Feliz Natal

Hola Everyone!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. I have to see this has been the least usual Christmas I have ever experienced in my life. However, it was still one to remember! 

First of all, the tradition here in Guatemala is that everyone does all of the celebrating on December 24th, which is called Noche Buena (Christmas Eve for us Americans). This is the night where all the fun happens. That evening the people set of tons of fireworks; as if it was Independence day in the states. Most of the people also spend the whole night at home with their families or in pubs drinking all night. 

On Christmas Eve we went to a member´s house to eat some American snacks, like chips, brownies, and icecream. After that, we went out with them and visited a non-member family and a less-active family. We sang Christmas hymns and gave them gift baskets with food. It was an awesome experience. When we finished there, we went back to the members´ home and did a gift exchange. I ended up getting a new watch, which was cool. After, we had a classic Christmas Eve dinner with a turkey and mashed potatoes. Overall it was a great time. Later in the night, we decided to celebrate Christmas Guatemala style (minus the drinking, of course). We set off some little fireworks and at the end of the night we lit a lantern and let it fly. 

On Christmas day we got together as a district and made waffles (the kind that come frozen in a box) and hot chocolate. Each of us also had the opportunity to call our family through Skype. It was nice to finally speak face to face with my family. When we finished the call, I definitely felt refreshed. 

On Saturday we had the opportunity to hear messages from Elder Alejandro Lopez from the Seventy and his wife. They shared messages with us about how we should conduct ourself as missionaries and how we should take care to not waste this time since it is the Lord´s time. They brought their family as well, and one of the sons has his call to serve in Utah on his mission. 

Overall this week was great. It´s always a wonderful time when we can reflection on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Savior. I´m looking forward to the new year and where it brings all of us. 

I hope you all have another wonderful week and that the new year brings you all prosperity.

Elder Taylor

Las Palmas REU

Hola Everyone,

Just to start off, hope everyone is having a great holiday season. This week has been insanely busy. Last Monday, we traveled to San Marcos to prepare the Christmas Devotional for the missionaries in the mountains. On the way there, we passed through Quetzaltenango. We ate at a restaurant there called San Martin. We also passed by the Temple in Quetzaltenango. 

On Wednesday, we had our Christmas Devotional in San Felipe. We got to listen to some great talks, eat good food, and have a talent show. We had a talent as an office and sang and did a funny dance in front of the other missionaries. 

Things have been really chaotic here in the office. We´ve had to take care of lots of changes in the mission and it has left us burned out at the end of the day. There are lots of perks to being here though. I get to drive the mission car, we have air conditioning in the office, and we still have the chance to go out and teach investigators. 

Sorry for another short email. We are really busy today. Hope you all have a great week!

Mission Office In Zona Las Palmas

Hola Everyone!

This week has been crazy but the mission is still great. On Tuesday, they notified all the zones of the transfers. Three missionaries from Zona San Felipe had cambios and I was one of them. On Tuesday night, I visited my converts and the members to say goodbye and it was really cool because one of the families that we baptized bought us food and cake. 

On Wednesday we went to the Reunion de Cambios in Retalhuleu. My new assignment is in the mission office in Zona Las Palmas. I am being trained to be the new executive secretary. My companion is Elder Perez, who was companions with Elder Tumbaco in Pueblo Nuevo before I came. 

Things are crazy in the office. There is always stuff to do, and on top of that we have time to go out and find investigators and teach. This week I have been more exhausted than ever. 

This week we had a Christmas activity at a finca (a property where they grow crops or goods like coffee or sugar). A lot of people live at this finca and none of them are members. The week before I came, the missionaries in that area had brought 30 adults to church from the finca. All of the people are interested in the church and we are all helping out as a zone to animate the people to join the church. Its been a really interesting thing to see. 

Sorry that this email is so short. Today we have a work day on President´s orders. We are preparing for a Christmas Devotional for the missionaries that will be held tomorrow in the mountain area. Today I am going to be travelling to San Marcos and I get to pass through Xela (Quetzaltenango) which is out of our mission, so thats cool. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Taylor

Missionary Life

Hola Everyone!

