August 13, 2012

Hola Familia!

Okay first to answer your questions mom...

Yes we have a lady that cooks for us, but only lunch, and we have to trek over to her house for lunch. We pay her like 70 bucks, (35,000 Colones) a month for it. We have a lady that does our laundry also, and we pay her to do it also. We do not have a housekeeper, so we have to clean the house and everything, and they give us fans here to sleep with haha, so life is good! And they don´t have mailing addresses here in Costa Rica, so just mail to the mission office address I think. Also they are having a lot of problems with drug cartels... so if you send me food for the time being, it probably won´t get through so I’ll let you know when you can, sorry!

Well this week was cool! We have one investigator, Enrique a middle aged man who is now ready for baptism! He’s going to baptized the 25th! We´re stoked for him! He is super hard to understand because he got shot in the face when he was younger but he really wants to change his life. Jeustin and Jeremy the two jovenes that were supposed to be baptized this week fell through. They don´t feel prepared... but Elder Nape and I have prayed a lot and we feel that they will be ready by the 1st of September.

We did a lot of knocking on doors this week also and we have a ton of new investigating families! Oh and I also contacted two people in English haha, and let me just say, English missionaries got it set! It was the easiest thing I have ever done haha. One of the guys was this bum/wilderness man who was wandering the earth... like Esau... and he used to be Mormon but now he is atheist. I felt bad because he was just saying all this false stuff about the church, and all I could do was invite him to pray about it.

Oh and guess who got a picture of another sloth... ME! SO I’ll send that. Oh I also caught a Gecko this week, and it kept suction cupping to me hahaha.

Well my trainer, Elder Nape is the man, and I love the little Aztec- He´s from Mexico, and he speaks no English so were teaching each other. He is a great missionary and knows the bible like the back of his hand. So he´s teaching me a lot of the bible, and I´ve been teaching him a lot about the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. He´s so rad though, our personalities match really well.

Yes, it has continued to be extremely hot here. I am always sweating and drenched. I have little baby acne on my hands from all the sweat haha, but it´s been starting to go away. The food is a good, but beans and rice are already starting to get old! The best things are the FRUIT! It’s so ridiculously good here! It’s amazing! I had the best apples of my life here! But they also have plantains... yuck! So nasty and the people here love it!

Oh funny story, so in Costa Rica our mission here is to create eternal families, so we are really focused on teaching and baptizing families. And we have a ton of new families here, the moms are so stoked and ready for baptism... but the husbands aren´t! It’s so difficult when the wife knows better hahaha, but we have faith that these men can have their souls touched and have a change of heart.

So I hope Dad feels better! And I hope everything is going good back in the states... How are Katie, Cam, and Joshua? and How’s Jase doing in Vasser? Let me know! I love and miss all of you so much, and I really am grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord. ¡Les Amo!

con amor,

 Elder Taylor

P.S. MOM: They have giant grasshoppers here... literally the size of my middle finger... Elder Nape always makes fun of me because I jump when I see them and when they jump towards me... Okay bye, Love yáll!

Elder Nape, Ryan's Companion and Trainer:

Elder Ryan Taylor, in standard missionary pose!

Sloth sighting:

Elder Taylor with puppy (or dinner?)

 Elder Taylor, interacting with the locals.