Elder Taylor Thomas Santiago West Mission: January 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

Letter from January 30th, 2012

We had our Zone activity today and so we are short on time. We went to Buin Zoo, which is a zoo to the south right outside of Santiago. I have attached fotos.

So, we have one investigator progressing towards baptism in the middle of February. His name is Pedro and he is 83 almost 84 years old. He is very receptive and is learning really fast. Hopefully there will be some more good news with that next week.

We did have a cool experience this week. A member in a taxi told someone that we give health blessings and that she should listen to us. We arrived within 1 or 2 days at her house by knocking doors and now we have her and her husband who are listening to the message of the Gospel.

Well, that is all for today. Hope you all enjoy the pictures :)

Love-

Elder Taylor Thomas

Monday, January 23, 2012

Letter from January 23rd, 2012

This week has been normal, we did several divisions this week with the district leaders. I went with Elder Lewis in his sector and it was fun to work with him again. I also went with Elder Smith this week.

We had a cool spiritual guidance moment this week. It was later at night and my companion suddenly stopped and knocked a door (which was actually an intercom doorbell). Generally the intercoms we call "rejection boxes" because the people usually are really annoying when they answer them, especially at night. But this time they came out, gave us a piece of cake (it is quite normal for people to offer you food or something to drink at the door here) and the lady said, "My parents said they don´t have time right now, but said to come back tomorrow." We were really surprised. They weren´t there the next day, but we passed by the day after and they were there. They even received us when they had tons of vistors at their house (generally people do not let us in in these cases). They had shared with missionaries before and are a united family (Mom and Dad love each other, their kids are respectful, etc.). So it was really cool to see that even when we don´t realize it, the Spirit is guiding us.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great week.

Love-

Elder Taylor Thomas

Monday, January 16, 2012

Letter from January 16th, 2012

This week has been interesting. My companion is the other zone leader and a really good missionary. I am in the Zone with Elders Lewis, Smith, and Fearnley as District Leaders. I know all of them from beforehand (Elder Fearnley was also in the coast with me) but I don´t know any of the other Elders very well. Maipú is a big zone with 3 districts, which isn´t normal in this mission. It also looks like we might be getting a lot of new sectors opened in this zone because of all the new missionaries who are arriving.

We had a cool experience with a lady we are teaching named Lucy. She is an active Evangelical but has been reading the Book of Mormon. When we passed by to teach her the other day, she said that she had commented in her church during a women´s meeting that she had been receiving us in her house. A lot of the other women started saying that we worship a prophet and that she needs to trust in God, among other things. Instead of getting scared, she defended us and said, "They have taught me a lot about God and Jesus and nothing about worshiping a prophet." That was a really cool experience. We are hoping to have more progress with her soon.

Well, that is all for today. Hopefully you liked the story for this week.

Love-

Elder Taylor Thomas

Monday, January 9, 2012

Letter from January 9th, 2012

Hey friends-

So, this week there isn`t much to tell because I don`t know much myself. I was changed to Maipú and I am with Elder Silva from Temuco, Chile. We whitewashed (missionary term for 2 missionaries entering in a sector at the same time with no knowledge of the sector) a ward called Monumento whose boundries go until Plaza de Maipú. We are still getting used to the sector, but it is pretty cool, and there are jovenes this time! Anyway, I have run out of time because there was lots to do today. Hopefully I will be able to write more and share some cool spiritual experiences. Maybe I will even send a voice recording....maybe. Have a great week!

Love-

Elder Taylor Thomas

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Christmas and Letter from January 2nd, 2012

We were able to speak with Taylor on Christmas Day and it was great to talk to him. He is so concerned about getting everything done on his mission that the Lord would have him do. He has spent six months in San Miguel and has enjoyed his time there. Now, he is off to another adventure. Here is his letter from this week with photos from Christmas as well. The first pictures are of the ward Christmas party and you all know how much he likes to take pictures of meat! Thanks to everyone for your support of Taylor.

Hey everybody-

I am a little short on time, but I will explain why in just a second.

Investigators

Finally we have some really good investigators. A week ago we found a single mom with 6 year old fraternal twins (boy and girl). She is really interested in the gospel, especially for her family. The other is Manuel and Catalina, who have a baptismal date for the 4th of February along with their 9 year old daughter. Catalina was the person who we contacted the 18 de Septiembre (the big party day) who just loved the Book of Mormon. She is really smart and I think they will make it to baptism. We also have a member who recently reactivated and moved back to the ward. His wife isn´t a member and had been listening to the missionaries in their old ward. She also looks really promising.

Changes

At last, the information at least some of you have been waiting for. Yes, after 6 months here I have changes! It also looks like a ton of people have changes because President King is preparing the mission for a huge influx of missionaries. Our mission is going to be at full capacity (180 missionaries) for quite a while longer. Every companionship in Zona San Miguel has changes, which I have never seen before. Anyway, for guesses as to what Zone I might go to, I am thinking that it will be Maipú, Ochagavia, or Cinco de Abril.

Pictures!

Ok, so an explanation of the pictures. So we went to the mission home as a Zone for our Zone activity. We had BBQ chicken sandwiches and played games out back with President and Hermana King. I also am pretty sure that President King killed the missionaries that he was playing Rummikub (is that how you spell it?) with. These are the pictures we took while we were there. It was super fun!

Have a great week!

Love-

Elder Thomas