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.
