Work Hard. Work Harder.

Hola Eeryone!

Hope everyonve was able to have a happy Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving here was awesome. We had a really good turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and pie at the end. We also got fed a lot more than last year so that's good. 

We are still working super hard with Fredi. He didn't get baptized last week because he didn't feel ready. I think he's just putting more and more conditions so that he won't have to do it, but he knows he needs to do it. We are going to work extra hard with him this week. We also are working with a single mother named Paola. She is also an ancient investigator that the missionaries had worked with a long time ago. She is super nice and wants to receive an answer, she is just scared of leaving her Evangelical Church. She also is waiting for God to give her an answer, but I feel like she's waiting for some revelation. 

Today we had a free P-Day. A few of the Elders in our district went to a restaurant in San Marcos called Ones. It was super good. 

                  Elder Contreras (Honduras), My comp Elder Hernandez, Me, Elder Tumbaco (Ecuador)

                          Have a wonderful week everyone. and #LightTheWorld
                          Elder Taylor

FRIO (COLD)

Hola Everyone! 

Well, the weather this week has been insanely cold; Especially in the morning and at night. I've gone through my whole mission wondering why I brought a beanie in my luggage.. and now I know. I can't sleep without a beanie at night. We tend to not use our heater because it raises the light bill way too much. Luckily we have plenty of blankets.

Today for P-Day we played dodgeball and ate hamburgers at a place called Abuelos Cafe (Grandfathers). I forgot to take pictures of the hamburgers they sell there but they are really big and are so good. 

This week we have planned the baptism of Fredi for Friday. He is still sitting on the fence a little but we are planning on going with him daily to help him get ready for his baptism. He knows he needs to do it, I think he just has fear of getting baptized again since he was baptized in the Catholic Church. Your prayers are always welcome (and needed ). This past Thursday we did a Family Home Evening where we taught Fredi and his family how to make hamburgers: 

Fredi making the patties

Fredi's wife, Sylvia. She is a member and used to work in the temple in Quetzaltenango. 

And pictures of our new house like I mentioned before:

And a sweet view of San Marcos and San Pedro from a part of our area. 

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Taylor

Tiernas Misericordias

Hola Everyone!

This week has been pretty good here in San Pedro. I finally am getting used to cold weather again. As always, the majority of people don't keep the appointments that we make with them, so that's kind of annoying, but we are slowly seeing some progress in our area. Up to this point we haven't had one investigator in sacrament meeting, but we still have faith that one of these weeks, someone will be prepared to go. 

Yesterday we had a pretty spiritual experience in a lesson with the husband of a member. The investigator's name is Fredi and he has been visited by the missionaries for the past 2 years. He was first visited by a missionary that went home when I came to the mission. Fredi has received all of the lessons on multiple occasions and has been to church countless times. I had been looking at his name in our Area Book for a while now, and yesterday I felt that we should stop by. We asked the bishop to accompany us. The bishop is the father of the wife of Fredi. When we got their, we taught The Restoration and he understood everything. My companion, Elder Hernandez, asked him after why he hadn't chosen to be baptized. Fredi's answer was that he didn't feel good in church; not for anything that the members had done, he just didn't like going. After that, I decided to share some scriptures with him from the Book of Mormon. Then I asked the first three questions from the baptismal interview. To our surprise, he answered to us that he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is scripture. I told him after that he has a testimony of the gospel, and that the only thing he needed to do is act. I challenged him to be baptized on November 25th, and we were all super surprised when we heard him say, 'I'll prepare'. This has definitely been our biggest miracle of the week. We are going to have to take care of him a LOT! I'll keep y'all posted on how things go.

Today, as a zone, we went on a mini-hike on a mountain close-by in San Antonio. We thought we were going to get a good view of San Marcos and San Pedro, but there were too many trees and the mountain wasn't tall enough. . It was still fun though, because we made our own trail on the way back down. After the hike, we went to a park on the side of the mountain and played capture the flag. We had a pretty great time. Our district went to a cool little restaurant after.

Here are some pictures:

Near a place called San Jose Caben

A cool painting of Antigua Guatemala

My District (minus two Elders) Left to Right: My trainer Elder Tumbaco (Ecuador), Elder Contreras (Honduras), Me, My companion Elder Hernandez (Mexico), Hermana Gonzalez (Mexico), and Hermana Cabrera (Ecuador).

A Graffiti wall close to our house

Me and my companion Elder Hernandez

A street in San Pedro

The famous Gallo Statue

Downtown San Pedro

The Central Park of San Pedro

Have a great week!

Elder Taylor

St. Peter

Hola Everyone!

What a learning-experience we've had this week. We are learning little-by-little the things that we need to change to help us have more effective work. Our ward is a little weak right now because there are a lot of less-actives and lots of members who are attending other wards. We are going to need lots of help from the members of our ward here since people don't have lots of trust in the missionaries here. The members told us that they haven't had a baptism since last February so my companion and I are planning on breaking that streak... haha.

This last week we had the opportunity to hear from President Goodman in a mult-zone conference. We got to do some workshops that will help us as missionares focus on teaching repentance better. We also got to watch the broadcast about Teaching in the Savior's Way on Saturday, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Some scriptures that we discussed in our multi-zone conference that have lately caught my attention are those found in Alma 26. These are pure quotes from the prophet Ammon:

26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.

30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

 31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.

 37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

I know that this is the marvelous work that has come forth among the children of man. I don't think I can explain it any better than Ammon. 

That's all for this week! May the tender mercies of the Lord be with all of you. 

                                                      Elder Taylor