Email Letter - 11 March 2009

Hey Fam,

It’s been a good week but a lot of traveling. I’m starting to feel a lot better though. We went to Resistencia like I said last week and it was really good. President talked to us about Easter and told us that he wants to have a "white" Easter. Every companionship in the mission has to find at least one family to baptize in the month of April. The cool thing is that we have been praying and praying to find one and on Monday I think we found it! They are a very young couple with two little kids. We found them just at the right time. They are looking to change their lives and have been looking for a church to help them with it. It was an awesome lesson and I can’t wait to go back to see if they have read and prayed. They seemed so happy to have us there and it was a miracle that we found them just at the right time.

We moved our two baptisms from the 14th to the 21st because they came a little late to church. They are so excited though. It’s a 16 year old girl and her little cousin named Walter. He’s 10. They passed their interviews and are ready to go.
Yesterday we went to Corrientes capital for zone conference which was my first one outside of Chaco.


It was a lot different because the chapel is a lot smaller but it was still good. President spoke about how we need to work with the members more and use more scriptures in our lessons to help people understand better. He also told us that we talk way too much and don’t let the spirit in to help us. He helped us learn lots of different ways to help with that and practiced with us. It was really good and very helpful. It was also my first conference with Sister Missionaries there. I ran into one that is from Pleasant Grove and knows Aimee and Emalee and she know Michelle Markham (Bott) as well. It was fun to talk to her for a couple of minutes.

The area is great and the members are working hard to help us out. I’m so excited to be here and I know that we are going to be blessed. That’s all for this week. I love you guys. Take care!

Tay

Email Letter - 04 March 2009

Hey Family,

I got to Paso De Los Libres early Thursday morning last week just dead tired and not feeling well. I’m still pretty sick and my comp Elder Rapp is as well. I’m very excited to be here and I have a feeling that we are going to have a lot of success here. We had a baptism on Saturday of a 15 year old kid named Alfredo. He is way awesome and will help a bunch.

I’m excited not to have a calling other than missionary in this area. We have a full functional Branch here. My comp was branch president in his last area as well so we both have lots of experience and often look at the books to make sure that everything was processed correctly. They have asked us to do that because sometimes they just aren’t sure.

We spent the whole morning cleaning the house because it was just horrible. We live with two other Elders and it looks like none of them have cleaned anything in who knows how long so I got on them a bit and now things are a lot better and a lot more clean. Tomorrow Elder Rapp and I are traveling to Resistencia for meetings all day. We leave at 1am and the meetings start at 8am and end at 4pm. It is going to be a long day and make our sicknesses even worse. We are hoping to stop in Corrientes the Capital to go to Wal-Mart and as of like a month ago there is also a McDonalds that we are hoping to get to know.

We have been working a lot with the list of members that are old enough to be baptized but aren’t because they are in inactive families and I think that we are going to have a ton of success with that. We have 2 people getting baptized on the 14th of this month and that will almost finish this family. We also have a few other baptismal dates set up for the end of the month or early next month. We are really excited and we get a lot of help from the members here. We also have lunch every day but p-day and Sundays!! It’s amazing and something I’ve never had.

My comp is pretty cool. Like I said he’s from California and it’s really his way or the highway which will make things pretty interesting. I’ve learned to bite my tongue so we will be just fine. Other than that not much is going on.

We went down to the river the other day to look across at Brazil which was pretty cool and we will probably take some pictures one day which ill be sure to send. Its super hot here but nothing I haven’t already had to put up with so ill just learn to live with it.

On Monday we have our zone conference in Corrientes so I will be traveling a lot this week and we are staying really busy.

Well not much else to report. I love you guys and hope that all is well. I pray for you often. Take care!

Tay

Email Letter - 25 February 2009

Hey Fam,

So some big news this week…IM MOVING!! I’ll be moving to a place called Paso De Los Libres, Corrientes. It’s just right across the river from Brazil. I’m pretty excited and I’m going to be a Zone Leader as well. My new comp is Elder Rapp. I don’t know him but I hear he’s pretty cool. One of the coolest things is that Elder Avalos (my trainer) is in that zone as well so I will have the chance to work with him again.

