July 16, 2012

Dear mom. . .  

This week was alright.  I had some numbers but nothing really productive got done.

SO this week I did my first two baptism interviews.  It was really easy because they were kids who were getting baptized.  My district is doing good right now...Each companionship has to set a monthly goals for  baptisms....and then I make a goal that I feel is good for the district.  Our goal is 3 families, 4 future elders and 7 baptisms....right now we are at 4 baptism for the month...only 3 more and we reach the goal.    We are having some trouble finding new investigators though. . . this week I had 2 and they were barley countable as new investigators.  It is kind of hard to do stuff with my companion.

On Wednesday we got to meet President Agazzani and his family.  He is 43 and his wife is 41.  They have 5 kids.  2 of them are in Argentina still finishing school.  He is pretty cool.  They talk all weird and stuff but he is cool.  They came around to give all of us hugs....he looked at me and laughed and asked how it is to be all alone, since I don’t have a real companion, and I said fine and we both laughed.  Then before they left they did it again and he thanked me for the work I’m doing in my area with a local and for the service of being the District Leader.  

I went on Divisions with Elder Stephenson this week...it was fun.

Yesterday Andres gave a talk on the importance of going to the temple...he is going on the 11th of August with the stake to do baptisms.....he is excited.

I saw 10 min of Madagascar this week....that made me laugh,,,,it was just as funny in Spanish!

So mom or dad can you send me some talks by the Holland...both from General Conference.  I want the one Safety for the Soul about the Book Of Mormon and from October None were with Him.  Thanks.

Looks like you all had a great time at the temple.  SO cool that you all could go together.  

love ya tons  

Taylor

July 9, 2012

Dear mom. . .  how are ya???

This was a good week.  We had some big miracles.  To start out; on Tuesday we went to District meeting and I got all the elders jacked up for the week and then we had divisions.  I stayed in my area with Elder Knudsen from Argentina.  He is 24, got a late start to his mission but it was one of the best days that I have ever had.  I have always wanted a companion like him.  So I told him that we were going to take the book for the baptism interview and he said that he would do the interview for Kamila....so after a successful day we went over there and talked about the commandments in simple terms so that a child could understand them.  We counted that as the interview and said we are preparing a baptism service this Saturday if you want to get baptized.  She said yes.  

Then 2 days later Sister Achucarro said that Jose wanted to be baptized...Saturday.  So Friday I went over there and went over the baptism questions with him.  The terms were that only he and the Achucarros go to the baptism, and that he would get to the church at 6, have the interview and then be baptized.

So then I called the Zone Leaders and told them to come to the church at 6 to do the interview....after a long day of preparing the baptism and finding cloths and other stuff....Kamila was baptized.  And the best part of it was that Andres, my convert, baptized her!!!!  He was so excited and nervous at the same time but did a great job.  

Now we are just waiting on Jose,,,the Zone leaders were waiting and he got there an hour late so at 7:15 they did the interview.  And since he was late, the water was freezing cold.  He passed the interview and then changed cloths.  My companion got in the water and then Jose followed and was so mad.....he said why didn’t you put warm water in....and we told him that it was warm.  He finally got in and got baptized, but then he got water in his ear so then he was more irritated.  But I am happy. . . .I had 2 baptisms this week!!!!

That’s cool that you got to meet Pres and Sis Callan for like 20 sec, I bet there was a line like a wedding reception ha-ha.  

Cool that you got to go to the new mall,  During general conference we didn’t want to go outside or anything, so we just stayed in and watched all the programs between the sessions, and they showed it, It looks sweet.

So the branch is doing better.  50 people came to church yesterday.  I am almost running the branch.....I had to do the agenda, make assignments for the prayers and the songs.  I have to tell the branch president about all the people and stuff, and I’m pretty much giving out callings.  Next week I have to count tithing.  Oh and Andres is going to get the Priesthood soon and he is going to be called as the 1st counselor in the branch!!!

So I found a new movie that I love to watch. . . ´´How Rare a Posetion´´ idk if you have seen it but it’s pretty cool....it tells the story of Parley P Pratt and another guy and how they found the Book of Mormon and how it was a huge treasure for them, you should buy it and have FHE with it tonight.

