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