Montevideo...

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 It is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Bella Union. Yesterday was freezing and
cloudy, but everything cleared up for our Preparation Day, thank heavens.
The Lord loves His missionaries. Haha.
 So first things first, just to make sure I don´t forget. This week is a
little complicated, so pay attention! Haha. Today is P-Day, obviously. NEXT
MONDAY (Sept 3) WILL NOT BE P-DAY. I WILL BE WRITING AGAIN ON THIS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31. Our next P-Day will be September 10. So yeah, I´ll be
writing this Saturday, August 31, and then not again until September 10.
And now I´ll tell you why...
 ELDER L. TOM PERRY IS COMING TO MONTEVIDEO! He is coming to reorganize a
stake, and he is going to have a special conference with the missionaries
from our mission! Last year he came and only the missionaries close to
´Deo could go, but Pres. Peterson got permission for everyone to go, on
the condition that we change our P-Day next week. So for that reason, our
P-Day from Monday has been moved to this Friday so ALL of the missionaries
can go to this basically once in a lifetime opportunity. Not only because
we are going to hear an Apostle, but also because the WHOLE mission will be
together! SWEET! Pres. Peterson told us last week in our Zone Conference.
The whole mission is stoked! Obviously. Haha.
 Bella Union has a new member of the Church. Cristian Ayala was baptized
on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. Everything went really well with the
baptism. I baptized him and Elder Huaman did the confirmation yesterday.
The coolest part of the baptism (ok, maybe not the COOLEST, but it was
good) was that after the ordinance we had time for testimonies. Our ward
mission leader invited Cristian, his two member sisters, and his non-member
father to bear their testimonies. His father, after the others, got up-to
the surprise of many, including me and my companion. He proceeded to say
that he knows this is the true church and that as soon as his economic
situation permits, he and his "wife" will get married, and he will be
baptized! It was SO cool! Right now, he is living in Montevideo (working)
and his family is here. His kids, and his "wife" are all members, and now
it appears that he is on his way! We were pretty excited. So yeah, all went
well with the baptism!
 Yes mom, the Spanish is still improving. Of course! I´ll never get to
the point where I´m not improving. Right now I´m really working on my
listening. Haha. Elder Huaman speaks REALLY quiet, even in the street. It
is so hard to hear him and distinguish what he´s saying when cars are
passing or music is playing, or whatever. It´s kinda drivin´ me nuts, but
hey, what can you do? I just tell him to speak up about every 30 seconds.
Haha.
 Megan´s going to South Jordan Middle?! Where did that come from? Haha.
Did they start today? I hope it´s a good change for her. I know that she
had some challenges over at ghetto Elk Ridge, so I hope this helps! Megan,
YOU can make it a good thing! Just make the decision that this year is
going to be unbelieveable, and it will be. You can do it, Goose.
 And Melanie´s a big Junior now. Weird. Drivers Ed starts today, doesn´t
it? Wow. Lots of crazy changes. How are the parents doin´ with that
driving idea? Good Luck! Haha
 So yesterday was probly the trunkiest day of mission. Don´t tell
President. Haha. August 26-my big sister and my best friend that I haven´t
seen in 2 1/2 years both had their birthday. Crazy. I looked at pictures
last night, for sure. Probly sang happy birthday like 4 times yesterday,
too, with different people. So yeah, here´s a shout out to those two-HAPPY
BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU!
 Dad, what happened with the eMachine? I didn´t break it! Haha. Finally
you guys can´t tell me it was because of my music or my chatting. :o)
Sometimes things just have problems. But hey, you´re basically a genius,
so it´s no big deal! Yeah, I did find the $20 in my coat pocket. Right
away, actually. Haha. And no worries, I made sure to take care of it, too.
I was in ´Deo-I can´t remember exactly, but I think that it helped to
have a good, healthy American meal. No, not McDonald´s-SUBWAY. It was
amazing. Thanks. :o)
 Well, I think that´s about it. I hope you´re all anxious for my
Saturday letter, because I´m anxious to be able to write it. I´M GOING TO
LISTEN TO AN APOSTLE WITH ABOUT 150 MISSIONARIES! SWEET! I´m only a little
excited. :o) I love you all, and I´m waiting anxiously to hear how ya´ll
are doin! ¡Cuídense!
    Love,
Elder Taylor

Just Don't Let Go...

