December 7, 2009 (Still in Cuidad Guzman)

I´ll start off by saying that I´m running alot of stuff on the computer right now, lol. So it´s going a little slow. There is SO much cool stuff on lds.org! I´m listening to a reproduction of ´What Child Is This?´ by the mormon tabernacle choir. It´s STILL in the introduction, but I believe it´s going to be good. It starts off with the strings humming quietly a gorgeous accompaniment while a flute streams through the traditional melody. A choir hums away with the strings. Strings just took it away, flying through a windy chorus...and now the choir takes off. I want every single cd known to man made by the mormon tabernacle choir...and a download of everything not published. I´ll get started on that as soon as I get that USB, I´ll plug it in here and listen to all the Christmas Music I want! You never said if you found it or not so I´m assuming everything is in order. Today was a tiring day. A TIRING WEEK! Monday, last monday. I don´t even remember, except that...OH YEAH! Lol. President Garcia the new branch president of Tuxpan spent the whole day with us. Lol. He served a mission in the U.S. Baptized in L.A. and later served in Colorado, and managed to find his way into Elder Nichols ward! Haha. Cool, eh? He went to the cyber with us, he went to Sorianna to buy food. Everything, he spent the night on Sunday. Lol. He got called as Branch President that last Sunday and then missed the last bus for his little rancho so he showed up at our doorstep and slept with us! We bought a bunch of beef to make carne asada...which came out horrible, but it was the experience right! We had an old stove there in the house so we dragged it out back, put blocks on top and then took the rack from inside and put that on the blocks threw some charcoal under there and grilled away! It was a good sight! Lol tuesday ... what was Tuesday...Tuesday´s we go to a little town called Tamazula, I have some new pictures that I´ll put on here some time. I´ll tell you what they are later. So I have 10 months left. I´ll divide that into blocks. When a few elders leave in Feb. I´ll have 6 and then on my birthday I´ll have 3...then on your birthday I´ll be home! Lol. Goes by fast. This change has been going by fast too. This last week a little slower. I get irritated really easy and it´s hard for me to focus on happy things. I usually don´t laugh as much, or I do by force. Very serious lately, lol. Not me is it? Well Tuesday we were in this pueblo of Tamazula and we go around with the branch president there and visit the world. Haha. I was getting down on myself a little about our efforts. We haven´t worked that hard. I can´t expect that great of results. I COULDN´T expect that great of results, however, the Lord God has heard my prayers. He has opened the hearts of the people in Tamazula. Francisco and Christina and their little girl want to get baptized and a man named Dionicio. We´re working with a woman named Rosalba and her two children so they get baptized too. It´ll take work and many miracles, but we´ll do it! Quick note: The glory of God is intelligence, or in otherwords, light and truth, light and truth is knowledge, it is intelligence. Reading the scriptures and pondering on the words of Christ bring us the Holy Ghost in which the Lord and our Heavenly Father bestow us, light and truth. When we read the scriptures and ponder on them, ponder on the decisions and events of our life we receive intelligence...knowledge. Wednesday, I´m pretty sure we just kind of flitted Wednesday away, and had our meeting with Hno. Barragan where he yells and complains at us. Thursday we ... went... ah... nope... what´d we do. We went to help an Hermana sand her fence again, FINALLY finishing it. We came back cleaned up and headed to El Tepozal. A little Ranchito of ... like 70 houses. Most of which come from the same 4 families. We didn´t really teach anybody but went to visit a recent convert family who recently went inactive. We then visited all the members (3 families) and invited them all to prepare a few references for us. Friday we´re going back and we´re going to talk with the people they talked too. Friday we went to Tuxpan for the activity we had. Got there in the morning and put everything together and BooM! Nobody came. Oh my goodness. .... it´s the same activity we did here. We put everybody in the Sacrament Room and the watched a video presentation of photography from the Savior´s life. Then in small groups they went to the first room. We put cellophane (I have NO idea how that´s spelled) like a plastic paper thing over the lights to give it a blue effect then we printed off posters of the life of Christ. Birth through resurrection. And put them all over the room, like an art exhibition. Then we had a table focused on the Atonment, Crucifiction and Resurrection. They then watched a special movie about the atonement of Jesus Christ. It´s called (The Bridge). It´s about a man and his young boy, the man is a train director, works with the bridge the train passes over to cross a bay, and his son loves the trains. They watch all the people in the train and then head over to their shift. The man raises the bridge for the boats below to pass by and the light turns red so the train stops. The train doesn´t stop. It keeps running. The bridge is raised. The boy sees the bridge up and runs to pull an emergency lever to lower the bridge, but in the process falls down the shaft into the gears of the bridge. The man in the director's room then has to decide. Save his son allowing everyone in the trian to die in the crash of the train as it derails and falls to the bay below...or pull the switch, saving the train while crushing his son in the mechanism. He pulls the switch. The sacrifice of his son, allowed hundreds of people in the train. The sacrifice of the only begotton allowed all to live. After this video all passed into another room with the lights covered to make a yellow effect. This room was covered in artwork of the Restoration. The burial, finding and translation of the Book of Mormon. We had a replica of the Gold plates, a bible opened to James 1:5 and a copy of the book of mormon. Afterwards they went to a table of materials and the members were committed to pass them to on to a friend. When we did it in Guzman a man had the ignorance and insensitivity to comment. "Well I already knew all of that, but it was a good repass. ...... ? .... It was a missionary activity. ... IT was for investigators who didn't know it. Nobody came, nobody came in Guzman either. But, all of the members in Tuxpan were shocked and surprised at the activity. Felt the power of the gospel and felt the commitment to share the gospel, the message of the sacrifice of the only begotton son of God. It was a success for this. Saturday we had to stay here in Guzman, and kind of flitted the day away. We helped out alot, and I need to open my eyes. We´ve helped alot more than I think I have. There´s a poor lady, the convert of Elder Danielson who was here, who´s dying of cancer, we visited her and are trying to get her daughter to listen. Another Hermana who´s going inactive. I´m the choir director here in Guzman and at 6:30 we had a practice. It went well.Sunday I headed out to Tamazula for the services with Elder Aulestia our little Peruvian Elder. Lol. Alot more happened than that but I just got stressed for time and am rushing now. Lol. Wow it´s not even an hour!.... oh... that´s not that special I didn´t have to read anything. Lol. We came to the ciber in the morning and I did all of that then. Lol. I should get going. It´s been hard, just for the sake of saying it. I talked with Elder Morgan, the churches social worker for Mexico (I believe). Quick note:Elder Uchtdorf says, some play ´lip service´ to the Savior but their hearts are far from him. Talked with Elder Morgan and he didn´t tell me a whole lot. Lol. He told me that I´m reacting to a situation as though there were a sabertooth tiger in the brush, I have two options. Run, or fight. I´m bracing myself to fight or getting ready to run, two dramatic options, but a sabertooth tiger that´s not actually in the brush. The expectations of the mission, the consequences of work and actions, I´m taking them to a serious serious level. It´s affected me alot. This week I relaxed and let it all go, but I got lazy, stopped obeying even. yesterday I said it´s enough and started working and obeying and the same headache and stress came back and washed over my mind as a wave on sand. Crashing and soaking in. Hardening the soft sand, sticking and making a hardened blog. No longer smoothly flowing through your fingers, no longer gently passing and making mysterious waves and patterns. It is stuck. Asi es mi mente. I am now listening to the Mormon Tabernacles Rendition of ´O Holy Night´ as performed in the First Presidency Christmas Devocional December 2009. I´m a sucker for orchestral music. It fascinates me. More than any other thing. The melodious sonate of wind and power, flowing streaming through the air causing a burning of the heart and an angelic concierto, stirring the soul from inside, you feel it reach and sing out from inside you the angel itself that possess it´s vessel of clay throws it´s voice in prayer and glory to God as the sound sways in, over and around you. Oh holy night, oh night divine! I´ve gotten a little sick of Guzman for the things that are happening. But I should brace myself to be here for CHristmas. Changes are the 20th but I think I´ll be here. It´s been hard for me to open my mouth and share the gospel. I haven´t studied that hard. I´m going to do my best. I need to change and submit myself t that merciful God whose knowledge sees all and directs us for all good. Always recur to him, always seek HIS INFINITE INTELLIGENCE! He will direct thy paths, lean not unto thy own understanding but council the Lord in all thy acts and He will direct thy paths. I will council the Lord humble myself before him and leave His work in His hands. I must learn to be a humble, obedient instrument, allowing the hand of the master to form me, while forming other beautiful things. Baptisms... converts. Tell John Delp I said hi and I can´t wait to get to know him so he can teach me to be a mechanic... I think I´ll use him to fix up a few things for me too. I want to build a go-kart. Green fire from Mario Kart: Double Dash, lol. WOO HOO! Say hi to the ward, Bishop Clanton, and tell him his humility and desire to follow the Savior is an inspiration to me and the reason that anyone sees anything in me. The Deans and the Avechuco´s also. All the recent converts. Care for them tell them my deepest Christmas wishes and desires. Tell them to be strong. Tell them to ajuantar. (Hang in there and deal with it in Spanish). Answering your questions. Elder Perez´s watch was recently broken that would be great if you send it! The shoes can wait, the ones I have already broke but I fixed them Lol. Remember, God being everlasting to everlasting sent angels to pronounce the coming of Christ. He announced it to prophets that Christ would come. President Eyring, Elder Holland says that Angels minister in these days, to us, by others and us to others. May we be sensitive to the ministering of angels in this season. The gift of giving, the gift of ministering by the tongue of angels the sound of rejoiceful singing from the heavens, be called the same. Until next week. When I have something interesting to say...lol Sorry I haven´t sent any letters. I´m still not good at that. Nothing´s changed ... Tell the guys I said hi, I still await their photos. If you´ve already sent them I believe i´ll get those on Thursday or Friday. Your son and friend and follower, Elder Jake D. Taylor

