Guayaquil Hill

Guayaquil Hill

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

July 20 2015



Hey Familia!
So to start out, I am so happy for you guys and your new ward. It sounds awesome. Never take those people for granted. As well, you should be trying to do missionary work. Kind of a bold start right?
haha But 80 percent of referrals are baptized. 20 percent of contacts are baptized. Now to explain this a bit more, we have something very cool in our lives. It helps us be better people and live better lives, and we are more happy. So why wouldn't we share that with our friends? It is hard to say because we don't want to be weird about it but tell them flat out. This church means a lot to me, I'd like to share it with you because we are friends. If they say no then you continue to be friends. It is a simple invitation, we invite you to listen to the missionaries if nothing more than to understand who we are.
  Anyways my area is pretty flipping amazing. The ward is awesome and I border the South mission btw! The other day we broke the rules by accident by looking for a pharmacy. We literally left the mission boundaries haha. But its cool. So about that, my appointment was Saturday.  ( For a plantar wart) She had 3 options, cut it out or 2 different kinds of acids. Only one of the acids will allow me to walk though so obviously we went with that. We will go get them tomorrow. It is pretty weird, we combine 2 acids together and then cover it. And change it every 3 days. I think it is going to hurt.
   The people here are good though. They all work, so no one is home until 6ish so it makes proselyting a little hard, and we cant sneak up on people so we don't really have many people to teach here. To explain the missionary I replaced, he is a missionary who is here to find a wife. He has already been caught making out with girls and other things. He was a terrible missionary. The people in the ward have all said, Elder P is gone? Halleluja! Welcome Elder Taylor! That was about every conversation for me. So now we are kinda opening a new area in a way. Gotta find all new people.
   So the food here is lots better as well. We have a list of people we eat with every week. Most are super rich, and some have help. Basically people who cook for them and clean and what not. So the rice is flavored! And they give us veggies!! Not as much cola in this sector, lots of juice. But the bad thing about this area is the shopping. Food is expensive again. Fruits are by the weights, so 2-3 bucks for 7 apples (an apple a day). And cereal here is pricey as well. A box is usually 5 dollars. Anything American is expensive. They have starbursts but 3 packs is 5 dollars. They also have subway in a mall close by but for less than a 6 inch its like 7 bucks. Same with nutella, 5 bucks for a small bottle. We ate dominos today, prices about the same, 8 bucks for a medium. Wasn't real dominos. One member bought us papa johns and it was as real as you can get, with garlic butter and everything. Loved it.
 My area has lots of parks and stuff too. Very nice area. Basically I wouldn't visit Vinces if my life depended on it but this area is super nice. Lots of air conditioners as well. It is a little hard for us because we both aren't good at contacting but the life style here is great. But our house is... Snug. I'll send you a pic of our bedroom, there is a 2 inch gap between our beds so it is not breaking any mission rules. There is just the two of us as well.
 Anyways, One quick thing, we contacted this guy who was sitting on the corner one night. I say whats your names, he says ''the name Jesus'' which was weird. Turns out his job is to sit on this corner all night blowing a whistle to scare jovens off which is like teenagers. He just sits there all night with his deadly broom handle and a whistle and whistles. It is great.
 As for my scripture I will send you a bracket I made for this decision. I've put a good amount of thought into it. 3 Nephi 13: 22,23.  I chose it because it explains how to be happy in this life. If our eyes see light, we will have light. But if our eyes see darkness, we will have darkness. I hope some day some kid having a bad day can read this and have it make a difference. Anyways, I love you guys, I gotta go. I'll send a few quick pics.
 Love,
Elder Taylor

PS Don't forget the holes soundtrack! And family pics! And a picture of our house so I can show people.

These are small potatos at a party,
 this is our room, 
 
and this is the scripture bracket haha.
 
The sign says No Parking.
 