I guess hard work does pay off. President Del Castillo called me yesterday morning to tell me the news. I was very happy. I answered the phone and he said “Elder King the Lord has called you to be a Zone Leader” I found that very cool the way that he said it. Not I have called you but the Lord has called you. It made me think a lot about why I’m here and what I’m doing and who it’s for.

The Lord has called me to serve him and now I have an even greater responsibility to do it in his way. I’m sure that it will be very humbling which is always a good thing for me and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

I have learned a lot here in Reconquista and I won’t ever forget the people or the branch that my comp and I with the Lords help have put together to function. It has helped me prepare for where I’m going now and for other leadership opportunities that I will have in the future. I’m happy to be putting my reading of the church instructions book down and to start reading Preach my Gospel again.

I will have about a 12 hour bus ride which is something that I’m not looking forward to but I will willing sacrifice my night in a bed for a night in the bus to get to my other area.

I have seen miracles here in Reconquista and it was very emotional yesterday saying goodbye to the people here and in Villa Ocampo. The Speranza which is the family that has been trying to reactivate was probably the most emotional because they kept thanking me for helping get them back to church and back on track in what they know is true. It was hard to say goodbye to them and to my baptisms but I know that they will be taken care of by Elder Alarcón and his new comp.

I’m looking forward to writing next week to let you all know about my new comp and area. I love you guys and hope all is well. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 18 February 2009

Hey Fam,

Things here are still really good. We are actually really bored on P-days because there is nothing to do. I think that today we are going to try to see if the Catholics will let two Mormon missionaries into the cathedral to take pictures. You will be sure to know how that goes because I’ll send pictures if they allow it. That’s the fun that we have here in Reconquista.

Nothing really cool has happened this week to tell you about. Last Saturday we went and taught that girl that we did the practice baptism with two weeks ago to put a baptismal date with her for this week and she told us that she didn’t want to get baptized. Yup you read correctly, she doesn’t want to get baptized. She still comes to church and goes to young women but doesn’t want to get baptized. It was like a dagger to the heart. It’s sad when you know that someone has a testimony and does everything like a member and nothing is keeping them from receiving salvation but they just don’t want to. It was a hard day for me but we will continue to try to work with her.

One big thing did happen on Sunday! The story goes all the way back to before I even got here. While I was in Resistencia waiting for my bus to come here I had like 5 Elders come up to me and tell me about a less active family that has two ex-missionaries that live right by our house and the church. These 5 Elders told me that if I could get this family in church that this place would turn around and guess what....THEY CAME ON SUNDAY!!! They are awesome. One of them was branch president right after his mission which was less than a year ago and now he’s dating a non member that wants to get baptized so she is dragging the whole family to church with her. I’m so excited! They are going to start working hard to help us with this girl so that she can change her life around and so that they can do the same with theirs. There is hope again in Reconquista! Ha-ha.

We also had a visit from an ex-missionary from Chile. She was way funny and loved to talk. We took some pictures with her which I’ll send sometime but it was cool and she is the second ex-missionary that I’ve met while being here. They always have funny stories to tell. Other than that it’s been just another week.

I think of you all very often and love you lots! Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 11 February 2009

Hey Fam,

This week has been a good one. Our practice baptism went well and I think that we will put a date with her to get baptized next week sometime.

It has been really, really hot the last few days because it rains in the mornings and then the sun comes out in the afternoon and makes it super humid. I feel like I’m in the middle of a football game but with a shirt and tie on because I sweat so much. It’s crazy. Yesterday there were some members laughing at us because we were sweating so much and then they reminded me that it’s snowing in Utah right now. It was a shot to the heart to hear about the snow.

We have been working hard and actually have had a lot of success finding people to teach. The problem is that I think most of them just want to listen and not really read or pray and that’s the key! If they don’t do that how are they ever going to get a testimony? Its hard sometimes to know what we’ve got and teach people that don’t really want it for themselves.

