Monday, March 23, 2015

{Week 67} Oriental - March 23, 2015

Richelle! Happy birthday! You're getting so old! ''una viejita''
Katia! Happy birthday my beautiful 10 year old! I hope you have a great birthday!
Smalls! What beautiful teeth you have!
Jordy, felicidades. Silly string everywhere lol.
Jenna, poke poke poke.
Mackie, I love you so much!

And Mom and Dad, thanks for your letters. I love hearing from you both.

So this has been a really good week! Tuesday morning we were walking down the street contacting, when all of a sudden, a guy approached us and asked if we were Elders. I said '' sort of - we're Hermanas!'' Turns out he listened to missionaries in California 25 years ago, but wasn't willing to stop drinking and so didn't get baptized. Also he didn't really understand anything because apparently it was all in English lol. So he gave us an appointment for the next day, but said we couldn't go to his house so we made the appointment for the church. The next day we were in the church waiting for him, and after 30 minutes we decided he wasn't coming, so we left... and he was there in front of the church waiting for us! He said he was embarrassed to open the door and come in. So we taught him the Restoration, and it went really well. It turns out he's been friends with our ward mission leader for the last 50 years. He came to church on Sunday in a suit and tie, and is progressing really well. It was funny, because after we explained the story of Joseph Smith, the first thing he said was ''my friend Larry told my that Jose Smith was a drug addict.'' We assured him that that wasn't true lol. The next day when we saw him, he had read the pamphlet of the Restoration and told us that he had prayed and knew for sure that Jose Smith was a prophet and not a druggie lol. His name is Raul and he is 59 years old. We love him! He's such a sweetie, and is working really hard to stop smoking. That was a great blessing to receive after all of our other investigators had fallen through.

And on Friday, our stake had a party to celebrate the Relief Society Anniversary. Each ward presented a dance and it was great. And, I saw a ton of members from my first area Aculco there! It was so great to see them all and we were hugging and laughing and crying. And today, we went to visit Aculco, and a ton of members gave us food (I've never been so full in my life - it's kind of rude to say ''no'' to the food here, and they all gave us food to eat.) It was great to see them all and see what's happened in the last year.

Hna Gurley is now training! Her new comp is Hna llaguarima and is from Ecuador - the same mission where Hna Gurley's brother is serving! Hna Llaguarima (Jaguar - Ima) is 26 and is really sweet. and our District Leader, Elder Moreno, is training an elder named Elder Keyes - and he is from Calgary! Heritage ward... do you know him Gates Family? It's funny because he doesn't speak anything of Spanish - reminds me of when I first got here!

Just wanted to ask... Jordy, Carlee and Jenna ... how's your Personal Progress going?

I had to speak in church on Sunday... I talked about testimonies and how we can help others obtain a testimony. And it was great because two of our less active families came to church! That made me super happy, and the Bishop called someone from each family to say the closing and opening prayers. I really love this area. The members are great and I love working with them. This is the same area where Elder Evans started his mission.

And Hna Ramirez is great. We get along well and we work hard. She's talking more in the lessons, and is contacting... it's great! We're working hard and enjoying our time here. In April it's possible that my comp could be training, which means I would be in a different area my last 6 weeks... I'm hoping that I can stay here to finish my mission, but I'll go wherever the Lord sends me, and I'll go willingly. I love being 24/7 in the service of the Lord. I love Mexico. I love Spanish. I have to translate every word in my head back to English to be able to write you all. I'm teaching English classes every Saturday at 12, and it's hilarious because sometimes I forget English words lol...

I hope you all have a lovely week. I love you all and am super proud of our basketball team. (go Pandas!) Thanks for your love and your prayers - I can feel them. Be good, say your prayers, and wish Chelle and Katia a happy birthday for me. Love you!

-Hermana Taylor


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