Dear everyone-
Investigators and a Baptism! (for real this time)
First off, Carolina had her baptismal interview and passed!!! She also asked me to baptize her! I am kind of nervous but really excited. She also got to see the baptism of her cousin, who was baptized in the ward of Elder Maldonado and Elder Callis. And now for a miracle (that involves the Book of Mormon). We had Isabel and Ignacio (who is an almost active member now) who were starting to stop progressing. All of a sudden when we passed by yesterday to share about what really is a testimony, Isabel had started to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning and was already in 1 Nephi 10 after only reading two days. She had questions about what she read and her whole attitude was different. It was even more awesome because we had planned to share a part from Lehi`s dream which, when we arrived, she had already read. It was really cool to see that change and we are hoping to see her progress to baptism. Also, Ignacio is really cool. He has caught so many things from reading the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon that I only understood from reading D&C. He is going to be a cool leader in the church.
Stupid Missionaries
So the problem with privlages in the mission is that if one missionary does something stupid, the whole mission suffers. Now we have a new rule in our mission that we cannot play any type of game (Uno, Monopoly, etc.). We can play during FHE and with members but not with missionaries. It sucks, but life goes on.
General Authority sightings
Yes, this is true. We had regional conference in Chile on Sunday. The transmission came from Salt Lake City and we heard Elder Maynes of the 70, Sister Dalton of the YW Presidency, Elder Christofferson (who speaks Spanish), and President Packer. It was really cool to see how the 12 and the First Presidency really do know what is going on in every part of the world. They talked to us about goals that Area Chile has (which the Area Presidency sent to the missionaries) and addressed problems that I have seen here as a missionary. I know that this church is guided by inspired men. Jesus Christ is really at the head of the Church and every time I talk to people of other religions, the more I realize that this church really is the only living and true Church on the face of the earth.
Um...yeah...an ending
So I hope everyone is doing well. I am trying to respond to letters but it is hard to find time, but I promise, I am trying.
Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
February 14, 2011
Hola amigos-
This email will be full of interesting stories (I hope....) So enjoy the not-so-clever-but-supposedly-liked subject headers.
Investigators and a baptism?
So Carolina is progressing really well, and I actually found out that her cousin who is in the barrio of Elder Maldonado and Elder Callis is getting baptized the week before. Carolina is really shy but is eating up everything we teach, plus her parents love us, even though they don´t want to change. Isabel is still struggling to gain a testimony and we are going to be visiting her tonight.
Foto explanation
(Begin disclaimer) So last week I sent a foto of our last district "party" with Elder DeLong. There is a picture that looks slightly gay. This is not the intended purpose and was a picture taken at the wrong moment, but still funny. (End Disclaimer)
General Authority call
So we were in a meeting with President King the other day. All of a sudden his phone rang and he pulled it out. He looked at it and then silenced it and said, "Oh, it is Elder Corbridge (one of the counselors in the area presidency)" We all told him "Go answer it President." and he said "Can I?" We told him to go and we all got a good laugh.
No longer an illegal
I finally got my carnet (Chilean ID card)!!!! This means, among other things, that I am now legal and can buy things with my credit/debit cards.
Fútbol
Today we had a pretty hard core soccer game. I have a partially cracked big toenail (nothing bad, just a tiny bit of blood) and a bruise on the same foot where the shin meets the top of the foot. I also think I may have strained one of my muscles too. But it was awesome! I haven´t had a game that intense since I was in La Cisterna.
Anyway, that is all for now folks!
Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
Monday, February 7, 2011
February 7, 2011
Hey everybody-
In order to jazz up my emails (at least a little bit), I will be doing section headers with a hopefully clever title for each one. Here goes nothing.
Changes!
This week has been a busy one. Changes went well, although I am very tired of going to Maipú every 6 weeks and hauling luggageeach time. My new companion I actually already knew from La Cisterna. He was there for 2 changes while I was there. His name is Elder Perrusquía and he is from Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico. He is really cool and super funny. He doesn´t speak very much English, so I will probably lose a good bit of English this change. He has the same time in the mission as Elder DeLong (20 months) and is the Senior Comp.
My stupid moment and great discovery
So, I suddenly realized this week that I had an additional powerful tool against the dreaded pulgas. After having one day where a pulga was eating me all day and there were little blood stains everywhere when I took off my shirt, I remembered that I had 100% DEET bug repellant which says on the package that it repels pulgas. So after realizing how stupid I had been, I sprayed my bed with it and have had fewer problems with pulgas now. Also this week, Elder Perrusquía and I went deep into the campo (country) part of our sector and hiked up and down 2 hills knocking for a total of around 6 km (possibly more) of walking. We found some really cool people out there too.
Investigator Update
I really don´t know what to do about Eleuterio and Luisa. It is like there is an upper limit to his understanding. However, we are trying to get him to read the Book of Mormon as much as possible because that is the key to everything, including more understanding on his part. As for Ignacio and Isabel, they are still really cool. Ignacio wants to baptize his wife and be sealed as a family. We had Leo Luna with us and he gave a really cool testimony to help them out. Now Isabel is praying specifically about the 26th of February as her baptism date. If they both read and pray, together and seperately, they will get their answer. I should know about them and several other investigators by next week. We have found some really good people who are ready to receive the gospel.
An ending
Congratulations to those who have made it to this point of my email (not including family, they always read it anyway). I hope everyone has a great week!
Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
P.S. Pictures are of our last district "party" and Elder Perrusquía, my new comp.
In order to jazz up my emails (at least a little bit), I will be doing section headers with a hopefully clever title for each one. Here goes nothing.
Changes!
This week has been a busy one. Changes went well, although I am very tired of going to Maipú every 6 weeks and hauling luggageeach time. My new companion I actually already knew from La Cisterna. He was there for 2 changes while I was there. His name is Elder Perrusquía and he is from Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico. He is really cool and super funny. He doesn´t speak very much English, so I will probably lose a good bit of English this change. He has the same time in the mission as Elder DeLong (20 months) and is the Senior Comp.
My stupid moment and great discovery
So, I suddenly realized this week that I had an additional powerful tool against the dreaded pulgas. After having one day where a pulga was eating me all day and there were little blood stains everywhere when I took off my shirt, I remembered that I had 100% DEET bug repellant which says on the package that it repels pulgas. So after realizing how stupid I had been, I sprayed my bed with it and have had fewer problems with pulgas now. Also this week, Elder Perrusquía and I went deep into the campo (country) part of our sector and hiked up and down 2 hills knocking for a total of around 6 km (possibly more) of walking. We found some really cool people out there too.
Investigator Update
I really don´t know what to do about Eleuterio and Luisa. It is like there is an upper limit to his understanding. However, we are trying to get him to read the Book of Mormon as much as possible because that is the key to everything, including more understanding on his part. As for Ignacio and Isabel, they are still really cool. Ignacio wants to baptize his wife and be sealed as a family. We had Leo Luna with us and he gave a really cool testimony to help them out. Now Isabel is praying specifically about the 26th of February as her baptism date. If they both read and pray, together and seperately, they will get their answer. I should know about them and several other investigators by next week. We have found some really good people who are ready to receive the gospel.
An ending
Congratulations to those who have made it to this point of my email (not including family, they always read it anyway). I hope everyone has a great week!
Love-
Elder Taylor Thomas
P.S. Pictures are of our last district "party" and Elder Perrusquía, my new comp.
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