November 30, 2009

Kind of a short message, lol. Well, no it´s a good size. Good thing though that way, I already have 45 min. on the computer, I need to get going here. I´m downloading the music sung at general conference so I can listen to it while I type, I´m also uploading some 140 fotos to Walmart.com, so if you want to go check those out! Some fun stuff, it should be interesting. So this week we WERE going to go to the Volcano, but, the family that was going to drive us up there couldn´t go, so we postponed it. Haven´t done much yet today, and now it´s almost noon. I woke up and layed in bed struggling to sleep until 7:30. I refused to get up. I layed down at ... almost 2 aclock maybe this morning. Rolled around most of the morning and then woke up at 6. I got some medicine this last week called Hiperikan, an anti stress medicine. I´m pretty out of wack right now. I need to see Dr. Bigler. Lol. I´ve seen that guy so many times in the last 3 years. Man...since football I go to the chiropractor every 6 months. I hate to say this but does Dr. Bigler have an apprentice or training someone? Because he´s getting kind of old, and I want someone as good as he is. That and a neck/back massage would be WONDERFUL. Too bad its prohibited, lol. Darn. I actually REALLY wanted to go to those little Asian guys in Fiesta mall. You walk in, sit in that little chair and they start woring on ya. Oh that´s amazing. I LOVE that. AHhhhh. SPeaking of Christmas. Mom, remember when we went to Fiesta mall a few years back and bought the cheese stuff for Mike/Todd/Jason/Josh and then had the little chair massage thingy and all the other goodies? That was probably my favorite Christmas. That and the time we got the Chomper game, of which game I WILL beat some day. So this week I didn´t any money at all, last Monday I swapped out $20 you had given me but that didn´t last long, seeing as we bought pizza and I bought. The other elders chipped in but some way or another but all in all it all disappeared. Bye-bye, woo-woo, see ya´. -Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story 1998) (I´m not sure if that´s the year but it sounds right. lol) SO I didn´t eat a whole lot this week, lol. Actually I don´t think I had breakfast once til´today, we went to the bank here in centro and pulled our monthly money out. Then I went over to the Farmacia Guadalajara bought two little cups of yoghurt for 3 pesos a piece, lol. and a big hunk of pan dulce (sweet bread) for 8. Then 4 hershey´s bars for 6.50 a piece. (They were on sale). Totaled out to about 48 pesos or so. The chocolate killed me. Hey doctor said I needed more endorphins, so I bought chocolate, lol, I still feel sick from so much though. I shouldn´t have done that. Speaking of money matters, including the fact that I can not eat again. I´m thinking of swapping out some dollars to buy a USB memory. Scratch that. I need you to send me my USB. Do you know what a USB is? It´s the little memory thing for the Computer that looks like a little bar? Daniel might be able to help you. Invite him for lunch and have him find it. lol. It might be in where my laptop is, it might be somewhere else, I´m not sure. It´s the little bar thin you stick into the laptop for more memory, I have several of them there. I just need...well send me two. Lol. They sell these little rechargeable speakers here that you charge with a cell phone charger and you just stick in your memory stick/card and it plays whatevers on there. So I´m going to download all of the music from the general conferences and stick it on there and then copy all of the cds that the other elders have and throw it on here. +I have the CD player you sent me... so I´m good! Lol. Thank you by the way, it´s been nice to have some music here. I hate it when elders put on wordly music, so when they do (not any more but in case they do) I retreat to the other room and listen to mine. = ) This week was rough, Monday I forgot, Tuesday we went to Tamazula, about 1 1/2 hours from here, and taught a few people. The first picture you´ll see on walmart.com is Sofia, she´s a gal we´re teaching out there in Tamazula with her mom and her brother. They´re doing good and we hope to baptize them here in a few weeks. We have another family too we met on Thursday, Gaby and Rafael. We met them contacting a few weeks back and then all of a sudden we felt we should go visit them. Stopped by and Gaby (the wife) was there with her two kids and they´re pretty chill. We were goin to pass by there on Saturday but they were gone. We´re going to work our butts off to get them to church this Sunday. We need to visit them once, bring a member by, one more visit and then Sunday. Member goes to pick them up. If we play it smart and turn to the Lord in all things He can make anything happen. I´m trying to just stay calm and do the best I can to help them get baptized. We´ve only taught the plan of salvation on our very first visit´, so we haven´t done a whole lot. We need to get in there and really make them investigators. Put a plan and make it happen. Hey, here´s a question. Why do people take so long to get baptized over there? Like this guy helping you out in the garage. John Delp. Hopes he gets baptized soon?? Why not now... have you explained, ´the only way to return with God and live eternally in his presence, receiving the remission of your sins and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is by means of a baptism equal to that which Jesus Christ received. Would you like to live to receive the remission of your sins and live with God again?´ ´Well... yes´ He replies. I know that you will receive the peace of heaven in your life and the conflicts and struggles of your soul will be resolved throug the eternal blessings of God by being baptized by the divine authority of the Priesthood. Will you, brother Delp, be baptized for the REMISSION of you sins and open the windows of heaven? Uh... well heck... YES. Good Dec. 19... Done. It´s alot different here I know, but I don´t know... it seems like more poeple should be baptized. Who´s all in that list of yours. Bro./Sis. dean (2) Bro./Sis. Avachuco (2) and ... did Simba ever get baptized? Who else, did the big black guy get baptized? If not, why not? Just a few questions. Well returning to the point. I now have an hour and a half... Answering a few questions. Yes it´s cold as the 9th circle of hell right now. Just at night. During the day you can break a good sweat walking around, other than that its ... its pretty nice. Lol. It´s the best weather you could ask for, It´s even cloudy today, lol. Pretty nice. The new jackets fuzzy and warm and awesome, lol. Good luck in the playoffs, just get determined, just decide, they suck... i´m going to shove the ball right down their jock strap... oh... well, maybe not jock strap but whatever they may have. Spike it to the corner and watch them die. Rather vengeful aren´t I?? Well it sounds like a party over there. Walmart ´s ready for the photos now! Elder Perez will be like a 30-32 I´d say. That´d be awesome if you sent him something. Lol. I have no idea what you´re sending me, but tell Dimitrius that the notebook and address book and everything were stikingly useful and well timed. Thank him for me k! There it is! For Christmas I want 1 box Dunkin Donuts. 2 bags Bass Pro nuts, a little fudge maybe. But I want those dang cookies they used to sell at Westwood...send Daniel or somebody. I need those cookies! Seriously they´re that good! Medium shirt would be fine for him. I want to just keep writing.. Just keep talking. This weeks been weird. Oh I didn´t finish, lol. Wednesday we stayed here and had the Elders go have our Ward miission leader complain for an hour and a half meeting, which lasted approximately an hour and a half while he complained about how horrible we are. Thursday we had to stay here and visited a few people...Friday went to Tuxpan and Saturday was just a waste of time. I made it to breaking point on stress actually. I´m going to talk to some doctor dude today. I started getting little bite looking things all over my body but we think it´s a reaction from too much stress or anxiety or something like that. The little bumps are leaving now, I got some cream stuff for them anyway. That´s funny to here about Julene, I don´t remember her name either, I just say the lady from the Country Club, but dang do those waffles sound good right now. I´m so excited to hear that David is in 2nd Nephi. I hope he´s getting something out it. I want him to feel that it´s true! That´s the goal here! OH how glorious will it be to bring him to the fold of Christ! Did you ever send the fotos of the guys you got?? Well that ´s the jist of it. If you want Busch beans and chili are fantastic items for any box you send. Have the guys put something in that fricking box please. Lol. Well that´s the jist. I ´ll catch you next week! Do wa shididdalyy-do wah! yeah!-Elder Taylor

November 23, 2009

To start off I´m tired... I´m very very tired. Physically, spiritiually... mentally, emotionally. I´m just tired. I feel pretty bad right now, got up a little late, I got up at 6:20, but layed around and slept a little here and there until 7. Elders walking around in normal clothes. Getting up late, staying up til 1 in the morning. I feel bad spiritually. I haven't been very diligent, I haven´t studied sufficiently. Today we just took my shoe to get fixed and we´re going to wash, write and sleep. And send letters! Lol, woo-hoo! Lol, we´ll see how well that goes! The good news is that I just bought a Hershey´s bar and a half liter of Dr. Pepper for 14 pesos at Pharmacy Guadalajara that´s like $1.25. Speaking of money. We´re pretty broke right now. Two trips to Guadalara, a trip to Colima, going to all the pueblitos here and 2 weeks worth of food... that and a bunch of other crap. I spent a chunk of money in Guadalajara on tacos when we went. Did I mention that we went to the temple over there? I´ve been a bump on a log here with Elder Perez, reflecting on the matter the other day. I realized that I´ve left most, if not all, of the work to him. I dont throw in enough of my own input. I need to talk and decide with him. I already have 43 minutes on the computer. I wrote a long letter to President Saucedo. It´s all going good in the work, well.... mas o menos. It´s good, I just want to keep it going, fix all the little details that we´re missing. We have a lady named Rosalba in the pueblito de Tamazula, that´s progressing with her two kids. There are other possibilities we´re told that can progress. We´re kind of focusing on the pueblos right now, Tuxpan also we sent Elder Nichols and Elder Aulestia (from Peru), they´re working out there now and already have a baptismal date for a 9 year old. They reactivated, or are in the process of reactivating the Llamas family. We´ll see how that goes. Elder Uc and ELder Guevara need to go to Teocuitatlán but for excuses aren´t going so we´re going to kick them into gear. The importance of member work is incredibly vital. It should NOT be left to the elders to watch and care for EVERY need and EVERY problem of there investigators. Ok, let me explain that. They´re in charge. But when the elders are NOT there, the members SHOULD be there, it´s our JOB. We go, if they haven´t read in the Book of Mormon yet, we offer to read with them, we pray with them, we invite them to church, we give them a ride to church. We invite them to family home evening. Invite invite invite. We complain SOOO much about ´oh my friends don´t want anything´ ´oh they´re not ready yet´. DOESN¨T MATTER. We INVITE THEM. They´ll do it. I was thinking about the members in the states, oh we´re beyond lazy fools. I don´t have time I work NINE... LONG ... HOURS ... EVERY DAY! Oh boo hoohoo.... I met a taxi driver who works from 6 am to midnight every day... and gains like 10 a day. I just heard of someone who worked every single day, not even 1 day of vacations for 14 consecutive years just to feed his family, but then couldn´t cause his kidneys or liver or something died on him. Let me tell you about two members here in Cd. Guzman, Jhoana and ´La China´ (La China is her nickname, anyone with curly hair is given the name ´China´... don´t ask why, I don´t know). They study from 6 a.m. til 3 p.m. every weekday in the university, from the which they go straight to the church to help in the family history center, then at 8 teach seminary to the branches young men and women, including traveling to other pueblos to teach family history, while being the branch young single adults leaders and young women´s helpers still have time to have family home evenings with us and visit our investigators. I didn´t mention the time they use for additional school projects and homework and household responsabilites (which all do exist). Any member who is ´too busy´ should ask themselves, how many drops of blood... did pour from my Redeemer for the FOOLISHNESS AND SINS that I commit daily. Then ask, how many have I shed so that others will not suffer that which did He? Something to ponder on, share with all you feel too. Next Monday we´re going to the Volcanes, (volcanoes) which will be SWEET! I have about 100 new fotos (that´s how we spell it here) from last Monday, we climbed the mountains here next to Guzman, it was awesome! I almost died, I lost my balance on the top rock and almost fell. WOO-HOO! I was so excited to hear from David last week, did you ever ask him what chapter he´s in in The Book of Mormon? I´m so stoked, excited, supurbly animated to get those fotos of wing night. Thursday´s eh?? Can´t wait! Tehe, I already mentioned I believe that we only receive mail 1 every three weeks right? 3 or 4 weeks some where around there. Interviews and Zone Conferences. I might have you try out the address here: Quintana Roo #81Col. CentroCd. Guzman, Zapotlán, JaliscoMexicoI don´t know the postal address, maybe you could find it on the internet?? Okey dokey. Now for your questions: Yeah I´ll bear my testimony in Spanish if you want me too. I can NOT talk in Spanish when I start to stress about whatever it may be. I completely lose my ability and confidence to talk in another language. But I shouldn´t be stressed out talking to you, I hope...lol. Money for a good Christmas lunch, well it´s about the same price as it would be over there. It depends on what we get. Like 6 tacos for everyone would be like 50 pesos a piece, $5 plus a little more for drinks. Or pizza is like $15-$20 for all of us. plus a little more for drinks. Missionaries came over to play the piano eh? Well tell them they´re losers and there mission sucks and is easy... lol. That´s a joke, but seriously. Who are they? The two I know are obviously gone already, but tell me about those that are there. And have dad write me what they´re currently doing to work. I have some ideas. ----

