June 9, 2014

Dearest family,

How are yall up there in the warm United States haha? Summer has started for everyone now right? I hope that everyone is doing great!

Santiago has gotten pretty cold. Winter has definitely started here, but with lots of layers we can keep the cold at bay. In Sótero del Río we live in a little house, 4 missionaries. We definitely had some adventures in our house this week. First, the hot water heater needed a new battery, but we did not know what kind nor where to buy one. Tuesday we had to mess with the heater for 15 minutes before it turned on, but i basically showered cold (the mission has taught me how to take showers really quickly). Wednesday, we found the right battery and we were happy. Sunday, one sister took a shower and next it was my turn and she told me that she could not turn off the water. After my shower, i tried to turn it off and it did not want to turn off, but we got it down to just a little stream. The valve that turns off the water inthe bathroom stopped working too so we had to just leave it at that and go to church. When we came back, I thought, "If i play with it i think that i can get it to turn off." That was a bad idea. It got stuck on almost fullblast haha. We called the office elder for help, and eventually we found to valve to turn off the hot water. We will manage with this until someone comes to fix it. That was just one of our adventures this week.

Tuesday, it rained almost all day. My companion nor i had rainboots, but we stopped by a member´s house and they let us borrow some rainboots. We are very grateful because it rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday too. In Santiago the streets flood and some streets are like rivers. It is really cool with rainboots. Mom, just so you know, i used the raincoat you bought me for most of last week. It kept me dry and warm.

Tuesday was cool because we were cold and wet all day, but we knew good things were going to happen. At one point we contacted a women in the street but she did not want anything, but we asked her if she knew somebody that was and she gave us a reference. At the end of the day we went to contact this reference and they let us right in the house. They our Evangelicos, but they listened to us and the 13 year old daughter is very receptive. We have hope for them. Each day of rain it seemed like we had to wait until the very end of the day to see miracles. I think the Lord likes to try our faith and perseverance and diligence.

I have been learning a ton about  faith this week. I read the story of ammon (my favorite) and it mentions the faith of Ammon, the king, Mosiah,and the queen, and more. This great huge miracle that happened is thanks to the faith of all these people. Ammon did not have success first thing in his mission, but it came. Sometimes the Lord makes us persevere in order to receive the coveted blessings, but it is all for our benefit.I love the faith of the queen because she had never heard the missionaries nor heard anything of God. In spite of her ignorance, she sought out ammon and had faith in his declaration that King Lamoni would rise the next day. She did not even know what a prophet was, but she listened to him and hearkened to his counsel. We have a prophet today, President Monson, and how many times does he give us counsel and we just brush it off? In the last general conference they gave us counsel in how to protect our family by reading the scriptures, having family home evening, etc. Are we listening? For me this was humbling because many times I have not listened even though I know that we have a living prophet who talks to the Lord. Sometimes I doubted that we would really find people here in Sotero del Rio, but everyday the Lord just told me to have faith and keep moving on. I know that the Lord keeps His promises, I KNOW IT! We just need to have to faith to heed the counsel that He has given us through His chosen leaders or prophets and apostles.

Les quiero mucho!!!!!!!!

con amor,

Hermana Taylor


Some pictures for you:

Our house in Sotero del Rio

When it rains, it floods

After rain, the mountains are always full of snow