I love to Fast!!!!

Buenas Familia!!!

First of to answer mom's questions...

1. We are not totally sure if I have Giardia or not, but I have all the symptoms. I have to take a few tests and then we will actually be able to see if that is what I have....
2. Oh goodness, Costa Ricans always sing three hymns, always... "Deja que el Espiritu te enseñe" (Let the spirit teach you), " For the Beauty of the Earth" and " Rock of Ages!" Haha and I love "For the Beauty of the Earth" But literally these are the three songs that we sing every single week in Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School.
3. There are a lot of homosexuals in this country, I guess because it is such a liberal country, but yeah we see them all the time haha
4. There are a ton of stray dogs where I am. They are nasty disgusting, and they look like those zombie dogs from "I am Legend". Welcome to Central America haha
5. Weirdest Costa Rica store I have ever been too... Well there are a ton here. I just went to a rip-off of Wal-Mart called Pequeño Mundo (Little World) and it is like the Mexican version of Wal-Mart. It was awesome, cheap and I bought a whole bag of Werther's caramels for 70 cents!!!!
6. I haven't really played board games with other Elders, we usually do physical stuff like basketball or soccer.
7. I cook eggs, hot-dogs, mac 'n' cheese. All that good stuff.
8. I don't have any Christmas decorations, because I gave them to some members when I left from Aserrí, but right now for Christmas you guys could send me some ties or a kind of thin sweater that I can use at church. Other than that don't worry about sending me big stuff, just like candies and that.

Okay, well this week was awesome!!!! So you may be asking why my title says that I love to fast... it´s because it is amazing! So this past weekend we were blessed with the baptism and marriage of Joel and Yosmari Sequeira Lacayo! It was awesome! So about a week ago, they did not want to get married, and we weren't very sure if they were going to get baptized. So Elder Schweinfurth and I decided to fast and we asked specifically that the Lord could touch their hearts and let them know how important this is in their lives.

 

That was Saturday and Sunday. Then on Tuesday, we had a lesson with them. We were talking about repentance, and baptism, and it was awesome becuase we asked Joel, " Do you think we should repent tomorrow, or today?" And he answered, " Today! We need to do it as fast as possible!!!" and then we challenged him, " Joel, will you be married and baptized this 23rd of November and complete your repentance process?" and he was like, " Oh crud... we need to do it!" And the rest is history.

 

Joel is like a big manly man, and he is a quiet guy that doesn't show his emotions that much, but during his confirmation and ordination to the priesthood he started to cry. He even told us that when he took the sacrament after his confirmation he started crying because he felt the Spirit so strong! He is so rad, and I seriously love him, and the power of fasting in our lives. The promises in Isaiah 58 will come true, just put your faith in this principle, and the Lord will do the rest.

 

Well that was the awesome experience of the week. I love you guys. I love my Saviour. I love this Gospel, and especially all the principals that I am learning here on the mission. I hope all is well at home, and I know the Lord will bless us according to our obedience. Love you all!!!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. I want to send pictures but... the adapter that I am using doesn't work... next week!!!! Love you!

November 18, 2013 E-Mail

Buenas Familia!

First off to answer mom's questions...

1. Uhm, sometimes I show my comp your emails, but mostly just photos from home when you send them in emails, and he also shows me photos of his family and stuff like that.
2. In Guacimo, we used some members bikes for about 8 hours, but at the end of the day I was riding the bike and chain broke! But no, the mission here doesn't allow us to use bikes because I guess there were problems with them in the past. We just use buses and we walk!
3. There aren't a ton of crazy street people that follow us and stuff. In Guacimo they was this "dumb" (he couldn't talk) guy that would chase us down in the street, and he could only make like crying dog noises. He liked to touch our faces and stuff haha. In Aserri there was this special guy named "Juju" that would always track us down in the street and yell, "GRINGOS!!!" and chase us down and hug us. One time we saw him from afar throwing up in the street, and then he saw us from like 2 km away and yelled, "GRINGOS!!!!" and started chasing after us. Luckily we didn't get a big vomity hug from him because we got away from him.
4. 4) I will send some pictures, but I haven't taken any for a couple of weeks! When I take them, I will send them, don't worry.

Okay, so this week was awesome! We had a multi-zone conference with President Wilkinson, and it was seriously amazing. He explained to us for 8 hours about our purpose as missionaries, and how we need to invite these people to baptism a lot more, and with more power. That helped Elder Schweinfurth and I as we put 7 baptismal dates this past week, and we put 4 yesterday (that is a ton in this mission.)

