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