The Branch is wearing me out. My comp always talks about how stressful it is for him but all he does are interviews and leaves everything else to me. I’m stressed and it’s hard to take care of a Branch and be a missionary. I think that maybe in the next set of transfers we will get some help or I will get moved.

Even though it’s hard finding new people to teach and actually having people come to church it has helped me to stay happy and focused in the Lord's work.

I think about you often and I appreciate your prayers on my behalf. I love you guys. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 04 February 2008

Hey Fam,

It’s been a good week. On Sunday we had President here visiting for a capacitation (training) for all of the branch presidencies. We also had our interviews with him that night. With all of the stuff going on and all of the interviews he had I had lots of time to talk with Hna Del Castillo and their granddaughters that are here visiting from Buenos Aires. They were really funny.

We asked the Hna if she could drive us somewhere and she responded “Elder King I don’t know how to drive and when I tried to do it in Resistencia I got in an accident so President said that I can’t drive anymore.” We all thought that it was pretty funny. We tried to tell her that it’s a lot more calm on the streets here and that we would help her but she just wasn’t going for it. She’s a nice lady.

Last week we had two of our investigators tell us that they had gotten answers! It was a little weird but as they explained what had happened and how they got it the Spirit filled the room. It was an awesome experience. We explained to them the importance to follow that answer and they agreed to get baptized. That’s just the first step though. They have a long wait to go but we are hoping to have a baptismal date for the end of this month.

Also I will be doing something pretty unusual for the first time this Saturday. We were talking with another one of our investigators whose family just got baptized a few months ago and she was telling us that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet but that she wasn’t going to get baptized so I started asking her questions like Are you afraid of water? Would you get baptized if Christ himself told you to or would you tell him no as well? She told me that if Christ told her to get baptized that she would so we opened up to Matthew where it says if you’re not baptized you can’t enter into the kingdom of god and explained that importance of that and then she said that she was afraid of water so we told her that we could have a practice baptism this Saturday to see if she likes it and then we will just baptize her next week. It’s weird that we are going to be practicing a baptism but if that’s what it takes we will do it for sure. It’s this girl’s salvation! I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes next week. Ha-ha.

That’s all really that has been going on. We are all good here and just busy busy busy all the time with the branch and the work. I love you guys. Take care!

Tay

Email Letter - 28 January 2009

Hey Fam,

This week has been a good one. We are still working hard of course and seeing results.

On Sunday I wasn’t able to be at the confirmation of my baptism because I had to speak in another branch with one of our zone leaders. It was rather sad for me because I think he wanted me to be the one to do it but it didn’t work out that way. I guess maybe I’ll be the one to give him is priesthood this week!

We had our zone conference on Monday in Resistencia and yes I got my package. The conference was awesome! I really love listening to President talk about doctrine. I guess it always helps to have a President that was in the Seventy before this calling. He talked to us about how important it is to have the spirit with us and how it affects those that we teach. When he teaches it’s like a race through the scriptures and I love it. He always speaks with such power so that we know he’s serious about how it can help us. He is awesome.

On Sunday when I spoke it was about charity and about how we need to serve others that are in need. I tied it into missionary work as well. I like to think that it really hit the people in the meeting but I’m just not sure. I love speaking in meetings as you know and it’s really been a blessing to be able to speak so much here.

On Sunday President Castillo will be coming here to give a capacitation on helping members financially because we have lots of problems with that here and he’s sick of it so he’s coming to “drop cane” as we like to say. It should be interesting. He’ll also be taking care of doing Temple Recommend interviews for the members that are traveling to the temple next month because they just installed the Recommends with barcodes here. After all of that he will be doing our regular missionary interviews.

I’m hoping that he will have some good news for me like I’m leaving to go to another area or something but I don’t think that is going to happen. Not much else has happened this past week other than I finished my year and burned a shirt...ill sent the video sometime and it’s been really hot. We should be putting a baptismal date with the mom of my first baptism this week so we will see how that goes.

