A week of "firsts"

Hello! haha! the pictures of thanksgiving absolutely cracked me up. freaking pheobe! our little turkey.

Yes i bought a hamock for only 23 hais which is like 12 bucks.. not to bad and i love it! keeps me away from the  bugs and what not! so cool about matt going to the temple and sui and nancy im excited to hear about them! and i have to take a taxi into the city to get internet to email. im just in a little internet computer place in the city

so i forgot my planner at the house, everyweek i make a little note of something ill tell you but i forgot it so sorry! but this week was good! everyweek flies by its weird but this week we had to try to visit ever inactive member and it was a a tonnn of walking! haha Our area is huge! but my body is holding up great.  so nothing too exciting happened this week because we just were trying to get people back to church or trying to see there situation.

my portuguese is getting better and better everyday. the people here at first were soo hard to understand because they talk funny. haha they just say stuff funny and even to me who doesnt speak portuguese sounds funny! all the people south make fun of them. its like west virgina or some other funny state with thick accents. but every day i understand more and more and its awesome i love it.

this week was a lot of firsts here.. so i officially have a gnarly farmers tan and its already gross, cant wait to see it in 2 years haha. it just looks like a wetsuit tan line ya know? so another first, i saw my first big spider. i was helping someone move and i was carying this box that was full of tiles so it was heavy and fragile. all of a sudden a freaking huuuggee spider ran around from the bottom of the box and on the top! this thing was soo big. and i couldnt just drop the box because everything would have broken. so finally i get the box to the ground and the spider took off. nobody wanted to smash it because it woulda just gotten all over their shoes and stuff. too funny.

Every house here basically if its not in the favela has an electric fence on top of the wall securing the house so nobody can hop the fence. ive been soo tempted since the first time i saw one to touch it but figured that would be a dumb idea, and it is still a dumb idea. haha but it finally wore on me and i touched it and got zapped! almost became a real brazilian missionary (you're not a real missionary here until you accidently go "you know what" in your pants) but i almost became a real missionary not even because of the food haha. i dont think ill be touching any more electric fences.

Another first. had my first meal that was difficult to put down. the situation and everything was just ahh. haha eating lunch at a members house, with cats all over the house too. they made some chicken and then pulled out this dish out of the oven and it just smelt ransid! it was a pasta with fish kinda like sardines just literally smashed up into the pasta with like the juice and just straight raw nasty fish. gomez (his companion) wouldnt touch it but i figured hey why not try it. so with cats on the table that we were eating on and everything i tried the dish and gosh i was soo close to losing it! it was the nastiest thing ever and i barely ate anything else after because all i could smell was the fish. it was rough but worth it, right?

Elder Taylor rockin in the hammock!

oh so my hamock is wonderful by the way! first night i was sleeping in it i woke up with a gnarly pain in my stomach and was sweating and all that good stuff. haha i thought i was gonna die for a little bit, not really but i wasnt feeling good! and after about 3 hours of this during the night finally my body was getting ready to get rid of what was making my stomach hurt. i wasnt quite sure what end it was gonna come out but finally it came out and then for the next couple hours that was my situation in the bathroom. all in time for the alarm to go off in the morning. with some good prayers and pepto bismal i felt awesome but just had no energy for the day and i was fine. thats another first too, my first sick time of brazil.

a funny little story, i was walking behing this little cement soccer field and a ball came rolling by. so naturally i ran after the ball and grabed it and i just threw it all the way to the field. haha it was kinda an awkward silence and i was like what did i do. they thought it was the weirdest thing that instead of kicking the ball i threw it. it was too funny and they didnt know how to throw the ball far at all so they were amazed, when in the US it wouldnt have been anything special. we were walking by the field again later and the people had me throw the ball again to show their friends who didnt see it the first time. brasileitos are too funny.

so aside from all the awesome firsts, my testimony of the power of the scriptures have grown so much its unreal. every morning i am so excited to just learn more and read more about this perfect gospel. i just want to know everything and its really so fun. i have said this many times but i never thought that i would like reading and have such a desire to learn about something as i do now and for the rest of my life. its amazing. 2 nefi capitulo 32 versiculos 3-5 talking about feasting upon the words of Christ. how we have all the answers to any questions right in front of us. what a blessing to have the bible and then on top of that the book of mormon which contains the fulness of the the gospel of Jesus Cristo. we have all these words that Heavenly Father gave to us and all we have to do is read, study, ponder, and apply and our lives just become instantly better. i heard this saying i really like, if you want to talk to God, Pray. if you want God to talk to you, read the scriptures. so true i know that answers to prayers and direction to life can be found in the book of mormon. it can help us no matter our situation.

im excited to read your emails that i took pictures of (he doesn't have enough time to email us and the Mission President and read ours so he takes pictures of it with his camera then reads it later!), i love you all a ton and am so thankful for your examples,
love
Elder Taylor

"What a week it's been in Mossoro..."

