Tuanis Mae

Buenas Familia!

 Happy Easter! And Happy Birthday to Katie! I hope you guys had a great holiday, and really could focus on the atonement of our Saviour Jesus Christ!

Okay, and just to answer Mom's questions...

1. On Easter we had a normal day, we went to church, and then afterwards we ate rice and tuna with a member. Then we worked, and at night time we went over to a member's house and ate rice, beans and salchichon. Salchichon is like a sausage made out of hose meat haha, its good I guess. They always eat it here though.
2. Costa Rican kids believe in the Easter bunny, but I think that hiding and finding eggs is more of an upper-class thing to do. Here they really didn't do anything special, but they do believe in "En El Conejo de la Pascua"
3. I will be super afraid to drive a car again. But it will be easy, becuase in Costa Rica everyone drives like a mad man, but in the States its a little bit safer.
4. I have played the ukelele a couple times, but I dont really remember a lot of chords haha so I am really bad at it.
5. I get my Dear Elder cards once a month when we have ZL counsel in San Jose.

Well this past week was awesome! Here in Costa Rica (and in all Latin America) the week before Easter they celebrate the "Semana Santa". Basically all week they are showing Easter and religious videos on TV (Ben Hur, Spartacus, Jesus of Nazareth, and Mom´s all time favorite... The 10 Commandments...) Well basically everybody gets Thursday, and Friday off of work, and they always go to the beach! So Ciudad Neily has basically been a ghost town this week, and literally nobody has been home. So it was kind of difficult to proselyte but we could still find out a good way to work. Right now we have a super awesome investigator, Gabriela. She is 22 and she is studying to be a nurse. It was funny when we found her because I was with a member and we accidently went to the wrong house and she invited us in to teach her. We were teaching her when her mom came home. Turns out that her mom is a pastor for this evangelist church in Neily, but we taught them The Restoration and it was pretty cool! Well Gabriela is progressing really well, the only thing that is holding her back is her mom, (who is kind of ticked that she is attending a different church.) and her own fear of finding the truth. She will get baptized though, I know it.

Also, last night we had an awesome lesson with a less-active named Magaly. She is so rad, and I love teaching and testifying about the power of the Atonement in our lives. The Spirit was really strong, and she could feel that there is hope over changing her life and becoming a new person. I love the Atonement so much!

Well everything is going good. We are really trying hard to find new investigators. I hope everything is going well at home, and I hope that you all had a great Easter. I love all of you so much. I know that this is the true church. I know that God is our Eternal Father, that Christ is our Savior. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the gospel was restored through him. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we have the true gospel of Jesus Christ on earth, and that it can bless us and change our lives. I t has changed my life, and I am forever indebted to my Savior for his Atonement. I love you all, take care, and remember... "Every Member a Missionary!"

Pura Vida,

Elder Taylor, Capitan de la Zona Sur

P.S. Photos!

1) This week we went up into the mountains to visit a less-active. The lived in the boonies, and so we explore a little in the rainforest up there.

 

2) This is a picture of the "Palmatica Fincas" There is a huge company down here in the Zona Sur called PalmaTica. They own everything down here. Basically they just have a ton of palm tree farms and they make owl out of the palm tree fruit.

 

3) This is a picture on one of the "fincas". They are basically little self-sufficient communities. Think of it like a 19th century Southern plantation. They have a little store, a little recreational hall place, and all the PalmaTica workers live on the plantation. Its a cool little place.