I don´t have the words with me, and it´s hard to remember without being
in front of the piano, so I think these are them. I´ll bring the words
with me next week to make sure! Love you!

Just Don´t Let Go, by Elder Aaron Taylor

Just don´t let go
He´s on your side
He won´t let go of you

So far from home
from the things you know
Trying so hard
to keep on each day

Sometimes it seems
that you´re meant to fail
But He won´t let go of you

At the end of the day
As you lie in your bed
The tempter may play
with the thoughts in your head

What can you do
but just sit and bear
But He has borne all for you

Just don´t let go
He´s on your side
And He won´t let go of you
And you will be lead by His endless love
and He´ll bring you safely home

What you make of you
Is your gift to God
"Shall we not go on
in so great a cause?"

Just to look Him
through your smiles and tears
And you´ll have no need to fear

So just don´t let go
He is on your side
And He won´t let go of you
And you will be lead by His endless love
and He´ll bring you safely home

When the road seems to hard to climb
Just remember that He will work through your faith
In time

Just look to Him
through your smiles and tears
And you´ll have no need to fear

So just don´t let go
He is on your side
and He won´t let go of you

And you will be lead
by His endless love
And He´ll bring you safely home
To Him

Semana 1 de Bella Union...‏

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 How ya´ll doin´? I´m doing well here in Bella Union! So remember when
I was in Artigas and it rained a ton and I loved it? Yeah, I don´t want
the rain anymore. Haha. It has rained everyday here since Tuesday and it is
COLD rain with a COLD COLD wind. And almost all of the streets here and
just dirt (o mejor dicho-MUD) streets. My shoes are just covered in mud as
well as the bottom part of two pairs of pants. Good times. Today it´s
looking like it might clear up-we´ll see!
 Mom and Dad-thanks for the coat you sent, again. My trench wouldn´t have
worked hardly at all this last week, but the other one works great!
 The work is going well here in Beautiful Union. Remember last week when I
told you a little about Cristian? Well he´s getting baptized this
Saturday! And he´s asked Elder Taylor to baptize him. It´s gonna be a
pretty sweet week. Tomorrow night we are taking a bus down to Salto so we
can leave with the rest of the zone on Wednesday morning to go to Zone
Conference in Paysandu. And then we´ll stay the night in Salto on
Wednesday so we´ll be there for planning on Thursday morning. Then Elder
Huaman will stay in Salto and our District Leader, Elder Maughan, will come
up to Bella Union with me to do the interview of Cristian on Friday. Then
we´ll switch back on Saturday morning. Pretty sweet, uh? So yeah,
Cristian´s baptism. That´s the big news for this week!
 We received a new rule from the Area Presidency this last week-we can´t
ride bikes anymore. They didn´t give any specifics, but the missionaries
can´t ride bikes anymore. I have mixed feelings. The bikes are a pain to
ride, but they make the work more effective, especially since there´s only
two of us here. For example, on Saturday morning we went to contact a
reference that we received, and they live in the neighborhood of Las
Piedras. It took us about 25 minutes to walk out there. So yeah, it would
