¡¡¡PIÑATA TIME!!!

This past week was actually really awesome. We could find a lot of new investigators. (48) and have another good week at church.

It rained a lot this past week. Pretty much everyday except Sunday. On Thursday they put the country on red alert for floods and a lot of rain. It rained from 6am on Thursday till Friday morning. It wasn't just a light rain. It was like a downpour all day. My shoes, pants, and shirt, pretty much everything got soaked. I even used an umbrella as well. But the streets got flooded, and it came up to about mid calf or almost knee high at some places. But all is well now. (It is actually raining pretty hard right now)

The highlight of the week was probably the piñata that we had at the church on Saturday. It was to get the kids animated to come to church as well as the piñata. It went really well. We had about 35 kids there. And they all had a great time. We had 2 piñatas full of candy. I'll let the pics and video do the rest of the telling.

On Sunday at church we had 26 people! It was a good week again. Hopefully we can keep up the good work. We have a lot of people that can get baptized these upcoming weeks. I will keep you updated!

Till next time,​

-Elder Taylor

My New Soles

A Really Tuanis (Awesome) Week

This week was actually really good. Remember my shoes that had giant holes in them? Well, it turns out, right after I finished writing last week, we went to dinner. And the Hermana where we left the shoes, had found someone to change the soles. So my shoes are just like new. It only cost me 150 cordobas. (5 dollars) So I am back up to 2 pairs of shoes.

On Thursday we had a visit from Elder Cordon of the 70. He gave us a really good message about missionary work and how we can get better everyday. I really enjoyed it. In the meeting, I had 7 old companions. Elders Walker, Perry, Sevilla, Alvarez, Ruiz, Asplund, And Ramos. The only ones that weren't there were my 2 comps that have gone home, and 1 who was in a different meeting with other zones. It was cool. sadly I didn't get a pic...

We lost a few days work with the meeting because it was in Managua. But when we were in our area, we worked hard. We had to sleep in La Paz Centro (Peace center) the area of my DL on Wednesday cuz we had to leave at 4am. And on the way back we stayed in Nagarote and ate papusas. 

On Sunday we went with leaders from Leon to get members to go to church. I went with the 1st counselor of the Stake President of Leon to get people to church. We had a lot of success. We ended up getting 34 people to church this week. (A Malpaisillo record) And 8 investigators. It was really awesome. Especially after having only 10 people total for like 2 weeks in a row. If we can keep it like that we will be a branch really soon. Hopefully I can be here another transfer. I really like this area!

-Elder Taylor

(Sorry only a video that I might have sent before, for this week, my pics are kind of hard to get online these days)​

I Got Bit By a Dog

This past week was pretty good! We had a lot of good lessons, and others that didn't really go anywhere. But we have investigators that are progressing towards baptism. And that is always good!

On Thursday we went to Hna. Gloria's house to eat dinner. She is not a member, but is awesome and gives us dinner every Thursday. She makes a really really good gallo pinto. (Rice and beans) You would think that all tastes the same. But no, there is good rice and beans and bad rice and beans. But there is a big difference. Every time that she makes it, It is really tasty. So she taught us how to make it the way that she does. It turned out awesome. So now I can make it in the USA

This week was really hot. It didn't rain all week. So I guess we are going into the hot season now, and out of the rainy season. And I am in the 2nd hottest part of the mission.

Yesterday at church we only had 10 people. We had a lot of people fall through that normally come, and investigators that said they would come that didn't show up. But it was good. I taught gospel principles class. And we are planning the first ever temple trip of Malpaisillo ever! They have to go to the Honduras Tegucigalpa temple which is the closest temple. But the members are excited.

After church, a member invited us to eat lunch at his house. He has a corn field that he owns and watches every day. (He is 80 years old) He was really excited to share some of the baby corn that he has right now. When we got there his daughter's dog, came up and bit my foot. Luckily my shoe protected my foot. So I didn't get any bite marks. But he made us a corn dish that was really tasty. It is called Chilote. And he gave us an ice cold Coca-Cola! It was just awesome!

And later that night, another member invited us to roast marshmallows with them. It was just a little fire in there back yard. No fire pit, no ring of rocks around the fire, just a fire in the middle of the dirt. It was fun. We used cookies to make s'mores!

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-Elder Taylor

Lots and lots of Rain

This week we had A LOT of rain. There was a tropical storm passing through central america. The northern part of Nicaragua (where I am) didn't get too much damage. But the southern part had like 11 deaths from too much water. But here in Leon we just got a week of hard rain. I like rain and all, but a week straight gets old.

On Thursday we went on Divisions with the Zone leaders. That was the day that it rained the longest and hardest. We had district meeting that day in the morning and then I came back to Malpaisillo with Elder Rush. He is from South Jordan. And went to Herriman High School. He came to Nicaragua with me. We did some good work, taught some gay dudes the law of chastity, ate some Gallo Pinto with Cream, got soaked down to our socks cuz we had to walk through flooded streets to get home. My shoes didn't get dry till Sunday morning when the sun came out. All in all it was a good time.

On Sunday we worked really hard to get investigators to church, it was sunny, we didn't go to Leon. It was perfect for an investigator to go to church, but we only got 1 to come of the 10 that we thought for sure would come! But 1 is better than none. We had 14 people at church as well. We are always hoping for more, but we did have a lady that hasn't come for 3 months come to church yesterday. So that was really good.

No pics cuz the computer doesn't want to read my memory card. So till next week then!
--

-Elder Taylor

General Conference 3 of 4

This week was kind of slow for the work. We contacted a lot of people, but it was kind of hard because there were a lot of celebrations for Catholic saints. So a lot of people were involved in that.

But General Conference was good. We had to go to Leon to see it. On Saturday there were still trying to figure out the sound and video, so it was on and off. And the power went out too. But still learned some good things.

On Sunday we went with the Branch Momotombo in a bus to Leon. They picked up our small group of 10 people and we headed off. We stayed there till 4pm. We had gallo pinto for lunch that the Hna. MIlagros brought. It was a good time. It was a good time to just chill and listen to the leaders of the church. And while there, Elder Ramos had some member that were in his last area that went to Honduras where he lives to go to the temple and his family sent him a package. So we got some treats this week.

On Sunday night we ate a dish called nacatamal. (see pic). We have it every Sunday night because a member sells them and she makes them really tasty. Its like soft cord dough (I'm not sure how to explain it) with meat and veggies inside. It is cooked inside of a banana leaf. It is a dish only sold in Nicaragua. Kind of rare to find it in other countries.

A funny story from this week: Elder Ramos and I were trying all week to have a lesson with this family that says that they want to visit with us. But every time we went for the lesson, they were busy or weren't home. On Friday we passed at 7:30pm when they told us to. But again, they weren't home. But we aren't sure because their door was open just a crack. They had asked for a Book Of Mormon, and we had brought it for them. But when nobody came to the door, we just left the book on top of the door for them to find. I am still not sure what happened to the Book of Mormon. But when we find them we will ask what happened to it. (I think it fell on their heads) but who knows?

Till next week,

Elder Taylor

General Conference in Leon

People waiting at for a bus in Leon

Elder Ramos and his package

Nacatamal