SOOO... Mom has been a SLACKER! Spencer is in Manaira

Well...I apologize for not updating this for several months.  Life gets busy then you get behind...then things get overswhelming!  So I will enter a few of the highlights from May, June, and July, with excerpts from his emails and pictures he has sent!   I will do August and Sept next week, just so that this post is not completely overwhelming!  Enjoy the pics and emails!



May 8, 2013

This week we had some awesome experiences with prayer.. i will tell a few and show how prayer really is sucha  powerfull tool that we have. we got to move somebody from one house out of our area, to a house in our area this week. we had a schedule super packed and didnt have much time to move her but we thought hey its more important to serve here than some of our other compromises. so we arived there to moved, moved all the stuff out to the front of the house. and just waited and waited for the moving truck to arive because it was getting later and the ladie was just super stressed because of this. so we set everyone down that was there and explained how prayer is a blessing and how it really works. elder stanley said the prayer and literally less than a minute later he arived with the truck. everybody was so surprised, the driver just got lost and then felt prompted to take one road and bam, it led him to our house. ps, so in the moving van there wasnt any space in the ghetto cab so we rode in the back, oh but let me tell you the freaking driver took off before he shut the door to the back!! so the door was just wide open with barely any room for us in the back going down the freeway. haha it was so scary/fun/crazy! but we made it there saftely and unladed everything. then the car of the ladie wasnt starting because the batery was dead and she needed to go get the other people who were at the house. so as you can guess we said a prayer, and bam, the next time she tried it started right up. as we were helping her move, we missed an interview with out baptism and couldnt get a hold of her by phone, and couldnt just leave in the middle of helping the lady move. so we prayed that things would work out fine with our baptism, mana. finally we finished ran to her house and she was just getting ready to go to the interview because sometyhing happened and she coudnt make the interview earlier and couldnt get a hold of us to tell us. she was so sad because she thought she missed it then we explained what happened. so many miracles happen every day when we ask for them.

 yesterday i had a chance to teach a person who led us into the construction site, and called all the other people that were there to listen to our message about prayer. before we left, we said a prayer with everyone there. it was so awesome to look around and see more than 20 men, kneeling with us as we said the prayer.

May 13, 2013 

 it almost doesn't  seem real that i got to talk to you guys yesterday. it was the best seriously to talk with all you. you guys are #1 thanks for all you do for me seriously, all the support you give me is amazing. baby brox is seriously so rad. im so stoked for morgan and whitney and everything thats happening in there lives. they will be an example super big in my life of the things i wanna be doing when i have there age. but right after we signed off on skype, we just continued doing the same things. haha just went straight in to contacts and teaching people again! so stoked though to be a missionary

i wanted to let you know about something rad that happened yesterday. so when i left bom jardim, a short term missionary went in my spot. turns out hes from an area super close here in joao pessoa. so at church yesterday he came to my ward here just to talk with me and give me an update on what happened and who got baptised there. so 4 people that i was teaching got baptised, but one story was super cool. we were teaching this mom of the family for more than a month, but she was traveling and stuff and just didnt work out for her to go to church while i was there which was a bummer. she is super good but wouldn't commit to baptism and we couldnt figure out why. the first day she went it was fast and testimony meeting and she got up during the middle of it and went to the pulpit and said,"i wanted to bear my testimony that because the things elder taylor and elder cezar taught to me, i know the church is true from the power of the holy ghost and i want to get baptized. in the name of jesus chrirst amen." haha everyone was like whattt! how awesome is that?

 this week was solid! we got some motivation really to work on families after we both talked to our families on mothers day so we went nuts trying to find a family. every day we are praying to find a family that we can baptise and in one year go get sealed in the temple, if you guys could remember this in your prayers too i would really love that. we need all the help we can get!" haha had some good rejections with some families which is always a little sad but we know eventually well find one. just one family to have the happiness and blessings and knowledge that they will stay together for ever would be the COOLEST thing ever. one thing that weve been doing every day with just about ever contact we do or certainly with every lesson, is sing a hymn. the hymns are so powerful. such an awesome way to invite the spirit to seriously just warm up the room or the street or any place. i love singing hymns. i still don't sing the best haha so im thankful that no matter how bad you sing, the spirit will come.

May 27, 2013

this week we made some visits with some members in our ward who wanted to visit some less actives in the favella and wanted our  "security" . we made some visits but was so funny, after 10 minutes everyone was sweating and complaining about how aweful this is and all this stuff!  haha after an hour we went back because they were all dying! it ust made me greatful for the missionary mantle that i have cause sometimes i dont know how we do this everyday! 

