Internot (7/24/09)

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry for the delay of this letter. A series of unfortunate events occurred that contributed to its detainment. On Wednesday, my P-day, I was super busy with the zone leaders during the day. When I returned home from teaching later in the evening, I walked into my room and discovered a note with the name of a computer technician informing me my Internet wasn't working. I thought...that's just awesome considering it was functioning fine previously and I need the Internet for just about everything I do as Financial Secretary.

One thing I won't be doing anymore is saying whether we have dates marked for upcoming baptisms, since every time I have done this they seem to fall through. From now on, it will simply be one of those great surprises that appear in a letter or photo. As for investigators who are progressing, we have many including a few we have assisted in ditching coffee. They have instead taken up drinking cevada, which is actually pretty good. Their names are Dulce, Ana, Aline, and Carmen (not from San Diego). We are currently teaching an older couple whose names are Donna Beth and Waldir. They won't let us leave their house until we have been well fed. Yesterday, I learned some interesting details about Waldir. He used to live in the interior on the Solimões River with his parents. One day, his parents went out fishing and were attacked by a local tribe and killed. I won't go into the details, but he was mad and went back with his uncle and cousin and exterminated the entire tribe. When it comes time for an interview, I'm pretty sure he'll need to meet with the Presidente.

On a lighter note, I had a funny incident occur yesterday at the supermarket check-out. Five centavos fell in the conveyor belt and I reached in to retrieve it. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. However, the clerk, who was absolutely clueless, didn't see that my finger was still in there and started slamming the metal plate on it. By the time she finally stopped, my finger was bleeding (haha). It was hilarious. Elder Rangel was like, "...you're crazy...I wouldn't have done that for 50 centavos." I told him good thing...neither would I. I did it for 5. We then busted up in uncontrollable laughter.

Church is going well. The ward is strong, but we are trying to expand the boundaries by focusing in areas that are truly progressing. We are teaching the majority of our lessons with members, which really makes things much more effective. We have also been working a lot with part-member families. One that is doing particularly well is Tatiana, the sister of Juliana and Silvia, who is really doing her best to follow through with all of the commitments she makes with us.

Everything continues to go well in the field as well as in the office. I have found that being senior companion requires a lot more planning, talking, and leading, but I am enjoying the new responsibilities. I have been very fortunate to have great companions and Elder Seastrand is no exception. I have attached a picture of myself with an American businessman who I met at church on Sunday. Sorry this letter is so rushed, but I have a lot of work to catch up on now that my computer is functioning properly.

Seu amigão,
Elder Taylor Mackay