Email Letter - 26 November 2008

Family,

So this week has been good. Our Mission President is making some pretty lame changes and I think it might result in my dying from the sun pounding on my head but we will wish for the best. I do wear my hat but that only does so much. We had a member telling us yesterday that just a little bit up the road near my last area is where the sun is nearest to the earth!! Crazy stuff huh.

It’s starting to get really hot now and its killer not to have air conditioning in the pench but we are surviving. Other than the heat things are going well. We are going to be having a meeting this week to start planning our branch Christmas party and I’m excited for that and I know the members are too because they all want to help us get it ready. They asked me if I was going to dress up as Santa and I told them that I would as long as it wasn’t over 100 degrees but I know for a fact that it will be much hotter than that so it’s not a problem. It should be good though.

On Sunday we had 15 people at church and it wasn’t the normal people that come so I think that if we can get everyone going at the same time we should have around 25 or 30 which would be a blessing. We have been working a lot with the family of our baptism because they all want to listen to us after what they felt and saw at his baptism. They seem very interested and ready to listen. It’s amazing how many doors this baptism has opened up for us. I’m so excited to get back to work with so many people and to have the success that I’ve been waiting for. The best thing about it is that he can help us teach and tell what he has felt while praying and receiving his answer. It helps him to remember the lessons that we taught him and to remember the doctrine that he needs to know to help his testimony grow.

I have been able to see the blessings that the Lord has been giving to me while I’m doing his work. Just like Grandpa King Shared with me today when Joseph Smith said that “no unhallowed hand can stop the work of the Lord from progressing.” I can testify that that statement is so true and I’m a witness of that now as I progress in the work. I love you all and I hope that everything is going well. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 19 November 2008

Hey Family,

So things are really going well. I had my first baptism yesterday and I can’t tell you how amazing it was. I really have been blessed in the work that my companion and I have been putting forth.


















We have been working hard to get the branch back in to working condition but haven’t had much success in that. In church on Sunday it was just our investigator who is now our member and us so what we did was we blessed the Sacrament and then we just sat there and had a lesson with him about baptism. It was a good lesson but it would have been nice to actually have a sacrament meeting with more members. I guess we will just have to try a little bit harder to get that done.

On the other side we had a big turnout at the baptism. He had his whole family there and we had a lot of members and missionaries there to support him and it all went well. The spirit was there in great abundance and I felt overwhelmed but everything went well and I only had to do it ONCE!

So Elder Smith and I have started a diet, we signed a contract and everything. We are taking it very seriously because we have decided that we can’t go home fat. We aren’t too big yet but we don’t want to get there. We are going to be working hard in that so that we can come home lookin good. The bottom line is that I have been doing what they call percha or working hard you could say.

We have been doing everything that we can to get the success that everyone says you can’t have in this part of the mission. We will continue to work and work until we die. We had our thanksgiving dinner today and it was American style with stuffing and pumpkin pie and everything. The Casperson's did it all for us and we had the whole zone there. It was just like home but without the family. We went around the room and said what we are thankful for and I think we all were about to cry as we said our families. It was a great day and I’m so very grateful for all of my many blessings. I love you all very much. Take care

Tay

Email Letter - 12 November 2008

Fam,

So this week again went well. We have been having a lot of good lessons and a lot of people that are getting ready to be baptized. the thing here is that there are a lot of people that are waiting for a divorce before they can get married and baptized and here divorces take almost a year to complete so that is going to take us some time to work with.

The week has been normal but it has been getting really hot lately. so a cool story...my comp and I went out on Thursday afternoon and while we were walking to our first appointment I felt like I should ask him how to perform ordinances like anointing and blessing and stuff like that, I didn’t know why I felt like I needed to learn but I did. So as we were walking he taught me how to do the anointing and when we got to our first house they didn’t have time to visit with us so we went to a less active member’s house who asked us if we could give them a blessing. I was happy that I could help for the first time in anointing and participating in that blessing.

then the next day we did divisions and I was working with Elder Smith in my area and while we were walking down the street we ran into a member that asked if we could give her a blessing so within two days I was able to anoint and then bless someone. It was such a blessing that I had the prompting to ask my companion how to do it so that when he wasn’t around I was able to do it. What a blessing it is to hold the priesthood so that I can help others in their time of need.