I love you guys! Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 21 January 2009

Hey Fam,

Things are going well here and we had our baptism on Saturday. We have been working hard and we are seeing the blessings in the work that we are doing. Seeing the change that this brother did in his life to accept the gospel is amazing. He stopped drinking and smoking which is no easy task. He has gained a strong testimony of the gospel and with the help of his wife he overcame all odds and was baptized. It is amazing the way the Lord works to touch the people that are ready in that moment.


After the actual baptism we invite the converts to share their testimony and I don’t think that there was a dry eye in the room while he spoke. It was very powerful for us and for the four investigators that were there to see this special ordinance take place. We watched the video that the church made for family night with the poem “The touch of the Master’s hand” what an amazing video that was. It was something very special and I’m glad that I was there to share that moment with Hno Dimartino and the members and investigators that were there. I never thought that I would have such strong witnesses that this gospel is true but just like the poem says that when you can see, hear, or feel the touch of the master’s hand it makes all the difference.



This gospel changes lives and it for sure has changed mine. We will continue to keep working as hard as we can to keep the Lord’s work progressing.

It’s crazy that on Friday I will finish one full year in the mission. The time has gone by so fast and it feels like just yesterday that I was at home with you guys. I don’t think that we will do anything special to celebrate. I might burn a shirt which is tradition but an old shirt that isn’t mine. Ha-ha. And maybe we will get some ice cream or something.

We have an activity for all of the Priesthood planned for that night and we also have mutual for the young women that night as well so it should just be a normal day.

Not much else has really happened since last week. We have our zone conference next week which I always love and so we will be going to Resistencia but other than that we are just working like always. I love you guys so much! Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 14 January 2009

Hey Family,

This week has been an interesting one with lots of ups and downs. I will be staying here with Elder Alarcón for the next six weeks again. We are staying just us two because of the lack of missionaries. That’s a little sad to say but it’s the truth. We will continue to work with faith and try to do our best with the big area and our responsibilities in the Branch.

Even with all of the work we have found time in our busy schedule to have a baptism this Saturday! We are going to be baptizing a guy named Hugo Dimartino. He is about 50 and his wife is a member. We had a lesson with him on Friday night and finished up everything which included tithing which on Sunday he paid! It is a blessing to have someone so willing and ready with such a great testimony and to be here to see his baptism happen.

I guess having to work in this huge area with just the two of us has its blessings for not only us missionaries but for Hugo as well. It has been great to watch him grow in faith and to help him get to this day. We have been working hard with everything we do and we are receiving many blessings for the work that we are doing and I can see it every day.

I love being here...yes even with the heat and even though it’s been a bad week. This one is a short one because nothing really cool happened this week but I love you guys and I hope all is well with you. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 07 January 2009

Hey Family,

So this week has gone by really fast. I think that it’s because we have been so busy with our three areas and our duties as the branch presidency. I can honestly say that this week has been one of the best of my whole mission.

Last Thursday I went out in the afternoon with Elder Johnson on divisions and the afternoon started out slow and I didn’t have much hope for it to be a good day but then after a few contacts I decided that we should go see one of our investigators. His name is Gabriel and he is the husband of one of our members. We went to the house and I told Elder Johnson that I wanted to teach about eternal families so we went in and we started talking about families and how we can live together forever and he said that he wanted to believe like we did but he just couldn’t so Elder Johnson testified and so did it and the spirit came into the room and then Elder Johnson looked at Gabi and asked if he really wanted to believe like really really wanted to believe and Gabi said that it would be nice to know that he could be with his family forever so Elder Johnson asked Gabi if we could kneel down and pray and asked him if he would do it. Gabi said that he didn’t want to so Elder Johnson looked at me and said “well can Elder King do it then?” Gabi of course agreed so we knelt down and the spirit was overwhelming.

I don’t think that I would ever be able to explain how powerful it was. I knelt down and had no idea what to say, my mind went blank but somehow the words just came out. When I finished the prayer and opened my eyes everyone was crying. It was amazing and it’s something that I could never forget. I learned so much that day and I can feel myself progressing every day.

