Week 80: Ham Dinner, Christmas and Poqomchi

well merry christmas to yuuz!

How are you??
i'm great!

How was the Christmas conference and good food that you were promised?
it was awesome. a great conference. very relaxed. the spirit of the conference was what got me. if i hadnt had a cold i would have sung with elder turek, elder gonzales, elder howard, elder smith, elder norton and the sisters. they invited me but i couldn't sing. my nose makes it a lot easier to get colds and stuff. i will really need to fix it. but they sang away in a manger in qeqchi, spanish, and english. it was amazing. the spirit was very strong. i love this season. elder fadel balled. i nearly did.

Did you eat till you were stuffed? Was it a ham dinner? well yes and yes. i ate till i was stuffed and it was a glazed ham dinner. it was a ton of food. made me miss home though. thats the only thing ;) next year eh?

and no i dont know another dialect. just words. general greetings. they are very similar to qeqchi so would be easy....kinda....to learn. i would love to learn two languages called poqomchi and quiche. they sound sooo cool. i have a testimony written down in quiche. trying to memorize it. it wont be for anything but it would be really cool.

today for p-day we went to sacsuha and played ultimate frisbee. im outta shape. horribly. just means i have more work to do. we played with smith, turek, gonzales, my companion, lopez and norton. it was fun. really hot though. i feel like a new man (besides the pain and soreness) now. refreshed. i finally sweated profusely. mmmmm.

i think i have decided what i want to be. it will be hard but i think i can do it. i have the mind for it.

i have no idea what to write you guys. we will be talking in just a little bit! :)

i will call you guys tonight i think to set up the call and stuff. the forty five minute thing is so families dont wast money. and that is how it has always been. the whole mission. they always say that.

on friday we didnt work. i was wiped out. with the cold and all. my body just wouldnt get up. especially after the trip to coban and back. we got to the house at like nine at night.

the news with the baptisms. ricardo and elena seem really reluctant. i'm pretty sure they want free hand outs. they are having a tough time. we went to teach them this last week and the owner of their house accompanied us and seemed to be very touched by our message. she said she was going to come to church with elena but didnt make it.

the little girl Olga who was going to get baptized on the 25 still wants to. her parents are super reluctant for some reason. i have no idea. just gonna have to use the scriptures. she told me she wanted to get baptized on christmas but they are just making excuses not to do it. they really dont get it. we'll see how it goes. tonight we will go with them.

good to hear about peyton and that he is making progress.

ian cracks me up. they couldnt at least stick it in a microwave before blessing and passing it? one time i had to break and bless crackers in santo domingo. like club crackers. it really doesnt matter though. as long as the ordinance is performed. you can use anything.

what songs did you sing in sacrament?

i really have no idea what to say haha. if you have questions ask them tonight. just know that i love you all and wish you a very merry christmas.

TAY

ps. i know she got married. how weird is that?! so did alexis wilson from BYU. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY AND BAILEY!!!

Week 79: The Chicken

well hello, good afternoon. how is it going?

so sorry it took so long to write back. we are in coban today and tomorrow for the christmas conference with president and the senahu, coban and verapazes zones. it will be very enjoyable. sister torres told me there will be a ham dinner. oh yeah. i cannot wait. i need good food!

this last week. interesting.

first we went to help this family take tamales and goods to a festival that they were also in charge of where they burn a big statue of a devil or demon and do crazy things with fireworks. well we carried all the stuff there. we were able to watch a little of the fireworks then left to go teach people. well when we went back to help them carry their stuff back the husband, who was in charge of making everything (fireworks too), looks at me and says in qeqchi. "here we have a good friend of mine, chicken, lets here some of his words in pure qeqchi...". that is when i thought 'oh crap' i had no idea what to say! so i asked how everyone was and when nobody responded i just answered for them and handed the microphone back, at which point in time brother 'o' (for such is his name) says "lets here what the chicken sounds like, you know, for all the children." ugh. everyone always asks me to make the chicken noise. except this time it was in front of about 500 people. very awkward. i hope that story was legible and not totally discombobulated.

tangent. elder mortenson today, being who he is says, quote: "I love everyone, i'm so happy." jolly green giant style. and that is how he is!

this member family just got what is called an iPAD. it is insane! it is basically a touch screen computer that looks like a big iTOUCH. i want one but they did the price conversion and it would be about 700 dollars. that is alot.

so you know the saying, lets make like a tree and leaf....well lets make like a deaf man and get out of hear. elder lusty and i concocted that one.

i'm starting to get compliments on my qeqchi. finally haha ;) i'm progressing!!!!!!!

elder turek and i this last week went to a place called san vicente dos. we started our journey in canlun early in the morning. well we had heard that trucks go up there and that where we waited is where the drove by. so we sat there and waited and waited and waited. every truck that passed was full and did not take us. finally we just decided to walk. we first got to this place where there was a little tienda. there was a mom and a little boy tending the tienda-store. well the lady was way nervous the whole time. who knows why. must be the gringoality. well the little boy liked us and so i started to talk to him in qeqchi, but he responded that he only knew poqomchi. so i started speaking to him in that. which is not much i only know a few phrases. well the lady didnt like that and quickly snapped-he only knows a little bit! weird.

so we keep walking. and walking and walking. we find some guy that wants to get baptized so we take his name and keep walking, seeing as we are not in elder tureks area yet. we ended up walking 4 and a half hours to get to this place. it hurt soooo bad haha. i loved it. and i missed that feeling.

when we got up there everyone wanted to talk to us. they all let us in and asked when we would be coming back. they were very good people. its just a little place.

from where we were we could see a waterfall that started in the clouds and dropped for thousands of feet. it was gorgeous. it was soooo far away though. someday, maybe though.

it was soooo dang cold up there. us coloradoites froze our butts off. we were shaking. the last place we contacted there was a kid just sitting there in the middle of a room waiting for us. (turns out he was also a truck drivers son-you know, the ones that left us). he listened and was respectful but very closed hearted. he started asking useless questions like what are all the apostles names and where are they nowadays and if we are saved because of prophets and stuff like that. pure saduccee. doctor of the law, trying to catch us in word traps. well we didnt fall. told him that salvation only comes through christ and obedience to his commandments which knowledge comes only through his chosen servants the prophets. when we left i saw the first qeqchi woman ever smoking a cigar.

well we werent able to make it all the way back to teleman and were able to stay in the canlun house for the night. which was also cold somehow.

so that is my story.

i love and miss you all!!

ELDER TAY

Week 75: Changes & Friends in the 'Chic'

well hello my junkab'lal. how are you peoples? that is qeqchi for family by the way.

well this last week was super interesting. first my companion is a companion that i have had before. weird huh? it is elder vasquez! i was with him in Santo Domingo. remember? he has not been ZL before. this is his first change doing it. he is good.

it shall be fun this change with him. and yes the change of elder burden came as a surprise. we thought we would be together at least another change. he had been in the 'chic' a long time though. he came in with me. i'm thinking i am next. we'll see though.

this last week was pretty eventful.

first. i heard that president falabela who is in the first quorumn of the seventy had nice things to say about the missionaries in our mission. that was nice. :)

second, changes were crazy. my companion left on tuesday for coban. so i stayed with elder gonsalez and elder howard in teleman while waiting to hear who our companions would be on wednesday. well we finally heard thursday in the morning that a lot would be coming in from the capital. my companion came in from the capital and didnt come in until thursday. so i had to take care of all the organization of the changes by myself. it was pretty hectic. my companion left coban in a trio and when they were leaving one of the missionaries said he forgot stuff so he got off the bus. the other missionaries (including those going to senahu) were coming an hour behind. and those that had left stuff got on that bus too. it was super unorganized but it all got taken care of. sometimes being so far away from everything involves traveling alone though. lots of missionaries have had to do it so no worries.

elder turek, elder smith and elder schone came into the 'chic.'

elder smith is in santo domingo with elder howard. they already set a baptismal date with someone! i have no idea who it is though. they will be doing well there. i'll make sure to get a picture with elder smith! :)

third, while elder howard, elder gonzales and i were in teleman waiting for transfers, someone broke into the missionaries house in sacsuha'. so we had to go there and take care of that as zl's also and talk with the owner about fixing the house to make it more secure. elder gonsalez was pretty bummed but he is better now. its still safer here than the capital though. he is companions with elder turek.

i don't really know why the adams apple is called an adams apple but it is funny to hear qeqchis explain why. they think that adam saw that eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and he started to. but he only swallowed it halfway and that is why we have adams apples. hahaha. :)

we went to canlun this last week with elder hexem and elder lusty to do some baptismal interviews. that was cool. i got to know canlun. we have to cross it in a canoe. that is what the picture is. and a tree. and a huge beetle we found today in el estor.

we are in el estor again today. came to give the invitations to the missionaries for the open house. its all going as planned. it is going to be pretty huge. elder clark from the second quorumn of the seventy is coming. (also the area president).
they say that elder packer had a lot to do with the new church there. he has come here to the polochic valley and especially went to chulac. and now they have a huge district center that holds around 400 - 500 people. it is amazing and i will send a picture of that too.

i will be sending a memory card soon. i got a little mini SD so it will send better in the mail. they make you send a package if you have anything hard in your letter.

did you guys get a ticket for driving in that lane? or did you just get a warning? dont go dyin on me while i'm an the mission danget. that wouldn't be cool.

i attached the invitations.

ricardo and elena come to church every sunday. they came again. he told us he wants to "give his heart to the faith." so we'll see if he can. he still has to learn a lot.

some lady had me translate a chicken song about baby chicks to english and twinkle twinkly little star. who knows what she is using that for. she is old. like 20 or so and surely getting her masters. you'd think they would have her translate songs like that when she's in 3rd grade or something. the education system here needs work.

did you get a bull tag and go back to shoot those things?

dont ever complain or say you dont want to go to church. suck it up. just remember how hard our Savior had it. he didnt give up. he did what his Father needed Him to do.

i love and miss you all!!!!


till next week, hasta la próxima semana, toj sa' li xaman jun.