This week has been pretty good. We had more lessons, which was nice. The rain has finally stopped which is also really nice. Now its just really hot all the time. 

Right now we are really focusing on finding new investigators. The mission has assigned us to have three Christmas activities in our area in which we can find lots of new investigators. This week we want to sing Christmas Hymns in the park and show the church´s videos to the public. We are passing out the cards that say Ha Nacido un Salvador (A Savior Is Born) and the people are really appreciating them.

This week are transfers, and there´s a good chance that I might leave since I have had almost 4 months in Pueblo Nuevo. I would like to stay until February, but at the same time, it would be nice to be in a new place. We find out the changes tomorrow so next week I´ll let everyone know what happened. 

Yesterday we had the chance to watch the Christmas Devotional. It was awesome. The music and messages were amazing. It is really refreshing to have the opportunity to hear from our authorities in the church. I am so grateful for such an amazing organization. This truly is the perfect church. 

Again, I would like to invite everyone to watch the ¨A Savior Is Born¨ videos. They really bring the true spirit of Christmas and the church has done an amazing job of capturing that spirit. I am so grateful for a Savior that lives and because of him we can overcome everything here in this earthly life. 

Hope you all are having a happy holiday and I wish a great week for everyone!

Elder Taylor

Dia de Accion de Gracias

Hola Everyone!

Hope Everyone´s week was great. This week went pretty well. To start off, things went pretty normally. We finally were able to get some decent lessons in this week and now we have some progressing investigators. We are still struggling to get people to go to church, but we haven´t lost faith! I really hope that I´ll have the chance to baptize again here in Pueblo Nuevo before I have transfers. 

On Thursday we had the opportunity to have our own Thanksgiving missionary style (aka Dia de Accion de Gracias). We got to eat turkey, potatoes, rolls, and pie. It was great, and the turkey was really, really good. We even got to share with everyone what things we were grateful for, which is something we have always done in my house so it was cool. The missionaries are feeling extra baggy these days, as Christmas is getting closer. I still can´t believe how fast time is going. To think that I´ll have 5 months in the mission on the 8th of December is nuts! 

Last night it was insanely hard to sleep. A church close to the house was having a worship service all night with really loud music and singing. I think they were celebrating a birthday or something. So yeah, that was annoying. Today as a zone we went to play paintball again. It was pretty fun. After that, we ate at Burger King and did some shopping. 

The Church released their Christmas message for this year on Youtube called ¨Ha nacido un Salvador¨ (A Savior is Born). I´d like to invite everyone to watch that video and ponder what it means that a Savior was born. I am full of gratitude for the love that a brother of mine showed the world to save us from sin. That gift should be the most important gift of all to us this holiday season. As Christmas gets closer, i´d invite everyone to mediate the reason for the season. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Taylor

Mission life

Buenas Tardes Everyone,

I cant believe how fast time is flying. It is already almost Thanksgiving! Thanks to our mission President, we are going to have our own little Thanksgiving dinner as a zone. I can´t wait to eat turkey in Guatemala. 

This week was a bit rough to be honest. We had lots reunions and not too much success with teaching lessons. Partly because right now is the season of coffee and everyone here cuts coffee during the day until like 7 o´clock at night. We had a few lessons with members present too which was awesome. The lessons are twice as powerful when there is a member present. 

The Lord has definitely been testing us. On Saturday we invited ALL of our investigators to church. We even went as far as inviting members to invite investigators to church. We were fasting that day and everything. When Sunday came, not one investigator showed up. I didn´t even know how to react. All I know now is that the Lord is testing our obedience and our faith. My companion and I have been talking a lot about how we can improve as missionaries and how we can help the members of the branch to help out in the work. We pondered a lot yesterday at lunch and have come up with some ideas that we think will help. For now, we just need to find a LOT of new investigators that will progress. 

Christmas is in the air here. Everyone is talking about tamales. Im excited for that time. The only problem is that I may have changes in the next transfer. This transfer is only four weeks long. The transfer falls the week before Christmas. I am hoping that I get to stay in Pueblo Nuevo another cambio after this one. The members are all great people and my converts are here too. I don´t want to leave my converts quite yet. 

