Dear Friends and Family,
As I reflect upon the year that I have had filled with many challenges,excitement, and growth, I feel so much grattitude for my Father in Heaven for blessing me with everything I have been through. The greatest things I have learned this year are compassion, charity, patience, longsuffering, endurance, faith, and trust! I have come to realize even more this year that there is a great purpose in all things. That Heavenly Father has his hand in our lives and he is guiding us along the way. He sent his Son Jesus Christ to this earth to experience all we would experience and to set the way for us. Our Savior provided us with the greatest gift of all and that is the Atonement. Through him and his atoning sacrafice all things are made possible. I have started my journey of understanding "all things." It amazes me how each year we grow more and our eyes are opened to new things.
This Spring/Summer I had the opporunity to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In early April I was called to the Georgia Atlanta North Mission. With a big leap of faith and me putting my trust in God I entered the MTC on April 21! The MTC was a wonderful experience and I felt very blessed to be able to meet and serve with the amazing people in my district. We became very close and endured many things together. We all traveled to the mission field together. I absolutely LOVED Georgia! My experience as a missionary was amazing! It was filled with many trials, challanges, and so much joy! Just as a mission is. I learned so much about myself, I felt like I radiated the Saviors love, and I was able to teach and bless the lives of many. I know my Heavenly Father is so pleaseed with the service I was able to give and the love I gave his children for him. Although my mission was short due to medical reasons, I feel so blessed to have been able to serve and understand the impact missionaries have on the world. My mission impacted my life forever and it created a deeper eternal perspective. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I was given.
In the beginning of August I went in and had heart surgery. I have had a heart condition(SVT- Supraventricular tachycardia) since a young girl. I had toyed with the idea of getting this surgery done for many years. I believe it was the lessons and faith built on my mission that gave me the courage to do it. I learned that everything hard that we have to face, the Savior already went through it. I know that all that is unfair about life can be made right through the atoning sacrafice of our Savior,Jesus Christ. I knew he was with me the whole way and thats what got me through. The surgery was a success! I was blessed with wonderful doctors and they did a fantastic job. I have a tiny scar on my neck and thats it. What a miracle modern medicine is! I went in for my last check up recently and everything is well. What a miracle and blessing from my Heavenly Father!
My parents, Eric(little brother), and I all went with a group called Smiles for Central America and did a humanitarian trip in Honduras in November. If I could live in Honduras with all the wonderful people I met, doing service, I think i'd stay forever! What a huge blessing it was to have the opportunity to go and see how to live life loving with all your heart. Those people truly live with there heart and I think its beautiful. It has inspired me again to do the same. It was truly a miracle as we helped 514 pre-missionaries put in there mission papers. We took a team of 100 which include dentists, doctors, oral surgeons, hairstylists(2 of us), and tons of others to help with all the humanitarian efforts. I think my favorite thing in life is to have a group of people who don't know eachother come together with one purpose under the heavens to bless someone elses life. There is such unity and a deep bond that forms. I thank my father in heaven for blessing me with such an amazing experience! Each day I was in the clinic, I did an average of 30 haircuts! It was awesome! No one wanted there haircut at all but when they were finished they looked so sharp and so ready to serve the Lord. I think by far one of my favorite experiences was when we went to the cancer hospital and took the children toys, candy, and gifts. I sat with this sweet little angel named Michael(4-5 years old) and he gave me stickers and we colored and flew airplanes and ate candy. It was the sweetest experience. I love that little boy, he stole my heart for sure. He is such a sweetheart. I wished so badly I could take him with me. After the clinic days, we went to this super nice resort and hung out on the beach and at the pool, it was amazing! I LOVED the whole trip! Such an amazing experience that I will treasure forever!
I have continued to do my jewelry business online which is called Sarahendipity Boutique. It has been so much fun and I have had some good response. I learned something huge about me this year and that is that I believe my purpose in life or one is to create. It is my passion! I love to create anything and everything! I have become even more interested in photography and feel like its a way I can let others view life through my eyes. I opened a Salon in my home called JAYD(Just About Your Day). Which will one day turn into a huge wedding business! It's going great so far! It gives me the opportunity to use my skills and to meet amazing people!
The center focus of this letter has been on my Savior and Father in Heaven and the blessings they have given me. I have such a deep love for them and feel so grateful for the knowledge that I have that I am a daughter of God, that I have a purpose in this life and have hope in my future and in the eternities. I know that Jesus Christ is the center of everything, he is the one and only way. I know that as we follow his example, learn of him, emulate his ways, and rely on the beautiful gift of his infinite atonement all will be made right and perfect through him. May the Lord bless you all! I know he always has his hand in our lives, it is evident in mine daily. All we have to do is recognize him, show our grattitude, and give back. I also have learned how important it is to record our blessings daily, this allows Heavenly Father to give us more because he realizes that we are grateful. I know that if we will learn to recognize the tender mercies the Lord blesses us with, we will find greater joy than we can even begin to understand. Thank you for the beautiful impact you have had on my life this year and in years past! You have individually blessed my life in so many ways and for that I will be forever grateful. Sending my love and big hugs your way! MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sarah Taylor
"I don't know exactly what my future holds, but I know exactly who holds my future." Elder Scott
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