Last Email!

Sorry I have like no time to email but I just want you all to know that everything is going super good! We reached 9 baptisms in the zone! Eso! I love you guys a lot. Thank you for supporting me all throughout my mission, and for your prayers! Love you all! See you this Thursday!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

1 Week Left!

Buenas Familia!

Wow. This is crazy! I never thought I would reach this point in my mission! But oh well, this week is going to be awesome! I've got to sprint to the end, and give it my all!

Well, we will be blessed with 2 baptisms this weekend! Gustavo and Julian, they are two grandsons of a really faithful member here. They are the best investigators ever! When I teach them I really think of this scripture, " Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach--repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children." (Moroni 8:10). They are the most humble, and awesome little kids ever! We taught Gustavo (8 years old) and asked him what the happiest moment has ever been in his life. He told us that it was the first time he went to church. That struck me so powerfully... This is a gospel of joy and hope, and as we experience the atonement in our lives we feel this joy and hope. I love the mission! Later that day we called Gustavo and Julian and they told us they prayed and asked God if the church was true. Julian told us he woke up the morning after he prayed, and felt a pure joy in his heart! Gustavo also felt happiness in his heart. The testimonies of these two children are so simple, but they really struck me this past week. I love this mission. I love my Savior, and I love the Atonement.

If I could describe my mission in two words, I would use, "The Atonement." That's why we are here. Help others feel the joy and love that we feel. Help others find hope in their lives through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Here on my mission I have been able to find comfort and love in the Atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord tests us. He allows us to grow. He gives us challenges so that we can put our confidence in him. So that we can really humble ourselves, come unto him, and see how he solves everything. I love that. He does everything for us when we just humble ourselves and follow him. That is the biggest thing I have learned here. I love this country, I have a profound love for this people, for this culture. I will be leaving a part of my soul here. But I love it. I am just so stoked that the Lord has given me this Gospel, and this opportunity to share it! I love you all! Pray for the mission this week! We're shooting for 200 baptisms in June!

Love you all so much!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor

P.S. Write me next week also, because I should have a little bit of internet time!

I love this Gospel so much!

Happy Mother's Day 2.0

Buenas Familia!

It was so good seeing that everything is going well at home yesterday! I finally got to see Matthew and Prosper haha.

Well everything is going good here. We should be having a ton of success in the upcoming weeks here. This morning we recieved a ton of references and a bunch of people were calling us and asking us to come over to their houses! Awesome! We are preparing for 200 baptisms in the misison this upcoming month, so we need to really focus on finding and setting baptismal dates with all our investigators! I am stoked for what the future holds here!

 Love you all!

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor!

Sprint to the End!

Buenas Familia!

I am so glad to hear that Grandpa's funeral turned out well, and that you were able to see family, and enjoy Grandpa's legacy.

This past week we had a leadership meeting with President Wilkinson (my last leadership meeting of my mission.) It was awesome and it really got me pumped! We are shooting for 200 baptisms again in the mission in June, so we will be contacting and working a ton to find new investigators to reach that goal! We also watched the new video that the church made called, "Because of Him". On easter this past month, the Church payed Youtube to put this video on the first page of the website, and 7 million people watched it! If you haven't seen it yet, watch it because it is amazing!

Well lately in the mission we have been focusing a lot on opening our mouths! That means contacting, talking with everybody, and just doing what a missionary should do! Well yesterday we had a ton of great experiences opening our mouths and we found 8 super new investigators! We are expecting 20 new investigators this week so we just need to keep opening our mouths and helping our missionaries in the zone to do the same!

Everything is going well though, in our area we had some rough weeks the last couple of weeks but everything is looking good now, it's just a sprint to the end of mission. I don't want to leave anything on the table here, and I am so stoked to live every last minute of my mission!

 Oh and I think that we can skype at like 2 or 2:30 Costa Rican time, if that gives you enough time? Just let me know and I can switch it!

I love you all! Thank you Mom and Dad for always supporting me during my mission. I  am always praying for you, and I hope everything is going well in your lives! Love you all!

 

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor!