Ush Ush Ush, Papito Papito

Buenas Familia!!!

Well this past week was a really good week! And I have some really good news... we are going to have 5 baptisms this month! On august 17th, we will be blessed with the baptisms of Martha (a 45 year old Nicararaugan lady) and her friend Yazari and then the 24th we will have the mariage and
baptismal of the Reyes family, Daniel, Brenda, and their daughter Angie! I am so stoked! I just hope I am still here in Tres Rios for the baptisms and to help them get there. All 5 are super ready so I am so excited for them. All of them have really been tender mercies of the Lord, and I know that He
is really guiding our work here in Tres Rios.

Martha is one of those eternal investigators that we found one day when we were visiting a less active family. She has heard a lot about the church and she has had a ton of dreams about the church and she knows that it is true. (Latinos are always receiving revelation in their dreams, I am so jealous of that...) The holy Ghost really guided us to find Yazari. We were looking in the area book a couple of weeks ago because we really didn't have any investigators, and we came across her teaching record, and we felt the impression to call her. We called her, and turns out that she was going to be baptized a couple months ago, but then she left to go to Nicaragua and lost all contact with the missionaries and now here we are baptizing her haha. We were also very blessed when we found Daniel and Brenda. They were a reference from the sister missionaries, and they actually live in the area of the sisters, but they let us keep teaching  them! I love them and they are so ready to be baptized!

Well this week I have been studying a lot about the priesthood! We are so blessed to have this power on earth! I have also been studying a ton the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith! The light and truth in that book is ridiculous! I have learned so much from those books, the Teachings of the
Prophets. So you should all definitely study them!

Well sorry this letter is so short. I think I have hit that point in my mission where everyday feels like its 10 minutes long! I already have 14 months basically! I am dying haha. I love you all, take good care, and I will see you in just a few months. I hope everything is going well at home, and I know that the Lord is blessing our entire family! Love you!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor, capitan de Tres rios

Hey Taylor Family: I just wanted to say that you son is literally the best missionary in the mission and is my example and I am trying to serve like him. Thank you so much for raising a son like him. He is the most Christlike person I know.

Elder Michael Ellsworth

Bautismos up in Heyuh!

Buenas Familia!

So first off to answer Mom's questions...

1. Yes, there are not very many elders in our zone. We have 10 sisters, 2 normal elders, the 3 assistants to president, and 2 of the 4 secretaries! Haha its quite a different experience in this zone, but I love it!
2. Haha the spunky red haired sister is Hermana Bohr. She has like 2 months here on the misison, but shes awesome and she's really funny!
3. We do not do any cooking of our own...
4. I don't crave rice and beans. But being here in Costa Rica has changed like the cravings of my body. I can't eat very greasy food becuase it makes me feel a little sick haha
5. We talked with President about the facebook thing, and using iPads here on the mission.He said that we will not be able to use Facebook or even talk about using it until 2014... (side note: we cannot use it becuase in the latin american missions there are very very very disobedient elders...its a culture thing. So until some elders can show President that they can use Facebook, we can't use it...) and he said we will never be able to use iPads, because if someone found out that we had iPads here in the street they would kill us hahaha

Okay, well this past week was awesome! And guess why?! Becuase we were blessed with 10 investigators in church! I haven't done that since my time in Aserri haha. It was so awesome, we had 3 families there that we were teaching, and a ton of other people! Daniel and Brenda came, that one family that has a baptismal date for the 3rd of August. We had a really funny experience with them this past week. So they aren't married, which is a normal thing here in Costa Rica, so we had planned a sweet lesson about marriage because usually it is a very hard thing to accept for these people. So we get in the lesson and we start talking, and he says, "No its okay... we want to get married, we were actually planning on it..." And then we just sat there in silence for like a minute! It was awesome! This is such a golden familia, they are so ready to be baptized and help serve in the church! I really love them.

