Last Email!

Sorry I have like no time to email but I just want you all to know that everything is going super good! We reached 9 baptisms in the zone! Eso! I love you guys a lot. Thank you for supporting me all throughout my mission, and for your prayers! Love you all! See you this Thursday!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

1 Week Left!

Buenas Familia!

Wow. This is crazy! I never thought I would reach this point in my mission! But oh well, this week is going to be awesome! I've got to sprint to the end, and give it my all!

Well, we will be blessed with 2 baptisms this weekend! Gustavo and Julian, they are two grandsons of a really faithful member here. They are the best investigators ever! When I teach them I really think of this scripture, " Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach--repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children." (Moroni 8:10). They are the most humble, and awesome little kids ever! We taught Gustavo (8 years old) and asked him what the happiest moment has ever been in his life. He told us that it was the first time he went to church. That struck me so powerfully... This is a gospel of joy and hope, and as we experience the atonement in our lives we feel this joy and hope. I love the mission! Later that day we called Gustavo and Julian and they told us they prayed and asked God if the church was true. Julian told us he woke up the morning after he prayed, and felt a pure joy in his heart! Gustavo also felt happiness in his heart. The testimonies of these two children are so simple, but they really struck me this past week. I love this mission. I love my Savior, and I love the Atonement.

If I could describe my mission in two words, I would use, "The Atonement." That's why we are here. Help others feel the joy and love that we feel. Help others find hope in their lives through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Here on my mission I have been able to find comfort and love in the Atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord tests us. He allows us to grow. He gives us challenges so that we can put our confidence in him. So that we can really humble ourselves, come unto him, and see how he solves everything. I love that. He does everything for us when we just humble ourselves and follow him. That is the biggest thing I have learned here. I love this country, I have a profound love for this people, for this culture. I will be leaving a part of my soul here. But I love it. I am just so stoked that the Lord has given me this Gospel, and this opportunity to share it! I love you all! Pray for the mission this week! We're shooting for 200 baptisms in June!

Love you all so much!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. Write me next week also, because I should have a little bit of internet time!

I love this Gospel so much!

Happy Mother's Day 2.0

Buenas Familia!

It was so good seeing that everything is going well at home yesterday! I finally got to see Matthew and Prosper haha.

Well everything is going good here. We should be having a ton of success in the upcoming weeks here. This morning we recieved a ton of references and a bunch of people were calling us and asking us to come over to their houses! Awesome! We are preparing for 200 baptisms in the misison this upcoming month, so we need to really focus on finding and setting baptismal dates with all our investigators! I am stoked for what the future holds here!

 Love you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor!

Sprint to the End!

Buenas Familia!

I am so glad to hear that Grandpa's funeral turned out well, and that you were able to see family, and enjoy Grandpa's legacy.

This past week we had a leadership meeting with President Wilkinson (my last leadership meeting of my mission.) It was awesome and it really got me pumped! We are shooting for 200 baptisms again in the mission in June, so we will be contacting and working a ton to find new investigators to reach that goal! We also watched the new video that the church made called, "Because of Him". On easter this past month, the Church payed Youtube to put this video on the first page of the website, and 7 million people watched it! If you haven't seen it yet, watch it because it is amazing!

Well lately in the mission we have been focusing a lot on opening our mouths! That means contacting, talking with everybody, and just doing what a missionary should do! Well yesterday we had a ton of great experiences opening our mouths and we found 8 super new investigators! We are expecting 20 new investigators this week so we just need to keep opening our mouths and helping our missionaries in the zone to do the same!

Everything is going well though, in our area we had some rough weeks the last couple of weeks but everything is looking good now, it's just a sprint to the end of mission. I don't want to leave anything on the table here, and I am so stoked to live every last minute of my mission!

 Oh and I think that we can skype at like 2 or 2:30 Costa Rican time, if that gives you enough time? Just let me know and I can switch it!

I love you all! Thank you Mom and Dad for always supporting me during my mission. I  am always praying for you, and I hope everything is going well in your lives! Love you all!

