Monday, December 19, 2011

Letter from December 19, 2011

Hey friends-

So, here is yet another short email because I am going to talk with my family next week. They will share all the details of the call with you.......I hope.

Ward activity

Since we are low on progressing investigators, I thought I would share a little bit about our ward party. So, this week we are going to have it and the ward is buying 24 kilos of meat :D and yours truly is the one who is going to cook it!!! Yay for asados. However, the activity does have a spiritual purpose and we have invited almost everyone we know to the activity, so it should be great.

Cool new finding method

Elder Shaum and I have started going through the old contacts that other missionaries have done. We divided the sector into 4 parts and whenever our citas fall through, we go and re-contact these people. The idea came after we were really frustrated about not finding anybody. So far it has worked out really well.

Anyways, I will have more details that I will give to my parents in the phone call home.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Letter from December 5th, 2011

Hey everybody-

So, I actually have a funny story this week to tell, but first the cool stuff.

Zone Council

So the entire mission had its fast this week and then we had a Zone Council. It was a really spiritual experience for all of us and we were able to understand better the potential we actually have. We are going to have to do a lot of work, but all of us felt the Spirit confirming to us that this is the course we need to take. We were able to set baptismal goals for January and February, which was the most spiritual part of the Council.

Investigators

We have several good investigators right now and we were able to set 2 more baptismal dates. I am hoping that they will get there, but right now we are really focusing on inviting everybody to be baptized.

Food with a funny name

So, my mom sent me a spicy (meaning hot) spice mix (sorry for the redundancy) for meat. All 4 of us in the pension didn´t have lunch for the day so we decided to make "spicy as" (pronounced like the swear word). Tee hee... Of course we realized the funniness of the name. But they were incredible. I just thought that since I haven´t told an "as" story in a while, that all of you would appreciate this :D

Well, have a great week!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Letter from November 28th, 2011

Hey Everybody-

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. It doesn`t exist here in Chile and I almost forgot about it when we got to the day. Oh well.

Why the Lord works in councils

So, we had an awesome experience in Zone Leader Council this last week. We all were counciling (key word) with President King about how we feel that the mission in general is only getting mediocre results and we are not reaching our full potencial. As we talked we really felt that we could overcome the limit we have placed on ourselves of baptisms. We kept talking and decided that we were going to fast as a mission this Thursday to Friday, culminating in a Zone Council in every zone in the mission to decide how many baptisms we really can get. The Spirit was really strong and we all felt it confirmed to us that this is the course we should take. It was a big testimony for me of why the Lord has us work in councils.

Changes :)

So, my new companion is Elder Shaum from Rexburg, Idaho. He has about 8 months in the mission and is sooooo cool. He is a really hard working Elder and is really smart. Should be a fun change :) I am still living with Elder Barrett and Elder Tialavea. The picture attached is of all 4 of us in our Lavalavas (from Elder Tialavea`s family).

Investigators

We are having problems finding our investigators in their houses, so nothing happened with them this week. We have found some good people to teach, but we will find out how that goes.

Well, that is about it. Sorry for the slow news week. Hopefully there will be more to report next week.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas


Monday, November 14, 2011

Letter from November 14th, 2011

Dear friendly email/blog/other media or writing format follower-

This email should be pretty good...maybe....we´ll see.

Contacting miracle

We had cool contacting miracles this week. Our favorite was from yesterday when a cita fell through at an apartment building. For some reason we decided to wait to see if the hermano would show up. As we were waiting, my companion starting talking to a young couple sitting next to us. It turned out that it was a reference that a member had given us that we never had been able to find. The husband is a member and his wife is not. It was really interesting to see how the spirit guided us to them.

