We weren't stiffed, just emailed to T's gmail

Well that photo wasn't the one i was looking for.. it seemed like it was just a line of warriors with missionaries in the front.. talk to mike about it.
Mike Got your letter.. thanks for makeing me ask a teacher to read it to me!!

so for this week
Mom i need you to make sure i only have like 500 in my checking account and the rest in some other account. (preferbaly mine). i sent a package home with pictures. can u send some to elder WATERS mom (address in address book) he is the one that dances. and a picture of him was drawn in the whiteboard.

(Elder Eliason holding the football and Elder Davis in forground) About that professional pitcher i think i told you about. well they bought him 2 gloves and a baseball to help with his homesickness SLASH turning down 800 thousand dollars. ROUND UNO! shattered two windows because the impact was so great... nothing like an 80 PLUS fastball going too high :) All is well though he really didnt care that he broke it (i think its not his first) and the president got a good laugh. he is going to buy me a blue fererri and my companion a green one.

The two elders liked their DEAR elders. especially my comp cause it was his first.

it takes about 12 days for me to receive dear elders. then again i only get mail on sundays.

NOW THE IMPORTANT PART.... SO LISTEN Up.. If i have anyone email me VIA Dear elder (say annie staheli or something like thaT) can you PLEASE seperate hers and yours. like send two seperate ones. Nothing like getting 7 dear eldeers that all say they are from Annie Staheli, and come to find out there is only a paragraph.... Talk about heartbreak. and your telomarketing calls was doubled.. i got two of each joke. Luckly im not to stupid to own one.

Well i didnt say anything about not struggleing mostly because its hard, it sucks, and i mostly just want 2 years to be over with so i can go to skool and get houked on fonics. I is gooon.g two bee a kowledge stoodent.

We leave here march 17th.

and they lied about 1 year equaling 2 weeks here. i have found myself knowing things that they just wouldn't teach. but then i get it in my head that i can slack off a little more. Needless to say, the first 3 weeks we learned a lot. now our teachers barely teach us anymore. they just assume we do it and have all lessons memorized in spanish.

Nikki; gracias por la pictura y carta, i sent you one in the package.

So about their computers here.. they have all hotkeys disabled, mouse options disabled and anyother form af trying to go somewhere blocked.. needless to say, i cracked it. I,m glad i still have it in me.

we went on splits this week.. my companion was way chill.. i tried to introduce myself and they would just barge in and try rambleing to mee. ends up they were cathloic ministers. but other than that nothing much happened. just walked and tried to introduce us before they stopped my horrible español.

Hmmm i guess thats all..
Hasta

Oops! Not one of Taylor's favorite Pictures

The people of Ammon, who called themselves Anti-Nephi-Lehies, had made a covenant with God never to kill, even in war. ... But they had many sons who had not made the covenant that they would not go to war. .... These brave young men did not fear death. They cared more for the freedom of their people than for their own lives.

See Alma 53:10-21; 56:44-56; 58:39 in the Book of Mormon

La Ventana

Futbol, Grilled Cheese, mock Baseball, and Math

Taylor is in district of 8 and they spend all day together on the same schedule. Classes include: grammar, Spanish, lesson plans in English, etc.

"This morning we got to play FUTBOL AMERICANO!!! It was more fun than I anticipated. There is actually an all girl Catholic school SLASH (darn keyboard) nun's place right in view of the dirt field we play in. About 5 to 10 girls stood on the balcony and watched us for about 10 minutes.. We were gonna run over there and baptize them but we remembered to be obedient..... and that particular time was SPECIFICALLY for exercise, and not for baptizing.

I go on splits on Thursday. One day to realize how little we all know.

I have a teacher from Utah and he is great at drawing. I'm going to pay him to draw me a picture of the stripling warriors with two missionaries in the front. I believe it is in Mike's scripture case... but I need some more information on that picture. My president was going to look for it online. Do you think you can find that picture, or take one of Mikes scripture case for me and email it to me?

