#16 Comida de Ecuador (Food of Ecuador)

alright so this week i got to try some more exciting foods. i ate sugar cane! ya like straight up this cane that you cut up and chew/suck out the juice. its way good! and doesnt really taste like sugar... kind of makes you wonder... but thats a new fun treat i like. one of our investigators asked us if we had ever tried it, and we were like nope, so she went into her kitchen and brought out this whole cane of it and just gave it to us. it was great.  Then, we also had a real coco bean from another member from Union Civica. its legit. so we decided to try that too. so we cut off little pieces and ate it....and ya it doesnt taste anything like chocolate. it tastes more like chalk. so basically coco doesnt taste like coco and sugar doesnt taste like sugar. my whole life has been a lie.  but then we made some coco pouder from the bean, and made our own hot chocolate with it. and now that was good!! 

also, talking about food. so remember how i was in a trio? so we alñmost covered 2 sectors? well ya so the other companion forgot to cancel his lunch appt, and here going to your lunch appt is a big feat. they get legitimately mad if you don't come or cancel right before. so we had to go. so we went to his and ate this huge lunch. then we had to go to mine. so we walk to mine, doing a few jumps a long the way to try and push the food down to make space.. well that didnt really work.. so we got to our lunch and had another huge lunch.. and we couldnt do it. but again its offensive not to eat. soo Elder Ureta was prepared and had his water bottle. so when she wasnt looking he started stuffing rice into his bottle!! and then i started stuffing my rice onto his plate. it was quite the ordeal. but it worked and we all survived. barely.

so as for my trio, he got his new companion so now we are back in two. we contacted a new investigator named Raquel this week. she is super awesome! she is super interested and asks tons of questions and its great. I'm excited to see where things go with her and her family! We were able to get Jimmy Crocker to church this sunday, which was way awesome. he said he really enjoyed it and it felt good to be back in church and thanked us for helping him. it was awesome too.

well thats all i have time for this week. i love you all and hope all is well!

love,

Elder Taylor

#15 Dogs & Iguanas

I'm an iguana whisperer...

I got attacked by a dog this week. but dont worry; all those soccer practices paid off. So what happened is we were walking down this road early sunday morning going by some people to bring them to church. and we see this dog. A big dog. A really big dog. Actually now that i think about it im pretty sure it was a lion.. they have those in Ecuador right? But anyway, so we are walking up to this lion-dog, and of course I'm on the end closest to the beast. so we keep walking hoping this is going to be one of those ''and the lion lays next to the lamb'' type situations, and nothing will happen. But not quite. As we get close it just stares at us with demon eyes, bares its teeth, and as we pass it it growls and jumps out at me! Luckily to my quick foot skills I jump out of its path, take a few steps back, and quickly reach down as if to grab a rock from the ground. As I reach down the dog realizes I'm kind of a big deal (well I'm pretty sure that went through his head) and runs off. But it got my heart pounding pretty good. But also helped wake me up more which was nice.

This week we have really been focusing on Hna Mariana. She is getting so close to baptism! She is so awesome and so sweet and really loves to talk which makes our lessons a little longer; but its all good because she's awesome. We are still working on her son though.. he's a little tougher. 18 year olds, I tell you, they're the worst.... hahah We also contacted into a less active that hasnt been going to church for like 30 years. It was crazy we even found him. But we did, and his mom had just passed away 6 months ago, and he was really struggling, and thinking about church. It's amazing how the Lord uses us and puts us in the path of the people we need to talk with. We are also working with Jimmy Crocker. He's another less active that really wants to start going back to church. He also loves soccer, and has a brother that is living in Venezuela right now, so we get along well.

Well ya this week has been great. Oh also im in a trio again. Another missionary went home after just one week here for some problems he was having. I dont know all the details; I think health problems though? Which is super sad. But ya so now I'm in a trio with his companion. So that is fun. We have no idea how long we are going to be in trio though. 

Well thankyou for everyone for writing me! I love to hear from you guys! I hope all is well with everyone!

love,

Elder Taylor

PS also, I'm an iguana whisperer 

#14 Gift of Tongues

New Companion

Alright, so this last week was quite the whirlwind. My trainer left monday morning, i got a new temporary comp until wednesday, and then on wednesday i got a kid! jaja or in other words i got a trainee. His name is Elder Ureta. hes from Chile. which is ironic since my trainer is from Chile. so i went from one Chilean to another. so me and Elder Ureta got back to Alegria around noon, had lunch at 1:00 and then emedietley got to work! and wow, i really should have paid more attention to where we were going when i was with Elder Rios!! i remember how all the houses look, but for some reason i cant remember which street theyre on! haha so we´ve spent quite a few times walking up and down streets waiting to pass a house i recognize and then know wehre we are at! jaja luckily Alegria isnt that big. 

