Its Getting Hot in Here...

Buenas Familia!!!

How are all of you doing? I´m glad to hear that SOTW is going great, and it is really changing your lives! I really wish that I had done it when I was 14 years old, but I was too busy with "Basketball" haha.

No but really, I was thinking a lot about my experiences with El Dorado Basketball this past week. So it has gotten so incredibly hot here in Costa Rica! It hasn't really rained here in the mountains all year so there is a huge water shortage. That means that we don’t have water in our apartment! And that means we can’t shower that much, and when we can shower it feels like someone is spitting on your head! But yes, about the heat. So Aserri is a city built upon a mountain, so nothing in the city is level. We are either climbing up the mountain, or we are climbing down, so walking from lesson to lesson is very tiring. Well I was thinking about how much El Dorado Basketball really taught me about discipline. There are days when I am just dying and I don’t want to work anymore, but then I think, "Hey, this isn’t your time. You covenanted with the Lord and gave him 2 years of selfless service... keep going." So now, Mom and Dad, you can be happy that I stuck with Basketball, even though I really didn’t enjoy it at the time. Its the same with the piano!!! Haha!

Okay well yes, this week has been incredibly hot, but we had a baptism this past Sunday! So the mission is really pushing baptizing every week, so we have been working our bums off trying to baptize every week. So far we have 2 consecutive weeks, and we should be having a baptism this Saturday also! So that should be sick.

Well this past week I was able to finish Alma in the Book of Mormon, and guess what, I love Alma! It’s such an amazing book, and it has all the good stuff in the Book of Mormon, (Doctrine, Wars, Studs like Captain Moroni, Lehi and my all-time favorite Teancum). I really love the description of the 2,000 stripling warriors. They were young men of "Integrity, Honesty, and Faith" and they "didn´t doubt". I want my sons to be like that. I want to have sons of faith, honesty, courage, and all that good stuff. I’m also in the middle of Helaman. I´ve really noticed throughout my reading of the Book of Moron this time around that there are a ton of themes that are repeated throughout every book. The number one is Christ, but also something I have really noticed is Obedience, and also the way that Satan tempts us. For example it probably says like 100 times in the Book of Mormon that if we keep the commandments, we will prosper, but if not, we will perish. But something that I am especially noticing in Helaman is the way that Satan will try and deceive us. For example, in Helaman when Nephi prophesied of the murder of the Chief Judge, the Lawyers and all the Gadianton Robbers were offering him money and freedom to deny his prophecy. They were basically saying, " Hey, I'll give you X amount of money to say that you were lying about your revelations from God, and to deny your ordination as a Prophet of God." Satan does the same with us... He tempts us with worldly things like money, popularity, and all that stuff to deny our Heritage and Ordination as sons and Daughters of God. I love applying the Book of Mormon to our lives, because it really is the book to guide us in our lives!

Well, I love all of you, sorry if this letter isn't super chatty, but I don’t have much to write about. Mom and Jason, HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week! I hope you have amazing days! Sorry that I can’t be there to share it with you guys, but I’ll see you in about a year! Okay love you all, have a great week!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor, Capitan de Aserri

It's Super Hot in Costa Rica!

Buenas Familia!

Like the Ticos say, "¿Todo Bien?" Well I’m glad to hear that Savior of the World is kicking off this week! It will be an amazing experience. I wish I had done it when I had the chance, but I was so lazy in High School! And Dad, you can't shave your beard until I get back, ya hear?

Well this was a good week here in the Costa Rica! We were blessed with a baptism this past weekend which was super sweet! It was the baptism of Nadia Elicept Vanega Zapata (the names here are weird huh?) and it was awesome. The funny thing is, we were walking about a month ago, and I felt the strong impression to knock on Nadia's door. I remember our first lesson and when we invited them to be baptized, Nadia straight up told us that, "I will not be baptized in one month!" And here we are a month later and she is already a member of the church, well almost! She couldn't be confirmed this weekend because we had stake conference, but she asked me to do the confirmation so that will be sweet! We are still waiting on Tania, Nadia's adult daughter. She needs to get married first, but we are going to try and find a lawyer that can help us the 30th so she can enter the waters of baptism too! The only thing is... in 2 weeks we have... SEMANA SANTA!!!! It's supposed to get crazy up in here, because nobody works and everyone is dancing in the streets. Latinos are so rad. So we'll have to see if we can get a lawyer that weekend, if not I probably won’t be here for the baptism because we have changes in 2 weeks! I’m pretty sure I’m getting changed because I was talking with President Wilkinson this last week and he always gives us little hints about changes and different things that are going to happen in the mission.