So yes it is freakin hot here! its like the river during the summer. everyday i tell myself "oh i cant wait to go jump in the river and cool off!!"  then i just go jump in the cold shower and pretend im in the river. haha im having the time of my life, just in a little different way. 

wanna hear something kinda cool?! I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM this sunday!! ahhh so freaking cool! so fun it made all the hard work in the CTM pay off even though i didnt find the person i baptised. we have a couple more with baptism dates, with people that i have actually found so i cant wait till that happens. i love and hate the language so much haha. its the most frustrating thing ever not being able to be ME right now, (well atleast say some of the stuff i want without sounding dumb) i cant express myself perfectly yet and its rough! someone spoke english the other day and i was so stoked to finally talk in english for once but the language really is coming along super good. i get compliments all the time that people say how good my portuguese is for learning for just 2 months. i know that it is truly a blessing with the gift of tounges i have such a strong testimony of that. all because i tried my hardest, and just like as promised, Heavenly Father will make up the rest.  when im teaching a lesson or something on the spiritual side of things my portuguese is even better. it really is amazing how much the hand of our Heavenly Father helps us missionaries, and other poeple too! He helps everyone, wether they realize it our not. thats the beauty of this gospel. 

so yea my comp just had his 26th birthday sunday! weird to think that he is older that morgan but he is a great elder. i will learn a whole lot from him. so stoked.

im finally getting my tan back too! gosh it feels so good. i use sun screen though cause literally it is just too much sun to handle right now without it. im lucky i dont sweat that much, i never really have. haha poor elder gomez is always sweating and im dry. i will take the words of bro koeliker, haha i can for sure see how a person could get gnarly crotch rot. and like you said, i have enough rash issues as it is. 

i take 3 showers a day. and i still feel like thats not enough. lunch is the big meal of the day. the members no how to feed you even though they dont have that much money or anything but they are soo giving. so cool the people here are really great. so after lunch we have to go back home and rest for a little over an hour in our house (a mission rule for our area) because its physically draining on us with the heat. so i just go study or read or be a nerd or something and its good. i dont have any complaints about it here. my house is not the greatest but like i think i said last week. im not here in brazil to have a 5 star house haha. 

the roads and stuff here if they're not dirt are cobble stone. cars are super expensive here so not too many people have cars. youll be able to see it in the pictures. im in one of the more poor areas of mossoro but its great. i will not be getting fat while im here thats for sure. so the sun rises at 5 and sets at 5 too. its crazy. like really its day time at 5 and night time at 5 its the weirdest thing but once the sun goes down life is good. life really is good! missionary work will be so hard but soo beyond rewarding. just in this first week or so here ive grown a ton and i can not wait to keep growing in every aspect, haha yes even height so watchout dad and luke theres gonna be a new short person in the family and its not gonna be me. 

heres a story youll enjoy about getting a new investigator.. so me and the comp were just walking down the road and some lady comes running after us and goes, hey so my daughter really really wants to talk to you guys! we were like oh sweet!  whatup baptism! (people here are straight up with you its great, theyre not afraid to say anything) then she points to me and goes, "elder shes seen you walking around here and really wants to talk to you." haha i was like whaaat?. the mom was like "ya she really wants to talk to an american she was too nervous to come talk to you."   haha talk about an easy investigator right?! but she's on the investigator list now. we went and talked to her (shes like 17) and she just wanted to talk to me and i told her the only way i'd speak was if i could share a message with here so there was a nice window for the first lesson right there. it was a great lesson. 

so everyday i get more and more thankful for the blessings i have in my life. dad i cant thank you enough for everything and mom you too. so we were eating at a members house who lives in a favella (ghetto, slums). literally houses and everything are made out of sticks and mud like little houses or something we would make at lake powell for fun. its crazy. just a whole different world. but the fam just makes this hugeee meal and it just blew my mind how much they were willing to give to feed the elders, to go above and beyond what they had. people here are willing to go without eating just to feed us it really just breaks my heart. i may not be able to provide them with physical money or things, but what i can provide them with is spiritual blessings which are way more importnat and meaningfull. i love sharing my testimony with the poeple here and love having them grow closer to our Heavenly Father. 

my time is running out im gonna send some pics but i love you all a ton! i feel your prayers.
Love Elder Taylor 

Means of transportation? Its like he is right out of the movie "Nacho Libre!"