Oh also a funny thing that happened this week. So we had a ward mission activity, and they aksed us to make a giant Book of Mormon for the activity! So Elder Schweinfurth and I made the Book of Mormon and it is so sick! It looks like the B.o.M from the 80's haha. Its cool because it has the introduction in it, and a lot of pictures of prophets and stories from the Book of Mormon. Funny story though, so we are supposed to use the Book to contact people in the street. The first time, we saw this old guy walking so we like smashed the Book of Mormon in the ground in front of him blocking his path and then we asked him, "Have you ever seen this book before?" It was actually really funny, and he asked us when he could get a copy. I love it haha, maybe the missionaries should try doing that in the states to baptize more... just kidding!

But yeah, sunday was a really good day, and the Lord blessed us a lot. I'm not gonna lie, there have been times especially in this last transfer where I have been asking the Lord, "Why... why is all this happening. We're being obedient, but why is all of this hard stuff happening withus..." Sunday morning was a day like that. But I really felt bad for murmuring, because really, if we are keeping our covenants, if we are  obedient and we are really trying to do the Lord's will, HE WILL BLESS US. We just need to have patience and wait for him, and really just endure to the end. Maybe we aren't going to see all the blessings we deserve in this life, in our missions or whatever, but if we endure to the end, we will see them, I know that.

Well, I'm sorry to hear that we are having to sell Grandpas house. I will always miss that house because I have so many amazing memories there. Like when Katie and Eric would always scare me and tell me there was a man in the sliding glass mirror in Deanna's old room, and how I would get freaked out by the Grandfather clock when I slept out in the piano room, but let Grandpa know that I love him, and I am always praying for him. I love him.

Okay, well I love all of you! Keep us in your prayers here in Costa Rica! I am always thinking about you guys, and I wish you the best. I love the mission and I wouldn't change this opportunity for anything, not even for a barrel full of Gusher juice! Ush! Papito! I love you all!

Pura Vida, Elder Taylor

I Love The Mission!

Buenas Familia!
Well I'm glad to hear that Dad and Mom got to spend some quality time with Joshua this past weekend! And I'm glad to hear that Dad is renovating the backyard! Try and get the fireplace to work so we can cook s'mores and stuff back there when I get back!

Well this past week was awesome! Elder Schweinfurth and I were really blessed with a lot of success. This past week we found a ton of new investigators and a ton of new families, so this next month in august we should be seeing a lot of baptisms! We are workin really hard with a family, Daniel and Brenda... They are amazing! They really have the desire to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and to find out if the Gospel really has been restored here on earth. They have a baptismal date for the 4th, so we will be working very hard with them to get them ready, they still need to be married, but once they know the book of Mormon and the church are true, everything will fall into place, so I am very excited for them.

We also found a new investigator, Yerlin. She is the mom of a member in our ward. Our first lesson with her was awesome! She is a member of a Pentecostal church (Gift of tounges, people falling and rolling around on the ground church...) So it was really interesting how we taught her. I love teaching people that already have a little bit of knowledge of the gospel, becuase when you teach them you can get deep down into the "meat" of the gospel, and you don't have to just give them the "milk" (I don't know if you have read that Cleon Skousen talk about the history of God's creations...) Well we had a sweet lesson with her, and she prayed to know if the church was true in the end! I love it!

Something awesome that I have seen now, is that people really understand my lessons now. Thats something we are really working on in the mission, and I have noticed that I am teaching with more power and authority. It just is hard when people understand what they need to do, but they just are willing to be humble to change their bad habits, and really hand over their will to follow God's will. That is frustrating, but hey, everybody has their will and free agency, and we are just here in this life to learn how to throw away our free will, and follow the will of God.

Well sorry this letter doesn't have much. I hope everything is going well at home. Oh hey, I have been thinking a lot about what I would like to do when I'm older... and I would love to do something like teaching religion or a scripture class... I would love that! But we will have to see how everything goes! Okay well, I love you all, I hope everything is going well, and I am always praying for you! Take care, and keep on helping in missionary work!

Pura Vida,
Elder Taylor

P.S. Here are some recent photos

One is of our old Zone! The other ones are our new zone in front of the Basilica! Thats the big catholic cathedral in Cartago. Its huge. We walked through it too, and you could just feel that the spirit wasn't there, it was a really cold and dark feeling! The instant we got back outside, you could feel the spirit again! How nuts is that!

I Love Three Rivers

Buenas Familia!
So first off to answer a few questions...