June 3, 2013

carumba i dont believe im almost 20!! haha what the heck happened   when did i get so old?! it definetely doesnt feel like im gonna have a birthday. it will seriously just feel like another day. i almost forgot until i read your emial. but its great that im getting lost in the work, haha best birthday present ever! i got the cards you send me . you guys are number one and i love you so much. 

We gave some happy birthday wishes vis white board!

Uncle Craig and Aunt Joy

Luke

Morgan, Whitney and Brox

Connee and Robbie Romero

Mom and dad!

Grandpa and Grandma Morgan

The Robert Morgan Family

Jeff and Nan

Aunt Stacey and cousin Megan

The Brokaw Family

The Alan Morgan Family

 so morgan, i always said i really wanna be like you. so this week i followed a little more in your example, and i ate chicken feet. haha really it was so weird!  just jaming the whole foot of the chicken in your mouth and sucking/chewing on the fatty   little bit of meat that the foot has to offer. haha so weird serioously! they dont waist anything in the other countries.   

right now im so sore.. last night we were teaching, me and elder williams in his area, and we finished a lesson super late and were stll so far from our house and no time to return. so we ran i thnk a litle more than 2 miles spriting back to the house to try to make it before our cerfew. we made it at 9:33 wich was a little sad but hey the good part is is that i think i ran like a 5 minute mile haha im so out of shape right now. 

 this week was really good, really   we have been foucusing a ton on working with members. because our area is one of the richest here in the north on brazil and to be honest its a a  whole diferent way you have to work because most of the people here have all the necessidades of life and think they dont need the gospel to be happy.  but i love working with them, teaching people who are smart is a lot of fun. because besides the fact of the gospel being  true, everything logically makes sence too which is so awesome.  so really weve just been using our extra time where normally wed just do a million contacts, and have been serving the members.        like a mentoned earlier every day we are praying for a family that we can baptize and seal in the temple.  we know that through the membors heavely father will answer our prayers. we have been serving them in our spare time and weve already gotten 2 families as referals which is so awesome. was rad in fast and testimony meeting we had 4 or 5 people mention us and how really we are like Christ and jus talked about the spirit that they feel when we were serving them. this week we painted a wall in the house of these newley weds who will have their baby in july. i couldnt help thinking about morgan and whitney and broxy when i we were helping them. service.. its so awesome. always look for opportunities to serve, we will grow closer to our heavenly father and really it is the key to happyniess in our lives. 

 love you all so much, sorry for al the spelling mistakes in my email haha ill blame it on the keyboard.

June 5, 2013

carumba i dont belive that im 20 haha i keep forgetting because every day is almost the same exact. but youll be stoked abou this. i got my package on the 5th of june so it was perfect, got to wake up and feel special! super awesome thank you so much for all the stuff it was perfect, im basically drinking tapatio too now which makes life so much better

there are iguanas that are wild here that stay more in like the jungle  but sometimes they leave the forest and stuff and yesterday there was some huge iguanas in the house of the member where we ate, i was  dying i wanted to have my camera of holding it after we caught them but  yea it was rad. 

the rain had been crazy this week too which is good and bad. but yesterday when i went to go get some of  our investigators that live on the other side of the river, the river had risen up and was all in the houses of everyone and everywhen in the streets of the favella. water up to the thighs in the roads of where the houses are and water super high that was passing over the bridge. but still they needed to get to church before sacrament and theres really no other way around the river so we just went in. it was  a super fun experience we got to cary some people throught the flooded streets/ river until they got to the dry ground so they could go to church. something ill never forget!

Flooded street right in the middle of the homes where they teach.

a mom of a recent convert was super super sick the other week. she accepts our visits but she doesnt want anything at all to do with our church and didnt really belive in Jesus Christ , even though we testified with all our might. we unfortunately had to drop her our of our teaching pool. so yea se got super sic and was in the hospital for  almost a month, and was in the urgent care. we went to give her a blessing one day and everything that could have happend to keep us from giving her a blessing happened. seriously, everything that you could imagine, even a document that one of her sons signed saying hat nobody could even enter the room and everything. after some prayer, and some help  from the head doctor, miraculously we got in to visit her. we had to put on these body suits and masks and gloves and things because she had a gnarly infection. when i saw her in this room with a bunch of other people who had the same problem, i thought she was really gonna die as with everyone else. but we gave her a blessing and left. she started to gert better and she got home this week finally after 1 and a half months in the hospital. she called us over and  in one of the most humble voices ive heard, she thanked us for the blessing. and just went on and on and how Jesus is our savior and some really special things. turns out that every other person in the room that had the same problem passed away. the doctor told her that she was sure she was gonna die. what joy i had after i heard this. i just want you all to know that i am so greatful for the priesthood in our lives. i know that it is real. i see things happening every day that strengthen my testimony. i know that with our faith and through the power of the priesthood, everything is possible. i know that Heavenly Father loves us and that he gave this present to us. i am so greatful that i had examples and help in my life to be where i am now, worthy to use my priesthood. i know that Jesus is the Christ and that through his atonement, and only through his atonement, we can return to live with our families with Heavenly Father.