November 16, 2009

Hey hey. This might be a little short but the jist of the week is that Elder Perez is here with me now, and I´m just pludging along. This week I was SUPER stressed. To the point my brain stops functioning. It´s insane, but it´s getting better. I´m SICK of not doing what I should be doing. Such as this morning for example I didnt read the Book of Mormon. Now I feel out of place and awkward, I had the time I just flitted it away doing nothing. The other elders are changing right now but when they get back we´re going to Parque de las Peñas, to pass around a little. There´s some tenco music in the background and it´s affecting my personality right now. I feel cool... I´m ... bad....lol. I even have my sunglasses on, lol. I dressed normal because we´re headed to the park after this but those are the ONLY terms. I wanted to write and do all that stuff in missionary clothes and then just head over there. Oh well, we´re going to get some pizza with that 20 dad sent me! I´m going to treat the zone. We´re only 8 people. It´ll be cool. I´m going to go get myself an early Christmas present before I leave the area. If I´m here later I´ll just get it then but theré's some stuff I like here too. Lol. It´s a little speaer set that you just plug in a USB memory stick and it´ll play whatever music you have on there. THANK YOU FOR THE CD¨S! I got them, well... I got those, I haven´t received the package they were in but I got the speaker´s, lol. I got the garments, a thousand thank yous. The spandex is VERY comfy. Tehehe. I went to the leadership conference this last week, on Tuesday, and I opened all my packages up and ate the Lay´s Stacks, lol. Got my CD´s and CD player, but the next day Hna. Saucedo FORBID that anybody take their packages until Zone conference... ugh. So I just stole everything I wanted right then and left the rest til later, lol. Zone Conference (which I will refer to as ZC from now on) is on Thursday. We´re teaching a 18 year old Nephew of our Branch President's wife. He´ll be baptized on Saturday. We´re working hard, we have a few other options but we have to keep looking. This area is backed up on Escogidos, Golden people who have been WAITING for someone to pass by because they have been prepared by the hand of the Lord himself. Well, that´s our goal, harvest...we´ll keep seeding but the corners of this field have things that the missionaries just say missed. I love you and have a lot more to say, like the jacket I took too, the irony though is all of a sudden it´s really hot, I´m sleeping without a blanket again...lol, oh well. Everything, thank you.Remember that towel I told you had termites?? I was serious, termies from my bed were eating through the towel, that wasn´t a joke... haha. Well alright, TTY SOON! Thank Debbie and David for writing me, I´m working on letters, lol. And ask David where he´s reading!! For Christmas that´d be awesome if you sent something for my companion, he´s really serious, COOL, but serious, his parents don´t write him he just told me, so that´d be awesome if you sent something!Love you bye!-Jake

November 9, 2009

Wow...this message was a little bit of a shocker! I didn´t expect that. I love President Saucedo, I feel like we have a personal relationship which I really like. I was just listening to the music we sang in the MTC choir when we went to General Conference, it´s available on lds.org. Woohoo!! Now I¨m watching and listening to ELder Eyrings talk on the Book of Mormon. My mind is fried right now. Today ... is a hard... day. Patience, patience, patience and charity charity charity. I ... am SOOO... sick of missionaries. Not missionaries I love being an Elder, I had to stop and take a step back and just listen intently to the voice of the holy spirit. I was in the church reflecting on all that happens here.. (*sigh*)... but then I realized, the privilege to testify and declare the word of God, here in these latter days to the children of God, my soul is ensaddened by the things I see and those who deny the message and those who choose in contrast to the laws of God. I fail myself and I mourn now for my thoughts and the things that penetrate my heart. But I rejoice in the opportunity I have had to bring souls to Christ, though I may rejoice in very few fruits right now, I know those effors will bring forth miracles in the years to come, until I leave this earth those efforts which countless missionaries have put forth will bring forth treasure unto the Lord. Souls of righteousness having partaken in the ordinance of baptism, having received the remission of their sins and finding the truth which their souls longed and poured out for. It´s fun to think about. This morning, well first off, today´s the day of changes and I´ll be with Elder Perez, not the same one I just had, but my old zone leader, he´s coming here. I was NOT too excited in the beginning. Some Elders have THEIR way and aren´t very receptive to ANY other... we´ll see how this works, I won´t accept selfishness anymore though. I will suffer what the Lord will have me suffer, my Lord will help me. However, if there is anything I might do do establish a kind loving relationship between us that would be fantstic. I´ve learned that I really do train leaders... lol. My first junior companion Elder Oakes is a district leader right now, Elder Nichols also just went from Junior Companion to District leader, Elder Harding is senior (to my knowledge) and Elder Perez, the first, is senior again. So that´s the jist of it. I understand Elder Nichols is stressed right now, but jeez, Elder Mireles and Elder Danielson (who were one companionship) are both going to Manzanillo so either Elder Nichols or I have to take over their area, it´s going to be me now I decided, but there was confusion and later tension over that.
I just wrote like 15 minutes worth of what they did to piss me off, but I´ll just settle it that there were several annoyances this morning but I feel better after having written them, but I´m sure you really didn´t want to know.
Well we were supposed to baptise Jorge and his kids this week, but he REFUSES to believe in the Book of Mormon, we´ve explained it four times. We tell him where it came from how it got there, everything 4 weeks now. Now he comes on Sunday and the other Elder says ´The book of Mormon is more perfect than the Bible´ which is true. And Jorge, is jsut dumbfounded; ´How is that possible, have another book MORE PERFECT than the Bible´. He told us that yesterday and I said out loud. Jorge, we´ve talked about this 4 times... then I went on to ask what the problem was. He reads a chaper here and there, and is reading a little bit more, but it has to be for the wrong reasons. His intentions might be the problem. Telling you about my investigators helps me think, lol. Erika went to church 2 weeks ago, but her dad´s a JW (Jehovah´s Witness) or as we say here TJ (Testigo de Jehováh) and won´t let her go to church (supuestamente; supposedly) so that´s a problem and then we have other families that are AWESOME just wicked hard to find and bring to church. Lol
We´ll see what happens with Elder Perez, now.
Well I just saw that I have an hour already, I got distracted with Elder Holland's talk this last month, it was AWESOME! Testifying before the judgment bar of God of the divinity (think about that word for a minute) of the Book of Mormon.
Well I´m going to go take my laundry out of the chugga chugga (washing machine shaped like a soda can) which I put in there at 12:30, it´s not 3:30, I should probably get that.
To asnwer several questions, I HAVE written several letters, I just haven´t sent them...that´s the difficult part.
OH that will be AWESOME if I get to see them here soon, as in a picture I mean. Lol. Tell them I want a Christmas package. THEY CAN AFFORD IT! Lol, tell them I´ll do my best with the letters. Haha, I´m working on that. I still have the stuff I bought you I just have to send it, lol. Well off I go! Hopefully next will be better organized and writen, lol!
-Jake

