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