Dear
Family. . .sorry the letter is late, I was at immigrations, my comp had to sign
the papers or they would have deported him. It’s all jacked up now since
they threw out the old president of Paraguay.
This last week was ok. Not good as in the work we got done, or the progress that 3 Bocas is seeing. But I had a good week. Mostly because of the things I found out. First, 2 more baptisms. The family that I found in Hernandarias got baptized. Elder LaFaye told me about it on Saturday. Also he told me that Andres, my first baptism in Hernandarias is the 2nd counselor in the Branch, and his wife Gabi is pregnant. That was exciting. Also, Jorge and Betty from Puerto Pabla.They are doing really good! After 7 years of struggle, Betty got her divorce. So now she can get married to Jorge and then be baptized. The only problem is that Jorge is being kind of tuff and saying that after 7 years, the church told me when to get baptized...now I’m gonna make the choice and be baptized when I want. I’ll have to write them a letter of encouragement.
But the most awesome thing that happened this week was when Elder David A. Bednar came to the Mission. He came with Elder Arnold the area president who I met a year ago, and Sister Bednar came too. Elder Bednar is always sort of strict in his talks at General Conference so I didn’t know what to expect. He was the exact opposite with us. He was so funny. The best was when he said “el espiritu es el maestro.” Then said ´´If you think that the people are going to believe you, 19 and 20 year olds from the USA and Canada are going to convince them about the truth of our message, give me a freaking break. You don’t know anything...el espiritu es el maestro.´´ He didn’t even give a talk. He asked us to read and study some talks he gave a while back, then he said elders, what did you learn. Then we got to comment on what we had learned and stuff. Then after a while it was changed up....he said ok, now is the chance of a life time that most of you will never get again. Now all of you may ask questions, and I will answer but don’t ask stupid questions. Don’t ask me where the sword of Laban is...I don’t know, and I really don’t care. He said an example of a good question is ´´Elder Bednar, we sustain you and 14 other men as prophets, seers, and revelators, could you teach us about revelation?´´ It was a good experience. One person asked, what do I do when I am being 100 % obedient and work really hard but I don’t have success, and in the other area there are two missionaries who are not obedient and have tons of baptisms?´´ As my companion was sleeping, he said, ´´those who are not obedient and are blessed with many baptisms, it’s just a way of marking condemnation on them.´´ My comp has a ton of baptisms, but I don’t know if they do him any good with how he acts.
The best part of the whole conference was the end when Elder Bednar shared his testimony. You could just feel that he is a chosen servant of the Lord. His testimony was, I am a witness (or in other words have seen with my eyes) that God has a body of flesh and bones, I am a witness (or have heard) that Jesus speaks in our days, and that he takes care of all the church matters. I am a witness that God the father and the son Jesus Christ came to the sacred grove and spoke to Joseph Smith. After that, he left us with his Apostolic blessing. I got one from Elder Scott in the MTC and then one from Elder Bednar. Never had a better spiritual experience!
Tomorrow we are going to find out the changes. My comp has been here for 4 and he has 2 left...so I am guessing that he is leaving...but I hope I get to leave.
I saw all of my friends on Saturday, LaFaye, Bowers, Lamb, Bartlome, Stephenson, and Heiner. It was just a great big treat.
This last week was ok. Not good as in the work we got done, or the progress that 3 Bocas is seeing. But I had a good week. Mostly because of the things I found out. First, 2 more baptisms. The family that I found in Hernandarias got baptized. Elder LaFaye told me about it on Saturday. Also he told me that Andres, my first baptism in Hernandarias is the 2nd counselor in the Branch, and his wife Gabi is pregnant. That was exciting. Also, Jorge and Betty from Puerto Pabla.They are doing really good! After 7 years of struggle, Betty got her divorce. So now she can get married to Jorge and then be baptized. The only problem is that Jorge is being kind of tuff and saying that after 7 years, the church told me when to get baptized...now I’m gonna make the choice and be baptized when I want. I’ll have to write them a letter of encouragement.
But the most awesome thing that happened this week was when Elder David A. Bednar came to the Mission. He came with Elder Arnold the area president who I met a year ago, and Sister Bednar came too. Elder Bednar is always sort of strict in his talks at General Conference so I didn’t know what to expect. He was the exact opposite with us. He was so funny. The best was when he said “el espiritu es el maestro.” Then said ´´If you think that the people are going to believe you, 19 and 20 year olds from the USA and Canada are going to convince them about the truth of our message, give me a freaking break. You don’t know anything...el espiritu es el maestro.´´ He didn’t even give a talk. He asked us to read and study some talks he gave a while back, then he said elders, what did you learn. Then we got to comment on what we had learned and stuff. Then after a while it was changed up....he said ok, now is the chance of a life time that most of you will never get again. Now all of you may ask questions, and I will answer but don’t ask stupid questions. Don’t ask me where the sword of Laban is...I don’t know, and I really don’t care. He said an example of a good question is ´´Elder Bednar, we sustain you and 14 other men as prophets, seers, and revelators, could you teach us about revelation?´´ It was a good experience. One person asked, what do I do when I am being 100 % obedient and work really hard but I don’t have success, and in the other area there are two missionaries who are not obedient and have tons of baptisms?´´ As my companion was sleeping, he said, ´´those who are not obedient and are blessed with many baptisms, it’s just a way of marking condemnation on them.´´ My comp has a ton of baptisms, but I don’t know if they do him any good with how he acts.
The best part of the whole conference was the end when Elder Bednar shared his testimony. You could just feel that he is a chosen servant of the Lord. His testimony was, I am a witness (or in other words have seen with my eyes) that God has a body of flesh and bones, I am a witness (or have heard) that Jesus speaks in our days, and that he takes care of all the church matters. I am a witness that God the father and the son Jesus Christ came to the sacred grove and spoke to Joseph Smith. After that, he left us with his Apostolic blessing. I got one from Elder Scott in the MTC and then one from Elder Bednar. Never had a better spiritual experience!
Tomorrow we are going to find out the changes. My comp has been here for 4 and he has 2 left...so I am guessing that he is leaving...but I hope I get to leave.
I saw all of my friends on Saturday, LaFaye, Bowers, Lamb, Bartlome, Stephenson, and Heiner. It was just a great big treat.
Love you all,
Taylor
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