November 2, 2009

WISH I had bought that big bottle of Hersheys syrup. Lol. I did just buy a little bottle of Hershey´s strawberry syrup, I used it for strawberry milk and put it on my pancakes. Lol. We got 1000 pesos for our mid month ´ajuste´ so I had a little to slurge afterwards... lol. We also bought brownies. That was a story in it´s own. Before I forget it. We made one batch last night. With the brownies that Elder Povey had bought. They FINALLY get done (finally because it took for frick dang forever...) and then Elder Tygard walks over and woop. Takes 1-3 of the whole plate. Then Elder Povey walks over and woop...another 1-3 of the plate. I told him, ´woah, elder they´re like 6 other elders that are going to grab some,´ to which he replied, rather gruffly. ¨No there´s not, there´s only 4 of us. Referring to that he wasn´t going to share with the Mexican elders. That made me really sad. He then mentioned how there was ´more brownie mix´ referring to MY bag. I snapped, NOT ANY MORE THERE´S NOT. Grabbed it and hid it upstairs. Behind my socks. Lol. 2 ELders didn´t get any and 2 got just a little witty bit. Well you´re next question is the piano. I do, actually I play in sacrament meeting again. It´s weird because I haven´t played since my second area. Lol. ALMOST, a year ago. December/January. Last week, daylight savings started and we didn´t know so we got there an hour and a half early. I went to practice the songs for that day. Lol, so it worked out well. Lol. After I practiced for a little bit I played a few ´Groban´ songs, by request of Elder Danielson. Nobody really payed attention, if they liked it I couldn´t tell. Lol.
Lastly that IS Elder Nichols, sorry. He´s in a few of my pictures, you just never know who it is, lol. Elder Danielson is the Somoan looking dude in a few of them and the big white elder with glasses is Elder Povey, the skinny Californian is Elder Tygard, he´s from the Sacramento area.
Well I´m supremly happy to hear that TT, or Koopa Troopa (the turtle) is still around. I´m thinking it´s because the water is much lower, it´s a bit of a high climb. There´s no Chlorine in there, right? He probably likes it. It´d be fun to throw another one in there, do you put the little fish in for him to eat? Well have you heard from any of the guys lately? David, Daniel, R.J., Jon, Joel, Nick, Ben. (not in any particular order of importance). David tells me the wing night is still going pretty good on ... Wednesday´s now I believe. Lol.
I appreciate you lately, really. Thank you so much for writing and expressing your desires and hopes for me. It´s comforting you know. Thank you for sending the several packages too, lol. I really hate and I´m very embarrased to ask you to send so much. But thank you, the CD´s I think are going to make a difference. Honestly, there are no longer CD players. All Ipod and MP3 stuff. I looked...Lol, I searched for that sucker. I lack music in my life, I miss the edifying, uplifting influence and nature of music. I could use that at this point in my mission. I was thinking the other day and kind of realized...I really am over the hump. I only have 13 months. But still. By Christmas, well at the end of Christmas I´ll have 9 months. Split that in to 3 periods of 3 months. It´s not that much time. Especially since we´re thinking by months now, the days go by pretty quick. The time is unexistant. It´s incredible, honestly.
Well Saturday we had a conference with Elder Benjamín de Hoyos, from the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. He´s in the area presidency. He was amazing. It was actually kind of funny, because President Saucedo was talking and then Elder de Hoyos just gets up and takes over. Just starts going and then a 40 to 50 minutes later, I think, finished up. He talked about ... what did he talk about...:
Salvation isn´t cheap
How to search for ´golden´ investigators, 2-3 golden boys a week. That will be baptized.
Use the area book.
How to use the members, have them pass by, get to know them, pick them up for church.
Find needs of our area. After we´ve believed and after we´ve planned, put it in the Lord´s hands. Let Him guide us; He needs to know where we´re going to be if wants to put his children and us in the right spots at the right time.
Our purpose as missionaries. Language of the Spirit. Alot of awesome stuff. He compared missionary work to a tortilla machine. Lol
You have your automatic machine, but the man who owns it, can´t just put all the maza up in the feeder and go on vacation, head out for a few hours. Crap happens, the machine gets blocked, accidents, stuff breaks, falls out of place. The man has to work and adjust the machine and all the settings so that on the other end of that machine a little collector starts popping out little bags of tortillas. Converts also, we have to constantly be adjusting and modifying the part, if we just leave it there to do its ´routine´, the tortillas will stop coming out right and it won't work. If an investigator isn´t doing it right, don´t get to the end of teaching him/her, just ask God, if it´s right pull them off the teaching belt and throw them back into the mold to pop out later.
I´m falling asleep here at the computer, lol. About 5 minutes I just dazed, haha. Well, This week was curious.
All of Monday-Thursday was 100% Elder Mireles and I, on ´divisiones´ Elder Nichols was forced into going with Elder Danielson to the pueblos outside the city. Then Friday we were in the house actually for a while getting ready to leave to Colima later, then Elder NIchols and I went to the food, went to go eat with our Ward Mission Leader. And then we went to a few people really quick for about an 1, more or less. Then we had our junta (meeting) with our ward mission leader, lol Afterwards, Elder Mireles and I were back together for the evening. We went to Colima at 10 got there at 11:30 or so, to the house there at 12. I slept in a really skinny hammock and froze my butt cheeks together as well the fact that I didn´t sleep AT ALL ANYWAY! Lol. Ya que (oh what do you do...). Woke up and got ready for the day, cold shower, didn´t eat. Then we went to the conference. All of this while Elder NIchols, Povey, Tygard and Danielson stayed in a hotel and went to a nice restaurant for Dinner AND Breakfast. Oh...I was going to go, but I felt like I should ask permission to stay in a hotel, so I called Sister Saucedo the President's wife, well him, but she answered and I asked, ´can we stay in a hotel´ she wasn´t really up for the idea. To make the horrendously long story short, she wanted us to stay with the other elders. The four of them went to the hotel and I stayed with Elders Uc, Lopez and Mireles.
It´s not happy right now. There´s race problems, I´ve have a HORRIBLE attitude lately, for everything that´s going on. I just get sick of the crap that these women are dishing out. Gosh it´s pathetic. Divisiones for a whole week, and then at the end of the week...ok well understand this, Elder Nichols and I have NO investigators outside the city here...the other two yes. Here in the city we do have people and they have people so it´s all there work with Elders Danielson and Nichols and half and half with Elder Mireles and myself. I´m getting a small small portion of our work done. Then at the end of the week he has the nerve to say. Well you´ll have to talk ith Elder Mireles to see what counts for us too, (in addition to the lessons he taught with Elder Nichols, he says this...), because all of the people you taught of our investigators count for us. He´s trying to divide the work 75/25, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. I thought. He tried to snicker onto me as though I was the bad guy as all these kind of people do, saying well if you´re really worried about having bad numbers, or worried about numbers (one of the two) take them, whatever. Which I very soon learned. He had like... 10 or more lessons with Member and 4 others. 0 contacts. I don´t remember what we had, it was very unorganized. I think I should see a chiropractor, I have back problems, right now.
Well to cut it out short cause I just saw it´s been an hour, lol. There´s problems, but I´m happy, cause Elder Nichols is awesome and our area is being blessed. I mourn for my sins and the confusion I bring upon myself, trying to know what is the best think I should do in whatever moment. Hour and 2 minutes, now i¨m late...grr... lol. Well give a big shout out to my boys! Lol, and Carrie too, tell her I said thanks for the wonderful email, that made me feel very special, like I had done something. Thanks Carrie! CCC (continuous conversation Carrie).
Wel mom I really love you, I´m glad you liked the Mother´s day card thing, it took quite a few extra pesos here on the computer to do, lol. Did the song play while you saw the video? or no? you had to listen to it separately? Thank you for sending the jacket, I asked for it cause it rains alot here, well every once in a while and it´s a good light rain jacket, and it´s a little chilly here too! Lol. Well I´ll talk to you in a week or so!
-Jake, Elder Taylor

October 26, 2009 - Baptize David

Ok, so I totally just wrote alot and then some crap happened, and here I am starting over. This is going to be REALLY short I assume, I'm already two hours on the computer. I feel horrible and I feel bad for having sent you a few things, I used Gmail to send you something special. We´re not supposed to use other services. I spent alot of time on that thing two. The other mail you´re going to receive needs to be seen with my laptop. Your computer doesn´t have all the programs you need to check it out. If you have problems have Daniel come over, ok??
Well, I do know those two pollo places you were talking about, one´s grilled chicken the other is rostiserie. They´re pretty good, we walk by there every day. Lol. There´s a few other fun places, I have a hankering for more chinese food, but nobody here really likes it. They like it...but they don´t REALLY like it, it´s not something they WANT to go do very much. Oh well, Elder Danielson does, we´ll have to organize that one. Just him and I, the others can go get something. Tomorrow morning I just remembered we´re going to go meet a friend of ours in a litle garden place. We met him last Tuesday contacting and he came running back at us. He passed us we just said hi, and then all of a sudden ¨HEY!¨ I turn around and he comes running at us. ¨Hey are you the mormons?¨ ... I reply ¨Why, yes we are!¨ = D
He wanted to come to church, but we usually don´t trust people who say they´re going to go to church in the street. It´s never EVER happened til now. He came! We can´t even get our own investigators to go! This guy ... we were walking Sunday morning to the church and we passed him, I said good morning, and then I recognized his hat. I turned around, HEY! Lol We started talking and he said he was on his way to the church. The funniest part about all of that is that it hit daylight savings time this last week...We got up an hour early. And got to church an hour early...
David was baptized! That went down well. He was just... too easy it seemed. It was just... yeah I believe, yeah I read the Book of Mormon, the law of chastity is this this this, word of wisdom is this this this. Just ... just like that. Nothing else to it. At the same time though he never expressed that he was supurbly grateful for the gospel or that he really had a testimony, nothing like that. We baptized him on Saturday. He rolled his little chair up to the font, no problem, not a single compliant or sign of discomfort, struggled down the stairs with me and we got into the font, he stumbled while we were down there and I had to support him, but I held him up, performed the ordinance and pulled him out of the water. I had told him before. ´Just sit in the water, don´t worry about anything, just sit back and I´ll pull you out´.
A little later, my same words came back to me as I thought about the arms of angels who pull me out. The arms of the Savior who, with outstretched arms pulls me up out of the water. So I don´t drown. You have to kick and kick and kick ... sometimes more kicks to keep your head above the water. The Lord lets your legs get strong your lungs get better, your arms larger, holding yourself out of the water. If we don´t do our part and kick, we´ll drown. But if we give it the best we can his arms are there. We can´t get out of the water by ourselves. There is nothing to grab on to or step up on except the word of god and the arms of our Savior. Just do our part and grab on. He´ll pull us out. After the baptism a few people congratulated him, then i went up and said Felicidades amigo, and stooped down for a little hug. He started to choke up. Elder Nichols went down for another hug, he started to tear. Elder Danielson congratulated him and said a few welcoming words. He went for it, he cried a little.
Sunday morning though we went over there. Elder Nichols had planned to pick him up in the morning as if by divine revelation. We went over there with Elder Danielson and found David sick sick sick. He couldn´t (supuestamente, (supposedly) because he got up and went to the bathroom fine) got out of bed. I´m not saying it wasn´t bad, it was. It was really bad. He was writhing in pain. Writhing would be the desriptive word. We called in for his medicine for him, they brought it by and after church, actually at like 7 we came back and a sister in the ward (Hermana Karmen) had studied a little nursing and injected him. After that it was all good. We confirmed him then and there also, in his house.
Sunday night we went with Jorge and his 3 younger kids. We taught them the plan of salvation and asked Jorge if he was still interested in baptism. He replied ¨I´m more sure about it now.¨ His three kids also are going to get baptized with him on the 7th of November. He´s a single man, divorced awhile back. The youngest daughter (8 years old) lives with the mom, the other 2 boys (11 and 13) Israel and Manuel, live with him and the oldest boy Axel, (like 20 something) lives in Manzanillo but comes up for the weekends and came to church about 8 days ago. it worked out well, he may have a friend in the church and we´re working with him that he can get his answer to. I want to baptize people with testimony. Only. Not cause the family does too. It´s been a rough week. I´m really over saturated it seems. I haven´t read The Book of Mormon in over a week. I KNOW that´s part of the problem. I´m trying to clean the whole house but the other elders are helping now. That´s the good part. I have district class to plan and area to worry about. We need to find new people, not just new people but I want to find by the Spirit. Family´s that are prepared by the Lord. Well that´s the gist of it for now. To answer your questions, I have used a little bit of the money that dad gave me. I´ve been stocked up for a little while though. I FINALLY bought a watch on Saturday. A little plastic weiner watch. This guy wanted 40 bucks for it. I got him down to 30. 300 pesos. It´s nice though watch alarm water proof and light. It gets the job done, it´s plastic though, the ONLY disadvantage. Other than that I´m satisfied! Lol. For now...(Christmas?? ´,= 0 ... )
I hope I get my garments now too! Lol, I need to lay to rest a few pairs with exceptional holes and deteriorations. Lol. I hate to list more stuff I need, lol. But I´ve run into a few snags. 1. They don´t sell CD players any more here, I CAN NOT find any. Could you just send that little grey one I have? It doesn´t take any cords....don´t worry about cords. Remember that little black thing you bought me for my ZUNE? in the MTC to play music with?? Send that and all the CD´s that are from the church, KK? Also, remember that studly jacket I bought from Marshall´s once? I need that, lol. I need a rain jacket and something to keep me a little warm here in winter, lol That´d be awesome. And as long as you´re going to send something I´m out of socks again. Those old shoes I had put holes in them all. I bought some here, but they´re really REALLY tiny, lol. That and they want about $4, literally, for one pair of crappy socks. So I thought I´d just ask you, lol.
I love you mom, I´m working on letters and stuff, sorry!
Just to let you know I sent like 5 emails from Gmail to make sure you got that project ... so... good luck! Lol
I love you love you love you. Both, thank you dad, I kind of want to help you out also, but I am thoroughly convinced that my time here in Mexico is 2 years, not less... ( or more) And that afterwards I will help out. Alot! Well I´m outa here! Lol
-Jake
P.S. David is reading the Book of Mormon!!!! GOD HAS ANSWERED MY PRAYERS!!! Invite him for a family home evening or something...
take him to lunch, please and thank you! I¨M SO HAPPY!

