A Little Mandarin & A Little Cantonese 12/14/15

Good Morning Everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful week last week! Ours was pretty good. Full of some really awesome lessons, and a few disappointments. But that is just the usual missionary week! I know you are all wondering about Alanso and Mercedes, but unfortunately they needed to postpone their Baptism until the End of January. They have some personal things they are working out that we don't even really know about. So keep them in your prayers please. I think that was some of the hardest news because I most likely won't be here when they are Baptized now, I'll have been here 6 months by the next transfer. I could stay, but I have a feeling that I'm leaving after this transfer! But, I'm super excited for them, and they will be baptized when the time is right for them and when they are ready! I'm super excited to know that I was able to be a part of teaching them. 

We had dinner with Alanso and Mercedes last week also and Mercedes taught us how to make papoussas. They are so good! When I get home I'm opening a Papoussaria and a poutineria! Two amazing foods that you don't really get in Utah!  Papoussa is a dish from El Salvador that is a corn tortilla with frijoles, peppers, and cheese inside. They are phenomenal! 

On Monday we met with Sandy again, she is awesome! We taught the most powerful first vision I have taught since I have been out! The spirit was so thick you could have cut it with a knife as we told the first vision. It really was a powerful moment for all of us, and not only did it help Sandy to begin to recieve a spiritual witness, it strengthened everybody that was there! 

I got to go on Exchanges with Elder Lau on Friday and Saturday! It was a total blast! Elder Lau is from Hong Kong, NOT China. He made that very clear, haha! He is a Chinese missionary, he speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese. The difference between the two is huge, I had no Idea! They aren't similar at all, but Mandarin is spoken in Taiwan and China. Cantonese is what is spoken in Hong Kong, basically when Hong Kong split from China they created Cantonese cause of their dislike for China. We had a wonderful time on exchanges however, we got to go to downtown Hamilton and contact on the street! There people downtown are super humble and so nice, this man even stopped us to tell us some poems he wrote about Christ. We ended up meeting a young Chinese kid named Charles, and I pretty much stood there and said nothing while Elder Lau taught him in Chinese for 10 minutes. I told Elder Lau that the next time he started speaking to someone in Chinese I was going to talk to someone else around us that spoke English, cause I felt so awkward. We also taught one of their Investigators in an English/Mandarin lesson. I would teach in English, and then Elder Lau would teach in English and Mandarin! Over all the exchange was a blast, and I learned how to write my name in Chinese, so plus!

We have also started meeting with a lady named Jira, she speaks very little English, just Thai. So we are helping her to learn English, it will be tough teaching her, but she is awesome, and she want to cook us dinner! Thai food is some of the best! :)

We are still working with Rocky, MJ, and Setti. They are the Philipino family if you don't remember, but they are doing good! We met with MJ and Setti last night and they are starting to feel more comfortable with the idea of Baptism! Hopefully next week we will be able to set a date with them!

Well, have a wonderful week and a Merry Christmas! I'm excited to talk to you on Christmas!

🉐㊙🈚🈹🈵🈴🈂

Love, Elder Taylor