ELDER TAY

Week 73: Bono, A&W and Fecha's

hello family!
how are you this week? i'm good! i am in the capital right now. after this internet session i will go get my measurements for my suit and pick a fabric. it should be done in a week to a month. we will see. elder jensen got two. one is a normal dress suit. and the other is a light blue. should i get one?

that is awesome about the bakery! i am very grateful that oppurtinity presented itself.

what the heck is a mammoth doing in colorado? that is so awesome though. i would still love to be an archeologist. maybe a minor in that? i have no idea.

i found and bought some A&W root beer!! oh ya. :) funny. today we were looking for backpacks in a tienda called mundoextremo. its like army and factory surplus kinda. but they have crazy things there like tazers and junk. well i want a backpack like my companion's so we went there to look. well as we were walking out i overheard the ladies that work there say..." they are very alike, he's blonde just with the face of Bono." what? the face of Bono? i dont look like him. it was weird though. and i got a good laugh out of it.

we finally put a fecha with ricardo and elena! they should be getting baptized saturday if all works out. yesterday morning we went out to their old house and moved all the stuff into teleman. there metal roofing and some wood. that was pretty cool. he seemed very grateful. i did a division in chulac/sajonte/se'pamac this last week. i did some baptismal interviews. it is gorgeous up there. i would live there. its nice and cold with huge mountains. i went with elder gutierres and elder espana and my companion went to sacsuha and did some interviews there. elder goodwin and elder mortenson are up there too. there is a huge nickel .HERE. mining operation going on right now so the church attendance has gone down a ton. as for the open house and dedication, it changed. it wont be happening until the 23rd ish. the good news is that president clark will be wanting to do it. the area president. so that will be cool. we have alot of work still. president torres should be going up there on thursday to review the church to see if it is up to par. this branch in teleman is struggling. we are working with them though.

we are working with a family called leonardo and gloria. he went on a mission! he has become a great friend of ours. he is the one we painted the truck with. he offered us a fishing trip on a pday too. :) we'll see haha. they are an awesome family and now have goals for a temple marriage.

so on monday after moving ricardo's house we left for coban at 12 in the afternoon. we got a free ride the whole way there which saved us 35 quetzales. the guy was super nice and even let us ride in the cab.its been a while since i've done that.

so i'm a little under the weather right now.probably because of something i ate. so, go up to where it says .HERE. cuz thats where i had to go find a bathroom haha. no worries. nothing serious. if it was i would be sure to tell sister torres.

so what is hunting season looking like? and what am i gonna do for two jobs and weight lifting when i get home?

i'm working on pictures. its hard. i'm always traveling and when i do have my camera to send pics the internet is too slow. what is up with kacy? the meeting with president is tomorrow. well see what plans he has for the mission. i love and miss you one and all.

ELDER TAY

Week 72: Chulac, Christ & Church

hi you people!

this last week was busy.

you already know about zone conference and everything. after that, elder burden and i ran around doing errands for everyone. they are finishing up a huge new church building in chulac. it is enormous and even has padded seats like and american building. so elder burden and i spent hours preparing invitations for the open house and scheduling stuff to do. it was fun. we made a cool invitation for it. we made both qeqchi and spanish. we printed out a thousand of them.
supposedly 90% of chulac is LDS. thats a lot. we only have 10% to go. this open house will be huge! it will be a lot of work but it will be worth it. hopefully lots of people will be able to go.

we didnt get the fecha or baptismal date set with that family. we can never find the people. the good thing is the dad went to a baptism on saturday that elder Lusty and elder Hexem had (from c'anlun). so he was able to see what, where, and how a baptism is done. thats their biggest doubt. they want to know why they need to get baptized and what purpose it serves. i love them. they are funny people. funny things just tend to happen there. we found out he can read. we asked him five times if he knew how to read. each time his answer was no. they didnt know how to pray so we made a huge poster that has the steps to prayer. well we took it to there house and ricardo (richard) starts reading it out loud. it was hilarious cuz he says he doesnt know how to read. they have had it rough. right now they dont really have anywhere to live. they are living with their adult son. (they are in their fifties). from what he told us, which wasnt very clear, they got ran out of their last house. he was shot twice also. qeqchis can be really crazy sometimes. for the most part they live in peace. well he doesnt know why they shot him. and thats all he told us.

we painted a car this last week with a less active guy as service. that was awesome. i would like to do that as a hobby. its a whole new canvas. i would send pictures but cant. it would be a fun thing to do though. custom paint jobs. how is my car by the way? does it even run? how much would it be to fix it?

our branch president is a great guy. he has tons of referalls for us. he tends to find families too. and he teaches well. he reminds me of grandmama kinda. with his glasses.

i cant believe three languages come out of my mouth. it is sooo weird. i am very grateful. :)

we have a guy that lives below us and he keeps asking us to change his life. he knows a ton about the church. he just needs a little push. he is also a school teacher.

so today we all went to chulac as a zone. took some pictures, made hot dogs on tortillas with guacamole and onions, ate tangerines and came back. there are tons of tangerines up there. supposedly they have a contract with walmart. so in super walmart buy some tangerines and see if they are from guatemala. i know the bananas are at least. and thats the picture im trying to attach. i dont know if it will work. the email is incredibly slow right now. it is the zone with chulac in the background. i will get more pictures soon. i will be going up there this week on a division. they will be having some baptisms.

where is aunt kacy moving to?

im excited to hear about hunting plans. please shoot me a biggie. and we can all shoot some next year...together :) i miss hunting so bad. not that it would send me home but i miss the mountains and being in them with people i love. being in chulac reminds me of all the time i've spent in amazing places. i cant wait :)

look up the band manà. they are a great band. it is all in spanish. but its great.

i would love the oregon coast! and deep sea fishing. mmmmm. im pretty sure i will like fish now. ill eat anything. maybe.

i'm sorry to hear about our little friend. he is sure a rambunxious kid. tons of energy. and smart! he is in my prayers. as well as his family. let his family know i am impressed by them and their faith. they sure have helped me be better. they have been examples to me and i miss them.

i miss you all and am so grateful to have you as a family. an eternal one. there is nothing greater than that promise. thank you for making that decision a long time ago. i love you all.

this church is the only true church on the face of this earth. it is established upon all the basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. it has everything we need. we just need to grasp it. learn it, use it, and be it. there is no other church.
Jesus Christ is our saviour. there is no other. he paid the price now we have to approve the payment. lets do what he asks of us. i love Him.

ELDER Tay

ps the picture is not working. next time when i get to el estor i will send lots of pichas.
and bailey you are so cute. you look like an elf from lord of the rings. they are considered the most beautiful people around. (hahaha that was so geeky. haha.) looks like with these dang sisters im going to have my hands full beating up boys!
and i have no idea what i want to do with my life after the mission. what education will i pursue? hmm.

Week 68: Teleman and a New Assignment

well heeelllloooo!

if you found christopher colombus in the BOM look for hebrew references in all the footnotes. there are a bunch. i also learned this last week that Joseph Smith learned hebrew.

i would love archeology. whenever i see or read something about mayans it seems to just soak into my brain. qeqchi doesnt do that though. it's work.

the picture i am trying to send is of se'amay. elder fadel and i hiked up a huge mountain and got some good pictures yesterday looking for some investigators.

well it sounds like i'm going to Teleman with Elder Burden. i will be Zone Leader down there. i'm going to miss senahu tons. the weather is perfect here. i love it. it is so relaxed here. elder fadel also has a change to coban. so the elders coming into se'amay will both be new. that would be so tough to come into an unknown area like that.

well in se'amay i'm in a super nice house with a bedroom, a study room, a bathroom with a shower nozzle water heater, a dining room type thing and a kitchen. i'll take some pictures. i gotta pack tonight though.

How did it go with investigators this week?
good. she seems to have overcome her doubts as well. she even went to the relief society session. we were down in our area working and we suddenly felt we needed to go tell her about the conference. so we got a tuktuk and went and got her. she works in a comedor feeding people with her helper friend. its usually just them two. well we went up there and found her daughter was in the comedor with them and was able to take over so her mom could go to the conference. it was cool. kristina knew she had work to do but we told her the prophet would be speaking and she just said "yo'keb" or "lets go." so we took and dropped her off. she seemed to have liked it a lot.

How was conference and please give us details?
it was good. we learned a ton. we watched a lot of "The District." its real missionaries in real situations that get filmed. it is way cool to watch and we learned a lot. basically it was a zone conference but just for the leaders. we talked about personal revelation on behalf of investigators and how to teach more effectively.

How did you get through the tropical storm? Did it give you lots of trouble? Did you have mudslides?
here in senahu nothing happened. it rained all of one night and most of the next day. the road down to polochic had some mudslides but nothing super serious. it was really mild here. maybe its the mountian cover i dont know. there wasnt even that bad of lightning. saw a cool cloud that looked "funnely" but was nothing.

When were your baptisms scheduled for?
Kristina for the 9th and William for the 23.

Can you have someone in the office look for your package?
i will be going there in about a week so i'll take a look. every month i will be going to the capital for meetings with the president now. so i'll be able to get a suit and my mail. finally.

