Pics y videos de Jalapa

A nice view on top of a hill in Jalapa

Stormy Ocotal

 3 of my converts playing on a swing that we made

Baptisms of Kelly and Linda

The sister that make or Lunch every day (Mamiki)

Video of an Inchworm

2 Baptisms and a Call Home

Well, this past week was a really good week! First of all we were able to have 2 baptisms! 1 for an hermana that I have been teaching since January. We baptized her daughter in February and this week she finally felt ready to take the step of baptism! On Friday she told us that she wasn't going to do it, but after a good spiritual lesson with her, she felt ready and her doubts were resolved. Her name is Eneyda.

The other baptism was a man that was pretty much a member. He has gone to church every week since I've been in Jalapa. We thought that he was baptized over 20 years ago, so we wanted to ordain him to the Aaronic Priesthood. But when we looked for his records, they didn't appear. So we had to baptize him so he has  record and can receive the priesthood. He is pretty awesome. His name is Orlando.

On Sunday at church we had 27 people which is really good with a lot of recent converts there as well. Then after church we went to the river to baptize Eneyda and Orlando.

After the baptisms we went to lunch and then to call the family for mothers day! It was pretty awesome.

After the call home, we went to visit a recent convert named Daysi. While talking with her, it started to rain really hard with thunder and lightning, when all of the sudden all of the lights go out in all of Jalapa. So we finished there, and when there is a blackout here it is kind of dangerous, so Elder Ruiz and I ran home which was a 20 minute walk or like 5 mins running in the pouring rain in a blackout. It was actually pretty fun, and a good story for later in life!

Well, that's all for this week,

-Elder Taylor

Me, Eneyda, Orlando, Elder Ruiz at the baptism

A little puppy named Pantera (Panther)

Jalapa at 4:45am

A plantain more than double the size of my hand!


A couple of videos First of a parrot and the second of a puppy

Rainy and Hot

Well, winter has finally hit Jalapa again,(that's right, I was here for all of summer). And that means a lot of rain and its still a bit hotter than usual. So it got pretty humid this week. But we still worked hard even with the heat.

This Saturday we should have a baptism of an Hermana that has been preparing for a long time for baptism. She finally feels ready and wants to take this step of baptism. Her daughter was baptized with me and Elder Alvarez in February. So it is a good thing!

And on Sunday is mothers day, so I will get to talk to the fam!!

A short letter but hopefully the next one comes with baptism pics!

-Elder Taylor

A Decent Week

This last week was pretty good. Elder Ruiz had to take it easy because he had surgery on his toe last week. But we still got a bit done. (He is all good now) We were in Ocotal on Tuesday for the weekly meeting and then we came back to Jalapa that afternoon. And cuz Elder Ruiz couldn't walk, we played Monopoly! That was pretty fun. (too bad I didn't get a pic)

On Wednesday we went to Esteli for the Multi-zone conference. I got to see Elder Alvarez again and a few other mission friends there. Oh and we woke up at 3 am to get there on time.

 On Sunday we had 18 people at church (A little low) but we have some good new investigators. So all is good here.

 Till Next week.
-- Elder Taylor

Me riding in the back of the mission nurse's car on the way to the hospital for Elder Ruiz's toe

A mouse that we caught in our house

An average street in Jalapa

My favorite lunch - guallo pinto, tajadas (fried plantains), churrizo, and the bottle is full of chile
(it is like a juice of vinegar, chile peppers, and onions. It is spicy and tasty. Almost everywhere has one)

100lbs of Bananas at 3am

Well since I last wrote, I have gone to Managua 2 times. And the first time was last Tuesday. We had reserved seats for the 3am bus. But it broke down before leaving Jalapa. So we had to leave on the 4am bus instead. We waited for the 3am bus on the side of the road, but when it didn't pass, we had to go to the bus station to wait for the bus. And one lady had a 100lb bag of bananas (cuz its Nicaragua) and so we helped her carry them to the bus station (like 100 yards away)

When we finally got on the 4am bus, all the seats were taken. So we had to stand for 5 and a half hours to Managua. But we made it. We went to a meeting for my companion, because he is new in the mission. While eating lunch there, the mission nurse came over and asked about my comp's ingrown toenail. When they went to look at it, it was infected, so we went to the hospital so they could clean it. And today we went back to the hospital so they could take care of the toenail but cutting it out. So Elder Ruiz will be on crutches all this week.

