Another week...?!

From: "Aaron Taylor"
> >To: taylor0638@msn.com
> >Subject: Another week...?! Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:25:45 +0000

Dear Fam and Friends,
Well there it goes, another week gone by. It´s so hard to know how to
start these things. There´s so many different directions I could
go...hmmm. First of all, you STILL didn´t say anything about my song in
any of your letters-what´s that all about? Is it really just that bad? Talk
about not answering questions...you´re all worried about me answering that
you forget to answer my questions! Sheesh. Haha
Ok, I´ll begin my list of answers now: We have an address directly for
our apartment, but you can´t send letters there. You can send them in the
"pouch" or just through the regular mail. If you email to the mission
address, and put my name in the subject line, they will print off the
letter and I´ll get it on Thursdays (ANYONE can write to that address)
I´ll look in to getting stamps and writing letters, but understand that we
don´t have a ton of time on Preparation Days and we have a lot to do most
of the time, so don´t expect anything grand. As far as packages go, most
Elders say they have never had a problem. If you send a package, don´t do
it through like FedEx or anything special or something because then the
Mafia (seriously) will think you put something EXTRA special in it and
they´ll for sure open it up. One Elder says he just finds out what
missionaries parents are coming to pick up their elders and has his family
send packages down with their families. Like his family sends the package
to those coming down, and then they´re usually willing to just bring it
down. I´ll keep my ears open. Ok, that will be the longest answer,
hopefully.
I am speaking Spanish. I have learned a few Portuguese words here and
there, but they speak Spanish here. Some are bilingual, but yeah. Spanish.
In my apartment it is just Elder Stoddard and I. The other Elders and the
two Hermanas aren´t very far away, but I only know exactly where two
companionships live because I´ve been to the Zone Leaders house for
activities and I went on divisions with another.
You guys really want to know where I live that badly? Haha. I haven´t
counted the blocks from the bridge, but it´s probably 8-10 streets away from
the bridge and 2 streets over. Maybe I´ll count one of these days. I saw
your house on a computer yesterday. One of the members pulled up Google
Earth and asked us where we lived, so we showed him. It was weird to see
the house. I didn´t even know that Google Earth existed, it was cool.
Sunday meetings are in the Chapel. haha. Probably two streets up from the
bridge and one street the opposite direction of our house. It´s big, you
can see it on Google Earth.
I took pictures of our trip to Brazil. I´ve taken a lot of our area, our
apartment, the other Elders on P-Day and what not. I´m doing my best to
keep the camera rolling. The river has kind of flooded, so I´ve taken a
bunch of pictures of that. One of the streets in our area is covered, so
that´s cool. One of the VERY less actives in our ward got water in their
yard/house. I took a picture. Our area is very diverse. Some houses are
quite nice, and others are wood and tin, maybe as big as my room at home.
Maybe. It´s crazy how the perception of "nice" changes so drastically so
quickly.
I have a couple of things to tell you, so I´ll try and rush them in.
First, I had a really cool experience on Saturday. One of our
appointments fell through, so Elder Stoddard asked me what I thought we
should do for the next little bit. We have been working with a less-active
lady in our Branch, so I said we should go visit her and make sure she knew
about Stake Conference yesterday. We went down there, but she wasn´t
there. Her son, who´s like 35, is also a member, but VERY inactive. He has
been there for a couple of lessons with his mom, but hasn´t really said
anything. We started talking to him Saturday, and asked if we could just
have a quick lesson. At first he was really hesitant and said no, but then
he was like, "Well, why not? " So we sat down with him, sang a hymn, said a
prayer and opened up to Alma 32. Elder Stoddard said he didn´t know where
we were going to start...then Jose Luiz (the guy) pointed out a scripture.
Alma 32:13, I believe. It talks about those who are compelled to be humble.
It hit him really hard, and he started to get a little emotional. It was
exactly what he needed. We continued to look in Alma 32, where it talks
about planting the seed of faith. Jose Luiz works with plants, so it was
perfect, and he really understood. He was still being a little resistant to
what was going on, so I decided to just bear my testimony. It was amazing
the change that happened in the room. I bore my testimony about how I knew
that sometimes life can be hard, and we get discouraged, but that Christ
has felt all of that for us already. That it is only through Him and the
Church that we can get through those hard times. It was awesome, because it
was the first time my testimony hasn´t been interrupted, or that I felt
like I couldn´t express what I wanted to. The words just came. It might
not have been perfect Spanish, but it was what I needed to say, and we were
all able to feel the Spirit together. Afterwards, Jose Luiz said that he
knew the things that he needed to do to get through the hard times he was
having: prayer and really studying the scriptures. That´s the key. So that
was a great experience. I didn´t know why we needed to go down there at
first, especially since his mom wasn´t there, but it turned out to be a
great learning and growing experience for all of us.
Melanie and Megan, we are teaching a boy right now who is 11 years old.
His name is Ricardo, and his dad passed away about 5 months ago. The second
lesson we had with him, we gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read
3 Nephi 11. We went backed and asked him if he had. He said yes, but that
he couldn´t remember much about it, and that answer usually means they
didn´t read. So we asked him a couple of questions, and he basically
proceeded to tell us EXACTLY what happened in that chapter. It was awesome.
Girls, I cannot even begin to tell you how important the scriptures are.
It´s great to read them everyday, but we need to pay attention to and
understand it as well, or it doesn´t do any good. That is one way that we
can strengthen our testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. Please, read with
mom and dad, pay attention, and ask questions! The scriptures are so true
and there´s so much we can learn from them!
Everyone, I love you and am so grateful for this opportunity. Know that I
am well and loving every minute! Mom... Tu hijo le ama muchisimo! Your son
loves you VERY MUCH! Substitute "mom" in for son and you´ll have it. Love
you!
Elder Taylor

P.S. Send Carson my love. I won´t get a letter off to him before he
leaves, most likely. Let him know he is in my prayers!