It Rains A Lot in Costa Rica

Buenas Familia!!!

First off, to answer your questions...

1)      No, most Ticos have doors to enter their houses, but sometimes if we are in a really poor area or a really hot area (Guacimo, my first area) they only have curtains that act as doors inside of the house.

2)      I have no idea what the address of our apartment is. It would be really close to the cemetery though, and the apartment here is horrendously small! It's ridiculously small haha, our beds are right next to our desks. Next week I will have to send photos.

3)      I have no idea what the address of our ward building is. It's in a residence called "La Arboleda" and it’s close to the cemetery also.

4)      Sister missionaries always have so much drama and problems! And sometimes they can be really prideful, and they won't follow our guidance. So we will have to see if I can win their confidence so they can start listening to me and trying a little harder in their areas.

5)      I received one box! I got the one that had a lot of candy in it, the other one I haven't received yet, and I really need it because I need Gel haha, but we'll see if it gets here in a couple of weeks.

Well, this week was awesome in Tres Rios. The best part was the baptism of Nixon, Tania, and their son Eduardo! I love them so much, and they are such an awesome family! And even better, there were about 60 people at the baptism, and that is super awesome! I knew that Nixon and Tania could feel so much support from the ward, and that is what every new convert needs.

Well fun fact: This week it rained a ton every day! It was the first time in my mission that I had used that big great jacket that Dad bought for me from Mr. Mac. I love it, because here in Tres Rios its actually pretty cold, and with the rain it’s a little miserable, but thank goodness that Mr. Mac saves the day again!

Well right now we are really focusing on finding people to teach and baptized for this next upcoming month. We already have about 3 people in mind: Ricardo (Nixon´s brother) Ingrid (a 15 year old girl from Nicaragua) and Mayra (Ingrid's 20 year old sister). We are teaching Ingrid's whole family but we are most sure about Ingrid's and Mayra's baptisms. So 3 baptisms the next month will be sweet. It's really different working here in San Jose central because the work here is really tough. This last month in our zone we had about 9 baptisms (one of the best months here in Zone Los Yoses) but we are really trying to get up to about 15 a month. If we can do that, it will be amazing!

So yeah, that's about it for this week. We worked really hard this week, and I am incredibly tired. I feel like my gospel knowledge is really improving right now, because Elder Cruz knows so much doctrine, and he knows how to teach it to anybody so that anybody can understand, so I am learning a ton about how to teach better. Oh cool thing also, so this morning Elder Cruz woke me up and told me that he has been having recurring dreams. And in this dream, we are teaching President Wilkinsons’ kids in English about their purpose here on the mission. So we called President this morning and he invited us over to his house to teach his kids a lesson! It's going to be awesome, my first lesson in English with a companion that doesn't speak it, and all with my Mission President and his family haha how sweet!

Well, I love all of you so very much, and I am looking forward to seeing you all in a year!

Well Mom and Dad, you guys need to invite Mr. Tang (Tong) to family night with the missionaries! You guys can help him in his conversion so much, just contact the missionaries and ask them what time you can go over to his house to introduce yourself! Do it, and I know you will not regret it!

Okay, Love you all. Thank you Dad for your letter, I loved how you described the apostles and your work! Okay I will see you all next week! Chao!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. Today we went hiking in the mountains, and two sister missionaries felt into a little 6 inch deep river. It was utterly hilarious because they were screaming and they were helpless in the river, so we had to help them up. It was AWESOME! 

P.P.S. I love the mission!