l vino a la iglesia!

Hey fam!
So I´ll start my letter out this week with the exciting news from
yesterday...Jose Luiz came to church! (Subject line=He came to church) I
was so excited! We walked in right before the meeting started so I
couldn´t talk to him before, but I was stoked.
We walked in right before because we went and picked up an investigator
and walked with her to church. She lives in the complete opposite direction
of the church, but that´s not a problem at all. Elder Stoddard found this
family on Tuesday while we were on divisions. The dad, Richard, is 24 and
the mom, Jessi, is 18! They have a baby girl who is 1 and a half. I know
what you´re thinking- ridiculously young! That´s what I thought too.
There are a lot of young mothers here. But then once I stopped and thought
about it after our lesson with them-my birth mom would have been even
younger than her when I was that age. Kinda gives an interesting
perspective, huh? I certainly thought so. But at any rate, she seems to
have a lot of interest in the gospel. Richard is a little more hesitant,
but he has a lot of questions, which is great. We´re about 99% sure that
they´re not married, so that will be a fun obstacle, but it won´t be bad.
Also, Elaine came to church yesterday. She is another one of our
investigators who is just awesome. We found her just by talking to her
outside of her house, and we set up an appointment with her to come by
later. We had two lessons with her last week and invited her to go to
church with us, but she said she needed to talk to her husband first, who
works out in the country. I´ll talk about that in a minute. But anyways,
she talked to him to make sure it was ok that we were teaching her and
whatnot and he said it was fine if it´s what she wanted to do! She´s a
little on the quiet side, but she is starting to open up more, and the
lessons with her are awesome. We took the Relief Society President with us
to the last lesson, and that helped a ton. We invited her to church again,
and Hma Duarte (Pres.) told her she would come by and pick her up and that
Elaine could go with her family. It was awesome! Commitments always go so
much smoother with a member there to bear testimony and offer support.
Porfilio is our golden investigator. He´s like 55 and they had already
been teaching him when I got here, but he is awesome. He´s been to church
like 7 weeks in a row, he´s had all the lessons, and he´s almost done
with Alma in the Book of Mormon. I know what you´re thinking...why hasn´t
he been baptized? We think the same thing. Haha. He just wants to wait for
his birthday, which is April 19. We wish we could just trip him into the
font, because he is SO ready, but the important thing is that he gets
baptized, not when. Every time we talk with him he has read like 3 more
chapters and is so excited to tell us what happened and ask his questions.
He bears his testimony about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit all the
time. We had a Family Home Evening with him over at the Branch President´s
house, and after we finished our message about the Spirit, bore his
testimony about how he knew this was the true church because of the witness
of the Spirit. He´s awesome.
I already told you about Ricardo, the little stud. Haha. He went to his
grandparents house this weekend, so he didn´t come to church with us, but
we have a lesson set up with him tomorrow. So all is well.
There, the watered-down version of the situation at the moment! Feel a
little more involved? Hope so.
When I first walked in to our apartment, I was like, "No way, are you
serious?" But I totally love it. At first it seemed small, but it´s not at
all. Pictures are coming, I promise. I have to talk to Hma Carter to find
out where I can burn my pictures onto a CD for cheap and where she sent
them home from, because they got there, safe, in like a week.
I haven´t had any crazy food yet, unfortunately. When we went to the
buffet in Brazil I ate chicken hearts, but that´s it. They weren´t too
bad, actually. A little salty. Elder Stoddard says he has eaten armadillo a
few times-I want to SO bad. I´ve still got time. Haha.
We buy bottled water every week. Two six-packs of 2 liter bottles. The
mission reimburses it, so all is well. I´m being wise mom, I promise. I
only drink out of the toilet twice a day....! (Dad, calm her down now and
make sure she knows I´m kidding! haha)
I´ve used the umbrella a bunch. All the missionaries are jealous and
want to steal it. It´s a very sturdy and effective little piece of work.
Thanks for letting me take it. I use the rain jacket thing too. Not the big
one, cuz it´s still hot, but the little slick one from good ol´Mac. We
put our scriptures in plastic bags and such to make sure they don´t get
wet. It works pretty well.
Oh, I found out how many blocks my house is. Ok, right by the bridge
there is a little fountain thing in the middle of an intersection, right?