October 19, 2009

You do love me more than I comprehend, and I thank you alot for that, I always need it. It´s good to know and I love you too. Now is a time when I turn to it more. I notice now how we turn away from those things we have, those we love, the Lord when all goes well and we turn back when things go bad. I´ll explain later.
First off I have not yet received the garments, but I´m pretty sure the package missed zone conference by a matter of days, but surely it´s in the office by now. I´ll get it during interviews on the 29th. Speaking of the end of the month, we just got a letter from president saying some one from the area pesidency of Mexico, a member of the Seventy is coming here. I don´t know how it´s going to work exactly but we´re going to find out. Lol.
I don´t remember if I told you this or not, but I talked with some of my converts/people I know from other areas here in the mission. I got to call them up. If I did, well you know what´s going on, if not, well I called a few poeple. That was awesome, the negative not fun side is that they´re almost all inactive. But the positive side, is that it was REALLY nice to hear from them. I felt loved again. Every single one told me that they had thought about me recently, they had asked someone about me, or someone had commented about me to them. Every one. One was in Tamaulipus, below Texas next to the Gulf of Mexico, she separated from her husband and her daughter, Kimberly, is with her sister. You remember the picture of me with a short little lady and a little pudgy girl? That´s Mary Lou and Kimberly, Mary Lou is in Tamaulipas.
Moving on, sounds fun everything at home! I´m actually really glad you sent me that, I just l ke to hear about you, I feel like that´s probably more of what you´d like to hear from me, isn´t it??
All of dad´s projects make me want to work there again! DARN IT! It sounds so fun, fixing up the house and working with the old fart..er... dad. Lol, just kidding dad you´re not an old fart. You´re an old toot. It´s nicer. Not as loud and obnoxious. Bob´s an old fart. So you never said if Bill would like a nice Mexican wife. Lol. (p.s. I love Bob too, he´s not really an old fart, tell him I said hi!).
I love what you said about it´s just not the same without you somewhere in the other room playing Nintendo! Lol, I just thought that was the funniest thing in the world. Haha, you´re both going to hate me for this, but this last week, or two weeks, I remembered a few nostalgic memories, pleasing moments that have occurred in my life. Unfortunately they were basically all video game related. Lol, actually along the lines of what you just said. I remember Lance and Sierra and the other ones came over and I was locked in the garage for probably 6 hours playing a game (Star Fox Assault...I beat it that night too I believe); I don´t know what was so memorable about it, I just enjoyed chillin´ in there playing a game, that I enjoyed. Lol. This week we had a few moments of joy and splendor. Thursday and Friday were wonderful moments of growth from affliction. 6 lessons probably, more or less in the whole two day, maybe 3 or which were scheduled. We had to make the rest up. Talking to people on the streets. Saturday was interesting. The other elders, Elder Danielson and Mireles had 7 baptisms in the evening, so in the morning at 8:45 we leave for ´El Tepozal´ a pueblito, more a ranchito, hour and a half away. We get to the crucero, like the entrance and walk 3 kilometers in to the ranchito. We get there and like 3 of them are home. We pile in two cars and drive to a little place calles 4 caminos, it´s like 4 corners but it´s four different highways that meet up and there they were selling carnitas. Carnitas just for an F.Y.I. is everything the butcher DOES NOT want. HE takes all the ACTUAL meat and dices it up and all that jazz. The organs and the other wonderful succulant guzzards and innards are thrown in a GIANT pot and boiled in a grease fat like substance and then served to your liking. Usually with toothpicks and salsa. With a tortilla. We ate those, that´s only my second time. It´s not that bad, but I tend to avoid the stomach and the liver. The .. I don´t even know WHAT it is, is pure fat and the intestines are not that bad. Some other tings in there too. Anyway, I interviewed the first two inside of a truck. And then when I get out, nobody is there. The District President that was there and his wife, the couple, or parents that were getting baptized and my companion and Elder Danielson were gone! I finished up the other 5 interviews that were there still. Two little girls, the sister and the mom of the main couple. So we get out I have another taco and then they show up and say we´re late for the wedding. This couple was married on the same day as their baptism. We got´em married and then we all hit the 1-1/2 hour journey back to Cd. Guzman. I slept. We got there and finished preparing the baptism. Elder Mirales, because we were in a little publo didn´t have his clothes so we bolted to the house 30 minutes before the baptism and got back just in time to change and do the ordinance.
I love you mom and dad and I know that the Lord and my Father in Heaven love me. I know that I have friends who love me and I love all of them. I have been REALLY negative lately, and have a new absurd tendency to complain about stuff, which is going to stop now. I will no longer criticize anybody. It makes me feel bad, I´m not going to complain about any situation. Just look for the best. I need to wash my clothes and write a bunch of stuff still at home. I´m approaching an hour here, and curious by how much I´ll beat every one else. An hour is a problem, let alone hour and a half 2 hours. Well I´m going to jet. Saludos to everybody for me, the guys, Rena & Jordan, Susan if you want, the bro´s and whoever else. I LOVE YOU!!!!!