Speaking of which, we had a super rad zone conference this past week with President Wilkinson. We are really focusing on teaching with the Holy Ghost, because that is the only way to convert people. I learned so much! And it really got me pumped to do missionary work.

Well this week we have been preparing an investigator to be baptized, his name is Orlando. He's super ready for his baptism, we just need to clear a few things up with President Wilkinson first, so possibly we'll have his baptism this next Saturday. If we do that means we should have baptisms every weekend the next 3-4 weeks, that'll be sick. The work is really picking up here in Costa Rica, and it really is because we are: 1) working our bums off 2) Relying on the Lord and the Spirit more. The mission is so cool!!! Well speaking of Orlando, funny story that happened this past week. So the thing that no one in this country understands is that to have Faith, we need to exercise it. For instance, Orlando has been looking for work for 3 months. So we were talking and I was like, " Orlando, if you have faith and confidence that the Lord will provide you with work, what are you going to do all day... are you going to sit in your house and drink soda all day waiting for a phone call and a miracle, or are you going to go out and search for work, knowing that the Lord will provide..." He chose the miracle haha. No one here understands that they have to act according to their faith. Well afterwards we decided to do another activity to show this principle. So Elder Hernandez had a pen in his hand and asked Orlando if he could move the pen from his right hand to his left, using his faith. So Orlando was like, "Everything is possible with Faith..." so he started staring at the pen and mustering all his faith to move it. He started clenching his fists and he was straining so hard to "use the force" and move the pen. It was the funniest thing ever, and afterwards Elder Hernandez described it as, "he looked like he was pooping!" Well after about 5 minutes of that, we showed him that he needed to act and use his hands to move the pen. I love that activity because it shows a principle that is super true in the gospel.

We can say that we have faith, but until we are willing to act on it, its nothing. I love how James describes faith in the bible. We can show our Faith through our works, and not only through our words (like every tico haha)...

Well I love the mission! I love all of you, and I love the Book of Mormon. I know this book is true. I know that it was written specifically to help the Lamanites to know the truth of this Gospel. I hope everything is well at home, and I am always praying for all of you! Take care!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor el Capitan de Aserri

p.s. Mom I attached a photo of Clorets. They still sell them here, and they still taste nasty! haha

 

 

3/11/2013

Buenas Familia!!!!!

1)      Yes that is a photo of our whole mission! There are a ton of Latinos huh? When I first got her I thought it was going to be all Americans, but its basically 50 percent Americans, and 50 percent Latinos.

2)      The other couples on either side of Elder and Sister Christofferson are form Left to right, Elder and Sister Martino (of the seventy), Elder and Sister Maynes (of the seventy) and I don’t remember who the other guy is, but I think he’s part of the Seventy too.

3)      No today we are not going to do anything special. I think Elder Hernandez and I are going to go eat lunch with a family and then rest and play in Aserri.

4)      Haha oh Jill...

Okay, well i attached some pictures to this email. There is one of the temple which is pretty cool. Also there’s a picture of all the houses that we are visiting up in the mountains. And the last one is a photo of... the Montero! It died in the United States but was resurrected here! Haha its the same exact Montero that we had, it even has that gross brown plush interior!

Well this was a good week! Nadia will be getting baptized on Saturday, so I’m stoked for that! We are still waiting on Tania. We have had a ton of super spiritual lessons with her, and she already knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but she is still waiting for "something..." We had a lesson the other day and we talked about Ether 12:6. "We won’t receive blessings until after the trial of our faith." President Francis said that to me during my setting apart, and I have seen that so much on my mission. The Lord is always trying us, molding us, and making us better; but the hardest part is recognizing that. Tania is a trial of my faith haha. During the mission, I have always been able to persuade people to come to church, and talk them into doing things... Tania even says that I have the gift of talking to people and persuasion, but I have really learned that I can’t rely on that. I need to convert people to the gospel, not to me. I need to convert people through the Holy Ghost, not through my weak human abilities. That is what I have really learned with Tania: To be humble, and to rely on the Holy Ghost more... SO we will have to see what happens with her... if she can be baptized this month or not. But I really love them, Nadia and Tania are super rad!

We have also been teaching this guy, Orlando and he should be baptized the 23rd of this month. We are only waiting to see if he can be divorced, because our bishop doesn’t want us to baptized him if he is still married to his wife. It’s a super complicated situation, but we will have to see if he gets baptized. Oh we also have changes in about 3 weeks, so we will see if I am still her in Aserri. I will probably have changes because I have been here for about 4 months, but we will see where the Lord needs me!

