Temple

Buenas Familia!!!!

First off to answer questions...

1)      The Wilkinson's have 4 kids down here in Costa Rica. Mary is 18 years old and is going off to BYU-I this summer. Eliza is like 15 years old, Emma and Joseph are twins and they are twelve years old. I love them, they are awesome children, and it is fun to see President interact with them.

2)      Uhm, sometimes we eat American food. It is usually like KFC, Taco Bell, or something like that in the mall here haha, but this Sunday we went to a member's house and she made us Shepherd's Pie!!! She got the recipe from a gringo missionary that was serving here a long time ago haha

3)      You didn't send me stain stick, but don't worry about it. Chicks dig stains...

Well, so this last week has been awesome. We have been working a ton with a family, Jimmy and Marilyn, and tonight we should put their baptismal and marriage date for the 29th, this Saturday! Hopefully everything goes well, and they can be married and baptized that day, the only thing is Marilyn wants a huge wedding, and wants to wait 6 months to get married, (but when they say that it is just an excuse haha) so hopefully all goes well! Just pray for them that all can go through this Saturday!

Also this week was awesome because we went to the Temple! I love the temple so much! We did a session, and I really learned a ton this last time. I think because I was more focused on learning and receiving revelation than on other things, and I fill like I really learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation. It was even better because this last week I have been studying a ton of the Old Testament. I love the Old Testament so much! There is so much symbolism, it is like learning in parables, I love it haha. Something interesting is to see how Christ has always taught in parables and symbols.

In the Old Testament, we have the Law of Moses (everything in it, rituals, things they ate etc... has a meaning) then we have his parables in the New Testament, and then it continues on nowadays! I love it! It is so amazing to learn from the spirit as we study the holy scriptures, and then to receive impressions on how we can apply these principles to the lives of our investigators, and also to our own lives.

Well, sorry I don't have much to say, things are going well here in Tres Rios. Oh one question, could you guys get me the address of John Dunn? That would be awesome!

Dad, I hope that you have a great birthday this Saturday. I hope you're excited to be an Old Man. When I get back I won’t be able to wrestle with you or anything because you will be a senior citizen, and I will probably hurt your back or something! No just kidding! Dad, I love you. Thank you for always working so hard to guide me in this gospel. Thank you for working so hard to guide our family. I know that I will follow your humble, and hardworking example as a father. Thank you for never letting me give up on certain things (Basketball... Scouts... Piano... etc...) because I was able to learn so much about discipline, and diligence. I love you Dad, have a wonderful Birthday!!!!

Love you all, se cuiden,

Elder Taylor capitan de tres rios

P.S. I have pictures to send, but I forgot my camera...

Three Rivuhz!

Buenas Familia!

So the dude next to me is listening to death metal and playing some facebook book computer game, so we'll have to see if I can concentrate...

Answers to your questions!

1)       We have Zone Conference about 1-2 times a month! In Zone Conferences we have to give training about the things that our zone needs to do better and all of that good stuff!

2)       The sister missionaries that live behind us cut my hair a few days ago! Her name is Sister Zumba from El Salvador, and she actually cut my hair super good!

3)       Hmm, so our current ward mission leader is okay. We don't really work with him that much, because he is a little lazy (like every ward mission leader in this country) So yeah, its alright I guess, but it's not like he does much for us.

4)       My favorite food to eat down here is probably gallo pinto with natilla (fried rice and beans with sour cream) It's amazing when people know how to make it! It's basically the national food here in Costa Rica.

5)       Yeah they sell peanut butter here, in fact they have a few places Pricesmart (Costa Rican equivalent of Costco) Auto Mercado and Walmart that sell basically gringo food.

6)       There is a Wal-Mart in my area now! I love it because I can buy American things! And it's a lot different than Wal-mart in the States. There aren't any Wal-martians there, they are all in the pulperias (Costa Rican food stores)

7)       I have felt very dehydrated here in the mission because they only drink soda here! We had problems with investigators because they said they had no money to go to church hen they were spending 70 bucks a month on Coca Colas! You don’t drink water in this country, its not bad or anything, but they ust always drink soda in this culture.

8)       President and Sister Wilkinson are doing well. President has gotten a lot of beef from the Area Presidency because Costa Rica hasn't been baptizing that much, but he is doing as good as he can with the missionaries he has (sister missionaries... just kidding!) Remember how like 4 weeks ago Elder Cruz had a dream that we needed to teach President and his kids a lesson? Well we went to their house and taught them a a little about fore ordination using Esther 4 and a few other stories from the bible, and it was AWESOME! Everyone was crying, and President's daughter told us after the lesson that she had been praying to have strength and that we were the answer to her prayers! I love being a missionary and following the Spirit!

9)       Yes, I sadly drink soda a lot here...

10)   I have never driven a car! We can only drive if we are secretaries or Assistants, and I will never be either one of those so it's okay!

