. It's hard to leave family but I trust that our Heavenly Father will take care of you all. 

I pray for all of you so much! I hope that you are all happy, healthy, and having a great summer. 

Much love,

Hermana Doxey

P.S. Sister Sherrow speaks in Spanish in her sleep, which makes me laugh so hard because she didn’t know any when she got here and has had to miss the most class.