June 27th, 2007

Taylor Fam and Friends,
Well, here it is, the end of another change! That´s so weird. This change has been really good for me. It wasn´t the easiest of my mission, but I have a feeling I will look back on this change with a great deal of gratitude.
Just so you know, the weeks of Changes, we have P-Day on Wednesday. I forgot to tell you last week. My bad. But I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. Haha.
Ok, I was going to try and delay telling you the changes until the end of this letter, but I´m so excited that I can´t even think about anything else until I tell you. So here it is...ELDER TAYLOR IS STAYING IN ARTIGAS! How cool is that? Haha. I´ll be here for at least 6 months. But, as all of you probly could have guessed, my Corto Plazo is headed for his house, so who is going to be Elder Taylor´s new companion? To tell you the truth, I still don´t even know. "Why?", you may ask. Well I don´t know because I AM GOING TO BE TRAINING! I am still in my first area, and this will only be my fourth change in the mission! I am going to be training a brand new missionary! I just barely got done with my training. Haha. I can´t even begin to tell you how excited I am!
So this is how it´s all going down...I head to Montevideo tonight at 12:30 with my Corto Plazo, two Elders who are finishing, and Hma. Aranda (she will be training as well). We get to ´Deo at like 7/8ish tomorrow morning, have a meeting with the Assistants or the President, and then we go up on the roof to meet our new companion. They don´t even tell us the name! I will be standing behind him tomorrow morning and not even know who it is. He´ll turn around and I´ll have to read his tag to know his name. I am so excited! So we meet tomorrow morning, and our bus that comes to Artigas leaves at about noon. Sweet, uh?
So there it is-the craziest change ever! I was with my trainer for 2 changes (normal), Sr. Comp w/ a Corto Plazo my third change (REALLY weird) and now I´m training in my fourth. If I wasn´t so excited, I would feel really overwhelmed. Haha. Now the only mystery from this change is if he will be a Latino or a Gringo. I can´t decide. Any guesses? If you do, you better get them in before Monday when I write again!
So that´s the REALLY exciting news for this week. Other exciting news-Eduardo´s getting baptized on Saturday! I´m stoked. This will be the first one I have had from start to finish. As you can tell from that, the work is slow here in La Rama 5, but it´s happening!
Mom, did you by chance get a surprise birthday email last week? I hope so. Hmo. Martinez said he sent you an email, so I hope he got the address right. Haha. They are an AWESOME member couple. I´ve told you about them in past emails, I think. So yeah, just checking.
Had a training on Sunday night from the Area Presidency about La Obra Misional. It was really cool. ALL of the leaders from the wards were invited as well as the missionaries. It was about the different roles that each organization plays in La Obra Misional. It was really good.
As house-cleaning items, I took out some money from my personal card last week because I had to pay the bills and I didn´t have enough left from my Giro; but it´s all reimbursable, so don´t worry, I didn´t just waste it. Haha. Just didn´t want to you think I just went crazy all of a sudden. :o)
It looks like Artigas is going to be headed to the temple again for this change, but I don´t know if I should go. The trips to the temple we have to pay for ourselves, and it is a bit expensive. (Because we are 8 hours away from the temple!) What do ya´ll want me to do? Meaning mom and dad. Haha. Opportunities to go to the temple don´t happen often, but I don´t want to be reckless with money. The last trip we went on, when Elder Stoddard was here, was the first time that he had gone to the temple since he arrived in Uruguay. Well, he went the day after he got here, like everyone, but he hadn´t been for a year and a half. Just to help put it in perspective. I´m not the one working like crazies right now, so I´ll just leave that decision up to you! :o)
Other than that, all is well here in beautiful Artigas! It has turned COLD, but it´s bearable. I´m excited for my new coat. Haha. During the morning and afternoon´s it will be perfect. And everyone says it´s not going to stay cold like crazy for much longer, so when it starts to heat up again, it will be nice to have for the ´jacket weather.´
Just trying to do my best here in this amazing part of Zion. I´m glad to hear that Melanie enjoyed herself on Trek. I can´t wait to get the report. And Mary-Anne and Nathanael were enlightened a little more on Uruguay, thanks to the Travel Channel. Haha. To answer your question, EVERYONE drinks Mate (pronouned Mah-Tay) We have a rule that as missionaries we can´t drink it (because we´d waste time), but I´ll buy some before heading home to try it. It doesn´t look very good at all, but I´ve got to at least try it once in my life, right? It´ll be a fun experience.
If you have any other questions, just ask! I´ll do my best to answer! :o) Tell Elder May that he had better eat some Domino´s Pizza for Elder Taylor! Oh man, that sounds SOOO good. Wow. Haha.
Know that I love you, and that you are in my prayers daily! I can´t wait to hear from you! It is nice to hear the updates from people, so keep them coming! Uncle Mike, thanks for your words of encouragement; they´re received with excitement every week! Take care of yourselves and just remember that the Lord is waiting for us to invite Him to take part in our lives!
Love Always,
Elder Taylor Alma 29:9-10