Monday, May 27, 2013

Aloha!

Ps. I can see Scott at the end of my mission! You just need to write to scotts mission president and ask permission from him when the time gets a little closer!

On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 11:12 AM, Trevor Taylor <taylor.trevor@myldsmail.net> wrote:
Bom dia!

Wow. 24 years. You guys are old. But, I am so glad that you two got married in the temple 24 years ago. I am so thankful that we can have an eternal family. Thank you so much for your example and for the love that you two have for each other. You have shown me exactly what I want when i grow up :) HAPPY ANIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!

This week was pretty crazy. We did two divisions and I left the area for one of them. I was able to do an interview with a lady named Vanessa. She has been going to church for the last 10 years and never wanted to be baptized. Now she wants to be baptized but cant yet because she needs to get married first. She has a way strong testimony and the whole time she just kept saying that she cant wait for her kids to be missionaries. She thanked me for being such a good example and she said that she really liked me haha. At the end I bore my testimony to her about missionary work and how her family will be so blessed for having missionaries in the field. She asked how I knew that and I told her about Syd and Scott and me and she felt so bad for mom that she started crying! I told her that my family is receiving the blessings and that its worth it. I just want you all to know that I know that this is the work of the Lord. Mom, dont get sad because your kids are out of the house. We are out here serving the Lord. We are doing exactly what you taught us to do.

We also had our LAST interviews with President Cordon before he leaves. That was weird. Im going to miss him and Sister Cordon so much. Usually he talks to me about how the work is going and how we can do better but this time he just talked about things after the mission like marriage and college. He said that I need to tell him when my homecoming is so that he can come. I love that man. I know that he was called by God to be our mission president. He told me that I need to focus on the mission but that there are some things that I need to start thinking about right now for after the mission. It made me realize how close I really am to finishing my mission. I left and just started to cry. I love the mission.

We were able to speak in church yesterday! We had 35 minutes for me, Elder Eddington and another lady to speak. The lady went first and used 20 minutes, then Elder Eddington used 12 minutes. So I was left with 3 minutes. Just enough time to get up and bear my testimony haha. i dont think I have ever been so mad about not being able to speak in church! But its ok and I learned a lot while I was preparing my talk. Maybe that was the purpose. We also sang Dear to the Heart of the Shephard in a trio and it went really well. I think my voice has gotten higher because they had me sing the melody and I hit notes that I was never able to hit before haha

We will have the mission counsel this week. President Cordons last. I think it will be a little different and I am excited to see what happens. Its the last one before the mission splits too!! Crazy times here in Curitiba.

Well, I love you all and I am so grateful for all the love that you show for me. I love being a missionary and I know that we all can be missionaries. Even if we dont have a name tag. Just be an example of the believers. 

I love you!



Love,Élder Trevor Taylor




Huge oranges....awkward!  But they were sooo good!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

What a week!

Bom dia!                                   May 20, 2013

What a great week! This week is what we call a power week! We found 3 new families to teach and now our teaching pool is growing. The sad thing is that only 1 of them went to church this week so thats something that we are going to have to focus on. We were able to teach almost all of our lessons with members too. That was incredible.

We also got to do another division with the assistants. This time I was with Elder Schmidt. He is the first ever missionary from Germany here in Brazil. Hes way cool and it was good to work with him again. He was my zone leader when I was in Jardim Mercurio. It was good to see the things that I need to work on to make my area better and also to help my zone more. 

We had the craziest lesson this week. I was on a different division with Elder Gomes and we were knocking doors and found a bunch of people from the north of Brazil. They were all drunk so we told them that we would come back another day but they made us go inside and teach them. While we were teaching, this guy left and then came back with a small statue of the virgin Mary. He said that if it wasnt for her, Jesus wouldnt have been born. He started to yell at us that we needed to pray to her and worship her. I told him that we wouldnt and he told me to go to h-e-double hockey sticks. He started kissing the statue and tried to make me kiss it too. He then grabbed a can of beer and tried to make me drink it. So I hit it out of his hand and said that we had to leave. I picked up my backpack and we took off. They tried to make us stay but we ended up jumping the fence and running. It was nuts. But it did make me realize how nuts some people can get when they dont have the right teachings. Its sad and we are here to help them to learn the truth.