Elder Godinez and I have been decorating our house for Christmas. Thanks to my mom for sending a mini Christmas tree. Last night we cut out a bunch of snow flakes and taped them to the ceiling. We also hung some white streamers and bought some Christmas lights and tinsel  that we are going to hang today. The picture I took didn´t come out too great but it looks really nice in reality. My comp and I are feeling "baggy." Thats the term the missionaries here use when they are thinking about their home life. Christmas and Thanksgiving definitely make missionaries feel baggy. There´s the REU missionary lingo lesson for the day. 

That´s all I have for this week´s letter. Please keep praying for the missionaries and investigators. Hope everyone has an amazing week! 

Elder Taylor

Cambios

Hola Everyone!

So this week was cambios and just as we thought, we had transfers here in Pueblo Nuevo. My companion Elder Tumbaco left and I recieved a new companion, Elder Godinez. He is from Honduras and is really cool. We get along really well. Elder Godinez is also now the district leader of our district. Its really nice because I don´t have to leave for divisions very often, and now we have a cell phone. 

In all honesty, this week was probably one of the slowest of them all. We had planned lots of lessons with investigators and every time we went to their houses, they weren´t home. It was really frustrating! We´re gonna work extra hard this week to have more success. Elder Godinez is a good worker, so I think we are going to see lots more success before I get transferred out. I´m hoping that I can at least stay here for Christmas, since it would be hard to be in a new area and not know anyone during Christmas. 

I don´t have much more to say this week. We have some investigators that are progressing and we are going to work more with them. Elder Godinez and I have decided that we are going to start contacting in another place here in the area this week. We feel it would be good to start some place new. For now, hope everyone has a good week and is doing well!

Elder Taylor

Pueblo Nuevo

Hola a todos!

What a week. We had another miracle on Saturday. We baptized the father of our second familia de oro! It is such a blessing to be able to invite people to come unto Christ and help them change their lives. Its also amazing to see the change in people after they have been baptized. They seem happier, more lively, and enthusiastic. I wish I could help everyone here have that change of heart. 

Due to a request, i´m going to share the names and brief stories of the people that have been baptized. The first baptism we had, we baptized a sister by the name of Julia Gutierrez and her daughter Yolanda. They are the wife and daughter of the brother who got baptized on Saturday. His name is Victor. They are one of our golden contacts. We were on divisions the day that we contacted them. I was with the Zone Leader visiting with another investigator and my companion, Elder Tumbaco was contacting with another missionary. That day it was raining really hard but, as my companion and the other missionary were walking along the road, they found the family outside of their house. On October 17th Julia and Yolanda got baptized. Later on, Victor was able to be baptized on the 7th of November.

The name of the other family we baptized is Velasquez. They are a really special family. The parents of the father, Guadalupe, were less-active members. He told us that he remembered them going to church at times when he was young, but he had never been baptized. The day we contacted them, we were just going door to door. We found a curved path around another house (which we later found out was the house of his brother) and some stairs that led down to a house. From the stairs, there was a wooden plank that led to the roof of the house and there was a boy playing on the roof. That day we talked with the boy and asked him if his parents were home. He immediately invited us into the house and we met the whole family. A couple of weeks later, Guadalupe told us that the day we came, he and his wife, Digla, were having major issues with each other. To add to the problems, they had 5 children and werent married. Through weeks of work with this family, we helped them get married and baptized the following week (October 31st).

Of course, with both of these families, there was no way that we as missionaries could do it alone. By the tender mercies of the Lord, we were able to help these families enter the waters of baptism. 

As far as P-Day went, we just cleaned the house a bit and bought some food to cook at home. I also found bacon so thatll be nice. For lunch we got together with some other missionaries in the zone and some hermana missionaries from El Salvador made pupusas. I also helped make one and it didnt turn out bad at all so im happy with that. 