 

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor!

Buenas!!!!

Buenas,

I am happy that Grandpa now is with Grandma. I remember hearing that he felt so lonely, and I am glad that he has the opportunity to be reunited with her. What a glorious reunion it probably was. 

I will always remember Grandpa for his work ethic, and his love for good hard work. I remember when I was little and we would also go up to Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving and he was always working in his tangerine grove! He had the best tangerines and Dad and I would always eat them before dinner. I think my earliest memory of Grandpa is when during one of our Thanksgiving Disneyland trips he caught me jumping on the bed in Aunt Deanna's old room, and he scolded me. I will always remember his Thanksgiving turkey, his homemade ice cream, and his love for is grand-children.  Grandpa was always a very loving man, and was willing to sacrifice himself to provide for his family. I love him a great deal, and I am truly happy that he is now with his beloved wife. I know that he is finally free of his pain, and is enjoying working for the Lord past the veil.

I did feel the impression when I started my mission that I was not going to see Grandpa again, but I am truly happy that he is with Grandma again. I know the Plan of Salvation is true, and I know without a doubt that families can be together forever. I know that as we live worthily of our covenants we will have that beautiful opportunity to live with our families forever, and I know that Grandpa was a faithful man his whole life. I just love the Plan of Salvation so much! Its so beautiful that our Father in Heaven loves us so much that he has allowed us to keep the same relationships that we have here on earth, and we can enjoy these relationships forever! Its Amazing!

Well this week was a little difficult. The whole zone is having problems finding, but we are working super hard in helping them out! Our investigator Gabriela that was super stoked on going to church and getting baptized texted us yesterday and said that God has told her that it is better to stay in the church that she was in. However, we are going to help her and everything will turn out good. I love the mission. Sometimes we have trials, it is just like life, but there is a reason why everything happens. I love my Saviour. I love His Atonement. It is through His Atonement that we will be ressurected one day.

2 Nephi 9:7-8 "Wherefore it must needs be an infinite atonement- save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more."

Through the infinite Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will all rise again. I know that this is true with all my soul.

I love you all. I hope Mom is doing all right. I know this gospel is true. I know the Atonement covers all the unjust things in this world. I love you all again, and I am always praying for you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

Tuanis Mae

Buenas Familia!

 Happy Easter! And Happy Birthday to Katie! I hope you guys had a great holiday, and really could focus on the atonement of our Saviour Jesus Christ!

Okay, and just to answer Mom's questions...

1. On Easter we had a normal day, we went to church, and then afterwards we ate rice and tuna with a member. Then we worked, and at night time we went over to a member's house and ate rice, beans and salchichon. Salchichon is like a sausage made out of hose meat haha, its good I guess. They always eat it here though.
2. Costa Rican kids believe in the Easter bunny, but I think that hiding and finding eggs is more of an upper-class thing to do. Here they really didn't do anything special, but they do believe in "En El Conejo de la Pascua"
3. I will be super afraid to drive a car again. But it will be easy, becuase in Costa Rica everyone drives like a mad man, but in the States its a little bit safer.
4. I have played the ukelele a couple times, but I dont really remember a lot of chords haha so I am really bad at it.
5. I get my Dear Elder cards once a month when we have ZL counsel in San Jose.

Well this past week was awesome! Here in Costa Rica (and in all Latin America) the week before Easter they celebrate the "Semana Santa". Basically all week they are showing Easter and religious videos on TV (Ben Hur, Spartacus, Jesus of Nazareth, and Mom´s all time favorite... The 10 Commandments...) Well basically everybody gets Thursday, and Friday off of work, and they always go to the beach! So Ciudad Neily has basically been a ghost town this week, and literally nobody has been home. So it was kind of difficult to proselyte but we could still find out a good way to work. Right now we have a super awesome investigator, Gabriela. She is 22 and she is studying to be a nurse. It was funny when we found her because I was with a member and we accidently went to the wrong house and she invited us in to teach her. We were teaching her when her mom came home. Turns out that her mom is a pastor for this evangelist church in Neily, but we taught them The Restoration and it was pretty cool! Well Gabriela is progressing really well, the only thing that is holding her back is her mom, (who is kind of ticked that she is attending a different church.) and her own fear of finding the truth. She will get baptized though, I know it.

