!Cerro!

Taylor Family and Friends,
Well hey there! So I´m writing my email from the middle of Montevideo-that´s so cool. Arrived safe and sound, and I am LOVING this city! It´s just unbelievable. It´s completely different than my other areas, obviously, but I´m definitely enjoying. First of all, living with four gringos is a dream. Haha. We make an extra emphasis on obedience, but we have a great time together. For example, last night we had P-Eve. (Peeve) That´s where we pull out our four mattresses into the big middle room, of course in bed by 10:30, and then we just chat about life. It was way fun. Not to mention, the house is awesome! Right in front of the chapel, right on the edge of our areas, and pretty spacey. Oh, and another AWESOME fact...WE HAVE A PIANO! It´s old-school, and the b-flat in the lower octave is way out of tune, but it´s SO nice. I love it. If anyone has any sweet music they want to share...I´d be willing to wake up half an hour early. :o) My companion, Elder Larsen, and I are getting along SO well. He is a really quiet guy, usually, but we hit it off really well. He is from Boise, but his family moved to Wyoming while he was in the MTC...he´s still kind of touchy when we tell him he´s really from Wyoming. Haha. He´s a few inches taller than me, and loves working out. It´s pretty funny, actually. He goes crazy if he can´t work out. He speaks Spanish very well, a fact that I was very pleased with! Like I´ve said before, being with a gringo is just a very different experience than being with a Latino; for those of you who have experienced it, you understand what I mean. We live with Elder Maughan, from Mt. Home, Idaho (who I knew previously from Salto) and Elder Roxas from Concord, California. We all get along super well, and have a lot of good laughs. This morning we spent the morning doing our "spring cleaning." We got a strict command last week in the announcements that every house in the mission would be cleaning this morning. Haha. I was planning on doing a pretty intense cleaning anyway. That is one change I have seen on the mission that I am grateful for. I don´t mind cleaning and I LOVE living in a clean house. Don´t get any ideas, Mom and Dad...I have my apartment to clean. Haha. Just playing. I don´t know, I just enjoy cleaning and living clean. I don´t know why it changed, but I´m sure grateful it did! I left Bella Union Tuesday night at 8:30, got to Salto at 10:30. Left Salto at 12:30 and arrived in ´Deo about 6:30. It wasn´t too bad. The sleep was terrible, but that´s to be expected. So anyway, the work is going GREAT here! I´m in the 16th ward, which we share with the other Elders. Our part of the ward is called Nueva París. On the map it looked kind of small, but it´s actually pretty good sized. It has a wide-variety of neighborhoods and classes of people. I love it. Anyways, Elder Larsen and his old comp had a baptism last week, so that´s cool, but means that finding is necessary. I got here and we just found like crazy the last 5 days. The Lord is really blessing us. They had previously been teaching a family who had never been to the Church, and we had a very powerful with them on Saturday afternoon about the Sabbath Day. The Spirit was felt, and they said they would go to church the next morning if Juan didn´t get called into work. He works on the drug team for the police department, and he was told they were leaving on a bust that night, but still hadn´t received confirmation. We told him we would call him on Sunday morning just to verify, which we did. We called about 8:45 on Sunday morning, and he was still home, which meant they were coming! He told us just to wait for them at the chapel, and we said ok. I was at the door waiting anxiously when I see Juan and Patricia walking up the street with their two youngest boys Rogelio and Brian! (12 and 8) That was a GREAT sight, and to top it off...Juan, Rogelio, and Brian were all in shirts and ties, accompanied by Patricia in a skirt! It was just the icing on the cake. I was a little nervous about how things would go, because I had never been in the ward, but the members worked fantastically! After Relief Society, I was waiting outside the door to take Patricia to Gospel Principles, and she came out with her face just beaming. At the end of the block, the Da Costa family and two gringos were all smiles. I got the two packages last Thursday; it appears that