Have you heard from anyone this week? G&G Larsen, Megan, etc.
i heard from megan. G&G Larsen not this week. last week i did though. and nick croissant!

Are you emailing Brenton? How is he doing?
can you get his email for me again?

Did you know Keiffer will be home in November? Wierd, huh?

that is way weird then how much longer after that will i be home?

this last week was good. i went on divisions with elder Gochiz. elder fadel and elder zepeda went up to seritquiche. i stayed around senahu and worked. it was a good division. someone brought us pizza from Coban and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

it was a good week. we have lots of people interested in hearing a prophets voice so we will be capitalizing on that.

i am so excited for conference. not being to the temple in a while makes me at least crave conference. i cant wait. it will be weird this conference, i will be in sacsuha to see it. i will see all the santo domingo-ites again. it will be cool though. i just need to get them some pictures. they are all asking.

how much are the suits that are on sale? the brand i have is Billy London. i love it and it fits me very well. super comfy too.

i dont want to be ZL. lots of responsibility. we'll see if elder legua and or elder schone come back this change. there are lots of places opening up. i sure hope they do.

i love you all and miss each and every one. dont worry about the storms. thats one thing i like about the mountains. they are protective. im gonna miss senahu. :) teleman is hot! :/

did the homeowners association approve the kitchen?

thank you for the temple pictures :) and can you start sending pictures of the family weekly or of the house or town. idk something interesting.

love you all,

love, ELDER TAY

Week 65: Comedor, Kisses & Butter from Coban

hello my family!!

well, mom, speaking of your coworkers i read something interesting this morning. the people we work, talk and walk with arent just mortal beings, they have the potential to be gods. every single one of them. that was a mind opener for me.

How are you this week? Happy?
yessums. very.

How is your companion this week?
he is good too.

How are the people in your branch/wards?
great. progressing. we had a bunch of people who have been inactive come to church yesterday.

Do you ever have activities with the ward members?
i havent been here for one. what type of activities though?

Do you need any mac n' cheese, mashed tatoes, etc?
no but i dont know if you remembered my flashlight, i have people down here that would like some. i bought it at riteaid for 15 bucks. they said they will pay for them. you can take money out of my account. and how much did those people offer for my car? i may think about it. the only thing is what will i do when i get back?

2 flashlights is what they want.

Who are you working with now? Any more baptisms scheduled?
yes. we have maria luisa's mom and mother in law of sara scheduled for the 9 of october. she is awesome.

we have a nother baptism for the 23rd of october. a kid of 17 that wants to even go on a mission. we found him this last week and even set the baptismal date in the first lesson. he came to church yesterday too.

How did it go with Kristina this week?
good. she didnt get to make it to church. she went to go drop off sara at the bus and she didnt make it in time for church. that household was pretty sad this week with sara going back home an all. i guess she left yesterday at like 2 in the morning.

Do you know your family loves you so much??
yeps :) i love them too.


well i was thinking yesterday. i feel like taking the sacrament while fasting is more filling than eating a meal. not physically, persay, but spiritually. concentrate on the feeling next month. it is noticeable.


so ricardo- the guy whose son was coming to church and came last week, say they will be joining the church! the members have to tell us that i guess cuz we can NEVER find them at home. we go all the time but the dad is never there. family is the focus. but they have some great friends that are members. so now we are taking them to visit with us. they get along great and its positive they will enter the waters of baptism. i just dont exactly know when.its gonna happen though.

we found some new investigators this last week. they are very receptive.
we made our own chicken soup this last week.

there were a lot of people here from Coban last week haha. including girls. and they wouldnt leave us alone. we went in to eat in a comedor (little cafateria) and the second elder fadel and i walked in they started making noises and almost cheering. so we went and hid in the kitchen and ended up eating there. they asked the lady working why we didnt go sit out there. and they even blew elder fadel a kiss! the lady working (who is a member) said they were on us like flies on a cake. haha. it was a funny experience. people are always taking pictures of elder fadel too. it cracks me up.

so i realized the other day just how mayan these people are. these are the mayans. there is a place here called trece aquas or oxlaju ha. its a mayan archeological site i guess world famous and recognized by national geographic. and its just down the road. and you guys should go online and order the mayan special edition of national geographic or something. it is very cool.

i remembered also this last week what they say in the Road to Eldorado. the place of hell for the mayans was called "xibalba" or "place of fear." well here it is called "xbalba." to me that is not a difference at all. how cool is that. i'm gonna know that language when i get home.

elder zepeda brought me butter from coban this last week. there is nothing better than butter! it really makes all the difference and elder fadel agrees with me on the subject.

there was a huge "gringo" in church yesterday. his name was "canche" which means blondie. i guess he served here a couple years ago. the guy is way tall and knows qeqchi very well. i guess he is building a house here and will be living here now. its weird but it would be way cool. what an adventure. i dont know if he is married though.

elder fadel and i were thinking the other day. all the churches here are just loud mariachi bands. what if salvation were as easy as going to a rock concert? what if it was as easy as listening to a screaming pastor? what would we be on this earth for? what a sad existence we would have.

unfortunately that is reality for the people here. satan is dilluting the doctrinal essence so entirely that people dont even know how to pray anymore. he makes them think that salvation is only a step away. that it isnt hard. and includes just going to listen. that dude ticks me off. that satan guy.

so what are the plans for hunting this year? any? and elder fadel wants to go rock climbing and hunting and "mountaining" when we get back.

and yes there has been a lot of rain. this last week i finally slipped on my big rubber rain boots. i have a blister but i like it haha. nothing bad has happened here. the waterfalls have only gotten bigger :)

how was granite lake?

and ben ziemann and nick croissant wrote me. they are doing great! thanks for writing!

my stomach is good mommy.

and we only had two baptisms that counted for us. the other one was already a member.

and i may have to look into being some kind of doctor or a PA like you said. i dont know. we'll have to see. i have no idea what i wanna do with my life. :)

i miss and love you all!!!

elder tay

Week 64: Three baptisms!

Well hello family!! glad to hear the first week of school went ok. sorry about zack. incompetence is terrible. :) dont worry though. its over now.

this last week was good!

saturday we had three baptisms! two converts and a little eight year old boy got baptized too. he wanted me to baptize him so i did. in the picture...if it sends, sara is the woman, milton is the taller one in white and the other little boy is danny. the other picture-believe it or not is the baptismal font. we made sure to tell everyone that dirty is ok, in fact the river jordan is way dirty. and that coming out they will actually be cleaner than going in. they seemed to appreciate that fact.

last week i mentioned maria. she is a recent convert and is assisted in the conversion of sara and is assisting with her mother's at the moment. she is an amazing young convert (kelsey's age) and is very faithful. her mother now has a baptismal date for october. she is an amazing investigator and progressing very rapidly. she came to church for the second time yesterday but for some reason doesnt want to get baptized until she has gone 7 times to church. just as long as she understands why she needs to get baptized. last night her question for us was "what do i have to do to see my baby again?" her baby that died only lived 8 hours. she understood it though. she was able to grasp the five gospel steps very quickly. she has an extensive knowledge of the scriptures but now she says that she is finally understanding that the bible is a pattern of what we need to do and what we need to look for. its a volume of scripture to outline the true gospel of Jesus Christ. she is very smart. her baptismal date is for october 9.

we had a couple people come to the baptism. we have been finding lots of families to work with. which is good cuz thats God's focus.

this week was really quite slow. we had some lessons but yesterday there was a huge party here and nobody was home. they were all out watching soccer and going to a huge dance. so we didnt get many lessons in. also this last week the people were all out working an a huge project the church is sponsoring. we talked with alot of people about the work the church is doing.

in my personal study this last week i came across the question of what exactly is the atonement. it is a great subject to study. i think we should all study it :)

haha i wish i could have whip cream fights on my mission! tell the missionaries they are lucky to have a family like you. in fact whip cream doesnt even exist here in the polochik.

sounds like all is well back home. keep me updated on all the details! oh-and we had lots of people at the baptism. they overflowed out in the hall even.

sorry this email looks short. but this last week was way slow except for the baptisms. but it was a happy week!

i love and miss you one and all!

ELDER TAYWER

Week 61: The Church is TRUE!

well hello my familia! que tal estan? ma sa leech'ool?

sa linch'ool arin seamay. yooko chi kanjelak chi kaw.

(im good and we're working hard)


What adventures did you have this week?
not much really. just zone conference but you already know about that. we had a great experience with our baptismal candidate sara. we started off the week thinking that she was leaving. her circumstances are very difficult right now. no money, a three year old boy that has no discipline due to a lack of a father, and a newborn baby. well she has been thinking of moving back to chiquimula, way down south. that is where she is from. we have usually been visiting her in the evenings on mondays and throughout the week but on friday we had planned her for right after lunch. what we didnt know is that she had plans to move( at this time) and that she was praying that we could come see her before she left. the next day after lunch we showed up and she just started crying. she told us that she just felt overwhelmed to even think about leaving without saying goodbye to us, and so, she prayed us there. what really got me was the response her recent convert sister in law told her. "they'll come" is all she said. and we did. well a couple landslides kept her from making the trip. she was still delayed on sunday and so she came to church. she doesnt understand any qeqchi. but yesterday we went with her in the evening and had a very good lesson with a couple young men preparing for the mission who had accompanied us throughout the day. well again at this lesson she changed her mind about moving. she told us that she has been in depths of sadness and this gospel has brought her light. saying that we are angels sent by God. saying this gospel was an answer to all her prayers. her mother in law (non member) and her...grandpa in law? (inactive) were there too. we talked to them about the church and i went to say the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church but sara beat me to it. i only got to say " the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is...." and she butted in and said "true!" it was awesome. she will be getting baptized as soon as possible. she has to come to church one more time and then she can get baptized. so well see how quickly we can get it done!

sorry about how sporadic that story was haha.