-Jake

October 12, 2009

Hey Mama! I may just get my goal of 30 minuts on the computer I´m only at 19 if that´s true! BLESSINGS! WOOHOOO!! Lol, the zone´s doing awesome right now, the usual zone has about 12 or 14 missionaries, we have 8, lol. And we´re number 4, I believe, it listed the best three and then we had a special mention, so I think we´re number 4, with only 4 companionships! Lol, we´re all really excited, but we have to do better, we have a goal of 26 bautismos this month and we´re going to get it, Elder Nichols and I have a goal of 5. We´re teaching a few people right now but we´re going to keep going, keep seeking keep finding! It´s all good
Crap, maybe I won´t make 30 minutes, lol, a guy just started talking to Elder Nichols, my companion here in English. He´s typing his parents and he just walks up, Hey, how´s it going. He´s speaks pretty well, actually. He just gave us his address and his number and his work address. He´s in the other elders area, we think. We´ll see.
Well I forgot what was going on... I haven´t thought about much that´s going on over there. I´m surprised David hasn´t written me lately, I expected him to write me earlier. Oh, there´s something, lol. I have been craving good food for a while now. Lol, I just finished a year. I miss it...lol. Oh well, lol. The soda here is even weird, I was a HUGE soda fan, but not anymore. I´ll tell you what though, a good Mug rootbeer, or a mountain dew, a Sierra Mist, Dr. P w/ cherry and Vanilla. ... and lime. Lol, a Coney Dog, some Rally´s burgers (checkers to be official now) There´s a lot, actually any restaurant at all sounds good right now. We´re going to tacos or something maybe. I have to give a talk at Zone Conference tomorrow and I have not done it yet. I will, we´re going on the errands now and doing the ´hay que haceres´ afterwards at home. The Elderes from Sayula are here and they want to do certain things also. There´s Chinese food here! Served by Asians, it´s awesome! Man if you thought they had a weird English accent, glory, hear it in Spanish. It´s not that bad, but it´s just not something you see everyday! I´m kind of craving after another picture of the guys, see what´s changed. An entire year. How different do they look? I was so excited to hear from Ben the other day. I´m really happy right now. Lol. Linkin Park just came on, lol. Woops, there´s nothing I can do! Lol, I need to stop glancing at the screen next to me though, innappropriate advertisements.
This song is awesome!
I want a thorough update. Sit down and write a 10 page detailed letter and I will to and I promise that I´ll send it soon! Well let me tell you about David and Jorge and I´ll get out of here;
Now Jorge we´re still working with, we see him like 2x a week, maybe. Working like that doesn´t allow progress. People think oh, my time is blah blah blah, I´m so busy, come back in 10 days. ¨What??!!?!?! No no no no no, how about tomorrow.¨
Ugh, I just saw the screen next to me again.
He seems a little preocupied with something. Concerned. He´s still interested, we challenged him to baptism, he was in a hurry to leave at the moment, and he said ´well it takes a lot of preparation right?´ So we have that one in the balance. we want to teach him and his 3 sons, who have interest in coming to the church. This Sunday I feel we´re going to go and get them up and dressed and carry them over there. Fast and testimony meeting was awesome, I had a chance to bear my testimony and just being in the room was overwhelming. Spirit strong strong strong. He believes I feel in Joseph Smith but we´re going to watch Joseph Smith prophet of the Restoration with him and then continue with the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the kids are funny. WE walked in there the other day, they look similar the two younger ones. Israel and Manuel. Israel is super active. Football (soccer), running around, likes to move and participate. Manuel is super listo (smart). One time when we went over there, there were two young women sitting on their couch. I didn´t recognize them, thought they were friends of theirs or something, then I saw the book they carried. It was asome book that had a picture of the bible on it. It couldn´t be anything good.
They were JW´s. Testigos de Jehovah. Jehovah´s Witnesses.
We asked if Jorge was home. the lady answered in a bitterly sweet voice, of course, of course one second. Jorge answered the door looking like he was having a heart attack. We said we just stopped by to say hi, we were heading to another appointment, but he invited us in and we went back into the kitchen to talk. While walking through we greeted the young TJ´s (testigos de Jehovah) and said hi to Israel and Manuel, but like I would with my buddies, you know hi five and ´dude what´s up´ it was hilarious. We get along super good w/ them, and walked back. We started talking and shared a little though and learned that Manuel, this 13 year old kid invited them in to listen. This kids insane. He invited them in to listen and was listening, studying! Lol. We left before they finished up and said bye and same thing, ´hey man, later dude! See you later, you´re going to church on Sunday right´ Yeah of course! LOL!
Sad, sad TJ´s.
The next one really quick is David. Saturday we were up in the East part of our area which is approaching the mountains there, if you have a map or something, it´s called Lomas Altas. Basically all of our appointments and the people we were going to visit fell, so we thought of something we could do before we went home, to use time wisely. I didn´t want to head back yet. It was about 8 or a little after. Like 8:15. Not a whole lot you can do. So I thought of a recent convert family all of a sudden, so we headed over there. But in the journey we got Super lost. Ridiculously lost. We went almost straight. All of a sudden I have to pee so we go looking for a little hole in the houses. Every once in a while there´s a little gap where there´s no house, so I found a little corn patch and wizzed over there in the corner as we waited for cars to pass. Kept walking and then all of a sudden. I see this giant fake palm tree. A giant fake gold palm tree. Wait a second. That´s in the COMPLETE opposite direction of which we were currently walking. After x minutes of being lost. All of a sudden we´re 2 blocks from this family. Well it´s too late now, let´s head home, says my companion. I say let´s just say hi see how they´re doing and head home; Now that we know where we are.... we went wasn´t even home somebody was watching the house. Then we heads a little down started walking down the street. Somehow we were right then exactly where we were about 40 or 30 minutes ago. Somehow we didn´t realize it. All of a sudden we hear a ´chh-chh, chh-chh´ which is a sound they do here to get your attention usually.
Quick note, the timer here in the ciber is jumping by 4 minutes...that´s not cool...
We stop and look to the right and there is this little old man in a wheel chair. He told us first off that missionaries had stopped with him before. Then all of a sudden they stopped. He knew about the BOok of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith and the Plan of Salvation and wanted to go to church. He told us that he wsas going to go anyway but in that moment he found us. He had already gone to the church 10 we thought and the branch president thought he was a member, but he´s not, he was never baptized. The missionaries about 2 years ago never ever taught him baptism, or so he tells us. He told us he feels baptism is what he needs, what will help him free his mind. Or help him get over his difficulties right now. He´s .. glory 60 years...70 would be better. His mom died about a year ago and his sister just 3 weeks ago and he has arthritis and has to use a wheel chair, for the pain. Nobody lives with him and nobody takes care of him and sometimes he goes up to 3 days without eating. His sister took care of him but de repente died. We ate with a sister yesterday, oh goodness...
I have to tell you that too...
She gave us a little food to carry to him and we dropped it off with him. We wheeled him to and from Church and he enjoyed it. Stayed the three hours. Well I guess he wasn´t going to escape... He wants to get baptized and we´re helping him out. It´s a miracle, God helping his children.
Now the other story. I was obligated yesterday to ask you if Bill... yes your dear brother would be interested in a hard work, professional chef of a woman. As we ate with the Hermana yesterday she asked if she could ask a serious serious question... if we knew anybody older single men. I mentioned my lovely crack case uncles. And she was hooked. She wants to know if Bill would be interested. She´s happy to travel there or if he´d like to travel here. She is the former owner of the oldest restaurant in Cd. Guzman and is known for her wonderful skills as cook and chef. Hard working and single, Lola is looking for a man.
Ok I did my work... now I´m not obligated...
Thank you! I love you more than anything, literally! Even Nintendo...but it´s close! Lol, jk- it´s not even close!
I was going to write a few things for your birthday but I think I´m going to reserve them for a hand written letter.
Love,
-Jake

October 5, 2009

Well, two awesome messages, thank you for writing, I love to hear your voices even though it´s a pirated copy I´m just running through my head as I read. I really do love you both and am grateful for the example that you set me. I already forgot most of what I just read in your two letters and there was nothing bolded so I´m assuming to write whatever I feel like. Lol. I was SUPER excited for today, but the days already over as 5 o´clock rolls around just an hour ago we left the house at 1 o´clock. 1-5, BOOM! Gone, I´m going to make a few phone calls and exhort my converts to repentance. No, i just want to hear from them, lol. Well the work continues here, a lot of late nights unfortunately, and I feel like as fast it went by it went by slowly too, just because I look back and all of what has hapened was just this week! UGH! This was a tough week. Tough just for time, get this. Monday we have a meeting and the new elders are coming in, so there goes Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning we go with the new elders to Sayula to show them their area and come back, pack and head to Guadalajara for Zone Leader Capacitation. We´re there Tuesday afternoon, well got their late, then all of Wednesday and had an adventure then, lol. THen left Thursday morning to get back in time for the lunch appointment, then we planned. Worked Friday then COnference on Sat. and Sun. Lol. So...yeah, it was busy.
Here´s the good stuff though, we had our first lesson with Jorge this last Sunday, taught him lesson 1, we met him week one here at a bus stop and could never find him. Finally taught him and came back...some day entre semana. Like Friday moning, yeah it was Friday morning, we talked to him and his mom is Super Catholic Woman, she even has her own comic book. On the same page of the comic book is Jorge! The catholic mom starts to tell him, the mormons this the mormons that...blahblah, nag nag, apostasy apostasy *cough* I don´t know what I´m talking about *cough*. He responds, they don´t worship Joseph Smith he was just an instrument in bringing about the restoration of the church of Christ, he was a prophet and translated the Book of Mormon, which is true.
Let´s just say that it was awesome. After all that, he said he still hasn´t gotten an answer to his prayer, we´ll work with that. lol. We´re working with he and his 3 sons. Axel, Manuel and Israel. He´s separated and the wife is poking around with other men.
We also have Catalina y her daughter... i forgot her name. But they´re references de la Hna. MariKarmen, we went with the Hna. and they were all just sitting inside and kind of looking at us awkwardly, my mouth just opened. A conversation about the business (they own a hair salon) and the times commenced. Later I felt the impression, now, talk about he gospel, change it. I asked about The Book of Mormon that they were given earlier by the Hna. (Hernmana), I don´t remember how i transitioned it, but we explained with the Hermana how the book came around, about God´s love for us, His prophets, Christ´s church, the Great Apostasy and the Restoration. Challenging them to read a chapter in the book of mormon, Alma 7 and ask God of it´s divinity. I know they did it and I´m so excited to go back. The Hermana gave firm, strong testimony. It was amazing. They like to do stuff on Sunday but after we explain the Sabbath Holy and to keep it holy she´ll be ok. Theyre our heavy hitters and we have a few others. I hope to make it more, there is no excuse to not baptize more, and to not reactivate more.
Actualy I wanted to ask Dad about that, Dad how can I help the less active members¿? How can I show more love to them, and to our investigatores? We have an invetsigator that believes us but doesn´t want to be committed doesn´t want to be baptized for that. Says, well what if later I don´t want to go to your church? How can we explain to her? Well that´s my time, but I´ll talk to you soon!
Tell the guys I love them. Rena too! Lol,I was going to make it a surprise and send you a package but I think knowing you don´t know, I postpone and postpone and postpone it, so now I´m going to tell you so I know you´re waiting on it, then I´ll have to do it! Lol.
Well that´s the jist of it. Conference was amazing though I couldn´t pay attention all of Sunday. Ugh, lol. Well I love you and talk to you soon!
-Jake

September 28, 2009

I already have an hour here in the computer so this might ... MIGHT be short. Right... I´m making a list for the ward where they can fill out their name (if they have a book of mormon) and who they gave it too and their address. We´re having alot of help from our branch(s), it´s really good. Well for this week we baptized a kid of 9 years old this last friday out in a little place called Tuxpan, it´s about a half hour bus ride from here. His family is getting back into the swing of things, a little more active, it´s pretty cool! I´m excited for them, we were there and their other son, Oscar, came in the room, and we started talking to him about the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance and how he still had hope, he came to the baptism and I´m yet to know if he went to church yesterday. Saturday morning at 4:30 we went to the church to hitch a bus for THE TEMPLE! Lol, it was great, I love the temple. I received a few blessings there. It was kind of nerve wracking at first. Because we got there and Presidente Saucedo was there. SPeak of the man himself, he was there to interview a few members. THe mission presidentes are in charge of distritos, since we´re not a stake, he interviews the members to see if they´re worthy of temple worship. We got out walked over and shook his hand and then he steps a little ways off and askes me to follow him and said first Ëlder Taylor I´m going to have to ask you to cut your hair¨ Será hecho, lol. Then he added, ¨Only the people in the city are supposed to come to the temple and only with my permission, you shouldn´t have come sin advisarme.¨ Uh... Presidente, I was under the impression that Elder Danielson asked you last week. I believed that you did know. He calls ELder Danielson over and talks for a second. He was going to interview the poeple there and then head out here to check out the house and interview us, but he said that while your here let´s go interview you all now. We did and then we learned that he thought we had just gone the week before and then came again a week later. Oy... lol. Everything worked out in the end. Elder Nichols and I are echando las ganas here. He seems a little sick of me right now, but I´m almost postitive that he´s exhausted. Lol, I want to take a nap so bad right now. I´m going to, go cut the hair and then head out. Now, I´m sorry I´ve taken out almost $100. That won´t happen again. Here´s the catch, We were at the temple and went to 7-11 to buy a few things and I got some sandwiches, well they couldn´t take cards, so I went to the atm and I didn´t have money with me. I didn´t want to pull out... 100 pesos either. And have them charge me 200 usage fee. So I pulled out 500 to use over the next few hou..er, hmm,.... days/weeks. Now, we just got back from Sorianna (Fry´s food and drug) and I bought some bedsheets ($120 pesos) and another 400 pesos of food. And I didn´t bring enough money, lol. I´m good on food though for at least 2 weeks! Breakfast burrito stuff, pancake mix cereal bread and butter and yoghurt and .. man I´m not going to get bored soon. Lol.
OH!! Wow, mom I got the package of the shoes and stuff. Thank you soo much, its perfect todo. The shoes are different then the others, it has a little softspot but it´s thicker and smaller then the others I had. I think they´ll work perfectly, that and Black AND brown, that´s awesome Lol, thank you. I wore those old leather bottomed ones we bought at Men´s Wearhouse, I still use those at church and what have ya´ but now I have two pairs of cool shoes. I tried on the charcoal pants you gave me and if I sit down in them they´ll rip, lol. They´re pretty small around the thighs. The others are perfect fit though. Lol. I´m leaning my head against the wall right now with my eyes closed not even looking at what I type, so if there´s some errors, sorry. Lol. Thank you so much for the packages and everything, it´s been a great help, thank you. If you send another like you said with something, throw in a few ( FEW!!!, like 3 or so) garment bottoms. The spandex I only have like 2 of again. I´m going to be burning alot of stuff here soon. Lol.
Well it sounds like the turtle is doing good, I was AWESOME AND AMAZING to hear from Daniel and Josh, just to read what´s up just is a delightful little thing to do on Monday´s. Lol.
Oh, before I forget again, I have another 100 something pictures on there, that´s all of them. And... yeah one more thing, yesterday they made me zone leader. So, yeah, pray for me... please.
Love,
-Jake
P.S. Can you put bahama bucks in a to go cup and send it down here¿?
P.S.S. Elder Danielsons dad, I don´t think is a doctor, he is Somoan though! Lives on a street called ´Nopal´ in Chandler. I don´t know anything else off the top of my head.
Love ya love ya love ya!

