Getting Better

Hola Everyone!

I'm just going to say sorry in advance because I didn't take any pictures this week! Oops. Sometimes we just get too caught up in being missionaries .

Woo! 4 months in La Maquina! This week was rough, but better than last week. We visited a lot of people and many of our investigators are progressing. Our familia de oro is doing great. They invited us to eat lunch with them on Friday and we got to talk a little bit more with them about some of the church functions. The wife (Sandra) said such a great prayer after. This family has so many desires to serve the Lord in his true church. Ricardo is constantly talking to us about how he wants to find the true church of Jesus Christ. Well, I think the whole family received a lot of answers yesterday when they came to church. After the whole meeting, Ricardo told me that he would like to start getting serious with the church. Right now, the family is super ready for baptism. The only things holding us back now are 2 more attendances to sacrament meeting, and the marriage. We hope that there wont be any complications with the marriage process seeing as how Ricardo was married before, his first wife passed away, and her death was never registered in the government's database. Ricardo still appears married to the other woman, which makes it so he can't be married to his current partner Sandra. We ask for your prayers so that we can find a simple solution to this problem so that they can get married, and baptized. 

President Goodman came to visit us this week in La Maquina. He wants there to be a member branch president as soon as possible. I need to be the last misisonary branch president here in La Maquina. He talked a lot about how there are really no possibilites in the branch right now and that the reality is, is that we are going to have to baptize the next branch president. Maybe it is no coincidence that we met Ricardo and his family at this time. Pres. Goodman said that if everything turns out well and the Perez family gets baptized, Ricardo could be branch president within a few months. Please pray for the Perez family!! 

Yesterday, we also had some suprise investigators in church. A couple came into sacrament meeting a few minutes after we started and just sat right down. They listened to all of the messages and stayed the whole 3 hours! After, the husband, Victor, told us how much he enjoyed church and that he wants to come to General Conference this weekend. He even said that he would come early to get a good seat (there will definitely be no issue there )! 

We were also expecting the family of a single father (Ambrocio) who told us that he would for sure attend church with us. When he didn't arrive, we decided to visit him after church. When we got to his house, he was just leaving because he had to run an errand. He told us that in the morning, he had gotten ready and came to church, but when he saw that he had arrived late and that everyone was already inside, he felt bad and went back home. We were so sad to hear that! It's frustrating how much Satan attacks our brothers and sisters, even at the doors of the chapel. We pray that next week, he will be able to listen to the conference with his son and daughter.

Although we may be seeing more challenges in our area, the Lord is blessing us with more miracles. I can suffer the trials if other people get to see the blessings. This isn't just a good turn daily, it is the work of salvation. I know it is true and I know that we - the missionaries - have been called by a Prophet who has been called and inspired by God. May we enjoy his counsels in this autumn general conference.

Have an amazing week!

Presidente Taylor

Level: Expert

Hola Everyone!

First of all, Shoutout to my older sister, Veronica for having another baby girl. We love babies! 

Wow, this week was a rough one! Definitely set to the hardest level , but regardless, what a great week in the mission! The biggest news I think, is that we sent out our future missionary to the CCM. Mauro (or now Elder Barrios) entered the Guatemala MTC on Wednesday. I'm really happy that I got to see his progress in these past few months. 

The funny thing is that you would probably think that he is from the states and that I am from Guatemala just because of our skin tones .

 This week has been a little rough because Satan was on his game. It seems like every lesson had an interruption and that nobody was home! I think part of it had to do with independence day on Wednesday. There were also lots of drunks in the streets and not a lot of people wanted to listen to our message. Satan must know that a lot of good things are bound to happen because he has been extra sneaky this week.

The bright side, is that we went to visit our Familia de Oro (Familia Perez), the one that had been waiting for missionaries for 2 years, and they are learning very quickly! The sons already memorized all of the organizations in the Aaronic Priesthood and the whole family knows the 5 principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End). We asked them lots of questions yesterday, and they answered all of them! The parents even started reading a Liahona magazine that we left them. The father of the family, Ricardo, commented to us yesterday: 'I noticed that all of these Evangelical churches, are just churches made by men, but your church, was made by Jesus Christ, and you guys have a prophet and apostles like Jesus Christ did.' We were so happy to hear this comment yesterday. As we finished the lesson, the daughter Wendy (15) said the prayer. Her prayer was awesome! She asked for God to help her be baptized in the chruch and to stay firm in the gospel afterwards. I don't think I've ever taught a family that was so prepared. We are going to be working extra hard with this family these next few weeks so that they can get their 3 attendances in church, and get married so that they can get baptized in October. 

Thank you for your constant prayers! The missionaries are receving the blessings of your faith in us. 

Also, shoutouts to Elder Kahl for making this awesome masterpiece in the mission office. Reu will miss you Elder!

And here is a picture of something you probably cant see . But it was a nighttime parade of bikes and motorcycles for indpendence day in Central America and Guatemala. (Happy 15th of September Honduras!)
 

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Presidente Taylor

Big Family

Hola Everyone!

This week has been another great one. We were able to visit a lot of converts and less-active members, and at the same time find lots of new investigators. On Wednesday we found a family of like 8 people. The father is named Ricardo. He was telling us about how for the past two years he asked continuously for the missionaries to arrive at his house, but they would never visit him. When we got to his house, he and his family were so happy! He told us that he had been waiting for us for 2 years, and that we were the first missionaries to ever arrive at his house.

The next day, Ricardo and his family came to our activity in church (they live super far away) and 9 people arrived in total. We were so surprised. We are going to work super hard to help them progress and become members of the church.     

A bridge leading to Ricardo's House

The river that empties into the Pacific Ocean near Tahuexco

Sorry this is short! I hope to be able to write a bit more next week!

Presidente Taylor

Temple and More Miracles

Hola Everybody

HAPPY..

                                        !!!

                                     (The Beach in Tahuexco)

The Lord continues to bless us constantly. This week was spectacular. We found some really positive investigators and got to accompany the branch to the temple. A total of 13 members went, including the future missionary named Mauro. He received his endowment on Saturday, and I got to be his escort in the temple. It was such a great experience. I definitely felt refreshed and received personal revelation.

On Sunday we saw some more miracles. I felt prompted to talk about patriarcal blessings and temple covenants. To my surprise, the majority of the members in the branch don't have their patriarcal blessings (and many have already been endowed and sealed)! The urgency that I felt for these individuals was great. We're gonna work extra hard to help the members receive their blessings ASAP.

We were also delighted to hear from a lot of members that they want to prepare to enter the temple to receive their endowments and do temple work for their ancestors. I hope that I can still be here for the next temple trip we have. I imagine it will take place in December or January. I guess we'll see what the Lord has planned. 

This week I took some pictures of our house in La Maquina. 

                               

                                 Our Sleeping Quarters

          This is the 'Welcome Home' sign to all of the outdoor animals and bugs. Our house isn't closed... 

This is a pila, in case I never showed you one before. The middle part fills up water. On the left you can wash clothes on the concrete and on the right you can wash dishes. 

                And this is me making a flour tortilla for baleadas (Honduras-style) 

#ReadyForAnything

Have a great week!

Presidente Taylor