#27 Golden Investigator

  this week has been awesome! so first off, this coming saturday will be the babtism of Hna Blanca! im so excited for her babtism! she is so excited to be babtized and be a member in the church! its amazing hearing how much she has changed, and i love seeing how she acts as if she has been a member her whole life already--but really has only attended like 3 times! she is great! and its awesome that she has family that are members and they are so supportive and help her out so much!

  also, our golden investigator, Olivia attended church this week! she stayed the full 3 hours and said she really enjoyed it! she is so receptive to everything we teach and she learns, and its just amazing! she really is a testimony to me that the Lord has people prepared for us; people who are ready and just waiting for a guide to lead them to the door of happiness and everlasting life. im so humbled and grateful i have that oportunity to be this guide in her life. 

  also, crazy story, this sunday at church, me and my companion where stading there after sacrament meeting saying hi to people and helping them get to the next class,when a sister came up to us, and presented us to another sister, who apperently is married to a member, but she is not babtized, and came to church, and she really wants to get babtized! both me and my comp where almost in shock! to have an investigator basically come up and ask to get babtized.. doesnt happen everyday. haha but we talked with her and will be meeting with her today to talk more. but how awesome is that! and then after church, the sister that is a member of our ward who presesnted us to this investigator who wants to get babtized, told us how sh has been praying for someone that she can meet and present to us the missionaries that we can teach--and well she found someone! its so cool the way the Lord answers prayers!

  well this week we will be staying super busy prepping for the babtism and working on helping the other investigators we have accept babtismal dates. im so happy i get to be here and for how much ive learned and how much im learning everyday! i hope all of you are doing well! love you all!

Elder Taylor

#26 Classic Ecuador

this week went by way fast... again. this week we had the babtism of Jose Pillasagua! that went reallywell. the bishop babtized him and it was awesome.

also, we found a new invetigator that is so ready!! we went up and contacted her house, and she emmeiately let us in before we even said anything, told us to take a seat, and we talked, and shared a lesson with her. just a month ago her brother passed away, so we talked about the plan of salvation, and how even though he passed on, its not the end, and that she will have the chance to be with him again. it was a super good lesson. she told us that she felt a peace and calmness in the lesson, which we explained was the holy ghost. she isso aesome! we also commited her to pray about the things we taught, and she said she would. and when we came back she told us that she did pray and again felt this calmness and peace and tranquility. she said she will come to church with us this coming sunday, as she wasnt able to this past sunday.

she is so prepared its amazing to see how the Lord puts these poeple in our path. but also ive learned we have to act and do our part. because for example if we never would have gone up to contact that house, we never would have found her, atleast not for who knows how long. well thats my words of wisdom for this week, act and the Lord will bless you. Be Active! jaja well i love you all and hope all is well!

oh, also attached is a picture i took on one of our morning runs to the beach. classic ecuador wit all the fishing boats and the fishermen up early working. well love you all!

Elder Taylor

#25 Fish head...

alright, so first off with the interesting foods of Ecuador that ive gotten to try this week: caviar for my first time, which is really good. Fish head (which includes the eyes. yumm). and turkey foot (okay that ones not my favorite). but i love ecuador. the people are so nice and the food is good and there is always something new!

So first off, we have an investigator named Blanca, who is awesome! we started teaching her the first week i got here, and extended her a fecha which she accepted, so she is going to get babtized this 31st of january! she is so prepared. her sister is also a member, which is aesome. So Blanca has known about the church for a long time, but never was interesed and never thought she would ever have anything to do with it. but then some things went down in her family and in life, and now she is soo accepting of the gospel and loves to learn and knows that its true. its amazing how the Lord prepares his children for the right time when they will accept the gospel in their lives. its just another testimony of how the Lord knows each and every one of us and what are exact needs are and when we need them and everything! it really is amazing.

well thats all i have time for. love you all!

