First Change of Training... Done!

Buenas Familia,

 First off.. to answer questions...

1)      Yes mom, I am enjoying my hair gel. Thank you very much for that! And also thank you very much for all the candy. Elder Hernandez is thoroughly enjoying all of the American treats!

2)      Yes, I’ll try and send some new photos with this email.

3)      No I don’t need new shoes, everything’s fine just a little beat up, but I’ll be fine thank you! And right now everything’s all good, I don’t really need anything but we'll see in a couple of weeks!

Okay,

Well first off I’m super stoked for President Francis. He'll be an amazing mission president. Tell him I say congratulations and good luck in New York! And the change in stake presidency is nuts! Bishop Flake is super funny, and very spiritual. I've never interacted with President Barney, and President Robinson taught my seminary class once and he was really interesting.

Okay well this week was very fun! We having been working a ton with Graciela, (Virgilio's cousin). She hasn’t been able to be baptized because she is in a super difficult situation. So she is living in a house with her ex-boyfriend, Orlando, and with 6 of her kids (all are grown up). The thing is, Orlando is a little strange, and she started with him because the "Carne es debil" (Flesh is weak) about 3 years ago. He is already married. So we taught her the law of chastity about 2 months ago, and she knew that Orlando was married (not to her) so she straight up told him, "No, we cant sin like this anymore, I don’t want anything to do with you. We can still be friends but this relationship needs to end." And like that she was ready for baptism. BUT... Orlando is renting the house in his name, so he can’t leave the house so Graciela couldn’t be baptized. But now, I talked with President Wilkinson about everything, how Graciela is super ready for baptism but can’t be baptized for the situation, so President told me, if they are living in separate rooms and Graciela wants nothing to do with him... she can be baptized!!!! SO after 2 months of waiting she will finally get her chance to join the fold of Christ and be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!! USH, Papito papito!!!!!! So yes, I am super stoked for that!

This week we also went to the Mission Home for our one month checkup. This is for trainers and their trainees. So we went to the mission home and had a huge lunch, (I finally got to eat meat!!!) and then we had training with President and the Assistants. It was cool, because the assistants gave all of the trainers time to share one funny experience, and one spiritual experience during our time with the new elders. So here is an experience that I don’t know if I have shared with you all. So Elder Hernandez and I received a reference and we went and were teaching this family. One of the daughters or sisters of the lady we were teaching was very very attractive. Well during the lesson she interrupted us and said in the deepest man voice ever, "I’m going to the store!" SO after the lesson, we were leaving and we both looked at each other (Elder Hernandez and I) and we both said, " IT WAS A MAN!!!!" haha that was a funny experience. Okay but now for the spiritual experience. Okay so there was an Elder that was here in Aserri, Elder Rodriguez, he was here about 2 years ago. Well when we got home, he was kidnapped and murdered in El Salvador. We have been teaching some less actives that he baptized. One night they asked me about Elder Rodrigues, and I don’t know why but I told them what happened and how he passed away. Well they started crying (because nobody had told them) and we started crying too. Well after about 10 minutes of utter silence and sobbing I decided we needed to pray. So we all knelt down, and I prayed with them. And the thing is, I wasn't talking, the spirit was talking through me. After the prayer there was complete silence and peace in the house. And the wife exclaimed, "Que Paz..." (what peace!). It was an experience that I will never forget.

Well, I love you all, I let you know how this week goes! I love you all. I am glad that you are reading the Gospels Dad. I’m just about finishing up with the Book of John. I love that book. John seriously portrays the Savior in such an amazing way. Well love you all! Hope all is well, and hope this letter is good!

Pura Vida,

Elder Ryan Taylor