May 5 2015

Holo familias!!

   Green car.. it had a manufacture engine code the first time, then it had P0171 which is the old code we used to get all the time. I couldn´t tell you what it needs exactly I would suggest taking it to either Uncle Dale or a shop and having a *pro* look at it. Just to figure out whats wrong of course... Anyways, OH MY GOSH!!! A DOG!!!  I´m soo excited to get home in 2 years!... I´m really glad to hear the house is well, I have been praying lots (MTC) and always pray for my family to be happy and close on the house. Also, hows abby? I´ve been worried sick about her! Is school getting any better? I feel like my experience before the day I left was to help me understand what she´s going through. Having no control over your feelings. Like, I was fine to get on a plane that was honestly pretty easy, but for some reason my body was like, Nope. Not today. This is going to suck. haha Anyways, I have been just fine, the food here is weird but not a big change like I was expecting. The Traffic here is NUTS!!! Basically however many cars can fit on the road, thats how many lanes there are. And for every car theres 2 motorcycles that seems like they are trying to get into a wreck. Cars dont apply the brakes unless they are 2 inches from the next car... Very scary. 

So after the temple today, we drove to immigrations so all 4 of the other nortes could get their visas to stay in Columbia. Basically I sat outside for an hour with the church representative and talked about his family and football and stuff.

Forgot to mention last time that we have so far eaten Pato which is duck, and buffalo which is buffalo. The duck was weird but the buffalo was pretty good. 

Oh mothers day. We get to call home, sometime in the afternoon. I will know next Thursday what time exactly. BTW my next Pday is not this Thursday but next. So like 9 days away. 

Ok funny story. So elder Musick has a very dry sense of humor and I love it!! We were in the bedroom last week and I farted rather loud haha but I said let it go! He jumps out of his bed, and yells *THATS NOT WHAT THEY MEANT!!!* then storms out the room. It was hilarious. Turns out he has older and younger sisters...

   Oh crazy story!! last Saturday we got to go out proselyting.  Basically we went to a little park and attempted to speak spanish. The FIRST GUY we talked to was a minister of the Catholic church next door, and he CHEWS US OUT!! Like hardcore. It was in spanish so we didn´t get much of it, but for the most part, we don´t believe in Jesus Christ, and we are all about the money. It was pretty traumatic. But, the story goes on. The next guy we talked to spoke english!!!  Basically we spoke in spanish to him, and he spoke in english to us for practice, but he was pretty chill. He took our Plan of Salvation pamphlet and him and his girlfriend read through it (I know this cuz we were in the same park for a while and they were still reading) 

So today at like 4:30 AM all the current missionaries left. All the old nortes finished their 6 weeks and all the latinos finished their 2 so now theres only 5 of us here. It is weird. The new nortes get here tonight at like midnight and the latinos tomorrow at like 7. It'll be fun. 

Oh I don´t know if I ever thanked you for the High Chews, but thanks. They are still going but I´m almost out and we can't shop anywhere except the distribution center which is just garments and BOMs. Anyways, I´ll send pics now.

Love you guys so much, and can´t wait to hear from you on Thursday and the Sunday after!!

Elder Taylor

P.S.

Elder Taylor is soo cool to say!!!!

This roof was black when we got here, we watched this dude paint it.  It was kinda wierd, but thats the view from our dirstrict. Also, this was yestarday before all the old nortes left. They decided to come party in our room. 

April 30 2015

Ok so spanish is crap. The food is good. I have two companions. The End..... haha jk.. So the language is super difficult, and after every class, they give us an insane amount of habitacion work (homework) so the 30 minutes before bed and any spare time we can find is packed to overwhelming!!! 

Home front sounds fun, also I knew about the other Mountain Dew. I`m kind of their biggest fan.. The hardest thing about this CCM is there are 5 fresh nortes (North Americans) and 4 old nortes. Basically spanish is all you can speak and... I can`t haha. Everything from signs in the bathroom to laundry schedule to door labels is spanish!! It`s insane!!! The CCM is pretty small, only about 75 missionaries here. Gym is fun, they have ping pong. Let me try to get my thoughts together, I feel like I`m all over the place.. most breakfasts are eggs (very slimy) with hot chocolate. The chocolate is amazing though, like to die for fricken good. The spoons they use for soups and stuff is the size of your mouth so you can eat soup super quick haha. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day usually consisting of a big piece of meat, a ton of rice, some mashed potatoes (which i think they add flour cuz they are super gooey) sometimes guacamole a bowl of soup (TONS of cilantro) and like jello or pudding with a side of veggies or salad. They do have barbeque sauce here though. 

Oh before I forget Pday is Tuesday next week. That's because everyone that's here will be gone except 5 of us because they are only here for two weeks. The new nortes get here Tuesday evening, and the new Latinos get here Wednesday. 

  Oh ya my companions are Elder Musick, and Elder Orr. Orr is from Arizona.  Musick is from New York upstate (not city). His dad is in the military so they live on the base. I like him. Then there is Elder Johnson (Saint George) and Elder Extrom (Los Angeles).  That`s my whole district.. 

Let`s see... I`m writing from my journal so I don't forget anything.  4.23  went to fix the blinds because they wouldn`t go up. Outloud I say, let me fix this, then instantly after the blinds are in a pile on the ground with me next to them laughing. I did eventually fix them though. 

Oh I don`t know what I told you about customs, but it was pretty sad. I go up to the desk, she says, Espanol? I say no. She says hotel address I say no. She repeats. I was just sitting there watching basically frozen in fear. Luckily Elder Amaya (the one who we met at Deseret Book) spoke spanish and they figured it out. He`s pretty sweeet too. He used to work at that Deseret Book. 

Back to the food, they try to make american food but it`s nasty!! The spaghetti is greasy meat with noodles, the hamburgers are just pain disgusting, and the cheese tastes gross! But when they make traditional means they are always delicious!! Also, go to the store and see if they have like a Colombian soda. It is orange and tastes like creme soda and is drop dead amazing. Columbia is nice, the weather is not humid, and the sun is usually behind clouds and it is cool. It is like this all year round. Dad would love it! It drizzles every now and then but never pours. Oh I have had plantains and they are kind of disgusting to be honest. 

So our district room has a nice view of this intersection. We watch in amazement as the Colombian drivers race through it. They just stop in traffic and back up, or don't stop at the stop sign or pass cars in the turn lane and then turn in front of them. It`s hilarious. The other day a dump truck tried to flip a u turn and ran into a taxi then drove off. It was great. Pictures in next email. The fruit is the Granadia (i think) which translates to pomegranate, then there's the chapstick which looks like yellow lipstick, and a couple pictures of the temple with me and my comps, and district.  Love you guys soo much and miss you all!! 

Remember I write Tuesday so in 5 days.

 

Graffiti across from the CCM says God Bless

The 5 fresh nortes

In the picture with 7 of us, from the left, Elder Amaya, Elder Musick, Elder Johnson, Elder Extrom, me, Elder Orr, Elder Velasquez