Email Letter 28 December 2009

Hey Fam,

Well it awesome to talk to you, it seems like it’s been so long but this time we won’t have to wait quite as long. Sounds like Christmas went by really well and that everyone is all doing so well. I don’t think that there is anything more important than to have your family around you for the holidays and I’m happy that I don’t have to miss that again. There are so many things that I’m grateful for and family is number one on that list so I’m happy that things are going so well.

The week went by really fast. We had a lot of success in finding people to teach. I think that I’m at an advantage because I’m opening this area where there hasn’t been missionaries for the last 3 years almost so there are a lot of people that haven’t ever listened to or even seen the missionaries so just about everyone we talk to is interested in listening to us. The other day we were a little bit late for an appointment but I saw this young family sitting outside their house and I looked at my comp and said we are late but we have to talk to these people first or I will regret it forever so we went and talked to them and they were so excited to listen. We didn’t have any Book of Mormons to give them but we told them that we would be passing by to give on to them a little bit later on so we left them with a pamphlet and went on to our other lesson. After the lesson we went back by to give them the book and we gave it to the wife and explained the part that we had marked and left, later on that night we saw them walking around and the dad asked when they had to read it by and when we were going to pass by to take the book back, I told him that it was theirs and that we didn’t want it back. I wish that you all could have seen the way his face lit up. He asked us when we could go by and talk to them a little bit more then and they went on their way. I’m super excited about this family and I can’t wait to talk to them again. There are so many awesome experiences like that that I won’t ever forget.

We are being so blessed in this area and I love it. We are getting the members excited to have missionaries back and to get back into the swing of working with us. It’s going to be a fun 4 more weeks! Other than that there’s not much else to say because we talked just a few days ago. It’s been super, super hot and it’s hard to sleep but we make do. I love this work! Take care.

Tay

Email Letter 21 December 2009

 Hey Fam,

Well once again I’m writing from a new area and with a new companion. Who would have thought? Not me to be honest. I didn’t think that the lord would move me for my last transfer but it looks like I thought wrong. I’m training again for the second transfer in a row and I’m opening that area that I told you about “LAS LOMITAS” it’s just a little further east than my last area. It’s weird because both of my newbies are in the same district together. I’m going to be able to work with Elder Hansen in divisions and he will be able to work with his new brother Elder Wald.

Elder Wald is from Orem. Right close to home for me. He went to Timpanogos and he’s a good kid. He actually knows a lot of Spanish which is nice and he’s really ready to work. He’s going to keep me on my toes I think. It should be fun and we have already found some really good people to teach. He has a sister that just started her mission as well in Texas which is pretty cool. He’s my second companion with a sibling serving a mission at the same time (Elder Hogge had two sisters serving along with him) crazy stuff.

Well like I said, we opened up an area and that means we got here with an empty apartment. It’s been fun to go shopping though. When I got to Resistencia to pick Elder Wald up they gave me an envelope with 4500 pesos in it to buy everything. It’s so fun to just go out and buy a bunch of stuff and especially when it’s not your money. I actually feel bad with how much stuff costs because I know where the money comes from and so we have been buying the least expensive stuff but things that will last a long time. It’s been interesting to have to think about what exactly we need to be able to live and then go to a bunch of different stores to price things out to get the best price. I feel like such an adult.

So on the way here we got stuck in a really crappy bus. The air conditioners don’t work half the time in the busses out here in the middle of nowhere and it just so happened that on this horribly hot day that the air didn’t work on the bus we had to take. It was full of people so I had to stand the whole ride and it was like an oven inside. I think that I lost about 10lbs just in that hour and a half. It was a fun experience for my comps first few days in the mission. Ha-ha. But other than that traveling wasn’t too bad all things considered. I had to sleep on the floor for two nights in a row but I just look at it like you win some and you lose some and I only have a little over a month left so I can take one for the team now and then.

Yesterday in church we had 12 people and one of them was an investigator which was pretty cool. I gave a talk about the birth of Christ and how important it is to think about others at this time of year and not think so much about ourselves. It was a good meeting. And then last night we went out and found some really nice people, we actually taught a lesson in English which was a first for me in my mission. I have high hopes for this place and I know the Lord has put me here for a reason.

Well that’s about it for this week. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I love you all very much and I’m excited to be able to talk to some of you in a few days and the rest of you in uh....let’s see...let me think...oh yeah 39 DAYS AND COUNTING!