Investigators

Patricio couldn´t come to church because he was sick, but when we stopped by to see him, we met the family he lives with. They were really receptive as well. As for Patricio, we will be trying to help him get a testimony of the Book of Mormon in the next couple of weeks. As for Felix, we haven´t been able to teach him for about 2 weeks and he hasn´t been able to come to church. Luckily, the ward is really concerned about him as well and is helping us out. Hopefully we will get in this week. We have several other complete families we are teaching (which is a miracle in and of itself) but they haven´t started progressing yet. One is a family who we are also helping with English. They have a 12 year old who is really tall and looks like he is almost 16 and a 9 (I think) year old daughter. I am hoping to have good news next week about them

The smell of change is in the air

It is highly probable that either me or my companion has changes. We will find out on Saturday night, but we have been together for 3 months. The big question is who....The bishop here in the ward thinks it is me. I guess you will all know by next week.

Well, that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well back home!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Letter from November 7, 2011

Hey everybody-

This week has been a long one, this could up being a long email, or it could be normal. Guess we will find out.

Investigators

So, to tell the truth, I don´t know what happened with Felix. We called him 30 minutes before church to confirm and then he didn´t show up. The other baptismal date we set with Patricio (the 60 year old who looks really young) fell through because he left on vacation and didn´t come back until Sunday. However, he still looks like he will get baptized, we will just have to change his date.

Meetings, meetings, and just in case, a few more meetings

So, I had a lot of meetings this week. I was sooooooo tired. Thursday we had to go to the center of Santiago, Friday I had to go to the Northeast side of Santiago, and Saturday we had to go to the West-Center side of Santiago. Really busy. On Saturday we had Elder Snow of the Presidency of the 70 come and speak to our mission. We also found out that Elder Cook and also Bishop McMullin are also here in Chile. Elder Snow talked about the Holy Ghost and how we feel it. He also talked about the role it has in conversion.

Well, I ran out of good ideas. Guess I´ll see if I have more funny stories next week.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Monday, October 31, 2011

Letter from October 31st, 2011

Dear amigos-

Yay for news from Chile

General Authorities with a little bit of General Authorities on top

So this week we had a conference with a member of the Area Presidency--Elder Zeballos of the 70. He was soooooooo cool. He talked to us about diligence and what it really means and it helped a lot to change my perspective on things. I really liked his talk because he was a mission president not to long ago and he really related to us as missionaries. The examples he gave were perfect. We also found out that we are having another General Authority come from Salt Lake this Saturday to have a devotional with us. We don´t know who it is, but President King made it sound like more than 1 was coming. I guess we´ll see. That also makes this week to be a busy week. Starting on Wednesday, I have 4 straight meetings or, in other words, 1 a day.

A baptism?

Felix is still progressing, but we have not put a new fecha yet. However, we did find a cool little miracle. We found a man named Patricio who has been investigating the church for years. He recently moved and we found him knocking doors--talk about the Lord guiding us without knowing. He was the only person in the passageway who was there or opened up. He now has a baptismal date for the 26th of November and it should go well.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week and I will tell you who visited us next week.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Letter from October 24th, 2011

UPS AND DOWNS

Hey everybody-

So, the missionary life can easily be compared to a roller coaster, our days have so many good and bad things that can happen on any given day. With that cryptic statement, I begin this email.

Investigators

So this week is what made me think about the whole roller coaster thing. We taught Félix on Friday night and re-set his baptismal date for the 12 of November. This is 3 weeks more, which is definately a lot of time for someone who has now been to church almost for a month straight and is reading the Book of Mormon and praying. It was a really spiritual lesson and we felt good about it. We ran into Félix the next night and he said that his mom wanted to talk to us. It turned out that (in my opinion) had convinced him that he was not 100% sure or ready for baptism and that she did not want him to get baptized on that date. Luckily, it could be for our good because we basically told her (don´t worry, being guided by the spirit) that she can`t really say much because she still hasn`t even tried the Book of Mormon for herself (I know that sounds really harsh but it wasn´t in the way we said it). Also, Félix still came to church the next day and is enjoying it. So hopefully we can see some progress.

Miracles!