On Sunday we 9 people in church which was a little disappointing but we are working on that. I directed my first sacrament meeting and blessed the sacrament and spoke and gave a class. It was a lot to prepare for but it was fun to do. I’m hoping that before I leave here we will have people that can do most of that stuff for me so that I can focus on other things.

On Sunday night we had the Fireside broadcast to us from BYU with Bishop Burton. It was so fun to listen to him (even though it was in Spanish) he had some good counsel and some good stories. I’m glad that I’m in the branch presidency so that we can go to all of the transmissions and listen to the counsel that normally as missionaries we wouldn’t get.

Yesterday we went out to our other area in Villa Ocampo and had some awesome lessons with some new investigators. We found this new young family out there and they want so badly to know that it’s true so they are reading and praying and everything. It’s so awesome to see people that are just ready to listen to us. It has been such a good few weeks and it’s just going to get better. I love it here and I love the work. Today we are going bowling to finish up our p-day and we are excited about our thanksgiving dinner that we are having as a zone next week. I guess some things just don’t change even when you’re not at home. I love you guys. Take care

Tay

Email Letter - 5 November 2008

Family,

So this week has been an amazing one. It goes back to last Saturday when our area had a broadcast for the young women in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina with Sister Allred, Sister Dibb and then our Area Presidency. It was an awesome thing to watch and listen to. I was glad that I could go and the only reason was because we are the Branch Presidency as you know. We got to go and listen to all of the counsel that the young women received. Of course Sister Dibb had a translator because she doesn’t speak Spanish but when she would talk she sounded just like her dad President Monson and she gave great insight to what they young women need to be doing. It didn’t just help them but it helped us as leaders learn what we need to do to help them progress.

Then on Sunday we had 13 people in church. It sounds like it’s very few but in the last few weeks they only had 7-10 so we are making an improvement. We also had an investigator come, his name is Pico and he’s a stud. He’s like 22 or so and he has told us that he feels the spirit whenever we teach him. On Monday night we went over to his house to teach him and we told him that he needed to pray to ask our heavenly father if he should get baptized and he told us he would do that and talk to his parents because as of right now they are keeping him from choosing what’s best. At the end of the lesson he told us that he knew that god would tell him that he needed to get baptized and that if god wants him to do it then his parents will agree.

After that we went to another lesson with a part member family and taught the same lesson on baptism and asked the mom if she would get baptized and she said that she would start now doing all the things that she has to do and with our help she will get there soon. It was a wonderful night and really powerful to see the change in people when they feel the spirit.

Yesterday was our zone conference and there it just got so much better. We had our Area President Elder Shayne M Bowen there with his wife and after listening to our mission president and his wife speak we heard from them. First Sister Bowen spoke about how it would be impossible for Joseph Smith to have done what he did without the help of the lord or without the authority that the lord had given him. After that we heard the going home testimony of my friend Elder Hemmert which just invited the spirit even more and when he finished we had a special musical number from Sister Casperson who is here with her husband serving in my area. When she finished it was Elder Bowens turn and I can’t express to you all how much the spirit was with him as he spoke to us about who we really are.

We had a two hour discussion about the authority that we hold to carry the word of god to every nation and that authority is the Priesthood. He told us that the only thing holding us back is us and that we have been promised all that the father has if we do our part. He bore witness to us that he could feel our power and authority and that he knew that we are the chosen generation to carry this gospel to all the world. He promised us in the name of Christ that there are thousands waiting for us and that we need to do everything we can to bless them. Again I can’t express to you in words the love that he spoke with and the spirit that filled the room as he spoke.

And when we pulled up to our house tired and ready for bed Pico ran over and told us that he wanted a date for his baptism because god told him that it was the right thing and his parents told him that if it’s what he wants then he should do it! I’m excited to work with him to get there.

It has been a great week and I can feel the blessings of being here. I am grateful to be here and for the blessing of the Priesthood which I hold. I love this work. And I thank you all for your support. I love you.

Tay