Elder Huber...!

Taylor Family and Friends,
This morning the zone got together to play soccer and basketball at the chapel in front of my house. Elder Centurión took me off to the side before we started and told me the news of Pres. Hinckley´s passing. President Peterson had called the Assistants at 3 AM and let them know. The Assistants called the Zone Leader´s this morning. We started our P-Day by singing "Praise to the Man" and a prayer often by Elder Acuña. It is a sad time, but what a blessing it is to know that this is the Lord´s work. What a blessing we have had to receive the counsel from this servant of the Lord. The best way to honor his memory is to live according to what he taught us.
I don´t know if I ever told you while I was in the MTC, but Elder Richard G. Hinckley came and spoke to us. One thing that has always stuck with me is something he mentioned in his talk. He told us that his father was doing very well with his health, but he told us to keep in mind that he was almost 97 years old (at that time). He said, "I´m not making a prophecy, but I believe that you will all see a change of prophets while in the mission field." I have never forgotten that, and now I know I never will. May we all move forward and work in the way that he always encouraged us to do. What a blessing it has been to serve under his direction and counsel.
While speaking of changes, I had a big one this last week. My new companion is Elder Daniel Lee Huber, from Bainbridge, Indiana. Just to give you an idea, he is 6´5", 230 lbs. No one will touch me in the streets. Haha. He is SUCH a stud! We get along really well. He has just hit the ground running this last week and seems to be loving it. His vocabulary is limited, obviously, but his accent is super good and he is doing very well with grammar. More important than that, he just has the desires to be a great missionary and he´s anxious to work. He´s the oldest of 3 kids; has a brother who´s 13, and a little sister who´s 4. His mother has been a member her whole life, but his dad was baptized a little over 2 years...by Elder Huber. What a stud. We´ve had a great time getting to know each other and trying to start this change off the way the Lord wants us to.
I am officially the smallest Elder in our house. Haha. Elder Johanson is 6´7", Elder Huber is 6´5", and Elder Roper is like 6´2". Ridiculous. I´m the youngest, as well, but I´m the oldest on the mission. "The first shall be the last, and the last shall be the first....!" :o)
Mom, you said that Pete Lundberg is in the bishopric?! That´s SO cool! I love that man! Who else is in the bishopric? I don´t even know. Crazy. How´s the ward doing, anyways. I heard from Sister Mangum a little while ago, but that´s about it. Besides from the Mays, obviously. And when I say the Mays, I mean Jewels. I believe Skyler has still not written me a letter....! How are the other missionaries from our ward/stake doing? My Zone Leader here in Cerro is Elder Ludlow, who I graduated with from Bingham. This morning we were talking about people we know and where they are at. He said his stake sends them all like a newsletter every 3 months letting them know where everyone is at....Dad, you should bring that up in High Council. :o)
The attendance in our ward here is probably about 60 or 70. I´ve never really asked, but I imagine it´s about there. By far the hardest-working and best-organized ward I have been in here in Uruguay. The Bishopric is awesome and the members are super cool. They don´t feed us a lot, but that´s the downfall to being in a ward in ´Deo. Oh well. I still love them. Nope, no new Uruguayan (how do you say that in English?) mother. She´s still kickin´ up in Artigas: it´ll be difficult for anyone to replace the Hma. Martinez. You should send them a hello for me. Tell them I´m in Susana Mendez´s ward down here in ´Deo. They´ll probly go crazy.
Dad, thanks for sending me that thing about that book in Bulgaria...that´s pretty sweet.
The work´s going well. We had our first real lesson with Liber on Saturday night. The employment office had given him the pamphlet that talks about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He read it, and when I asked him if he had a question or a doubt, he told us he didn´t really understand repentance. So, in order to give him a base, we talked about faith and then went on to repentance. Super good lesson. He was so focused and was just anxious to learn. At the end of the lesson, asked him how his plans were for going to church on Sunday. He said, "At 9:00, I´m there!" So I told him, "Well, we probly won´t be there til about 9:15, but if you want to go early, that´s fine. Haha. He showed up about 9:20. But after I asked him about his plans, he said, "I would also like to talk to you guys about baptism...I would like to get baptized." No problem, Liber; no problem at all. He has a long ways to go before his baptism, but he has the desires, and that is where it must start. We left him with 2 Nephi chapter 31, which we will go over with him tomorrow night in our lesson!
Do you remember me telling you about Juan and Patricia-the family that went to church my first Sunday here? They moved to Salto last week. I got their new direction and called the Elders in that area...we´re anxious to see what happens.
Anyways, that´s about it for this week. I am just loving the opportunity I have to be here and serve others. It really is such a blessing. Know that I love you all, and I can´t wait to hear from you all!
Elder Taylor