June 19, 2013

this week flew by seriously! pretty soonit will be p day again too. so yea im still here in manaira. i was praying that i would stay. as much as us jrs suffer here with running the two areas, i couldnt be more happy because we get to learn from the best. all the missionaries in our house right now are such studs. this means i will stay in the joao pessoa missão too. i feel its where i am supposed to be. 

Sportin' his new fanny pack!

so when the aps are gone its just me and elder williams. hes from oregon, loves to boat, ride motos and do everything i love so its so fun im seriously enjoying my time with him. we will be friends long after the mission too. hes in the military and is a complete stud. im learning how importance following every little rule is and doing the small and simple things. i love it. had some rad experiences with prayer this week which i am so happy i had. like morgan said to me a little bit ago, on the mision is where he learned to really pray and get answers to help us out, i can say i am totally learning the same. love our Savior so much. 

have a wonderful week and in the words of pedro, i hope all your wildest dreams come true.

June 24, 2013

well first of off it was crazy to hear that travis passed away. seriously he is such a good person. i was telling my companion here that he was probably one of the only kids that i know that hasnt made anyone mad or one of the only people that doestn have anybody who doesnt like him. i remember so much with travis and always being happy, even when he was tired and stuff he was always super happy. but something even cooler that happened when i read about his death, was that i had super strong feelings of peace, something i wasnt expecting to have. i was just thinking about why, and its because i know that he will accept the gospel there in the spirit world. i dont have any doubt about that, and with his help and our help as friends we can help the family know about the wonderful plan that heavelny Father really has for us. what a blessing and peace that this knowledge gives to us. please send a big old hug to everyone in the family, and most importantly, pass on the knowledge that we have about our heavenly fathers plan.

  

so elder stanley went to mission natal, now im companions with elder call (or elder tall because hes 6'7 - 6'8) haha so i feel so short these days and i dont like it! but yea i will learn a bunch again with another assistant. i feel super blessed to be learning already from my 3rd companion assistant.  so ya they teach us about everything, were all super close and i love it. now we have 6 people living in our house, 3 americans, 3 brazilians its pretty crazy but its really good.

today is a holiday called saint john (about john the batist) seriously so pointless. all the people use anything they can to have a day off or something of work. so all of them just light fires in front of the houses, eat corn and shoot off fireworks. even untill the kids with 4 years are running aroun blowing thingsd up its nuts haha i love brazil.. 

July 1, 2013

heres a big tourney going on in the soccer world so its been absolutely nuts during the time when brazil is playing. youd just think the people here are straight up nuts. after every goal that brazil makes it sound like a war zone, you almost just have to stop and find a safe place because of all the fireworks and like little bombs they set off just to make noise. i cant even imagine the world cup, im so stoked haha love brazil. this week was pretty rad, i saw an aligator in the river that i sent a photo to you guys. just a fat aligator chilling waiting to eat something. 

sister hall and pres hall are officially on theirway to the US! so nuts it was so sad to see them go but i love them so much, i will for sure visit them after the mission. they left us with some american food like chilies, brownies, root beer and things like that and i was just stoked out of my mind. if you could just let them know, maybe through pres and sister woffinden, how much their examples touched our lives as missionaries and how i will always remember them/ so greateful for their examples and everything that would be so great. they are special people. pres and sis noguira arived and they are ready to rock and roll. i think we are the only missionaries here who have already talked to them. you can see they have the mantle ready and im excited to follow his councils as he gides the mission in building the kingdom of god.

we had 5 baptisms this week wich was super special. 

