¡Feliz Pascua! Ayer....

Taylor Family and Friends,
I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Easter weekend and ate lots of good candy. I was pretty lucky...my family´s Easter package got here last Tuesday! I was probably the most excited/content missionary in the world when I opened it up....well, except for maybe my companion. Yes, Elder Taylor has now converted another helpless soul to Mother´s Taffy Cookies. What a beautiful thing. :o)
Last week was a really good week. Federico Rebollo now has a baptismal date! The date is set for the 19th of April; so we´ve still got a ways to go, but that´s no problem. He went to Church yesterday for the first time in this ward (remember, he had been with his older brother in Fray Bentos) and seemed to really enjoy himself. Now we just have to help make sure that it continues!
I went on divisions with Elder Johanson last week and Elder Espínola went with Elder Huber in our area. They went to a lesson with the Godoy family and invited Rosana to be baptized on the 5th of April-to which she responded that she doesn´t think she is ready. Elder Espínola said he thinks she might have just been a little uncomfortable because there were a lot of people around (cousins, aunts, uncles) for the holiday weekend. So tonight we have a lesson with the Godoy family, and we are going to talk about what it means to be prepared for baptism; all the family visitors left last night, so the lesson will be a lot more tranquilo!
We had an interesting thing happen over the course of the past couple weeks...ready? A couple weeks ago, Ivan stopped the Zone Leaders on P-Day and asked them if they understand Spanish; of course, they said yes. He said that years ago, missionaries had given him a book and told him that if he ever wanted to know more about it, to just contact the missionaries. "Well," he said, "I want to know more." They were more than happy to write down his address and inform him that two missionaries would be passing by. I received a call from Elder Centurión during studies on that P-Day...a very welcome interruption. He passed more the information, and the next day Elder Huber and I tried to find the house...which didn´t take place. He lives in a pretty rough neighborhood, and the addresses there aren´t very efficient. So we couldn´t find the house. A few days later, walking down the street Santa Lucia in the morning, a man calls out to us from the bus stop on the other side of the street. We stopped, and he came over to talk to us. He said he had spoken with missionaries about a week earlier but no one had come by his house; I asked him if his name was Ivan and he confirmed that it was. I quickly explained what had happened and asked him to explain to us how to arrive at his house; he explained, and we set up a time to go by. Ok...I´m gonna try and make this a little shorter...
Ivan is about 63 years old. At the age of 16, he began backpacking South America, arriving all the way to the border of Venezuela. He says he was looking for peace; a peace he could never find. Not in music, drugs, or any relationship. He considered himself atheist, but because of curiousity, he investigated just about every religious group he could find. Evangelists, Mormons, Catholics, Masons, Jehovah´s Witnesses, and any other that comes to your mind. But, nothing "filled" him. He returned home, after many years, where he became very ill. While he was in the Intensive Care Unit for 15 days, some Muslim "missionaries" came to visit him and explained to him that real peace cannot be found in this life, but only in the next. After being released from ICU, this self-believeing athiest/hippie became Muslim. Now, 7 years later, he had come to find that while they talk of peace in their temples, outside they talk only of how true peace can only be accomplished with war. He has become disilusioned with the teachings, and has began his search yet again, beginning with the message that he remembers more than any other, the one that left an impression in his mind and heart...a message about a young boy who saw God the Father and the Resurrected Son, Jesus Christ.
It is going to be a very interesting teaching and learning process, for all of those involved, but I strongly believe that Ivan has started the beginning of the end. I am so grateful for the peace which is offered through the knowledge that God and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, in a demonstration of His infinite love for us, His children. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to help the people here in Uruguay find the peace that they are looking for. It´s our responsibility and privilege as members of the Church and as Christians.
Well, it´s about that time. I hope you all have a fantastic week and remember to write me! :o)
Chao chao!
Elder Taylor