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