I just want to invite all of you to pray for Pres. Monson. I cant imagine losing someone that close. I know that he has a really strong testimony but it still has to be hard. Dont forget him in your prayers.

Next Sunday I get to speak in church about the joy of serving a mission. I am so excited becuase serving a mission really is full of joy. I am so thankful for the chance that I have to be here in the mission field. I know that this really is the work of the Lord. I know that I am in the right place and that the Lord is with me. Angels really are preparing people. Sometimes those angels are us. We cant be afraid to open our mouths and say what we know is true. Even if we need to say that to someone of our own faith. We need to have the courage to stand up for what is right. In the back of the Portuguese Book of Mormon there is a dictionary thing and I really like what it says about ´missionary work´. It says that it is preaching the gospel with our words AND OUR EXAMPLE. Actions speak louder than words. So act loud.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. This is the work of the Lord and I am soooooooooooooooooo grateful to be a part of it.

Love,
Elder Taylor

Ps, thank you so much for the camelback, sweedish fish and journal. You are the best. I love you mom! 


Another best day ever!

Bom dia!       May 13, 2013     

Just like your email says, that was the best day ever! I loved seeing you all and being able to talk to you for a while. I love seeing all your happy faces and knowing that you are all doing well.

Scott- I love you man. Youre going to be a great missionary. Thanks for being the kid you are. The people in Riberao Preto are going to love your crazy attitude. It was so cool to talk to you about the mission. Right after I hung up it really hit me that youre going to leave in just a couple months. Thats crazy. But youre going to love it. A lot of people say that its the best two years of your life but I am sure that there are happier and better times after. I like to look at it like this: its the best two years FOR your life. I have learned so much out here. Its amazing how much I have changed. Good changes. Scott, youre going to learn and grow a lot. Youre the man. I love you.

I forgot to ask you guys one thing yesterday. Can you send me some mexican food recipies. I miss that good stuff and I would love to make it for some of the people here. Thanks :)

The work here in the area was rough this week but we did find a new family to teach! They promised us that if they received answers that the Book of Mormon is true than they would be baptized! We will also be doing a division with the assistants this week. Wooooo!


 
I cant even start to tell you how much I love you all. It was soooooooo good to see you and talk to you. Annie, youre a weirdo. But I am so glad that you like weiner dogs haha. I LOVE YOU. Abs, Im so glad to see that you are more happy! Hay bear, youre the best. Way to go with your softball team! Dad, you were off screen most of the time but it was so good to hear you and see you. Thanks for raising me the way you did. I honestly dont know how I got so lucky. Mom, Youre the best. I hope you liked our song and the little poem that I wrote. I know it wasnt much but I hope you know that I love you and I wouldnt trade you for anything.

I love you all so much and I hope you have a grat week!

Love,
Elder Taylor


Wandering in the wilderness!

Happy cinco de maio!

May 8, 2013

Bom dia!!!

Happy cinco de maio!! Its almost the same thing in Portuguese and Spanish, just spelled differently.

Are you all as excited for Mothers day as I am?! We are going to call from the bishops house and we will call at about 4:30 in the afternoon here. So thats like 1:30 for you guys back home. I dont know when you have church but you might have to leave early.....sorry. I cant believe that this will be my last call home on the mission. Thats freakin me out. Time really is flying by so fast. But I just wanted to tell Scott that he needs to get a bunch of questions ready for me. About the mission, Brazil, anything. Oh, and Pres. Cordon gave us 15 more minutes to talk! So now its one hour!!!!!!!! Hes the man. I am so excited to talk to all of you and I know that its going to be the best day ever. Woooooooo!!

Sorry for not emailing you guys on Monday. We got a surprise temple call!! I have now been to the Curitiba temple 9 times. Most missionaries dont even get to go 4 or 5 times. Thats the blessing of not ever leaving the city. I love to see the temple. But I love even more to go in and feel the spirit. Its the best place in the world. 

