New Years Eve!!!

Buenas Familia!!!!

Okay, time to answer questions...

1)      Yes Mom, you can give away all my toys if you want to! I really am never going to play with those boats ever again so don’t worry about giving my toys away.

2)      Don’t worry about the Old Spice, I can find that here, just get me the Red Axe hair gel. It is a black case with red on it and it says like, "Spiked up look"

Well,

This week was amazing! We baptized Virgilio and it was soooooooo awesome!

He is so rad, I love him. I’m going to try and send a picture but this computer is being lame and not recognizing my photos. Well that was the best part of the week. He is a living testimony of the gospel. He referenced us to his cousin and her family, and also his second cousin and his family and they are totally progressing!!! They have already expressed interest in baptism just because of Virgilio and the changes he’s made in his life!

Well funny story of the week, so I was on splits with another Gringo on Wednesday, Elder Johnson. So it was the end of the day and we were walking home when we pass these three guys smoking and one of them asks us, "Hey, you guys speak English?" And so we started talking to him in English. Turns out he lived in Georgia for 9 years and spoke pretty good English, but he was cussing like crazy. Well he started telling us about his problems with drugs, and how he wants he friends to quit their addictions to drugs because he’s afraid for them. He wouldn’t let us speak in Spanish to his friends either, because he wanted to translate for them. SO basically we were talking for 30 mins, when he told us that he had a crack rock in his hand, and he showed us. Elder Johnson is super quiet, but he told they guy, "Throw the crack rock away. Throw it in the river! Throw it!" Because there was a river behind us. But they guy was like, "NO, my friends will jump in there for it!" So I said, "Really... they would do that?" And then he yelled, " No man, they would do an F$%&ing backflip in the river and then find it!!!!!" Hahaha it was one of the funniest moments of my mission. Well he invited them to church and gave them our number so we will have to see what happens.

Well, I was very glad to have been able to see you guys! It made me miss you very, very much! Oh and also if JESSICA BABCOCK is reading this, I’m still alive and I just sent you a letter last week!!! But yes, it was a little weird because everyone was listening to us Skyping but it’s better than a poke in the eye!!! Well I love you all, I really hope that you have a great new year, (Don’t go out drinking, remember who you are) and I’ll send pictures next week because it’s not letting me!!!!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

Christmas in Costa Rica!

Buenas familia,

Como estan? I hope you are all enjoying the Holidays!!!! I love Christmas!

Well Mom, I’m sad that everyone is leaving the ward, I can’t believe that the Abbott are leaving! Thats going to be weird!

Well this was a good week in Aserrí. I had to give my first talk during sacrament meeting this week. I called the Bishop to see if he could help us out in a lesson, and then he said, " By the way Elder Taylor, you have a talk this Sunday. Any topic you want. 15 minutes. I can’t give a talk in Spanish for 15 minutes!!! Let alone English! But really it turned out really well. I spoke about the same topic as Brother Hoke, but I really focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I talked about when Randy and I went to Mexico, and the ward got a kick out of that story haha, but it was really good. I love our Savior. Right now I’m reading the New Testament and Jesus Christ, and he really is amazing. I love Jesus Christ, and I know that he loves all of us, so much that he would die for us. Even me, a person with so many faults, a person that really isn’t worth dying for, he did it, because he loves me. How awesome, and amazing is that.

This change I have really seen how much I can do as a missionary. When I was junior companion I was always really quiet, and I never really tried to push myself during lessons. I always said the same thing, and used the same Spanish. But this change, I have really seen my capabilities as a missionary, and really know no matter how bad my Spanish is, how we can help people change their lives.

This week we are going to baptize Virgilio. This guy is awesome. I think I’ve talked about him a little bit before, but he is so cool. He is really my favorite investigator ever. He had been an alcoholic, and smoker for 8 years. He has quit everything just feel the peace of the Savior in his life. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get his life back in order.

Its super rad because he really is a super good missionary. He has already given us a ton of references, and he is a living testimony of the gospel. All his friends have asked us what we did to change his life, but really we did nothing. We were just obedient and followed the Holy Ghost, and he made all the changes himself. I love this gospel. I love the people here in Costa Rica (well most of them haha).

