"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