Hey mom can you send me Mitch and Tyler’s address so i can write them sometime.

Talk to you next week!

Love ya!

With Kamila at her baptism

 

Elder Salinas & Jose

July 2, 2012

Dear Mom. . . 

Hope you are all having a great summer up in Idaho.  Only this summer I have to miss.  So next summer, I don’t want to go do sales with Colby.  It would be fun but I want to be at the house and work for grandpa or find a dental lab to work in.  So you can put in applications for anything that starts in the fall like august or September.  You can apply to BYUI and ISU, just as long as it starts in the fall. So just start them!!! And, President Callan filled out stuff for missionaries all the time so there isn’t a problem with that.  Well I guess it will be President Agazzani.  They got here Saturday.  

This week was hard, it was a ruff one.  We didn’t have very good numbers and my companion is not easy.  We found some new people this week and had some good lessons but not many.  I’m trying to be the example of the district and I can’t really do it with my comp.  All he does is talk about the stuff he did before he was a member.  I just don’t want to hear about it.  Yesterday, we were at the house to change and to eat, and he went to bed.  So when the time was up for studying, I woke him up and he just flipped me off and went back to bed.  I was so mad at him.  I haven’t even talked to him today.  If he keeps doing this stuff then I will be  writing it to the President next week.  Also, Javier is drinking, the family that Elder Hauser & I baptized.....so today I am going to write him a letter.  

Yesterday they put in a new branch president in our branch.  This guy is young and was a bishop already so he knows what he is doing....hope we can get some better work done with him.  Also like I said the new mission president gets here.  Ha-ha and Andres got up in sacrament meeting yesterday and shared his testimony.  It was awesome...he is asking if he can get the M priesthood.  He is really progressing and learning more every day.  

Ok so we are teaching Camila and she is 11.  She came to church 3 times and can get baptized.  The problem is that we can never teach her because there is never a guy at the house and she never talks.  We have Jose, he just has to make a decision to get baptized....he has everything but I think he is just a bit scared.  We found a young girl this week; she is really smart and understood the whole lesson.  She has 3 chapters to read in alma that she chose.  Andrea isn’t really answering my phone calls, and we can only teach her on the weekends.  She is afraid that if she gets baptized, her mom will kick her out of the house.  She is going to have a baby and her mom is helping her with the baby and she doesn’t want to lose that help and support.   SO I need more people to teach, I want more. . . . 

I don’t know when I will meet the new mission pres.  I doubt we have zone conference this change as he is new to this game.  Maybe we will have interviews soon, I don’t know.

Something crazy to eat lately . . . oh I know peanut butter.  Elder Keller got 6 jars of peanut butter.  He gave me one when he left, and 3 days ago I opened it up . . . it was full of ants!!!!  I don’t know how they got in the jar.  I was so mad.  That’s like a delicacy here in the mission.  

As the DL, I have to interview all of the investigators before they can be baptized.  Also every Tuesday I have to prepare the lesson for district meeting and make up the stuff to practice at the district meeting.  Every Sunday night I have to call all the elders in my district to record their numbers from the week then I call the zone leaders and give them to them.  I have to be the example to my entire district and go on divisions or splits to help them be better missionaries and get them excited.  I have to go on divisions with the zone leaders tomorrow!!!

Something that made me smile this week . . . Madagascar 3 is coming out only in theaters or if you live here in Ciudad del Este, you can buy it on any street corner 3 weeks ago. . . HAHA!

That about it for the week mom...love you tons

Taylor

 Gigantic Ant Hill!

 Service Project - - cutting down branches with a Machete!

June 25, 2012

Dear mom,

I’m glad that you all had somewhat of a good week.  Really sad that grandma passed away but she is in a better place.  Tuesday we had district meeting and changes.  We found out who was leaving and coming. Later that night I took Elder Keller over to the house of Elder Griffin the old District leader and Elder Stephenson.  Elder Stephenson and I were messing around as Elder Griffin packed his stuff to go home. My phone rang and it was President Callan.  I thought he was calling to talk to me about my new assignment as the District leader, but then he said it was about grandma.  I was a little surprised but not that sad....I talked to President Callan for like 20 min about grandma and grandpa and all that they did for us, it was a good talk.  All this week I have been good....I haven’t felt overwhelmed that grandma died or that I’m the district leader...I have just felt peaceful.  

