Everything is Good

Hey Maham hey Daddy-O, 

What's up guys hope everything is good I'm doing swheet excited for Christmas... but it doesn't really feel like Christmas here because its still freaking hot. But everything is good. I got the package from Brother Dyer and I already opened it.  Thanks for everything. The Sisters in my district are going to make the cookies tomorrow. It should be awesome. I still don't know what time we will Skype you guys, but on Friday I will email you guys in the morning and tell you what time.

This week we are going to have a baptism of two sisters.  It should be a good experience. Elder R and I are working hard and I'm feeling pretty good about the language. On Wednesday I will finish my training and be a real full blown missionary whooooh!! 

This week we had a multi zone meeting. It was really cool we got presents. Mostly just candy but I'm not complaining. We also all got letters from the first presidency t'was pretty sweet. Also in my stake there was a Christmas choir where a bunch of chapins (locals) sang Christmas songs. They tried to sing some in English but it didn't really work out very well.

On the topic of my baptismal pants I don't think I ever brought them. But my normal pants size is 32 the length doesn't really matter. 

Pictures next week 

Anyways love and miss you guys, 

Elder Tagg 

Same Comp and Going Strong

Hey Maham y Daddy-o

This week was real special. First of all I'm still here in Sam Isidro with the same comp going strong.  We had another baptism this week of the couple that got married. It was a really cool experience. We also have another baptism this Friday of a family that we found.  Well really just the kids not the Mom, but we will work on it. 

I'm doing good. My comp is doing good, and every body is happy. I'm still working on the package thing and I don't think I will get the package from Brother Dyer soon because there are no missionaries coming here from the CCM right now. But if you could send baptismal pants and another one of those dog dazer things, because mine got wet. Try to look for one that is stronger... Please and thank you. 

we have the option to Skype either on the 23rd or the 25th but the 25th works better for my comp's family so we are going to do it then. I still don't know what time but I'll try to figure everything out so everything can go smoothly. 

Sorry not much to report this week. More next week. Love you guys

Elder Tagg

I Know Why I'm Here

Hey Maham y Daddy-O 

This week was pretty great. We had two baptisms Os... and Mi... It was awesome. I baptized Os... it was a really happy moment.  Ja... and Ma.... got married so we are going to baptize Ma... this next Saturday. Changes are tomorrow. I don't know what is going to happen. I want to stay but if I go that's cool too.

I haven't sent the package yet so I will look for a nativity set but no promises... I will try to send it in the next 3 weeks but it probably wont get there for Christmas. I have been writing in my journal but only like once every week. I will try to do better. 

We got to watch the Christmas devotional. It was really good but in Spanish. I understood most of it though. I really liked Uchdorf's talk.  But watching the devotional reminded me of home and the Christmas season. I miss all the traditions and every thing, but I know why I'm here, so I'm happy. 

siempre recuerdan que ha nacido un salvador por cada uno de nosotros. El ya apago y ya sufrió nosotros o necesitamos sufrir gracias a el estoy tan agradecido por el porque yo se que El es nuestro redentor del mundo 

En el nombre de Jesu Cristo, amen 

(Always remember that the Savior was born for each one of us. He already paid and suffered for us so we don't have to. I am very grateful for Him because He is the Savior of the World. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen)

love you guys,

Elder Tagg

About an hour after hearing from Elder Tagg I got this letter from his first companion Elder Go...  I wept with joy!

HI SISTER TAGG I AM ELDER LENER GO FIRST COMP OF ELDER TAGG I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to serve with your child. I think Tagg Elder was the answer to my prayers. I am sure God will hear them because I wanted a partner to help me focus on his work and Elder Tagg was very helpful for me. Our time was very short but it was so that I could learn enough to go ahead and finish my mission as God wants it to end ... He has a very responsive to the spirit and hard working super son. I can say that I love him and always will be my brother even though we are from different nations.

