Email Letter - 27 August 2008

Family,

So this week has been an okay one. It has started to get a little warmer because spring is right around the corner so it’s now anywhere from 95-110 degrees in our area with lots of wind that blows the dust up and it’s just horrible. We walk around eating dirt all day and it’s not my favorite thing but what can you do.

So it sounds like Josh’s farewell went awesome and I’m so excited for him. It seems like so much is going on and I’m missing out on all of it. I guess things can’t stay the same for two years.

Things are going well and we found a couple more people that we can go back and teach but none of them are really promising investigators but its people that are at least willing to listen so I’m excited about that.

Things are going well with my comp but he of course we still have our moments where I wanna strangle him.

The members are starting to give us more references and that is always so much better than just clapping houses because its people that have some idea of what we teach. It’s nice to finally have some help and it’s another thing that I’m excited about.

We have transfers in two weeks and I really think that I’ll be leaving this time because 6 months in one area is a long time and I’m really ready to go. Tomorrow we have divisions with our district leader and I’m excited because I’m staying in my area this time to do them and we are going to teach that awesome family. I’m planning on showing them the DVD of the restoration so that they can feel even more just how real and special it is. I hope that it goes well. It’s still been pretty hard to find really good promising families other than this one in our area but we are trying some different ways of finding good whole families that are ready to listen and to accept what we have to offer (eternal life) what a great gift.

It sounds like you are all staying pretty busy this with football and dance and work and booster stuff and just everything and it just sounds like a regular football season and I’m sad to be missing it. I know that I say that every week but I really do.

There is an elder from my zone that is going home in two weeks and it’s funny to hear him talk about what he’s going to do which includes getting married in November. He’s crazy but we love him. I hit 7 months on Quin's birthday last week and it’s still crazy to sit and think about how fast it has gone. I’m happy to be here and I feel like I’m learning so much. I love you all very much. Take care.

Tay

Hanging with the Zone

Watching the Olympics

Email letter - 20 August 2008

Family,

so it has been an okay week. After we got back to our area last Thursday morning I started listening to the tape that you made for me and guess what, it broke! Just my luck right? I got to listen to the whole first side all the way through which means that I just missed listening to dad. It’s rather unfortunate but what can you do? This started one of the worst days of my mission. After that it was all downhill, I won’t go into detail about everything but the night ended with me getting into a remis (taxi) and ripping my pants on one of the pockets. It was a long day to say the least. I’m just glad that we have nice members that are ready and willing to fix stuff like that.

I do have some good news though...WE FOUND A FAMILY TO TEACH!!! I’m so happy. It is just a lady and her two girls who are both teenagers. We invited the girls to seminary and they went and loved it. That’s a good sign. The mom has tons of good questions and really they have had a sad life. We taught them about the restoration the second time we went and again they had good questions. They read everything that we gave them and when I left that lesson I could tell that they were sincere and that they would read and pray. I know that if they do it they will get their answer. It has been so long since I have been this excited to teach someone.

We had our interviews with President Del Castillo yesterday and they went well. He is just so up front and open about everything which is pretty cool. At one point in the interview he looked at me and told me that I looked like a leader and he could tell that I was just be looking at me. I thought that that was pretty cool and I’m excited to show him just how right he is. (I hope that didn’t sound cocky) after all I am in the Lord's work. Ha-ha.

I’m pretty sick again, I know what a surprise. It’s really starting to frustrate me that I can’t get over this sickness but I'm hoping that it will pass at some point. I’m really sick of being sick. It sounds like everything is going well and that you’re all getting excited for football season to start. I am too but it’s a little different for me this year because I won’t be there to watch from the sidelines like I usually am.

I was also happy to hear that dad's 40TH birthday was a blast with and ice cream party and a bunch of people singing. I’m sorry I missed it.