Elder Taylor

#24 Feliz Navidad y prospero Ano Nevo!

well, first off merry christmas to everyone and happy new years! hope all of your guyses christmas went amazing and that youll have wonderful new years!

well my week went well! being ble to skype my family was so amazing! and that i was able to talk to my sister also whos in Jersey on her mish made it that much sweeter! to be honest it didnt really feel a lot like christmas. first off with the blazing hot weather, but more than that just not being with the family and everything was just different. it definetly made me appreciate even more my wonderful family, and think about how blessed i really have been in my life; and now i have the great opportunity to share these blessings that i have had with all the people in Ecuador who are willing to let us in and talk with us. 

  the highlight of this week though was actually the baptisms we had this past saturday! Hermana Mariana, who i have been working with almost my whole time here in Ecuador, was baptized and comfirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints this week! and i had the blessing to be the one to baptize her! it was such a wonderful experience and i am so happy for her! Also, we baptized this week Daniel, who is awesome. his wife is a recent convert, and due to some things that went down in his life, he really came to know for himself that God lives and that the church is true. he has such a strong testimony. he is awesome! so it was great to baptize him and to help them get closer to their goal they have as a family to be sealed in the temple! it is such a blessing to be able to be part of these peoples lives and helping them take the steps to become closer to Christ and achieve so much happiness and joy in this crazy world.

  well i love you all and hope you all are doing great! ill attach some pictures from the baptism here:

#23 Una Semana Loca

well, this week was definetly crazy! so with us being so close to Christmas, we had all sorts of meetings this week. we had a whole mission conference which was way awesome!! i got to see so many of my friends that had been transfered and it was just so cool to see everyone again! and then of course its always a pleasure and a blessing to hear President Dennis and his wife talk to us! i love them. so that was wednesday. but first let me backtrack to tuesday night: so tuesday night, we start getting calls, that there are trasnfers the next day! so 3 people in our zone got transfered! one of them my district leader. so now im like hmm i wonder who will be my new district leader? and then i get a call from the Zone leaders. and they are like we have news. so i think im also getting transfered. but no, apperently i got chosen to be the new district leader. so that was quite the shock!! to say the least.

and then thursday morning we had a capacitacion for the 12 weeks of Elder Ureta. and that went well. and then friday mornig we went to the temple, which was awesome! i think saturday was normal. and then sunday night we had another meeting with one of the district 70s. so that was way awesome. and then monday (today) we had another meeting in the morning with President again!! so many meetings!! but they were all way awesome and uplifting! and then after we had a soccer tournament our zone vs another zone. that was way fun! we did work. well sorry this email was a little speratic and un detailed but thats all i have time for. love you all!

Elder Taylor

#22 ECUADORRRRR

so we have Mission Conference this week, so this p day is a short one, so i really dont have much time. but this week we had an awesome lesson with Javier and Silvia. it basically ended up just being a testimony meeting, where they told us about how much they have seen their lives change and improve since we first started talking to them. it was so awesome to hear them tell us about it. and then me and my comp shared  a few scriptures andwhile i was listening to my companion i was really trying to think what i should share, and i had nothing, but i just started tlking and right as i opnened my mounth a scripture came into my mind that i had read earlier that day, and i flipped to it and read it with them, and it was awesome. it was such a good lesson. well thats all i have for this week. i love you all!

Elder Taylor

#21 Thanksgiving doesn't exist here

so first off, thanksgiving is just not the same away from the States. as in it doesnt exist here. but we had a little dinner in our house thursday night, so it was still good.alright so first for the exciting things that happen in Ecuador, this week i had an older lady yell at me, accusing me of being an american spy, and all sorts of stuff i cant repeat, mainly because i didnt understand all of her ranting, and what i did understand, wasnt to nice. but that was exciting. also, i got offered some drugs from a guy sitting on the side of the street, right after i saw him snort something. apperently thats not a big deal here to do drugs on the side of the street. so that was interesting.

and now for something sad: one of our investigators, Maria, told us this week we couldnt visit her anymore :'( her husband is super staunch catholic, and decided he doesnt want her listening to us anymore, and wouldnt ever let her attend church. it was so sad, becasue she loves the church, and want her children to be raised in the church becasue she sees how much the church helps kids stay good and not do drugs on the side of the street and such. so that was super sad. hopefully one day her husbands heart will be softened and they can all go to church together.

also, we had a really good spiritual lesson with a less active, Jessica. we were just talking with her, and she opened up to us, and told us about her family situation and how much she misses her kids. and then we were able to relate that to how God feels about us, as his children, and he misses us and wants us to come back, and like her, is just waiting for us to come knock on his door, and he'll be there to answer with open arms. it was a really good lesson, and i think helped her a lot.

well thats what i have for this week. i hope you all had a great thanksgiving, and remember to always be grateful for the many blessings we have! i love you all,

Elder Taylor