Attack of the Sloths

Buenas Familia!!!!

1)      Daily routine... Well we wake up at 6:30, I sit at my desk for a little bit and try to wake up and then after I shower, eat something and get dressed. We have personal study at 8 (the best time of the day!!!) and then companionship study at 9, language study at 10 and then we´re out the door by 11. We tract a little but really the work is dead at 11 because we can find anyone because they are all working. Then we eat at 12 with our cook, Hermana Mayella. At around 1 we are back out and then we get back home at like 9. Then we plan and shower and eat a little and we´re in bed by 10:30! That’s our whole schedule haha.

2)      No I didn´t get a bruise from the helmets haha.

3)      Yeah, I´m taller than everybody here. One time we were getting on a bus, and this niño saw me and said, "Que Grande..." in astonishment.

4)      No the water in Central America is safe. Only dirty in Mexico. At meals however, we always have a different type of Fresco. So here, Tang (the orange drink) rules the world so we always have a different flavor of tang. It´s super bad though because it dehydrates you! So at times it´s annoying but it´s the culture here, Tang, Coca-Cola, and Canada Dry Ginger Ale during every meal!

5)      No here we´re just called Gringos or Norte Americanos.

6)      Elder Cruz is rad. So he is the middle child, and his Older Sister is preparing to serve a mission, he has a little sister too but she´s like 11. His whole family are members and he´s been a member his whole life. His girlfriend is also just about to serve her mission also.

Okay! So this week was tough!! We had 4 baptisms scheduled for this Saturday and all of them fell-through because the chapel didn´t have any water. So that was super tough and stressful and a little disheartening, but there is reason for everything so maybe this can turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I´ve also been sick this week so that is never fun!

But it´s all good! This week we have been knocking a ton of doors, and meeting a ton of interesting people. I really love knocking doors for that, because you never know who will answer and how crazy they will be. The only problem here is that everyone is super nice but because of this they´ll lie to us about a day when we can come back because they are too nice to say no. So we´ve been having a problem with that. So that´s been tough also, but really it´s true that only after the trial of our faith are we blessed. This week has just been a huge trial of our faith and patience.

But guess who finally touched a sloth???!!! This guy! When we were trying to figure out the water problem in the chapel on Saturday, we found a huge sloth behind the church. I started to tickle it´s back and then it got super mad and started hissing at us. SLOTHS HISS! It was a two-toed sloth too, so it was ugly! But then it started trying to bite us and it was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life. Sloths have only 4 nasty yellow, sharp, knife-teeth, so when it was trying to bite us it looked like the clover-field monster. Needless to say, I will never touch a sloth again let alone tickle one, because this sloth was nuts! And then afterwards it got super tired and fell asleep because it is so lazy. It was a fun time though.

To end, I´m also reading in the Book of Helaman right now, in the Book of Mormon. I couldn´t help but think about the relationship of the Wicked Nephites during this time, and the wickedness we are seeing right now in the United States. It seems like all the same secret-combinations, murders, fornications, and adulteries are happening. So in Helaman, Nephi the prophet, prophesies that the chief judge is going to be murdered, and he is murdered and the Nephites are too hard-hearted to recognize that Nephi is a Prophet. It just makes me so thankful to have a true Prophet of God in our lives today, who we can follow and who will always lead us closer to Christ. I think before my mission, I thought of the commandments of God as restrictions, but really they are here to protect us. Protect us from the consequences and sadness of the world. The Nephites during this time we´re too hard-hearted to recognize that Nephi was just trying to help them, and we all know what happens to them in 3rd Nephi... all the wicked are destroyed. I love the Book of Mormon so much, and I know that we can learn so much from its pages.

I love all of you, and I hope all is well. I don´t know of what you could send me Mom, but just surprise me! I like surprises! I´m always praying for you, and I know that this work I am doing in Costa Rica is the work of the Lord. I cannot wait to get back home and help out the missionaries in Anaheim, because I really regret not doing that before my mission. Every Member A MISSIONARY!! Love you all! The church is TRUE!

Love,

Elder Taylor

P.S. Sorry if you can´t understand this letter. My English is super bad now, and it´s super awkward to speak in English haha, que malo.