Priesthood Blessing

Hola Everyone!

This week has been pretty great! I cant believe im about to start my 5th week in the field! I haven´t baptized anyone yet but I know that will come eventually so Im not worried about that. However, we did have a miracle! We have a family of investigators that we were visiting and the mom and a couple of the daughters were sick. We asked the mother if we could give her a priesthood blessing and she agreed. Through her faith, she told us that the next day all the symptoms of her illness were gone. We didnt give blessings to the daughters because one wasnt home and the other was asleep and we didnt want to wake her up. They were just barely getting over the sickness when we had visited the next time. The mother was amazed by the blessing that Heavenly Father had given her of good health. We hope that the miracle will build her faith and that she will finally have the desire to go to church because that has been something she has struggled with. 

On P Day we had a fun little get together as a zone. We had our own Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening). We each showed each other pictures of our families and talked about our families. It was really fun. I love my zone. They are all really great missionaries. 

This week we found two positive families! We love families here! Its really hard to find complete families because one of the parents is out of the picture or parts of the family dont care to listen to the lessons. Right now we are continuing with our two progressing investigators. They are cousins that live on the same property. One is 16 and the other is 11. We brought them to Stake Conference yesterday where the messages were awesome. The main topics were Sabbath Day Observance and Missionary Work. We also had a chance to show them the baptismal font. I really hope that they feel the spirit and receive the answers they are looking for! They are really special and they will be my first investigators that Ive taught all the lessons to and baptized. 

We had divisions again this week. The missionary in the picture I attached is our District Leader. His name is Elder Heyrend. He is a really good missionary. Hes hard working and we get lots of stuff done whenever we do divisions. We were proselyting in an area called Guadalupe. Its right by Pueblo Nuevo and its part of our area. Weve been tracting there because it looks like the missionaries havent done too much work there before.

Ill leave the email here. Thanks for the support and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Taylor

Hola Friends and Family

Hola Friends and Family,

This week just flew by. There wasn't anything too out of the ordinary this week. As of right now we have two progressing investigators that have accepted a date of baptism this month. This month we want to have a super mega baptism with our zone, so as a zone we are working together to bring the gospel to all of the people and invite them to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. We are also trying to find ¨Familias de Oro¨ aka. Golden Families. Right now we are on the look out and trying our hardest to be in tune to the Spirit to guide us to a family that is waiting to hear the truth from the missionaries. Keep those families in your prayers!

This week has been a week of much rainfall. It rains so hard here that we have to cover all of our books with plastic bags in our backpacks and we have to try to jump over huge puddles. We have to be careful at times because the hills in our area cause huge currents of water to rush down the streets and flood the road, which causes the street to be really slippery. Yesterday it rained so hard that it started leaking through my umbrella and dripping down my neck, which was really irritating. 

Guatemala has been holding elections for presidency these past few months and this past week was crazy. There were parades of cars, buses, taxis, and people that were flooding the streets with signs and noise makers. It has made it a little hard to talk with people because they are either not home, part of the parades, or get distracted by the ruckus outside. Yesterday everyone voted and we thought that things would start to calm down but they've only stayed the same. At around 2 in the morning today, another parade of people and cars marched by our house and set off a bunch of fireworks. It was a little hard to sleep through that. I have never seen so many public displays for candidacy in my life. I don't know if there are places in the United States where people do things like this, but here it is absolutely insane! Everyone and their kids and pets march through the streets of Pueblo Nuevo holding banners for their party. It was also very interesting during church yesterday because the voting tables were right across the street from the chapel. During fast and testimony meeting, we kept hearing people cheering and shouting outside. It didn't stop us from feeling the spirit though. We knew we were in the right place at the right time.

Also, I cant believe I failed to remember this, but ill attach a picture of me and my companion. Elder Tumbaco is his name. 

Thanks for all the emails and support from everyone this week. Hope you all have an amazing week!

Calahueche

Hola Amigos y Familia,

Don´t let that salutation convince you that my Spanish is perfect now because it definitely isn't! Im still trying every day to get better at Spanish, and to be honest it is frustrating at times when I want to say something but I cant express it clearly in Spanish. This week, I taught some parts of the Lesson of the Restoration to a family and when my companion asked them some follow-up questions, they couldn't answer because they didn't understand what I had told them. I am definitely learning humility and patience here. I will continue to pray for the gift of tongues because I really need it now. I´m two weeks in and can hardly keep up a decent conversation. I know that the Lord has helped me up to this point and that he will continue to bless me with the knowledge I need.

I also gave my first talk in Spanish yesterday. It was obviously very broken but I could tell that people understood it when I said Amen, and they all said Amen back (hopefully it wasn't just to make me feel better). The topic I was given to speak on was ¨Las Bendiciones del Ayuno¨, aka. Blessings of Fasting. This week was a little rough for me and my companion. One of our progressing investigators decided she didn't want to be baptized anymore and she is leaving us hints that she doesn´t want us to return to their home. Its been especially hard because she did have the desire to be baptized just a few weeks ago. We fasted for her on Thursday hoping that she might change her mind but she still doesn´t want it. Regardless, I still know that the power of the fast is real. This coming Sunday is Fast Sunday and I am going to take full advantage of it. 

This week I had my first experience with divisions. I was with Elder Zapata in an area called Calahueche. Its similar to Pueblo Nuevo in that there are lots of hills. It is a little more humid but it is beautiful. I took some pictures in Calahueche which i´ve attached. 

I have felt the Spirit so strong in certain homes this week. There are people who live in sheet metal, cardboard, and plastic homes, yet they are the happiest people ever. Yesterday, we visited an old man who is a convert who was saying he didn't want to go to church anymore because he was incapable of understanding some things in the Book of Mormon. He told us about how he only had a little bit of schooling as a child and that he cannot read very well, but he knows the principles of the gospel are true. I felt so blessed to be in the home of someone who was so humble. His house is completely built of wood and sheet metal, with a dirt floor. He also lives alone. We invited him to come visit investigators with us because in the past he had offered to assist the lessons with us. I feel so blessed to have been born in the circumstances I had. I was blessed with so many more opportunities than lots of people here in Guatemala. I know that, because of that, a whole lot more is expected out of me. The mission isnt only for the people who need the gospel, its for me as well. Like I said before, I have learned so much about humility here. It is so difficult to converse with people who don't speak your native language. The mission is teaching me so much more than I could have ever known anywhere in the United States.

Just to finish off, I want to let everyone know that I am safe and healthy. So far the mission has been treating me well. Im being very careful and I have seen the blessings that so many of you plead for me to have in your prayers. Thank you to everyone for all of the support. Remember to pray every day and read your scriptures because those are two of the best ways to feel closer to Heavenly Father. I know this is true because I feel it now. 

Have a great week everyone!