So here is for our experiences...
One morning one Elder decides "I want a grilled cheese sandwich" so we started our scavenger hunt. Day one, pancakes with individual wrappers. We all asked for 2 packages and by the time 20 elders asked for double when we usually don't, I think they got suspicious. So the next day we payed a janitor to go buy us some cheese and bread. So the night came, but how were we going to cook it??? You may ponder for a quite a while but to a missionary who rarely gets out the answer is clear! LETS GO GET THE IRONS!!!! So we did, and BOY did we have a fiesta that night. Talk about muy bueno!! I have pictures and videos I shall send. (see video at http://guatamtc.blogspot.com/)

Next experience. a kid from the Dominican republic got drafted to the MLB as a picture (or something spelled like that) at about 6 foot 2-4 he can throw a 95 MPH fastball. SO what do the missionaries do?? Lets let him throw a hacky sack at my back!!! and he did. Video is also coming. Not only is he good at baseball he can dunk. We would spend a good time just ally oooping it to him. (video at http://guatamtc.blogspot.com/)

At the temple today we ran into a few missionaries outside.. a few as in like 40. We were able to talk to them awhile... one was saying he bought a tie for 200 Quetsales *ratio is about 7.5-8# quetz to 1 dollar. I said, "YOU SPEND 30 DOLLARS ON A TIE???" He was like "NO.. its only 15. " I quickly did the math and proved him wrong but he was determined that it was 8 to one dollar. Then he said, "All I know is 700 Quetz is 100 dollars.. I WAS liKE BOY. Where did you go to school? Anyway everyone had a grand time talking about how the greenie would stand up to a missionary bigger and also served longer than me. Unfortunately he was in the South mission so I wont be able to talk to him much.

Speaking of South Mission. Last week 20 bus drivers were murdered. You think thats bad do ya??? One elder at the temple pulled out a bullet from a 45. cal pistol (or something around there the bullet was kinda chingered) , and replied, "Ya we were shot at." He fired two shots at the missionaries but they were somehow able to escape. He then decided that "Hey I was just shot at, I'm going back for the bullet" so he pulled this bullet out of a wall and carries it around everywhere now. Just thought i would share some stories and tell mom "All is well."

I will try to send some pictures this week. We send mail out like Monday morning. So I will take my camera on splits and try to get a cd printed out. Then I will find some way to mail it home.

All is well, time to read "the ones if I have time!!"

Thanks for the letters. I finally got the one Kim sent me that says she just got back from Arizona... dated Jan 6th.

Love,
Elder Madera

Grilling the Cheese

Ye Are the Light of the World .....

Don't ask me how they did this but it looks really awesome.

Stiffed already?

It´s ok. ¡¡¡ I didn´t want an email anyway!!!. So here is about this week.

Dad: Log into steam. right click on the little black and white nike symbol om the main task bar and right click and go to games.. thats it - simple. If you want to make it load up on the games pages... go to settings (I think it is on the GAMES box) and just put your FAVORITE WINDOW to GAMES. That might confuse you a little but its worth a try.

Elder Robles is a medium build, and is a wrestler. He doesn't play much basketball. In a game of white lightning his ball had been bumped a ways out. I decided I would let him have a chance to shoot an impossible shot. He shoots from about 60 feet out and just throws it like a football.... SWOOSH... need I say more. Fortunately I hadn't got him out yet so he was able to continue playing. It was defiantly amazing.

About the letters you send me. THANKS . Its great getting 6 letters when there are 7 that come for our whole district. That means 7 people had to split that one.

Most of those pictures that mom put on my sd card wouldn't work on my camera so I had a teacher that is from Utah (his vista didn't pass so he has lived here for 1 year after his mission) go and print the 31 that I wanted. I deleted the rest. They were about 30 cents a piece but it was going to be worth it for family pictures to look at. I paid him and started looking at them. ALL BUT 4 I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE. Luckily there were a lot of Kayla, but I don't know how they were on my card. I couldn't see them on the camera but they were just there.

There is a new system for pouch. I guess they had a problem with different weight of papers so now it is ONE PAPER in AN ENVELOPE. But you can write on both sides.

We had the opportunity to watch the funeral of President Hinckley, a KSL-5 special, and the press conference (that was in Spanish though) last night. This morning the Latino elders left so last night an American missionary and a Latino starting singing "Til we meet again", in Spanish. I started hearing and went over to sing. I joined in on the end of the second chorus. Now we had a trio... the third verse was a strong one and all 3 of us had singing experience (cept me). We sang in perfect harmony olne that I have never sung before. Usually I can get a few parts to sound good, but this was totally amazing. By the time we started the 4th verse we had about 15-20 of us. Soon after the President wanted to know what was going on. By the time we had finished the song almost all of us were in tears. I have never felt the Spirit as strong as I did during that song. Following that I wrote in my journal about it.

Today just the Americans went to a church house and we played basketball for 2 hours. Following we went to McDonolds. MY FIRST REAL MEAL ASIDE FROM THE MTC FOOD... ¿¿¿and do u know what i got??? A DOUBLE BIG MAC OH YAH... I even got a picture to prove it.

About the pens VIENTICINCO DOLLARS???? Shoot no I don't want 6. I don't know if I am even worth to hold such a scripture marker as that. One will do. I don't know - one or two. The other would be for my teacher, he wanted one.

