Bichos (Bugs)

Hola Everyone!

We have been doing great here in Samayac. The season seems to be changing pretty rapidly but luckily we haven't gotten rained on too hard. The rainfall normally begins in May but this year it started early. Samayac is really similar to my first area. The rain hits here pretty hard. We're gonna have to take umbrellas with us soon so that we don't get sick.

Speaking of sick, I am! On Tuesday I went to Mazatenango to get an exam done and my results came out and said that I have amoebas. Luckily, nothing too severe. The good news is that i'm taking medicine and am already feeling a lot better. The bad news is that I have to take 2 pills 3 times a day for 20 days.. After that, i'm going to take a probiotic to help me build up the good bacteria in my intestines. I was so excited that I was almost gonna get to say that I never had parasites in the mission, but now I can't. It's common in missionaries that come down to the coast after having been in the cold for a long time to become ill when they get to their new areas. 

Apart from that everything is going great. Right now we are working with a young guy named Rafael. He is super pilas! He is the son of a convert family that got baptized 2 years ago. He takes notes in Sunday School and loves learning new things in church. He said that he wants to get baptized and we extended him the date of May 6th. Right now he is praying and asking if he should get baptized that day. We are super excited for him. The Lord is blessing our area right now. Keep him in your prayers please!

Something Interesting: These are three Books of Mormon. The first in English, the second in Spanish, and the last one in a native dialect of Guatemala called Mam. The last one isn't a complete Book of Mormon as it has not been translated completely. It contiains only the most important parts. I imagine that in the future the church will distribute a complete copy. 

I also attached a quick clip of the rainfall here in Samayac.

Have a wonderful week! Jesus te ama!

Elder Taylor

Coast

HOLA!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I'm here in my new area, Samayac and everything is going great. My new companion is Elder Argueta, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The members are pretty cool. It's a ward with about 100-something attendence. Apart from that, I don't have much to say today. Just that I definitely forgot what it was like to serve the mission in the coast. It is very distinct from San Pedro. It's been really hot this week and there is so much humidity. As I write this it is raining super hard. Winter is just around the corner here.

                              This is a fruit that a member gave to us. Its similar to a plum. I already forgot what its called. 

                           

           Typical selfie in front of a river.

                                                                              

                                                           En Vivo (Live)

                                                           Have a wonderful week! Jesus te ama.

                                                           Elder Taylor

                

Adiós Tierra Fria

Hola Everyone!

Well, I'm sad to say it, but my time in San Pedro has come to it's end. I'm going to get transferred back to the coast to an area called Samayac. It's near Mazatenango. I've been there before and its a huge place. I'm excited that there is going to be lots of area to work with. Samayac is also known as 'tierra de brujos' or 'land of the witches'. There is lots of tradition of witchcraft and stuff that goes down there so we'll see how it goes. This is going to be my new adventure. The area corresponds to a ward, which i'm really excited for because it just barely changed from a branch into a ward. I am ready for anything.

It's still so weird to me that I am leaving San Pedro. For some reason, I have become very attached to this place. Probably because it's kind of similar to Cedar City in autumn time. I don't know how it's gonna be adjusting to the heat of Mazate again. The good thing is that my new area is going to be similar to my first area, Pueblo Nuevo, in that it's not as hot as the other coastal regions. 

This past week we had an open house of the stake center in Chamac. It was super spiritual and everyone had a great time. There were stations in the open house for the investigators to ask questions about the lessons and information about the church. 

Lección 3: Evangelio de Jesucristo

Lección 1: La Restauración del Evangelio de Jesucristo

Lección 2: El Plan de Salvación

And a picture of our zone before the transfers. Zona San Marcos/San Pedro

My companion, Elder Cook, and I saw this in a bus in San Antonio. It's kind of funny. Translation: 'Get married to a woman that cooks well becuase beauty ends, and hunger doesn't.'

Have a wonderful week! Jesus te ama!

Elder Taylor

2 Nephi 31:11

Hola Everyone!

What a wonderful General Conference! I think that the messages that were shared were truly inspired. We were so blessed to have 4 investigators accompany us to the conference, and a 5th arrive by invitation of a member. I love that the Plan of Salvation was emphasized so much in this conference, especially since that is what my companion and I have been studying together this week. There is always something new to be learned when it comes to the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In the Sunday 

I think one of my favorite talks given in the whole conference was the message given by Joachin E. Costa. on Sunday afternoon. I loved his conversion story and the challenge that he extended to all investigators, to repent and to be baptized. I'm so glad that we had an investigator present during that session! 

Right now, the 4 people that we have been visiting that attended church are all from the San Antonio area. Two of them are brothers named Jaeson (13) and Anderson (11). They are nephews of a member of the ward. They also have an older brother named Yurbin (14), but he didn't attend the conference with us :(. 

Another investigator that attended is a guy named Emilio. He is from the Oriente (East) of Guatemala, but is living with his family in San Antonio and currently is looking for work to be able to stay and study in a local university. We are praying that he finds a job because he said that if he doesn't find a job, he is going to return to his house in Jalapa. He has already attended church various times and now is waiting for an answer to his prayers. We have lots of hope for him. 

The 4th investigator that attended with us was a huge miracle. Her name is Gia, and she's AMERICAN. She's here in San Antonio with the Peace Corps of the United States and she works with kids in the local schools. She's from Tennessee and is super cool! The first time we met her, it was at a bus stop and she was on her way to Quetzaltenango. We didn't have much time to visit with her because the bus came right as we got there, so we were only able to give her a pass-along card with our number on it. This last week, we ran into her again and found out that she has become friend of the same member that is family with Emilio! We invited her to the General Conference in Chamac and she accompanied us Sunday morning! We were able to share a Book of Mormon with her (thank heavens we had a few copies in English). We are going to have a follow-up visit with her this week. She is a Seventh-Day Adventist, but she said that she would like to learn a little bit more about the Mormons . 

Elder Cook (Arizona), Elder Taylor, Hermana Morales (Mexico), Hermana Chavez (El Salvador), Elder Contreras (Honduras), Elder Medina (Panama). The missionaries of the San Pedro Guatemala Stake.

2 Nephi 31:11

And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.

Have a wonderful week! Jesus te ama!

Elder Taylor