So, I only have time to share one for today. Yesterday, we were knocking doors trying to find a few more new investigators. We saw an open door and started talking to some jovenes. Their dad came home (which is always a tense moment as a missionary, because you never know what they are going to say) and said, "Keep on talking!" He came back about 3 minutes later as we were still talking and said to the kids, "Why haven´t you invited them in yet?" So we got in and as we talked we learned that this dad`s brother had died 3 months ago and that 2 of the kids were his nephew and niece (the children of the brother who had died). We were able to do a prayer with them and they really did feel the spirit. We testified that we have the ability to know where those who have passed on are at. It was a very cool experience to give us animo for the day.

Well, I hope everyone is well this week. Have a great day!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

50 Years of Missionary Work in Chile

Taylor did not write much for this week but the missionaries were able to participate in a cultural celebration at a local stadium.  Missionaries from five missions sang "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" and since they were sending a live webstream, we were able to see Taylor twice as they sang.  It was a great experience.  He did send some photos which I have included below.  In the first picture Taylor is between the heads of the missionaries that are standing up in the middle of the picture.




                         Taylor and Elder Mace, a friend from high school and BYU





            Taylor and Elder Hudkins with some people from his previous areas

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Letter from October 10th, 2011

Dear Friends-

There isn´t much to report this week, but here I go anyway.

Changes

So, changes came and nothing happened to me or to my comp. We are staying put. So are the other Elders who live with us. Among which is Elder Barrett.

Progression

For the first time in this sector, we had investigators at church! This miracle is a miracle in its entirety. We had Felix and Carla (a brother and sister), the people we have a baptismal date with, come to church. They came themselves. We showed up one day at their house to see how they were doing and Felix just said, "My sister and I will be going to church this Sunday." I am so glad we have the Spirit to help us.

Little Miracles

Yesterday we saw how the Lord put in our path tons of people who we needed to talk to. We just seemed to be in the right place at every time. Now, I won´t say that it happens often, but it does happen. It is a testimony that the Lord is guiding us always.

Well, that is all for now folks, see you next week.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Monday, October 10, 2011

Letter from October 3rd, 2011

Hey friends-

Yay for conference weekend!

Baptismal Dates, oh my!

So, we had a good week this week. A normal week, if it can be called that, in missionary work--complete with rejections, acceptions (not sure if that is a word), good things, bad things, etc. The most important is that we now have 2 baptismal dates for the end of October! They are 2 younger people and are really cool. I think it was a miracle and it came from trying to keep the vision of baptism, which is not just having ánimo (roughly translated: energy, excitement) but rather knowing what is the doctrine of Christ and how to teach it. But, it sufficeth me to say (sounds better than "sufficient" to me) that we now have 2 fechas and they have to go to church this Sunday. That will be our focus this week.

General Conference, a.k.a. getting hit over the head with doctrine

Oh boy, I looooooooove General Conference. In general, here on my mission I have learned how cool the Seventies really are. That also includes their talks. I loved Elder Tad R. Callister´s talk about the Book of Mormon. That is the dream talk a missionary wants their investigators to hear. I was also quite pleased with Sister Dalton knocking some sense into the fathers and priesthood in general. Cool talk. I loved it in general. Lots of emphasis on the Book of Mormon, which is good. Read it, treasure it, read it again, ponder, pray, read again, and repeat.

Anyway, that is all I have time for today. Have a great day!

Love-
Elder Thomas
P.S. I have attached a recording of us in the "Gringo Room" during conference as well as pictures of it. There are also pictures of our Zone eating activity today.




Wednesday, September 28, 2011

September 26th, 2011

Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ear-

Now, after that overly dramatic and very cliché salutation, here comes my report for the week. Because I felt lazy, most of the week is in the form of voice recordings which, if my parents choose to, will be summerized and added to this post/letter/email. Anyways, onward!