And Dad... the beard! I love the photos haha but the beard is weak in the last picture! It looks super full when you’re with mom. You need to keep it up, because I want to see it when I get home! And I know how you’re feeling about your lessons. I had an experience kind of like that this week. So I know all the missionary lessons, and sometimes I don’t prepare as well as I should for some of our lessons. Yesterday we were teaching an investigator about the importance of the scriptures. We were teaching but the spirit really wasn’t there. I know that when I don’t prepare with all my heart, the spirit will not be in the lesson, and I will have to rely on my own abilities, which are not enough to convert our investigators. So I have learned a lot this week!

Okay well, I hope this is a nice chatty letter. Love you all, and I know that this church is true. Keep on praying because I know that prayer works! Pray with faith, no doubting at all (James 1:6) (That’s me trying to translate the scriptures from Spanish to English haha). Okay love you all, and talk to you next week!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

Temple in San Jose:

 

Houses in the Mountains:

"Resurrected" Montero!

 

The Week of Blessings!!!

Buenas Familia,

I hope everything is going well at home! Sorry that you have been sick all week mom, feel better!

Well, today was awesome! And why, you might ask?! Because we got to go to the temple. I really love the temple. Every time you enter you can just feel the peace and love of our Father in Heaven. I just love the peace that you can feel there. Well, this week was a little different. We have been working a ton with the members to try and help out our investigators, so that’s always good. Poor Virgilio is still living in the street. We see him like 3-4 times every day in the street and it’s just sad to see him drunk and melancholy. But oh well... we have done all we can.

Well this week, Elder Hernandez and I gave a ton of blessings!!!! I love blessing people, it really is such an amazing feeling to speak through the Holy Ghost. And after every blessing, Elder Hernandez and I can’t remember what we said, and we feel just spiritually and physically drained. I don’t know if that’s normal, but it happened a lot to us this week because of all the blessings that we gave.

Well cool experience of the week... So we are teaching 2 ladies, Tania (27 years old) and her mom Nadia. When we first starting teaching them they refused a baptismal date, and straight up told us "No, we will not be baptized... we'll read the Book of Mormon, go to church, but we will not be baptized!" Well I think I have had my most spiritual lessons and experiences with these two investigators. About a week ago, we taught them the Plan of Salvation. We really focused on Family History and the Redemption of the Dead, and Nadia started crying. Her husband had passed away about 3 months ago. She told us that he had always said, "Hey, let’s go to a church, we need to go to a church" but then passed away unexpectedly. I know that he guided us to these two sisters. We were passing by their house about a month ago, and I really felt the urge to knock their door, I don’t know why but I felt strongly that we needed to do it. We knocked and started talking and the rest is history. Well during the Plan of Salvation lesson, we were testifying about the redemption of the dead and she stopped us and said, "Me voy a bautizar (im going to be baptized)" And we were just like, "Whoah!!!!". So she should be baptized the 16th or 23rd of this month... we don’t know yet because stake conference is the 16th. We have also had a ton of spiritual experiences with Tania. The other day we were teaching about faith (Alma 32) and I started to testify that faith isn’t a perfect knowledge, but a hope for things to come. It was one of those experiences where the spirit was so strong and was edifying the teacher (Me) and the hearer (Tania). She told me that her heart was pounding and she was crying also! But still... she doesn't feel sure! It's so frustrating when they feel the spirit so strongly, but are still resisting it. I think that Heavenly Father feels the same with us sometimes. When we feel the spirit, and we know that something is right, but we don’t act on it, I bet that He is a little frustrated with us. But yes, I feel like that with Tania right now. I have been praying my heart out that she will accept a date, because she is so ready to be baptized. We'll have to see if it is her time or not, only Heavenly Father knows.

Well I don’t have much more to talk about, not much happened this past week. We are working very hard, and we are really trying to convert people, not just baptized them. I hope everything is well at home. You are always in my prayers. I know that this church is true. I know that sometimes Satan will fill our minds with doubts, but really lll we need to do is pray with our whole heart and soul, and the Lord will manifest to us his love and concern through the Holy Ghost. I know that only when we are humble and meek will the Holy Ghost manifest its power through us. That is one of the goals that I have for my life. Be more Humble so that the Holy Ghost can play a bigger role in my life. I love you all. Hope you all have a good week.

P.S. I attached a photo that we took with Elder Christofferson. Try and find out where I am!!! Also, mom, if you could send me the address of Sister Crays... I would like to write her. I don’t know why but I felt the impression to write her this past week. Well love you all!!!!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor