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