Then on Saturday we went out to Vera which is another area in our zone for divisions with Elder Johnson and Elder Martin because we wanted to be there for their baptism. We had a lot of good contacts but the best part was of course the Baptism. It was and older guy that had a stroke when he was younger so he can’t really express himself but he wanted to be baptized so they taught him and the branch president did the baptism. This man can’t really talk but you could just tell from the smile on his face just how happy he was. The smile says everything. This gospel brings happiness!

On Sunday we had our testimony meeting and I felt that if I didn’t get up and share those experiences with the members than it’s like I’m ungrateful so I got up and bore my testimony about my experiences from the last week. I cried and so did many others. I would obviously brag about that because I cried but I just want you all to know how grateful I am for this opportunity I have to serve right now. I love you guys so much and I think about you often. Take care and enjoy the snow...BECAUSE YOU HAVE IT!!!

Tay

Email Letter - 31 December 2008

Hey Family,

So it was good talking to you on Christmas but it’s just never enough time. Nothing really has happened in the last week since I talked with you but we are just so stressed out with all the work in the branch and with the huge area and with our other area that’s an hour and a half away so we are trying to keep things going while trying not to die.

My comp is not organized at all and is giving me a headache with how slow he moves and just how he does things. I’m trying to get him to speed it up and its draining me down. We will see how it all works out. We only had 25 in church on Sunday which is really quite sad because we now have the two branches together which was supposed to help us have more people and it hasn’t been going to plan.

We just have so much work to do to keep on top of things but I have started getting things in order and we are only in the church one afternoon a week instead of the 5 days a week they were in there before I became his comp. We are still working with all of our inactive families as well as trying to meet mission expectations of finding new people. We did have a good lesson the other day with a guy that is married to a member. We put a baptismal date with him for the 17th of January and I really think that he will be ready by then. He has come to church lots and really has a testimony but they have lots of older kids that are doing everything they can to keep him from making the decision. I promised him that if he keeps reading with his wife and keeps praying that his family will soften their hearts and that they will support him. I have faith that he will do exactly that and that he will make it to this date for his baptism.

We are excited to find new people every day and we are trying to keep the work progressing. I love you guys and I hope that this year passes just as fast as the last ;) take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 24 December 2008

Family,

So this week was a little bit full of surprises again. On Monday we had our interviews with President Castillo where he told me that I’ve been in the mission for a long time and that its time for me to start moving up and that the lord has a lot in store for me. I thought that was pretty cool and I think that I know what it is but I won’t say anything just incase I’m wrong. Ha-ha. Then that night we got a call while we were walking back to the house and it was from the zone leaders, they said that my comp is leaving me...yes in the middle of the transfer!! He’s going to Resistencia to finish his mission and its gets better so don’t worry. Oh and by better I mean worse. Elder Smith is leaving as well and I’m getting his comp.

The best part of it is that our area is the biggest in the mission and that I got put right back into the branch presidency!! I got a whole week and a half of being just a regular missionary and now I’m right back where I was. YAY!!! I’m hoping that it’s just for the next three weeks. What’s happening is that missionaries are going home early to start school and so they are leaving tomorrow and their places need to be filled which takes Elder Smith and my comp away from here. I feel bad for them because they have to travel on Christmas and Elder Smith might not be able to call home on Christmas but on Friday or something because he has more than 13 hours of traveling to do all by himself. What a way to spend Christmas.

I guess that just how life is in the mission. Ha. That’s all that has really happened this week. Other than that it has been pretty calm. I’m looking forward to talking to some of you tomorrow. Love you guys. Take care and before I forget we are officially in summer!!!

Love,
Tay

Email Letter - 17 December 2008

Family,

So this week a lot of stuff has happened. I’m going to start with Saturday and it went like this. On Saturday afternoon we had a meeting with our mission president, President Del Castillo where we talked about all of the changes that were going to take place the following day about Closing down one of the branches among other things. So we all sat down and he told us that one of our zone leaders is the new district president and after that we pulled out the maps of the new boundaries which included closing one of the branches and in turn making my area twice as big. I’m soooo excited about that...not!! It will actually be really good for us though because we got lots of new members.

