6-Month Email....Wow‏

Taylor Clan and Comrades,
 So that´s a crazy thought-as of Wednesday, it will be 6 months as a
missionary. As I´ve said before, some days it feels like it and some days
it doesn´t. We´re already in our 4th week of this change. We go to
Tacuarembo for interviews this Thursday, we have a ward activity next
Thursday and the Thursday after is Changes. Wow. Weeks really are a lot
shorter in the mission field. Days? Now that´s usually another story...!
Haha.
 Mom, to answer a couple of your questions at the beginning of the
email....I think I´d like you to send me my Detroit Lions baseball hat, if
you can find it. If not, my Cleveland Indians one. (If you can´t remember
which is which-the Lions hat has a Lion on the front and the Indians has an
Indian: pretty convenient, uh?) I miss wearing a baseball hat. Weird, huh?
I never thought of that as something I´d miss, but there ya go. I´ll only
be able to wear it in the house and on p-days during activities, but at
least it´s more than never! Other than that, ya´ll can send whatsoever
your little hearts desire with the Damairu family. Mary-Anne said she sent
some pictures last week, so if she sent enough, I think that´ll be good.
You´ve always had a good knack for this kinda thing-I´ll trust ya. :o)
 As for the yard-sale, you can go ahead and sell my punching bag. I´ll
find other ways to take out my frustration...Skyler´s home, remember?
Haha. Just playing, Skyler, take it easy. It´s not my fault you gained
weight and I´m losing it...! Or is it...?!
 So Mom gets to speak in Church on Sunday-that´s cool! We are having our
Ward Conference this Sunday, so that´ll be fun to see. I had a first-time
experience in Church yesterday. Hma. Rosconi asked me if I wouldn´t mind
playing the hymns in sacrament meeting so should could take care of her
baby, and I said I´d be glad to. So as I´m sitting there playing prelude,
President Lorenzo (of the Branch) came up and asked if I could give a 10
minute talk because one of his speakers didn´t show up. Of course
President, I´d love too. So I play the hymns, go and sit down and listen
to the first 2 speakers; both really good talks. Just really short. So the
time comes for the last speaker-me-and there´s still 20-25 minutes of the
meeting. I walk up to the pulpit and whisper to the President "Vamos a ver"
or "We´ll see" and he just smiles and shrugs his shoulders. The next thing
you know, we had 2 minutes left and I was still talking about how service
is a great way to open the hearts of the people to the gospel. Behind me I
hear Hmo. Machado say to Pte. Lorenzo, "El don de lenguas" or "The gift of
tongues." What an awesome feeling it is when you just open your mouth and
the Lord fills it with words. It´s like the magic trick when people pull
scarves out of their mouth-the words just keep coming. What an awesome
opportunity we have to recognize the hand of the Lord work in our lives,
even in the littlest ways.
 So we leave sacrament meeting and head to Gospel Essentials for Recent
Converts and Investigators when I am told that the teacher for our class
isn´t there...."Elder Taylor, could you give the class today? Hermana
Duarte must be sick." Yeah, no problem, I´d love to. So then we had a nice
little lesson about the Spirit World. The topic went from the opportunity
we have to prepare in this life, to the death of Eduardo´s daughter, to
the passing of one of my best friends, Grandpa Talbot. I explained to
Eduardo that just as I am sure that I have felt the presence of my
grandfather many times since his passing, he too can have the peace of
knowing that his daughter is in a better place. We all left that class
extremely grateful for the wonderful blessings of our loving Heavenly
Father.
 What a great chance we have to rest from our busy lives one day a week to
give appreciation and thanks to our Heavenly Father. This little sacrifice
makes such a difference in the life of every person who is willing to keep
this simple, power-packed commandment.
 No Mom, I haven´t asked Elder Talbot yet if his ancestors come from back
that way, I´ll make sure to ask him this week and I´ll let you know. I
wasn´t sure of anything besides Gobo Fango, so thanks for passing along
that bit of info. When we were on divisions last week we found out that we
have A LOT in common. We decided we´re going to have to ask is mom if she
ever placed a son up for adoption, because we think we might be
twins...he´s just a little older. Haha.
 So dad gave his first talk as a High Councilman (again) That´s sweet.
And Kevin was your speaking comp! Crazy! I can´t believe he´s home, I
love that kid. Man, we had some good times. Next time you see him, make
sure you send some saludos from Elder Taylor!
 So this Thursday we are headed to Tacuarembo to have our interviews with
Presidente Aguilar. It will be my last time seeing him, most likely,
because President Peterson gets here July 1 or something like that. Man,
I´ve only been on the mission 6 months and I´ve already got three Mission
Presidents. That´s a fun little stat.
 I haven´t taken hardly any pictures this change, but I still have a ton
from the MTC and from my first changes with Elder Stoddard, that were on my
2nd card. I´ll get them on a cd like next week and send them on home to
ya´ll. I´ve started jottin´down notes so you´ll be able to know who´s
in some of the pictures and what not. Hopefully that´ll help. How´s the
book comin´?
 Well, I think that´s about it from this end of the world for this week.
Know that I love ya and that all is well here! The Church is SO true! How
cool is that? We belong to the only true church! Sweet! Let´s share it so
everyone can enjoy the peace and happiness that we do! ¡Vamos arriba!
 Love Always,
 Elder Taylor