The topic of the week is CAMBIOS. Last week I completed my training with my companion and the tradition is that either the trainer (the dad) or the new missionary (the son) will have transfers. Most of the time the trainer leaves his son in the area. Right now, me and my companion are just anticipating that one of us is going to leave Pueblo Nuevo. Both of us think its going to be Elder Tumbaco that leaves, since he trained and has more time in Pueblo Nuevo than I do. We don´t know for sure if we´re gonna have transfers, but we are expecting them at the same time. Personally, I would like to stay in Pueblo Nuevo. I really hope to stay here for two more changes. That would be a dream come true to me. Partially because I really like this area, and partially because I want to spend Christmas here where I know the members. In the end, wherever the Lord wants me to go, i´ll go.

Anyways, thats all for this week. Things are going great here in the mission. Im learning lots of new things every day. Also, some Chapín (Guatemalan nickname) phrases are sticking to me. Not sure if thats a good thing but its happening. Hope everyone has an amazing week!

Elder Taylor

Familia de Oro

¡Hola!

Another great week here in Pueblo Nuevo. We baptized our familia de oro! Words cannot express how blessed I feel to have had the opportunity to have baptized a family in Pueblo Nuevo. We have been preparing this family for weeks and now they have opened the doors to their eternal salvation. The father even had the opportunity to receive the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. In the night, we went to their house to watch the Joseph Smith movie and explained to him the significance of the Aaronic Priesthood. As a bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood, in the office of a Priest, he now has the authority to pass, prepare, and bless the sacrament, and to perform the ordinance of baptism. When we explained this to him yesterday, he had tears in his eyes. I think he has really realized the love of our Heavenly Father and the duty he has now as a priesthood holder. The branch president is really happy with the baptisms we are having, and that the branch is gaining more priesthood holders. Thiscoming Saturday, we are going to baptize the husband of the family that we baptized last month, completing another familia de oro. I feel extremely blessed that Heavenly Father has placed me in the path of these families. 

I have been pondering a lot lately the words of the mission president and the assistants in a conference we had on Thursday. They talked a lot about the worth of souls, exact obedience, and leaving things behind on the alter of sacrifice. Presidente y Hermana Ruiz are some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life. They are both very spiritual and give amazing talks. I was especially touched by something Presidente Ruiz said; that we need to keep in mind that baptism is only the very first step to salvation. We need to make sure that our investigators and recent converts know that they MUST make covenants in the temple. When Presidente said it, the whole room went completely silent. It was one of the most powerful statements Ive ever heard. Hermana Ruiz taught us about the Alter of Sacrifice, and that our home life needs to stay at home. When we leave our past life on the alter of sacrifice, we are more humble and ready to receive the blessings of our Heavenly Father. As missionaries, it is very important that we devote all of our time to the Lord. This is his time, not ours. All in all, the whole conference was truly inspiring. 

Ive attached some pictures of me and some of the missionaries in my zone. One is of me and Elder Smith (from my CCM group) with our District Leader Elder Heyrend in the back. The other picture is of me, Elder Adams (also from my CCM group), Elder Heyrend and Elder Smith. All quality guys and quality Elders. 

Thats it for this week. Hope you all have a great week! Keep praying for the work. We are seeing the blessings from your prayers!

Elder Taylor

Mission Life

Buenas Tardes!

Hope everyone is doing great. Me and my companion are brillando (shining) here in Pueblo Nuevo. This week we have the baptism of our second familia de oro scheduled. I am so amazed by the miracles we are seeing here in Pueblo Nuevo. Presidente Ruiz has told us before that Pueblo Nuevo is ¨tierra de fe¨ (land of faith). Both me and my companion have put all of our trust in the Lord here. Honestly we were a little discouraged and worried when we had almost two months without a single baptism here. It has really tested our faith. The mission is teaching me so much about faith, obedience, and patience. 

On Thursday, we had interviews with Presidente Ruiz and that went really well. Every time Presidente talks with us, I get rejuvinated and want to work extra hard. He is a really good mission president. 

