June 8, 2009

Hey mom, Here we are in a cyber cafe typing away. We´re having incredible success right now, and that´s very well needed because everything else is uniquely difficult. The last couple Monday´s have been pretty stale, because nobody can agree. We usually end up wasting the day away. Friday was probably the worst day I´ve had since we got back. It should have been amazing, the morning was normal work, but the food appointment we had chiles rellenos, then immediately after we went with our investigators that had cake and Jello, then immediately later we went to have ´lonches´ it´s like a sub, then immediately after that we went to have a nice chicken meal with the four elders and our new converts. Well, they weren´t converts til yesterday technically but ... still. Yesterday we sat down the four of us, I talked with the District leader and the Zone leaders for advice and they said Elder Garcia, who lives with us is going to do an inventory with Elder Oakes and I yesterday. It went down good, I´m just curious about the long term effects, I learned alot about Elder Oakes and that he feels inferior around me... speak of the devil. Scratch that, I make him feel inferior, which I didn´t realize. I accept it and am making the changes. I didn´t realize it at all, because I´ve been trying SO hard to be his friend, SO hard to do things as a companionship, SO hard with everything. I don´t know, I know I´m learning. I remember the two weeks with Torres and Moreno, I´d joke with Moreno and even though Torres wasn´t the most fun for me, I enjoyed myself, then the first week... well the first half of the first week, I enjoyed with the other two elders. Even with Gonzalez I saw the good and wanted to be his friend. I´m grateful for the challenge though, I feel that God really trusts me if he´s given me something like this. Only He knows what´s up. My hope is a little lacking though. It´s worth it, I´d rather grow than frollick around like a happy fat guy. You already know all that stuff though so I´ll let you in now on what´s going on. First off yes I do know Elder Theobald he went to Red Mountain High School and knew, more or less, my old friend Jamie. I didin´t know he was struggling though, I haven´t seen the guy for a little while now. Elder Wybrow, my... practically best friend in the mission called me about 3 times today and 3 times yesterday night. He´s a good friend now, when he talks I can feel how he appreciates óur friendship. Well we baptized the three little girls Saturda and confirmed them. Great family, Gaby of 15 is my favorite, she´s just cool. Next week we had another baptism for Adriana, but she didn´t come to church yesterday and we couldn´t find her on Saturday, wasn´t home. So, hoping and praying we´re going to try and find her this week and teach what´s missing. Then we have another family; Rosio, Estrella, Carlos, Teresa, Carolina, Marcinello and Esmeralda...and Osbaldo but he´s like 4, doesn´t count. We have been teaching them since our first Thursday together, Rosio Marcinillo and Teresa have been to church twice now and Esmerelda once. We invited them to be baptized and Estrella and Esmeralda took the 20th as a goal to be baptized Marci´s going to be baptized on the 20th and the others think they need more time and that. Yesterday however we went over and after talking a few minutes starting reading in the Book of Mormon, we read 3rd Nephi 11 and it was probably the best lesson we´ve had yet. Carlos, 25, told Elder Oakes afterwards, you guys need to do that everytime you come over. He like it I guess. And they got a little more animated for baptism, as Marci asked ¨I´m getting baptized the 20th right? Do I need to buy white clothes?¨ Lastly we have lttle Brian, his parents and brothers and sisters are members, but he´s only 9 and was never baptized, they´re a little inactive now and it´s a struggle to get them to church, but they plan everything they want to do at 10 Sunday morning, then they´re home all afternoon. Yes all three weeks have been technically valid excuses, but they were deliberately planned at that time. Well one week they got sick. Anyway. We´ve going to start knocking and contacting a little ore this week and visit some names and addresses we have. Guie who we found once last week told us that she had prayed and knew it was true, but then went out of town, so well see if we can find her next week. I express my intimate feelings of gratitude for all you´ve done for me and your love and support continuous. I hope and pray everything goes well over here as well as there. I ask you pray that I´ll be able to make the changes I need to be a better companion and prepare me for the future. That Elder Oakes and I will just get along. DO the work. Next Monday elder Garcia and I are going to Bellenes again to visit everyone. That should be pretty fun. Oh, I´m also typing in missionary clothes right now, last monday was the start of missionary clothes on P-Day, pres felt that the mission was a little too lazy and laxed on the mission rules so he input the new rule. I just found a sheet of pokemon stickers I bought for 10 pesos. Other than that, nothings new, except that this week went by deadly fast, up til Friday night. .... ....Something is going down with the areas, we all ´know´ that this zone is going to the other mission and we´re going to take over some new turf. We´ll see. I have pictures, but no cable, lol, so I can´t help you out with that. Lol, I hope to get your package soon, I heard about the fedex package, and I don´t know what´s up with it now then. I´m debating giving the second little Preach my Gospel you sent, I assume it was you??... to my comp, but it´s hard to make that decision. Anyway,LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Tell David thanks for writing and I´ll try to write him a letter! Thanks MOM n Dad! I love you guys-Jake