Today we went to the zoo again because we have lots of new people that didn’t go last time and when we got done taking pictures and walking around we played ultimate Frisbee again and it was so fun. I’m happy to have my knee brace so that I can start playing the way I want to when we're all playing together. Well fam, I love you all very much and of course I miss you as well. Take care all.

Tay

Email Letter - 13 August 2008

Hey Family,

So things have been going well. We just had zone conference in Resistencia and it was great. It was our first one with President Del Castillo and his wife. It was a lot different for sure and we all miss President Shakespear but change is good. He is a lot more outspoken and up front with us about things. He asked us all at one point if we believed that we could have more baptisms, and of course we all said yes and then he said ¨Good because if we don’t do it who do you think will, the Jehovah’s Witnesses.¨ we all laughed so hard and then said that we could take care of it. He gave us lots of good ideas about a lot of things. He focused mostly on how we could get members to help us more and how to reactivate families. He is a funny guy. It was a great conference and I have a lot more knowledge of how to go about doing things that can help me be a better missionary.

After that like usual we went to the mission office for a few minutes so that we could get packages and other things like that...YES I FINALLY GOT IT!! Ha-ha. Thank you very much! I actually used one of the knee braces today when we played ultimate Frisbee as a zone in Saenz Pena.

Next week we have interviews with president and I’m excited to get to know him a little bit better. Not really a lot has gone on as of late and I wish that I had some families that I could tell you about but at this point I still don’t. It’s tough sometimes but I’m hoping that we can get back on track soon and get things moving again.

I’m excited for the boys to start football and school as well. Time is going by so fast and I just don’t realize it. When you sit down and think about how I’ve been here for almost 7 months it doesn’t really seem real. I still get homesick sometimes like right now when I think about dad and Quin's birthdays among many other in the family and birthdays of friends but I know that I’m here for a reason and its okay to miss a couple.

I’ve been a little under the weather the last few days but I think it’s just the fact that I’ve never really gotten over the sickness I had in the MTC. It’s not too bad but it’s just annoying sometimes. Overall I’m doing really well and I know that the lord will bless me if I keep doing his work. I love you all. Take care! HAPPY BITHDAY DAD!!!

Tay

Email Letter - 06 August 2008

Hey family,

So things are still a little tough here for now but it’s pretty hard for our whole zone to find people right now so I don’t feel quite so down for now.

In the last few days we have found out some pretty cool things about our area. For example: we found out that there is a golf course!! I was way excited about that so we are going to look more into that and maybe hit it up in a few weeks.

The second cool thing is that we found a dry cleaners!! How cool is that! It seems as though we can find just about everything but people that are willing to listen. We´ll just keep pushing along though.

This Sunday we will be traveling to Saenz Pena and early Monday morning we´ll continue on with the rest of our zone to Resistencia for our first zone conference with our new President. It will be a little different but I’m hoping that I’ll still learn a lot. We´ll get up on Monday morning at about 4:00am and leave around 5:00 in order to get to the conference in time. Then we´ll travel back to Saenz Pena and get there at around 11:00pm or midnight. It’s going to be a nice long day but usually it’s well worth the trip.

We´ll just stay in Saenz Pena and do divisions with our district leader on Tuesday and then have P-day on Wednesday as well. It is going to be a lot of time away from our area which really isn’t that good but we have to do what we have to do. I’m excited because I’ll be getting my package as conference as well.

I think it’s funny that school is just starting in the states but they just finished their winter break here. Ha-ha.

It’s a little different down here but it still feels like our summer in Utah which just doesn’t make sense. The people in my area were very happy to see me stay and they always talk about how much they will miss me when I leave. I think it’s because I’m just different than most people, as you all know oh so well. I like to make jokes with them...to the best of my ability of course and I’m just social while trying to get the work done. It’s a lot of fun here and I’m sure that I’ll miss it when I leave as well.

So other than that nothing really big has happened this week. We´ve just been trying to find people to teach and spending lots of time clapping houses. I hope that all is well at home and that my dog gets better. Take care all. Love you lots.

Tay