Candice¨ got your letter thanks, on is one its way back
Kim¨ got one coming your way as well
Mom¨ I love you
Dad¨ I love you as well (hopefully u can play portal)
Mike/zub ¨ thanks for the watch.. i hope i don't get robbed.}
Blaine. you owe me 20 dollars j/k
Nikki; Your not a crab, (but candice is)
Hmmmm 7 minutes left.. You can tell Steve Thatcher I picked the patriots, but luckily I didn't bet him. UnfortunatelyI lost 3 of my night time snacks to 3 different elders :P

All is well. I happened to snag some Honduras money.. can someone check if it is legal to mail money internationally?

Hopefully I hear from you next week.
E. Wood

Elder Cool

16th Presidency Called

Thomas S. Monson is the new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it was announced today at a news conference in the Church Office Building. President Monson, 80, succeeds President Gordon B. Hinckley, who died 27 January 2008.

The new world leader of the Church has called to serve with him in the First Presidency, the top governing body of the 13-million-member faith, President Henry B. Eyring, 74, first counselor, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 67, second counselor.

My Schedule

Well I able to receive your dear elder on Sunday. I'm not sure how fast it comes but I did get it there.

Mike: I don't think orange juice is part of my worries. everyone here has things coming from them that i myself didn't know existed. we have all sorts of different foods but the orange juice i would have to say i love.. Its freshly crushed from the oranges here so I'm thinking they didn't have them in the Provo.

Kim and family: Sounds like the life is still in the room. you could have kept the elbow stains though. Just tell Colton that uncle Taylor says to toughen up.. then ask him if all the guys on Taylors games if they cried.

Dad: Don't fry my computer. As your son i am looking out for your interests and saying that there are more important things in life than halo... ....... ...... ....... .... ¿Ahh heck who are we all kiddin??? HALO ROCKS!!!

Mom. i am able to pull my camera out next Tuesday. because a group of elders will be leaving. its a rule we cant use it till then. so i shall get pictures of the comedor, habitacions, cama´s, laundry room, study room, and other things that i think will be useful. I have no way of getting them home. i think i will talk to my teacher and have him burn me 2 cd´s of my pictures and send some home sometime 14 days from now.

As for my schedule. I sleep in till 6:15. there is to big of a rush for our 6 sinks, 8 showers, 4 urinals, and 4 stalls. you find yourself waiting there anyway. i then go and study till 7, play basketball till 8, eat till 9, study till 12, eat till 1, study till 6 with breaks, eat, study till 8, SNACK TIME!!, study till 9, lights out at 10. Sundays we can leave the MTC to go for a walk for 1 hour. and Tuesdays we email and go to the temple. don't forget Thursday Laundry day.

As for the weekly email: I dropped my razor head in the sink, after much ponder i decided i would get it out with gum on the end of my pen. I heard a ripping sound in my shoulder when i tried to spike a volley ball. it was minor though... two days and i could play basketball to its extent. we usually do exercise time apart from the other North Americans (there are 8 in my district) but today we had 4 teams of 5 so we would play till 5 points and the winner would stay. Surprisingly I was picked first, but I'm defiantly not the best. needless to say. There were 5 games played... game 1 we didn't play, game 2 we won, game 3 we won, game 4 we won, and game 5 lost (against the team we beat earlier) I didn't stick around for the last game. I was doing my math and 8 showers to 30 Americans.... I defiantly had to go in early to hit the showers.

Every time I find myself struggling I just remember dad saying, they know what your talking about. We usually email at 2 o'clock your time. But today we had a substitute and just said go ahead now.

In 7 days we get to go do a field trip (if the new president lets us) I heard we were going to the zoo, I also heard we were going to an archeology center. I'm not sure.

Just a thought,... try to keep the pictures small.. They were pretty big for my small inbox.
Here is something for mom (who is trying to learn Spanish and struggling a ton) to ponder on. a few missionaries went on splits last week, here is an experience. One elder said one of the most volgur ways of saying the ¨*"^¨ word. Another went to an area where there was (for lack of a better word) human poo on the sidewalks all over (or so he thinks) it is too large for a dog he says.

Anyway, I have 5 minutes left and not more to talk about. just remember that I still have 8 weeks of the MTC. there shall be no worrying about me until I am out there.

With nothing else to say.
Elder Madera (the second but far more kool)

President Hinckley's Testimony

Our beloved prophet, President Hinckley passed away. We love him . We will miss him, but we
will also see him again.

2 February 2008 Speaking of his long-time “cherished friend and colleague” and fellow Church leader, President Thomas S. Monson paid tribute to Gordon B. Hinckley Saturday as a “giant among men.”