Elder Call (or should I say Elder Tall)

July 8, 2013

so this week was good. we baptised a girl named Mayra, shes super smart. she has 8 years and shes super cute but really knows her stuff about the gospel. shes a sister of a member. were working on the family right now but first they need to get married. 

its been raining so much so basically ive been non stop soaked for 2 weeks. but its all part of the work. remember when we'd look on the weather and its say that its raining? and then we just thought oh its probably cloudy or the forecast is wrong.. haha nope, its dead on!

one of my baptisms here just went to the temple for the first time. so stoked he loved it. theres just a special thing about the temple that cant be explained. thats about all for my email this week sorry! 

but just wanted to say how rad our family is. how blessed i feel for being in this family.  something that i came to a conclusion here from reading the scriptures and pmg is that the best way to show how much you love someone, is inviting them to be baptised.. this is my motto here. maybe its a little different for you guys but maybe it could be changed, to inviting them to church or to talk with the missionaries.

July 15, 2013

this week was rad, the man we baptised is super cool. hes the uncle of Yago, a recent convert, who actually got to baptize ricardo. just real fast wanted to say how there are people out here that are just ready to hear the gospel. its so easy to get down thinking that theres not to many people ready and waiting to hear the gospel but heres a quick story on him. so Yago invited him to church and his uncle ricardo said that he didnt want to go and what not so we just moved on. and then sunday i went to church and he was there and i was super surprised. he just said that he woke up and couldnt go back to sleep because he has such a strong feeling to go to church and everything. so he got up in the rain, took the bus all by himself to the church and was the first one there at the church. i was talking to him and just super fast invited him to be baptised and he just said, thats what ive been waiting to here, what do i need to do. haha i just got so stoked and said just grab a towel, undies and lets go to the beach!  he was so prepared already, he got special permission to get baptized with only one sunday in the church. we taught him the lessons and he was living all the standards and just was such a strong feeling that he needed to be baptised and everyone felt it.  after the baptism he just started crying because of how happy he was feeling and everything i just gave him a huge hug and was so happy. 

the holy ghost is real and i know that there are people ready and waiting to hear the message of the restoration, and its through the members that well find them. 

Yago and his Uncle Ricardo

July 22, 2013 (one of my favorite emails)

so because i work in two wards, we have 2 lunches everyday when the AP's are traveling so we chose one or the other, normally the better lunch haha. but theres a guy in the other ward who lives on the 25th floor of this apartment looking over the beach. (ive already sent home pictures from his house) the view is imaculate and the food is awesome too. (dont put his name in the email you send out because maybe its personal) his name is _______, hes super rad, but inactive in the church and he and his wife whos not a member gives food to the missionaries but the bishop said were not alowed to invite them to church, or to hear the missionary lessons or anything like that, just lunch and then leave.  so just a little backround about him, he is the CEO of this huge construction company here in brazil so he is absolutely loaded but the part thats cooler is that he built every temple here in Brazil, except manaus. how awesome is that?! everybody here in brazil knows him, seriously. so hes super smart and super rich and everything. all the missionaries have a lot of intimidation by him and what not but for some reason when i lunched there the first time we just clicked. he surfs, windsurfs and does a lot of stuff i did at home. 

      i have alwasy looked forward to the day to eat there. it was easy to see his heart was a little hardened and stuff which is sad, but one day he was sick and i asked if i could give him a blessing and he accepted, i think that opened up his heart a little.  this past week me and Elder Williams ate there again and before we left we just felt prompted to sing a hymn for them. so we sang the hymn and the spirit was super strong. we just sat there enjoying the spirit not talking after the hymn, he looks to his wife and asks, 'what do you think about taking the missionary dicussions?"  we just about dropped out of our chairs when we heard that. she accepted and we marked a day to come back. but he said to us that the only reason why she accepted to hear the discusions was because of the power of the hymn we sang. not only did this open up her heart, but his heart too. he asked if i could return and teach the wife with elder williams, even though its out of my area. so we taught here and it was so great. they will be going to church this next sunday. maybe that doesnt sound like a huge deal but literally the bishop  and all the leaders are so stoked, as we are. this would help the church here so much so please keep him and his wife ____ in your prayers.  

   i know that hymns have a special power to them. i know that because ive seen the hearts been opened of the people weve been teaching, allowing a little seed for the gospel to be planted. im so greatful for the gift of music and the spirit that we feel from it. im super excited for the progress of _____, this is a big one.  i know that Jesus is our savior and redeemer and that God is our loving Heavenly father.