Any baptisms scheduled? Weddings?
we have four baptismal "fechas" or dates. one for ASAP, one for the 28th and two for september 18th. the two for september 18th have to get married first though.

How are your investigators progressing?
great!

Would you like me to put the $100 in your account for your suit? How would you order it when you are in the Polochic? Isn't it custom fitted?
we'll wait on that. you can go ahead and transfer a 100 from my savings account so when i get to an ATM and figure out how to get it i can take the money out.

I know this is random...do they have pianos in the chapels there?
yes but nothing like a baby grand. i want to be able to make music so bad. elder fadel is very talented on guitars and the piano. i love creating things out of nothing and i feel like music would be an awesome way to do it. imma have to learn guitar and piano when i get back for sure. how is lindsey doing anyway with that gift of hers?

Who are your ZL's?
Elder Gochiz and Elder Zepeda

Did you get the package we sent with your white BYU hat yet?
no. how long ago did you send it?

Favorite part of this last week?
definitely the experience with sara.

Favorite thing about your companion?
he's a goofball. we have a blast. the kid is hilarious!

Tell us your typical daily schedule?
wake up at six thirty. excercise eat shower. from 8-9 personal study. 9-10 companionship study. 10-11 is language study. we go work for two hours then come back for an hour lunch at 1. then at two we leave again and we get back home around 8ish. then plan, eat, shower again maybe and go to bed. We work very hard!

Do you know how proud we are of you? That we love you so much?

likewise!

so we took these two goof kids out teaching with us yesterday afternoon. they are absolutely hilarious. one of them asks all the time, "you know what?" in response to our "what" he says "im dying of hunger" or "im thirsty" or yesterday after a thorny plant scratched his arm all up and it started swelling he says "you know what?"..."my arm hurts, i cant deal with it anymore." the kid is absolutely hilarious and elder fadel and i are always laughing at him. his name is Carlos. here they call him Calich. which is the nickname for carlos.

this week was great and hoping for another great week ahead. we get transfers next sunday night and they will be starting to transfer us on wednesdays. so this could be my last week with mister fadel.

i miss and love every one of you. dont be afraid of school. theres nothing to be afraid of! i did it too.

love,

ELDER TAY

Week 60: Sara, Sacsuha & Conference

well hey yooz people (susan mcdonald included)!

well this last week was pretty eventful. i forgot my agenda with all my notes on it in the house but i will try and sum it up.

well first off we were able to get two members to leave with us to visit on tuesday and wednesday. first we went with a returned missionary to a place called La Laguna Seca. he helped us a bunch. we got lots of new investigators there. it is closer than sepacuite and setz'imaaj so much more likely to progress.

the next day we went up to sepacuite with a member who is preparing to go on a mission. the kid is hilarious and incredibly off the wall. he is crazy with us but then when he needs to talk in lessons he gets scared. so he ended up not saying anything at all. it was worth it though. we enjoyed the time with him and he learned alot.

one of our soon to be baptisms shared her testimony with us this last week. it was all about the Book Of Mormon. she told us that when she is having a hard time she just turns to the BOM and it takes all the pain away. she already has the whole thing marked up. i dont know if i have explained the situation with her but she is a single mom with two young children. her husband just recently left her and lives in senahu with some other woman. she is having an incredibly rough time. she told us that the book of mormon is so clear to her. she says that everything in the book just touches her to the core. she has an amazing testimony on faith also. she even came to a pure qeqchi branch this last week and said she loved it. she dont know no dang lick of qeqchi.

her sister in law is a recent convert and also an amazing convert. shes only sixteen but when pastors talk to her about the church she owns them. she is the one fueling sara's (thats the baptism and single mom) spiritual fire right now. apparently they just sit down together at night and just study the scriptures. it is amazing to see their progress. last night we went to their house again and the same thing happened. we ended up talking for about an hour and a half. the sister in law told us her conversion story and even said that her mom, who is a die hard evangelist in another church said that after never seeing a LD saint judge or fight or talk bad about someone that this must truly be the true church. we'll be talking to her soon :)

so we had conference yesterday down in sacsuha. it was awesome! (Tayler had some spiritual things about Conference that he wished to keep private-they have been edited out, sorry.)

but as we were coming back up to senahu i was getting out of the micro bus and the dang helper guy shut the door on me and my suit pants caught on the door latch and tore wide open. that ticked me off a lot. the guy didnt even say anything after. so im gonna have to figure out how to fix those seeing as i dont really have anything else. maybe sometime ill get a new suit. apparently in the cap there is a guy that tailors suits for 100 bucks. fabric you want, two pairs of pants, a vest and a suit coat. i dont know its just an idea. they are way nice suits. elder goodwin got one.

we had an amazing change of heart in one of our investigators this last week. two or three weeks ago we had an ok lesson with him. he was the one with the son that came to church that i mentioned. the last lesson we had with them he seemed hard hearted and would contradict the scriptures we would use. our departing words to him that night were dont close your heart (in qeqchi its softer. a conjugation of a desired action is used instead of a command). so we went back with him this last week. we were exhausted and not sure if we even wanted to go visit but elder fadel insisted. he was almost waiting for us. he welcomed us in and starting saying that he had tons of questions. these are his three questions. Who is a prophet and how do they become a prophet, is the nazarene church good and should i be in it, and what is the complete history of the Church of Jesus Christ. we didnt have time to finish answering his questions. he accepted a book of mormon though and im sure he will be reading it. we had to leave without answering his third question. which is perfect as that is a large subject-we'll be going back! but then he invited us to a graduation thing he was in. he had been training to be a traffic cop here in senahu. so we went to his graduation. it was cool. he wanted pictures and knew that we have cameras, but he still invited us and welcomed us when we got there. it was way cool to see his change.

this last week, the little boy who is getting baptized didnt come to church. he usually comes every sunday. we will be visiting him tonight to see what happeneed.

this last week we also set a wedding date and a baptismal date with a man and his wife. they have had some troubles lately and we walked in on them right on time. they lost their new born baby a few weeks ago. the Lord has his arms outstretched.

thats scary about kels. what the heck was it? what has she been eating? is she using pollen soap? acid soap? just wondering. hope she is improving though.

QUESTIONS:

How are your investigators this week? great

Did you make progress? yepumms

Did anyone come to church? a couple people. we also had a man that has been inactive come to church. he hasnt come to church in about 15 years. this last sunday he and his son showed up. this last week we told him that he is the head of the family and has to set the example. he knows the church is true. he will also be a great friend when i leave this area.

How about the little boy that was coming? Any progress with his family? not sure but i think i answered this one

Did you have any adventures this week you'd like to tell us about? nope. just that i pet a mink though. no wonder they are harvested for their fur haha. it was at the motel in la tinta, where we stayed for conference. it was tied up right next to the monkey.

How is your companion? hes good. knows qeqchi already which is very impressive.

How is the area as a whole? progressing. i'm not sure about sepacuite and setz'imaaj though. they are pretty hard hearted.

Do you like it? (New Area) no i love it

Do you know we love you?? do you know that i love you?

love you all, les quiero, nekexinra.

elder tay

Week 59: Sepacuite and Enduring to the End :)

well hello family!

(love you)

thank you zack and bailey for your messages to me. sounds like you guys are growing like crazy. bailey will be baptized by the time i get back and zack will be passing sacrament. we are going to have to go climb mount sopris when i get back. i still havent ever gotten to the top. and zack maybe you will be a lot better at math than i ever was. thats tough stuff for me. and bay im so proud of you for losing a tooth haha. i can just picture your toothless smile now!

kelsey and lindsey you crack me up. boys boys boys. ;) they arent all that exist in this world by the way.

haha well this last week elder fadel did a funny smokers voice that sent me straight back to baggs, wyoming listening to Crazy and jumping the dirtbikes and eating dirt. i told elder fadel about it and now he wants to hear a recording of his voice or something haha.

we also were trying to teach a young girl of 11 years to say the word "dance." when it came out as "biatch" we gave up with that endeavor.

this last week was a little slower. just didnt seem like any of the plans wanted to work out and the trucks up to the towns werent going up there when we needed them to. after waiting three hours on saturday waiting for a truck we finally got one. then as we get within halfway to the little town called sepacuite the road is blocked. we had gone up on thursday but the road was blocked by a landslide so we just turned around. we worked in town that day. then saturday the road was still blocked and completely muddy. they were still working on it but the road was still risky. so we all had to get off the truck and walk through the dangerous section then board on the other side to complete our journey.

we got up to sepacuite fine and only were able to teach about three good lessons. one family-with the help of some very guiding questions-realized that there is only one true church and that if there is no prophet there is no truth. we will be seeing their progress within the next week. but it was still a great lesson. well after them we went to another lesson and starting teaching about the same things when a truck drove by. so not knowing if there would be another one due to the landslide we booked it out of there and jumped on the truck. the family understood though.