11)   Sadly, I have not played the piano yet here in Tres Rios. This ward here is basically the same as our ward in California. It's huge and there is a lot of leadership and good members. Sadly there is also a lot of pride here, so we will need to help the members be a little less arrogant haha

Well, this week went well here in Tres Rios. We brought 12 less actives to church on Sunday! We are really focusing on re-activating families, and helping them to be sealed this year, and right now we have a couple of families that should be sealed in a couple of months. 

Sweet story of the week, so we are working with a family, Jimmy and Marilyn, and they have been investigators here for 9 months. The problem is they want to be baptized, but Marilyn doesn't want to marry Jimmy. We talked a ton with Jimmy and fought out that Marilyn doesn't want to marry him because he isn't romantic enough! SO we bought him flowers candies and a whole bunch of stuff to surprise Marilyn and propose to her, and she said YES! So we will have to see if they will finally be baptized the 29th of this month. We are planning on putting on a sweet dinner for them so Jimmy can put the baptismal date and all of that! But it was awesome!!!!

Also this week we got a call at like 7 in the morning that the government was destroying one of the sister missionaries’ investigator´s house! It turns out, this family is super poor, and they found government land (land put aside to build parks, playgrounds, soccer fields) and they built a house there. So we had to come in the morning and destroy their house! Like literally, we were smashing their walls with hammers, and kicking open doors and stuff, it was awesome! But now we are helping them to rebuild their house. But the sweet part is, I was talking with the dad a couple days ago. His name is Roger, and I as asking him how he felt and he said, " You know what, the night before we found out that they were going to destroy our ouse, I read the book of Job with my wife. We have no reason to complain. I will keep my faith in Christ, and I know he will provide for me." They are getting baptized this week. How amazing is the testimony of a future convert. I love his gospel!

Well not much new has happened this past week. I'm glad that Mom and Dad have a week off to relax and enjoy time with Katie and Cam and Joshua. I hope everything is well back at home. It's good to hear that Jase has that gig with the college, it will be sweet to have a professor as a brother. Well I love all of you. I know that this church is true! I know God loves us, and he answers our prayers! I have seen that countless times here in the mission! Take care, and keep on choosing the right. Love you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

Photos: today for p-day we went to some sweet ruins. I don’t remember what they are called but they were pretty cool haha, some ruins in Cartago!

Cortando la Jupa (6/10/13)

Buenas Familia!

Primeramente, vamos a contestar algunas preguntas!

1.       Haha I’ve used the tiny little speakers a couple of times. The only thing is they are like cheetah fur patterned, and look a little effeminate haha

2.       Yeah could you send me the Disneyland photo, I would love it! Or other photos of like the family or members of the family! Thanks!

3.       No, no worries, nothing exploded in the box you sent me!

4.       Hmm... No I have loved everything you have sent me, and the authorities here haven´t detained anything here in the post office so everything has been awesome.

5.       Uhmm... no I think everything is going good, nobody here needs anything, thank you!

Okay, so this week was a little bit different... Starting out Sunday night, we got a call from President Wilkinson, and he just finished receiving revelation. He asked us if our Zone could baptized 3 people a week, and if every companionship could teach 30 lessons a week. For us, that isn´t difficult, but for our zone it´s a little bit of a stretch haha. Our zone is the "hard" zone in the mission, and we have some companionships that are teaching around 5 lessons a week (they are in the "Wexford" area of San Jose). So when we challenged our missionaries to reach 30 lessons a week, everyone started complaining and thinking that it was impossible. But you know what, they worked their bums off and we almost got 30 lessons a week from every companionship! It was awesome. I love seeing how revelation here in the mission really is directly from our Father in Heaven, and when we try and follow his will and be obedient to his commands, we can reach things that we never thought were possible! So that was awesome to see how our missionaries (especially the sister missionaries) were stepping up to the plate and trying to reach this goal.

Well other cool thing that happened this week, we had our Counsel of Leaders this past Friday. That´s where all the Zone Leaders have a counsel with President Wilkinson about the things that we need to change and do better here in the mission. It wasn´t very effective, and something I saw is that we just kind of beat around the bush on a lot of subjects. That´s something that really bothers me about counsels in the church, sometimes all we do is move around the point or we get off topic all together, but I’ll stop my complaining haha. Well we had a special guest during the counsel, Elder Kevin Duncan of the seventy was there. After the counsel, he talked to us about thirty minutes, and he had some really good points. He hadn´t prepared anything but he basically just paid really good attention and then he gave us four points that we need to ponder in the mission.

1.       We need to be more dignified, do our investigators see us as representatives of Jesus Christ? He cortó la jupa ( he chopped our head or basically told us we need to get way better at that).

2.       What are our motives for baptizing (he talked a lot about priestcrafts, making ourselves a light for the world and trying to gain recognition with our numbers.

3.       We need to recognize that this is the work of the Lord, not the work of President. When he receives revelation, it is the Lord. We need to focus on that.