P.S. Your package is being put in the mail tomorrow...which means I will probly be pulling out some money today...Love you!

Changes!

Taylor Family and Friends, 
This week has just been anAMAZING week! That´s all I can say.
 I know that that statement might raise questions, but I´ll try to
 explain the best I can in the short time I have to write this letter.
 But I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! For those of you who have
 served, you will understand this type of feeling.
For those of you who haven´t...it´s basically undescribable. Sorry.
Haha. 
 So apparently I do have an accent...Mary-Anne was just
the only one who had enough guts to tell me. Haha. I asked all the
other Elders in our house this week what they thought, but we came to
the conclusion that their opinions don´t count because they don´t know
how I sounded before the mission. Anyways, just an interesting note;
now to the important stuff...
 So last week I was kind of
frustrated because I just felt like we had been working like crazy and
we weren´t seeing the kind of "fruits" we expected. But, God never
forgets to bless us for our efforts, we just need to be patient and
trust Him. We had an AMAZING weekend! We gave the son of one of the
recent converts a baptismal date, we talked to a guy on Saturday night
who then went to church on Sunday morning without ever having received
a single lesson (who LOVED church), and we also just taught some of the
sweetest lessons of my life. 
 We have been teaching a young
couple named Gabriel and Sandra: I believe I have mentioned them in a
past email. Anyways, had a great lesson on Sunday afternoon with them.
We had previously left them to read Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon. We
had arranged to go by on Thursday afternoon, but they had to run an
errand, so they were not there. Anyways, long story short, we decided
to go by on Sunday afternoon. We got to their house, and the Book of
Mormon was sitting on top of the kitchen table, waiting for us. We
sang, prayed, and I asked them if they had read the part we left them.
Gabriel said, “ALGO leí.” or “I read SOMETHING.” Which usually means
that the people forgot to read, or just read a couple of verses. That
made me nervous...until he finished the thought. “I only had time to
read it throught twice.” WHAT?! That´s so sick! Haha. Again, long story
short, they LOVED the reading. They ate it up. And then Sandra proceeds
to tell us about how she was never a person that prayed until we
started coming. During the week, they had a little problem with the
payment from Gabriel´s work, they didn´t want to pay him. Sandra said
that she said a prayer just asking God to help them have the funds
necessary to put food on the table for their 4 kids. The next day,
Gabriel got a call from his work and the payment came through. She
hasn´t stopped praying since. After that awesome story, they started to
tell us about the complete change they have noticed in their lives
since we started visiting them. They said that their relationship is
better, they are happier, their house is more tranquil, and there´s
just a feeling that they´ve never had before. As they were telling us
this, I think there were 4 pairs of wet eyes in that little kitchen.
God really does hear our prayers. We are His children, and He loves
each one of us SO much! 
 Ok, next cool story. We are teaching
a man named Ricardo who lived in the States for like three years. Just
a super nice, cool guy. He turned 61 yesterday, which was also Elder
Larsen´s birthday! Elder Larsen turned 20. Ricardo invited the four of
us Elders to his house last night to have birthday dinner with him and
his family. We had stroganoff with rice, and a cake with peaches and
ice cream for dessert. Super good. Anyways, Ricardo has a son who is 23
years old named Liber. We´ve talked to him casually a couple of times,
but as he is coming or going. A couple of weeks ago, we gave him the
direction and the phone number to the LDS employment office here in
´Deo. We went over to teach his dad on Saturday night, and he greeted
us with a huge smile. He thanked us for giving him that information; he
went to the office last week and LOVED it. He was just super excited
about everything that goes on in that office. Haha. He started taking a
course/workshop there yesterday that takes place 3 days a week.
Anyways, so we invited him to take part in the lesson with us, but he
had just arrived from work, so he had to shower and whatnot. It was
late, so we had to haev the lesson without him. At the end of the
lesson, we invited his father to come to church; he had a previous
engagement, so he told us he would not be able to make it, but then HE
extended the invitation to his son and told him he wanted him to go.
Liber said, “Ok, I´m there. No problem.” Sunday morning at 9:30 he was
sitting next to me in opening Priesthood Meeting singing the first hymn
of his life. After Gospel Principles, on our way to Sacrament Meeting,
he asked me if we have the meetings every week-I told him yes. “Oh
good,” he says, “because I want to start coming.” No problem, Liber.
:o) I gave him a pamphlet about the Restoration and told him to read
it. With pleasure, was the answer. I love being a missionary. Haha. 