Blackouts and Injuries

So, I am sure that probably a few of you have heard about the massive power outage in Chile on Saturday. Well, all of Santiago was out, as well as several other regions (Chilean equivalent of States). We happened to be out in our sector contacting someone, when suddenly it went pitch black. We had to walk through a slightly shady part of our sector with only a cell phone for light. We ended up contacting another person and then going to our ward mission leader`s house for our meeting with him. The whole meeting was by candlelight and then as soon as we left, the lights came back on. Now, as for injuries, Elder Tialavea gashed open his leg playing soccer today and the assistants had to come pick him up to bring him to the hospital. We still haven`t heard from him, but he will be fine. As for my injury, several weeks ago  I heavily bruised my big toe (picture attached for those who like details) when I kicked somebody´s foot that they put in front of the ball. It is still getting better, but I only mentioned it because it looked impressive.

Pictures and closing words

I have attached several pictures of La Reina (where the park that we went to to climb the Andes) which is where our President lives. You will see a marked difference in the size and quality of the houses there. I have also attached a foto that Hermana King took of me and my comp when he arrived and we were leaving. Hope you all have a great week!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas




Thursday, September 22, 2011

September 20th, 2011

Dear Friends-

A week of fun, in email format.

La obra misional

The missionary work was kind of slow this week because it was the week before Fiestas Patrias. This year was much more peaceful than last year. I did have an asado and a lot of empanadas. Many of our citas fell through, but we did contact some cool people. We contacted this one lady grilling some meat outside of an apartment building. She had never heard of the church and was just gobbling up the Book of Mormon when we talked to her about it. It was cool to see that the Lord prepares people, even on National Holidays when most people are partying and/or drunk.

Mountaineering extreme

So, believe it or not, we got permission to go to the base of the Andes Mountains for P-day. I have been wanting to do this since the beginning of my mission. We unfortunately didn´t get that high up because some people got tired. But I am hoping to go again in the future to get higher. It was really fun because there were a bunch of food stands for the Fiestas Patrias (we ate ice cream in a pineapple and sichkabobs-no idea how to spell that). It was really beautiful and tons of fun. I have attached pictures and will send another email with more picutres of the trip.

That is all for this week. Hope you are all enjoying the coming cold in North America, because I am going into summer down here. :D

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas






Friday, September 16, 2011

September 12th, 2011

Hey friends-

So I am not going to have subheadings today (don´t cry too much) because not too much happened this week. We suffered from appointments falling through syndrome, and the week ended with 11 de Septiembre. This is a day of riots here, but nothing much happened in our sector. Our sector is a really quiet part in general, but some of the other Elders in our Zone have it pretty bad sometimes.

I don´t have any fotos this week, but I hopefully will have some really cool fotos next week. We are still waiting on total authorization, but we will probably be going to the Andes next P day. Well, I hope everyone is doing well.

Love-
Elder Thomas

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

New Companion!


Mom is technically challenged and can't figure out how to post the audio files.  If anyone is interested, please email me and I will send them to you.


Hey everybody-

I don´t have much time to write, but I have included several pictures to illustrate what happened this week. There are also 2 voice recordings, which should help to explain the pictures. But, I am sure all of you are wanting to know who my "son" is. His name is Elder Hudkins and he is from Alberta, Canada. He is the first missionary in his whole family, which I think is pretty cool. He is an awesome guy and I am sure we will have fun together. Hope everyone is doing well!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

                                                          Elder Speakman and Elder Thomas
                                                        Elder Thomas and Elder Hudkins
                                        President King, Elder Hudkins, Elder Thomas, Sister King

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

August 29, 2011

Dear friends-

Yay for news from the mission. Here we go:

Sickness

I got sick this week with something gross, but luckily it only lasted one day. It was one of the few times when I have had to stay in because of my own sickness. 

The work rolls on

There isn´t too much new things from the sector. We have had lots of learning about how to set goals and using faith to set and complete them. We also finally have one progressing investigator. He is a 17 year old (we are teaching the entire family) named Felix. He is really nice and seems to have a sincere desire to know the truth.

Changes

So, guess what? Big surprise, Elder Barrett is leaving. He is following in my footsteps and will be having a 5th comp in his 5th change. Want to know the real surprise? I am going to be training! Yep, the only details I have is that my comp will be a gringo fresh from the U.S. of A. I am not sure if he will get here tomorrow or on Wednesday. I am really excited to train.

