November 26, 2012

Well. . . I’ll be home for Thanksgiving next year.  I can’t wait for that....hang out with the family in the barn and eat real food, and not this stuff we have here in Paraguay.  Our Thanksgiving was good...we made Tacos.  Better than last year with Empanadas.  But it was an alright day, just way too hot!!!  Sad that you didn’t get to go up to Washington for Thanksgiving.  I hope everyone comes to Thanksgiving at the barn next year.  

I don’t really remember a whole lot from this week.  We had some great lessons with Nelson, Cantalicio, Cezar, and Alex.  We have really been able to help them feel the spirit, and start to receive a testimony of the Restored Gospel.  Alex is a new kid we have.  He is 20, is married, and served a mission for some church for 2 years and so did his wife, one of those years was in America.  So that means that both of them are agents who act...we haven’t met the wife yet but she wants to meet us.  Alex really wants to find out if it’s true.  We actually taught him this morning at like 9:00.  We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ or in other words, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure till the End.  He is from Brazil and is still learning Spanish.  So most of what he says is in Portuguese.  My comp doesn’t understand that much of what he says...but I was surprised when I could understand that much.  He always says the prayer in Portuguese and I can understand all of it....it’s pretty cool...I just can’t really speak it.  But he is teaching us how to speak.

Sunday was sad because we didn’t have anyone come to church.  So they now do not have baptism dates....only Alex for the 8th of December.  We walked way out like 2 and a half miles to Nelsons house to bring him to church but he was sick and couldn’t come....so we were really tired Sunday, because we had to walk so fast to get out there.

This week I finally finished Alma and I am in Helaman.  And in Portuguese I am in Words of Mormon....still a long way to go.  Also I have been studying about our free agency and about being an agent.  We are all agents already, but how many of us really act for ourselves every minute of the day.  That’s what I am really trying to do in these last 4 months of the mission.  Be a better agent and do stuff of my free will and not because I have to clap houses or because I have to talk to that guy on the street.  This is really helping me to grow up more....and make man decisions.  Sometimes we feel that we are not really effective missionaries, so that’s why I am trying to get better with this.  We just felt a little down this week, so dad the quotes that you sent to me were inspired...I needed them...thanks.  I too found a great quote by Elder Holland this week, it’s not that directed the gospel but it’s funny:

He said,  Elders, if you we looking for your wife right now, which would you choose, the one with the pretty face or the one with the strong testimony???  He then replied saying, choose the one with the pretty face, you can gain a testimony!!!  HAHA

Mom, I now know how it feels to have an Iphone in your hands and use it.  Yesterday Alex sent us a message asking when we could meet again...and we don’t have any minutes left and it’s against the rules to send texts from our phones, we used some ladies phone to send Alex a message and it was with an Iphone.  It was awesome....I’m so getting one now.

That’s so cool about all the new missionaries getting their mission calls. I’ll bet Dalton gets his before I get home right?  And tell Aaron Hansen to have fun in Uraguay, he is going to freeze!

Also, we went to the cemetery this week.  Big mistake!  Never going back.  It’s not like in America where they get buried under ground.  Each family has its own little house in the cemetery and they put the coffins in there for the whole family.   I thought it was going to be like on rocky when they put the body in the wall then seal it off with cement or something.  They don’t!!!  They just have the coffins all lined up on the ground or on shelves.  I’ll send a pic.  IT was nasty, and creepy.  

And this week we got caught in the rain...I have videos and pics for ya...

love ya all
-- 

Taylor

Cemetary in Paraguay

 This is one family's "house" to store all of the coffins

Taylor is pretty grossed out by it!

Standing on a bridge, caught in a downpour . . .

This is what was below the bridge . . . yuck!

Look what only took 3 weeks to get to Paraguay and in his hands!  AMAZING!