Thanks for the package you sent. Thank you very much and God stroke him more blessings you already have 

with much love Elder Gongora 

pddt : sorry for my english is not perfect

All That Jazz

Hey Maham y Daddy-O 

This week was pretty awesome, but nothing really special happened. I really enjoy the photos that were in the package and the reindeer food. Elder Ro...really enjoyed his stuff too, but I think he thinks our family is really rich now. I kinda feel bad about that, but whateves. 

This week we had stake conference. During the talk by President Ruiz, I went to the bathroom and vomited like three times.  I don't know why... but I felt fine afterwards and haven't thrown up since so I think it was just a one time thing.  Other than that, the meeting was really good. We had five investigators at the meeting.  Their names were Oscar, Micheal, Madalene, Marisol and the daughter of Marisol. I can never remember her name. But I think we are going to baptize them all. The only thing hanging us up is that Madalene isn't married. We are hopefully going to marry them this Saturday ... We have been working with her for a really long time, so pray for Madalene and Javier that they can get married and everything goes smoothly.

I think that this next transfer I'm going to leave San Isidro I don't know why, it's just a feeling. But we are going to see what happens. If I'm not transferred that means I'll stay for another 8 weeks, which means I will have 4 and a half months here but that's okay because I think this is one of the best areas in the mission. 

I haven't sent your package yet. I'm still preparing everything, but it is going to have things from Guatemala like that shirt I had on that you liked and some ties that are made out of a fabric called corte and maybe some purses or scripture cases. You know -all that jazz. 

but... 

Tha th tha th tha th tha That's All Folks 

Love You guys and miss ya 

Elder Tagg 

This is what 10 Elders stuck in an elevator looks like

At Least Elder Tagg is smiling still... They were stuck for over an hour

Evan said one of these Elders has a football scholarship and is Samoan.  Good thing a member found them and let them out with a special key.  Hopefully lesson learned here : )

Christmas in November!

Maham y Daddy-O

This week has been really good.  First of all, I got a package!!! But it's not my birthday package, it's the one you sent for Christmas and I already opened all of my presents. THANK YOU sooo much. I feel kinda like a jerk here though because I have already gotten 2 packages in my first 3 months and some people haven't gotten any through their whole mission.  But that doesn't mean you should stop sending me packages...

My comp and I went to Reu for a meeting with all the people still in training.  It was really cool to see all my friends from the CCM, but we couldn't get back to our areas because of a road block that the police put down because of "demonstrations" in the streets of some of the cities. So we slept in Reu in a hotel. That was awesome because we had hot water and twin sized beds and air conditioning.

We also had a funeral here this week because the Abuela of a member family died. It was really sad, but it was a teaching experience because the Abuelo of that family is not a member. So we started teaching him about how he can see his wife again. He was really receptive. I told him about uncle Eric and bore my testimony that I know we can see him again and I think it really helped him to see that there is hope.

This week we are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and everything!!! Presidente Ruiz really pulled through for us. Woooo!!! My comp and I have really been working hard and I think that we are going to have a lot of success here. Next week we're going to have a wedding on Saturday. It's a girl named M... that we have been teaching and now she can get baptized sooo that's exciting... 

This week I learned that the Chapins (locals?) stink at basketball.  We have been playing at the church in the mornings and my comp and I dominate it's really actually pretty sad, but they are really good at soccer.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I'm grateful for everything!

Miss you and love you,

Elder Tagg

cool selfie

I assume this is rain

He's pretty tall compared to the locals

Dangerous Eyes

Maham y Daddy-O

This week was great the big thing that came to pass this week is that I got a new companion his name is Elder Ro... He has ten months on his mission and is from Mexico.  He is really cool and we work really hard. This week I had to teach him the area and Elder Rosales doesn't speak English, but we got through it. Elder Go... left and went to zone San Marcos which is in the mountains and really cold but that will be good for him.  He also got moved up to district leader so that's cool.

