Best Week in Aserri, and Photos!!!

Buenas Familia,

I hope all is well at home, and I'm super glad that you could send me a long email Mom. I love reading about the family and seeing that they are enduring with faith throughout all of their trials!

Well, this last week we worked like dogs, and it really showed in our success. We met almost all of our goals and really had a super productive week this week. So in our lessons this week, I have noticed something really cool. So whenever our investigators have doctrinal questions, they'll ask us, and the spirit really will bring scriptures to our mind to answer questions. And the cool thing is that Elder Rangel and I are receiving the same impressions so we are teaching with more unity. That was one of the most rewarding and cool experiences of the week.

We have also been working a lot with a couple references from Virgilio. So he is a living testimony of the gospel and his family is super interested in the church now. His cousin Graciela has come two times to church already, and his second cousin Martin and his wife, Veronic have already come to church two times also! They are progressing a lot but have a little bit of fear in being baptized. We tried to put a baptismal date for the 26th with them, but Martin is still a little unsure, but the best part was that Virgilio was there during the lesson and said, "I know that you'll be baptized the 26th, I know you will." And Martin also read the Book of Mormon, prayed and felt an overwhelming feeling of peace!!! I'm super stoked for this family and for the great change that this message can make in them. This was a family of alcoholism, and really no hope for a better life, but through the atonement of Jesus Christ they are happy and enjoying all the trials of this life. I love it!!! I love missionary work!

Well also this past week we had interviews with President WIlkinson. I love interviews with him. In Costa Rica they have a saying, "Cortando la jupa" (chopping head). This basically means using scriptures, doctrine or things like that to show a person that they need to make changes in their life. It's like if we're teaching an investigator and they won’t fulfill a commitment so we use a scripture that says that they are being a hypocrite or denying the Holy Ghost. It has a negative connotation and no missionary should teach like this. But President Wilkinson is the master of it, because he does it with love. He will tell you something that you need to do better, but he will say it with such love that you will want to do it because he cares so much for us. I really love him and he really is a humble servant of God.

Well I love all of you, and I hope all is well at home. I also hope that the computer will send these pictures that I attached so we'll see how it goes. Oh, and could you guys send me the address of Randy's mission? Because I am trying to send letters, but I don't have his address. Bueno, les amo muchisimo, y yo sé que esta iglesia y este evangelio es verdadero!!!!

Love,

Elder Ryan Christian Taylor

 

Photos:

 

Costa Rican trees.

 

This an old photo from Guacimo. Elder Cruz and I and a family that we married and baptized, Diego and Tatiana. They were only twenty years old!!!

 

Photo from my very last day in Guacimo.

 

This is another old photo from Guacimo. It's a family that I baptized there. Natacha, Edith, and Floribeth!

 

This is a view of the muntains of Aserri. Its super pretty and green here, but we're up in the mountinas just a little south west of San Jose. It's basically Yorba Linda, but the hills are green.

 

Elder Rangel, Virgilio, and I before his baptism. The sun was in our faces so thats why my eyes are closed.

 

Virgilio Vallejos!!! This a photo of him after his baptism. He's so rad, and he's already paying his tithing!!!