November 19, 2012

Dear family. . . we had another good week here in Paraguay.  Elder Chavez and I are working hard.  And finally are seeing the results from our hard work.  And sounds like all of your hard work paid off too.  Too bad you will have to do it again when they build the temple in Meridian.  I bet while the Prophet was here, they went looking for a place to build it.  We´ll get to go to that dedication.  

This week we didn’t have a ton of lessons.  But we did have really good ones with Nelson and Cantalisio.  Nelson came to church yesterday.  Like 3 days ago we taught him Lesson 1 again and it was awesome. It had been sort of a slow day with no lessons and I just wanted to be done for the day.  Elder Chavez started the lesson and got like half through it and then I started to talk.  I got out my book of church pictures and taught it perfectly.  The Spirit helped us so much in that lesson we felt it and so did Nelson. Then he started to talk about his testimony that he is gaining right now.  Then he said the prayer and asked God if it was true, if Joseph Smith was a Prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true....and he just got real quiet and felt the spirit testify to him.  He knows it’s true.  He has baptism date for the 1st of December.  

Now Cantalisio ( Caun-ta-lee-see-oh ).  He is our neighbor.  He is a stud.  We or I taught lesson 2 to him Saturday night.  My comp said he doesn’t know how to teach it or know really what to do for lesson 2.  How can you not know how to teach the best of all the lessons...the plan of salvation?  So he really likes the Book of Mormon and reads from it a lot....so I used like 1000 scriptures to share lesson 2 with him.  He just sat there in amazement.  He just asked, could it be?  Will I be resurrected?  Will I see my wife again?  We told him how he could do all of this.  Then we sang God be with you till we meet again.  As we were singing, I was thinking about the time that I have spent here in Paraguay.. . . and that in 5 months I will be at President Agazzani´s house with his wife and the other missionaries singing this song.  I don’t want to leave Paraguay.  I want to stay...  Then we finished the song, and Cantalisio said the prayer.  In his prayer he asked that God would guide him to the truth and that he would bless us the missionaries to be able to help him find the truth.  He also asked if the Book Of Mormon and if Joseph Smith were true.  After he was done, he looked us in the eyes and thanked us, with tears coming down his cheeks.  This man is amazing.  He will be baptized the 1st of December. 

Also, right now we are looking for new people.  Its so boring clapping houses.  Spencer, we don’t get any of those so called ´´Media References´´ so don’t ever complain haha.... ;)  Oh and you letter was cool Spencer. . . 90 some letters left to write mom...I got 20!!! But I will congratulate you. . .2 months down.  Was fast wasn’t it.  It just goes faster.  And about going out with you to teach everyone, I don’t know about that, I can only do it in Spanish.  We have tried to teach people in English that speak English and it just doesn’t come out good.  The gospel is better in Spanish.  And you need to get on your comps butt for being a lazy turd.  It’s better to offend him then to offend the Lord.

Yesterday we had 5 investigators at chuch.  We were expecting Nelson, Cantalisio, Cezar, his wife Paola, and another Paola.  Of those 5 Nelson was the only one to come, and 4 others.  So that was good.  Yesterday was the Primary Program.  Oh my gosh!!!  Yes they worked kind of hard but it was bad.  It was like one of Spencer’s 4th Grade Pioneer projects, finished last minute at 6 in the morning!  There were like 10 kids in the program.  No body plays the piano here so it was just the CD´s of the music...and the kids didn’t know like any of the songs, so it was pretty much listen to the Cd´s for 30 minutes.  But it was good anyways!

So mom, I too have been listening to Christmas music.  Can’t wait.  They have lights up and trees here in my area.  They aren’t even close to what we have in America, and there is no Christmas spirit.  But we will have a little when I get my package.  Oh yeah and did you guys get my letter yet???

I have also been doing more exercises.  A ton of abs and chest workouts.  Morning and Night.  I did some squats too, oh my, my legs are so out of shape right now....I did 2 sets of 100 with no weight, the next day they hurt so bad.  Gonna need to do than when I get home...get in shape.