July 31, 2013

momma the hymn we sung was careço de jesus #61, sorry i forgot the hymn name in english but its really beautiful. ( i looked it up and it is "I Need Thee Every Hour")  the spirit that we felt was so awesome. i actually met a nother person who knows _____ this week and said will go to church. one of the other richest people here in the north of brazil, so i think there could be a little hook there. unfortunately i wont be here to be help them in there progress because im getting transfered tomorrow. 

so now to the super rad part that mom haha im in the same nervous boat as you are as to a calling ( Spencers mom just got called to be a seminary teacher).. i got called to serve in the area of taporaroca, Mamanguape. and ill be training there too. i will leave tomorrow because my new son (brand new missionary companion straight out of the MTC) hasnt gotten here yet, his name is elder loveland and thats all i know about him. but i will be opening up a new branch. its super small and just got changed from a district, to a branch so now they can have missionaries there and well be the first missionaries there. im pretty nervous but so stoked and am excited to apply everything that i learned here. thats about all i have to say or know about the area but in a few more days ill let you know more about it, probably with photos!

so stoked,

Elder Taylor

"What's up from Joao Pessoa! April's highlights

April 8, 2013  I'M NOW IN JOAO PESSOA!

One of my studly friends in Mossoro...

Family! 2 weeks without email im sorry momma haha must haved seemed like a while without email!

but yea the reason why i didnt get to email was because i waisted my whole pday last week riding a wonderful old bus without air conditioning for almost 10 hours to Joao pessoa haha! was not the best pday ive ever had but hey thats okay! so much things to talk about i dont know wher eto start. before i talk about my area here ill talk about a little in mossoro. so we finished off the week with some baptisms which was so rad. i was 99% sure that id be transfered so that wasnt a surprise to me. we really had an awesome last week everything went perfect. but i will miss all those boys there and people in that ward theyre so great seriously. 

something that was way rad was that the bishop came to our house after he knew id be transfered and talked to me and cezar. he just thanked  us for our hard work and talked a lot about how he can see a huge difference in the ward. he also let us know that when we arived there, there was an average of 60-70 people at church ever week and was falling a litle every week. he said every week since weve been there the frequency has rissen because of our work. the last sunday we were there, we had a frequency of a little more than 120 people. im greatful for the opportunity i had to be an instrument in the lords hand and helping the ward out. sitting in the class gospel principals, looking around on sunday and seeing all the people we either baptised or re-activated just gave me the best feeling ever. aall the effort you put in on the mission is always blessed 100 fold. 

but lets talk a little about my rad area and my situation! so i got called to be junior to the assistant. in our mission, the assistants arent companions, and each of them have a companion. when they travel, like they are gone now, me and the other junior have to work both the areas and still reach the goals of the mission. it will be a ton of work but i will learn so much and im so stoked. my companion is elder Andrade and i freaking love him.  this past week has been awesome with him. hes from curitiba  and hes such a stud. he really knows and understands why hes here on the mission. so im in the most rich area of the mission now! haha just alittle change from my past area. im talking when you type in joao pessoa on google, thats exactly where im at. im in a city called manaira if you wanna look it up. its such a difference from mossoro literally everything! its a lot cooler, ive eaten at 2 all you can eat chorrascos already, desert after every meal, we have a microwave, hot water, MCCDONALDS, people have dogs like phoebe and everything hahaa. just a few things to throw out about the area. i will talk about it more next week. and i get mail the minute it comes, packages and everything too so that will be a bonus ill be looking forward too.

and wanna hear the best/worst part? im 5 minutes, or less, walking distance from the beach! haha i can see the beach from our apartment we live in. is that just torture or what!! i live on the 4th floor, and our building is on the other side of the road from president and sister hall. we did some contacts by the beach the other day and woo is it beautiful.

The city where I now live...just a slight change from Mosorro!

Another one of my favorite boys from Mosorro

View from my apartment

i rely on the prayers and the love i feel from you guys when ever the days get hard.

April 15, 2013

hank you for the email! just a few comments about it.. KOBE!!! no! haha i almost started crying when i heard this from you guys. but hes such a stud hell be back before we know it. 

but yes im in another world over here compared to my last area!! its crazy the difference seriously feels like a whole different country. good and bad you know. so i took a couple pictures that i think you all will enjoy, and maybe have be alittle jealous haha.

 some of them are from one of the lunches that we had on the 25th floor of an apartment. and going up to the floor the elavator stopped, we got stuck in there for about 15 minutes it was pretty funny.