Elder Taylor's first apartment

Elder Taylor's first baptism!

Arrival in Mossoro Brazil!

Tudo Bem!

well look whos finally in the real mission field! i am serving in the state of Natal and more specifically Mossoro! its like one of the most north missions in the joao pessoa mission. more north means more hot! haha it literally feels like the river in the summer. its the exact same just take away any air conditioning but hey thats good for me. i dont know where to start sorry, haha so i left two days ago from the ctm. which was so great we had such a good time there. i was so sad to leave my district we all grew so close and i really will have some life long friends from that. so stoked with the ctm experience, it really is what you make it and i had a blast in there and learned a ton.

so my plane ride was about 4 hours to joao pessoa, it was a great time haha the plane was on the smaller side so everything was super squished but it was great. after my plane ride pres and sister hall as well as some zl´s met us at the air port. okay pres and sis hall are absolutely awesome! they are soo nice and so great. i hope i get to build a good relationship with them. so after that we took a nice hour ish drive to the mission home. what a nice area that is in! all the elders here are so great, its a little frustrationg not being able to rip portuguese with them but i know it will come. patience is key here! so we had a wonderfull dinner at their apartment and it was soo good, had a rad testimony meeting and then we all hit the sack at a different apartment. haha probably 14 elders all sleeping in a tiny room with no ac or fans. it wasnt the best night sleep ever but i servived. 
i got to see my friend elder Chauncy here too which was soo fun! he~s already had serveral baptisms and is doing absolutely awesome. so fun to get to talk to him. the next morning we left at like 5-30 and headed to the beautiful hot place of mossoro. after 10 hours on a 2 differnt bus´s, we arived in the city. then the 1st counseler came and picked us up and took us to our apartment. 

haha next week ill try to send pictures home. not exactly a 5 star place but thats not what im here for right? youll enjoy the pictures. i wont spend too much time in it anyways. but neverthe less i am stoked! dad youd be proud of me, my comp was saying how the shower is aweful and its broken. i was like oh it cant be that bad. haha it litterally was coming out of the wall drip by drip.. so i used my fixing skills and took apart the thing and got it working again.. good as new! he was stoked because for ever hes been showering with the drops of water coming out, cold drops of water might i add. haha no hot water but itll help me man up a little bit.  We freakin have a mango tree in the backyard, haha looks like ill be having the runs for two years straight with all the mango i will eat. i will have much more about everything and whats it like next week so i might have to leave you hanging on some questions you have but haha hey i dont even know yet.

its just me and my trainor here.  my trainor is great and am so excited to learn from him. he is turning 26 this sunday, so hes a little older but i figure thats when the most studly missionaries go out huh dad? haha but really he is an awesome person. i will kill him once my training is over with. for you non lds people that doesnt mean literally kill him, but he will finish his mission after the 12 weeks i serve with him. cant wait to pick his brain about the gospel, portuguese, the people, everything! missionary work will be one of the hardest things ive done in my life no doubt, but not even a question as to if its worth it or not. i cant wait to find someone and baptise them and bring them into this church. to watch their lives change in a whole different direction for the better, seeing the hand of the Lord truly touch their lives. 

i dont know a whole lot about the whole city or anything. todays really my first day out in the field. just finished with a zone meeting which was way rad and now i get email, lunch at a members house then its off to the races. ill be teacher a couple pesquisadors later on today, and will do some proselyting. a little nervous but thats figured, ive only been speaking potuguese for 9 weeks. but i know i just need to replace any fear i have with faith, because fear is the opposite of faith and one of the most important things we can all have is faith in Jesus Cristo and our Heavenly Father. i dont have a whole lot of time so im sorry about any details i missed. usually pday is on monday im pretty sure,  so you can expect emails then. i get mail like once a month ish out here so ill be looking forward to when i get those letters. ive felt your prayers touch my life and i have to thank you so much for them, they really help me out because i know i cant do this work alone. i know without the hand of our Heavenly Father that i wouldnt be able to be doing the things i am doing here. i know without the dom do espirito santo, my words and all words of the missionaries wouldnt peirce the peoples hearts. i am so excited to grow closer to my Heavenly Father every day, to study, to learn, to feel the joy, the hard work, and all the other awesome things i will experience on the mish. these next few weeks especially will be hard but thats where i will grow the most. an aweomse thing my ctm instructer said was, anytime we have a hard challenge or struggle, push through it with faith, just smile and know that a blessing way more rewarding than the challenge is right around the corner. i know that Heavenly Father blessed our lives more than we know, i really do know that and see it happen every day. he loves us so much and if we put in the effort,  he will take care of everything else. 

love you all a ton, 
Elder Taylor <3

Good-bye CTM!

