Beautiful Artigas w/ a new companion...!‏

Well hey there everybody,
 This last weekend was one of the craziest, best weekends so far! We left
for Montevideo last Wednesday Night/Thursday morning at 12:30. The trip
down was pretty fine. We got to the offices about 7:30/8ish. I walked in
and Elder Walker (one of the assistants) says, "Hey...what are you doing
here?" Thinking he´s just playing, I say, "I´m training, remember?!" And
he says, "No you´re not...not today." I think my heart stopped for like 5
minutes.
 What happened is that the new Elders that came from the USA got delayed
in Dallas because of flooding. They were supposed to getto ´Deo on
Tuesday, but they didn´t arrive until Thursday afternoon. Elder Stutz, the
other assistant, was supposed to call my Zone Leaders and have them tell me
to wait to come down to ´Deo, but he never got to it in the confusion of
trying to figure out what to do. Haha. So Thursday, I went and did
divisions in one of the wards down in Montevideo that´s called Flores 9.
It was fun. I was with Elder Evans who played for West Jordan´s basketball
team. We both recognized each other. This is only his second change in the
mission, so that´s cool.
 Thursday night I slept on the couch in the offices-it was SO fun to sleep
on a couch again. Haha. That sounds retarded, but for those of you who know
my sleeping schedule from before the mission will understand! :o) Friday I
just kinda hung around the offices and helped them do some of the work they
needed to take care of there. Then I went to the airport with Elder Hoffman
(ex-assistant) to pick up his dad! That was really fun. And no-I´M NOT
TRUNKY. We just had some good conversation while we were waiting for his
dad. Elder Hoffman and I get along really well. Friday night I went to an
activity in ´Deo with Elder Hansen in their ward. We had scripture study
and played UNO. Good times.
 Then, Friday night at about 10:30, I finally met my new companion. His
name is Elder Holmes and he´s from Mesa, Arizona...Mary-Anne totally
guessed it! Haha. We met at about 10:30 and then we left that night at
about 12:45. None of the other new Elders met their trainers because they
were all going to do the traditional meeting on Saturday morning, but if we
would have stayed, we would have missed our baptism. The Assistants and I
decided it would be cooler to have a baptism you first day than to
participate in the "traditional" meeting. So yeah.
 We got back to Artigas at about 8 on Saturday morning. Worked all
morning, ate lunch, studied, and then started the preps for our baptism! We
had a combined baptism with Barrio 1. It went REALLY well! EDUARDO IS
OFFICIALLY A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH! YES! His mom, sister, and two nephews
all came to support him. I was so excited and he still hasn´t stopped
smiling! We have pictures. :o) Presidente Lorenzo confirmed him Sunday
morning as Hermano Rosconi and also participated. Afterwards, Eduardo bore
his testimony for the first time in sacrament meeting! Man, I have never
been more stoked in my entire life. Ok, well maybe I´ve been stoked like
this, but it´s a different stoked. Haha.
 Mom and Dad, I got the coat! Thank you SO much. It´s perfect. And thanks
for all the goodies, too. Because of my delay in ´Deo I actually got to
talk to the Daimaru´s. I gave Elder Daimaru a CD of pictures to bring
home, so yeah. Mary-Anne, you have GOT to buy that t-shirt you saw for me!
Even if you don´t send it to me, it sounds SO cool! Haha. Oh, and M-A, I
got your other packages with the pictures in it. Thank you so much. A
random set of pictures, but that´s cool!
 So Mary-Anne just informed me that I have now been out over 200 days.
That´s kinda weird to think about. How many days are in a mission? Like
730? Wow. That´s not very much.
 MARY-ANNE´S GETTING LASIK?! Holy cow, that´s so cool! Isn´t that like
ridiculously expensive?! I´m so excited for you! You´ll have to let me
know how it goes. Oh, by the way, Mary-Anne, who is Sugarland? The name
sounds familiar, but I can´t remember any songs or anything. So how the
Kenny Chesney concert? Everything you hoped and dreamed it would be? Haha.
I´m glad you took Mel and Meg, that´s a fun memory!
 MELANIE, I AM SO GLAD YOU HAD A GREAT TIME ON TREK! I got your letter in
my coat! Thank you SO much for telling me all about your experience. I´ve
got to tell you, I started crying when I read you letter. I am so glad that
you went and stuck it out. You will be able to look back on that experience
and learn for the rest of your life. You sounded so grown-up in your
letter-I think that´s why I cried. My little sister is getting so big! But
hey, you leave those boys alone. :o)
 Well, make sure you all have some fun with fireworks this week for me.
Nathanael and Skyler, don´t let me down. Haha.
 I hope you all know how much I love you. I am so grateful for the example
that every one of you have given to me. Because of all of you, I am who I
am today. Thank you. You are in my prayers always! Take care of yourselves!
 Love,
Elder Taylor