have been nice to have bikes for that. But, we´ll be blessed for our
obedience, so it´s all good!
 When we went out to Las Piedras on Saturday, the reference wasn´t even
at home. We had decided that we were just going to spend the rest of the
morning out there knocking and contacting, so we did. After trying to
contact the reference, ´Huaman looked at me and asked, "Now what?" I
said, "We start here" and walked up to a door. We knocked and out walked
Mirna. Ten seconds later we were inside the house getting to know her
better. We introduced ourselves, chatted, sang, and said a prayer. We then
proceeded to talk about how the gospel can bless our families and such. We
got through the whole first lesson and after we went over the steps of
prayer, I asked her if she was up to praying before we left. She quickly
accepted and proceeded to offer a very heartfelt, sincere prayer. She
thanked our Father in Heaven for having sent these two ´muchachos´ to her
home with the word of God. We set up to head back out there tomorrow
morning, so I´ll keep ya´ll informed! It was just a cool experience.
 Dad, you´re in charge of Special Needs Mutual? That´s awesome! What a
great opportunity to learn and grow while teaching at the same time. Wow,
I´m stoked for you! Make sure to let me know how it´s going!
 Mary-Anne, I´m glad you´ve finally come to accept the fact that I´m
the favorite child. Haha. Just kidding. What is this teaching position they
offered you? You said a teaching position of 45 kids; what would you be
teaching? Is it like daycare place or what? Sounds pretty intense, but hey,
we gotta work. Unfortunately, it seems sometimes, but still!
 And Nathanael now is going to be up to his head in homework. Sounds like
fun. I miss school, but I don´t miss those first couple of weeks when they
just overload you! Just do what you gotta do, bro-you´ll do fine! And you
have 24-hour access to the library? Haha. That´s awesome. That´s another
scare tactic for this first semester. Show them you´re not scared-move a
tent into the library! That´ll show your professors what´s up! :o) Just
don´t forget to keep me up on my Lions, bro. Remember, this is our Super
Bowl year...!
 Mom, you asked if there´s anything else I want/need. If you can find
them, either my Lions or my Indians baseball hat. I don´t know why, but
I´ve been craving a baseball hat. If you send me one, I won´t have to buy
one here. Haha. If not, well...! And I think I asked you before to send me
my Eclipse Christmas cd. If you can find it, that would be great. That is
if the girls didn´t steal it along with all of my other stuff that I left!
What was I expecting, right? It´s a good thing I have cute sisters...!
 Nathanael, everyone here keeps telling me that we almost look like twins.
It´s pretty sweet. Haha. You and I look more alike than any of my
siblings-go figure, uh? That was just a cool little tidbit. Of course,
everyone still says I´m better looking, but hey...we already knew that,
right? ! Haha. Love you bro!
 Mom, make a scan of JoHanna´s invitation and send it to me in an email,
if it´s not too much trouble. If so, just keep it there to make sure it
doesn´t get lost. Make sure you send them my congrats and my love!
 Well, that´s about it for this week! Know that all is well and that I
love ya! Take care of yourselves and don´t forget to write!
 Love,
Elder Taylor