We had the 1st ever Curitiba mission leadership counsel this last week. Yep. Its not called the zone leader counsel anymore because there are sisters. What kind of sick joke is that? And they didnt even bring cookies. Lame. Haha just kidding. Kind of. But it was really good and we were able to learn even more from Pres and Sis Cordon. I love them. I will be so sad when they go home. They will leave July 1st. Thats when the mission will spilt too. Crazy times here in Curitiba.

Speaking of crazy times, I gotta go. I love you all so much and I cant wait to talk to you all on Sunday for an hour! 

Love,
Elder Taylor


Oswaldo & Marina at the temple!

Best Day Ever!!


Oswaldo & Marina sealing day!




Curitiba temple at night

Bom Dia! April 29, 2013

Bom dia meus amados!                        April 29, 2013

What a great day that I am having today! We have a really rich guy in our ward. Like one of the richest in Curitiba. And he took us to one of the fanciest restaurants in Curitiba for lunch today! Lets just say that I wont eat until tomorrows lunch haha
I loved what you guys told me about Scotty and the baseball team. Everyone loves Scott. Hes the man. I look up to him so much. I know that he will be an awesome missionary. Scott, keep being the kid you are. You dont need to be a starter on the baseball team to be happy. Youre one of the happiest people that I know and it rubs off on people. Just keep doing what you do and the Lord will bless you. I love you man.

This week I had one of the best days of my life. We got to go to the temple on Thursday to see Oswaldo and Marina be sealed for time and all eternity. We spent the whole day at the temple with them and then that night they went through and took out their endowments and then were sealed right after. It was so cool to be able to be with them through it all. When Oswaldo saw me in the Celestial room he started crying and thanked me and said, ´Você é um homem bendito´ which means, You are a blessed man. It was so great. I love that man with all my heart. When they went to be sealed, the sealer told them to sit on a couch together and choose someone to sit on the other side of them just to be there. Marina chose this lady from Ahú and then it was Oswaldos turn. I thought that he would choose the Bishop and so did the Bishop because he started to walk over there but then Oswaldo turned and looked at me and said, I want Elder Taylor. I felt so happy. I really feel like I made a difference in his life. I love him so much and it was so good to see them in temple white. Thats what this work is all about. Not just baptizing and leaving them on their own but getting them to the temple. They are so great and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father placed me in their lives. When we were in the temple waiting, we were told that about 70 americans were at the temple. They had served in Brazil about 40 years ago and came back to visit the temple. So we were standing there and this man started to talk to us in English. He said he was from Kaysville and I almost wet myself. I only remember his last name: Jensen. But he was way nice and I am so glad that he really called dad. That was a really cool experience.

We had transfers today and Elder Eddington and I will stay together another transfer! Woooooo! I am so happy for that. We work well together and we are going to see even more miracles. The truth is, we are having a hard time finding people to teach. But we are doing a lot of praying and fasting and we know that the Lord will bless us. We taught a guy from Nebraska this week and he told us that he doesnt want to hear about religion but if we want to go over and `take our ties off, eat some pizza and talk about football´ then we are more than welcome back to his house. Its so funny how I have changed so much. I would have taken that anyday. But I know why I am here and thats what I told him. I told him that we only have 2 years to do this work and we need to visit the people who are willing to hear our message. He didnt like that very much and made us leave. But thats ok becuase I know that the Lord is preparing others for us to find. By the way, his name is Scott hahaha

Its almost Mothers Day!!!!!!!!!! I dont know exactly what time I will call but I will let you know next week. For sure it will be in the after noon and I will use Skype. I cant use anything other than Skype so tell Syd that shes just gonna have to wait to see my beautiful face till I get home. :)

We had Stake Conference yesterday and it was actually a transmission from the good ol´ USA. Elder Richard G. Scott spoke and it was really good. He spoke on prayer. He said one thing that really caught my attention. He said that reverent prayers and more powerful than silent prayers. We should pray out loud. It helps us to focus more and to actually talk like we are talking to our father. Its amazing how different it really is. I did it last night and I actually felt like I was talking to Heavenly Father in that very room. I dont know how to describe it but it really works. Heavenly Father hears us and He loves us. I know that.

I love you all so much and I am so blessed to have the family that I do. I know that I am in the right place and that this is the best mission is the world. I know that Jesus loves me and each one of you.
Love, Elder Big T