every sunday there is a man that is 100 years old in the branch here. he comes every sunday. he is basically just falling apart. but he shows up every sunday in a white shirt, slacks, no tie, and a cowboy hat. ill get a picture of him. he always tries to speak in spanish with us. he'll interrupt the teachers in sunday school sometimes and just tell them "thank you." the man is a saint. has been to the temple and is definitely enduring to the end. well this last sunday he walked in the front doors where a member woman was standing with her baby. well he walks in with his can in hand and turns to the baby without saying a word. he then proceeds to grab the babys cheeks, one pinch on each side, and then acts like he's eating them. then he just turns and goes into the chapel. it was the funniest thing. elder fadel and i cracked up. we were laughing so hard!

this last week we still had a lot of news. about 32. to keep organized we go with the "chosen." you can feel when people need the gospel and want the gospel and also when they dont. for now we work a little with those that dont and then go with those that do. theyre all chosen just at different times.

with the flood thing elder fadel was sitting at his desk studying when the torrent came. he promptly asked "whats that?" then came to see me wrastling with the water and getting soaked. then he laughed. elder fadel and i enjoy our time here. we work dang hard but we have fun doing it. the other day i made little darts out of a pen tube and some orange tree thorns. they stick in everything. i miss making cool things danget.

so im thinking that you guys should invite the fadels over to the house. they are hilarious people it sounds like. very high energy. elder fadels mom apparently wants to go skydiving? and elder fadel did it before his mission too. so that would be a fun weekend in colorado. :)

im still up for you guys coming to pick me up. i would be able to fly home with all the mission pals though. elder schone, legua, jensen, snell, bruneel, goodwin and the list goes on. but it sounds like its already done. just in the future. so if you guys want to i would love it. and i would love to show you some of the places here.

sorry for the delay in this message. yesterday we did a pioneer day activity. polochik zone came up and we ate, played water balloon volleyball, tug-o-war, and threw around a football. saw elder goodwin and elder parry. but we ran out of time and werent able to use internet yesterday.

sounds like things are falling into place back there. just hang in there. im thinking this bakery thing is something that is needing to be done. not to mention amazing baked goods!

i miss you all and love you!!

love
ELDER TAY

Week 58: I am Elder Larsen!!

Hi Family!

you did tell me about the little girl that died. sounds like such an amazing little spirit. what a blessing to her family. maybe the greatest lesson you could have learned from her you may have already learned. to be in tune. you are already in tune. but to slow down in this hectic world and just feel It.

senahu has the perfect temperature. its hot sometimes. this last week particularly. but more than anything its absolutely perfect. i actually got sunburned this last week though. i peeled haha. wasnt expecting to get fried. but it was great.

we got 47 new investigators and 24 lessons. and 9 with less active members. we worked so hard this last week.

we went to setz'imaaj on wednesday and then sepacuite on friday. setz'imaaj is an amazing place. all the kids helped us again. the only difficulty is the distance.
on friday we had to walk all the way back from sepacuite. 2 and 1/2 hours walking. that hurt. we got home exhausted. we had lots of powerful lessons though.

then the next day we did service and went and dug some guys house out. a small hill slid off and was pushing his wall in and we must have moved a pile of dirt, using 5 gallon buckets, that was 10 feet long 4 feet wide and five feet deep. that was a lot of dang durt. i got trashed. so dirty. thats why i didnt get photos. i didnt want my camera muddy. but it was good service. and the man seems to be progressing pretty well as an investigator. we will be going back with him.

forgot this last week. we found a crab and a 7 or 6 inch long millipede as big around as my ring finger. so we caught it. and elder fadel ate the crab!

so saturday night i go to turn the sink on and the tubes just come undone where its connected to the main water line (its guatemala its pretty crappy). and water just starts spraying EVERYWHERE. i tried putting the tube back in but it would not go in cuz of the pressure and would just spray me in the face. our bathroom ended up flooding. the water in the toilet square of the bathroom got to be like 10 inches deep. luckily there is a little 12 inch tall partition that separates the toilet and the shower. but the water got up to the bowl and was going up fast. i had to call the owner of the house cuz we couldnt find the shut off valve. i ended up having to jump a barbwire fence to get to the valve. it was absolutely hilarious. i fixed it though and its all better. thanks dad for teaching me plumbing.

last sunday we were asked to bring ties to church for some of the leaders and some deacons. well the district president shows up to church to see how the branch is doing and he comes up to meet me and asks me my name. i look down to point at my plac and realized it wasnt there. i had forgotten my plac! we had also forgotten the ties. so we booked it back to the house and brought ties and my plac. i am Elder Larsen!! it was funny though. i felt like the biggest dork.

haha it was an awesomely hectic week. but we made some progress.

we had a boy show up to church. his name is marvin. hes 12. he is awesome though. came to church all alone. we went to look for his family and when we found them his dad only tried to disprove every scripture that we would show him. we finally just told him not to close his heart. im worried he got mad at marvin for going to church. we will have to see what he says. he was very "tz'aptz'o" (closed). i didnt like it. again he said that it doesnt matter where you worship as long as you are worshipping God. i wish they would just read the scriptures.

i miss and love each and every one of you. sorry no pictures this week. no time!!!!

Love

Elder Tay
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDZ!!

Week 57: POLLO MAFIA

well hello my people!


1) Do they speak Kekchi in Senahu and Seamay? Any Spanish?
lots actually. i have one lady that is going to get baptized sometime. we dont know when. she just had a baby so she will have to wait a little she says. anyway she only knows spanish. no qeqchi whatsoever. the other baptismal date knows no spanish whatsoever and only qeqchi. its way cool to work on both languages. i enjoy it alot.

2) How far from Santo Domingo are you?
i could walk there in 2 and a half hours. we are way close actually. just need to scale the mountains.

3) How many missionaries are there in Senahu? I understand the ZL's are there too?
i live in senahu. seamay is right next door. i actually live in the zls area and have to walk ten to fifteen minutes just to get to my area.

4) What is your house like? Are you living with members?
no we have an awesome house. all to ourselves. concrete. we have a warm watered shower, a study room, a bedroom, a separate dining room and kitchen divided by a half wall and an unused room. its very large. there is also an extra room where all the elders in chijolom, seritkiche, and yalijux, stay mondays in the night. i like it.

5) How big is Senahu? How many people? What is the main trade?
its fairly large. a little smaller than la tinta. it is a lot better quality of life though. the main trade im not sure about. people have lots of corn and crops here too. alot of bananas and pineapples. i love that. imma miss the fruit when i get back. of course all the fruit we eat in the states comes from here. but there are lots of people. very clean with somewhat nice homes. they have a lot of wood homes and cinderblock too. i love the quality here. its so much better than polochik.

6) How big is the church? How many members? Functioning branch?
we are in charge of two branches. on with an attendance of 71 members and the other 137. they both are functioning rather well. not states quality but we will be working with them. branch 2 is awesome. the members basically put baptismal dates for us. branch one just needsa little help.

7) Are you still in the mountains?
oh yes. thats what i like. i live in the city. but my area covers mountins that actually remind me of home. this last week we found 31 new investigators in a place called setz'imaaj and sepacuite. they were absolutely gorgeous areas. setz'imaaj is covered in pine trees. i have pictures that i sent too. but the people are awesome too. when we got there there was a huge group of little kids that basically took us under their wing-seeing as we had never been there before-and took us to every single house in the area. singing and praying with us as we went. it was absolutely amazing. we even set an appointment with the little kids for wednesday so they could help us again. i love the people here!

8) How long has your companion been in Senahu? How long has he been out?
he has five months in the mission. still a new guy. he was actually born in seamay. saying that that was his first area. he knows it very well. his qeqchi is amazingly advanced for how much time he has too.

9) What is your companion like? Are you guys getting along well?
hes the man!

10) How many investigators do you have? Is the area friendly to missionaries?
the missionaries are loved here. and we have tons of investigators and lots of work to do.

11) Are you traveling as much as you were in Santo Domingo? Are you walking or catching rides with people?
for the most part no. maybe to or three days out of the week we go far and then we travel in trucks just like going to actela. except alot further. and cooler. the good thing is that the people are alot more humble. even more ready to receive the gospel. they are still asking me how they join the church too. just like actela. we shall be expecting results shortly. and everyone here also knows about the chicken noise i do. im going to be famous here i believe. its hilarious.

12) Obviously, you aren't in as remote a village, so what kind of "amenities" do you have available to you now?
basically everything i want except ice cream. thats only on mondays!

13) Are you staying organized for your ZL's?
ya

14) Have you had to learn how to do interviews and stuff yet?
yep i interviewed a fifteen year old boy on saturday in qeqchi. that was way cool to see his faith.

15) Are the other missionaries in your district close?
i only have two sisters in my district and they live just up the hill in senahu

16) Do you know WE LOOOOVE you Elder TAYLER JESSE LARSEN??
yes and i love you back

17) Are you feeling good? Not losing weight are you?
nope all is well. running like a well oiled machine. and im probably getting fat to be honest. :)

18) Have you had any trouble with athletes foot since you've been in Guate? Just curious.
nope nothing

19) What's going on with your mission buddies? Elder Schone, Legua, Jensen?
they are all good. elder schone is in tanchi. hadnt had power for like five days until yesterday. elder legua is fine. he wants to come back here so bad. elder jensen is fine too. just went up as ZL. all is great.

well i included pictures. i didnt have time for the marshmallow ones from a while ago. plus i have better ones.

quick story. some kid asked me to do the chicken noise then grabbed his nose and mouth and held his breath so "he wouldnt get scared". it was hilarious. i wish i had it on video. he says thats what they do here apparently. he also calls the chicken noise the pollo mafia. its hilarious. the kid cracks me up. carlos is his name.

oh and on sunday we had a confirmation. the guy got baptized like two or three weeks before but left afterward to work and didnt get confirmed. and yesterday he came to church. so that counts as almost a half a baptism haha.

well i miss you guys. i hope all is well.

i love you all and have a great week. i will!