Well I look forward to Skyping with you all tomorrow!!!! I think I am going to call you within 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. That should be like 1 to 2 p.m. in Los Angeles. Maybe you can go to Aunt Cheryl’s a little early? I don’t know but I’ll probably be calling around then. Just make sure that you’re on Skype so I can call you!

Well I just want to wish you all a merry and happy Christmas. I hope that we can all follow the example of the innkeeper this Christmas season. He had no room in his inn, but was willing to make space for our Savior and Redeemer. Yes, our lives will be busy, but we should always have space for Jesus Christ and his atonement. In matt 11:28 and 29 Jesus Christ himself says, " Come unto me all those that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Carry my yoke upon yourselves and learn of me, that I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls." ( I was translating form Spanish to English so that isn’t exactly correct haha) I love you. The savior loves you all. Follow him and receive rest unto your souls. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Taylor

Week Two in the Big City!

Buenas Familia!!!!

1)      DID YOU RECEIVE OUR TWO BOXES YET??? Yes!!! Thank you so very much for the Christmas packages! We have the tree set up in our apartment, and I already ate all of the candy, but thank you so very much!!

2)      Where do you go to get on the internet? We do internet in an internet cafe. Right now it’s sweltering hot in the internet cafe and I’m sweating!

3)      Who does your laundry now, or where do you go? A member does our laundry.

4)      Do you have a maid? No haha, nobody has maids in the mission anymore. I wish we did though.

5)      Do you have a cook? Yes! We have a cook and she is super cool. All the areas in the mission have cooks and we eat at their houses.

6)      How much time do you have to be on the internet? We only get an hour for internet every week

7)      Are you using your waterproof boots now? No not anymore. In Guacimo I was using my boots because it was always raining, but now I’m in San Jose and it never rains here.

8)       Is your new ward supportive? Hmmm... Yes I guess the new ward is supportive. It’s cool to be in a ward now. I’m used to a branch of like 50 people, but this ward has about 120.

9)      Does the chapel have a piano? Yes the chapel has a piano! I was very excited when I got here and saw the piano.

10)   Did you ever receive Aunt Deanna's family's snail mail letters??? No I haven’t received Aunt Deanna’s snail mail haha, I just received some letters from Ryan Miller, and Wesley Dean from around the beginning of November.

Well, this week was super cool! I really like Aserri. So I got my hands on a map and found out that Aserri is just a little bit outside of San Jose. So basically I am in San Jose, hence the title of this email. Well the city is a lot different than the Campo [jungle) but it’s a nice change. Aserri is really sweet though and reminds me a lot of Yorba Linda. It’s all mountains and hills, so that kinda stinks because we don’t have cars like all those rich missionaries in the United States.

Well cool story of the week... So a lot of the time, we get contacted by drunk guys in the street and they always say how much they want to change and so and so. Well we got contacted by this drunk, Virgilio, and I thought he would just be another drunk guy that contacts us. But this time we actually decided to go to his house and teach him. That was about two weeks ago. And I have seen an incredible change in him. He has been coming to teach, he quit drinking cold turkey after 8 years of being an alcoholic, and he’s reading the Book of Mormon. He’s super intelligent!!!!

He has told us about how much his life has changed since finding the gospel, and how much different and hopeful he is. In our first lesson he told us he was wanting to commit suicide because he had no hope, no faith, and no purpose. But through the gospel, he has found all these things!!! It is incredible how much the gospel changes people. He should be getting baptized this weekend and I am so stoked for him. He is unlike any investigator that I have ever taught.

Oh cool thing, so he lives with his cousin and she came out and started thanking us for all the things we have done, and how we have saved a soul and what not, and she was calling us angels and stuff like that, but best thing is she is going to listen to our lessons now! I am really stoked for this family, and I love to see the power of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well, so I don’t know when I will Skype you guys. We have to talk to President and see the days that we can do it. My Skype name is ryan.sk.taylor and I will be talking to you with that account. I think I can just Skype Dad’s account or something like that. So email me and let me know what time would be best for you guys and I’ll try and see when I can Skype you.

Well love you guys. I am so thankful for this mission and for how much I am growing and learning every day. I hope all is well at home, and I hope that the Christmas decorations are up and everyone is festive and jolly for Christmas. I love you all, and miss you all very much but I wouldn’t leave the mission for anything. It really is the hardest but most fulfilling two years of my life.