September 21, 2009

Wow, well what do i say?? To quote Elder Kelly, I really am out of words. Ciudad Guzman, is pretty unique. It´s an entire district and there´s only 4 elders here, there were only two. So we cover about 5 branches the 4 of us. Unfortunately, the branch presidency is trying to enforce boundaries on us, so we´ll see how that goes. Now really quick, I´d like you to tell David a big Thank you and take him to T.C. Eggington´s again. I can´t believe it... Brickway closed... (leaves table *crying heard in background*). He´s such an awesome kid. I pray every week that he´ll accept the gospel. Ask him how he´s doing on his Book of Mormon reading, I know he´s a busy kid, but have him read it. It will help him keep his head on straight. Now, right now, sitting at the computer I need you to get up go to your cell phone. I imagine it´s in one of three places, charging in the bathroom, in your car or in your purse which is sitting on the kitchen sink. Call Ben and tell him that Jake is going to kick him in the ____. Yes that is singular. Call Daniel and tell him I´ll forgive him his absurd debt, if he writes me a letter. Wow... Lol, I´m approaching a year, 9 days from today and I´ll have a year. No letter from Daniel, 3 or 4 from Ben, several from David, none from Nick, 2 from Joel, 2 from Jon, maybe three. Did you ever see what R.J.´s up too? Really if you could stop by there it´d be awesome. See how Joel´s doing and have him send me a note! I miss my buddy Joel(ine) Lol. We´ll have to go to Starbucks again! Speaking of, I don´t really like going to Starbucks as a missionary or as a member. Even though I know I´m not drinking coffee, many think that we´re buying coffee and leave it with that impression. Anyway...
So we´re teaching a few people here. We don´t know what´s going to happen with Elder Nichols next Monday the day of REAL changes. So I need to learn the area. It´s a pretty big place too, Ciudad Guzman. Nice though too. We went to a few places and it´s wild. We went to a pueblo about 2 hours away called Talpalpa that´s wicked amazing. It´s all brick and wood houses and reminded me devilishly of Mammoth, California, it´s way up on a mountain and everything looks like lodges. It´s incredible. There´s ONE family of members there, and their son was baptized by the other two elders there. I´m trying to enjoy the time then with Elder Nichols and Elder Danielson. Elder Danielson is from Chandler, lives off of Elliot and Alma School. Lol. I forgot exactly where. But it´s all good. Went to Dobson. Well he´s almost guaranteed to go this change but that´s ok. We´ll miss him. We´re hoping Elder Nichols and I stay together. He´s from Brush, Colorado. A little town outside of Denver. State Champions in Football usually though. Lol
He´s very chill. We talk about all sorts of stuff while we´re walking. Which is very therapeutic because I hadn´t talked for over a month. Now it all came out though, lol. I´ll explain that here in a second. He´s a big football guy but lost a lot of weight and overall I just love the kid. He has ... 8 months, about, in the mission and is coming along. His Spanish is good, and I love when he teaches, when we´re on a specific subject he teaches from the heart and says some wonderful things; there´s a few kinks I´d like to fix, but that´s all good. Certain teaching habits. The only problem we had was Thursday morning planning. I have a very unique way of planning, i like to discuss alot the person. How they´re receiving the message. Discuss more about what needs to be done. I don´t know, it´ll all work out. It worked out right there though. Finished planning and yeah, good. Today we went to a members house at 7and helped her cut her grass. About 2 feet tall or so, to give it to the cows.... with machete. A curious experience, let´s put it at that. Now we´re writing, we went to a store to look at Tie´s and clothes, it was pretty cool and then Soriana, their equivalent to Fry´s Marketplace. Bought milk and donuts.. tehehe. *blush,blush* 5 bucks. 50 pesos, for a gallon of milk and 2 donuts. Ouch. I still have peanut butter and jelly and bread and the stuff you sent me in the boxes to munch on so I´m going to use that. We went up on Saturday for that baptism like I told you about a little earlier and just when I woke up on Saturday I felt... disgusting. I was going to throw up. I couldn´t... lol. So I went downstairs, ran in a circle for a few short seconds and then HUUAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH. lol. Then I felt fine and we left. Lol. I still haven´t had huge desire to eat. 2 days later. Lol. Friday night I had eaten a little cake thing that we bought, a half pack of graham crackers covered in peanut butter, toast covered in peanut butter and then a sandwich of peanut butter. I think the peanut butter made me sick, and now i really don´t want to eat a whole lot. lol. Well there goes the hour, let alone half hour. Lol.
Just to let you know another 153 photos are online. So go take a look! Plenty of choices for hte next calendar! Lol. Choose wisely, make it good, lol!
Dad, your story was awesome. I´d like you to write a longer more detailed relation of the story and send it to me. I´m going to go read it again really quick. That makes me feel all bubbly inside. Lol. Well I´ll talk to you later! Love love love,
Say hi to the friends, if you could get in contact wit them that´d be great!
-Elder Taylor

Thanks for the packages and the one on its way!!!!!!!
-Also Elder Taylor

September 14, 2009 Ciudad Guzman

Hey Family! WEll Mom and Dad...
Well.........do I have a few things to tell you... Tuesday was zone confeence and does it feel like an eternity away. I went o bed at ... 1:30 or so last night so I´m... well vamos a say very very tired. Lol. I´ll explain why later. THe backspace is broken on this keyboard too, well it sticks, lol. So if there´s a few mistakes, sorry, = P
I went to zone conference and actually gave a presentation on the ´area book´ the book we use as missionaries to write down investigator information and stuff like that. It went very well, but the rest of the meeting as spiritually edifying as it was, and it was fantastic I could feel the spirit of the Lord so evidently. THe presentaitons were wonderful the testimonies, what president had to say, the comments it was all wonderful, many ideas to be a better missionary. The week followed with few few lessons, unfortunatley for a variety of reasons, traveling, service projects and other such situations. Cihuatlán, or the rama of Barra de Navidad is going to receive an excellent replacement and with Elder Perez, is going to change the current situation alla. We were teaching wonderful families and ther were wonderful people waiting to hear the gospel. A family of 7-9 and several other individuals. The church will grow and they have WONDERFUL ideas to help the branch. I´m very excited to hear in the next few months what happens there. However, it was not for me to do, I did my work. I would have liked to do much more, but I feel I left at least something. The members there are much more bonded to the missionaries. THey play such an important role in the life of each ward and much heavier in the branches. THe branch president commented to me as we talked about he branch that when they pulled the misionaries out more than a year ago (it was recently opened up again just before we arrived), he didn´t know what he wsa going to do. He felt he branch would die that it was going to fall. Fortunately it did not. This week they´re going to have a wonderful activity for the misionaries that has to do with he plan of salvation. A plane for Hawaii crash lands in the ocean, there are no survivors. THey are all now spirits and go the spirit world and then view the 3 degrees of glory. It´s going to be wonderful. I can´t wait to go back after the mission! ANd hitchhike!!! Lol! Well, now I am currently writing from Ciudad Guzman. With elder Nichols, hehe. I know what you´re thinking. It´s going to be so much fun, we´re going to do alot to help eachother out here. I don´t know a whole lot about it here, just that we went to Sorianna and now we´re in a ciber and it´s 9:20 so I´m going to go. But it´s BEAUTIFUL here, it´s totally black cloud covered and cool COOL weather. I can´t believe. That and as I feel like I´m going to fall myself asleep here, I´m going to role. THere´s alot to say, but I´have to include it later... WAIT!
I do have a little present for you. Lol, check out Walmart.com again I just loaded 150 photos. Enjoy!
Love Love Love,
Jake

P.S. I LOVE CINDY AND CARRIE AND MOMMY! WOOOOOOOOW I just got he FOUR packages and am enjoying myself thoroughly right now, even though termites already begun eating the towel you sent, lol. Talk to you sooN!
= D