1) Uhm, yeah I guess you can say that I have a lot of contact with President Wilkinson. We're in the office a lot because the Assistants and the Secretaries are in our zone, so ocassionaly we see President there. Also when their is a missionary that needs a little bit of help or has to stay in the office, President usually sends him to go on divisions with us because we are the Zone Leaders that are closest to the office and everything.

Well, this week has been awesome! Elder Schweinfurth and I have been working a ton to gain the confidence of all the members and they are helping us out so much! I love it! This week we visited all the strongest members in our ward and it was so great to see how excited they are to help us, so
this upcoming week we should see a lot of the fruits of our week the past week. The thing is, I guess Elder Cruz would just talk a little strong with the members so they didn't like him that much here. I think that's why President sent me to this area, because the ward is amazingly strong (it's probably the strongest ward in the country) and he knows that Elder Schweinfurth and I work well with members. We have a few families that are progressing right now, and probably in August we will be seeing a lot of baptisms here in Tres Rios, it's just hard because right now we are trying to change how people think of the missionaries here in Tres Rios and we are trying to gain their confidence.

So this week started off really bad. We had no one, we had no lessons, and we were just trying so hard to find someone to teach... So Wednesday we decided to fast. That day we taught a ton of lessons, and we found a couple families that were really interested in hearing us. I love fasting because it really works! Like it says in Isaiah 58:8-9... "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer, thou shalt cry, and he shall say Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity;" We
have seen the hand of the Lord here in Tres Rios, and I know that through our obedience and faith we will continue to see miracles here!

Well, I love all of you! It's good to hear that Dad could finally fix up the backyard. I'm excited to come back and see it all new! Well I love you all, I hope and pray that everything is going well at home. I am always thinking about you guys, and your safety! Love you! Take care!

Pura Vida,
Elder Taylor

P.S. I have some photos that I am trying to send... but the computer here is
slow so we will have to wait till next week! Sorry!

Fun Times in Tres Rios

Buenas Familia!

So this past week we had changes! Right now I have a new companion, Elder Schwienfurth from Guatemala! He is awesome and he speaks really good English ( he doesn't have an accent at all and he's fluent and everything). He's awesome and I'm stoked to work with him. You're probably wondering why his last name is Schwienfurth, well it's because his Grandpa is from Germany, and he immigrated to Honduras during World War II...

So this past week in Tres Rios was a little weird! At the beginning of the week, Elder Cruz and I were working in a trio (3 missionaries in a companionship) with a new Elder from Mexico that had just arrived! After that we had changes on thursday, but then on friday Elder Schweinfurth and I were working with another new missionary that had Emergency Transfers from his misison in Honduras to Costa Rica! So basically we didn't have a lot of time to work in our area because we were all over San Jose with the new missionaries! But this next week should settle down and we should get down to working like normal again.

Well sadly, the family that was going to get baptized and married the 29th fell through. It's frustrating because they are such a great family, but they do not want to get married for 3 months. Usually when someone says that it is because they don't want to be married so they are just making up an excuse. How sad!!! But we will go on, and right now Elder Schwienfurth and I are working a ton with the members here. Elder Cruz had kind of an iffy relationship with the members here, but all of them are super excited to work with us now, and have already given us a ton of references! I love working with members because it makes missionary work so much easier! (GIVE THE MISSIONARIES REFERENCES!!!)

Well that's about all that has happened this week. I am super stoked that Eric and Shelby took out their endowments! Ush!!! I love the temple and I am so glad that they were able to reach this milestone in their lives. Now they just need to wait till May for their sealing so I can be there! Just kidding, they need to do it in October!!!!

Well, Eric I want to wish you a happy birthday! I looe you, Brother! I am so thankful for the changes you have made in your life, for the example you have been to me, and how you have used the atonement to change and sanctify for life. I admire that so much. I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and I exhort you to go to the temple, and ponder and meditate in sincere prayer to find out what life holds for you! Love you Brother!

Well, Family and friends I love all of you! I hope you guys have an amazing week! I hope that everything is going well in schooling and church and in all your lives! Love you all, and I hope you know that I am always thinking and praying for you guys!

Have a sweet week!
Pura Vida,
Elder Taylor