And MOM. . . not fair that you got an Iphone 5.  If you have one, I am for sure getting one when I get home....You can’t say no Dad.  Who knows, maybe there will be an iphone 6.  But really mom it is sweet...do you have that thing called siri..where it’s like the hands free text and look stuff up on your phone and the web????  Making me trunky mom!!!!!  

Love you all

Taylor

 Taylor washing his shirts in the sink!

 White Shirts and Slacks hanging out to dry!

"Clapping" houses

November 12, 2012

Dear mom. . . and family.

Sounds like all of you had a good week.  It will be nice to be able to see the prophet and be at the dedication.  Maybe I’ll be there for the next one when they build the Meridian Temple.  Just like you all...the week was pretty much the same.  But we did have some good experiences.  

We have an investigator named Cezar.  And his wife and his dad....they are our neighbors.  This week we had 2 great lessons with Cezar.  Elder Chavez and I have really been focusing in on the needs of the people and not teaching every point of the lesson.  The first one we had was on Monday...or Tuesday.  We were teaching Cezar with a member...and then it was my turn to talk and  I don’t remember all of what happened, but Cezar just sat there in awe.  So did my comp and the member with us.  The spirit just took over and gave Cezar what he needed.  After the lesson, my comp and the member kept asking each other what happened to me.  The only thing that it was, was the spirit.  3 days later, we went to say hi to Cezar but he invited us to come in...I shared with him Alma 11 and Alma 40.   He just lost his mom like 2 or 3 months ago.  My comp said that the things I said were amazing.  The Lord has really prepared Cezar for the Gospel.  Then yesterday after a long, hard day without success, we were walking by and said hi to his dad...he said look kids I’m Catholic and I’m gonna stay catholic.  He asked if we read the bible, and I said yeah.  He let us come in and we had a great lesson...we answered a ton of his questions and he has a baptism date for the 24th of November.  After he said the prayer, he asked what we thought of death...I said you can see your wife again and be with her forever.  He just sat there surprised wanting to learn more...the spirit was testifying to him that it was true so we left him.  He is a great man.

This week we were trying teach another older guy at a members house.  They are way inactive.  My comp asks her, and sister Troche, how did you feel when you knew that the gospel was true.  You know what she said...I NEVER KNEW IF IT WAS TRUE...WE GOT BAPTIZED BECAUSE WE WERE GOOD FRIENDS WITH THE MISSIONARIES.  What? Don’t say that when they are trying to baptize your dad.  This week there were more of those, the church isn’t true in Paraguay feelings.  The branch is struggling a lot...we got called up 

10:00 Saturday night...saying um elders can you give talks tomorrow??? 

My comp has some knarley PFCs.  I have a pic to send you with them on.  He is doing good, he just worries way too much.  Last night we were talking about all of the food that we buy from Campos Market...we talked about Jaritos and all the crappy candy they sell there haha.  And he is a little bigger than me, and he is always asking everyone for water.  So then they give me some water and its nasty.  I am so tired of well water...its not the sweet clean water you get at grandpas house...this comes from a dirty dirt well...full of floaties and grass junk.    BARF!!!!!!!!!!

This week was tough too....I have 5 months left.  My trunky papers are here asking me where I want to land and what leadership I have had in the mission.  I can’t wait to be home.  I’m just trying not to think about it and not DIE before I come home.  Mostly because we are having trouble finding new people to teach.  My comp tries too hard at doors and on the road and it kind of scares people away...so then he gets mad or sad.  When I have a good investigator I can go all day.  But we have just been frustrated with not finding many really good elected chosen people to teach.  Ands the week was bad because fetchin Obama won again.  LAME!!!!!

I did get my shoes fixed...some guy stitched them up and put leather patches on the inside so they won’t rip anymore....I give it a month or 2 before I do it again.  