Well, that is all for know folks. Have a great week and I will have fotos next week!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Monday, August 15, 2011

August 15th, 2011


Hey Friends-

This email should be a bit more interesting.

Progress?

I guess it depends on how you define it. In terms of investigators progressing to baptism, nil. However, the ward is progressing. The Bishop is still doing well and we had an awesome PEC (for those of you who are deficient in the realm of Church acronyms, Priesthood Executive Commitee) yesterday. We actually talked about people, plans to help them, and that next week`s meeting is to follow up on the assignments. So cool, I was really impressed with these new leaders we have in the ward: new second counselor in the Bishopric, new EQP (Elders Quorum President), and a new Dry (intentional mistake) Priests Group leader. I will inform all of you next week of the moment in which we have a progressing investigator.

Pizza Night

So, now that I am back in the city, I have started eating Pizza again (because it basically didn`t exist in the Coast or in the campo). It has been great tasting and makes me miss American food.

Weird divisions (what we call splits)

So, Elder Call (one of the elders in the pension) is leaving today for the USA 2 weeks early so that he can go to school. Because of this, we had a strange day of divisions. I won`t lie that it is absolute terror leaving your companion with another member of the ward. Yes, the members are trustworthy, but it is companion seperation anxiety. I actually had to have Elder Barrett stay with the Bishop while Elder Tialavea and I went to pick up his comp from President King. But, no one died or got lost. Anyway, sorry for the random thought. Maybe it will shed some light on missionary life.

Up next week...

I now have in my possesion a voice recorder; therefore, I got the idea that I would record "A day in the life of a missionary" (a very unimaginative title). So, if I have time this week, I will record roughly every hour a little note about what is going on with the goal to satisfy the curiosity of what actually happens during a normal day here. This proposition depends on whether or not I have time and if I do not get lazy/forget. I hope you all enjoyed this final, very noncomittal, paragraph. I also hope that all of you are doing well.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
P.S. We got our portable DVD player, it rocks. 

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Miracles

NOTE:  The first paragraph is answering Vallen's question about a program in Chile that is helpful in the reactivation efforts.


Dear amigos-

So, quick updates

The reactivation thing he was talking about is called Permaneced (literally the command form of the verb "to remain, stay") and comes from the vine and the husbandman in John 15. I really like it, but the members still don´t completely understand the purpose of it in my opinion. They just think it is a program to get people back to church and only really think of it as the paper that has the message. Really, Permaneced is about the meaning of Endure to the End and how we need to do anything in our power to keep the Spirit with us. Elder Amado of the seventy (the old Area President) emphasized it with a message he gave in the area Chile add in of the Liahona. He talked about the it isn´t some glorious attempt to increase the attendance or home teaching numbers. He said that it was a review of the plan of Salvation and something that we need to do everyday. 

Miracles

We have seen quite a few miracles with our Bishop here. When I got here, all I heard about was problems with the Bishop. Since then, Elder Barrett and I have worked with him a lot and he has become so cool. We had a FHE with him last week, and yesterday he accompanied us on visits for 3 hours. He wants our ideas and help and is working really well with us. Now we are helping him get the ward fired up to do missionary work! We have seen the hand of the Lord in our work as we have done this.

Our Zone activity and pictures

So today we went to Santa Lucia (again) as a Zone. I found some cool things and took some cool pictures. Today was really clear because the rain yesterday cleared out the smog. One picture is a zoomed up view from the hill on my sector, one is me with Elder Barrett, and the others are some hopefully artistic fotos that you all should like. I have to say that I really like downtown Santiago.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas







Monday, July 25, 2011

July 25, 2011

Taylor has a big task ahead of him in his new area.  One of his priorities is to rally the ward members to help with the missionary efforts and another is to make new contacts.  Luckily, Taylor always likes a challenge.  Thanks for all of your prayers on his behalf.
Hey everybody-
Changes!