Crazy to say but its finally here! i am outa here! i am so stoked to go into the real world and bring people this amazing gospel and bring the light into their eyes. that they will be able to be happy, no matter what the situation is in the world. i've been lucky enough to grow up with this knowledge in my life now its my time to help others have what I am so happy to have.

so i gotta start out by throwing a HUGE shout out to you Máe! you hooked it up with the tapatio, the sweet and sour sauce and all that other amazing stuff in the package with Elder Shields.. i cannot tell you how stoked i was, especially to find out that they dont have Sweet and Sour sauce here it brazil!! the one reason i could never live here. so funny how i wrote about it earlier, than later that day i got some from you. i was so stoked. one of the sauces popped and was all in the bag so what did i do?! haha yup, i was licking the bag. pretty gross, but hey ive had some crazy withdrawls from not having my share of S&S sauce and it was a wonderfull reunion to finally have some again. my Braseleito didnt know what the sauce was, and since i was freaking out about it he wanted to try it so i had him lick some as well and he thought it was so gross he ran and brushed his teeth. they just dont respect the s&s sauce, atleast plain that it. and tapatio... ive had so many consecutive meals since week where ive left the cafateria sweating because i put so much on it. i've let two people touch my tapatio but people cant even look at my s&s sauce, i need to be more like Cristo and share i guess, but hey im trying. and jump rope too, its been so awesome to have. to finally get such a good workout. youre the best. and Pai youre right, mom does spoil me way to much. but ill take it! im one lucky son.

 at 4 today i get a pizza party as well as a couple other kids so we are gonna munch so hard! ill need it because i hear you get so skiny up north. but luke that doesnt mean youll be bigger than me. love you so much bud keep up the amazing work. keep growing and making all my friends feel short. haha im excited i have two years till i have to worry about coming home to be embarrassed by how much taller and more studly you are than me!!

so the language is coming along wonderul thanks to the girft of tounges i know that with it is the only way i am speaking the way i am right now. what an amazing belssing and gift that is. guess what we got to do this week.. go PROSELITING! (no clue how to spell that in english sorry my minds blanked)  but how awesome?! we got to go out of the boundaries around the CTM and pass out Livros de Mormon! it was the coolest thing ever! dont get me wrong, at first i was so nervous thinking holy cow i have to go talk to people in a language ive been learning for one month but knew that if i had faith, just like in all the million scriprtures about faith, that all this are possible and then i was so pumped. me and my comp said i prayer then went out and the portuguese flew! a true testiment to the gift of tounges. later that night trying to talk to my teachers i couldnt talk as good as i could when i was out in the streets. thats what im so excited to feel as well once im out in the field. i know it will be super hard, but nevertheless so worth it! we wound up handing out several book of mormons and talking to so many people and actually being able to communicate. even busted out my manderin "wo sure shun di hidza" excuse my spelling morgan. haha there was someone from tiwain who barely spoke portuguese i told him i could speak manderin and he lit up! haha just say my nehow and then let the i am a child of God rip. he thought it was funny but it was great, you could say that was by the gift of tounges as well haha.

next time i write ill be in some part of nothern Brazil. cannot wait!  one more fun fact about Joao Pessoa is there are gnarly bugs up there. haha this one you will love mom.. get this, theres a bug thats a little bigger than an ant called a Poró. this thing doesnt sting you but take a wild guess what it does! haha the thing pees on you! and to top it all off guess what the pee does.. gives you second degree burns from its trail of urin where ever it walks!! haha from pee! how funny is that. ahh i cant wait.

 isto igreja é verdedeiro. Pai, eu estou indo para fazer muito bom journal entries como voce disse.

this church is so true. i could very well have taught severl families by the time you get my next email. i can not wait. read pray and keep the commandments everyday with exactness, we will feel the love of God and see him bless out lives. i love you all so much, off to Blythe baby!!  

Love Elder Taylor

Elder Taylor's big "pizza party" at the CTM