God is way too merciful to the people here in Paraguay.  There is a barrio in our area it’s so bad.  Babylon itself...the ladies are all naked and dressed like crud.,  And I have never seen so many drug deals in my life.  We try not to go there because it’s like rougher than Compton.  No Joke!!!  When the Lord comes again, he is going to stop that barrio down hard.

I need 2 things mom.....

1. Waffle Recipie....i have a waffle iron in my house...and waffles are cheap to make.
2.  I need you to put 55 bucks in my savings account so I can take money out for something I bought.

love you all

Taylor

 Sweet PFC's

Elder Chavez & Elder Salinas

Elder Salinas with Dog

November 5, 2012

Dear Family. . .

This letter is late again because I was at immigrations all morning, but this time it was for me.  It was great because we had a huge reunion of the missionaries from my group. . . So me, Heiner, Stephenson, Mower, Neves, White, Bartelome, Cleverly and some others spent the whole morning talking about whatever.  Pretty much just movie quotes and singing worldly songs but it was really fun.  But I don’t know how I’m going to live with Elder Heiner now...he has a satchel or man bag like Jordan and Austins dads.  Looks a little girl haha.  Then we all sat down to a great lunch at McDonalds....first time I have eaten fast food in a year and a half.  It was good, but kind of hard to eat.  

No mom, transfers are not this week,,,they were last week.  And I had to stay here in 3 bocas but I did get a new comp... He is from Mexico...he is about to reach 5 months in the mission.  He is awesome.  He has really helped me to get back into things.  Elder Pinche Salas pretty much killed my spirit and I was just done, but in a very humble way, Elder Chavez, helped me to be back on top of the world.  We work really well together, and he is really excited to be a missionary.  This week we made some awesome food.  Real food, not that Paraguayan stuff that we get fed...we made some Tacos...They were delish.  And he is going to teach me to make Mexican rice and Mexican beans and a bunch of stuff.

So Elder Salas got sent to an area really close to this one...he is with one of the most screw off missionaries in the mission. . . and this is his last change so he is really trunky...then Elder Salas is going to start his last change and he will just be even worse.  I doubt the area that they are in right now will see progress for the next 3 or 4 months.

I got all of the letters and pics last week.  Thanks.  I can’t wait to use the sweet pics for my agendas...

This week we had some really good lessons.  One day it was going not as good...and then we had a lesson that made the whole day worth it.  We were feeling bad about how the work wasn’t great and after the lesson with Fransisco, we could feel the spirit and we were happy for the rest of the day.  Elder Chavez and I have been teaching really good.  He has really helped me to regain the passion for teaching.  One thing he is always saying is ´´hey, elder, you only have 3 transfers left...you have to take advantage of them, and I’m gonna help you.´´´ Its weird to think that I have that much time left...it’s kind of sad.  I’ve gotten to be a good teacher, and really been able to help people understand the message we share.  It’s going to be a great transfer with Elder Chavez.

There is something weird here, they have a ton of Christmas decorations up in the supermarket here.  They have little trees and everything.  I can’t wait for Christmas.

Now, is the watermelon season.  So the roads are just lined with watermelon pyramids.  Yesterday we were walking and I said hey I’m going to go eat that guys watermelon.  We walked by and he said, come here, you like watermelon...and we ate a ton of it with him...while we were eating it we shared our message with him.  He is kind of mentally blind...everything he was saying was just backing up the restoration but he was having a hard time understanding it.

I ordered a tapa or a case for my PMG.  On the front it’s got Samuel the Lamanite preaching on the wall and on the back it has a pic of missionaries with swords and the stripling warriors.  I was going to get it today, but I had to go to the office...so we´ll see when I get it.

It’s really hot here too...it was 103 yesterday and its springtime...I don’t want to go thru another summer here.  Spencer you have no clue how hotttt it is..nothing close to what it is in Florida!!!

Love you all

 Pirated Movies

 Elder Salas on left - Elder Salinas on right

Homemade Tacos with Elder Chavez