This week on the day of transfers I went to the temple that is in Quetzaltenango.  That is the mission that Matthew Helton from our stake is serving in. It was a really cool experience even though I didn't get to go inside. It was awesome.

A story- We are teaching this less active family that has two sons that haven't been baptized. So we challenged them with a baptismal date and they accepted!!! It was really cool. The Mom of the family told me that she wants to cut my head off and keep my eyes in a jar because she thinks my blue eyes are really cool. (yikes!)

Also we found a dog that restored my love for dogs (Evan loved dogs before his mission but he says the dogs there are really smelly and awful so he's had a hard time loving them as before) his name is Capitán and he is a chihuahua I'll send a picture.  

I'm really sorry to here about Uncle Eric, but at least he isn't suffering anymore.

Love you guys and miss you,

Elder Tagg

Capitan!

I accidentally sent his email to the wrong address so he sent me a "Sad Evan" photo in this camisas tipicas which just means typical shirt.

New companions! 

Trapped in an Elevador

Mahm y Daddy´o 

This week a lot happened, but first let me answer your questions.  First I am more feeling adjusted. I feel pretty normal as a missionary now. I'm pretty much over the culture shock but there still are things that I'm still like... "what the freak are these people doing" about.  Like all the body language the people use here.  They use it for everything and I don't understand. My language is getting a lot better.  I can hold a conversation for like five minutes without an awkward pause so that is a good thing!!  I'm working hard but sometimes it's difficult because Elder G has 21 months and sometimes he doesn't want to work very hard. But I think he is going to have transfers. I do remember reading with you when I was little.  We read Harry Potter. That was awesome. And thanks for the advice about not doubting my self. I think that is a problem I have had my whole life. 

Anyways this week was awesome I went on divisions with the companion of my district leader, Elder Ga... He is really cool but a really serious guy.  I get that missionary work is serious but that doesn't mean that you can't have fun while doing it. Anyways something really memorable happened this week. So we have zone meetings every week on Tuesdays and we have them in the stake center which is like the nicest building in the whole city because it has an elevator. It's only two floors so the elevator is really small... So after our zone meeting my comp yelled "everyone in the elevator!" So 10 Elders, including me, my comp, and Elder Ngu... a Tongan Elder who has a scholarship to play football as a defensive lineman after his mission at Texas State University piled in the tiny elevator and started to descend.  When we were almost at the bottom we all heard a loud banging noise and the doors opened and we were trapped beneath the first floor by like five feet.  Nobody could move because of how packed it was. The good thing was that the elevator had AC so we didn't suffocate. We where all stuck in the elevator for at least a hour before the 1st counselor to the bishop came with a special key and let us all out. Luckily nobody was hurt. It was pretty scary. One of the Elders took a selfie of all of us in the elevator. I'm going to have him send me it and I'll probably send it next week to you guys. At the least it was a memorable experience. 

Also this week we had a surprise visit from the president and he told us that we needed to work harder and find more new investigators this week so me and Elder Go worked harder to try to find new people and we found a family of four all over the age of 8. After teaching them they told us they knew that everything we were saying was true, and that it was a miracle that we were there. I think for sure that we are going to baptize them they just need to hear all the lessons. This week we found 13 new investigators with just 2 families. 

To close I just want to say that I love and miss all of you guys 

Elder Tagg

Moto Taxis, Perros y Narcos

Maham y Daddy-O

Here in Guatemala they do not celebrate Halloween.  They celebrate la Dia De Los Muertos. But from what I saw they didn't really celebrate it that much.  There were no signs besides the fact that everyone eats fiambre. You can look it up. It's like a bunch of random meats and vegetables died different colors and served cold its really weird. I had it twice yesterday. My baptism with Ke... did go through. We baptized him last Saturday it was really cool. I don't know if I want to be chief of washing the family's socks.  Honestly the washing machine will do it a lot better. I liked the photos you sent of Drew and the other ones in the email. I haven't gotten my birthday package yet but I did get the card you sent on Sept 11th. I cannot change playlists on my iPod shuffle. I think I need a head phone set to listen to it because when I press the voice button I can't hear anything through the speaker. I don't know, it's weird.  I'm thinking about sending a package to you guys with cool things from Guatemala for Christmas but I would need extra money because I can't use the mission money for that... Think about it .

