Pura Vida in Aserri

Buenas Familia!

Primeramente, las preguntas...

1)      Any interesting street people that follow us around... So in Guacimo there was this mute guy that would always chase after us and try and touch us, and here in Aserri there is a special man named JuJu that always follows us. So JuJu lives by our cook, so whenever he sees us he always yells, "Gringos!!!" and then he hugs us for like 30 seconds each, and he always asks about the other gringos (my past companions here). He smells really bad, and he last time he hugged us, he had just finished vomiting in the street! JuJu rocks!

2)      Virgilio is doing good I suppose. I haven't heard much about him. The last I heard is that he was in Don Bosco (it's like 2 cities away from here) He contacted the missionaries there and told them to tell me Hi, and that he is really trying to turn his life around. I love Virgilio, and I really hope that he can do that!

3)      No, I have only dreamed in Spanish one time! It's really weird though haha

4)      And yes, it is very difficult to think and especially speak in English. Its super embarrassing because President Wilkinson called us about 2 weeks ago, and I answered and I really couldn't speak to him in English, I was stumbling through everything haha, but I am already forgetting how to spell and speak in English.

5)      Yes, people "try" to read my emails, haha in the culture here in Costa Rica, that is acceptable! Latins are super different from us!

6)      I just keep my letters on the computer, I don't have money to print them out every week! But we have an hour and a half to read and write family so no worries, send me long letters!

7)      My garments and my shirts are holding up well, I could use more axe gel (the red axe gel) and yeah basically that, because I don’t have any more gel!

Okay well this past week we were blessed with 2 baptisms!!!! Alejandra and Yacssenia! So in this email I sent like 3 pictures of baptisms. The first is a picture of the baptism of Yesenia and her son Steven, another is the baptism of Tania (I was teaching Tania before I changed areas, and she asked if I could baptize her) and the last one is the baptism of Alejandra (the lighter skinned girl on the left) and Yacssenia (the darker skinned girl that is standing by me). We have been really blessed here in Aserri with a ton of baptisms, and a ton of spiritually prepared people.

So I am super excited for this next week because we will have 4 more baptisms! Deiver, Shirley and their two sons Jimmy and Kaleb. This baptism should be sweet because it’s a family! So one day about a month ago, Elder Hernandez and I were walking down a hill after lunch, and Deiver and Shirley were driving in a truck and stopped us in the street. They asked if we were missionaries, and if we could pass by their house one day. And now one month later they are getting baptized with their whole family.

This experience really shows how when we are obedient, the Holy Ghost really will guide every step of our lives. I remember a talk by Elder Bednar about recognizing the Holy Ghost, and he said that all we must do to have the Holy Ghost in our lives is, "be good boys and girls, keep our covenants and the Spirit will guide us." I know that is true. Whenever I have baptized a contact here in the mission, I can remember that every time the spirit guided us to this person, or gave us the impression to contact them. We cannot do this work without the Holy Ghost, like the Lord has told us in Doctrine and Covenants, we are not teaching with the spirit, we are not teaching in God's way!

Well, not many crazy things happened this week. I'm a little sick, (sore throat, body aches) but with a little rest today, I should be feeling better. Oh sad thing happened today... so the Assistants called us this morning, and Elder Hernandez had emergency changes!! Its because the area next to us, San Miguel, is one of the most dangerous areas in the mission, and a lot of people have been threatening this new American that was serving there. It’s like the 3rd time someone has threatened to kill American Missionaries there, so they decided to switch Elder Hernandez with the American, so we're going to have a new gringo here in Aserri!

Okay, well sorry if this letter isn't very chatty. I'll end with a spiritual experience that happened this week. So Friday we had 7 baptismal interviews here in Aserri, and after the interviews with Deiver and Shirley, I asked them how the interview went. Deiver answered me and said, "Man, I have never had to interview to join a church, never. This is for real. This is the true church of Christ here on earth... Thank you." I love Deiver. He is an amazing man, and will be an amazing member of the church in one week.

I love this church. I love my Saviour. I love the Book of Mormon. I love this opportunity to serve the Lord full time. I love everything I am learning, feeling and experiencing here in my mission. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to bless the lives of others. It is all true.

Love you and Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

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