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

Mission Life

Buenas Tardes!

Hope everyone is doing great. Me and my companion are brillando (shining) here in Pueblo Nuevo. This week we have the baptism of our second familia de oro scheduled. I am so amazed by the miracles we are seeing here in Pueblo Nuevo. Presidente Ruiz has told us before that Pueblo Nuevo is ¨tierra de fe¨ (land of faith). Both me and my companion have put all of our trust in the Lord here. Honestly we were a little discouraged and worried when we had almost two months without a single baptism here. It has really tested our faith. The mission is teaching me so much about faith, obedience, and patience. 

On Thursday, we had interviews with Presidente Ruiz and that went really well. Every time Presidente talks with us, I get rejuvinated and want to work extra hard. He is a really good mission president. 

On Saturday, we were super busy. The familia de oro that we are going to baptized this Saturday got married this weekend. Me and my companion and the Zone Leaders were all working really hard to get everything done for the wedding, especially since it was kind of last minute. In the end we were able to decorate the primary room in the church and hold the wedding there. My district leader, Elder Heyrend, presented the wedding and it went really well. I think the family felt good about it. Now they are one step closer to baptism, and one step closer to an eternal family. We have actually struggled a bit with this family because in the beginning, the husband didn´t want to get married. He wanted lots of time to think about it. With the help of our leaders, the branch president, and the Lord of course, they finally made the decision to get married and get baptized the following week. 

Today it has rained a lot. We were in San Felipe earlier today and it started to rain really hard. When it rains here, the roads flood a lot and you get wet. Its not easily avoided. As I type this right now, the rain is continuing to pour. Hopefully it will lighten up a bit. I´ll attach of video of the rain in San Felipe.

Anyway, thats basically all for this week. Hope everyone has another awesome week. 

Elder Taylor

Baptism

Hola everyone!

This week was super special. To start off, we just visited with our familias de oro every day. Consecutive visits seem to help gain confidence with the investigators. We went contacting a few times, but not much success in that this week. We need to contact more because we need new people to teach. 

The big news of this week is that we had a baptismal service on Saturday, the 17th of October. On Friday night, we went to the chapel and put together the pila bautismal (baptismal font). The font here in the chapel is made of blocks and a big piece of plastic that looks like a backyard swimming pool. We pieced that together and filled it up with water with a hose. The water here is cold. Pueblo Nuevo is a little bit higher on the mountain so the climate is a bit cooler. We originally planned to baptize with our zone in San Felipe as a mega baptism, but our investigators made the request to do it in the morning here in Pueblo Nuevo. 

I had the opportunity to perform the ordinance for the mother and her daughter. The father didnt end up getting baptized on Saturday, but we are going to work extra hard with him this week. The important thing is that two souls have opened the gate to heaven. I cant even begin to explain how much joy I felt during the ordinance. The water was pretty cold but it didnt bother me. Im just super greatful that Heavenly Father blessed me with the opportunity to have my first baptisms, and also, two baptisms in Pueblo Nuevo.

Today for P Day we got together as a zone and had a color fight. I attached a picture of me with Elder Petersen from Delta and Elder Sherwood from Nephi. 

Anyway, that was my week. Lots of miracles and blessings being received. Thank you all so much for praying for us. I have a testimony that praying and fasting bring us so many blessings. Ive witnessed plenty of miracles here and its because of the faith of all of you that pray for us every day. 

Elder Taylor