4.       That the Lord has given us talents, and we need to multiply our talents here in the mission. We cannot expect anything in return for our service. We serve missions because we love the Lord. Not because we can be Assistant to the President, or a Zone Leader, or Trainer..

It was really interesting the things he said, and I could tell that they were from the Lord, and he as President of the Area was receiving revelation to help motivate us and help us a little more here in Costa Rica.

Well, that was the special thing that happened this week. Possibly we have a few baptisms this upcoming month, I sure hope so! We just need to help a few families get married (like always haha).

I love the mission. I love everything that I am learning here, and all the feeling that I am feeling. I love the new light that I have found in my life here on the mission, and I hope all the young men in Yorba Linda can experience the power of conversion to this gospel. It´s all true, everything. We just need to act on our faith, kneel down, and ask our Heavenly Father, and he will answer us.

Love you! Hope you have a great Father´s day Dad! I am really so thankful for the influence you have had on my life. For all the sacrifices you have made to allow me to reach the potential that I have in this life. I will always remember all the amazing times we had together as I grew up, especially all the camping trips and PYB basketball (the good ole days haha). I love you Dad, and I hope someday I can be as dedicated of a Father as you are!

Okay Love you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

The Best, Most Challenging, Most Painful, Stressfull, and Joyful Year of my Life! (6/3/13)

Buenas Familia!

First off to answer Mom´s questions...

1)      Elder Cruz and I are getting along super well. He´s an awesome missionary, and a super funny guy, I am really learning a ton from him!

2)      The new ward is a little different than Aserri. In Aserri I knew everybody and they would just give me references like crazy because they loved me. Right now I don´t know many members, but something I am noticing is that there is a lot of pride and arrogance in this ward, so we´re going to have to work to get rid of that!

3)      Yes, we walk like nuts in this area. But the difference is, it is always raining here! So we always get back to the house sopping wet and muddy! Haha it is supposed to rain everyday here for like the next 2 months!

4)      Yes I got my second box! Thank you so very much Mom and Dad for everything! It was so awesome, and I really can use a bunch of the stuff that you sent me! Thank you, Love you guys!

5)      Could you guys send me like a family picture or something? Elder Mendoza was cleaning our house about 2 months ago, and he threw away our family picture...

6)      No, I don´t really need anything right now, but I´ll let you know when I need something, thank you so much!

Well, this week was awesome! Elder Cruz and I have been working super hard because President Wilkinson is really focusing on baptisms now. Our baptismal goal for the month is 150, the last month we had 120 but President is hoping for more. He´s asking for three baptisms a week from every zone so that’s like 12 baptism per zone every month. That is very difficult to reach here in San Jose central, but we are working our "bums" off to try and reach it.

This week we have been working a ton with an investigator, Ricardo. He is 20 years old, and he wants to be baptized, the only thing holding him back is his work. He has to work Sundays, but he needs to come to church one more time to be baptized. But the amazing thing is we had a lesson with him, and during the lesson he stopped us and starting calling people to take his shift at work. After about 5 people, everyone said no, but it is amazing to see his faith, that he is willing to change everything to be baptized. The only thing that is holding him back from quitting his job is that he has a contract with his boss, and he can´t quit. We´ll see if he can be baptized this next week. We also have a super sweet family, Jimmy and Marilyn, that are eternal investigators. They have received the missionaries for 8 months, but we are really pushing for their baptism this month. They want to be baptized, but the only thing holding them back is... MARRIAGE! Welcome to Costa Rica, you can live 20 years together, but everybody has a huge fear of getting married, because supposedly after marriage " everyone separates..." It’s such a ridiculous tradition in this country! But yeah, we should have about 4 baptism this month, maybe 5, just pray for us please and our investigators!!!!

Well, Dad I loved the way you and Brother England described the different types of people and the kingdom of glory that they will inherit. This week Elder Cruz and I were studying Alma 32, and this describes the three types of people in this world. The chapter describes the poor people that were kicked out of their synagogues by the Zoramites. It describes three types of people... 1. Those who are obligated and forced to be humble, and choose the right because of their suffering 2. Those who need to know everything before they will believe and act on their faith 3. Those who act on their faith because they desire to come unto Christ, and keep his commandments because they love him.

In this life, we strive to be someone that follows Christ because we love him. We don’t follow Christ, and keep his commandments because it is our duty our responsibility, that is a terrestrial attitude. Then there are people that follow the commandments because they have to, and they fear the consequences that their disobedience has... that is a telestial attitude. Your letter Dad, just reminded me of all of this haha

Well Family, friends, I love all of you. You are constantly in my prayers, and I wish and hope the best for every one of you. Keep going strong. I have one year in the mission already, that’s NUTS! I don’t have many words to describe this past year of my life, but here goes, I will try to describe it...

This past year has been...

·         Amazing

·         Challenging

·         Sweaty

·         Hilarious

·         Very Scary

·         Spanish-y

·         Stressful

·         Fantastic

·         Tiring

·         Growing

and I have really learned to love this gospel, and love my Saviour

Well, love you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor