March 21 2016

Hey familia!!

Long time no see jaja

11 months tomorrow!

Anyways, like always I'm a bit short on time. This week it's because we came to Guayaquil. That wouldn't mean too much but my comp decided to buy a new suit and we have to wait. They are sewing it.. Anyways, life here has been pretty good. Last week I ate something bad, and was sick all Friday, with the stomach ''flow'' as they say here. I'm all good now though. After eating in the restaurant, almost all the members have said, 'DONT EAT THERE ITS BAD!!'' A little late but thanks...

I will tell you we finally got a new cell phone! Soo happy! Long story short, every companionship has a cell, but ours had been here at least 5 years. You can't even read the keyboard the numbers are all erased. The screen cracked. I asked the office today for a new one and we finally got it.

Well I want to congratulate Will for performing AND singing!! I didn't know he could sing. In the store today, I heard the hakunamatata song, and it made me happy :)

Other than that, another boring week here. We walked a lot. But this upcoming Saturday, we have one baptism! Also, tomorrow we are going to the temple. Then, presidente is going to machete us with the word of wisdom (lots of sick missionaries). It'll be a great day and I will get to see a few old friends. We gotta be there at 6 in the morning. We'll see how it goes. Well, I gotta go, hopefully next week we won't have any surprises and I will be able to write.

I bought pancake mix and cool whip ($7.00!!!!) to make good breakfast this week :)

Love you guys!!

Elder Taylor

P.S. We have a FHE planned tonight to bake the cookies you sent mama!

And, you guys should buy the bible videos for the house and watch them. You learn a lot about the character of Christ.

March 14 2016

Hey familia!

Well, I think it is a bit funny that you ended with a quote from up because I just wrote to Abby and started with a quote from up! (fhew, I thought you were dead)

Anyways, sounds like you guys are staying spuper busy this week. I as well have been extremely busy this week. Starting with Monday.

Monday, ate KFC and it was bad. The last week I told you a bit about it but the food made me sick later in the week.

Tuesday, RECIEVED POUCH!! I bought cake mix today, I'm gunna try to make the cookies soon. Tuesday night rolled in the house exhausted, knowing that the sickness was coming.

Weds. Woke up sick but still worked all day.

Thrs. Woke up really sick. Like, in Ecuador, I put a blanket on and a sweater and I was still cold. Took medicine, and got better.

Friday woke up without problems.

Anyways, the moral of the story, DON'T EAT KFC!! Lesson learned.

Apart from that, it was a good week. We worked this week. Next week I think there will be a few baptisms. I really enjoyed the candy. Well, gotta go. I'm late already

Love,

Elder Taylor

Pouch!!

Pouch from my old YSA Ward! Good old zach

March 7 2016

Hey Familia!

No he did not bite my butt. It was my ankle, and we have to pass the dog every couple days still.

It really sucks, but I'm always prepared with rocks now haha!

I'm glad to hear that the family it well and that dad gave birth haha. I've been praying pretty hard about that one :) I also would like to say I didn't know William was gunna be in a play!! Maybe you said something a while ago but I forgot. It sounds like you guys are still living the crazy life, running place to place without rest.

Well, this week I walked some more haha. The rain is actually the better days because the heat goes away! I am on my 4th umbrella but I think this time it will last haha! But I will tell you when that strong sun finally gets around those rain clouds, the water instantly absorbs into the air and it is the most terrible heat in the world!  You just sweat, nonstop. In houses, at night, it doesn't matter. That's why the rain is soo nice. It rained like 2 days straight and it was awesome! I loved it! It got super fresh outside. I was using a crappy umbrella however that Elder Johnson gave me and I got wet. But now I'm good.

I got something cool to tell you. Elder Mendoza had Insanity on his flashdrive and I copied them. Every morning we follow the instructor on the little screen and do exercise. It is intense! It kills me every morning, only 30 minutes and you are literally soaked in sweat.  It is super cool.

Sunday night there was another earthquake, but I didn't feel it. Sad.

We were walking, and I guess outside, you don't feel it as strong. But everyone is talking about it. This is the third in like 3 months.  Pretty cool.

Well, I better get going, Love you guys

Elder Taylor

Feb 29 2016

Hey Familia!

Well another week has absolutely flown by! I don't really know what I did this week. I feel like I just wrote. Well, I'm glad to hear that the family is well and that my stuff is protected. I feel bad that I couldn't help move the stuff to the house haha. Maybe next time.

I'm glad to hear that the scouts are still a big part in the family, they made me who I am today. I love the picture you sent me with my uniform. I show it to everyone I can, even though a few laugh. I'm very prideful of what I did in boy scouts. Today Elder Johnson had changes, he is going to Vinces! He had to travel alone! I would be soo nervous! Especially to go to such a small town.. Anyways, we went to the terminal of Guayaquil with him to say goodbyes and receive the new missionary. Elder Mendoza came from Ventanas. He has 1 year 2 months in the mission, he's a good guy. He has the insanity videos on his usb and I copied them! Tomorrow, I will begin the insanity workout program!! I'm pretty excited about it.

This week was the cumpleaños of our mission leader of the ward. We bought a small cake and with a few members, went to his house and sung. He was pretty moved, said this is the best thing that has happened to me in my 65 years of life. It was pretty cool.

Other than that, a pretty boring week, mainly walking, sweating all day and rain. Pretty much the same routine. We did finally get a few new people to church. We are hoping to have a lot of baptisms this next month! I will keep you updated on that, ya?

Oh, sidenote, my convert, Gisselle, is in Wisconsin! Haha no hay nada en Wisconsin!

Elder Taylor

Feb 22 2016

Hey Familia!

Wow, how time just flies! 10 Months!! Double digits baby!!

Haha but seriously, it is a blessing just how fast the time moves in the mission.

You guys had a homecoming, we had a farewell. haha! But the Hno who gave his farewell talk is going to Bolivia, the mission where my companion is from! Pretty cool. His parents aren't members, they are waiting to get married still. The dad had to get divorced and it is a lot easier said than done in Ecuador. They have attended church, paid tithing and fed the missionaries every night for 3 years without fail but aren't members. And now they will have a son in the mission as well. Loco, no?

It's good to hear that Zach is well and also that you had the opportunity to enter the temple. In my last sector, an Hna worked in the temple and whenever we went she took a minute in the celestial room to teach me. It was really cool. I learned a lot from her.

Well, the mission life is good, I got a little burned today again. I was still recovering from last weeks burn too! Last week was really bad. I bought sunscreen which is SUPER expensive here, just so you know. But I don't always put it on. If there's no sun why use sunscreen? But the thing I have recently learned is the sun can burn through clouds.

Anyways, the dog bite is no worry, Hno Carlos asked the owner and it has its shots and it is still living so I'm alright haha.

Other than that a doctor came from Australia as a missionary with his wife. They are serving in Peru but came and taught us about stress.  It was a really good lesson. I learned a lot from them. He taught us how to deal with stress but he didn't speak Spanish very well. It was kind of sad because he was very powerful and wanted to share with us a lot but couldn't. It reminded me of my first weeks in the mission.

Anyways, gotta go.

Oh one story, my companion the other day goes, I am Jesus. I was like what? He goes let me show you a scripture. The scripture sais, Jesus is the fount. Lafuente means the fount. He was pretty happy haha

Love you guys

Elder Taylor

These are patacones in the making. You take a green plantane, cut it up, fry it, then take them out, and smash them, then fry them again.  It tastes like french fries, but I add creole so it is suuper good :)

Feb 15 2016

Hey family!

Wow sounds like a lot of fun in the Taylor house. Mice and sickness.

The missionaries downstairs have a mouse as well haha. But the difference is our house is concrete so it wont be able to get upstairs.

Gross story time! Saturday morning, we had to go help the zone leaders fill up the font. As we walk out, I put my shoes on. So I figured there was a rock in my shoe a little later but kind of just ignored it.. we went to the Bishop's house, then the chapel, then back home. I took my shoe off and there was a small leaf looking thing but I recognized it! It was no leaf, IT WAS A COCKROACH WING! I turned the shoe over and a few other parts fell out. I killed the cockroach in my shoe and then walked around with it for 2 hours! It was gross. I changed socks and tried to clean my shoe, then we left again.

Later that day, I got bit by a dog!! My first time!! It was a very big and scary dog too haha. I'm not too worried about rabies though, he didn't really break the skin with his teeth, just ripped it. Plus he knew what he was doing, he has bitten people before. If he had rabies he'd be dead by now. But it was still pretty exhilarating. I'll keep an eye on him to be sure he doesn't die though.

Anyways, it was a pretty good week. To start, today we went fishing!  But we didn't catch anything. The river is too high and there is too much water. It made the current really strong, so the fish weren't there and our lines were getting thrown around all day. That is all thanks to the stupid rain! We only went for 3 hours but I got fried!! And the sun wasn't even out! 

Walking down the street later, some guy selling brooms looks at me and goes, YOU ARE BURNED! USE SUNSCREEN!  It was funny.

Speaking of rain, Thursday was bad. It rained SOO HARD!! We were walking, my companion without his umbrella, and it hit. So hard it started breaking my umbrella! We ran to the chapel and waited 40 minutes until it calmed down. The church didn't have water and I had to poop, so I had to put a bucket outside to fill up, to flush the toilet. I thought it was pretty smart :) The bucket filled up in no time.

Anyways I gotta go, love you guys. Good luck with your mouse problem.

Oh and how much would it cost to buy, and send the board game Risk? My companion really wants to know.  Oh and I know one other thing I want for my Bday :) ties from DI. I don't care how good they are, just to trade and give away.

 Ya love you guys

Elder Taylor

Feb 8 2016

Hey familia!

This week has been another good week full of walking and burning in the terrible Ecuadorian summer sun! And rain. So to explain how it works, it gets really hot. Like I can't breathe kind of hot. Then after like 4 hours of the extreme hot, a little wind kicks up and in come the clouds full of water. Then it pours rain. Then it gets extremely hot because all the rain is evaporating and making it even more humid.  Then you rinse and repeat. That's the schedule here. Its not an every day thing, more like every other. But it is bad.

The people here in Duran buy blow up pools and stick them outside to deal with the heat. But EVERY house pulls the pools out for Carnival. The holiday Brennan talked about when they have a giant water fight. It technically starts today but they do a pre-party so since Saturday it's been going on. Everyone buys foam in a can, basically shaving cream and fights with it. It is literally the shaving cream wars all over again. It should only be today and tomorrow but today it is raining so not may people are playing. I think the big day will be tomorrow.

Oh! The baptism did happen. Hno David was baptised. To explain really quick, we invited Hno Carlos and his family. He is a recent convert who used to sell beer but dropped it all when the missionaries taught him the word of wisdom. His wife isn't a member or his kids. He is 65 so his kids all live away. After David was baptised we had a few minutes while they were changing. I invited Hno Carlos to bear his testimony. His wife and one daughter were there. He bore one of the most powerful testimonies I've heard here in Ecuador. He is a stud too.

Other experience, Hno Bryan from the ward here got his mission call. They did a big ceremony in which his mom talked about Bryan falling away and returning to the church. It was very powerful. Then he opened his call. Chile, but I dont remember the mission... But it was funny, he was reading it and reads, you will report to the Chile MTC the 30th of March, but the word March was in English! He just kinda pauses and looks at it and moved on. He basically read, you will report the 30th of..... blah blah blah.. Everyone was freaking out, When do you leave!?!? He finally called me up to translate March to Marzo to be sure haha. I'm super excited for him though. He has a strong testimony and will be a good leader. 

Other than that nothing new other than rain, mosquitos, and sun. I did buy a new bag with my name and the mission and the flags. I will send a pic the next week. Love you guys

Elder Taylor