Also, wow has my testimony of the gift of tongues grown. tuesday night i went to sleep still feeling like i couldnt understand all that much spanish. Wednesday i woke up and was almost fluent. Prayers really do get answered. And the Lord really does qualify you for what he needs you to do. and i really needed to be able to talk and understand Spanish in order to train. i still dont consider my self fluent. but i can now go up and start talking to just about anyone and now what they are saying and respond. its pretty awesome! i love spanish.

so this week, the weirdest thing happened.... i contacted someone in English! Elder Ureta and i were walking down this street, when all of a sudden to my right i see this white blonde guy talking english to his two white sons. i litterally just stopped. i was so confused for a second. then i went up to him, but didnt know what to say! so what ended up coming out of my mouth was ``youre talking English´´ yes very smooth. but it worked. he kind of laughed and said yes. so we talked a little and ends up hes from Kentucky, and his wife is from Ecuador, so he was visiting her family here. it was cool talking to him in English, but i was surprised at how hard it was! it was stuttering a few times hard core. i had to like translate a few things back from spanish into english. it was interesting. but he is very staunch Catholic and doesnt want to change. he did want me to change though. haha but i still left a pamphlet with him, so hopefully that can plant a seed that will be harvested in the future.

We also are back to 4 elders in my house! one is from Mexico, Elder Pat. the other is from St. George Utah, Elder Adams. the spanish people here have the hardest time saying his name. he´s also a brand new missionary, so Elder Pat is his trainer. its fun having 4 people in the house, and being able to talk english with him and help translate every once in a while.

well this week has been crazy busy and overwhelming at times but its been great! im gratful for this oportunity the Lord has given me to grow and become a better missionary. yo se´que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera en la tiera. Que la plenitud del evangelio, cual tenemos, es la fuente de mucho gozo y paz y tranquilidad en esta vida. yo testifico a cerca de este cada dia.

i love you all and hope all is going well,

Love

Elder Taylor

Old District

#13 4,3,2,1 SHOCK

wow these week has been absolutely crazy! well, mainly the end of this week. but first, this week we met a guy that trains chickens for fights. so thats pretty legit. we contacted him while he was outside his house with his chickens, and i played the ´´im an american who doesnt speak spanish'' card, and first asked him how do you say that (pointing to chicken) in spanish. him: gallo.  Oh cool, do you eat them or...?  No i train them to fight. so we talked to him for a while about chickens. he's not interested at all in the gospel, but we still left a book of mormon with him and made a new friend.

conference was absolutely amazing!!!! being able to hear the words of our modern day prophets and apostles is such a tremendous blessing! The truly are called of God and inspired on how to help and guide us. This was also the very first time ive listened to a Conference in Spanish. it was a little different. But it was super cool when they spoke in Spanish as their native tongue and they didnt have to translate it.

after conference on sunday night, we had a lesson with Mariana. she attended  2 sessions of General Conference! we talked to her a lot, about our prophet and how she felt and her reading of the book of mormon and her praying and everything. then, we commited her to baptism!! she was still a little hesitant, even though she believes the church is true because of how shes felt, but she wants to have a solid knowledge and understanding of everything before she commits. but she did agree that if she feels ready she will be baptized on the 25 of October!! so that is way awesome!! she definetly is ready. We just need to keep helping her realize how much she knows.

now for my title. so if you remember like two weeks ago we had four people living in our house.  4.  then he left, so i was in a trio.  3.  then this week elder Chas left and is working in the office now.  2. and this morning, Elder Rios was transfered. so i am the only one left out of us four.  1.   and now, for the last part.  I have been called to be a trainer. in two days i will be receiving my new companion, who is a brand new missionary from the mtc, and i will be training him in Alegria. SHOCK!!!   if youre shocked, then ya that makes all of us. i was litterally IN shock when i found out yesterday. I dont know if i have ever been so scared and nervous and felt so inadequate and unprepared for such a calling before in my life. I guess all i can ask is that you all keep me and my new companion in your prayers, because with the Lord is the only way i am going to be able to do this.

I know this church is true and i know that through it we can achieve true happiness. I know that the Lord doesn't require more of us than we can handle, and that through him all things are possible. I love you all and hope all is well.

love,

Elder Taylor