 one of my favorite parts is lunch, we eat like nobodys business with food that is so awesome. more than half of the lunches at the membors house have like a maid that cooks the food and stuff. its a good little mix up than just the rice and beans that i ate for 7 months. deserts after every meal. my diahria will stop for sure with all these meals with normal food haha(later today im going to mcdonals for the first time, yes you know im so stoked). the area is really one of the richest areas here in the north part of brazil. i felt back at home when i was walking and saw a lambourgini and an audi R8 parked next to each other.  

you guys wanna hear something that wil make you laugh?! guess who is teaching an english class here! hahah yes, me! 3 days of the week i teach an english class. the bishop asked it i could teach a class to help the youth and stuff. so yea ive been teaching about 15 or more people english, some members and non members. its actually super fun and theyre loving it so its a good way to bring in investigators. who woulda thunk?! (how do you like that grammer?)

Elder C Rossi...my part time companion

this weeks was super good. super busy! so yea the assistants last week traveled 4 days, so i had to work so with divisions from the ward, meanwhile i didnt know anything about the area or investigators but it turned out super good! we baptized saturday too. yesterday they left and wont return until saturday. so i will grow so much here in this position with everything gowing on because while theyre traveling, its just me and the other jr assistant and we have to care for both the areas and still make things happen. i will learn so much from my companion elder Andrade, hes the man. and elder C. Rossi (brazilian, is the other jr so we are companions when they travel) im way excited. the time will fly by here too because im always doing something. 

Me and Elder C. Rossi

Now this is a meal!!

just to close the email, i studied a bunch about the power of the book of Mórmon this week. i found a few quotes in preach my gospel that i wanted to share with you. one was that 

-"in the book of mormon is written the plan to have happiness here on the earth, that gives perspective and significance to life."

- "the book of mormon is a trampoline to gaining a testimony and recieving personal revelation" this is so true. like joseph smith siad, the book of mormon is the keystone of our religion. take it away and what else do we have. my testemony has grown so much about the book of mormon. everyday it continues to, everytime i open and start reading with understanding. the promise in the book of mormon, that everybody can know its true, is real. i can testify to this as a representative of Jesus Christ here in Brazil, that those who apply this promise in their life, members or non members, will, by the power of the holy ghost, recieve an answer from our heavenly Father of the veracity of the Book of Mormon. i know the book of mormon is true. i can say this without a doubt in my mind, and you all can to. 

have a wonderful week, love you all so much. 

love, Professor Taylor 

April 22, 2013

this areas a little more exciting to take pictures haha because its not just dirt and what not. luke i hope you like this basketball court that we found. its like playing street ball, all its missing is the chain net. we play here in the morning sometime, (i played this morning) and its so rad, the beach is literally 30 feet from the court  so maybe one day we can play here and ill dunk on you like im dunking in the picture.

"I'm dunkin' on you Luke!"

This gorgeous beach is right across from the ghetto hoop!

 elder andrade is 22 and he says to tell you that he loves you mom, and chelsea too. haha hes seriously a stud. he only has 2 more weeks left on the mish until he goes home.

Elder Andrade on the right...sorry my eyes are closed!

my english class is basically fluent already too. haha its great to teach them because i feel so smart! but they're learning and im enjoying teaching them. 

such a solid week this week too. it rained a bunch here this week, somedays when i had an umbrella and somedays without. we walk everywhere too which is good. you get some excersice but at the end of the day your a little tired! but you can really feel the strength of the lord helping you like we have promised in D&C 24;12   i was needing to find a couple more poeple to teach so we went out proselyting without umbrellas in the rain and started knocking doors. it works so much better that way because the people feel sorry for us and then casually we get to share a message. here its a lot harder to get into the peoples houses and teach than in mosorro. there its so easy but here everyone is more busy, and closed but more intelligent.  We have a lot more rejections here so thats why its good to use stuff like the rain and what not.

we have a nice 2 story building with air conditioning in it too.

one thing ive been doing this week is challenge them at lunch. i love to have them think of several names and and write them down on a piece of paper while were there. then have them pray about the names throughout the week and than on the next sunday ill grab the name and adress of the people that they felt inspired to put down. really the hearts are being prepared for all the people to hear the gospel like it says in alma 13;24. 

 mark a date with the missionaries then go to work. even if you think that the people arent ready to hear the gospel. as a missionary i see so many miracles of the message touching the peoples hearts and really changing the people, and i know that i have no room to judge who is ready to recieve the message or not. we just have to have faith and be bold!

