MTC Update-Week 3 Letter

Here is the letter that was waiting on me this morning, Thanksgiving Day. Ben has a request at the bottom of this letter. I hope you enjoy what he has shared this time. 

It is Thanksgiving at the CCM. Spanish for MTC--it is Centro de Capacitacion Misional.  At least for the 35 North Americans that are here, haha. 

This last Saturday my district got to go proselyting for the first time. It was horrifying. We were in a super rich part of Buenos Aires (This was rich even by American standards). The houses were beautiful, the dogs were beautiful, the cars were beautiful, and the people were not receptive. 

Every house in Argentina has a giant fence around their 40 sq. ft. yard. So for every house we would ring this intercom thing, wait 20 seconds for them to answer, say a few words, and wait for them to say in a muffled, staticy voice "No, no, no... Soy Católico." (That means that they are Catholic) Then you go on your way to the next mansion. 

The day wasn´t a complete loss. We talked to two people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. One was simply curious and gave us his phone # and address to have other missionaries come back.

Another lady was far more receptive, she had just been kicked out of her home and was walking down the street crying. (in English, thankfully). She came up to us and asked if we could give her directions. I thought she was simply lost in Buenos Aries, but she meant direction in her life. We prayed with her and she eventually poured out her whole life story to us. Her main question was "Does God hear my prayers" we were able to talk with her for about 25 min about God´s love for us, his plan, and the empathetic nature of Jesus (how he understands everything we go through in life. She gave us a phone number and we gave her the address to mormon.org and told her to order a Book of Mormon in her own language (some eastern European language), and also gave her a Spanish copy of the Book of Mormon. She was the only real discussion with a person face to face after 4 and a half hours of ringing intercoms. She was an answer to my and my companion´s prayers (she spoke english, she wanted to learn about the gospel, and I know she can realy benefit from having Christ in her life. So, if you have the chance, pray for this sister down in Argentina struggling with her family.

So I thought it might be nice to think of all the things I´m thankful for today.

I´m thankful for Christ´s atonement, His willingness to suffer every affliction and sin on my behalf.

I´m thankful for my family; how much they love me, support me, and that we can be an eternal family.

I´m thankful for my Mom; she taught me to be the person I am, she showed me love, and will always be my best friend.

I´m thankful for my Dad; He taught me to honor my priesthood, my callings, and my Mother.

I´m thankful for my Grandparents; They are what I want to be like when I'm a grandparent. I know they will always love me no matter what.

I´m thankful for my Gram; she practically raised me, and I hope my wife is half as sweet, loving and perfect as my Gram.

I´m thankful for my brothers and sister;Justin for his comedy, Lily for her pure kindness, and William for his cuteness.

I´m thankful for my friends over this last year; you gave me a place where I felt loved and included. I will never forget those nights; watching Firefly and Serenity (for the 7th time over), belting out Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and Les Mis (*aggressively humming all 9 parts of ´Do You Hear the People Sing´*), going to the Art Museum, taking me to my first Gen Con, teaching me to D&D (more or less) I think he means Dungeons & Dragons, blogging, band, drumline, getting icee´s when it´s 20° outside. So many great memories.

 I´m thankful for my extended family; getting to see them one last time this summer was such a blessing.

I´m thankful for some of my friends making the choice to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. Just no matter what you choose, your desire to test it out in your life has really impacted me.

I´m thankful for the opportunity to serve the people of Uruguay and I hope to share the happy news of Christ´s Atonement

If you would like, send me what you´re thankful for. I would love to hear from you. Don´t forget to look for the hand of God in your life.  

You can email Ben at benjamint@myldsmail.net  

His P-Day is Thursday and his letter arrives by 5:30 am, so if you want him to read your email, send it by Wednesday night. After he leaves the MTC in a few weeks, his P-Day may change. I will keep you updated.

¡Nos Vemos! ¡Los Queremos Mucho!  I think this means "See you later! I love you lots!" but I do not speak Spanish, so it may not be exactly right.

Elder Taylor

Elder Ben Taylor standing by the sign for the Argentina MTC or CCM as he refers to it in his letters