“And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.” 2Nephi 5:27

3 Months in our Mission

¡Saludos otra vez de Palma de Mallorca, España!

Today’s post includes some photos of beautiful scenery and wonderful people! This leads to our scriptural message of “living after the manner of happiness.”

In our Noche de Hogar activity last week, we tried to remind the young adults of the great contrast in life between the “manner of happiness” and the “manner of the world.” In 2 Nephi chapter 5, Nephi provides a detailed description of the manner of happiness. In 4 Nephi, we read that after the visit of the resurrected Christ, The Nephites and Lamanites were all converted to the Lord. Describing the first and second generations, we read that “and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been been created by the hand of God.” Therefore, the “manner of happiness” is achieved when people are fully engaged in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Contrast this standard of living with what the Lord declares in D&C 95:13 “ for I give not unto you that you shall live after the manner of the world.” There appears to be two polar opposites: those who live after the Lord‘s manner of happiness and those who live after the manner of the world. This is true in Spain, the United States, or any place on this earth.

Hermana Taylor and I have the great blessing of being associated with so many wonderful people who are trying to live after the manner of happiness. Life is not easy here on Mallorca nor is it intended to be during our mortal experience. However, those that are striving to follow the Lord’s standard, the manner of happiness, have a brightness and a joy about them. We have been surrounded by members of the church who have welcomed us and are so kind and loving towards us. We have also had the privilege of personally witnessing a few of Heavenly Father’s children who have embraced the gospel, chosen to be baptized, and follow the matter of happiness. The last three days are great examples of this. Friday night, we had a group of about 30 young adults at our weekly Jovenes Adultos activity. They love spending time together and are an absolute joy to be around. We see them as future leaders in the church and as Heavenly Father’s chosen in these latter days. We have embraced this quote from President Nelson as our theme and read it every Friday night ( in Spanish, of course):

“There is something undeniably special about this generation of youth. Your Heavenly Father must have great confidence in you to send you to earth at this time. You were born for greatness! The days ahead will be breathtaking. Father in Heaven must have known that you would be just the people He needs to do remarkable things in the latter days—the days leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

Then, on Saturday we were with them again as we participated in the Seminary and Institute graduation event for the District. They helped us prepare and serve the food after the meeting and then stayed for a fun dance.

Today, Hermana Taylor and I attended all three Branch meetings that meet in the church in Palma, so we were in the church building for nearly 6 hours. This was great as today was about 97° outside and very humid. Yesterday we found a nail in one of the tires of our car and therefore couldn’t drive our car to the church and had the fun experience of walking to and from church in the heat– as most of these members do every week.

We had two highlights today: listening to a talk from our friend Giuseppe who was baptized last month and then taking dinner to our dear friend Osa, who was also baptized last month. We have included photos from their baptisms in a previous post. Giuseppe gave one of the most humble and spiritually powerful talks we have heard in a long time. This was his first formal sacrament meeting talk as a member of the church. He has an amazing story. He spoke very slowly and succinctly about his life and his conversion process and where he is in his life now. He and his family are completely immersed in the Gospel and are looking forward to being sealed in the Madrid Temple next year. Giuseppe also blessed the sacrament today.

We went with Hermana Smith and Hermana Peterson and took dinner to our dear friend Osa. Hermana Taylor prepared a wonderful dinner for the six of us. Osa is a very humble man and treats us with such kindness and respect. He also has a beautiful conversion story. We have been able to be with him since his very first formal lesson. He was sustained today to receive the Priesthood. We consider him our eternal brother. He still calls Hermana Taylor, “Mamma Lea.”

So, we have passed the 3-month point of our missions. This island is currently full of tourists from all over the world. We now believe what we have been told for the last few months about the forthcoming heat and humidity of July and August. We have visitors from other countries in one of the branch meetings every Sunday. It is a real treat to meet them and listen to their reasons for visiting Mallorca.

We love serving with the young Elders and Hermanas. They are so diligent and work so hard in the stifling heat and humidity. We try to give them rides every time they need one and love to participate in formal lessons as they teach.

With today’s amazing technology, we were able to see and listen to Lydia and Bridger’s talks in Sacrament meeting back in our Ward today. Interestingly, their topic was how to support the young and senior missionaries. They both did a beautiful job and we were very proud of them. We are very grateful for and love our children, their spouses and our grandchildren: Ally, Jeff, Charlie, Gwen, Benji, next month’s baby girl, Lydia, Bridger, Duncan and Jewel. We are thankful to be sealed together as an eternal family. We are immensely grateful for the love, support and prayers of you dear extended family members and friends. It was fun to see so many familiar faces on the camera in our ward today. Yes, we miss you all but we love what we are doing and we love being here. Being a missionary now is an incredible experience. We sense the urgency of this work during such a critical time in the history of the world. We desire to meticulously follow our prophet, President Russell M Nelson in gathering Israel for the last time and preparing the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

We are able to fly to Valencia this week to participate in a Zone Conference so we are looking forward to that experience. It is a great blessing to serve under President and Hermana Villar and we greatly appreciate their leadership.

So basically, serving as senior missionaries in Spain is awesome! We’ll post more photos on Instagram and Facebook.

¡Les amamos!

Élder y Hermana Taylor

Palma de Mallorca, España

Punta de Capdepera

A working lighthouse with the Dyers

Beach in Alcudia

A very small door into a windmill.

Sonya Amoros Baptism