Anyways, this letter is getting long, and I haven´t even arrived to
some of the most important news for this week. As I told you all last
week, this week is change week. I have been living with 4 Elders this
change, and it has been a fantastic change. Elder Larsen and I REALLY
wanted to stay together for this next change...but the Lord has other
plans. Elder Larsen is headed to Salto to open an area and be Senior
Comp. I am SO excited for him! He is going to tear it up. Out of the
four Elders in our house, I´m the only one who is staying. They
white-washed the other area in our ward, meaning they took out the two
missionaries who were there, and brought in two others. As for Elder
Taylor...are you ready?.....ELDER TAYLOR IS TRAINING! I am SOOOOOOOO
excited! I can´t even describe how stoked I am to train again. I was
told that all of the Elders who are coming this change are gringos, so
that is SWEET! I really enjoyed this last change with Elder Larsen, and
I would have LOVED to stay with him, but this is the next best thing.
Training is just such an awesome learning and growing experience, for
both the trainer and the trainee. I´m stoked. I´ll meet my second
“hijo” tomorrow morning...! 
 Anyways, so I think that´s all the super intense news for this week. Haha. 
Now a couple ofquestions/comments. Dad, I want to know if you knew an
Elder Garns on your mission. There is an Elder in my zone whose father
served in a mission in the 70´s that included Georgia, Florida, and
Alabama. I´m pretty sure that´s yours. What years did you serve?
Rack your brain and your journals and let me know. We found that cool
“could-be” fact while we were on divisions last week. The Elder Garns here
is from Mesa,Arizona...I´m not sure if that´s where his dad is from as well. 

Mary-Anne won the contest from a couple of weeks ago...the
“¿mmm´Howdy?” question. That´s what dad always says when he answers
the phone. I don´t know why it came to my head, but it did. Mary-Anne, I
don´t really have any specific requests for music, but I just want
music. Haha. I will love you forever. Well, I already do.... but you
understand! 
 Dad, that´s a pretty sweet missionary opportunity
you had. That´s how it all starts; just a simple comment that turns
into a simple conversation. Pretty soon it will lead to simple
questions and simple answers. It´s just so easy to be a missionary! It
doesn´t require any huge efforts or opportunities. It just consists in
having the ability to recognize the opportunities that God gives us
every day to share His plan with His children. 
 Melanie and Megan, this is the start of a new quarter...just do all you can to
stayon top of your homework and grades! You will both tear it up. Just work
like crazy first, and then you can enjoy everything else! 

Dad, did you get your new truck yet? :o) Mary-Anne got a new digital
camera, so that means you get to get a new toy, too. Haha. No, I
haven´t sent the pictures off yet, but I´ll send it on Thursday, no
worries. The box is almost ready, so I´m pretty sure I´ll finish it
today. Mary-Anne, are you still making a list of songs and movies that
are must-sees and must-hears? If I come home “weird” and don´t snap out
of it quick because I don´t know what´s cool, it´ll be your fault.
Haha. Love ya, sis! 
 Alright, I think that´s going to be all
for today. I love you all so much! I think about you often, and you´re
in my prayers even more! Take care, be safe, and write me. :o) Love ya!

