300 days

Taylor Family and Friends,
Just so everyone knows, the subject line is NOT because I am counting days! My mom and sister both kindly informed me that today is my 300 day mark, so I thought I´d comment on it. That´s a pretty crazy thought. 300 seems like a lot, but at the same time, it´s not; time is a pretty confusing thing on the mission.
So Conference is over. Sad. But what an amazing conference it was! We witnessed history, you guys. I thought it was very impressive the way that President Hinckley did not make any show or presentation when he read the sustainings of Pres. Eyring and Elder Cook. They are callings that come from our Heavenly Father and any earthly presentation would not be sufficient. Very well done.
We received a lot of very impressive counsels this weekend from our Heavenly Father. A lot about being member-missionaries and studying Preach My Gospel; I hope that we were ALL listening to that counsel given to us from our Father in Heaven. He wants us to reach out to His children; Preach My Gospel is here to help us do so effectively. I loved the first two talks on Sunday morning by Elder Hales and Elder Scott about personal revelation and finding truth, respectively. They were both very impressive talks packed with insights and invitations.
Was anyone picking out their favorite ties like I was? Haha. I say that Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Kopischke win for this conference. If you want ideas for ties to send me...look at pictures of those two! There were many impressive ties this weekend. Haha
You may be wondering what Elder Taylor was doing while watching conference if he was so interested in the ties of the General Authorities; if so, I´ll tell you. There´s not much else to do when you´re sitting by yourself in a little room for eight hours! Haha. I had my own private "suite" for conference this weekend, seeing as how I´m probably the only person in at least 2 hours in any direction who speaks English. It made for a different experience, but I enjoyed it. I say 8 hours because Sunday morning my companion and I watched the recording of the Priesthood Session together...in Spanish. I could understand everything in Spanish just fine, but it´s just a different experience to watch it in English. The translators do an AMAZING job at what they do, but, as hard as they may try, they cannot translate the emotion and love in their words. And that´s one of the best parts of watching conference, isn´t it? We can all read the counsels in a month´s time, but this was our chance to hear the counsels with the love and the emotion that the Lord´s servants put in to them. What a blessing!
I didn´t get waffles and ice cream arranged for this conference. Oh well. Maybe next time.
Last week was a crazy week. District meeting in Salto on Tuesday, divisions here with Elder Gee on Wednesday, Sector Conference in Paysandú on Thursday and General Conference on Saturday and Sunday. A very long, but amazing week. I had the opportunity to receive many counsels from my leaders and to have many prayers answered. A great week.
Family, I got the package this last week. Thanks! The second I opened the package, I put the hat on. Mmm. Haha. It was great. I took a couple of recordings of Uruguayan´s eating Warheads-that was pretty funny! It was really nice to hear from the cousins and what not on the tape. I don´t know if you guys realized, but the tape had a couple of problems as well. Anyways, I was informed of some super exciting news- Greg and Ann Jones were sealed! I can´t believe you guys didn´t tell me beforehand! That is SO cool! I don´t know if you are sending these letters to them, but send them my love and congratulations! Man, that was a good piece of news to receive!
Melanie, tell Ms. Hatch that I dig the new hair-do. Haha. It was pretty fun to see her during conference. She´s the first person I´ve seen from home "live" in ten months. An interesting thought. Haha. Oh, and Ms. Beus from Elk Ridge.
Dad, what happened with the Sentra? You broke it again? Haha. Good to hear you got it fixed. What´d you decide to do with the Dodge?
So Robby, Troy, and Tommy are all in Brazil, huh? Crazy! I could be in Brazil too in about 15 minutes. Haha. That´s cool. When you see their families, tell them I send my best!
You guys are gonna head to Oregon to see Mary-Anne and Nathanael? That´s cool. I´ll head up that way in a "few" months. Haha.
Dad, thanks for sending me the tease on the Indians series. Haha. Did they pull it out and beat the Yankees? I sure hope so! If they go to the Series, you guys had better buy LOTS of souvenirs and record the Series so I can watch it! Thanks, love ya. Haha.
Well, I think that´s about it for this week. An interesting thought: President Hinckley spoke for just a couple of minutes in the last session, and what was his invitation? To read and discuss the proceedings of General Conference in our Family Home Evenings-think it might be a good idea? I sure think so! I´m so grateful that I have a "mother who knows" and parents who were always willing to spend one-on-one time with me! Those are moments that I will never forget.
I love you all, and I can´t wait to hear from ya! Send a shout, eh? Take care!
Elder Taylor