This week we had the baptism of Ke...l it was really cool. I now have brought three almas (souls) to Christ.  Pretty awesome. This week I went on divisions with the zone leaders.  They are really cool guys and I learned a lot. I think I'm starting to grasp this Gospel but I'm not sure. Two youth in the ward got their mission calls. One is going to Nicargaua, the same mission that my companion lives in. The other one is going to Arizona. Not a lot of unique stuff happened this week, just the normal missionary stuff. So instead I will share three fun facts about life in Guatemala Retalhuleu. Also I killed  one of the small moths here I'll send a picture.

FUN FACTS:
Number one, there are moto taxis here that are called 'tuk tuks.'  They have three wheels and the way they drive them here reminds me of Korea.  It's crazy.  You can probably google a picture of them they are pretty cool. But we use them to go everywhere. 

Number two, the perros (dogs) here are crazy they have almost made me not like dogs anymore just because the ones living one the streets are so abused and almost dead and they smell awful. I think its because the people here treat the dogs like they are less than trash. 

Number three, everybody here has chickens and for eggs and to eat or something but the lady who lives beneath us has some and every morning at like 5:50am they go crazy and make sooo much noise I want to kill them. 

Bonus fact, I think my neighbor is what they call a narco, or basically a drug dealer. Because his house is freaking nice and he's got a pack of like 6 chihuahuas that guard his house. 

Yup those are the facts. 

SPIRITUAL MOMENT

Yo se que vive mi Señor. (I know that my redeemer lives)

Love 

Elder Tagg

Death by Chihuahua

Hey MAHAM and DADDY-O

This week has been great but sadly there was no drunk investigator in sacrement meeting.  Probably because we didn't tell him what time to be there. The investigators are coming along great we baptized Hermana Is... this last Saturday and have another baptism lined up for this next Saturday.  We have two new families that agreed to second visits. We also have two investigators who we hope to commit to a date for baptism this week.  Their names are Walter and Albert. We have lots of others too but those are the progressing ones. The langauge is getting easier to understand and I am starting to talk with more natural flow.  The food here is okay I guess.  Every meal we have flower tortillas which I don't like much because they don't have flavor. But their are tons of people here that all they do everyday is make tortillas. It's called tortillando which means something like tortillaing. We do have a member that we pay to wash our clothes but for some reason she doesn't wash socks. So I have to wash my own socks  but it's not too bad.  This week I learned that I really like the mission life.  It's calidad. (quality).

This week President Ruiz came to our zone and called us all to repentance because like half of our zone were not doing companion study.  He did this thing where all the junior compainons left the room he called up the senor companion asked them what they studied during companion study. Then he called in the junior comp to see if it was the same. Elder Go... and I both said the plan of salvation because that is what we studied, but a lot of the zone didn't study anything. We also had personal interviews with the President.  He only talked with me for two minutes, but he said that was a good thing because that means I'm not doing anything wrong. (or Elder T can't communicate yet in Spanish). The president also new me by name so that made me feel good. So that's what I learned this week. 

Also this week we had a primary programish thing. Imagine thirty kids with equal or more engery to the wildest kids trying to do a primary program.  That's what it was like... Not good. 

Also this week I had some wierd experience with my dreams and I dont know how I feel about it. So like on Wednesday I prayed and asked God if I could see in my dreams who my future wife is going to be. So I went to bed and and waited for my dreams to come. That night I dreamt about dogs. I was in Guatemala in the streets and out of nowhere a bunch of chihuahuas attacked and ate me and it was horrible! But then (this is where it gets weird) Thursday night I dreamt that you guys where in Guatemala picking me up and we were in the streets of one of my areas and we run into the _____ family they where there picking _____ up from her mission. it was really weird. I don't know what that means. I think it means either that I'm going to die by chihuahua here in the streets or marry ______ ______ when I get home.... I don't know why but my dreams are really weird ever since I left.