So, I am sure all of you people who actually still read and/or follow my letters are wondering where I am. I am in the city again in Zone San Miguel in barrio Departamental. This sector is directly north of my first sector, Lo Ovalle. Yep, my new sector borders my first one, and I can see down into it when we walk on the south side of our Sector. As for my companion, his name is Elder Barrett. I do not have pictures yet, but I am sure that we will have some next week. Elder Barrett is from Hyrum, Utah which is close to Brigham City. He is the same height as Elder Lewis at 6 feet, 5 inches. My second giant in a row! Here is a link in Google Maps for you curious people of the general area in which I work: http://maps.google.com/?ll=-33.507407,-70.650115&spn=0.020218,0.027595&z=15.  I also live with 2 other missionaries (the Zone Leaders to be exact) in our pension who´s names are Elder Call and Elder Tialavea (who played Nose Guard on the BYU football team before the mission).

So, that is all for today. I have attached pictures of my despedidos in Villa La Foresta. There are fotos of some of the jovenes, ward members, Carlos and Sussy, and the Bishop and his family.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
                                                    Goodbye Penaflor!



                                              The bishop in Penaflor and his family
                                               Elder Lewis -- Taylor will miss him!
                                                                 Elder Sanchez

July 18, 2011

Queridos amigos-

So I only have 2 topics today....:( However, they are a change.

Changes!

Yep, some of you may have heard that I would probably have changes and that President King basically told me that I did. So I found out last night that I do have changes. I will be leaving Peñaflor to parts unknown that I will find out about tomorrow. Other than that, I don`t have many details. All I know is that from what President King told us in interviews this week is that the Lord wants me somewhere specific. Also of note is that Elder Sanchez is going home today. He completed his two years and is going back to Honduras. I have fotos, but the computer has problems so I hopefully will send them next week.

Investigators

Once again, the only thing of news is about Carlos and Sussy. Sussy is softening, bit by tiny little bit. We had a family home evening with the Relief Society President and her husband (who are good friends of the missionaries). It went really well and Sussy started thinking more. Anyway, that is about it. All of you will have to wait until next week to find out where I am.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Thursday, July 14, 2011

July 11, 2011

Hey friends-

This week´s email should be fun, and I will address one of the commonly asked misionary questions.

Investigators

Yay for progress. So, the only big thing of note this week is with Carlos and Sussy. Sussy is really closed off and has all of the classic problems with the doctrine ("you can´t add to the bible", "we don´t need to go to church because we are temples", etc.). We have been trying really hard to help her, but she still isn´t opening up. However, her husband Carlos came to church for the 3rd time straight this week and has said that he has felt different as he has read the Book of Mormon and gone to church. We told him that he is already getting his response from the Lord. After that, the Spirit took over and he taught his wife for 40 minutes about how she needs to open up and let God help her. IT. WAS. COOL. Yay for the Spirit!

Pig heads, rabbits, oh frabjous day!

Points for who can name where the last line of my heading came from. I have chosen today to address a very common question asked to missionaries..........what is the weirdest/grossest thing you have eaten on your mission? I will now very happily answer this question. First off is something somewhat normal, that I had never tried before. Rabbit! Yep, I ate rabbit for the first time in the mission. Fresh out of the oven cooked with onions. I actually liked it, and (although it sounds cliché) it tasted kind of like chicken. Ok, now on to the gross section. The second grossest thing I have eaten is pig head sandwich. What happens here in Chile is that when people buy a whole pig, they then grind up all of the meat of the head (supposedly with eyeballs, ears, and everything) and make something called queso cabeza (head cheese--nothing to do with what it actually is). I ate this with bread and hot sauce....mmmmmmm, yummy. Now, to the grossest thing I have EVER eaten, which almost made me throw up, is Cow stomach. Gross, gross, gross, repulsive, devilish, (insert gross adjective here). It is like eating steak fat, but with less flavor, more chewy, and incredibly disgusting. Yep.

So that is all for today. Hope you are all doing great!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

Friday, July 1, 2011

June 27, 2011


Hey friends-

So I have at least a little bit to share today.