Septembe 1, 2009

Hey Mom and Dad! Sorry to concern you like that...lol, but here I am. Yesterday was weird. We went to a ciber to write but my comp only read he didnt write. Elders Feik Mendoza and myself went together and Elders perez (my companion), Elder Romero and Elder Saenz went together, two groups of three. We just happened to meet up in the same ciber though and Perez told me he read but didn´t respond so I said well I´m not going to respond, so I don´t have to wait on him went we go to the ciber in Cihuatán (our area). We went into Manzanillo Sunday night. They were going to have the usual district class on Monday so we made plans to go. Then at about 7:30 or so they called us and said no class, because zone conference is on Wednesday, we´ll just do the class afterwards. We went anyway, we both wanted to go. So we´re there and we should have returned at 12 or... 1 ish, but we left at 5:30...got here at 6 something and started washing and then left for our appointment who wasn´t home and decided to visit Jorge and Maricsa our golden couple whose not married nor divorced with former conyugent (is that a word??) Anyway, I just put my colored clothes in the chugga-chugga. Chugga-chugga is a type of washing machine here, it looks like a giant soda can and is the basic spinning washing machine motion only. But because its fun to say AND write the word Chugga-chugga I keep saying chugga-chugga. Anyway, the Prado family lets us borrow their chugga-chugga every Monday now. It´s awesome! So that´s why we didn´t write yesterday and we´re writing during our companionship study. Unfortunately, neither of us mind using this time for other things. We´re already sick of each other. Well I´ll explain later my new mind set that I took on yesterday, which is a blessing from our Heavenly Father.
The first week was the first week. No problems there. The first week everyone starts off without the finest clue what´s going to happen. Tuesday of the next week was a little more interesting.
Actually let me get through a few good things. The first good thing is they're cooking tacos in here right now and it smells really good seriously only in Mexico do they do some of these things. Hop on a charter bus and some guy comes back to sell you a ticket, cook some tacos in a cyber cafe. Have a table in the middle of a dirt road in the middle of an suburb street selling tacos. Hitchhiking between pueblos. There´s alot of unique Mexico only stuff I take for granted and it´s really beautiful right now. It´s been raining the last 2 days and we´ll see about today, it´s cloudy again, occasional sprinkle (sprinkle has a funny term here in Spanish, Serenando means sprinkling but a common term is chispeando which literally translated means to chip as in chocolate chips, little chips of rain!, = D I love it!). Literally the mission is an awesome experience. There are so many things that with a positive mind should be just awesome! Like all of what I just said. That and this area is wicked cool. I love the members, I love our little casa de oracion. A lot of change needs to be made and we need to start finding more people, but it´s a cool area! They say paisaje, which is like...wow, what is the word in English?? Ok, Cihuatlán has a beautiful paisaje, which means like the trees and rivers and (well kind of the climate) and ocean and all that jazz! It´s gorgeous, seriously and I plan to backpack it here with a buddy sometime! Lol! That´s an idea I've had actually for about a month now, but my mind as you know has been preoccupied with other things...I want to first return here to Guadalajara with one buddy, like Ben or someone, they need to speak basic Spanish, and we just backpack it, one backpack with a few changes of clothes and our wallet. We go around all the areas here in bus, pidiendo ride, etc. Jiji. (Hehe) Then luego luego, you two and I and Josh and Erin or whoever and my buddies we come and do the whole ´hotel´thing stay in Grand Bay! WOOHOO! Lol. With a few more bags of clothes and stuff, right?! Well moving on, here´s the conflict, I´m trying to be positive, but I´ve been uniquely concerned. I´m still stale, I think differently still. I don´t know if it´s good or bad.
I´m fine right now, I´m ´happy´, or my current equivilant to it. That´s why I put ´´s, lol. Just kind of weird. I don´t know if it´s good or bad, I´ve been wracking my this week on what´s good or bad, for example. This condition, is it just some kind of preparation that God is giving me, allowing me to padecer (go through). Just part of the process, wait it out with a positive attitude, just keep working. Or is it a problem? Is it something that shouldn´t be there. I don´t know what is right or wrong. I get so caught up here in the mission on what is right, what should I do at any given moment, what do I say what do I do. There´s a good better best here. I have confused myself more than anything. Oh wow it smells good in here. I thought yesterday though not to worry about that so much, do your best, that´s what´s required, were not going to be perfect and craps going to happen we´re going to make mistakes. Repent and do my best. See how that works out this week, if I can remember = P that´s a problem, lol, forgetting alot of times.
I´m sorry, here´s a quick interjection. I am CURRENTLY staring at a seven year old dropping his 9 year old sister off at school DRIVING A MOTORCYCLE. not a scooter...not a little toy motorcycle. A MO-TOR-CY-CLE! That happens so much here, the youngest I saw was like 5 years old. Anyway. I didn´t have the power headache I had 2/3 weeks ago! That´s good and Im grateful for that. I keep forgetting the second o in good. It comes out funny without that second o.
Now .... likie I was going to say 30 minutes ago about my companion. Lol, this is going to shock you. Allow me to read several notes I took during the experience. ¨He´s honestly condemning everything I do¨ Tuesday Morning or Wednesday morning he DEDICATED his study time to condemn me. He studied and used scriptures to show me why I´m wrong. what I do wrong. How I pray wrong, how I study wrong. INCREDIBLE! Seriously I took what i could of worth and let the rest slip away. It was insane. We started our companionship study compartiendo(sharing) the things we learned with each other. I said something I learned to which he responds, maybe, kind of, I guess you could get that. And then unleashes fire and brimgstone fron the book of Genesis on my head with his ´apostolic doctrine´, he studied faith and came to the conclusion that no one in the entire world has faith, that´s it´s impossible to have faith and when someone questioned him he exploded fighting his position. Well, to put it in perspective, he can´t be wrong. He knows the scritures better than anyone else. Hno. (hermano = brother) Monroy was talking to us about some doctirne principal and while he´s talking Elder Perez is saying outloud no, that´s not true, no. Sighing, rolling his eyes. I´m sorry I shouldn´t be listing faults like this. Just some amazing stuff. Who I am I to judge, right? It´s hard for me because we get to the house and plan, and I'm pretty sure he hates planning I love planning, lol, instead of describing the situation I feel the spirit slink away and I´d much rather have it right now. Lol, I´ll just say there´s no support, instead of helping me just says whatever and then later critics me. Curious situation. That´s 55 minutes of pure writing! Lol, you have a nice epistle to read here, lol so I´m going to let you do that This Ciber´s expensive too I´m used to 10 pesos an hour, which is less than a buck actually, and this is 20. Wow, how can I complain, that´s like a 1.50... woooo....lol. It´s just cause I´m a missionary and have 700 pesos for the entire month. Lol. Well, I have 11 months, a year from the time I entered the MTC. = ) thank you for your prayers and your support. To answer a few questions, Dad honesty I forgot, that and I was really tired then, I have a few notes. It was interesting it was just a giant question and answer session and he´d take little side notes on the giants. But cool, did learn. He is an apostle of God by the way, served his mission in South America so he spoke Spanish, lol. And I haven´t gotten a package yet, but until zone conference I´m sure I´ll get it, lol. Oh by the way, when I said lost the pants and shoes I meant their just bien discompuesto (broke) lol, big rips were found in the pants and the shoes have hit rock bottom. Lol I had the pants fixed, i have big patches on my butt, lol. But the shoes are a lost cause! Well I love you mom and dad, more than anything.
-Jake Taylor

July 27, 2009

You said whew, I said eww... it rhymes and it fits my current position. We had our weekly Monday routine of getting up at 5:30 to catch a bus on time for Manzanillo, but we got here in Cihuatlán at 11 today! It´s a record!!!!!! We celebrated by buying a $12 pizza. I could only eat 3 pieces but it was quite delightful, and I had some Jamaica water that came in a cup.... basically a beerstein, a giant glass mug that was amazing, I have a picture but no camera cord still ... lol, oh well. NI MODO! This week was interesting, Elder Harding and I continue working, we´re having success and punching it out. We get along good too, I´m not going to say he´s not a total pain in the butt sometimes though. Most days are cool, the thing is we think about the same random stuff alot. There´s several examples of that, but I´m not going to get into it. I´m looking at the screen saver next to me. It´s that old fish tank screen saver that computers have, that really looks like real fish. It´s so beautiful, I can´t believe I took this thing for granted .... i just like staring at it. Coral ... three little fish just ... swimming around... Man it´s tough right now. This week I got to the point where I couldn't´t even pray. I did, but it felt just like I was talking to myself, I´m so grateful that God´s helping me out of that one right now. It´s hell, hell hell... I can´t express in any degree how awkward ad painful it is. I´m so insignificant, honestly. I´m not useless, but my abilities are so petite. The greatness of God is superb, but I feel so distanced from Him right now. I fasted, I pray, I try to follow the rules, but i feel so empty. I'm not going to say the Holy Ghost is´t with my right now, because I still feel it is watching over us, but in terms of guiding me, I feel stale and empty. Elder Harding's an absolute stud, he gets along with everybody, certain people. Lol. But he´s a good guy, he can teach good, he studies well...I know he has his trials, but he gets through them, he has faith and testimony. I don´t know what I did to mess up so bad, I don´t know. I don´t imagine what I´m going through is even bad, even hard, but for me it´s very challenging. It challenges everything. I don´t know more to say.I do have some questions and comments though to see if you can help me. I was wondering if you could send some pictures of the office like from outside and the courtyard, to show people (and bring back good memories = D ). Some of you guys too! I have plenty here for ya´ll I just need that cord and we´re set! Here´s an interesting question. We have an investigator who´s getting baptized on Friday, she was going to get baptized this last Saturday but was ... believe it or not... on her period, so we postponed it, now, we went up to visit her and her ex boyfriend came up to say hi, guy lived outside of LA for his whole life then got deported here so talks to us in English, but said that she´s pregnant with his kid. Now I don´t know ´Female Anatomy like I do a missionary discussion, but is that possible period and pregnant? Just curious, cause I think this guys out of his mind... well he is, but about that point too. Next off, i have something you might want to try out... I´m assuming that I¨m going to be here for awhile...so, if you´d like here´s our address Sixto Ruelas #192Cihuatlán 48970Cihuatlán, Jalisco C.R. 48971MexicoI´m not sure what everything there means and what´s not necessary, we just got a letter by mistake but that was our address on there, just a different name. A few interesting things that happened this week, a crazy Catholic guy driving an 18 wheeler beer truck gave us a ride, we were hitchhiking, we hitchhike everywhere. Buses are so expensive for us. This is proving quit effective! That and we were knocking and found a guy from St. George Utah, Mexican, only speaks Spanish, but he´s from St. George and knows the Mormons, he doesn´t seem to interested tough, loves the church ... just ... not interested. He did however give us coconuts, walked over to his tree with a giant stick and a claw on top, took´em down and chopped´em open with a machete and we had coconuts. All good. Super cool guy.We´re working with the branch here, it´s interesting. It´s getting better and better all the time, I know they´ll have a chapel here soon also. I love the house of prayer here now too. It´s great, lol. Just a few families, but we´re going to get that up. Reactivation is a toughy here, everybody says yes, yeah I´ll be there, yeah´ll I´ll be there. Oh next week, yeah next week. Oh yeah something came up but I´m there this Sunday, oh yeah this Sunday for sure. They never show. Lol. We had 9 people that said they´d try and go this last Sunday, all investigators, and no new people showed. Our investigators with Baptismal dates did, that´s good! 3 1/2 people. (One´s 8 yrs. old) Well that´s the jist of it, give a shout out to all the guys, I don´t know if you´ve seen´em lately. David´s written me a few times, I love David, he´s such a good guy! Ben too i think once. Anyway, give´em a call or something! Catch ya´ later!-E. Jake D. Taylor