I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! What an awesome opportunity to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ along with the rest of the Christian world!
Well, first of all, to set your minds at ease-I´m still up north in beautiful Artigas. Every companionship in our zone had a change...except Elder Stoddard and I. We are together for at least the next six weeks! Three months-that´s a long time to be with one person for every minute of every day, but we get along great, so it´s not gonna be a problem!
Easter here is definitely different than Easter in the States. The week before Easter Sunday is called the Semana Santa (Holy Week) or La Semana de Turismo (The Week of Tourism). It´s like spring break, ´Guayean style-which means no one does anything. Haha. No, a lot of people travel or go see family and what not. But the city was basically dead, especially on Friday. Wow. It was like a ghost town. Everyone definitely takes advantage of the holiday.
I miss the good ol´Easter Bunny. Apparently Uruguay isn´t on his map. Or maybe just the missionaries. Haha. I didn´t really here anything about the Bunny from any of the kids or anything, but there are chocolate bunnies and stuff, so I don´t know.
Easter was just a normal Fast Sunday. Had a great fast and testimony meeting. I love the Branch we are in. The members are awesome. It´s so nice to be here with them and feel of their Spirit. It´s so cool here because the people are (mostly) SO converted. Of course, there are those who aren´t, but they make such awesome sacrifices to live the Gospel.
The people here in Artigas are such an awesome people. Very humble, and very kind. Most of the time. On Saturday, we talked with a very devout Catholic, probably the most faithful Catholic I´ve ever met, and it was just such a great experience. His name is Nelson, he´s 80 years old, and when he saw us he basically bolted to the door (as much as an 80 year old can) to let us in. He loves English, so he tried to speak some with us-it was way funny. We simply had a talk about the Savior, our beliefs about the Plan of Salvation, and just some other questions he had. It´s fun to talk to people like him because they respect your beliefs, just as we respect theirs. It was just an opportunity to talk about something greater than us all. He said he loves basketball, so he and I chatted about that for a minute. Haha. He loves the fact that we do missionary work, and he said he wished the Catholic church would do it. Really, he made me remember Grandpa Talbot for some reason. Mom, don´t cry. Haha. He was just a super nice man with an amazing spirit about him, just like Grandpa. We are not going to end up teaching and baptizing his family, but I am certain that he is going to be SOOOO excited when he passes to the next life and discovers the plan that has been laid before us. He will be embraced in the arms of our Savior as a Son of God who did all he could in this life to live the best he could. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation that I have. Without it, this life would be so difficult. Granted, this life is difficult at times regardless, but we know that this too will pass and one day we will be embraced in the arms of our Savior to hear the phrase "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" as long as we do our part in this life. What a marvelous blessing that knowledge is. I pray that we will be willing to open our mouths and share it with all, so that we can see the hand of God work through us.
Saturday night, Elder Stoddard and I decided to sleep up on the roof. We wanted to do it all last change, but we never did. So, we decided to quit talking and act! Haha. We took up the beds: frames, mattresses, and all. There´s a wall that we climb on and then you can climb on to the roof from there. It was awesome. We had a clear night sky above us, and a storm on the horizon. So we could see the bright stars and lightning: SO cool! About four in the morning it started to drizzle a little bit, but we stuck it out anyway. Haha. We hardly got wet at all. A fun memory.
Mary-Anne, I got the letter you mailed on like the 20th of March this last week. So March 20th to April 5th...that´s not too bad, right? I don´t think so. But Dad, I feel the same way you do-if I was to write a regular letter to the fam, what would I put in it? A copy of this letter? Haha. It just doesn´t seem logical. At all. But when I send a package home, I will put an actual letter in it, I promise.
Speaking of packages, if you send me a package sometime in the next 20 months...would you mind sending some US Postage stamps with it? I want to write some of my good buddies back in the States, and it´s SO much easier if I can just put a US stamp on it and put it in the mission bolsa. But i can´t do that with Uruguay stamps. Just a note. Oh, and Mom/Dad, could you let me know exactly what mission Carson is going to? I´m going to write him a letter today, but I can´t remember what mission it is in the Philippines, so I can´t send it yet. I´m not worried about it getting there in time, because he just barely went in to the MTC and he´s there forever, but yeah. I´d appreciate it.
Anyway, I think that´s about it for this week. I love you all, and think about you often. You are constantly in my prayers. Take care of yourselves and take advantage of opportunities to share the Gospel, even if it´s just planting a seed! Give it a chance to grow! I love you, and can´t wait to hear from EACH of you! :o)
Elder Taylor
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