So as I said in the last paragraph I am the district leader....hope I can do a good job....but I guess if the Lord has confidence in me then I can do it....it’s one of those ´´hard things´´ that I can do.  That night when I was with Elder Stephenson, we had a good talk.  We talked about all the people who we know from Nampa and how lame it is that we never hung out before the mission.  Then we talked about the mission and stuff, and how us two are doing tons of little things to be the best missionaries.  It was cool.....Elder Stephenson is a baller!!!! :)

Some good news, Elder Norton my companion in Puerto pabla is in my district.....he said there is nothing in Puerto pabla like no investigators, but he told me that Emilio and Margarita got baptized and married.  That made me pretty happy.  2 more converts, put em on the paper mom...the little baptism stickers ;)

I bet it was nice to see all of the family.  Some good stories about grandma and grandpa....and I would have loved to see the dinner that grandpa put on for the funeral!!!  I can’t wait to see grandpa ha-ha.

So my comp I have right now is Elder Cardozo.  He is from Paraguay and is a convert, of almost a year.  He is great, except for when he teaches in Guarani or pees all over the toilet and the floor, but other than that he is a good guy.  He is waiting to put in his papers to leave on the mission.  He is my comp for only a change, so I’m gonna be here in Hernandarias until Spencer goes on his mission.  SO I’m only gonna have one more area after this.  I could be here until October with the new mission president and all; he might not make that many changes at first, only the ones that are needed.

We had some progress with our investigators this week....Jose and Andrea both want to be baptized.  Jose said last night that he just has to make a choice about which day.  Andrea said that she wants to wait until after her baby is born so that she can still have the support of her mom during her pregnancy.  I’m gonna have to change that.  We found some other great investigators this week, ones that really are ready for the gospel. And we still have problems in the branch with the president that I am trying to work out....I’ll just leave it at that. 

Also a scripture for you in Romans 10:15 about missionary feet to go along with this picture!!!

Love you mom

Taylor's District

June 18, 2012

Hey mom. . . 

How was the week???

This was a good week, except for the rain.

We didn’t have as many lessons that we would have wanted.  We are having some trouble in the branch with the branch president and we have been fixing some things.  The branch president does not know how to keep secrets and all of the interviews he does the whole branch knows about.  And there are some people who are not very happy about it.  Elder Keller & I are only 2 of them.  Mostly because he has been making problems between our recent converts.  We called president Callan to tell him about it and ask what we could do, he told us to just do some damage control and to help the president out a bit...President Callan told us he was going to call the area 70 to come and help because this is not the first time it has happened in the branch or in this district....He’ll be here next week.

But anyways on to some good things. . . Andres, our convert passed the sacrament yesterday and I was sitting next to Ruth, the other recent convert and she was so focused in on the sacrament.  It was nice to see them taking things seriously.  They are doing really good as members now.  Ruth has a calling to be the secretary in the primary now, and I’m not sure if Andres has a calling, he had an interview yesterday with the branch pres, I think it was about that.  

So like you already know, we have changes this week.....and I am not in the same area as Elder Richards anymore....I wish I was, he is better than any of the other zone leaders that I have had haha.  But we have 2 elders in our district that are going home too,,, the letters from their moms this morning were so trunky....I’ll bet you will be more trunky than me also haha.  But this is the start of my 10th change...I only have 15 in total.  Spencer will have 16 cuz that lucky guy only has 3 weeks in the MTC.  But it’s going by really fast right now mom.   I don’t even care about other things right now, like being home and stuff...yeah it would be fun and stuff but whatever, I’m in fetchin Paraguay ha.  I did see this week that Madagascar 3 is coming out...can’t wait.

This week we had one investigator go to church but she is only 11 and doesn’t understand really anything.  We have been getting a ton of references which is new for us, since we never get them.  But we do have 2 others that are progressing.  Jose can get baptized now, and he is reading and praying everyday with Sister Achucarro.  He just needs to commit to a day.  And then we have Andrea, she is half Brazilian and WAS a coffee drinker.  She stopped drinking coffee completely last week, but had a downfall, she is pregnant.  Elder Keller & I  were so sad when we heard that.   She got pregnant before we started to teach her but still we are worried that she might stop progressing.  You can pray for them :)

Love ya Mom

Poor Shoes!  This is another pair that we sent him in February!

