Ush Papito... Costa Rica!

Buenas Familia!!!!

I hope everything is going well at home! It sure sounds like it! Well I am doing super well in Ojo de Agua! This week I got a new companion... Elder Velazquez! He's awesome, it's his first time being zone leader and he is actually from my group so he will be going home the same time as me!

So big news from this week... Elder Cook came and spoke to the whole mission this past week! On Friday we had a special mission conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook, Elder Carlos H. Amado, and Elder Cordon (Elder Cordon is an area seventy and I taught with him a couple of times in Tres Rios... he is a powerful teacher!!!) It was awesome. So we were all sitting there when Elder Cook got to the chapel, and he said, "Elders and Sisters... I would like to shake all your hands, but we are going to do something really special... You need to look directly in my eyes and we are going to have a spiritual interview..." And everyone got all quiet! It was an awesome experience, and you really can feel that he is an Apostle of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Elder Cook talked to us a lot about three different people that we must love. First off, we must love the people of Costa Rica, second off we must love our mission president, and last off we must love the Saviour. He also told us that the biggest factor that goes into where a missionary serves his mission is the mission president. Elder Cook said that we are sent to a mission where we will serve under a misison president that will bless us the most! I totally can feel that with President Wilkinson. He is so amazing, and he seriously has taught me so much about leadership skills, and ways to be a better leader in the Church after the mission! I love the mission!

So that was the big part of the week! I really love every moment here on the mission! Oh also a cool thing that happened this week, we found a family of 8! And we put a baptismal date with them, so we will try and do everything we can to help them to progress! Poor family though, It's a family of 5 daughters and 1 son, and the son is the youngest haha. But I am loving everything, and I am so stoked for what lies ahead in the future! I love you all, hope all is well. Send me pictures of Kenny and his wife, and also Tyler Abbot and his wife! Thanks!!!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

I love Costa Rica!

Buenas Familia!

First off to answer mom's questions...

1. I have started the application to be an EFY counselor, the only thing is you need a resume and I don't have one haha, maybe you could help me with that Mom or Dad?! Thanks! Haha
2. Today during p-day we are going to visit the converts of my companion Elder Baxin. He goes home this Saturday so this will be his last week here in the mission! So we will be going to one of his old areas to eat with a convert and then we will head back to our area for his farewell from the ward haha
3. One of the ward members, Patricia Gomez does our laundry and our cooking. She is so sweet and awesome! We call her Mom haha, because she is our mom here in Ojo de Agua.
4. I cut my own hair! Ush! I bought a razor for like 3 bucks when I started my mission. I have had it since. That is why my hair always looks screwed up in the pictures haha

Well this week was a little frustrating but I loved it! It was frustrating because we are still having problems getting people to church. Our area is super far away from the chapel, and there are barely any buses that pass by there, and we have almost no members in our area, so we are still trying to figure out the way to get people to church. However, if we keep working hard and if we are obedient and humble enough the Lord will really bless us. I remember when I was in Tres Rios, we had a really poor month personally in our area. It was a Sunday morning and we were walking to go pick up investigators in the morning, and while we were walking we got a phone call from our investigators that they weren't going to go to church. I remember that I was just thinking and praying and pleading with the Lord and asking him why we were struggling so bad, and why he had abondaned us... and that's when I felt the peaceful reassurance that all would be well. Later that day, I humbly prayed and asked forgiveness for my selfish thoughts, and we ended up having 9 investigators in church that day. The Lord tries our patience, and allows us to be humble before he blesses us. I love Him, because He knows exactly what I need to progress in this life, and He knows exactly how to help me grow. The mission is so cool, because like you said Dad, I have grown so much. I have come to know my Saviour like never before, and I have come to feel the sweet sweet peace of forgiveness in my life through the Atonement. I love this gospel! It is true. I know the Christ is my Saviour, and he laid down his life for me.

Well sorry this letter is so short, I don't have much time, but I know all is well at home. I love you all, and I hope that we can all keep having experiences with the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Love you guys so much!!!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. I am going to attach photos!

1) So last p-day we went on to Poas Volcano! Supposedly it is the second biggest crater in the world?! So here is a picture of the Volcano!

2) We also when a little hike from the crater, and we went and saw the old crater, which is now a crystal clear lake! It was so beautiful up there!

3) There were also some super awesome waterfalls!!!!

4) Me in front of a waterfall!

5) So after we went to the Volcano, we went to this sweet tourist place called La Paz Waterfall Gardens.... It is literally the most beautiful place ever!!! It was awesome because I took a picture with a toucan!!!

6) They also had this sweet butterfly garden, and all the butterflies were flying onto my bright yellos shirt! Here is one of the famous giant blue butterflies of Costa Rica!

7) They also had sweet poison dart frogs! They look fake because they are so brightly colored haha

8) A picture of the Zona Heredia! (Heredia Zone)

9) A picture with the Virgen Mary that lives at the end of our street!

Good Times on the Mission

Buenas Familia!

First off to answers Moms questions...