First weekend in Beautiful Union...(Bella Union)‏

Family and Friends,
Well, here I am in Bella Union. It´s different from Artigas, obviously,
but it´s very similar at the same time. It´s a nice little pueblo that´s
pretty tranquilo. I like it a lot. We have 700 members on the list
here...how many are at church on Sunday? 60. That´s probably the biggest
obstacle here in Uruguay, and I imagine that it´s the same in other
missions, as well. There are TONS of menos activos. We found three new
people to teach last weekend, and then found out they were already members.
Haha.
 So as I said before, it´s just me and my companion in here this corner
of the country. The closest missionaries are probably those in Artigas-2
hours away. For our weekly planning session, we wake up at 5 AM to catch
the 6 AM bus to Salto, which is about a 2 1/2 hr drive. Pretty crazy. On
the way back here on Thursday, there weren´t any seats left on the bus, so
we stood for 2 and a half hours. I´ll make sure to buy tickets as soon as
we get to Salto this week. Haha.
 Elder Huaman is my new, short Peruano companion! He´s really quiet, but
way funny, too. He is from the selva in Peru, and he was never a social
butterfly. This is his 3rd change here in the ´Guay. The members say he is
starting to talk a little more, but it´s still not much.
 The teaching pool I arrived to was a little different. We have like 5
kids we are teaching! Haha. 2 of them are AMAZING, and another 2 are pretty
sweet. We´ll see how things go.
 We are on bikes here in Bella Union. Yeah, that´s what I thought
too-SWEET! But then I actually got on the bike...hmmm. How much would it
cost to send my TREK down here? Haha. And then watch it get stolen the
first day-yeah right. But just thinking of the bike and the ´roads´ here
makes my backside hurt. Good times!
 The house here is pretty cool, though. Well, taking in consideration that
the bathroom faucet doesn´t work, there´s a trick to the toilet and
bathroom door, and the water in the shower is AMAZING...for the first 4
minutes. Apparently the Elders have been on the lookout for a new place the
last bit, so we´ll see if the members have got any leads.
 Church was cool yesterday. I´m in a ward! This is the first week of my
mission where I haven´t participated in some way in the program. Just make
sure my investigators are comfortable and relax. It was great! Well, I
lied, I participated in the confirmation of an investigator that got
baptized the night before I got here. Her name is Jimena, she´s 18 years
old, and she´s got a sweet testimony! But yeah, they have deacons,
teachers, priests, everything! It´ll be so cool! In Artigas, we had one
Aaronic priesthood holder that was 13 and went about twice a month. Haha.
 The members are great, so far. We eat with or collect food from the
members like every day here, too. Except for when we´re in Salto for
planning on Thursdays. But yeah, they were really warm and friendly as they
welcomed me to their ward on Sunday.
 We found out yesterday that President Faust passed away when they
announced it in church. Thanks for sending the article, Mom. I was
surprised, but at the same time, not. I´m guessing that´s just about how
everyone feels.
 Mary-Anne, I got your pictures and Airheads and Skittles on
Thursday-thank you! My companion enjoyed the 2 Airheads I gave him, and I
think he liked the Skittles, too. It was cool to see what the new
crib looks like. I´m pretty stoked for you guys. Nathanael-hope you had
a great birthday yesterday! We sang to you at lunch with the Familia Cruz.
Your cake looked pretty sweet. Mary-Anne-how´s the job hunt coming? Any
breaks?
 Mom, I decided to use that last journal you sent me as my companion and
convert journal. I was going to buy one when we went to the temple, but it
was closed when we went. So yeah. I´m not sure how many pages I have left
in my first one, but if you find some time to send me another one in the
next bit...that´d be great. I kinda slowed down on my journal writing
(sorry) but maybe that will help. Haha.
 This morning I bought new shoes, by the way. My Rockports were gone. The
soles are slanted (I´ll send pics) and there´s a couple of nice holes. So
this morning I bought some new ones that I´ll wear on Sundays. I´ve
started using my Ecco´s everyday. The new ones only cost 700 pesos, so it
was bad. We´ll see how long they last. :o)
 I´m glad you found the pictures from the Daimaru´s. Why was Blaine
(that´s his name, right?) so quiet? What did you ask him? Elder Stoddard
is in his house by now, so he better be getting in contact with you guys
soon. I wanted to see him SO bad before he left, but oh well. I forgot to
bring his info with me to the cyber today, but I´ll bring in next week
just in case he hasn´t gotten in touch with you. He´ll be able to help
you with names and what not. At least he better-he was there for 6 months!
 How did Melanie´s week go? I hope everything went as she had planned. I
thought about her a lot last week.
 Dad, sounds like it´s time to buy a new car. You could always start
looking at that Tacoma you always wanted....!
 Mom, good luck as you get started with school again. At least this year
you´ll be able to breathe now that you´re done with your classes. Or have
you started with your Spanish ones yet? ¡Hay que empezar si quiere hablar
conmigo cuando vuelva! Cómo dice en Alma 34:33, "no demoréis el día de
vuestro (aprendizaje)" Espero que todos estén aprendiendo de a poco.
¡Sería muy divertido si pudieramos burlarnos de los demás en español!
¡Que aprendan! You might need to get someone to translate that...
 Well, time is up. I love you all. Take care of yourselves and I´m
waiting anxiously to hear from all of you! Give Kyna a big hug for me!
It´s so weird to think she´s home. Crazy. Oh, I got a letter from Elder
Trane this week. That was cool. He was my comp in the MTC, just in case you
don´t remember. He´s in Ecuador, doing great. Love ya!
 Besitos,
Elder Taylor