On Saturday, we were super busy. The familia de oro that we are going to baptized this Saturday got married this weekend. Me and my companion and the Zone Leaders were all working really hard to get everything done for the wedding, especially since it was kind of last minute. In the end we were able to decorate the primary room in the church and hold the wedding there. My district leader, Elder Heyrend, presented the wedding and it went really well. I think the family felt good about it. Now they are one step closer to baptism, and one step closer to an eternal family. We have actually struggled a bit with this family because in the beginning, the husband didn´t want to get married. He wanted lots of time to think about it. With the help of our leaders, the branch president, and the Lord of course, they finally made the decision to get married and get baptized the following week. 

Today it has rained a lot. We were in San Felipe earlier today and it started to rain really hard. When it rains here, the roads flood a lot and you get wet. Its not easily avoided. As I type this right now, the rain is continuing to pour. Hopefully it will lighten up a bit. I´ll attach of video of the rain in San Felipe.

Anyway, thats basically all for this week. Hope everyone has another awesome week. 

Elder Taylor

Baptism

Hola everyone!

This week was super special. To start off, we just visited with our familias de oro every day. Consecutive visits seem to help gain confidence with the investigators. We went contacting a few times, but not much success in that this week. We need to contact more because we need new people to teach. 

The big news of this week is that we had a baptismal service on Saturday, the 17th of October. On Friday night, we went to the chapel and put together the pila bautismal (baptismal font). The font here in the chapel is made of blocks and a big piece of plastic that looks like a backyard swimming pool. We pieced that together and filled it up with water with a hose. The water here is cold. Pueblo Nuevo is a little bit higher on the mountain so the climate is a bit cooler. We originally planned to baptize with our zone in San Felipe as a mega baptism, but our investigators made the request to do it in the morning here in Pueblo Nuevo. 

I had the opportunity to perform the ordinance for the mother and her daughter. The father didnt end up getting baptized on Saturday, but we are going to work extra hard with him this week. The important thing is that two souls have opened the gate to heaven. I cant even begin to explain how much joy I felt during the ordinance. The water was pretty cold but it didnt bother me. Im just super greatful that Heavenly Father blessed me with the opportunity to have my first baptisms, and also, two baptisms in Pueblo Nuevo.

Today for P Day we got together as a zone and had a color fight. I attached a picture of me with Elder Petersen from Delta and Elder Sherwood from Nephi. 

Anyway, that was my week. Lots of miracles and blessings being received. Thank you all so much for praying for us. I have a testimony that praying and fasting bring us so many blessings. Ive witnessed plenty of miracles here and its because of the faith of all of you that pray for us every day. 

Elder Taylor

Hola

¡Hola!

This week was a little stressful, but still awesome! To start off, the week was just as usual. We visit our investigators every day and teach them a little something about the gospel, and then we do it again the next day. This week was a little different. My district leader, Elder Heyrend, decided it was time to interview one of our families for baptism (a really positive family). In order to do it we had to do divisions. I ended up staying in Calahuache on divisions with his companion, Elder Zapata. 

While with Elder Zapata, we went to a place called Santa Maria de Jesus, which is close to the border of their area and the mission itself! Its so beautiful there. The sad part is that I can´t send any pictures to you guys because it´s illegal to take pictures of the dam that we were near. It´s the same dam that we went to a few weeks ago for P day, but this time we were doing missionary work there. For dinner we ate empanadas. Really great stuff. 

When we got back to the house, the district leader called to take our dats for day and he told me he was gonna have to stay another day in Pueblo Nuevo because they had passed by the house of the family four times that day and they were never home. At that moment, I was a little worried. When you have a progressing family in the mission, you have to be constantly visiting them, like daily, to make sure that they are doing alright. At this point, I was praying that the Elders would be able to find them the next day and interview them. 

So I was going on my second day of divisions in Calahuache. I dont mind divisions, but it is a little rough to be out of your own house for two days straight. On the inside I was just hoping and praying that an interview would happen that day and that the family would accept the fecha bautismal (baptismal date). That night I wanted to wait for the phone call, but Elder Zapata was tired and just texted our dats to the district leader, and then we went to bed. In the morning Elder Heyrend notified us that he had finished the interview the day before, but he never mentioned the results of the interview. My patience was just being tested over and over.

Finally I got back to my house with my companion and we sat down to study for a little bit...