Quoting an unnamed poet, President Monson said: “‘Here and there, and now and then, God makes a giant among men.’ President Hinckley was such a giant – a giant of knowledge, of faith, of testimony, of compassion, of vision.”

27 January 2008 "I hope that all of you will remember that on this Sabbath day you heard me bear my witness that this is God's holy work. The vision given the Prophet Joseph in the grove of Palmyra was not an imaginary thing. It was real. It occurred in the broad light of day. Both the Father and the Son spoke to the boy. He saw Them standing in the air above him. He heard Their voices. He gave heed to Their instruction.

"It was the resurrected Lord who was introduced by His Father, the great God of the universe. For the first time in recorded history, both the Father and the Son appeared together to part the curtains and open this, the last and final dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times.

"The Book of Mormon is all that it purports to be—a work recorded by prophets who lived anciently and whose words have come forth "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Book of Mormon title page).

"The priesthood has been restored under the hands of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. All the keys and authority pertaining to eternal life are exercised in this Church.

"Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, the great Prophet of this dispensation. This Church, which carries the name of the Redeemer, is true.

"I leave you my testimony, my witness, and my love for each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Day Six in the CCM

dia sies,

I'm not sure how long it will take to mail this. Since it's not pouch. I think I can send it on the 21st.

I'm living with Elder Daivs and 4 latinos. They all make fun of the new/old American Elders.

Spanish is coming. It's a lot harder to teach ... even in English... than I thought.

Sundays are way chillax. No studies - just free time. We have about 1 hour a day of just socializing, but thats the time to get ready for bed so it's more like 30 minutes.

I like the CCM (MTC) here. Only about 20 Elders from America and the CCM houses only about 60. The Elders after us go to Provo for 3 weeks then here. So we lucked out.

The food is good here. We range in the types of food. A lot of vegetables though.

Our basketball court is just 2 baskets in the parking lot. They are mounted on something like a chalk board so you can move them. And our weight room is a 4 foot long elastic band. We aren't supposed to take pictures here until our last day. The CCM has a 10 foot wall and a security guard, so we only leave two times a week - Sunday walk and P-day (Tuesday) Temple trip. We are right next to the temple.

We can't hook up our camera to the computer either, and it isn't like there is a Kodak machine in the guard shack. So I'm not sure what to do.

The Americans love the lazer though. We shine it at a business building at night about a mile away.

!No mas para a hora?

Con amor.

Elder Madera

Lay Over

Time to Fly!

Bright and early on the 15th we loaded in the car and headed for Salt Lake. We wanted to be to the airport by 9:00 a.m. Dad drove while the rest of us slept.

We got to the airport with plenty of time. Checking in luggage went well, and we went to the beginning of the security line and sat for a while to wait until the last moment to let him go.

Finally Elder J. Reeder and another Elder came and we had fun taking pictures of the three as they were ready to leave. All three families said goodbye and then we had to face the fact that it was time to let them go so they wouldn't be late.

While all of the three family members waited in the waiting area, Taylor's mom went around to the closest possible spot to take one final picture. They flew out on American Airlines, flight #2036 at 11:50 a.m.

They arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth at 3:25 p.m. and then boarded their final flight #2195, nonstop to Guatemala, arriving at 9:05 p.m. All went without a hitch.

Elder Puputiu's Family

Hasta Luego Elder Wood

Elder Reeder and Family

Non-farewell

Although we no longer have the "farewells" as missionaries leave, it's hard to not have a family get together to say "good-luck" and to show their support.

January 13, Kurt Lindstrom reported his mission and Taylor opened the meeting with a talk. As usual, the family came out in force. Taylor has the most amazing family - they are great to show their support.

Taylor thanked his family, his friends, and those in the ward that had made such a difference in his life. There have been many who have had a great impact in his life. He also shared a story about a boy having to do push-ups so that each person in the class could have a donut, even if they didn't want it after seeing the pain it was causing the boy as he struggled to do one push-up for each person.

After the meeting we went to the dance studio for a family dinner. Thank heaven for Hogy Yogy and family that brought salads and desserts.

Announcement - New MTC President

The First Presidency has called five new Missionary Trainng Center presidents with their wives. They will begin service about Jan 1. 2008, including David Alan Christensen, 57, Guatemala Missionary Training Center; Mill Hallow 3rd Ward, Rexburg Idaho North Stake; stake president; former president of the Chile Santiago North Mission, ward Young Men president bishop and counselor, high councilor and missionary in the Mexican Mission. Professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Born in Farmington, New Mexico to Vaughn L. and Irene Cardon Christensen. Married Deena Bond, eight children.