An Address change

So, our mission address has changed. It is still one email address for all of us. Basically there is only one change:

Elder Taylor Thomas
Misión Chile Santiago Oeste (you can also put in English: Santiago West Mission)
Correos Casilla 149
Avenida Pajaritos 1229 (this is the change)
Maipú, Chile

Letters that you have already sent will still get to me, but from now on, this is the new address.

The Book of Mormon

As usual, every few weeks I always say something about the Book of Mormon. This week has been interesting because we have had two Book of Mormon "shootouts" (this is NOT Bible bashing, but rather people who just love the Bible too much and don`t want to accept another book of scripture). Needless to say, it has been interesting to see the prophecies that are in the BOM come to pass right before my eyes. We were teaching a new investigator and when we got to the BOM she had a problem with it. She then said almost EXACTLY (and I am not even kidding) what is found at the end of 2 Nephi 28 (verse 29 to be exact) and in 2 Nephi 29. We also had a lesson with Carlos and Sussy and we found out that both of them (but especially Sussy) have a problem with the Book of Mormon. We answered their questions with both the Bible and the BOM and they still had problems. So now it is up to them to ask God if it is true. But it was really interesting how they are able to take one verse of the Bible and hold to it so much to not accept more scripture--yet another thing that was prophecied by ancient prophets.

So, that is about all this week, sorry for the lack of funny stories.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

P.S. The foto is of our Bishop and his 16 year old son. They showed up one night and said "We are here to do service and shine your shoes." It was really awesome and really funny too.


Saturday, June 25, 2011

June 20, 2011


Taylor's post is especially short this week since he was working on something else for Mom!!!  Sorry.

Hey everybody-

I have very short time this week but here it goes.

Investigators

Very quickly is about Carlos and Sussy. They are still progressing, but want to read the whole BOM before asking if it is true. We are trying to help them understand that this is not the case and that they just need to ask with a sincere heart.

Rain, rain, come again

So we have had a shortage of rain here in Chile that finally ended this weekend with a lot of rain. Funny story is that we were out in the hardest part of it contacting as a Zone. Pretty crazy, and we got soaked. Hopefully it will go on, because rain is cooler here in Chile than in Utah.

Well that is it for now. Sorry for the shortness thereof, but I have something else really important to write.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

June 13, 2011


Yay for news from Chile!

Investigators

So we are teaching a complete family who had investigated the church before, but went cold and got scared when the other missionaries asked them to get baptized. We found them again and they are doing really well. They have interest in the church and are reading the Book of Mormon. Hopefully they will get a response soon.

Satan and his false doctrine

One of my friends (Elder Tyler Christensen to be exact) wrote several weeks back about a popular false doctrine that he runs into--moral relativism. Well, here in Chile that isn´t so popular yet; however, there is something else that we deal with a lot as missionaries. This is something I am sharing because it has helped me to realize how important the gospel is. The thing here in Chile is what I call the "All paths lead to God" idea. This is something really big in Chile. As we talk to and teach people, this comes up a lot. For some reason, this very unlogical idea that "as long as you have a church, you will be fine" has a lot of hold here. The thing is that it is talked about in the scriptures (basically all of 2 Nephi 28, especially verses 7-9). This is the truth and the beauty of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is only one way to get to God and it is only found is HIS true church. Sometimes we have fear of saying this, but it is truth. Always remember that this is why we need a testimony of the Restoration that we strengthen each day by reading the Book of Mormon.

Well, that is about all for this week. I don´t have any new pictures. I hope everyone is doing really well.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas

June 6, 2011


Hey everybody-

This email should be at least somewhat interesting.

Changes, changes, we already have a change and we need no more changes!

Maybe some of you caught what scripture I twisted in the section heading, but even if you didn´t, I have good news. For the first time my entire mission, including the MTC, I DO NOT have changes. Elder Lewis and I are staying together for at least 1 more change! Before this change, the longest time I ever had a comp was 8 weeks (in the MTC), but even in that time we we put together in a trio. So that is my happy news for today.

