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

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

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

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.