Hey, these are more pictures from the baptism on Saturday! Sweet, eh?

Cambios...! (Changes...!)

Taylor Family and Friends,
Waiting for changes this time wasn´t as intense as it has been for the last year and a half; maybe the fact that my comp is heading home has something to do with it! Haha. Elder Maughan leaves for Montevideo tomorrow morning at 2 AM. He´ll be at home with his family on Friday evening. Crazy.
As for Elder Taylor, I´m staying here in Paysandú, obviously. And I will be accompanied by my new companion...Elder Shupe! I met Elder Shupe about a year ago in the offices when I went to go pick up Elder Holmes and we become good friends really quickly. We are both stoked to get together and hit the ground running! I think Elder Shupe has been out about 3 months longer than me, so we´re both pretty close. This will be his first change as a ZL, so we´ll see if I learned everything I needed to. :o)
Another cool thing about changes....ELDER HUBER IS COMING TO PDU! And more than that, HE´S GOING TO BE LIVING IN MY HOUSE! I am SO excited! Elder Villa is heading to Mercedes and Elder Arrieta will now be Huber´s senior comp. Last weekend I called him to find out the baptismal date for one of the investigator´s I left in Cerro, and I told him (jokingly) to get ready because he was going to be bounced up to P-Dú with me...and now it´s happening! Haha. A very pleasant surprise!
Last week was a busy week. We had lots of stuff to take care of, especially the ward activity on Friday night and the stake baptism on Saturday. The ward has been really struggling with activities, so the bishop asked us to help the Young Men with an activity for the ward. We called it "La Noche del Evangelio" or "Gospel Night." We talked about the 5 steps in the gospel and had an activity to go along with each one. Young Men were in charge of faith, we were in charge of repentance and baptism, Relief Society was the Holy Ghost, and the Primary was enduring to the end. It went REALLY well and the ward LOVED it. The bishop was very content. We´ll see if he asks us to help with an activity for June...!
The stake baptism-what an awesome night! In the zone, there were 9 baptisms, and we did 7 of them in our chapel. (The other two wards are pretty far away- half an hour and an hour.) Elder Maughan and I had planned 8 baptisms for Saturday, but last week we talked about it with the bishop, and we decided that 3 of the Rodriguez family need a little more preparation, and the other 3 want to wait and be baptized with the others. So on Saturday, we had 2 baptisms in Barrio Ombú-Estefany and Belén Benitez. Elder Maughan baptized Estefany and I baptized Belén. Their parents are working on the paper work for their marriage so they can join their daughters as members of the Church. It was an awesome baptismal service; three wards combined and tons of member support! I haven´t seen so many people in white outside of the temple-it was sweet! Hopefully it won´t be the last!
Elder Maughan gave a talk on Sunday; it went well. Last night and tonight has been going around to different goodbyes and picture events for him. He has left a mark on this ward.
So Mary-Anne-are you baby-hungry yet? Haha. Those pictures showed up well. Send Megan and Ashley my congrats! And now Nathanael is off on one of his crazy adventures, eh? That´s cool. Is it some kind of contest, or did he and Jordan just decide to do it? I wouldn´t be surprised...! :o) PS, about your dream-Forget about it! That´s ridiculous! I thought you knew me better than that...I´m going to need at least 8 months....! Haha. Just playing!
Hey Melanie, so how did that American Idol thing turn out? Did that one LDS kid win? How´s the last few weeks of school going? When do you guys get out, anyway? Any hot dates lately? :o)
Goose! What´s up, kid? How´s school? Are you behaving yourself? Haha. Don´t forget to write me, and don´t forget what we talked about on Mother´s Day...!
Pops-thanks for those quotes! You know me so well. Haha. You went and vacuumed in the Conf. Center? That´s sweet. Was it a huge vacuum? So it´s looking like I´m going to be home for the temple dedication? Sweet! How´s your truck shopping going? Hurry up, man! :o)
Well, I think that´s about it for this week. I´m going to go take a nap, because I´ll hardly get any sleep tonight. I´ll be up in the bus terminal almost all night long...oh goody. But I hope you all have a great week and I hope to hear from ya soon!
Elder Taylor

Two of these are from Zone Leader Conference and then the next
 one...well...isn´t!Haha! Elder Maughan and I! I´ll make a cd
and send some more in the mail. It takestoo long to download
them on here. Dad, if you know of a faster way, let me know! :o)

Hey There!