He then announced that he would be making the other companionship the branch presidency which makes me just a regular missionary!!! I’m really excited now because I can just focus on the work. But wait the day gets better. We were about to finish up the meeting and President asked us who he was going to be working with to finish the day which was 5 more hours. And while all 6 of us missionaries sat there quiet, yes including the zone leaders I decided to raise my hand and try to impress the guy so he said “wonderful! Looks like I’m going to work with Eder King and Elder Patterson for the night” so we all went out and visited some inactive members and one of our investigators. I can only say that I have gained a lot of respect for President Castillo and I found out what he is really like on a personal level. I have realized that I don’t have to agree with everything he does but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a good teacher and a nice man.

Then on Sunday we had our meetings where he announced the changes. I think for the most part everyone is happy and I think that it will work out great. On Monday we had our zone conference in Resistencia where president talked about how well he and I worked and shared some of what we did and how we did it. I think that he was impressed and I’m hoping that that night will end up working in my favor for moving up and getting more responsibility. It was a good conference where president talked about the importance of fasting and asked us if will we now start fasting not only the first Sunday of every month but the second as well so from now on our mission will be fasting at least two times a month if not more. He explained the power of fasting and how it will help us grow and have more success as a mission.

He told us about how our mission had 76 baptisms in November which has only happened two times in the history of this mission and that every single area in the mission has had a baptism this year which has never happened before. We are doing the work that most say cannot be done and I can see and feel the lord’s hand in all things. It’s amazing to be in this work and to see the change that the gospel brings in others lives.

I got a call Monday night from Elder Adams my last comp who asked me what I did to impress President so much. So I asked him what he was talking about and he said that in their zone Conference President just talked again about how well we worked together and about the things that we can all work on to become better missionaries. I was surprised to hear that he talked about that night of work even when I wasn’t there. It was a great day and made me feel much better about the work that I’m doing.

This week we are going to be having our Branch Christmas party and I’m getting excited for that. I think that I’m going to be singing something and I think that I might have talked the other elders into singing with me. I hope it all works out. I love you guys and I’m excited to talk next week. Take care and know that I think of you all often. Love you!!!

Tay

Email Letter - 10 December 2008

Hey Fam,

So things are going well down here and we are going to be having some big big changes this week in our district. President Del Castillo is going to be coming down to give us a new district president and to reorganize the boundaries and close one of the branches.

We are going to be getting lots more members and by lots I mean like 25 active members. That's like three times as many as we have every Sunday so it’s going to be good. We are very excited and from what we think my comp and I will stay as branch presidency but have Elder Smith and his comp as more help.

The reason that this is all happening is because the couple that we had serving in our area went home last week. We miss them so much and we are hoping the best for them. We think that one of the zone leaders will become the new branch president and his comp will be the secretary with two locals being the counselors. It should be interesting but we will see and I will let you all know how it goes in next week’s letter.

We have been trying to keep up the hard work but the heat and humidity just wears us down to the point where it’s just hard to walk. We get so tired but we just keep trucking along. Sometimes it’s tough but I can tell you that I have felt the help from our lord in all things as we serve him. We should also be traveling to Resistencia next week for zone conference which is always a treat with our wonderful but very direct president. Ha-ha. We love him but he was in the Seventy and it’s his way or the door with no questions asked.

Yesterday we had divisions and I was with...you guessed it Elder Smith. We had fun and worked hard. We talked a lot about home because it was my birthday and we are getting close to Christmas so we got ourselves a little “trunky” that’s what all the missionaries say when they think about home or something reminds them of home. Overall it was a good birthday but it could have been a lot better spent in the States with my good friend the snow.