Love you! Feliz Navidad!

Con amor,

Papito Taylor

Aserri!!!!

Buenas Familia,

So yes I got transferred! I'm in Aserri, its up in the mountains just outside of San Jose. It's freezing here compared to the Zona Atlantica though, so I love it. It just kind of stinks because the city is all hills, and all day we are basically climbing up the side of a mountain to get to lessons. My companion is Elder Rangel. He is a genius and seriously is a dictionary of gospel knowledge. He just finished training so between the two of us we have 7 months in the country. I'm senior companion and that is a super humbling experience. Firstly because he has more gospel knowledge than me, speaks better Spanish (he's from Mexico) and is a better teacher than me. So I really have been humbled a lot with him. But I am learning so much from him which is super cool.

Well not much happened this week. I said goodbye to all of my converts on this Tuesday in Guacimo. It's really sad because I had 12 baptisms there, but really only 6 are still active. That really shows the importance of home teaching! Everyone needs to do their home teaching! So Wednesday, I got here in Aserri and we have been teaching a lot, but I don't know, we haven't been very effective. In Guacimo, I planned so we were in different parts of our area on specific days, so we could crank out lessons without wasting time walking. Also all our investigators were close to the chapel so they could walk to church and progress in the gospel. But here we are teaching like 2 or 3 miles away from the church, and all our investigators live super far from each other so we are wasting like 3 hours a day walking!

So that’s gonna change, I know with smarter planning, Aserri is going to be a fountain of baptisms.

Well cool thing is Elder Cristofferson is going to come to our stake here in San Jose, and he's going to give us a special devotional. However, he is giving another special devotional to the mission here also. President Wilkinson told us that something big is going to happen here in Costa Rica if we are having so many visits from the quorum of the Twelve. We'll just wait and see!!! Well sorry that this letter is so short, I don't really have much to talk about. How you are all doing well. Oh also I have a special announcement. President Wilkinson said that for our Christmas call this year we can use Skype!!!!!! So I’m going to need your Skype address, and then we can do that instead of a call for Christmas. Well I hope all is well. Love you all. I know that this church is true, and I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I'm super stoked that you guys get to do Savior of the World, and be a part of this amazing performance. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Taylor

BUENAS!

Buenas Familia!

So to start out, sorry Mom I haven´t been thinking about piano music that you can send me. Probably I´ll just email you guys and you can send it to me because right now my mind is blank. But what you can do is send me the Tarzan soundtrack mp3 and I can just put it on my iPod here! That would be amazing!

Well, this week we worked super hard. We´ve had the best numbers in the zone, but it´s not converting into baptisms!!!!! That’s what´s frustrating! You can have the best numbers in the mission, but if they aren´t converting into baptisms it doesn´t feel the same.

But we have been working super hard. I´ve been starting to read the Book of Mormon in spanish this week. Sometimes I like it more in Spanish because there is more detail. Like when Nephi cuts of Laban’s head it says that Nephi picked up Laban’s head "por los pelos". I never noticed that before in English, I just notice a little bit more when I´m reading in Spanish.

Well, this week we got contacted by 2 drunk guys. That is always fun because they always speak English with me. So this drunk guy Eddie, asked me my name so I said, "Elder Taylor" and he was like, "EDDIE TAYLOR!!! That’s my name too!" It was really funny haha.

Well not much really new happened this week, we have just been working super super hard. Oh I have also been studying my Patriarchal Blessing a lot, and I have been receiving a lot of different insights and impressions about it, so that’s been cool. I also read a really neat article in the Liahona about the life of President Monson today. It talked all about his selfless service and it really touched me. So you can read the article, I think it´s the April issue of the Liahona with President Monson on the cover, it´s really cool.

Well Mom, I’m glad that you´re putting up decorations. It will make the house more happy and festive. I´m always praying for all of you, and I know the Lord will bless you according to your obedience. Oh also we have changes this Wednesday, so I´ll know tonight if I´m leaving Guacimo. I hope not, because I really have grown to love it here. It´s weird because when I first arrived I hated it, but working with these people I´ve come to love, "God´s little Garden" (see that Dad?) Costa Rica is God´s little Garden!

Okay love you all, wish you all the best!

Love,

Elder Taylor