Anyways I love the pictures you sent thank you!! that's awesome that Drew got to fly a plane. Oh there is an elder here named Elder Lovett who is going home in two weeks and is going to BYUI for Spring semester. I told him to look for a ginger named Nathan Tagg tell Nathan to look for him.  He is one of my zone leaders now.

Love all you Guys and Miss you 

Elder Tagg

Elder Tagg has grown horns... or some horns are attached to that tree...

I Love The Mission

Daddy-O

This week was awesome. Nothing really special happened, but it was a good none the less. I'm progressing well I think... not sure. I can understand a lot of what people say, but I always get caught up on the words and conjugations when I'm speaking. Everyday I wake up at 6:30 and I go to the bathroom, eat something, go to the bathroom again, shower, then bathroom again, get dressed, start studying, then go to the bathroom again. Then after we finish studying at 11 we go out and work .Then we have lunch at 2 usually with a member then we work some more and have dinner then go back home and plan and go to bed. Some times during the day we go to district meetings or zone meetings. My days are pretty calidad (quality). I always end up with wet clothes cause it's either deathly hot, or monsoon raining. But if the people here can do it I can.

Love and miss you 

Elder Tagg

Maham and Daddy-O

This week has been really fast. This week was awesome nothing really special happened but it was a good none the less.  I think I'm becoming more spiritually in tune not sure.. The teaching part is really cool. I share my testimony and share some scriptures that I know really well, but for the most part we just listen. My Spanish is coming along well. I told Dad more about that in the email I sent him. 

This week we got lots of new investigators.. one of them is named Albert. He is really cool. He is 19 years old and wants to be baptized and change his life, but he has some problems he needs to work out.  Another investigator's name is Walter. He is really cool. Our first lesson with him went really bad, but he read and prayed and our secound lesson was amazing. I think we are going to baptize both of them. We also foumd this really drunk guy who couldn't talk he was so drunk.  So naturally we decided to talk to him.  We told him that God loved him and he needed to stop drinking. He started crying and trying to talk but we couldn't understand him so I looked to Elder Go... to see what we should do and he told me to invite him to be baptized for practice.  So I invited him and he accepted!!! Then we told him we were angels and that he needed to go to the Mormon church on Sunday. So we will see what happens there. It was a really funny awesome expirience.

Also this week our zone had a 'Mega Splash' we all got together and baptized like 5 people it was way cool. Also this week I have been having these dreams where I'm home doing normal things with the fam and then I realize OH crap! I'm supposed to be on a mission, and I feel sad because I realize I came home early and I really want to go back on my mission. Then I wake up and I'm on my mission and I feel happy. This has happened at least three times. It's really wierd. 

Maham my companion does not have a lot of support. His mom died when he was 17 and his Dad isn't a member, so do what you will. Also he says beef jerky would be nice. Also I can't figure out how to cahnge playlists on my ipod but you can send USB cards with music on them and I can play those. Also I realized that I don't have any pictures of you guys. If you could send some that would be awesome. 

One more last thing. I love you guys and miss you, but I also love the mission. 

Elder Tagg

First Baptism!!

Maham & Daddy-O,  

This week was crazy! First off, sorry I couldn't write yesterday. I was in Guatemala City signing my visa. It was an all day trip because from my area to Reu is a 3 hour bus ride and from Reu to Guatemala city was 4 hours. So yesterday I had 14 hours in a bus. 