Investigators

I just want to mention 2 investigators. Their names are Carlos and Sussy. They are a couple that we found after one of our citas fell through. They are really awesome and completely understand that the most important thing they can get in this life is the gift of the Holy Ghost. We are working with them a lot and we might be able to set a baptismal date with them.

Death by meat

Dear follower of my letters home (as few as they may be)- If you haven´t been able to tell, I like meat and grilling. Problem is that Chilean meat cooking is (generally speaking) not that good. So I obviously jump at the opportunity to grill. One of those opportunities was today. We had a HUGE asado with some ward members and it was awesome. Elder Lewis also had Montreal Steak Seasoning from the states, which was literally too good for our bland Chilean meat fans to handle. I also made my own invention of a dry rub, which didn´t turn out too bad. I have attached pictures of the event as well as the aftermath (everyone lying down on the floor).

Random interjection

So all of my missionary friends from whom I receive letters or copies of letters all are serving in the northern hemisphere. I keep seeing letters about how hot it is, and I think about how it is getting cold. I also realized that I am quite alone down here in the Southern hemisphere.

Interesting foto experience

This week I have attached (and if I have time I will send more) rare pictures of a district meeting in action. We decided with the hermanas in our district that we were going to have a mate party during the meeting (see attached foto). Also, our district leader made brownies and the hermanas brought cookies. It was awesome! There are also fotos of Elder Lewis and I talking about our sector and Elder Sanchez (our district leader) giving a class. There is also a foto of our entire Zone.

Yep, that is about all I have. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Love-
Elder Thomas







Monday, May 30, 2011

May 30, 2011

It has been a hard week for the missionaries in Taylor's zone with the passing of Elder Jennings and then a young man in a neighboring ward was killed in a car accident.  He wanted to thank everyone for their prayers.  It has certainly been a week that has been focused on the plan of salvation.  He loved the opportunity to go inside the temple this week.

Elder Thomas and Elder Lewis 

District Activity 

The Santiago Temple

Hey everyone-

This is going to be short because I have very little time.

Temple Trip

finally went inside the Temple here in Chile on Saturday. Gabriel went to do baptisms for the dead and we got to go along with him. It was awesome and I have attached pictures as proof. Elder Lewis and I went to Pizza Hut (the best pizza available in Chile) afterwards and ordered a medium pizza a piece.

Other news

We have a few more progressing investigators this week and we also had a really cool returned missionary activity yesterday where President King came to give a fireside. Anyway, I have got to finish things up.

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
P.S. Other fotos this week are of our trip up a hill close to us. I have a picture of my district and other things.

Monday, May 23, 2011

May 23, 2011

Hey everybody-

So I find myself with little time to write again. However, I will try to update you on some of the investigators and tell one funny story.

Investigator roulette

So, because of the fact that we are doing lots and lots of contacting, we find and drop lots of people fast now. Thus, it is hard to keep track of them all. Sad story from this week is that basically because of laziness, we are going to have to drop the older couple we were teaching. The husband just basically doesn´t want to do anything or commit and so the wife wants to respect her husband. Luckily, we had the Bishop with us when they told us this and so he offered service from the ward, which they accepted and we are helping to organize. The good story is Reinaldo and Marisel. They are Evangelico. He is a bit more hard, but Marisel loved the story of the Restoration of the Gospel and really wants to believe it. We have a cita with them today and we will see what happens.

Gnomes and a funeral

So, Elder Lewis and I were in the chapel on Saturday doing our English class. Afterwards, as we were leaving, we found 3 small plastic gnomes. Elder Lewis, being tall, decided that he would put them up on top of the fans in the cultural hall as a funny Sunday joke. Little did we know that the cultural hall would be used for a viewing for an old person who had died the next day. When we went to give our respects to the family, we saw the Gnomes still on top of the fans and nobody had noticed them. We quickly left the room so we would not burst out laughing. I know, it sounds terrible, but it was actually quite funny (it was even funnier when our Bishop saw them).

Anyway, that is all!

Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
P.S. The attached fotos are of the mall trip. I will be sending another email with the fotos from our trip as a Zone today to a small pottery town called Pomaire.