{Week 14} Aculco - March 17, 2014

I got more letters from you all!!  Mom your talk at DOTS (Depend on the Savior - New Beginnings) was very nice.  I appreciated hearing all the missionary stories.  I also got letters from Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Kathryn!  And please tell them thanks for me - especially Auntie Kathryn. Her letter came just when I needed it most, with some advice about the language.  I've been getting really frustrated with the language.  I just want to be able to speak and understand everyone right now!  And then her letter came when I was feeling super down.  It was pretty simple advice but it was an answer to prayer.

My first English class went well!  It was fun to be 'the expert' for once, because here I generally have no idea what is going on.  We didn't have a lot of people because of another conflicting activity, but we've adjusted the times so it should be better now. And my landlady has started teaching me Spanish for half an hour every night, which is really nice.

And Dad!!  Thanks for the email.  I love hearing from all of you.  I love you all and although the mission is super hard and filled with disappointments because none of our investigators came to church this week which means we won't be baptizing anyone in March (they have to have 3 consecutive Sundays first) there are a lot of blessings and miracles too.  I've already learned a ton, and I look forward to learning more for the rest of the time!

And the house looks great!!  I showed my comp and she was amazed, although disappointed that there wasn't any snow.  People keep asking me if they can come visit me in Canada so they can see the snow.  They're always dumbstruck when I tell them it gets to minus 40 sometimes.

We have a new investigator!  His name is Gael, and he's 9.  He's in a less active family, so we teach him and his older brother Andres all the time.  Andres has told us he wants to serve a mission, so we're helping to reactivate him.  The problem is that their family always goes to the coast on the weekend so they never come to church...

And Jesus is awesome.  He has a ton of references for us, and last week we had a Noche de Hogar ('Night of Home'... but it means FHE) in his house with 2 of our investigators, the elders, and one of their investigators.  It was really good.  We watched finding faith in Christ and played some games and had some treats!  It was a good time!  And Jesus has a keyboard, so I plunked out some tunes which was fun.  He and I taught Hna Cruz the basics for piano because she has no background at all in music.  And did you know that in Spanish, the notes are 'do, re, mi' not 'a, b, c'!!  So that was a little confusing for me.

But I'm having a really good time here.  The weather is beautiful, and I'm definitely getting a tan.  The crocs are my favorite. They're so soft and light. I wear the brown ones pretty much everyday.

And funny story!  We had a contact, who after the first lesson asked my comp to marry him.  She said no.  We're letting the elders teach him now.

And when you send me my ipod, could you put the songs from my Young Women's CD on it please.  Thank you!

My comp is great, and we're working hard, but still not much success.  Half of our appointments call to cancel each day, and the other half usually just forget and aren't there when we arrive.  And when we ask if people have references, almost everyone says no.  Help the missionaries!  Everyone knows someone that could be blessed by having the gospel in their life.  We're all a little scared or whatever to share the gospel, but please, give the missionaries a hand and help share the gospel.

I love you all!!

Be good, say your prayers, and spread the gospel!!

Hermana Taylor

This is us at the civil wedding of Miguel and Gabriella.  I don't know if you remember but Miguel was the investigator and Gabriella his less active member wife.  Their baby is Abril. This was during the time Hna Gutierrez was in the hospital and I was on splits with Hna Aguilar and Hna Bennett.