Surprise Sunday Letter

Today I am sending pics because tomorrow I will be in a new area in Leon Nicaragua. And I am not sure if I will have time to send them out. So here you go and I will send out a letter tomorrow as well if possible.

Me teaching a donkey (Somoto is called the City of Donkeys)​

Still teaching the donkey ​

The church here when it rains​

Teaching English class​

The story that we taught in English class​

Otra semana aqui en Somoto / Another Week in Somoto

Well I have not made a letter in Spanish in a year. And I was one year old last Thursday and I'm going to make one. (Maybe I'll translate it)

This week was very fast. I did a lot of things. I taught English classes again to the girls. We learned verbs such as running, talking, eating, sleeping. Things like that. Talking about verbs. There is a church called "Iglesia Verbo". (Verb Church) Very rare. Elder Asplund and I are always smiling when we pass that church. Just for the name

Yesterday in the church, I gave a message about Miracles in our lives. I give talks almost every week here, and I also teach "Gospel Principles" class to the recent converted and the investigators. Yesterday was a good day.

This week also, an Elder had a worm leave his body ... But, it was very rare. So parasites are very real here.

Today in the morning I went to Ocotal to play soccer with the missionaries there and with some investigators there. It was a team of cheles (white people) against the others and we won many parties. (Gringos FTW) And for breakfast I ate "Wheaties" for the first time in a year. (It's my favorite cereal)

There are not many drunkard experiences this week. Maybe the other week.

Well that's it, I hope you have a super tuanis week and that you can eat good summer meals like barbecue.

-Elder Taylor

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Bueno, no he hecho una carta en español en un año. Y yo tenía un año el pasado jueves y voy a hacer uno. (Quizá lo traduzca)

Esta semana fue muy rápido. Hice muchas cosas. Volví a enseñar clases de inglés a las chicas. Aprendimos verbos como correr, hablar, comer, dormir. Ese tipo de cosas. Hablar de verbos. Hay una iglesia llamada "Iglesia Verbo". (Verb Church) Muy raro. El élder Asplund y yo estamos siempre sonriendo cuando pasamos por esa iglesia. Solo por el nombre

Ayer en la iglesia, le di un mensaje sobre los Milagros en nuestras vidas. Doy charlas casi todas las semanas aquí, y también enseño la clase "Principios del Evangelio" a los conversos recientes ya los investigadores. Ayer fue un buen dia.

Hoy por la mañana fui a Ocotal a jugar al fútbol con los misioneros allí y con algunos investigadores allí. Era un equipo de cheles (blancos) contra los demás y ganábamos muchas fiestas. (Gringos FTW) Y para el desayuno comí "Wheaties" por primera vez en un año. (Es mi cereal favorito)
Esta semana también, un anciano tenía gusano salir de su cuerpo ... Pero, era muy raro. Así que los parásitos son muy reales aquí.

No hay muchas experiencias de borrachos esta semana. Tal vez la otra semana.

Bueno, eso es todo, espero que tengas una semana super tuanis y que puedas comer buenas comidas de verano como barbacoa.

-Elder Taylor

Burning my 1 year shirt

1 Year Down, 1 to Go!

As the title states, I have been out a whole year now! (This Thursday the 22nd)

This has been a really good past year. I have learned a lot and seen a lot in this past year. I can now speak Spanish pretty much fluently and can talk with a whole new group of people. Now I just have 1 year to go!

This past week was pretty good, we went to Esteli on Wednesday for a multi-zone. I got to see a lot of my past companions and old friends that I haven't seen for a while. It was really good.

On Saturday, we had English class with the young girls that we teach each week. We taught them how to say he, she, we,  and simple things like colors and how to ask someone their names. they really seemed to like it. When we see them in the street they usually say something that they learned in English. It is fun.

And that same Saturday, the Mission Nurse and her husband had family visiting from China. (they are white but live in China). So we had a special meeting for them in the church. We watched a Mormon message and ate a lot of cake! They all speak English so that was kind of fun.

I don't have any pics this week, but for sure next week!

-Elder Taylor

I lied....

This is a pic of all the people that have been in Jalapa  that were in the multi-zone​​

Somoto Nicaragua

Well this week was pretty good, we found some really positive investigators and hopefully we will get some baptisms soon. 

The highlight of the week was that Elder Renlund of the 12 apostles came to Managua on Saturday. We left from Somoto on Friday so we could leave early Saturday. We left Ocotal at 8am and got to Managua a noon. Before we went to the meeting we went to McDonald's. I got a Big Mac and a McFlurry for the first time in 4 months. It was so good! We will see the next time I eat that again.