Also, last night we had an awesome lesson with a less-active named Magaly. She is so rad, and I love teaching and testifying about the power of the Atonement in our lives. The Spirit was really strong, and she could feel that there is hope over changing her life and becoming a new person. I love the Atonement so much!

Well everything is going good. We are really trying hard to find new investigators. I hope everything is going well at home, and I hope that you all had a great Easter. I love all of you so much. I know that this is the true church. I know that God is our Eternal Father, that Christ is our Savior. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the gospel was restored through him. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we have the true gospel of Jesus Christ on earth, and that it can bless us and change our lives. I t has changed my life, and I am forever indebted to my Savior for his Atonement. I love you all, take care, and remember... "Every Member a Missionary!"

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor, Capitan de la Zona Sur

P.S. Photos!

1) This week we went up into the mountains to visit a less-active. The lived in the boonies, and so we explore a little in the rainforest up there.

 

2) This is a picture of the "Palmatica Fincas" There is a huge company down here in the Zona Sur called PalmaTica. They own everything down here. Basically they just have a ton of palm tree farms and they make owl out of the palm tree fruit.

 

3) This is a picture on one of the "fincas". They are basically little self-sufficient communities. Think of it like a 19th century Southern plantation. They have a little store, a little recreational hall place, and all the PalmaTica workers live on the plantation. Its a cool little place.

 

Show Time!

Buenas Familia!

First off to answer mom's questions...

1. There are two sisters in my zone. Hermana Hearne, and Hermana Noj. They are in an area called Rio Claro.
2. Pets haven't really attached themselves to us here in the Zona Sur. Just drunk guys that love us and like to follow us around.
3. To cool ourselves off here we have fans in the house haha, but it is still ridiculously hot and humid.
4. We didn't go to the Beach last p-day, we went to the one month check up for Elder Mendoza in San Jose instead.

Well today is a sad day for two reasons... First off Elder Mendoza had changes to La Rita (Guapiles.) It is right next to Guacimo where I started my mission. I am going to miss that little guy so much. He is a great missionary, and I really grew to love him a lot. Second reason I am sad, today is the first day of my last change in the mission! Now is the time to work as hard as I have ever worked in my mission!

But yes, I am really stoked for the success that we are going to have this change. Yesterday we had an awesome day, and we found a ton of new investigators that have a lot of potential, so I am really excited for that. More than anything here in Ciudad Neily, we are trying to strengthen the branch, that means re-activating less actives and helping out the branch in any way possible. Yesterday we had an attendance of 28 members, which isn't very good, we are shooting for 45 every week. I am loving the mission though.

I am so thankful for every experience I have had here. The other day we were walking and an old man called us over to his house. He asked us what the word, "Chambuku" means in English (it doesn't exist). We told him we didn't know, and then he invited us into his front yard. He then started playing the guitar and harmonica for us. It was awesome! He was like 75 years old, shirtless and playing and singing a song about bible verses. He would just sing a tune, and off the top of his head recite bible verses and make it into a song. He was the man! My personal favorite was one where he sang, " Antes... yo era un perro... Antes... yo era un chancho..." He is seriously the man! One of these days I will pass by and film him.

But other than that, we are working super hard to find new investigators that will really progress. We haven't had problems finding people, but now we just need to find these chosen people that the Lord is preparing to hear and receive this message!

I love you all so much. The Church is true. The Saviour lives and loves us! Keep the commandments and you will be blessed! Love you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

El Capitan de la Zona Sursh....

P.S. Aqui estan fotos....

 

 

Here are pictures of Elder Mendoza this morning (he looks like he is starting his first day of school haha) and today for p-day we went to the border of Costa Rica and Panama!