ELDER TAY

Week 56: SENAHU & SEAMAY

well happy fourth of july you people!

i didnt celebrate it. unfortunately. we found a tarantula instead. in fact this last week we found three tarantulas and caught a bat. that was pretty exciting.

we didnt have much progress in church yesterday. we started on time and everything and then all of a sudden the first counselor is sitting in the congregation. it confused me kinda. i dont know how you forget something like that. but whatever.

this last week was full of goodbyes. i got a transfer. i am in senahu right now writing. my new area is called seamay. it is gorgeous here. they say the area is ready to progress and have found lots of cool new places that havent got the gospel yet. the church is still young here i guess. my new companion is elder Fadel from Bountiful Utah. he is awesome! apparently he and elder goodwin went to school together and are great friends. he is very humble, hilarious and this change is gonna be awesome. its funny. when i found out i was getting a change i had a feeling i was going to be with elder fadel. he likes the word neener too. just for everything.

i am way tired. i was up till twelve packing and got up at 530. and you cannot sleep on buses here. it hurts.

well we went with a good friend this last week. his name is estevan. he is an amazing friend and his family is too. he has too little kids maybe 7 years old (his son) and his daughter is probably 5 ish. they arent members but when the little girl heard i was leaving she cried i guess. i will have to come and visit them someday.

everyone in actela and santo domingo didnt want me to leave. one guy even told me not to leave and that i should build a house there. well they dont sell land here. it is inherited and i told him such and he told me he would give me some land to build a house. very humbling.

i am excited for this new change. i feel new and ready to go. i felt stagnant and not progressing in santo domingo. it was time for a new face there.

oh and im district leader now. my district consists of my companionship, sister eduarte and sister colato. its not too much so its a good start. :)

so i was waiting for the bus to come up to senahu and one of the ladies from actela was there traveling to senahu also. well she came up shook my hand and grabbed my shoulder and talked to me. she treated me like a good friend. that really hit me. i may have got crap from little kids (calling me corn hair!) but the people in actela, despite their wealth, are humble and respect me. they are my brothers and sisters and i am their brother. it is kind of interesting the bond that can be formed when in the service of your fellow man.

someday i wanna go back and visit.

so the internet here is really slow. i will try and send some pictures next week for sure. i still owe you guys the pictures of the marshmallow roast. will work on that.

well imma turn the comp off and go eat some ice creamage. oh btw the house here is right in senahu. so im close to everything but still can find and see really cool places.

i love and miss each and every one of you. and i send a shout out to all those reading the blog haha.

until next week!

elder larsen

(TAY)

Week 55: Marshmallows and a Girl Named Griselda

well hey hey hey familia. ¿que tal, como estan?

questions first:

How was the week teaching? Did you have luck getting anyone to church?
nope. teaching was fine though. the people know that this is His church. it is just a matter of giving up the past and looking towards the future. belief requires action and they are lacking in that. we should get them this next week though. well do everything possible.

Do you need more garments?
i dont think so. im all good.

Has anyone said anything to you about your blog? (My blog?)
no nothing. you would probably be the one to hear about it anyway. but no i havent heard anything.

Do you know your family loves you?!
yes

When are transfers? This week?
yes. thursday or friday i will know if im leaving this area or not. it will be hard. i have a lot of great friends in this area. we will have to come back to visit them.

Did you see I deposited your tax refund checks in your account? ($88)
i havent checked my personal account. ill use that to buy the mayan head though. thank you for depositing it :)

Any pictures this week?
well im trying to send pictures. the internet is really slow. they are pictures of a family we roasted marshmallows with. they thought those things were a heaven send. they loved those. better than the pancakes we made with them. they hated those things haha. but ill see if i can get it to send. the other picture of the little girl is a girl named Griselda. she's the cutest dang thing ever. she cracks me up too. but she likes marshmallows too. especially toasted.

well this was a pretty long week. we taught tons of lessons with tons of awesome people that want the blessings of the gospel. they just couldnt make it to church. maybe well get some wheelbarrows and haul them to church next week. yep i think that is what were gonna have to do!

but its probably a good thing they didnt make it to church. honestly i dont think anyone is coming to church or progressing because of how the church is operating. and until the branch is functioning as it should i dont think anything will progress. i guess the Lord may be waiting until they can have a conversion and see the difference.

this last week we had everything prepared. the branch president told us who would talk so i wrote a talk for the member that was gonna talk and went and dropped it off at his house. even asked if he had any questions about it and just tried to help as much as possible. well sunday rolled around. the person directing the meeting says " jose will now give a talk on tithes and fast offerings." well Jose just sat there for like 30 seconds just rubbing his face and staring at the ground. like in the RM when the guy is supposed to teach Elders Quorum. well he finally gets up, goes to the front, no books nothing. and says that he didnt have time to prepare a talk and that he didnt have a talk. he did say he was happy to be there though. that honestly frustrated the crud outta me. and my companion. i wrote the dang thing for him. so then after that (while the members are still just arriving at church-at like 9:30/9:50) president gets up and just rips apart everything apostate that the branch is doing. two things i like that he shared. the first: he said "every sunday you guys need to bring your books and bibles" (speaking to the members). and said-"if you dont, then what good is it to have them? if you arent gonna bring your books just sell them." that one cracked me up.
second: he said " you guys need to be awesome members. we have the blessing of having missionaries in our ward. you guys need to be so awesome that these missionaries are sad when they have to leave. make it so they dont want to leave."
sometimes the branch president is the man.

second thing that frustrated me and calmed me was primary. nobody wanted to say a prayer. opening or closing. well on the closing prayer i wouldnt let them leave until we said the prayer. they just sat there playing and messing around for like 10 minutes. it was getting way frustrating. but the little boy sitting next to me-i dont know what it was that made him do it-but he grabbed my hand, looked at me and said calmly and in the most humble way you can imagine "i'll give the prayer.".
that one touched me and im very grateful for his meekness and his example.

seeing how he acted just enforces the scriptures about little children. i wish we could get the people to see that here.

we went with a bunch of less active members yesterday. we talked about matthew and the scripture that talks about the narrow path and the large path. how alot of people go down the large path and few down the narrow path. but the narrow path is the truth. i think they understood. they seem to think that saying the most important thing about faith is just believing in Christ. but you gotta act and you gotta look for Christ. thats what is the most important. were trying to help them. its very slow.

im glad to hear you guys are all ok. what happened with lindsey? allergies or what? thats scary stuff. im sorry that happened linds. and i love you.

does a commercial bakery look very lucrative? what would be the winnings from it? just a Q.

well im running out of time. the keyboard keeps jamming and the pictures are loading slowly. i love you and am so grateful to have you as my family. you have no idea how blessed I am to have you guys.

i love each and every one of you. take care and next week i'll write more.


Elder Tay

:)
not sure if the picture will work. but will keep trying.

Week 54: A Talk on Temples & Ties

Did you get my email about the videos?
yes. thats weird they didnt work for the first year. but its good they finally did.

I will let you know (Austin's mission) the destination. Any guesses?
here.

How did Isaiah's house fair after that storm? Is it a reed house like the others? Does he have a family?
yeah, he does have a family. a big one. lots of kids. his house is still there. they are clearing a spot down the hill a little ways and off to the side for a new house. one time he told us that someday he is going to be a member.

Where would President put the little temporary church buildings?
well there are churches all over the place. the small prefab churches are for the more remote locations. it takes a lot to establish a branch though. we will see how things turn out. hes not considering a church building up there yet. we have to have baptisms first.

last week we were up in actela talking to a group of men. they started asking tons of interesting questions. deep, good questions. like how many families they need to have there to have their own church building. and they asked if we could come do an activity and share a movie and talk with all the people about it. it was crazy because for weeks i have been talking about that with the leaders. i hadnt mentioned it to any one person up there and then that man asked exactly what we had been planning. to the detail. they even went and asked permission for us to the mayor guy. telling him they want us to do the activity. we will see. that place really excites me.

Any progress this week with anyone? How is Romelia?
they are all progressing. they just dont tend to come to church much. we will have to get them back. we also went with a less active family. supposedly they got sealed in the temple and have lots of kids that arent baptized. we will be working with them more. they say they just cant leave their church for four or five months cuz of "callings".

Did you have a funeral for the little boy? Do they have funeral services like we do?
they do do funerals here. they do them five times. five saturdays in a row. its strange.

i gave a talk yesterday. on temples. saturday night elder parry and i organized the whole sacrament room. set up chairs and everything. then we lent ties to all the men in white shirts and made sure they sat where they needed to. to show people that we ARE different from other churches. it was the best sacrament meeting we have had in a long time. the members even commented on it.

no baptismal dates yet. working on that. when we do get some though, it will be a large quantity :) like 30 or so. maybe. i really have no doubts about that area in actela. for that im working there. president torres even told me to keep it up. so i am.

i love you and miss you all. again im sorry that your friend passed away mom. i sure am glad for the knowledge that we have though.

take care and hear from you all next week!!

ELDER TAY

Week 53: Mudslides & Missionary Work

HELLOOOO FAMILY!!

Did you talk to Elder Schone at Zone Conference?
no. elder schone is in coban. we went to senahu.

How do you do your laundry? (I think I asked before...been awhile. Still Branch presidents wife I think?)
no we switched to some members in our ward. the guy has like 6 daughters so the laundry gets done very fast. haha

What was the picture about where you were holding a picture of Megan? Have you heard from her?
i hear from her all the time.