Tuesday, September 15, 2015

July 13 2015



Hey familia!
 So first off to start I'm doing tons better. Obviously it is still a mission, so it still is hard but like you said, relax. haha That word has echoed in my head for a week now. Thank you guys for all the support.
 Anyways, yes I was transferred! So after we talked we went to the mission home and slept. We woke up, studied till 10, then went back to the offices. They kept saying President is coming in today, he'll be here. We literally sat for 4 hours and change. He showed up at 2, but they had to eat first (they fed us at 1). After, we talked for a few minutes. He gave me the option to transfer or stay and to call Saturday with what I felt. I called and said I was ok to stay there.
The next day, which was yesterday around 9:30pm we got called and I was transferred! So now I'm in the city and wow, it is soo different! We are 5 minutes to the offices and the temple and everything. We are in a ward so that should be a lot cooler. This morning Cordova and I caught a bus to Guayaquil at 8, got here and got our new companions.
My companion is Elder Vavricka, and he is from Layton. He is super col. We live across the street from here, the cyber and its just us. I already like him. But the house we live in is tiny! There is about 3 inches in between our beds and no closets. Just a dresser. Pretty sweet. 
Today, after transfers, we had to run to the doctors for him and after to the office. At the office I talked to the nurses about my feet and they are going to set up an appointment to have it checked out. It will be interesting because I don't speak very well haha but my comp does! Anyways, after that we ran back to the house to take my laundry to the laundromat which is owned by a member and then went back to the offices for my comp. He had a meeting with Pres, but President was busy so again, we sat for over 2 hours again. It was great. That's why we are writing so late.
 So anyways, while we were in the office he explained to me a few of our investigadores. He explained the last lesson. We also talked a bit about being missionaries. He was in a California mission for 6 weeks so he got to experience two ways of planning and prepping and everything. He says he wants to change a lot of things and experiment a bit which sounds freaking awesome to me!
 So anyway, the city is a lot more modern, apparently lots of the houses have AC so that's awesome. Right now is the cool season for Ecuador apparently. There have been a few days of clouds so no sun which were awesome. The rest its almost like summer at home where its just hot, but also humid which is a nice step down from the Ecuador super hot.
 Ok for the package, I dont really know. I dont really have a need for bbq sauce. Like I said I talked to the nurses so I dont necesarily need the medicine, but feel free to send it. I would like another picture of the family and the dogs to bring with me because everyone asks. Also, this is the big one, we can listen to disney music! We were in the offices and the assistants put on Disney! It makes sense, our manual says music that brings good thoughts and uplifts which is exactly what Disney does. So you have a project. Load a flash drive (FLASH DRIVE NOT MP3) full of Disney music. Have the girls help, have William help. Anything from Frozen to Snow White. Also I really want the sound track from holes. Ive been singing it for months! I dont know why but I would appreciate that as well. I'm serious about this too, have the kids help choose songs. This is one thing that has kept me going this past week is knowing I'm gunna have Disney music. Alladin, Tangled, Frozen, Tarzan, Toy Story, I want it all. haha
 So at our old house I had my hammock hung up and was soo happy and the next day transferred to a house with no space. haha Just my luck right' But this area is going to be a lot better. I can eat the empanadas that the guy sells through the fence next to the offices (he's famous). They are delicious. I will miss the tacos though. The escobar taught us how to make them, we ate them many nights. We make the guacamole, we make the salsa and we cook the meat. About as fresh as you get haha. So stuff here is like opposite. Stuff in the states that's cheap is expensive here whereas stuff here that's cheap is expensive there. Like fruit, 25 oranges for a dollar. But shampoo, a tiny bottle is 5 bucks! Or icebreakers (which they have) are 4 bucks.
Anyways probably better send pictures now. I did pull a little money out of my account, I was out because we've been traveling so much! But this Monday I should be good. One thing I would like to ask for is more packages, or letters. Don't mean to sound pushy but it is seriously better than Christmas when someone opens a package. haha Well lemme end with this, if it weren't for my parents and their examples I wouldn't be here today, let alone half the man I am.
 Love you guys, you're the best!
 Elder Taylor
OK a picture of my hammock, a picture of me on the back of Hermano Julio's trici-moto with my comp, and a kid in my old branch who had four pockets so we all put our nametags on him and took a picture.
 
 This was a random guy at the bus station. He wasn't waiting for a bus, because like 3 had already pulled up and left. He was just sitting there.

 Also these were at Elder Wursten's funeral (the kid with the sombrero).