What a mess that red dirt is!

June 11, 2012

Dear mom. . . 

It’s been a good week, a little tuff because it’s getting really cold and that makes it harder to talk to people but it’s all good.  This week it got way cold and Elder Keller & I both got kind of sick.  I just have a stuffy nose and a cough and he does too.  But whatever, it’s only like 60 or 654 degrees here but the humidity makes it feel even worse.  Last winter for me until next December, I hate the winter.  

It rained yesterday and so we only had 2 investigators come to church instead of the 5 we were planning on.  There were more people than last week but it was still little.  We went over to a member’s house to watch the restoration movie with one of our investigators.  She is progressing a little but it’s hard because we can only visit her once a week, twice if we are lucky.  We taught her the word of wisdom, and she doesn’t like the part about coffee but she hasn’t had any for 2 days so that is good- Then we have some other investigators who are just sort of floating around.  They can be baptized today but they are afraid of the decision.

Mom, I need you to send me some stuff.....I need you to send me some pen refills.  I would like refills for my pilot pens, I want a refill of blue red and black.  I have the pens, so if you could get the refills of the 0.5 size so I can continue to mark my scriptures.....also I need some tabs.....they are like plastic sticky notes they are about half an inch wide and inch and a half long.  They come in a pack of blue pink yellow green and orange.  I put a pic in this email with my bible and how I mark my scriptures now and it is really helpful.  I could really use two packs of them mom....if you could just send that in a yellow bubble mailer.  Or send me pics next week of what you have found so I can confirm:)  I would sure appreciate it!!!

Love you mom!

June 4, 2012

Dear Mom

This was a good week...I’m glad it is over because it was just way too stressful. Spencer is going to have it easy in Florida as far as help from the members. We have to drop the cane on them so much. Anyways, we had the wedding and the baptism. It was nice, even though she wore a dress that was pretty racy with a still in the front that went all the way up her leg!!!! It was good though. Ruth asked me to baptize her so that was exciting. We did have to pay 300,000 for the wedding though, that like 15 boxes of Trix that we could have bought, but it’s a new month so we should get 150,000 back from the office and we pulled our money out today for the new month so I’m gonna eat something good.

So I have a scripture that i want on my mission plaque...Moroni 10:32. I sent you a letter last week, so Spencer should get one in like a week and you in 2 weeks.

So tell Spencer to get some shoes that do not have fabric on the inside like mine do that you sent me,,,,it wears away really fast, and get shoes that have more rubber on the bottom, nice thick ones. Also, you don’t have to be plain Jane. You can have cool fun ties, you can have a belt with a cool belt buckle, and your backpack does not have to be logo free...if he wants a back backpack that has a dc or a fox logo...it’s ok, he won’t get sent home.

Sunday it was raining really bad and there were only 20 people in the church. And Elder Keller and I were just mad at the branch president because he seriously has no clue what he is doing. They started the sacrament meeting like 25 min late. But then we confirmed Ruth and when they said amen, she was just crying, and when I saw that, I just forgot all that had happened and just felt really good. Just felt, well I fulfilled my purpose this week. Of the 6 people that I have baptized, 3 of them are converts. Ruth is going to be a strong member for a long time!!!

I have started the Old Testament....Genesis isn’t that bad but the next 2 books are going to be a little harder!!!! HAHA I was studying about fasting this week, and how to really do it, and then I read in Isaiah 58. After reading that I was excited for fast Sunday. I was going to eat dinner Friday night and then fast for the baptism and other stuff, and I was going to end it Sunday for lunch. That didn’t happen....so much stuff happened. We had food all day, plus food at the wedding and I still haven’t fasted, only paid my fast offering. SO I’m going to do it this week. You should all read Isaiah 58 for next fast Sunday.

I think the winter is here now for good, its cold but not really...all the Paraguayans are freezing, and it’s been raining not cool :(

 That’s about it for this week

Love you mom