Well I have a really funny experience and I hope tht Eric and Shelby read this letter. So we are the zone leaders of the rich part of San Jose, and the stake center is in a part of San Jose called San Pedro ( one of the richest parts of the country.) We also see a ton of Americans that are visiting Costa Rica  in San Pedro. The other day we had a district meeting and we were waiting to cross the street when I saw an American couple with bug hiking backpacks on. (The Americans in Costa Rica always have big hiking backpacks on haha) And I seriously saw Eric and Shelby's twins! They were across the street and I could not believe it, I was like, "No way, why are they here, and how did they know that I was going to be here!!!!!" Well, I started waving to them and laughing and telling Elder Schweinfurth that the dude was Eric, and then we started crossing the street, and I noticed that they weren't Eric and Shelby, and they gave me a super dirty look. Needless to say it was awesome, because I seriously thought they were Eric and Shelby haha.

Well pray for us a lot this week because we possibly have 2 baptisms this weekend. They are a family called Joel and Yosmari, and they are super awesome! Only thing is Joel is afraid to get married, (like every man here haha). So please pray for them and let them feel the need to be baptized and married this weekend. We should also be having quite a few baptisms this upcoming month, so that will be awesome!

This area though has been so hard for me. It has been really difficult for me to baptize and find chosen people here, and I don't know why. I think the Lord is allowing me to be a little more humble, and learn how to be a better misisonary. Well it is really working haha. 

Oh P.S. Another cool thing... well remember that "Bacteria" I had?! I just talked to the doctor in Guatemala, and possibly I have Giardia hahaha. What the heck! That stinks haha, I have to take a few tests to see if it is Giardia or what, but don't worry I'll be fine, Giardia doesn't kill people!

I love the mission. I love every single experience and feeling that I have felt here, because I know that I am having them to make me stronger. I love this gospel so much, and every time I repent, I gain a stronger testimony of the atonement of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all, and I hope everything is going well at home. Love you guys!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

November 11, 2013 E-Mail

Buenas Familia!!!!

Well first off to answer questions....

1. Well, I deferred to the fall semester in 2014, but we will have to see what I do. I still have a ton of time here to think about it, but I am leaning towards going summer term, because I don't want to be home chilling forever haha, but I still have 7 months to think about all that.
2. I did fill out the FERPA so you guys could do my stuff
3. I still haven't had the chance to ask President about that, but I will in a little bit, I still have a lot of time left, and I don't want to already be worrying about all that.
4. Yes, there is a change in the weather here! It is raining like crazy! And it is cold freezing rain haha. I guess we are starting to eter the dry times here in Costa Rica, but it is still raining like crazy here!
5. I haven't eaten that much popcorn here. I have never had a microwave here on the mission so we can never just microwave popcorn.
6. My favorite dessert here would be fruit salad with Ice Cream. It´s super good because the fruit here is awesome!
7. We went to the Costa Rican Costco today. We just buy like sandwich materials, (it is super hard and expensive to find peanut butter here...) and eggs and stuff for like breakfast and lunch and snacks.
8. I used to eat ice cream like everyday here! But here in Tres Rios, there aren't that many little stores (here they are called pulperías...) so we have to go to the super market to get ice cream and we rarely have time to go there.
9. Costa Ricans do not have thanksgiving! They don't have Halloween either. They only celebrate Catholic Holidays here, (Semana Santa, Christmas... things like that.)

Well things are going awesome here! I love our investigators so much! We are teaching this one family, Ricardo and Alicia. They are in their 50's and are super awesome! Ricardo is from Paso Canoas, (that is the border between Costa Rica and Panama) but he recently came back to live here with his wife in Tres Rios. Alicia doesn't like Paso Canoas because 8 years ago they were robbed in the street and they shot Ricardo at point blank in the back with a shotgun!!! That is nuts! And he survived! So he is in a wheel chair now, but he is seriously the most humble, quiet, and reverent man ever. But it was really funny becuase a couple weeks ago when we first met him he was like,"Elder Taylor, want to see the scar?"  And he had a huge hole in his back! I love them so much though! They are such a great family and they have really felt the love of our ward here in Tres Rios. They will have a baptismal date for the 30th of this month.