I am now 19 years old, but I still feel like I'm 15. My birthday was great we only had one baptism though. His name is Di... and I got to baptize him!!! It was way awesome but hard too because we had some difficulties. So originally his baptism was supposed to be at 3 pm but the baptismal font wouldn't fill with water so we had to hire some guys to pump in other water.  We ended up waiting two hours for those guys so Dilan was baptized at 5 pm instead of three. I was so nervous to baptize him because his full name is Ja.. Di... Es... Va... and the words of the prayer are hard for me to pronounce: Hbiendo sido comisionado por Jesucristo yo te bautizo en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espiritu Santo Amen. Also, the first time I dunked him, his hand didn't go all the way under so I had to redo everything. But in the end it was way cool. Also, for my birthday we had cake at a member's house, and that night I got to give my companion a blessing because he is sick with gripe which is like a common cold. 

We only had one baptism this week but we have another lined up for two Saturdays from now. Her name is Isidra she is an old lady but way spiritual. 

I think that I am getting sick because I have a bunch of diarrhea. I have pooped 4 times today before lunch. I'll have to call the nurse or something. I don't know what elder Ga...'s house looks like, but I think I have a pretty nice house compared to the other Elders. I'm glad you guys are having fun without me. I was worried that once I left the party would too.  But I guess not hahaha.

We are working hard. Please pray for us that we can find a familia de pro (or family of gold) and baptize them. That would be awesome!!! I think that I am learning the language way fast. I feel like I can understand people way better than I can talk though.

It's true that the people here are really poor, but what I love about the Champins is that they make do. It's like they get what they get and don't get upset.

Love you guys so much and miss you

Elder Tagg

PS BTW I got the fist package with the cookies. Thanks SOO much.

Elder Tagg's first baptism on 10-10-15

Elder Tagg and Di..

Elder Tagg Di... and Elder Go...

Evan says this hole reminds him of the movie Totoro

His apartment

I'm Not Going To Steal Their Children

Dear Mahm and Daddy-O

This week has been crazy, but I got here and I am doing good.

So my companion's name Is Elder Go... he is a Latino from Nicaragua and he speaks pretty good English so that is a blessing. His dream is to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir someday. He is really cool he has four months left. And I only have 22 months left.

My zone is Malacatan and my area is San Isidro. It's really cool but there is a lot of poverty here. Like a lot of people live in huts or unfinished concrete homes. The richest people here would be the poorest in America.  It's crazy though, even with all this poverty, people still have TVs and smartphones. Being here really makes me feel lucky for what I have.

This week we worked like crazy inviting everyone to come to conference which was all in Spanish so I couldn't really understand, but it's ok. The first day I was here we were out tracting with a member named Eddie and he said he new a short cut home. So we followed him through a field down a mountain through a river and back up a mountain.  It was crazy.  We have 3 people lined up for baptism on my birthday! One is a 12 year old boy named Dillan the other is an old man named Rodolfo and the other is a woman named Melody.

The food here is bascally some kind of meat, tortillas, beans and plantains. We basically live off of members. It rains here everday and my umbrella got stolen. But the people here are amazingly friendly and kind. Especially the members. They all laugh at my Spanish and how white I am, but they are awesome. Elder Go... told me that a lot of the people here think that I am going to steal their children because I am white, but I'm not going to steal thier children...

Thats sad about Eric, I will pray for him and his family. I will also try to send pictures.

Love ya and Miss ya

Elder Tagg

PS my new food is fried plantains, they are like fried sour bananas.  My camera died so I'll try to send pictures next week.

Elder Ga... and Elder Tagg on the bus to the mission home (me thinks)

This photo surfaced online.  It's from the LA airport where he happened upon 40 other missionaries also on their way to Guatemala.  It's from about 6-7 weeks ago before they buzzed his hair.  

Photos!

(Something funny being said here for sure)

Evan on the left.  So glad to see him eating an apple!

His group of missionaries coming from the CCM (aka MTC)

Thumbs up from his buddy Elder Gallagher

His Mission Presidente and his wife (and another Elder I do not know).