Then after lunch we went to the meeting. All of the missionaries from Nicaragua were there from the North and South missions. So I saw all of my old comps. Elder Renlund gave a really good talk. He talked a lot about how to have success on the mission. And gave us good points. We all got to shake his hand as well. It was really a good time.

My zone was the furthest away from Managua in the Country so we had to leave first. We left at like 4:30pm and got to Ocotal at like 9pm. And we had to leave for Somoto really early on Sunday to get to church on time, and we made it. 

That is all I've got,

Till next week!

-Elder Taylor

A Good Week and Almost a Baptism

As the title says, we almost had a baptism. We had a date for Saturday to baptize a young man (14) named Rolando. But when the time came he said that he wanted to wait till Sunday to do it. So i the morning we went to his house to bring him to the baptism. But then his grandma and mom (who also almost got baptized 2 weeks ago) started saying that he shouldn't do it and so he didn't. But hopefully sometime in the future they will get baptized.

But this week we had a really awesome experience. On Tuesday, the Zone Leaders came to Somoto from Ocotal to do divisions. And the way it worked out was that me and my comp stayed here and Elder Alofipo (see pics) and Elder Ward stayed here as well. And May 30th in Nicaragua is Mother's Day. And it is more celebrated here than in the United States. So we had a Mother's Day party at the church building. We had lots of people there and lots of cake and soda (Nicaraguan Fancy food). It went really well. And afterwards we got pizza.

After eating pizza, we had nothing really going on, when we passed the local basketball court in the park. Elder Ward saw 4 dudes playin' around and went over to them to play against them. They agreed so we played. With the agreement that if we won, they had to go to church on Sunday and if they won we buy them soda. Well we lost the first game 11-9. (We were just getting warmed up, and we were playing with ties on) Then we won 11-9 and 11-8 to finish the games. We won the last game on a fade-away 3 pointer by yours truly! It was really fun but we got really sweaty and finished at like 9:20pm. And the sad part is that they didn't go to church. But maybe in the future when they remember the time they got beat by 4 white dudes in ties and white shirts. 

That was just about it, always workin' hard,

Stay cool,

-Elder Taylor

Me & Elder Alofipo. He is from Salt Lake

A view in Somoto

At times when I say that I am now in Somoto I feel like its kind of crazy, but here I am. Somoto is a really pretty place. A bit hotter than Jalapa, but I'm getting used to it.

This week was crazy, I got here on Monday and on Tuesday we had our district meeting. We don't have any hermanas in our district and we are only 6 of us, but all of the people here are good. I'm enjoying myself here.

On Wednesday, it rained so hard. One of the strongest rains I've seen here. Within 5 mins of the rain starting, the streets were flooded. We were lucky enough to have some random dude let us into his house while it passed. After it passed we had to go to the other side of town, but there are rivers that run through town and so it was hard to get to the other side. But we made it once we found a small bridge to cross.

We have one member here that has met and hugged President Monson. She got baptized 2 weeks ago. She works with young girls that have abuse and many problems at home. And one way she can help them is with English classes. So on Saturday Elder Asplund and I taught English to these girls (ages 8-12) . It was kind of fun.

On Sunday we had 19 people at church with 4 investigators. (3 of which are these girls that we taught English) But is a good branch.

Till next week,

-Elder Taylor

Elder Aslpund and me

The flooded street​


Here is a video of a Fly that does Backflips!

Adios Jalapa!

Well, after 6 months in Jalapa, I left from there today at 3am :( But I am still close to there. I am in a city called Somoto. It is pretty cool. A bit warmer than Jalapa. But it should be a good change.

My new companion is Elder Asplund from Seattle, Washington. He came to the mission the same day as I did. He is my first comp from the United States. It should be fun, he seems like a good guy!

But before leaving Jalapa, we had 2 more baptisms.(Pics next week) We baptized 2 hermanas that are super awesome. We found them at a place that we eat at a lot. They are and were super ready for baptism. Their names are Kelly and Linda. They are sisters.

On Thursday, we were supposed to go to Ocotal so they could do the baptismal interviews for Kelly and Linda. But they are fixing the bridges that cross the rivers to Ocotal right now and with the rain, the river got really big and we could not pass. So we had to turn back to Jalapa. It was kind of funny. And we were 3/4th of the way there.

Well, I'll send pics of all the good happening next week, but stay awesome and don't be afraid to send me a message or an email some day!

-- 

-Elder Taylor