We also have a sweet family, Joel and Yosmari. They are awesome, and they are changing so much! I really love how this gospel really changes people. Joel is a man that has a ton of peircings, (eyebrow, lip, earrings... everything) and everytime we see him he is little by little taking out all of his peircings. Those are the quiet but powerful changes we see in people when they begin to become converted. They have a baptismal date for the 23rd! They are awesome!

We are also teaching a ton of families that need to be divorced, and then remarried with their new partner! It is so difficult becuase they are so stoked about baptism, but divorces here take forever, and even worse, a lot of their ex-spouses live in other countries...(Spain, Guatemala, Nicaragua...). Basically everyone we find needs a divorce haha.

I really love the mission. I love how much God is allowing me to grow here. The most important thing that I have learned here on my mission, is the peace, happiness, and powere we feel when we follow the will of God. That is why we are here on earth. To follow the will of God. If we don't like doing His will, then how would we ever enjoy living in his presence in the Celestial Kingdom. I love my Father in Heaven, and I am learning more about him everyday here on my mission. I love you all, and I am always praying for your well-being. I hope all is well in the good old USA. Love you all!!!!

Pura vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. Sorry I don't have any new pictures, I'll try and send some next week!!!

November 4, 2013 E-Mail

Buenas Familia!!!

First off to answer Mom's questions...

1. Hmm... well I have seen a ton of huge bugs down here... when I was starting my mission, I was in the jungle with our zone and we saw a 5 cm ant. It was huge like 2 inches long and it had a huge stinger! But  have seen a ton of huge spiders and stuff here, and a ton of huge centipedes and stuff like that.
2. Has anythng ever flown in my hair, no I don't think so!
3. I got sick a couple of weeks ago becuase I ate a really nasty microwave burrito at a members house, and because I was still flushing out that bacteria that I got a couple of weeks ago!
4. I really miss eating french fries, and I miss Chicken Divan haha, I also really miss eating real meat, and not just chicken all the time. (They don't like eating red meats here...)
5. I am so latin that I throw my used toilet paper in the trash now!!! Haha I know it's bad but it has become a habit.
6. I never get to play volleyball. Here all we play is soccer, soccer and more soccer. I don't like it because Ticos are super good at soccer because that is all they do!
7. No I think I am good, I'll let you know if I need anything.
8. On Halloween this year we worked! They don't celebrate Halloween here, so we just worked and it was like any other day haha

Well here's the big news... I am staying in Tres Rios! I am going to have like 8 months here by the end of this next change, but I love it! I will still be here with Elder Schweinfurth, so we will have 6 months together at the end of this change. Crazy huh!

Well things ae going well in our area, and in the zone. We have a few people that could be getting baptized in the next couple of weeks, A family named Alicia and Ricardo (who are super awesome and super humble) and a few other people. I really love this area because the members are helping us a ton, and they are just great people.

This past friday we had the Leadership Council with President Wilkinson, and that is always a great opportunity to learn. He talked to us a lot about leadership because we are going to be seeing a ton of new Zone Leaders in the upcoming months. (President asked everybody that was going to be leaving between now and January and 12 of the 26 zone leaders raised their hands haha) So we are really focusing on trying to help make more leaders here in the mission!

Sorry this letter isn't very exciting. This past week I have been studying a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love the Atonement so much. I really was focused on how Jesus Christ accepted the will of the Father in everything he did. Before this life Christ accepted to follow the will of the Father, and throughout his life he re-iterated that fact. Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, he being a God, was surprised by how much anguish he was experiencing, and even asked God to allow him to do this great task in any other way, but nevertheless he chose to suffocate his will in the will of the Father. That is why we are here on earth. Sometimes it is hard, but we must always choose the will of our Father in Heaven, and that is when we can find real peace of conscience in this life. I love the Atonement, and I love repenting haha, I feel so good after I choose to follow the will of our Father in Heaven!!!

I love studying the scriptures also. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up though, so I will still have to ponder and pray about that haha, I wish I had antoher 2 years to do that! Well mom, I have been talking with Randy, I think I want to do summer term when I get back, so I don't know if you could look some of that stuff up. I am also going to talk with President Wilkinson to see if I can start using BYU.edu to start preparing for that!

Well I love you all. I know that this is the true church, and I love Costa Rica, and all the people here. They are so blessed and there are so many miracles happening here in this country. I love you all, take care!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. say hi to Daniel Dekker for me! Love you all!