 Elder Taylor

Well hey there...!

Taylor Family and Friends,
So, 13 months and 1 day, uh? That´s pretty sweet. To be honest, I didn´t even realize it was my ´anniversary´ until after church yesterday when we were in a lesson getting ready to set our next appointment. But when finally realized it, it was a pretty sweet moment. Haha. Oh before I forget, changes are next week, so I will be writing on Tuesday. Just so ya´ll know!
I have a question...did anyone else notice any weird accent when called for Christmas. Mary-Anne claims that I have a thick accent and a lisp-type thing going on; but she was the only one that mentioned anything, so I´m wondering if she´s still ´all there.´ Just kidding, love ya, M-A! But of course I could understand having an accent...after talking Spanish for over a year, what do you expect? Haha.
It´s kind of interesting to recognize changes in yourself on the mission, though. Some of them (obviously) aren´t as blatant to you as they are to others, because the life you are living is completely different from that of before; but there are still quite a few that are fun to recognize. For example, I´ve noticed that I´m just a more patient person than I was before. It´s interesting to meet someone in the street and afterwards talk about how you might have reacted differently before the mission. It´s quite the learning experience. You meet people from all different walks of life. That is another thing I´ve noticed... I really just like meeting people. I was a pretty social person before the mission, but I think that has grown. I still have no idea for sure what I´m going to study after the mission, but I´m basically positive that it´s going to have to be something where I have contact with the people. So we´ll see. I still have a long time to think about it. :o)
So I´m kind of depressed about that package that Mary-Anne sent me. It got through all good...except for the Detroit Lions stocking. That would have been SOOO sweet! Even the beef jerky got through untouched, which is very rare. Why people would steal a Lions stocking, I´m not sure. They probly just have no idea about how good my favorite team is...! :o) Oh well, I´ll just be depressed for a little while. Haha.
Mom, you asked about our food/laundry arrangements here in ´Deo. Well, the ward I´m in is split between the two companionships in our house; and, as luck would have it, I got put on the side where most of the less-active members live. Which means if we want more lunches with members, we have to do some missionary work and reactivate them first. Haha. But it´s giving me a chance to practice my cooking skills. Although the cooking is very different here, because all we have is a microwave and a gas can with a frying pan on top. Good times. As for laundry, the lady that lives behind us (who owns the house we live in) does our laundry. She charges 70 pesos a load, which isn´t super cheap, but not super expensive. They´re not members, but they´re really good people. Nice old couple.
No, I didn´t get my package sent off last week, but I did get the pictures copied onto a CD. I just have to make sure I have enough stuff in the box to make it worth it to send. Maybe if I buy some stuff today I´ll send it tomorrow when we go to District Meeting, which is close by the post office.
Megan´s giving a talk in church this week? That´s so cool! What is the topic, Goose? Don´t mess up. Haha. Just kidding.You´ll do great, kid!
Finding in Montevideo isn´t as bad as I thought it would be. But finding people who progress has been the challenge. We can find people and have a couple lessons with them, but it´s harder to find people here who really progress. They are here, we just have to find them, and it makes it all the sweeter when we do.
For example, we are teaching Gabriel and Sandra, who are 26 and 34. Really nice young couple. Gabriel´s parents used to be members of the Church, but for a problem of which I´m not sure of all the details, they left the Church. That was over 20 years ago, so when he was about 6. As a result, he knows basically nothing about the church; heard a couple of things here and there, but nothing for sure. Anyways, we started teaching them and the change has been amazing. At first, they “just wanted to talked” but now the desire has changed. We gave them a Book of Mormon yesterday. At the end of the lesson, Sandra prayed for the first time with us. After she got done saying an awesome prayer, she looked up, put her hand on her chest and said to us, “This is that feeling that you were describing.” I asked her if she remembered what it was. She nodded, “The Spirit.” Exactly. “When you read this chapter in the Book of Mormon and ask God if it´s true, you will feel that same feeling.” God truly does prepare His children. I have no doubt that the message of the restored gospel is a message that God has prepared for the happiness of His children. Eternal happiness.
Mary-Anne, you put my song online?! You didn´t even tell me! I got a letter from Alison last week, who told me that she had heard my song and explained that she found it on the blog, or something like that. Just make sure you copyright it. Haha. I really need to take advantage of the piano in our house here. Maybe next week I´ll just stay inside all p-day and write music. I started another song a couple of weeks ago, but I just can´t find the time to work on it. Hmmm. Taking a theory class would have helped speed up the process, as well. Oh well, next semester!
Anyways, I think that´s going to be all for today. I think there was some other stuff I had written, but with the power going out (twice), I can´t remember all I had written. My bad. Can´t wait to hear from all of you! Take care of yourselves and have a great week! Love ya!
Elder Taylor