...and then out of the blue he told me,¨The family made their choice on who they want to baptize them.¨ At that moment I was so full of happiness. I´m going to baptize this Saturday!!! It´s been months since a family was baptized here in Pueblo Nuevo. As President has told us before, Pueblo Nuevo is an area of faith. Our faith has definitely brought us to this point. Not only do we have a baptism, but a familia de oro! My companion is going to baptize the mother, and i´m going to baptize the father and the daughter. Heavenly Father is always listening to our prayers, and I testify of it. 

Sorry that I don´t have any pictures this week, There wasn´t really much to shoot pictures of. But next Monday, I´ll have some really special ones for everyone to see! For now, I´d just like to wish everyone a great week! Keep us in your prayers! We´re receiving the blessings! 

Elder Taylor

Pueblo Nuevo, Zona San Felipe

Hola Everyone!

I´m going on my second transfer here in Pueblo Nuevo, Zona San Felipe, with my same companion, Elder Tumbaco. We had a few changes in our zone, including a new Zone Leader from Delta, Elder Peterson. He´s a stud. I think we`re gonna have lots of fun with this new zone. 

This week was a week of exito (success)! We brought two of our three families to General Conference in San Felipe! I feel so blessed and that my prayers have been answered. We are preparing these families for baptism the 17th of October. Please keep them in your prayers! They are progressing and we love them a lot. 

Speaking of General Conference, the whole thing was amazing, as always. Unfortunately, I wasn´t able to watch the first two sessions because we were visiting all of our families and investigators so that they would go to the broadcast of conference in San Felipe. Fortunately, it paid off because we had 9 investigators there with 2 families. I have to say that I felt the spirit especially strong when we brought the father of one of our families to the Priesthood session. I know that Heavenly Father has been looking out for us and for these families. To me, it seemed like most of the talks were centered on faith and obeying the commandments. I am positive that all of our investigators had at least one of their questions answered. I also really enjoyed the music that we heard at conference. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir definitely can bring the spirit so quickly. Heavenly Father loves us so much. I have such a strong testimony of that. If anyone every feels like they have a lack of knowledge of the scriptures, or obeying the commandments, they can always remember that they have a Father in Heaven that is always listening to them and will always love them no matter what. 

Today, for P Day we went to a toy museum where they had lots of cool toys and figures of Marvel/DC comics, Video games, movies, and books. It was really cool. After that we did a short paintball fight. And by short, i mean really short. It was still fun though! After that we travelled to Mazatenango, which is out of our Zone. We got permission to go because we had lots of success with bringing  investigators to conference. I got to eat Taco Bell! I cannot even begin to describe how great it was to eat Taco Bell for the first time in months. All in all, today was a great Prep day. 

Anyways, Sorry for the late email today! We got back a little late. Hope you all have a great week!

Familias De Oro

¡Hola!

I think I mentioned this before, but this month is ¨mes misional¨. Presidente challenged us to find a familia de oro this month and Heavenly Father has blessed us beyond that. Right now, we have 3 familias de oro. We feel extremely blessed because Pueblo Nuevo is definitely an area of faith. Those of you who are praying for us, we are seeing the blessings every day. Very recently the branch president challenged all of the members to visit investigators and menos activos (less actives) before church and after church. The members here have become super pilas (pedal to the metal)! Something else super special happened this week. There´s this little kid that we met and taught a few days ago with his family. On Wednesday, we went tracting and he found us again and told us he knew some people that we could visit. We received 3 references that day from an 8 year old non-member. 3 may not sound like a lot, but here in Guatemala every reference matters. Most of the time when we ask for references the people say the exact same thing ,¨La mayoría de las personas aquí ya van a una iglesia¨ (Most of the people here already go to a church). Not one day has passed in the mission field where someone has not said those words to us when we ask for references. We just shrug it off and keep searching. We keep searching for that familia de oro that has been prepared by Heavenly Father. 

