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