April 25, 2013

haha i asolutely love the pictures of baby brox. such a stud already. the one with his tounge sticking out is so great. you all must be having a last with him. but guess whos stoked because i only have one more day of email until i get to see him cause ill be skyping with you!! so stoked, cant belive the time has already passed by again. but i will skype from the mission office, we get some priveledes because of the assistants.

Some things don't change...my amazingly strong son doing "the human flag"

something way rad! there is a guy named david in my ward here whos from mission viejo!! he went to laguna hills high and moved here with 24 years and has been here i think for 12 years. when i heard him talking i asked him where he was from and he said LA, then i said what part, and we got all the way down that he lived in mission and i went to mission. it was so fun to talk with him and his wife about it! so maybe somebody knows him that reads these emails. i forgot his last name sorry but yea it was so rad.

Reppin' his Laker socks!

Breakfast of champions...jello and liver and rice!

this week was great, even though we had some baptisms fall. but this week should be great and i hope i can send the news that we baptized a bunch. the activity was great saturday. so awesome, im bummed i forgot my camera and we didnt get pictures. but the bishop asked us to do it again i think this sunday with the whole ward there so ill grab some pictures then. the ward is super strong but they just are missing the missionary drive, like most of the wards are. as missionaries weve been really trying to do what elder nelson said, to catch the wave of missionary work.  we really just showed the people that were there the importance of members. how much more efficient it is to work with them. we have to use the missionary tags that are on our heart like elder nelson said. and without the work of everyone, the work will progress slowly. but with the help of everyone we are helping build up the kingdom of God here on the earth. what a blessing that is that we have He gave us the oportunity to help him in this task, so that we can grow and recieve all the blessing that come from servin and being a missionary.

"They really are a happy people...they just don't like to smile for pictures!"

love you all so much, so stoked that we only have one more email untill we get to talk!! woo! lifes good here and i hope it is for you guys too

Highlights from March emails...

March 4, 2013

Nightly sweat on the pillow....S I C K

it was rediculously hot this week (and specifically yesterday) haha seriously its ridiculous! im just waiting for my hair to catch fire. it was more than 40 degrees celsius, and 37 in our house. dont know how much that is in farenhite but it felt way hotter than the river in the summer. now its cooling off a little, back down to like 37.

  

we have an investigator namedOsias (40+ years) hes a little dificult to teach and we were a little stumped on what wecould do more to help him. so as kinda a last straw thing we had him watch the baptisms last week. then this week i think wednesday, we got to talk to him and it was totally different. he said the prayer and in his prayer he just out of nowhere said, "please help me that i can go to church every week and that i can be baptised and be a member of this church.." me and Cezar just looked at each other like uhhh what did he just say?? haha we couldnt believe that happened. but something touched him at the baptism and now he will be getting baptised 17th this month. so rad, that was a fun experience.

this week i finished with the New Testament. i never really though that the bible was too special to be honest. but gosh, it is so powerful. i learned so much from it and my testimony that Jesus really is our savior grew so much. it is truly a sacred book too, and combined with the Book of Mormon, we really do have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Cristo here on the earth. we have such great tools to learn and grow. there are so many parts that are related in the book of mormon and the bible. i love realizing them and then sharing some of the knowledge and examples with our investigators. im so grateful that we have prophets here on the earth to lead and guide us in this crazy world. all we have to do is rely on the words of prophets, old and modern prophets,and we will turn out alright.

Baptism of Ana

Baptism of Victor

March 18, 2013

just another awesome week on this mish is about all i can say to sum this week up. the weekend we had another 2 baptisms. one of Victor, hes a stud and the other Ana, the mom of alixandre who had the tumor in his head. the place were at will shut in faster than usual so sorry about the briefe email. but just a little story about victor. we were just clapping doors and then we talked to someone who was like, "oh yea i used to be super good friends with a mormon but he passed away. he lived over there if you wanna talk to the family" so for sure after we went over there. the mom was inactive after the husband who died 12 years ago and hasnt been to church for 12 years. shes super rad, but while we were there we talked to the son and ya the rest is history. hes such a stud. like all the people here, theyre addicted to soccer its just a part of life. but he showed so much faith to keep the sabath day holy and gave up soccer on sundays. was a great example to us.

last night while i was sleeping i woke up to something like crawling on me, and half asleep i just swatted it. then it kept on moving. haha sure enough it was a big old cock roach! the freaking thing was crawling down my shirt too so yea that was a rude awakaning. 

this week to went to Samiras house (whos so firm now in the church) and she let us know how her and her son (7 years old) have kneeling prayers everynight together. what a feeling of joy that was to hear. and the little 7 year old was the one who always says, mom we need to pray! such studs. and in his prayer with us he asked for a japanese car. we asked him why japanese and he said because they have air conditioning haha love it!

