June 7 2015

WOW I had 6 walls of text I had to read.. You twice dad twice Dylan and Jessica. And little notes from my MTC buddies. Well I don't even know where to start... It is really hard. Really. Spanish is the worst. My companions name is Elder Cordova and he is awesome. There are little things that bug me so far though. He assigns me personal study, and it's always lesson 1 in PMG. Then for the next hour during companion study, we study lesson 1. Then for 12 weeks study (a book about your first twelve weeks) we study lesson 1. Then for language study we study the pamphlet for lesson 1. And when we practice, it has to be perfectly said. For example, rather than saying God calls prophets such as Abraham, Noah... it has to be God blesses us by calling prophets to preach, who are known in the bible as Noah... and when you are learning a new language I just want to get my point across so it's frustrating. 4 hours of studying lesson 1. But it's good.

In my MTC friend group email, Elder Musick said, unless you had to clean houses by casting out devils, your first day was easy haha. But I guess I'm good. Other than constant frustration. So my first area is Vinces, which is outside of guyuaqil (still cant spell it haha). I am living with two other Elders who are the zone leaders who were best friends before the mission. They opened their calls together and everything and now they are finishing off the mission together as zone leaders. Crazy stuff. Elder Payne has 6 more weeks and Elder Wursten has 2 more. 

Oh and my companion is fresh. Been out for 3 months. I'm his second companion. Which I guess is why his training kinda bugs me. But anyways, story time. One of the families we are teaching, the Luna Muñes family is cool. We went to visit the mom off of a contact that my companion made before I was here. Anyways, when we got there, she says we cant talk to her because her husband forbids it. Well, my companion, being a boss, talks to the dad and finds out he cant read.  So we are teaching him how to read, and the whole family is commited to baptism. It is good. 

So to explain the houses here. If you house is concrete, you are more wealthy. Most are made of bamboo. Theres lots of frogs here. Like tons. And also lots of drunks and druggies. So at almost every corner, theres like 10 pairs of shoes on the wires. My companion tried to explain that they were there because thats where they sell drugs, but I though he was saying people on drugs throw their shoes up there. It was great. It wasnt until I went with elder Payne on splits that I figured out what he was saying. 

Ok so one other thing I just remembered. During our lessons, my companion will just stop talking and look at me. It is soo annoying!! For example, the other day we were teaching about prophets and he threw it to me so I bore testimony of reading our scriptures daily cuz i didnt know what was going on!! When I was with Elder Payne, he'd have them read and during, whisper to me talk about prayer next. I killed those lessons!! So it's been rough. 

But back to the people here. I will try to get more pictures soon, but they are crazy. Remember nacho libres bike? They have those here. Everywhere. Its their form of taxi. We usually ride in the backwards ones though. They are cool. The driver in the front on a motorcycle with us in the back inside a little cab they built themselves. Its cool and its 25 cents a person. Oh and fruit is extremely delicious and cheap. You can get an orange for 10 cents already prepared. They peel the skin off for the most part, and then cut a hole in the top, and you just suck the juice out. Its delicious.  Oh and they are green. Same with the lemons, grapefruits, and bananas. Oh and starfruit are good too. Oh and passion fruit!! Which is illegal in the states cuz you can make a drug from the seeds. Weird. 

Back to the motos, (motorcycle cars) The other day when I was with elder Payne we got in one, and the dude was soo drunk! It was scary. Elder Payne goes we probably should get out but that would cost us extra money. It was great. 

So while we were teaching this lady, there was a bunch of drunk guys across the street screaming about the soccer game they were watching. This cop car comes down the street and I'm thinking, thank goodness... Nope. I was wrong. The cops pulled up, grabbed a beer, and joined in. That's Ecuador. You enter this tiny house with barely anything, and starving children, and a plasma tv with a huge stereo system and the dad sitting there on his smart phone. Its nuts. Sorry to just give you a giant wall of text haha.

Anyways, its soo stinking hot here!! And what's worse is this is the cold season!! You have to put gum in the freezer so it doesn't melt. You shower and get out and still can't put your shirt on cuz you're wet. Seconds after attempting to dry off. It sucks. 

Well I have no idea how long we've been here but I better stop writing so  can send pictures.

Oh one more thing, apparently when I was with Elder Payne, the others had a 4 foot iguana run right in front of them, jump in the river and swin off. Oh and theres a million dogs and cats here. And they are nuts. Oh also theres cockfights. We were at President Escobar's (the branch pres. here), and they had what I assumed was a rooster in a pen for dinner, nope. Its a fighter. Crazy stuff. 

Well I'm gunna get off in a sec. Love you guys all soo much and miss you like crazy!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Taylor

Haven't really taken very many photos.. anyways.. Here is one from my last day in the MTC. For some reason ALL the latinos came into our room. There were 60 people in there. No idea why. Apparently they were running down the halls saying habitacion 4!! Elder Orr somehow got mixed in. Hey play Wheres Waldo with elder orr!! he's in there!! haha

 Also here is my first selfie ever. With mi amigo Elder Montenegro. He's in my mission. No idea where now haha.

 

Heres me and my comp, and pres and his wife.

 Also a pic of our room. The red bed is mine. You can see the fans we use at night. Its really hot.