June 1, 2009

Alright well I´ll do my best to answer the questions. Elder Hoffman is NOT with Gonzalez, but as he says in his own words before telling me who he´s with now, he´s going to have a big trial. He´s with Elder Archibeck, from Monterrey, who ... quite frankly has the worst rep in the mission. I love the kid, nice guy, likes to work, in his own way, and although weird, polite, at times. Lol. talks and eats alot. I did divisions with him once and met him in my third week in the mission. Nice guy. Elder Oaks is from Millenium, it is to Boise like Chandler is to Phoneix. Lastly, I am in what is called ´Rio Verde´ in the zone ´Mirador´. It ... is... SUPER ... small... We have to do contacts always, and I´m pretty sure in the next five weeks, we´ll talk with the same people 5 times. I´m not looking forward to that. That´s great that you´re listening in Spanish! My spanish is going down, and we had a chance to visit Ascencion last week! But.. she said my companions accent of three months is better than mine.Which made go... huh? I don´t agree, he speaks good for three months. Well I don´t have a lot of time. The truth is Elder Oaks and I aren´t getting laong too well and we barely talked to each other today. I´m making plans to talk to him during planning. But because we´re already getting up to go I wanted to share some of the good stuff that happened. We found a family, who really aren´t that poor, but don't really care we believe to spend money on the house as much, but they called us over because we´re tall and we talked to them they went to church and are going to the activities this week with us! Proably next week they´ll go to church also! Hopefully we´ll even put a baptismal date with them, we need to see if they did their prayers! We also had a guy yell at us at 8 o´clock last night, who´s friend told him, when you see the elders ask them for advice, they´ll know what to say. I thought of giving him a book of mormon and he responded ´you left me speachless´ ... uh... we replied, is that good or bad I said, lol. It´s not good or bad, it´s perfect! Whew...lol. We´re going to go back and find him, see what he says and teach. We also have three little girls that are going to be baptized this week. Saturday, day after my birthday! Their parents aren´t married yet, but are working on it. We also have two baptisms pending, Briand a 9 year old, whose parents are members and Adrianna 20 something, she wants to get baptized but is impossible to find, her parents are also members of about 3 years and a few of the kids have popped on, but she wants too. We´ll see. I don´t know honestly, what my comp has against me or if he does, I don´t really want to talk a whole lot about this either. But every hour, every day, criticizing mocking degrading. ¨Oh you haven´t practied very mch have you, you´re not very good at teaching.¨ My Spanish is so much better than yours for just three months.¨ I don´t want to list any more. But it´s so hurtful and it makes me feel like crap, to the point that leaving gets in my mind. I want to be here tough, I want it to work out. I need to make the sacrifice to make it work. It´s always but I don´t want to do that, I don´t feel like doing that rigt now. I just go and we find something else to do, and we´ve had incredible success up til now, but I know we can also do better. I just don´t want to walk in the streets upset still, I don´t want to walk into a lesson knowing the spirit could be stronger. Alot more I could say, but we´re going... I just want to say I love you and I really need your help and prayers and support more than ever. Pray that I´ll be humble and have the guidance I need.Love YOU! -Jake D. Taylor