Yesterday at church we had 27 people and 2 investigators!! So we are still making progress toward being a branch!

Till next week,​​

Elder Taylor

The "Jalapeños" before the transfer

The "Jalapeños" eating Mexican food

Me with Elder Vaides when we did divisions

Another Transfer in Jalapa

On Saturday we got the call that I will be staying here in Jalapa for another transfer, and that Elder Alvarez will be going to Matagalpa. I am finishing the training of a new missionary that I am yet to meet. I will go pick him up in Ocotal tomorrow. This will be 4 transfers and 6 months here.

Sorry no pics today, but ill send some with my new comp for next week!

Always,

 -- 

-Elder Taylor

Getting Hotter and Conference

This week was pretty good. We have a few people that are progressing towards baptism.

It's getting hotter every day here. It's about 90° today. And it's a little humid as well. I remember when Jalapa had the high of 80°. That was good times.

On Saturday and Sunday we had General conference. We dont have a church here, and the place that we meet is a business so, we had to rent out a cybercafe to watch it with the members and investigators. We got like 50 people there over the 2 days! That was really awesome. And the talks were really good as well.

Hopefully we can have a baptism before the end of this week, cuz tranfers are next week. So, I might be writing from another city. (A lot of people think I am going to a place called Somoto) (look it up) But I will let you know!

Peace out,

Elder Taylor

To start out Saturday morning conference

To finish Saturday morning conference

Enjoying pizza after the Priesthood session!

Nicaragua

Well, not too much happened this past week. We only went to Ocotal 1 time and it was for the weekly District meeting.

I heard that the United States Soccer team beat Honduras 6-0! Which is funny because, I'm from the US and Elder Alvarez, my companion, is from Honduras. so it was a good win for more than 1 reason!

At church we had 25 people. And a lot of recent converts as well. It' good that our converts are all going to church! It makes life a little better sometimes.(not that it is bad)

Today for p-day we started by helping a family of investigators dig a 6 ft hole for an outhouse that they are going to use. (It needs to be 12 ft) But it was fun to do. Just one of the things that I will probably never do in The US. 

Sorry for the short letter and no pics. Next week I will get some good stuff to send out. :)

-Elder Taylor

I Forgot a Good Story

I was walking to church yesterday with some recent converts and suddenly 2 angry dudes start swearing at each other. And I'm not really sure why they were angry, but they were. And then they started chucking rocks at each other in the middle of the street. Then after a few missed throws, one pulls out a 7 inch knife and tells the other guy to run or he will make him run. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Just wanted to share that with the home crowd.

Little Boy Blue

This week was a good one. We started out with not too many people to teach. So the work was a little slow. But we were still making progress with some of our investigators.

Elder Aybar

On Thursday I made the 3 hour bus ride to Ocotal to go on divisions with elder Aybar, from the Dominican republic. We worked hard and got a lot done that day. On Friday I came back to Jalapa at 6am.

On Sunday, there was Stake Conference in Esteli, but because we are so far away, we didn't go. So the members of Jalapa met at the usual place. Which turned out to be really good! We had 37 people at church. Another new record for Jalapa! (Just 31 people more than we had on Christmas) We used all of the chairs and all of the space in the small room that we meet in! Even 2 missionaries were standing! It was pretty awesome to see all of the recent converts there and a lot of investigators! We will have to start looking for a new place to meet soon. There are worse problems to have!

Talk to you next week!

-Elder Taylor

Me at the cyber cafe where we email every week.

A Lot of Traveling

As the title says, this week we traveled a whole lot!!

Monday we went to Managua like I said last week. That was just the beginning of the buses!

Tuesday we went to Ocotal for district meeting. Later that day, we were visiting Sonia, one of our recent converts. She is really awesome! And after we went to see Noami, a convert of Elder Torres. She got back from Managua this week, and something has obviously changed with her. Because when we went to just say hi, she opened the door and when she saw that it was us, she gave that door a good SLAM!!! It is a metal door and it rang for a good 10 seconds. Hopefully she will change for the better later on.