No interesting title...Sorry... :o)

Taylor Fam and Friends,
Who am I?... "M´Howdy?" Ten points for anyone that can tell me. Haha.
That just came to my head, so I figured I´d put it down! But anyways...how
are you all?! Hope you all had a good New Years! We just hung out in our
house, playing chess and Uno between the four of us...it was a lot of fun.
New Years morning we played basketball and just hung around. Good day.
Haha.

Good week last week; trying to get back into the missionary mode after
all the holidays! It wasn´t too tough...my comp is a stud! It was a little
difficult because a lot of our investigators went out of town for the
holidays, so we´re excited to have them back this week!

This morning, we (about 8 from the zone) went to La Ciudad Vieja...the
Old City. It´s the touristic part of ´Deo. Or one of them, at least. It
was a lot of fun. Just picture taking and window shopping. Good times. Oh,
tambian, there was a cruise liner here, so there were a LOT of people from
the States down here...we were able to talk to quite a few of them. Taking
pictures, helping with directions, etc. We also talked to a member of the
Church and his wife in McDonald´s that are from Logan! When I went to Utah
State, I lived like 4 blocks from my house. They gave me an update on good
ole´ Aggie Basketball: I love Americans. Haha.

Last Friday, I witnessed a wedding for the first time in my life. The
other Elders in our ward had an investigator get married to her husband,
who is a member of the church. They invited the 4 of us to the wedding, so
we all went to give our support. It was pretty cool, actually. Then on
Saturday evening, she was baptized. It´s just amazing to see how the
Gospel can make a happy family, happier. We talk with many people who care
about their families A TON, and when we tell them that the message that we
share is something that will only make our families stronger, and that the
foundation of the church IS the family, it catches their attention. A lot
of them already have their beliefs, and that´s fine, but they are always
grateful for the time we took to share with them what has strengthened our
families. How can people say no to 5 minutes or 30 seconds of time that
could bless their family for eternity? Not very easily. The message we
share is a message of happiness and a message to bless the
family...there´s no mystery to what "the Mormons" share!

Anyways, my comp was robbed last week. Haha. New Year´s Eve, actually.
We were walking down the street, and some guy came up and just grabbed his
scripture case. As he ran off, the Book of Mormon and the picture of his
family fell out, so we just picked those up and went on to the rest of our
lessons. When we went home that night, a member of the ward called to say
that one of his neighbors had brought him Elder Larsen´s stuff. Haha.
Someone tried to sell it to him for 20 pesos! (about 1 dollar) The guy told
him to quit being dumb and took it from him; he then took it to his
neighbor and good friend, who is the Young Men´s President in our ward. So
we got it all back very quickly. Maybe it would have been better if the guy
had kept the Bible he stole and read it...just a thought. :o) But, it makes
for a good story!
Anyways, that´s about it for this week. The day is ending too quickly,
and I've got to go copy my pictures onto a CD, so I can send it to all you
guys! Sorry it´s taken my so long to do it, but...there´s not a lot you
can do about it. :o) Just kidding. But there´s good pictures, so it´s
worth the wait! Know that I love you and that I´m looking forward to
hearing from you! Sister Mangum, thanks for your letter! It was really nice
to hear how you and the family are doing! Send my best to your husband and
the kids! Anyways, take care, and have a good one!
Elder Taylor