President Peterson and My Sister is in OREGON!‏

Family and Friends,
 Wow, those were some loaded emails that I received this morning. Oh,
P.S., your sister is now living in Oregon! WHAT?! That´s awesome! I was
looking forward to the hot weather in Tulsa, but now I´ve got the cold
beach in Oregon! Wow, I think I´m still just trying to soak it in-I can´t
even imagine how Mary-Anne and Nathanael are feeling. I guess you could
kind of say that´s how changes feel! That´s a good example. Haha.
 Oh, and then I find out that my sister has some crazy deal with her eyes
that makes it so she can´t get LASIK? Man, you leave for 7 months and the
whole world changes. Haha.
 Anyways, this last week was a great one. As I had said in some of my
previous emails, the area where I´m at (still my first area) is kind of in
a stand still. We´re working, but just not seeing the greatest results.
Well, Elder Holmes gets here and things are starting to change. This last
week we found 6 people, 3 of whom are males. Who knows if they´ll progress
or not, but it was a great way to start off this change! Elder Holmes is
from Mesa. He has two older brothers who served in Mexico and Honduras and
an older sister who served in Canada. He is a little different, but he
makes me laugh. We are having a really good time together. It´s really
funny to see his face when people just rattle off in Spanish to him, and
even more so when it´s in Portuguese! (I don´t know how to spell that-my
bad!) I wonder if I pulled those same kind of faces? Hey, for all I know, I
still do! No, but he has desires to learn and work, so he will pick up
quick. He reads in Spanish really well already, so that will help him a
lot.
 And then to finish the week, we met President Peterson for the first
time! On Saturday we took a little bus for three hours to go and have a
combined Zone Conference w/ Tacuaremba. President Peterson is awesome. And
he speaks Spanish REALLY well. He served in Mexico, lived there for 6, and
lived in Chile for 3-so he better speak well. Haha. He is tall, as is his
wife. They brought their two youngest kids (sons) with them. Jamison, 16,
and Michael, 12. They are going to keep the mission entertained! The Zone
Conference was just a simple one in order to get to know the Petersons, and
for them to be able to meet us. I am really excited-they´re exactly what
we need and- more importantly- what the Lord wants!
 I got an email from Sandy Aurich this week-that was really nice. It´s
weird to think that Jason is already home with them. And now Andy Sellers
is home, too. Crazy. Does Andy talk with a crazy accent? I sure hope so.
Haha.
 Elder Holmes and I had a lesson in English last Friday-with two
Americans! Haha. We had lunch with our Ward Mission Leader, whose daughter,
Andrea, is studying English in Salto. Andrea{s birthday was last Friday, so
she invited two of her friends from school to come to Artigas to celebrate
with her. One is a ´Guyean from Rio Negro and the other was an American
from Oregon. And the American´s sister is here visiting her. We all
started talking over lunch and they asked what a missionary does in
Uruguay. I was more than happy to reply! Haha. They had never had much
contact with the Church, and so they had some random questions. I basically
ended up giving them a lesson about what a great blessing the Gospel is,
especially concerning the family. Elder Holmes had a few words to say, but
I think he was still in shock that he was hearing English again. Haha. It
was a really different and cool opportunity. It amazed me how much they
didn´t know about the Church. It really opened my eyes to how easy it is
to talk about the Church with our friends and acquaintances-even in
English! I had never had an opportunity LIKE THAT to share the Gospel in
English, so it was a really fun experience. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
 I hope you are enjoying the hot weather. We are now in the middle of
winter. Last week we had a couple of days of short sleeves, and now we´re
in thermals. Haha. Seems like crazy Utah weather. I love it.
 The Lord lives and loves us! He is just waiting to bless us with
everything He has, we just need to invite Him into our lives by doing the
things He asks of us. I hope and pray that we will be able to recognize the
whisperings of the Spirit and have the courage to follow them! Share this
amazing knowledge that we have! I love you all. I cannot wait to hear from
you. :o)
 Love Always,
 Elder Taylor