1. Yes, I have President Wilkinsons permission to use BYU.org now, I just am not sure if I am going to do summer or fall. Most likely it will be fall, and I will try and see if I can be an EFY counselor. That is what I wanted to do when I first started the mission, so we will see what I can do!
2. Do I have a favorite joke that I tell on the mission... hmmm I don't really tell jokes haha, well at least I don't know any jokes in Spanish... Latino humour is way different than American humour haha
3. I have only been robbed once. The area where I am in right now is super super laid back and chill, so nothing ever happens to anyone. I'm perfectly safe!
4. My eyes are holding up super well, and at least up to this point I don't need reading glasses.
5. I have never driven a car here in the mission! The only missionaries that have cars are the Assistants and the Secretaries.
6. I have never had fleas here on the mission thank goodness haha, but that is really common in Central American missions.

Okay, well this week was awesome! We found 18 new investigators this week, and they are ridiculously good and prepared by the Lord! So I have a really cool experience. So all this week I have been praying that we could find a family, because lately we have only been teaching like single people and their kids. So Tuesday, I was on divisions with Elder Richardson, he was in my MTC district, and he is AP. So we were on divisions and we were walking down the street, and we found a  baby goat tied up in front of this super big, nice house. So we started playing with the little goat ( it wagged its tail like a dog, and was following us all over the place) when the family walked out and we started talking to them about the goat. After a little we started talking to them about the Church, and they let us in and we taught them an awesome lesson! They are so rad, and they should be getting baptized this upcoming month! The Lord will bless us when we open our months. If we are keeping our covenants, the Lord will guide us to these people that need to hear us. It was a super cool experience haha, and the goat was so awesome too.

This week has been a little frustrating though. I have learned a lot about agency, and how we cannot change the agency of other people. Of all those new investigtors, only 3 showed up at church, and the rest just had a ton of excuses. But that is probably how our Father in heaven feels when we use our agency poorly. We will be working a lot with these new investigators though, so they can start progressing and be baptized.

Well I absolutely love the mission! This week was expactacular, and even better... we went to the temple on Wednesday. The new video was awesome. I love it! I love the temple and the revelation that we receive there. It really is the house of the Lord.

Love all of you so much. I hope that we can all remember the power of the Atonement in our lives, and really what our purpose on this earth is. Love you all and I am always praying for you! Take care!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

Costa Rica, Pura Vida.

Buenas Familia!

First off, to answer Mom´s questions...

1. I have not asked President about permission to use BYU haha, I keep on forgetting, I am asking him right now.
2. Well in  our area, we just had two baptisms! So that was really cool. And the zone finished with the most baptisms that it has had in it´s history this last month! Yeah! But this next month is looking a little worse haha, and the missionaries are getting really depressed becuase they aren't having that much success. But when we get depressed it just means we need to work harder and have more faith!!!!
3. Hmm... it will probably be my last area, but we will have to see. I would love to finish my mission training, but we will have to see what the Lord has planned for me!
4. I am feeling healthy, the thing I have to look out for here though is the food that I eat, because in the rural parts of the country, food isn´t cleaned as well and it is a little bit easier to get sick.
5. Our shower is... ice cold. It is terrible at 6:30 a.m haha, but we have to live with it!
6. But thankfully, the shower head has a super strong flow so we can shower really quickly.
7. I have no idea if the toilet tank would be considered high haha, I think it is a little higher than our bathrooms though.

Well, this week in Ojo de Agua was awesome! We found a ton of new investigators, and we put 9 baptismal dates with them! So hopefully we should be having a lot of success this upcoming month. We were also blessed with 2 baptisms this past weekend, Areyso and his older brother Arturo! I love them, and I love their family so much! We have been working a ton to help Ramon Sr. and his wife Arrelis prepare to be sealed, and they are really excited to finally have their whole family together as members of the Church of Jesús Christ of Latter day Saints. I really love that family!

We have been working a ton to find new investigators, and the Lord has really blessed us. Now we just have to do our part and help these new investigators to progress.

Oh but a funny story about our baptisms. So we did the baptismal service directly after the church meetings on Sunday. So we had to fill up the baptismal font during Sacrament Meeting, and during the meeting we forgot that the font was running. So after Sacrament, we went out to go to our next classes ... the church was flooded! Turns out that this font fills up really quickly, so we spent the next two hours mopping and cleaning before the baptismal services! It was awesomely hilarious! Welcome to the Ward Elder Taylor and Elder Baxin haha.

So that was my funny story for this week. We also had Mission Leadership counsel with President on Friday, and it was awesome! I love his trainings, and his knowledge of the scriptures is amazing! He really is called of God!

I love the mission. I love this church, and I know it is true. The Lord has restored his church again here on earth, and we do have his priesthood, the power to act in the name of Jesús Christ. I love this góspel, and I would not trade my experiences, or my testimony for anything! I love you all, and hope all is well at home. Take care! Tuanis!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S.: Photos

1) This is a picture of Elder Baxin and I on Christmas day with our presents.

2) This is a picture of me on my motorcycle.

3) Giant cockroach that we found in the Street! Que Rico!!!

4) Baptism of Arturo and Areyso!