Progress with investigators this week? Did President have ideas about the 20 people you have?
i talked at length with him about it. he says he will look into it. he says the church is starting to make little basically prefab churches to put in more remote locations. but we'll see what happens. he wrote it all down.

How are you? Happy?
yes. im very tired today though. we left at 4 in the morning yesterday for senahu and just got back to la tinta just now. (we had ZC in senahu btw)

No more snail mail letters, huh? (hint hint...)
:) working on it

Have you received our snail mail letters?
yes i did and the packages. havent really dug in but thank you so much. and thanks bay for the deodorant!

Have you heard from Nana or Bapa?
havent heard from bapa yet. sometimes i hear from nana.

Do you email Grady, Brenton, Jordan? Do they email you? Grady is in Sandpoint, Idaho now and loves it.
i havent emailed brenton yet. jordan emailed me and grady every once in a while. mind sending me brentons address again?

What's the best part from the first year of your mission? Best thing that has happened? Still know your mommy loves you?
not any one thing is the best thing. its all the best thing. and i love you too.


im sorry your friend past away mom. sounds like she was a very large influence in your life. good friends on the other side.

this week was pretty eventful as well.

tuesday we went up to actela. found a bunch of new investigators and then went with Emilio. Emilio was in some random church named new jerusalem but his son was there. well we asked if we could talk a little and i offered a prayer. well during the prayer we got hit with a wall of peace, comfort, happiness, and yes a little burning of the bosom. it was the strongest spiritual experience i have had. i know he felt it too. i know they know its true. they know what they have to do. they just need to step up and do it. we will be visiting them more this week.

happy birthday ZZZAAACCCKKKK!!

this last week on thursday we ran out of gas. so we came down to la tinta to get gas. well while here we saw a member that told us that a less active member's son had passed away that morning. we have been working with this member. trying to reactivate him. he wants to come back to church. but like emilio. he just has got to do it. well his son was nine years old and not baptized. we offered the baptismal invitation 3 days before he died. they considered it and said they would be coming back to church. they dont know what happened. something with his stomach. that little boy was a very good friend of ours though. we would joke around and play all the time.

the day he died we stopped by the house to offer some sort of comfort. that is the culture. everyone goes to the house and just sits there. well seeing as the young boy was accountable for his actiions i could not appropriately share the scripture in moroni about baptismal for children. instead i shared with him the scripture that says i pray for you constantly that you may endure. it was a very powerful experience. very humbling. i really dont know what else to say. when tragedies happen to the humblest of people it sure does hurt. everyone.

also. the dog named Parry died.

we were teaching a man named isaiah and it started to rain way hard. we got wrecked by the mud. it was basically a flash flood (not really just lots of water). but we got wrecked. we went outside to work and keep his house from washing away. we got back to the house just destroyed. completely covered in mud. poor laundry ladies. :)

i bought a machete. very cool.

we also fixed a mans roof this last week. he lives way up in the mountains. way up there. he has had lots of accidents too. fallen on his head and gotten run over by trucks. needless to say a little slow now. but again. one of the most humble people you will ever ever meet. one of the people that will have salvation. the people that make you cry just thinking about them. especially after the mission. the one that sends that heart pang. but we helped him. i hope my service will be accepted by the Lord.

we slept in Teleman sunday night. elder burden and i had to share a dang cot. our heads were in the middle with our heads hanging off. then we woke up at 3:45 to leave. it was a very good conference though.

the other day-when we ran out of gas we had a worker installing fire alarms in the church. he was staying the night but the gas ran out at dinner time. so we went outside and started a fire. we heated up water for Ramen. mmm.

elder parry and i also roasted marshmallows on the stove the other day. they were dang good haha.

hmmm, branch is progressing. still working on things. president never wears a tie. gonna fix that soon though.

had 31 new investigators this last week! and they all want to come to church. we just gotta find the one to step up and take the challenge.

thank you so much for my packages. i love you and thank you Grandma Larsen! i got the truffles! and they ain't melted :) thank you.

i miss and love each and every one of you. hey thats not my hat you sent by the way. thats dads. my hat is white and fitted. so if you are sending a picture package just toss that one in there ;) haha i love you so much and am so grateful that we are together forever!!

love,

ELDER TAY

Week 51: Volcanos, Hurricanes & Baptismal Dates

hi family!

sorry about the email last week. it must have been the connection. its a good one though. and thanks to the new email system it was saved!

happy birthday mom!
sorry its two weeks late.

well first off. im fine. nothing happened where i am. the most that happened was a light dusting of volcanic ash on the ground and lots of rain. we heard that the volcano erupted and that ash was flying and we highly doubted it would get to the polochic. but elder parry went out to the bathroom in his garment top and when he came back in he had big grey spots on his shirt. and thats how we found out that we had gotten "ashed." i collected some of the ash. its very cool. way small-smaller than sand-and super black. i can see why we werent allowed to leave cuz if that got in your lungs it would probably hurt.
we came walking back in the dark the other night from meeting with our baptismal possibility and it started raining hard. we got soaked. and there was tons of fog. i was really looking forward to the hurricane but it never came. i wasnt worried at all. we live in a fortress of a church. its not going nowheres. i swear i am in the dream mission. mmmhhmmm. there really is nothing like it in the world.

well i baptize in la tinta because the district leader lives in tucuru and thats along ways away. sorry if there are no spaces or my grammar is wrong. the keyboard sticks very badly. and also, all the people in la tinta know who i am. we are there every pday and we go down for a lot of baptisms and they all ask for me to baptize them. its funny but im honored to do it.

mosiah 23:21-22. i like.

well this last week was hectic with all that happened. we went with emilio and challenged him to baptism. he is reluctant-saying he has already been baptized and married in the church nuevo jerusalen. (new jerusalem). but we are going up there with the members this next week. i dont know though. they tend to talk. aalllooooottttt. so we may have to go visit them before we go. but im hoping to have a baptismal date with him this next week. he has also two sons and their wives with a couple children. we`ll see if it works out. it will be very cool if it does.

so we are in el estor today. i gotta buy a qeqchi bible and my companion has to buy shoes. its way cool here. not just because its civilization. its got a cool culture.
there is lots of english here too. i was just in a store and some guy came up and said "man youre tall, how tall are you?" haha i told him and asked where he was from. apparently hes from rhode island. he lives here i guess. bet he left then came back 30 seconds later and invited us to go play basketball with him later today. "if you got game come play" he says. we cant though danget. gotta go back to santo domingo and its against mission rules. which is really depressing. i dont remember voting for that.

it feels way good to get out of la tinta for pday.

what the heck is up with the mormon world haha. how does everyone know everyone? its kinda scary to be honest haha. are we really that social?

i have an emergency pack and i am ready to go. eagle! congrats to austin by the way.

oh and elder schone called me yesterday and said that he had gotten an emergency change back to a qeqchi speaking area. he is very excited. stoked rather. elder legua is still waiting to come back though. apparently a new zone or group of areas is opening soon. a place called cahbon. i could get a change to somewhere around there and so could elder legua. we shall see! im excited.

all the elders that are my friends are fine. which are a lot. elder turek talked to me too. hes doing fine and missing the mountains much like me. we are planning on going on some cool camping trips.

i love you and miss you. one and all!!


take care


ELDER TAY

(From last week)

helloooo family-

ok well first of all im pretty sure i dont have a few extra pounds on my body haha. just so you guys know. im starting to lose weight again.

Where are you? Did you transfer?
nope. five changes in the same place. nine months. almost a year. and my new companion is the same one-elder parry from washington. and he lives close to forks he says. the girls should like that!

How was your week? Did you travel anywhere?
well this last week we went way high into the mountains. even higher than actela. its called canal. i have no idea why. but it was gorgeous. ill get pics this next week. i have other pictures to send today. better ones.

How were your lessons this week?
they were great. we found an old man that says he wants to get baptized and married in the temple. he lives in Actela. i think this guy could be the window for the gospel in that area. everyone knows him. i think hes the reason i had the feeling we needed to work there. i think we are going to set a baptismal date tomorrow. he has a lot of family too. Ramiro we didnt teach this laast week. hes working all day and all night apparently. doesnt really have time.

I haven't asked in a week or so...how is the language?
its good. talking to other missionaries they have told me that they hear i have great qeqchi. but i dont feel like it. its hard to explain. i understand a lot. its just hearing what exactly they are saying that is the problem. like specifics. most of the time i will understand the context but specifics are hard. and the thing with qeqchis is if they ask me a question and i answer what i think i heard (and isnt right) they wont ask the question again. i dont know if its humility or patience on their part. it just puts more pressure on me.

Tummy trouble?
a little bit. im fine though

Favorite scripture this week?
john 8:12

How is the branch organization coming? (If you are still in Santo Domingo) its better. this week though we had the district conference with all of the polochic valley. president and sister torres were there. it was a good conference. pretty short.

Did you get pictures of the corn planting?
i got a picture of the place. ill send it. all they do is stick a stick in the ground and throw four corn seeds in it. thats it haha. good report huh? then after they drink toasted corn water called q'em ha.

You mentioned mango season, but what other fruits are you eating? Veggies? Where do you get them?
well in la tinta they have a market where they sell all kinds of vegetables. even giant carrots. thats where i get my fruits and veggies for the most part. pineapples are almost ripe. that will be soon. mmmm. cant wait haha.