Right. Not counting that one, go S/SW 7 intersections and over 1 (I think
east-ish). My house is in between that 7th and 8th intersection. There is
gas station on the block next to us. I don´t know if that helps, but yeah.
Hopefully it gives you an idea.
How is/was Nathanael´s trip to Oklahoma? How many schools are there on
the thinking pad? Where are they? Close enough that I can drive to them
when I get home? Haha. I´m so excited for these road trips in my Toyota
Tacoma that dad´s working on for me! Haha. Aren´t ya dad? You know I´m
you´re favorite...
Whatever happened with Melanie and track? I really hope she did it. She
would be SOOOO good! You told me she´s doing the stage manager thing-does
that mean she´s not doing track? I´ll keep my fingers crossed.
What´s going on with Megan? How´s my goose doin? Are the girls staying
on top of school? And staying away from boys? They better be!
Dad told me about your trip to the drive-in and how everyone was looking
at you. I know exactly how you feel! Every single person here just stares
at us! It´s so funny. But just like dad said, you have to make the best
out of it. We take the people that stare and just start up a conversation
with them that eventually leads to why in the world we are here, and the
message that we share. There are so many opportunities to share the gospel
if you´re just not afraid to talk to people. It´s especially intimidating
for me, because I don´t speak Spanish bien de dien, but it´s coming. As I
speak with people, the Lord definitely blesses me to know what to say. Even
if they don´t accept the message, or don´t want us to go by their house,
it´s a great chance to plant a seed. To let them become familiar with the
message. And it´s a great opportunity to make friends. So Mel and Meg,
people might stare, but you can always have a fun time with it!
What rules did the Pres. Bankhead remind you about in his letter? Haha.
That´s funny. I love Pres. and Hma Bankhead.
What is the time difference? Are you three hours ahead, or three hours
behind?
I wish I could tell you exactly when I write on Mondays, but it´s always
different. Sometimes we have an activity with the zone in the morning, so
it´s in the afternoon, but today we didn´t, so we´re doing all of our
"have-to´s" in the morning.
Oh, Mary-Anne, I got one of your letters on Thursday. It was the one you
wrote after I talked to you in the airport or something. On the cool, girly
paper. Haha. Did you send all of them just straight here, or did you send
them through the pouch? Maybe try and send one through the pouch to see if
it´s faster.
Mom, I want to be in a Theory class SOOO bad when I get home. Please
please please do all that time permits to look in to that. I just feel like
I could do so much more with music if I knew more of the Theory. If it´s
supposed to be, it will happen, if not, that´s ok too.
Ya´ll are already talking about coming to get me? Haha. I´ve still got
21 months! Mary-Anne does have a point, it may be the only time you would
ever come down. I prolly won´t be able to come down for a while and the
next time I could be bringing a wife...woah. Anyway, so she´s got a point
there. But I´ll let you guys worry about it, I´ll just focus on the work!
Deal? Deal.
The river has gone down, so all is well. I want it to flood more, though.
What an awesome service opportunity it would be! Haha. Last night, while we
were talking to someone on their porch, all the lights in the whole city
went out, and everyone just started screaming. It was hilarious. I guess
they do it every time the lights go out, just for fun. It was the first
time since I´ve been here, but I hope it happens again. Haha. It made me
think of what it must have been like when Christ was killed, and the crazy
darkness they were in. Because it got SOOO dark last night. It only lasted
about a minute, but yeah. Cool little idea.
Anyway, tell everyone I say hello, especially Bishop Christiansen. That
man is awesome, and he is such a great example and friend! Tell Alison I
got her tape. It was SO nice! I´ll write her a letter about that later.
Haha. Tell Bro. Christensen and Bro. Montoya hi for me. They´re my
seminary teachers, remember? Haha. They helped me prepare for this SO much!
I´ve never been so grateful for seminary.
Oh, I think Hallie´s email is hmbroadway at hotmail.com; send these to
her too, since I haven´t been able to write her yet.
I love you all, and I think about you everyday! Remember that the church
is true and that each one of you can do SO much to help this work go move
forward! Open your mouth and share the wonderful truth we have. Help the
missionaries. Read your scriptures, say your prayers. Haha. Ok, I´m done.
Love you all!
Elder Taylor