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!

-- 

-Elder Taylor

Down to... 36 Hours

This week was pretty good. On the 24th for the Sunday Devotional we had the Nashville Tribute Band come and sing. It was a good change from having a talk every Sunday

This week Elder Walker got pink eye. It never got super bad, but we didn't want him spreading it around here, or in Nicaragua. So we went to the medical office here and they prescribed him some eye drops. But we had to walk to the Pharmacy a mile away to pick it up. On our way there, we saw some people and most of them where like "Hey Elders" and what not. But there was one lady who was with her kids, and when we got closer to them (we were walking in different directions toward each other) she told her kids to start moving faster and ignored us when we said hello. It was kind of funny. I was wondering why she would walk near the MTC if she didn't want to see missionaries. But hey, good times.

On Friday we had In Field Orientation. It was pretty much an all day thing that taught us how to be better missionaries and how to use the skills I learned here when we are in the field. I wish that there would have been some Nicaragua training. But I'll get a lot of that in 2-3 days.

Then last night, our investigator Ivette, brought us all Thank You cards for teaching her. I don't think she has done that for any other missionaries that have taught here. Or at least the ones that we knew.

Well that's all that really happened this week. Hopefully there will be more to write about next week. At least I've got some more pics this week. 

 Until then, stay frosty!​

-Elder Taylor

​Elder Cole thought my crossed eyes were funny, so he took a pic​

The Nicaraguan Flag on my Door

​Good Companionship​

​District Picture after last class with one of our teachers

​Us at the Temple this morning with zone members​

The backup plan is my real plan...

"Not Slytherin.. Not Slytherin..." -Harry Potter

In Just 9 days, I will be in the Jungle of Nicaragua! In 3 days, I will be the part of the oldest district in the zone. All of the people that were here when I showed up will be in the field. It's a weird thought.

Last Sunday we had the usual devotional. They made it appear as though the speaker didn't show up. We watched an Elder Bednar talk to start out. Which is weird because we usually watch a movie after the speaker. But when it ended, Elder Bednar was there in person. He didn't give a talk, but instead had a Q&A. It was pretty cool to have him there. That night we also beat, our previous record for choir attendance, we had 1400 missionaries. (The MTC had about 3000 missionaries last week)

Our zone is starting to become a mini Hollywood. We have many famous sounding/looking missionaries. For example: Elder "Lightning" McQueen, Elder Batman (See Photo for proof), Elder "Holy" McGrail, and Hermana Bond. And our Elder Rich is pretty much a real life Mr. Incredible.

The MTC decided to bless us with a one month gift. I rained here for the first time the entire time i've been here. Just a cool side note.

The past 2 weeks, when we went to the Temple, we got breakfast there as well. You can get 3 biscuits and gravy, with hashbrowns and a drink for $5. Its pretty awesome!

Yesterday I got a haircut. Elder Perry went to get his hair cut because we need one before we leave the MTC. I didn't plan on getting one but they had an open seat so my awesome locks are gone :( But it will feel good in the jungle.

That's all ive got this week. Hopefully ive got some more to write about when I get into Nicaragua. But till then, Have a great Pioneer day!

-Elder Taylor

Elder Batman and me (That's his "I'm Batman" face)

Batman's Name Tag

Pic with the Nicaraguan flag that now hangs in our room

And a pic with my favorite hat!
(A treasure passed down for generations) 

Old Men and Flying Birds

This week I decided to write down things that I wanted to write home about. So hopefully this one will have some more meat.

On Sundays and Tuesdays, we have choir practice. My companion really likes to sing, so I go too. The first week here, we had the largest choir in the world. Approximately 950 members. We just sing for the Tuesday night devotionals. That many people are really loud, it was cool.

On Wednesday mornings, we have to do an hour of assigned service. For us, that means we take a hose into the bathrooms and put a thing of acid on the end of it and spray down the showers. Then we take off the bottle of acid and spray it down with water. Compared to the other jobs that I have seen(sweeping the cement, taking out garbage, etc) we have it pretty nice. And we just get to shoot water everywhere!

We have this one elder in our District named Elder Christensen. He likes being on the mission, but really likes getting off topic. Last week, he started setting up a game of Dungeons And Dragons that we can play when we all get home from out missions. He gave us options of different characters and how they live their lives. I was a Halfling that was super evil and liked to party. I guess that's good? Yesterday he got tired and wanted to take a nap in class. He put a book bag on his head and laid across three chairs. Right as he put his head down, a teacher came in to the room. It was pretty funny.

This week we got to teach our first real investigator. Her name is Ivette. She from El Salvador and is going to BYU learning English. The first 2 times that we taught her, she didn't really want to open up. She would ask a lot of questions, and she thought that the Book of Mormon is evil. But on the last lesson we had with her she said that she had started reading the Book of Mormon and had prayed about it. That was a huge step. We'll see how the lessons progress.

Elder Walker gave me a new band name: Daily Deaconitis. He said it because everyday he somehow manages to have some tie poking out from his collar.

We got some new elders and one new sister in our zone this week. They are alright but I haven't had much opportunity to talk to them. There is one black kid that came in, who is also a Ginger. I thought that was cool. This week I get to be a host that welcomes the new missionaries and takes them to their rooms.It should be fun.

That is all I've got, don't take any wooden nickels

--

-Elder Taylor

The 4th of July

The Provo Temple