Are the church meetings structured the same way ours are? (Like sacrement mtg, etc.) Do you help with blessing the sacrement, etc?
yep they are the same. except here the organization is a little diffferent. the president doesnt really do relief society or priesthood. so thats next on the list. and my companion and i bless the sacrament every week. soon it should be alfonso (who was my baptisma and elena-his wife-is and was a member) and a recent convert rolando.

Are you surviving the heat? Do you know what the temperature is? Does it cool off at night? Can you purchase a portable fan to plug in to the wall at night? We'll put money in your account. :)
its hard. its soooo dang hot. every day its about 95 and 100% humidity or so. so its way hot. where i am its a little bit cooler. down in the valley its incredibly hot. what a blessing im in the mountains. it cools off to like 85 at night. and if i buy a fan its reimbursible by the mission. so ill probably just do that. dont worry about money in my account. :)

well last week i found a big red snake. like pure red. a deep redish purple to be exact. i tried to get a picture of it but it went under all the grass and disappeared and i couldnt find it again. it was like 2 to 3 feet long.

the man we found that wants to get baptized and married is like seventy years old. his name is emilio chen. very cool old man. has a huge family too. we found another family of 8 that was way interested too. they dont have a church either. which is rare for here. well see how it goes. they live pretty far away from the church so we'll see if they come.

well we had a couple lost days this last week. my companion and i were both pretty sick. diahreea. again. i was pretty sick and he gave me a blessing and it hasnt come back again...or yet. im fine though. no worries. it was a good blessing. he told me i can teach these people something that nobody else can. but i got better right after it. :)

well i miss you and love all of you so much. keep asking questions. gotta cut this one a little short cuz of the pictures.

love,

ELDER TAY

Week 46: The Good Path & A Huge White Kid

(For those of you that don't know, we ask Tayler questions, then he answers them every week in his email. You'll see our question, then his answer.)

How was Zone Conference? What did you do in Coban?
it was good. elder falabela came and talked to us. he is in the first presidency of the seventy and way cool. he talked a lot about families. funny how that theme has come up a lot lately. hmmmm. we basically just hung out and ate GOOD junk food and then we all went and played pool. i won. haha.

Did you get sick after you ate your birthday pizza?
nope. its all good now. :)

Did you meet Elder Dave Mays?
take a look at the attachment!

Did you know Elder Snell is now up in that area? He will now be in Coban for P-Days!
i saw him too. as well as elder clark and elder ....shoot. i forgot his name. ill remember it. hes way cool and a great friend. they are all from my group though. do you still talk to elder snells mom?

Anything amazing happen this week?
i do have a good experience. my companion and i had just gotten done teaching lesson one to two new investigators. well one of them after the lesson looked at me and said "hermano Larsen, how do i know where the good path is? how do i find the truth? and why do all the churches want money?" i told him the prophets know the good path pretty well. and that the prophet will be on the right path. but more than anything ask of God.

his question hit me. hard. he took me, a huge white kid half bald, and put all of his trust in my hands and humbly asked me how to know.

it helped me realize just what my sacred commission is. i am here for him. im not here for me to learn. it will happen. but i am here to help them. and they are my brothers and sisters and more importantly my Father's children. his sincerity and his integrity-not to mention humility-touched my heart.

currently he is going to the adventist church. we will see if we can find him again. he wasnt there sunday for our appointment. i feel like he could progress though. now i just need to work on my qeqchi to make sure its enough to teach him the way.

Are you feeling better after taking the pills Hermana Torres gave you?
like im back home again! all good baby. i feel fine :) you actually sent me the same stuff. just with different directions for taking it. she didnt tell me the side effects though. i did get way tired on it but im fine now.

Do you know your mom loves you?
yeth

Do you think you will stay in Santo Domingo or change the next time?
to be honest im hoping for a change. i wrote the weekly letter to president and mentioned how ive been here for awhile. well see what happens.

DID YOU GET OUR PACKAGES? :) Find anything good? Who else did you get packages from?
yes i did. thank you so much. but please stop. i love them but i have enough here. well i got a package from megan and nana too. thank you so much though. you guys rock. and the shoes are soo comfortable. much better.

Where is Elder Goodwins area? Do you get to see him?
elder goodwin is in the office and no i didnt get to see him. supposedly he is here in the polochic today but i dont think i will be able to see him danget.

How is Elder Legua this week? Please tell him we are so sorry about his uncle. Are you still writing Beth?
yes we are still in contact.

Have you sent a memory card home?
next monday. i gotta transfer everything. its gonna happen for shizzle though :)

CALL DETAILS! Your mom is FREAKING OUT already. Yep, I said freaking.

well im thinking i may be calling this sunday. perhaps. i will see. ill call you before hand to make sure. where will everyone be? what is the best time? ill make sure to call you guys to set the time. now vorrees.

so right now its very hot. i mean very hot. i dont have a thermometer or id tell you. but its soo hot. i lose weight i think while im sleeping. alright im probably exxagerating (and i didnt spell that right). but still its way hot. haha we took our beds out of the room and put them in the sacrament room. thats the only place there are fans. i just threw my bed on the ground under the fan and didnt sleep with the blankets on. its dang hot. "freaking" hot. :)

when is this lexi girl gonna write me? i wanna talk to her. and hows aunt jodi doin?

well the pics slowed me down a lot. i love each and every one of you. i will talk to you on sunday. miss you!!!!

love

ELDER TAY

Week 45: Wedding, Baptisms and My Birthday!

weeeelllllll hi. :)

Details on the wedding/baptism? Everything go ok?

everything went perfect. we were all looking forward to it and at the last minute the branch president had to go to coban. we had given his name to the alcalde or mayor type guy as a witness to the wedding. and when the branch president left we had a little scare and thought it wasnt going to work out. well turns out the two guys who came to do the weddings were both members and we were able to do it. my companion and i just had to sign as witnesses. it was a cool experience cuz when we got there the whole town of actela was basically there and to start the meeting the two guys welcomed us and recognized our presence. it was cool cuz these people look up to mayors and governmental authorities a lot, and when they welcome the missionaries there is obviously something the missionaries have to offer. so well see if the respect level goes up in actela. the wedding was on friday. saturday were the baptisms. it was very cool and they both wanted me to baptize them.

What's with the ties lately? Where did all your other ties go? Do you need more?

nothings up with ties. i dont need more. i was just saying cuz i asked for a couple ties a long time ago. so i was saying if you were going to send me ties to send me paisleys and ugly. they are trading power with other missionaries haha!

We love the picture of you and other missionaries next to the water...with you in a superman pose. Anything you'd like to add to a caption underneath this picture?

not really. whatever you guys want. it was lake izabel in el estor if that helps. haha.

Did you travel anywhere this week to do any teaching?

not really. we just stayed in the area pretty close. i did do a division with an elder lusty from utah. hes way cool and we are really good friends now. i went to tucuru with him so elder tzunux could interview our baptizees.

How are things with the dad and son in law? Still coming to church?

hmmmm, not sure who youre talking about. im assuming the old man that reactivated. yes they are coming to church. the son in law is the one that got baptized on saturday!

How do you feel about the Kekchi now that you are speaking it all the time?

its cool. its coming quicker and quicker.

Did you share your food with Elder Goodwin from your package?

haha no. i offered him some though-for going to get it-but he declined nicely. hes the man. and a great dang friend.

Are you able to send snail mail letters still? Cause we haven't gotten any. Hint hint.

ya im working on one. with a memory card. sorry. it is way hard. and this coban trip fell right at the end of the month when we dont have money. so i may borrow money from my personal account then redeposit it out of my mission account after.

Do you know where your dad and I were 20 years ago today and how grateful we are to have you in our lives? :)

haha i remember it very well.

Do you know what time we are supposed to call on Mothers day? What is the phone number again?

i will figure that out and let you know. have you bought a calling card?

How are your pants holding up? Socks? Garments?

all good to go. like taco bell.

well i had my interview with president this last week. which was good. he congratulated me for the baptisms and the good work. we were more than two hours late because of the weddings and he joked around with me about it and said he didnt know why everyone had to be there at the same time. he said he would rather have me doing that than anything else. after all it is why i am here.
so in my interview he started talking about the date i entered and when i leave then paused and said..."your in elder jensens group huh?" so that is why i think elder jensen is going to be assistant. he also told me how great my group is. :)

elder legua had a tough week this last week. i guess his uncle died. i finally got a hold of him over the phone. still the best friend in the mission. elder schone got a hold of me too. hes doing good. wants to be in the "chic" still though. elder jensen is doing fine too. i talked to him also.

we taught a lot this last week. lots of lessons. and lots of new investigators. we found a family whos family are all members. they were very receptive and listened and understood everything. which makes them very good investigators cuz they understood my qeqchi! we didnt see ramiro this last week. he works alot. i would say hes our next baptismal possibility. so we are working hard with him. he says he knows joseph smith was a prophet and is reading the book of mormon.

people here are very strange. they believe almost anythng they are told but are stubborn at the same time. strange combo. but they believe in the book of mormon. heck some churches even preach from it. they also know joseph smith was a prophet-but because of responsibilities in other churches they "cant leave." whatever.

we also taught a lesson this last week on the sabbath day. the adventists say people worship on sunday because of ancient paagan sun worship. hence the name sunday. but i like to hear "sonday" when i say the name of that day. it is the lords day (says in the bible) and we should do all worship and remembering him on his day.....right?

so i havent got my packages yet. apparently they are in teleman and i wont get them until wednesday or thursday. they say there are like seven though. woohoo!

well hmmmmm.......thank you for all the birthday congrats :) wish i could be eating a nice delicioso cake right now.

i miss you one and all :) and love you too

ELDER TAY