Today for P-Day we played soccer at a field across the street from the Stake Center in San Felipe. It was pretty fun. Im not very good at soccer but the other missionaries said I wasnt bad so I guess thats a compliment. Other than that today has been pretty relaxing. Hopefully we can have a good family home evening tonight. Last week we had one with one of our familias de oro and some members in the ward. Members make lessons SO much easier and the investigators can relate. My desafio (challenge) to all of you is to accompany the missionaries to visit the investigators. The lessons are even more powerful when there are more witnesses of the blessings of the gospel. I really hope this family gets baptized. They are super duper special.

Conference is coming up and I have never felt so excited. I want to bring all of our familias de oro. We are going to visit them daily and get them to go because I know they will receive answers to their prayers there. Ive already heard multiple stories of people becoming converted because they watched conference. Another missionary from Cedar City that is serving here in Reu told me that a few conferences ago, he heard that 8 investigators arrived and that all 8 got baptized because they felt the spirit so strongly. I want to see that happen with our families. They are all very special children of God and we can´t afford to not share the blessings of baptism and temple convenants with them. 

Oh yeah. I dont know if I said this before, but the dogs here are crazy! For some reason they like to gather in groups and roam the streets. Then, they attack other dogs that bark at them or act like a threat. I attached a picture so you can see one of the groups. After I took that picture we went inside and waited for the dogs to pass because you can never tell if the dogs will be nice or not. 

Thats all I can think of for this week´s email. This week i will have completed my first change but im pretty sure my companion and I will be staying here together in Pueblo Nuevo for at least another change. Have a great week, and watch conference!!!

Elder Taylor

Mission Life

Elder Lumbaco and Hermana Ivet. Hermana Ivet is actually from Honduras. Below is the package that my mom sent to Elder Taylor.  It arrived!!! 

Elder Taylors First Mission Apartment

Xetululul & Calahuache

Hola Everyone!

This week was awesome. We´ve been doing great things here in the mission. On Friday, we had chance to go to an amusement park called Xetulul. It is such a cool little place. There are lots of rides and there wasn´t that many people, so we were able to ride a lot of the rides multiple times. It was a blast! Before we went, we all got matching soccer jerseys with our Zone name (familia) and our names and numbers on the back. That way, nobody would get lost. When we got there we had a little spiritual message from the assistants and Presidente Ruiz in the theater. After that we had time to ride the rides. For lunch, we had hamburgers and crepes and then got to watch a really cool play with lots of awesome stunts and magic tricks. There was one ride there that my zone got on four times consecutively. Basically, it is just a ginormous water slide where you ride in a raft with 20 people. We got soaked. Luckily, the weather was warm enough to dry us off pretty quickly. 

On Saturday we brought one of our investigator families to a baptism in the San Felipe Stake Center. It was such a great baptism. I think the kids really liked it. This family is looking really positive right now. This area has been a little tough on us and we know that Satan has been working full force against us here because our progressing investigators keep falling on us just days before their baptism. We´re working extra hard now with this family because we really want them to have the blessings of the true gospel. All the people we teach here are really special. 

The members in our area are really starting to help us with la obra misional (missionary work). The Presidente de la rama (branch president) called a bunch of members to be ward missionaries! We are super excited to have them helping us here in Pueblo Nuevo. Presidente Ruiz says that Pueblo Nuevo is an area of faith. Im really starting to see my prayers being answered now. I know that so much can be done here in Pueblo Nuevo. What this area lacks is priesthood holders. The branch could be a ward if we had more worthy men that hold the priesthood. Please pray for us here in Pueblo Nuevo and pray for the members as well. They are very faithful and really have the desire to invite others to come to Christ.

Today, for our P day activity we went up to the water dam in Calahuache. We couldnt take pictures there because its illegal here to take pictures of government structures like dams and airports. But we did go on a mini hike to a little lake in a place called Antiguo Palmar. It was really fun and they had those cool wooden bridges that go over rivers. We ended up getting rained on and soaked, which kinda sucked but our zone always makes the best out of everything. I really love all the missionaries in our zone. We are a family here. 

Anyways! Hope nobody misses me too much! Im loving it here in San Felipe and Pueblo Nuevo. Hope everything is going great for everyone right now. Have a great week!