they didn´t even get touched! Mary-Anne, that shirt is AWESOME! Haha. It´s so much cooler in real-life instead of in a drawing. :o) Thanks a ton. I´m guessing Mom and Dad sent the new, sweet tie. And the American goodies...well I´ll just say that you have made four Americans very grateful for the blessings we enjoy. :o) Mary-Anne, I also got your card last Thursday. Dad, you said the internet shows a lighthouse and fort on the Cerro, I´m a tad-bit more north, but yeah, that´s the zona. Our Zone Leaders live right up there by the fort. The chapel is on Luis Battle Berres and Camino de Las Tropas, right about La Ruta 5 (Highway 5) I don´t know if that information will help you locate it. We then live right in front of the chapel.Sorry to disappoint you all, but I didn´t do a whole lot to celebrate the birthday or the year-mark. Just missionary work. But the Lord blessed us for that and I couldn´t have received a better present! We had lunch with a member on Saturday for my first time, and it was super good. It was red peppers filled with meat. Never heard of it or eaten it before, but it was great. We then started a fast as a mission, so there was no cake or pizza or anything at night. But hey, fasting is good!The fast was because we finished our reading of the Gospels on Sunday morning. We started reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as a mission in November, and we finished it Sunday morning. It was a great opportunity to think about what we have learned about the earthly ministry of Christ, and strengthen our testimony of the mission He came to fulfill. On Christmas, I don´t know what we will do to celebrate yet. Christmas Eve, the zone is getting together and we´re going to take a Christmas message to the local prison. I´m really excited for that, it will be a great service opportunity, Christmas Eve we are allowed to stay out with members until 12:30 AM, because at midnight the tradition is fireworks and stuff like that. I am way glad I´m here in ´Deo for the fireworks, ´cause I´ve heard they´re way bigger and better here. :o) And then Christmas Day is our P-Day, as well. Now to a very key part...the call. Dun, dun, dun....Alright, so here´s the deal. I believe we are five hours ahead of you guys. I am living in a house of 4, so it was fun trying to figure out when all of us are going to call this morning. Haha. I will be calling at 1 PM, Montevideo time, which I believe is 8 AM where you guys are at. I hope that is correct. If not, know that i WILL BE CALLING THE HOUSE AT 1 PM MY TIME, OR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE. I will call the house number, and THEN YOU GUYS WILL CALL ME just like you did on Mother´s Day. That way you guys can choose the phone you want to use. I do not know the country code for Uruguay, but here is my number. (02) is the area code for ´Deo. My house number is 315-2052. So YOU WILL CALL (02)315-2052. I will explain any miscommunication when I call on Christmas. I hope you guys will find the country code before hand, or remember it from Mother´s Day, because I do not. Ok, I hope that was clear, because it´s the only time I´ll have to explain. Haha. It´s hard to believe that we will be talking next week. Crazy. Because of the telephone call, I will not be writing a letter next week. Our p-day is Christmas, and everything will be closed, for one reason. For another, we will be talking on the phone, so there is no need. I hope that´s not a problem. If it is...talk to the Prophet. Haha. Dad, who is Brother Rice? That´s pretty cool, I´ll be looking forward to his letter. Well, I hope all is going well back at home! Enjoy the snow for me! Melanie, sounds like you had a good time with the musical and CONGRATS ON YOUR LEAD PART IN THE WINTER PLAY! That´s so cool! I wish I could see it. You´ll be awesome. Work your tail off, kid. :o) And keep me updated on the dates! I want ot hear about the first kiss. Who, when, where, address, age, mother´s maiden name, etc. Just kidding, no worries. It´s just hard to think that my little sister it dating and driving. Wow. Alright, time to bounce. Know that all is going SUPER WELL and that Elder Taylor is a very excited kid this Christmas. I´m stoked for this new change and this new opportunity. I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season! I would love to hear from all of you-send me a shout! ¡MERRY CHRISTMAS y FELIZ NAVIDAD! Elder Taylor