Wednesday, we didn't have to go anywhere, so that was good. We just worked hard that day.

Thursday, we worked till 2pm and then got ready to leave for Ocotal at 4. We left at 4 and got there around 7pm. Because the next day we had to leave for Esteli.

Friday we got on the 6am bus for Esteli, to go to the multi-zone meeting. We got there at 9am. The zones of Ocotal, Matagalpa and Esteli were all there. It was a good day, and the chapel there has air conditioning! So that is a bonus.

When we got back to Ocotal at 7pm, we got on a bus to Jalapa. But it was an express bus, so it only took an hour and a half to get there.

When we got to Japala, Elder Alvarez and I were really hungry, so we went to a fritanga. (Cheap Nicaraguan food place) And when we got there, a friend from the city who isn't a member, bought our food for us! That was pretty awesome!

On Sunday, we had 21 people at the church. That is a bit low after having 29 or more for 5 weeks in a row. But there is always next week.

Today we went to Ocotal at 6am to Play soccer on a turf field with the zone. I got a bit sunburned (See pics) but it was really fun

Hasta la proxima semana!

(Until next week!)

-Elder Taylor

A Squirttle key chain I bought

My sunburned face today after playing soccer

One of my new ties that I am sporting today

A Quick Letter

Yesterday we went to Managua, so that is why I'm writing today.

No baptisms this week, so we will work hard to get one these coming weeks.

Talk to you next week!

Elder Taylor

25 pounds of Ties!!

Una semana de Milagros (A Week of Miracles)

This week was a really good week! 

First off, I will be staying in Jalapa with Elder Alvarez for another 6 weeks! So that is good.

On Tuesday we went to Ocotal to have interviews with President Poncio. That was a good day.I got to see the whole zone that day. And once again on Wednesday we went to Ocotal to have zone meeting. So that made it 2 days in a row going to Ocotal.

And won't you know it, We went to Ocotal again on Thursday. This time with an investigator. She got married on Saturday and needed her birth certificate. So we went with her and her 2 kids to get that.

After 18 hours of buses in 3 days, we finally stayed in Jalapa on Friday through today!

On Friday we had 2 baptisms! We were teaching 2 investigators for a about 2 months and they finally got baptized. And it helps that they are friends. When we got back from the baptisms we had pig foot soup!

On Saturday we had the wedding for a family that got baptized on Sunday.

Sunday, we had church. We had a record number of people there of 32! That is really good for Jalapa! And then after church we all went to the River to baptize. (RIO LINDO [Beautiful River]) We baptized 3 people and the other missionaries here baptized 2 as well. With 1 from the ward! It was a really good day. 

This transfer we had 10 baptisms! That is the new record for the zone here. 

And finally today, when I went to get my hair cut. The guy cutting my hair also cut my ear! He just asked me if I felt it. And I said yes and then he had to stop the bleeding before he could continue. It was kind of funny .

- Elder Taylor

Us (with Elders Carlisle and Vaidez) celebrating baptisms Friday night eating pizza at the best pizza place in Jalapa - Pizza Giormar - 24 pieces of pizza,bread sticks and a 3 liter of Pepsi for 570 cordobas or 20 dollars

Elder Alvarez and me

A crazy niño

Jalapa FUEGO!!!!

This week was a pretty good one. 

On Tuesday we went to Managua to hear Elder Rasband of the 12 Apostles speak to us. We had him and 3 other members of the 70 that preside over Central America there. It was pretty cool. He was there to talk to the president of Nicaragua. Elder Rasband doesn't speak Spanish so he had translators to help him. It was cool to understand both languages.

Then on Saturday we had a baptism for a sister Named Sonia. She was really excited to finally get to be baptized. She wanted a lot of people there, so we did what we could and got a lot of people to watch the baptism and support her. It was a good day.

This week we could have as many as 7 baptisms. But we will try hard to get them.

-Elder Taylor

"Goats in Nicaragua"

Sonia's Baptism

Making pupusas (A traditional dish from El Salvador)

Crown Burger Hat!