March 25, 2013

this week was super solid. but before i talk a little about it ill tsak about some of the funny stuff that happend. its the part of the email thats random. just like the part of Veggie Tails, "Singing silly songs with Larry".  so i wokeup in the morming and elder Cezar said that i was sleep talking like crazy last night. but wanna know the cool part? was in portguese! haha so rad. at lunch the other day had a person singing adele with all her heart while she as wearing head phones. we all know how funny it is when people sing lound with headpones in but imagine when they dont understand the words of the music and there just mimicking the words. was the funniest thing.

My watch tan line...

Thought this was a funny motel name!

so this week was great on the teaching part. we are teaching some people who are seriously super inteligent right now which is a little change and it has been so fun teaching them. the qustions they have and everything is so awesome. we had 3 people who when we went to check up on how there prayers were about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon just say how they totaly recieved answers and know its true. thats the best feling ever when the people say that. you kinda just have to prossess the words a little then just have the biggest smile. its so fun to see the Holy Ghost and the promise of the Book of Mormon in action. and ready for the best news?! weve been teaching a family of 5 that we found, married and everything which is a miracle, and theyve been progressing. and this week they accepted a baptismal date!! 7th of april!! ah seriously the coolest thing every. but heres a little sad news. haha transfers are the 3rd of april and i think for sure ill be transfered. haha i would cry if i ot transfered and then somebody else got to baptize them! id be a little sad, but would be so stoked because whether by me or another missionary they will b able to enter the waters of baptism and recieve all the amazing blessings that Heavenly Father is just waiting to poor out on them, the blessings that he is just dying for us, and everyone here on the earth to recieve.

love you all a ton! lets all do the right things this week so we can recieve the blessings of Heavenly Father that we need in our life.

So its been a great week...

so this week was so great. start off by saying yesterday was a perfect day for us. we had 2 baptisms. one of a girl with 16 years and she is great and loves the church. the other was samira, which we were so stoked to baptize her. weve been working a bunch with her and was so fun to have the privelage of baptising her. she was my first baptism of someone we found knocking doors so we really grew to love her, shes gonna be so solid. 

Elder Cezar, 16 year girl, Samira and her son, and Elder Taylor

and at the baptism, we had 7 of our investigators there watching! it was just perfect so we were so stoked about that. i sent some pictures of that so you guys can see. truly they were so happy after and was so fun to see their big smiles and just purity. i was thinking how lucky we are to have the opportunity to be that was constantly thanks to the sacrament and repentance. its #1 to see the difference and true joy/happyness that the gospel brings into peoples lives. there is nothing that can beat that feeling, not even if my room here had AC.

and to finish off the day we had dinner at a recent converts house, the man we baptized 3 weeks ago (standing next to me in the picture, and hopefuly well baptize the rest of the fam there soon). his wife is a strong evangelic who at first wouldnt even talk to us but now she loves our company so we are making progress with her. but anyways, at dinner i ate another food i never thought id be eating. last week was pig intestine and this week was goat brain!! haha it was the nastiest looking thing ever, they literally cacked open the skull in front of us and said enjoy. haha its one of those times where i remember that i love brazil!

 i wound up eating half of the brain and it wasnt terrible, cezar didnt put down one bite haha. but you can see the skull after i ate everything inside. and yes, i do feel so much smarter now. 

and yes stoked about the lakers, better believe i rep the lakers socks here ever once and a while.

at church yesterday had a person that spoke english perfectly and it was the weirdest thing talking in english but i love english so much. and youl like this story. so during sacrament, i was sitting with samiras son whos 6 years old and some other investigators, and samira was on the other side of the chapel. anyways during the first talk, all the sudden Vitor (the son) just rips a fart super loud! and obviously everyone close to us heard it. the little genius plugs his nose real quick, stands up and points to me and says, QUE ISSO?! (meaning like are you serious?) haha gosh i didnt know what to do besides just start laughing! at this time about half the people are looking over at us and hes just standing there looking at me, with one hand plugging his nose. ah i had nothing to do but just laugh. what a freaking smart 6 year old right?! haha i love him hes hilarious. but yea i hope youll enjoy that story. hope i dont get a reputation for farting in sacrament. 

but hey i love you all a ton and until next week!
tchau tchau

Elder Taylor

Just lovin' life!!