El fin se acerca

Hola Everybody! 

Sorry this is going to be short. Wow! This week has been busy. Since my companion and I are going home together, President Goodman assigned us to work with some of the missionaries in my district. We've been traveling a lot between all of the areas, so as of now, we don't really have an assigned area. I can't think of a better way to finish the mission. This Thursday, we are going to head down to Malacatan for our final interviews with President. Right now, we are just trying to make the best of the time we have left. Wish us luck!

                                                                                   A wall dedicated to Jesus in San Pedro

          The park in San Pedro

                                                                                                   

                                                          A rare photo of the sun shining in Serchil.

                                                          Jesus te ama!

                                                          Elder Taylor

"and earthquakes in divers places" -Matthew 24:7

Hola Everyone!

This week has been pretty good. We have been working a little in a town called San Lorenzo, and on Sunday, we attended the group sacrament meeting there (it's too small to be a branch). About 20 members attend the group. Even though the group is small, the Spirit was felt so strongly. Its amazing to see challenge it is to be a member in a place where literally everyone is of another religion. San Lorenzo is made up mostly of Catholics and Evangelicals, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is not well known. The funny thing is that there is always someone who has a smart or funny comment about the Mormons. In the end, there is plenty of work to do here!

This past Wednesday at like 2 in the morning, we felt an earthquake. It was pretty strong and everything was shaking like crazy. I heard my companion sit up in his bed and say, "Whoa." It lasted just a few seconds and then it calmed down. We went back to sleep and in the morning I mentioned to my companion, Elder Johnson, that the earthquake was pretty strong. The weird part was that he didn't even remember. He thought that I was crazy. Turns out that he was sleep-talking during the earthquake and never woke up. I guess he missed out.. We heard that there was a little bit of destruction in San Pedro and Quetzaltenango but nothing too serious. The good news is that we are found safe and sound. There was another earthquake today almost about an hour ago, but it was small and hardly anyone noticed. 

This last week we found a pretty sweet family (Familia Perez Chavez) in Serchil that accepted to be baptized. They are taking refuge for a while from a civil war that is going on in some nearby cities called Tajumulco and Ixchiguan. The only thing is that since they don't have any previous church attendances, they won't get baptized until after I get home. It's a little sad, but the important thing is that they can have a testimony of this restored gospel. 

Apart from that, things have been going really well. It has rained like every day this last week and the rain here is really cold. Lueckily we haven't gotten too sick. Wish us luck!

                                                                                  A pile of fur and bones that used to be a dog... 

                                                                                       Playing fusball in Dominos

Dominos Pizza. Elder Garcia, Elder Gayheart, Elder Cook, Elder Sanchez, Elder Johnson, Elder Taylor (Left to Right)

The best of wishes to everyone! Only 2 emails left! Jesus te ama.

Elder Taylor

I AM SAN MARCOS

HOLA! 

Well, I wasn't expecting this at all, but I had an emergency transfer back to San Marcos (so happy)! On Friday in the morning, we got a phone call from President Goodman, announcing an emergency change that was going to occur that same day. I had just a couple of hours to get everything packed up, say goodbye to some people, and head out to the terminal in Mazatenango. My new are is Serchil, and my companion is Elder Johnson. He is from my group. We came down on the same flight to Guatemala. He is from Idaho and is a great guy. His companion got switched to my old area, Samayac. We are super excited because this is the first time that we have been in the same zone together in our whole mission, and now we're companions! 

My new area is huge. I'm the new district leader in this district. In our area, we are covering a total of five units/areas: Serchil (branch), San Lorenzo (group), Tejutla (branch), Tacana (closed group), and Laguna Seca (branch). We have lots of space to work in, but we are going to focus on just a few of these places, and also focus on working with members and references. These are our last 3 weeks in the mission so we have to make the best out of them. This area is what is referred to as the 'Altiplano' of San Marcos (High-Plain) - and it is SUPER COLD. Serchil is way colder than any of the other areas in San Marcos and San Pedro. Since it's winter, we also are seeing lots of rainfall. Hopefully we can stay warm! This last transfer is going to be great. We are ready for anything and more specifically, MIRACLES!

Salida a San Antonio, Samayac

                                                            Hermana Alejandra and Hermano Abner from San Pablo Jocopilas

                                                              One of our investigators, Gerson, from San Pablo Jocopilas

                                                        Pastries and bread from Xelapan in Quetzaltenango

                                                               A pretty view of the mountains by San Marcos

                                                             Me and my new companion Elder Johnson (the Idahoan). #Oldies

                                                             Hope you all have a fantastic week! Jesus te ama.

                                                             Elder Taylor

          

The Waters of Mormon?

Hola Everyone!!!

This week has been awesome for us. This past week, we visited with one of our investigators, Raquel. She used to be married to a member of the church, but they have since divorced and she started to attend her church. When we first contacted her, she got scared because she thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses and almost didn't let us in, but then she noticed our black name tags and decided that we were good guys.  We have been mostly focusing on the Restoration with her because she was a little confused on the subject of Joseph Smith and why the Church exists. We explained to her about the authority that was lost in Jesus Christ's original Church when the world fell in apostasy, and how that same authority was restored and given to the prophet Joseph Smith. She immediately understood. We read the Book of Mormon with her a little and then suddenly she interrupted us. She said, '' I know that this is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I know I need to get baptized so that I can make a difference in the lives of other women who have suffered the same problems that I have.'' Raquel has suffered a lot in her life, she is on her third marriage because her past husbands have been unloyal to her. She felt her self-worth drop a lot. She felt like God had abandoned her, but she said that she knew that God hadn't abandoned her because he sent us to her home. In her words, ''two angels''. It's amazing to see how the Spirit talks to people. Even though we had hardly said a word, she was prepared to make that commitment with the Lord. We have a baptismal date set for the 17th of June. We need her to attend church so that she can have a recent attendance before her baptism. She knows a lot of the doctrine of the Church already because she participated there for a good while. 

Today we had a sweet P-Day. We went to a lookout (mirador in Spanish) of the lake Lago Atitlan, in the department of Solola, Guatemala. It's really close to one of the areas of our mission called Chicacao. We went to the lookout to take pictures. A lot of the members in Guatemala say that Lago Atitlan is or is near the Waters of Mormon, where the prophet Alma baptized 204 souls in one day. Here are the pictures: 

Elder Hastings the Idahoan

Foggy, but visible. Lago Atitlan.

                                                           

                                                           Elder Heath (North Carolina)

                                                           People washing their clothes in the lake. 

El Lago Atitlan. If you look closely, there's a Church building at the other end. It's the building of the Santiago Atitlan Branch.

Lovely Guatemala

That's it for now! Have a wonderful week!! Jesus te ama.

Elder Taylor