Howdy Y'all...

Taylor Family and Friends,
> Yes, Mary-Anne, I did get your email. Sorry for not mentioning it! I thought it was pretty funny that Nathanael had to send your email because you forgot and fell asleep. :o)
> Anyways, today I am writing you all from a cyber in Playa Pascual. We are doing an activity as a zone, so we all got together in this area. We bought like 16 pounds of meat and then 2 sausage-type things for each missionary for lunch. Mmm. Elder Espínola, from Paraguay, volunteered to cook us the asado today, because apparently they make it pretty sweet in Paraguay. I´m super excited to eat. Haha.
> Last week was a really good week. We had Sector/Zone Conference last week, which was fantastic. The mission is really taking on a different look with President Peterson, I love it. Before Pres. and his family arrive at the conferences, they always give us a chapter to study in the scriptures to invite the Spirit before the Conference. This week the study was 1 Corinthians 13 and Moroni 7:33-48. We study for about 15 minutes or so until Pres. gets there. When he gets there and we start the Conference, he chooses and Elder or an Hermana to give a 5-minute talk on the study. We he shook my hand on Thursday, I knew I was going to be called-and sure enough...! It went well. I think it was one of the first times I was nervous to talk in front of missionary´s in my whole mission, or close to. I don´t know why I was kinda nervous, but I was. It went well, though. So that was fun. Elder Huber also had the opportunity to speak, because in every Zone Conference, the new Elders bear their testimony and also those who are ending this change. My comp is just a stud, that´s all that can be said. He´s doing super well.
> Last week, as I said, was a great week. We are working with Nahuel to finish getting him prepared to be baptized. We weren´t going have time to teach him all the principles before this Saturday, so we pushed the baptism back a week. Anyways, last Friday we went over to talk about the Word of Wisdom. As of late, his WHOLE family has been listening and participating with us. That would include his 28-year old sister (Rosana) with her three children, his 20-year old brother (Fabian) and his 18-year old girlfriend/fiancé. So Fabian is a "social-drinker" and his gf, Mariana, smokes, so we knew that this was going to have to be a great lesson. And a great lesson it was. By the end of the lesson, both had committed, by themselves, to stop drinking and smoking. It was amazing. The Spirit definitely testified to the whole family about the truthfulness of the message. At the end of the lesson, we invited all of them to come to Church on Sunday. All of them had been at least once, except for Rosana. She kind of looked away when I invited them all, but I made eye contact with her, and said, "You too, Rosana." She said, "Oh, I don´t know. I might go...some very distant day. We´ll see." So I re-extended the invitation and left it at that. Sunday morning comes around and the whole Godoy family was at Church...including Rosana. She LOVED it; she participated more than almost anyone else in the classes. We are going to have a FHE with them tonight, and we´re super excited to talk about their experience at Church.
> So that was good. Another great thing, Ricardo came to church with his son, Liber. It´s obvious that they both still have their doubts, but getting them to Church was a HUGE step. So basically, Church was a fantastic experience! Well, more than usual, of course...! :o)
> Last week we had a few rainstorms; it was nice to have a break from all of the heat. We only got drenched a couple of times...no big deal. It actually reminded me of Utah rainstorms, because it would be super hard for about 5-10 minutes, and then it would just drizzle for a while. Good times.
> We went to the Leadership Training Broadcast on Saturday night; that was good. The family must be a pretty important subject, eh? A two-hour leadership training on how we can protect and strengthen the family. If only there was an easy, effective way to just let everyone know all at once that THAT is what the Church is all about-providing the questions that we all have about our families. If people could just see past the shirts and ties and listen to the message that we share about the ETERNAL HAPPINESS of THEIR family...things would definitely change. They never said it would be easy, right? Just that it would be worth it.
> So Mary-Anne got a new job, Megan is getting her braces off, and Mom is back in school. A pretty full week. And Melanie...? Haven´t heard from my soul-sister in a while-what´s that all about, kid? :o) Nathanael, thanks for keeping me up-to-date on the important stuff. Haha. I had heard about the outcome, but that´s about it. When I come and live with you guys for a while, it appears we´ll have quite a few games to watch!
> Mary-Anne, I haven´t gotten your package yet, but if you just sent it two weeks ago, I´ll either get it tomorrow or next Tuesday...that would be normal. I´ll let you know! I´m wearing the shirt that you sent me today...everyone loves it. Haha. :o)
> Mom, you asked if there´s anything that I want or need. Here´s my Valentine´s Day list...
> -Mother´s Taffy Cookies
> -Pictures of my House (My family would be good, too; Friends, "conocidos", it´s all good!)
> -Maple Extract (so I can make syrup)
> Other than that, I´m not quite sure at the moment. Those are the things I thought of in this last week. So if you can help me out with that...that´d be fantastic.
> Well, I think that´s gonna be about it for this week. Sorry if I left anything out that I should have included...don´t get mad at me. Haha. I hope you´re all doing well and enjoying the cold weather! Have fun, and don´t forget to drop me a line!
> Elder Taylor