Tay

Pics

Me and Elder Hansen

Me and Elder Wald

My little friend Cinthia

Email Letter 14 December 2009

Hey Fam,

Well it’s been a good week I guess. Not too eventful but nice and calm. I got an awesome birthday present from President del Castillo. He called me and started asking me about the other area that I’ve been working in. It’s called Las Lomitas and I have been begging him to put missionaries there. It’s been my dream to open and area and he is going to at least open it. We will find out tomorrow night if it’s going to be me or another missionary. I have a feeling that it’s not going to be me but it would be so cool if it is. I think that president finally got sick of my asking and decided to open it because there are enough missionaries coming that he will be able to do it. It’s going to be an interesting wait for sure. The cool thing was that I don’t think he even knew it was my birthday!

So today I officially started my last transfer. It’s an interesting feeling to think that in less than 7 weeks I will be home and in the freezing cold snow! I love that thought. I try not to think about it so much and I don’t really like talking about it to my comp, I think it might make him think about home even more than he already does and that makes me feel bad so I’m trying to do better. It’s pretty fun with Elder Hansen, he’s a riot! It’s going to be sad if I leave him this transfer.

So a few weeks ago my comp and I went around to all of the members houses and told them that I had to humble myself and ask for help from all of you. I told them that I really thought that I could go house to house and find baptisms which I really do believe but that it wasn’t the way that things needed to be done and that I needed their help. I gave them all goal sheets and told them all that they needed to find me a family to baptize this month. I told them that they didn’t have to do it if they didn’t want to but that if they said they would that they really needed to start looking. To be honest I think that it was the best idea I’ve had in my mission. I was thinking back to my last area and how I had so much success and realized that it was all the help from the members so I’m trying to do the same thing here and all of them are so excited to be helping. Every time I go to their houses my first question is... “Have you found someone that we can baptize yet” and they have all said yes!!! It’s been great. They are all excited and they are finding people like crazy. We have a few really good families that I’m really excited about but there is a lot of work to do with them until they are ready. I’m excited for the work and it keeps me thinking in the mission and not in home. We shall see what happens but like I always say to the members “hay algo dificil para dios?” or in English “is there anything hard for god to do?” the answer to that would be NO. It helps them realize that anything is possible. As long as I can keep them excited we should have lots of success.

Not much else has been going on. We are all excited for transfers and for Christmas for sure and I think about you guys all the time. Love you guys. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter 07 December 2009

Hey Fam,

It was a good week. We had our interviews with Pres. and it was awesome. I was waiting outside for him to finish an interview with a member and when he came out he just smile and hugged me and then pulled me into the office. We sat down and he just told me how much he loves me and appreciates me and the work I’m doing. He said that he knows wherever he puts me there will be results and that he completely trusts me in whatever I do. It was really quite awesome to hear that. I don’t think that I’ve had an interview quite like that. He was really happy because we had 116 baptisms in November which is a record a think for our mission. He’s just so happy and everyone can tell. It’s pretty cool to be honest. We just sat there for a few minutes and laughed and that was about it. He’s such a cool guy.

Other than that it rained a lot yesterday and there were only six of us in church! It was kinda sad and really hurt us as far as getting investigators in church because no one goes anywhere when it rains. The streets are flooded and muddy and it just hurt us as far as people in church. We had high hopes of having quite a few but when I woke up I told me comp that there wouldn’t be anyone there and that it would be us and four others and that’s exactly how it was.

We went to a member’s birthday party on Saturday, he turned 6 and it was a spider man party so my comp was a hit. It’s really funny how much he looks like “Peter Parker” that’s what the members call him. They all say “HEY! Elder Peter Parker” they love him. He’s famous!! All the little kids wanted to take their picture with him. It’s pretty funny. I told them all that I was going to start making people pay 5 pesos to shake hands with him and if they wanted a picture that it would be an additional 10 pesos. The funny thing is that I think they would all be willing to do it. Ha-ha!

Things are going slow but I’m loving my time here. I know that its short but I wouldn’t trade it for anything! We are having a lot of fun and I think that we are going to have a lot of success with the members this month. It’s hard to think that I turn 21 on Wednesday!!! And even more that I’m going home in less than two months. It’s just so crazy! I never thought that I would actually turn 21 or that my mission would ever end but here it is coming up quick. I love you guys and I’m excited to talk to you in a few weeks. Take care! Love you!

Tay