Another change in Artigas...?‏

Taylor Fam and Friends,
Well here it is-the end of another change! I can´t even believe it. This change FLEW by. I don´t know what made it so different, but these last six weeks seemed like nothing.
Just so I don´t get too distracted, I want to make sure Melanie knows that I hope she has a GREAT birthday! I can´t believe she is 16 today. That is SO weird! I´ve been talking about her all week to the people here. Haha. I want the address of every boy that shows up to the party...I´ll drop them a little line from the ´Guay! Just give them a little culture... :o) No, Melanie, I really hope you have a great birthday. Know that your brother loves you with all his heart and thinks about you often! ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
Alright, now I can move on to changes....are ya´ll ready for this? Elder Taylor is staying in Artigas for another change. Can you believe it? I couldn´t. I´ve been in Artigas for 6 months. Crazy. But it´s all good, because that doesn´t mean I´m staying in the same place. Haha. Elder Taylor is headed to a city called BELLA UNION in the department/state of Artigas. I hope you understood that. Haha. In Uruguay, there are 19 departments, which are like states (kind of) For the last six months, I´ve been in the city of Artigas. Now I am moving to Bella Union. It´s about two and a half hours northwest, but still in the department of Artigas.
Bella Union is the northern-most city in Uruguay. I thought Artigas was, but I was wrong. Bella Union is right in the corner where Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay meet. It´s basically out in the middle of nowhere. It will be just me and my companion in the city-the next closest companionship is at least 2 hours by bus. Crazy, uh? Now about my companion: Elder Taylor is going to be in all-Spanish-mode yet again. I don´t remember his name, but my companion is from Peru. This time it´s an actual Elder, not a Corto Plazo, so that´s cool. This will be his 3rd change. I am going to be his 2nd companion. I´m really excited! I love the Rama 5 here in Artigas, but I am stoked to get to know another part of the country, new people, etc. I leave tomorrow morning at 5 AM.
Elder Holmes will be staying here in the Rama 5. He will also be receiving a Latin companion! Haha. We had talked about it this last week, and we both saw it coming. He is a little nervous, but pretty excited. Elder Rojas is his companion´s name; he is from Paraguay, and he finishes the mission in 2 changes. It´ll be really good for Elder Holmes this next change. It will be REALLY different, but good. I´ve heard about Elder Rojas-he sounds like a great missionary.
So that´s the big news from this end of the world! It´s been hard saying goodbye to the members and whatnot these last couple of days. I wish I could take them all with me. Haha. I never believed it before the mission, but you really do come to love the people where you serve, it´s unbelievable. The Martinez family (my Uruguayan parents) were really excited when they found out I was going to Bella Union-they know a ton of people up there. They said they´re going to come visit the ward up there. Haha. We´ll see.
Mom, yes I did send a cd of pictures home with Elder Daimaru-if you want them, just give him a call or something. I don´t know-it´s on that side of the world now! And you asked me if there´s anyone that I want you to be inviting over....I´ll leave that up to you and Mary-Anne! You let me know if anything develops. Haha. Thanks for the good laugh!
Who is Mary Fletcher that asked you if I know this girl? Do you know Sabuda´s last name? It´s not ringin´a bell at the moment, but who knows?
Dad, you don´t remember my first date?! I´m crushed. Haha. But that´s because all you worried about when I was younger was those so-called "stealth dates." I still can´t help but laugh when I see those words! Good times.
Mary-Anne and Melanie-I will not be WEIRD when I get home! I promise. Haha. You know me better than that. I might talk a little different, but that´s only because I´ll mix my English and my Spanish. But it´s all good. I´ll only be weird if I have more weeks like last week when I got one letter...thanks Mary-Anne!
Julianne is pregnant?! Wow. I didn´t see that one coming. That´s cool, though! Send them my congrats, and tell them thanks for taking Mary-Anne´s turn in line! Haha. Mary-Anne, you just keep out of that line for at least another 5 or 6 months...after that, doesn´t matter, ´cuz I´ll be home when my niece/nephew is born! Haha. Melanie and Megan...just keep playing with your dolls! :o)
Mary-Anne, how is the job hunt coming? Found anything yet? If not, just be patient, it´ll come. D&C 58:4. And Nathanael-how is the school-prep comin? It´s been a while since you´ve done the whole school thing. Hopefully you can back up your studies better than you can back up your talk with your game! Yeah, yeah-I know you miss me! Haha
Eduardo is doing great: blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday-it was awesome. I don´t know if I told you, but I passed it with him for the first time a week ago. He is still on fire. The Branch President called him a "bomb" last week in Ward Counsel. Haha. Good times. He´s not too excited about me leaving, but he told me last night that he had prayed and he knows that we are going to see each other again! So whoever wants to come back to the ´Guay with me in a couple years...start saving your money! And put some away for me, too. Haha.
Hermana Martinez is doing a lot better. She is still in bed a lot, but she definitely looks a lot better. She´s headed back to the hospital on Monday for more tests and whatnot-we´ll see what happens! Thanks for your prayers.
Well, I think that´s about it for this week. On Monday I´ll be writing from a brand new city with a brand new companion. Crazy. Oh, just to let you know-the last couple of weeks I´ve written pretty early because we went over to play in Brazil, so I don´t know why you´ve been getting my emails late. Sorry. We tried to write early this morning too, but the page wasn´t working. I still haven´t gotten the emails from Melanie and Megan-I don´t know if something´s wrong with their addresses or what. I think I´ve gotten the ones from Julie-tell her thanks. And tell Skyler to step it up! I slacked because he told me I couldn´t write emails-he has no excuse. Haha.
I love you all! Know that the work of the Lord is moving forward in this wonderful country! Let´s do all we can to give it another push, uh? Take care of yourselves!
Con Cariño,
Elder Taylor