A hello from ridiculously hot, and ridiculously wet Uruguay!

Dear Family (and friends)
I don´t even know where to start! Here it is, already my second preparation day. Where does the time go? Some days it feels like I´ve been here for 6 months and others it feels like I got here yesterday. I am loving being here in Artigas. It´s SO different from the MTC. They both have their pros and cons. One of the pros in the MTC was that I could understand everybody! Haha. Here, it seems like I can only understand the Americans trying to speak Spanish. No, it´s coming along. Very slowly, but surely. I just have to be patient, trust in the Lord, and work like crazy!
This week has been some crazy weather. I´ve decided there´s only two choices in Artigas- ridiculously hot with a ridiculous amount of humidity, or RAIN! Not kidding. Yesterday it was SO hot before, during, and after church. But then after our study time, and we were out walking, clouds and RAIN came out of nowhere. So again, we were soaked. I love it. Most of the time.
Our eating arrangement here is really nice. Elder Stoddard says I got lucky with my first area. We have had lunch with the members everyday. We don´t really eat breakfast most of the time, because we aren´t hungry or we just want to study; and dinner is basically non-existent here. Lunch is the big meal everyday. Sometimes we´ll cook some rice or something after planning when we get home, but not too often. The food has been good, so far. Not too different. Lots of pasta, potatoes, and bread.
One of the Hermanas in our branch does our laundry for us. It is SO nice not to have to worry about it. She´s a gem. We just drop it off on our preparation day (monday) and then go and pick it up on like Wednesday or Thursday-already neatly folded and such. Pretty nifty. I haven´t had someone fold my laundry for me since I was like 12! (Mom!)
The bus ride up to Artigas wasn´t in some shabby piece of metal. Haha. It was like a tour bus. Really nice. There are taxis all over the place here, but usually we just walk everywhere. No bikes, no cars, no rollerblades, no skateboards...just our feet.
Mom, you asked if I knew which way the mission home was from the airport, I think....I have NO idea! I miss the mountains. Haha.
The name of the street I live on is Berreta. That´s about all I know. Haha. It´s by a gas station, a school (I think). Classes for the kids start either today or tomorrow, so I don´t really know where the schools are yet.
Yeah, We can walk to Brazil in about 15 minutes. Actually, we are going over there in about 20 minutes! I guess there´s this awesome buffet over there, so the Zone Leaders, one other companionship and the two of us are gonna go eat. Yes mom, it´s legal, I promise. Haha. We just walk across a bridge and we´re there.
You asked about the water...we drink bottled water in our apartment. Brush our teeth with the tap-no big deal. As for lunch at members homes, usually we have like juice or pop or something. (Carbonation-grrr) A couple of times, though, people have offered us water and we are so thirsty that we don´t really care. Hopefully we are doing our job, so the Lord will bless us!
Oh, by the way, you said you got my package, but you didn´t say anything about my song-what´s up with that?! Haha. I´m just curious as to what you all though? Not too shabby for 10 minutes after meals, I thought. Oh yeah, I played prelude in sacrament meeting yesterday. I think everyone was amazed that this gringo elder could play the piano. It was funny.
I can´t write "real" letters right now, because I don´t have any stamps. I didn´t even think about it before I left the States. If you could find it in your hearts, do you think you could buy some stamps and send them on down this way? I haven´t been able to write...anyone...yet because I don´t have any stamps. So if you could pass that message along to...anyone...I´d apopreciate it. Haha. Oh, and I received a letter from Daniel Hansen this week, so if you could send these to him too, that be great! Yes Dan, I got your letter, but, if you read above, I don´t have any stamps to write you back. Dan´s email is danhan55@hotmail.com ; I can´t remember what Alison´s is, so you´ll have to call and ask. I can remember her number, though- (801)558-3349. And no, that´s not because I texted a lot. Haha.
This letter might be kind of short, but I read all of yours before, so time is running out. Lorie, thank you for your letter-good luck with the training and what not! I look forward to hearing more!
I love you all, more than I can even say. I know that the Lord has sent me here for a reason, and I just hope that I can accomplish all I have been sent here to do! But first, I need to understand what the heck these people are saying! I´ve heard that this is one of the most difficult areas to understand, though. So I´ll just keep plugging along. The Lord lives, He loves us, He knows us each individually, and He wants us to come closer to Him! This church is SO true! You better not forget that. The scriptures are amazing, I wish I could read them all day. I just finished the story of Ammon and the sons of Mosiah in Alma-that was pretty encouraging. Again, I love you! Take care
Love,
Elder Taylor