I just want to tell you all how much I love you and how thankful I am to have you as my family. Thanks to everyone who emailed me! I think you all set a new mission record with the 43 emails I got! That’s something to be proud of and it took me almost an hour to read them. Thanks so much for the love and support. I love you all! Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 03 December 2008

Family,

It has been a good week and we have been working hard. In the last six days we have had five people tell us that they are ready to get baptized and all we have to do is put a date with them and keep teaching and let the spirit do the rest.

It’s been a little bit cooler down here the last two days but it’s just getting ready to start hitting in the 100s pretty soon. We still aren’t in summer but we are getting closer and closer every day. We had transfers today and my comp and I are staying for at least six more weeks. He’s a good kid and I think that even though we are in one of the hottest missions we are hoping that we will still have a white Christmas with all of the baptisms. Ha-ha. We have a lot of faith that it will all come through.

Other than that this week has been pretty slow. We had the hour change from President Del Castillo and we are still trying to get used to that. I’m hoping to get my packages from the mission home in two weeks but the mail has been having some problems again here because they don’t think that they are getting paid enough and have gone on strike for who knows how much longer. I think that it will get resolved and things will get back to normal here pretty quick.

Like I said things are going well down here and I think that this transfer will go just as well as the last and hopefully just as fast. I’m coming up on a year and time is flying. It’s gone by fast and now I’m not even going to be a teenager anymore!!! I’m going to get running but I love you all very much and think of you often. Take care!

Tay

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

Email Letter - 29 October 2008

Hey Family,

So I finally got transferred as you all know and I met my comp. His name is Elder Patterson and he’s from Spanish Fork. He goes home this February and we are the branch Presidency of the Reconquista, West Branch.

Here is Reconquista there are very few active members which I think is the case in lots of areas down here but in this zone its even less.

So there is a couple that are serving their mission here, The Caspersons. And Elder Casperson is the District President and he has two counselors and then our zone leaders are his secretaries. Then there are two other branches that have missionaries as the presidents and counselors including mine and then two others that have presidents and the missionaries are the counselors to them. It’s a little bit different and there is a lot of stress because we can only go out and work a total of maybe two days a week because of all the things we have to do to get everything functioning correctly. We have interviews that we have to do and finances and mutual for the youth and just everything. I guess I have gained a lot of respect for those of you who have served as bishops or counselors or secretaries over the years because now I know just exactly what you have been doing. Especially right now because of tithing settlement.

My comp and I have two areas; one is Reconquista, West and then a place about an hour away on a bus that’s called Villa Ocampo. There are no missionaries out there and the branch president there needs help with finances and stuff like that because he can’t do it alone so we go out there once a week to help him out and to talk to members.

I’ve got a lot on my plate and I’m just trying to sort it all out and get on track. My comp told me that we have an average of 5-10 people every Sunday at church and that’s including us. We conduct and bless and pass the sacrament and make sure that everything runs as smoothly as we can make it. Then after church we are there with our secretary for awhile doing finances and planning things like when we can have presidency meeting and do mutual and who we can visit to make things run better in the branch.

I guess they were right when they said that the mission gets you ready for the rest of your life.

I’m planning on becoming president within the next 3 or 4 months when my comp leaves but we will see how things go.

We have some really good investigators and we are working with them whenever we have a spare minute here and there and we have also made some planes to work with the families most in need in the branch. On my first day here with my comp after cleaning up our house some...because it was and really still is nasty!!!...but better now. We went out so that I could meet some members. The first family we went to visit was the Molinas Family and Sister Molinas didn’t waste any time making me cry. She told me about how her husband along with another guy in the branch were on their way back from church meetings in Resistencia almost 3 years ago when they got in an accident and both men died. Both of these families are in our branch and both of them consist of 6 kids with just the mom to raise them. As of right now they are both inactive but when she was telling me the story I began to cry and realized just how much help they need right now. I’m excited to be in this leadership role in the branch so that I can try to help these two families and many more to come back to church and receive the blessings that the lord has for them.

It’s going to take some work but I know that I’m in this area for a reason and that I can get over this feeling of stress and start helping like I should.

Thank you for all of your love a support. I love a miss all of you. Take care.

Tay