Taylor Family and Friends,
The weather here is driving me crazy. It can´t decide whether to be winter or stay in summer forever. It´s been crazy hot the past like week. Well, not CRAZY hot, but way hotter than it should be! This morning the zone took advantage of the nice weather and we all went to the beach to play ultimate frisbee and soccer in the sand. It was SO nice. Then most of us went to the chapel to make tacos-MMM!
So this last week was a really good week! Both Elder Maughan and I were good health-wise, besides a couple of stuffy noses. We had interviews with President Peterson last Thursday that went really well. He is VERY pleased with the work that is being carried out here in Paysandú-the zone has done an excellent job this change. Now the trick is to find out what made the change and get it done next change as well!
This weekend, there´s going to be 13 baptisms in the stake, 5 of which are going to be here in Barrio Ombú. Elder Maughan and I are pretty stoked for these 5. They are almost all teenagers, and they are just awesome kids; really an example for the rest of the ward, and to teenagers anywhere. Very impressive. Last Monday, Ruben (16) when out to a lesson with Elder Maughan and I. Needless to say, he was super nervous, but he LOVED it! And he´s not even a member yet! What a stud. I´m glad we have these 5 baptisms this weekend, because it helps to keep Elder Maughan focused. Haha. He has done really well this change, but after he talked to his family last weekend, it has been a little more difficult. Obviously. But hey, I don´t blame him. He knows we still have a lot of work to take care of.
Last Friday I went on a little road trip with Elder Bean. We took an hour bus ride out to where the sister missionaries are in our zone to interview a few baptismal candidates. Young (the name of the city) reminded me a lot of Bella Unión. It´s a little bigger than B.U. was, but it was a fun reminder. I interviewed a 12-year-old named Jesus David who was an absolute stud. We talked about how he wants to be a missionary and all when he gets older. After we finished the interview, we had a little question-and-answer about the mission. It was a lot of fun to see his excitement and hear his questions. The Lord is preparing His children in order to find and help those who are waiting.
On Sunday, Bishop Savchuk came up to my comp and I right before sunday school and asked if one of us could give a talk in sacrament meeting; absolutely, no problem. Elder Maughan claimed he´ll probly have to give one next week, so I volunteered. Haha. It went really well...I think. Afterwards, Elder Maughan and I were talking (again) about how ridiculous it was to give talks before the mission because we got SO nervous and needed like 3 weeks to prepare, even though we ended up writing it the night before anyway. :o)
So it sounds like the family has been kept pretty busy. I don´t know if I´m gonna recognize the house without that huge bush in front! Haha. That bush has been there FOREVER. Any other drastic changes I should be ready for? How´s the weather there right now, anywho? The garden coming along well? That was a worthless question, but hey, it´s all good.
And Melanie had her debut on national television, uh?! That´s awesome! How did this Archuleta kid do? Did he win it all Who was the other finalist? Sweet stuff. How did Pops Concert go? What was the best part of the performance? Where´s Hatch headed, again? Is she just going back to study, or is she going somewhere else to teach?
Mary-Anne had her hands full with her first full week of school. That´s so crazy. But I would advise you to be grateful you don´t have to teach in the schools here....WOW. That´s all that can and should be said. It´s crazy. Every child in the country got a new laptop this last week, though. Some humanitarian thing or something that Bill Gates did? I don´t know, you guys all probly know more than I do. They´re pretty nice, considering EVERY kid got one, and they´re FREE, but mine is going to be cooler. :o)
Anyways, this week I really am going to try and send some pictures, so I´m gonna bounce out now. The USB port on the comp last week didn´t work, so I hope the one this week does. I hope you all have a FANTASTIC week! Thanks to those of you who wrote me, it was nice to hear from you! Aunt Kathy, send my love to the family! Take care!
Elder Taylor

Hmmm...

Taylor Family and Friends,
Well, another telephone call come and gone. That´s crazy. That may be the last phone call I make home, but I guess only time will tell. Who knows if I´ll be home before Christmas? Any predictions? Haha. But, like Mom said, don´t get trunky.
So Mary-Anne has informed me that I don´t sound as weird as I did the last phone call. Elder Maughan and I decided it´s because the phone connection here is better. :o) If you don´t remember, Elder Maughan was also with me the last time I called home, but not as my companion, just as a housemate...? Haha. But I´m glad that I sounded "normal" this time. I must say, this phone call wasn´t as weird as the last one. On Christmas, it was just kind of awkward. Well, at least I thought so. Yesterday was just normal. Good thing. It was really good to talk to Skyler; sheesh, I can´t believe how long it´s been since I saw that kid. Come to think of it, I haven´t even seen a picture of him since he´s been home...! Hey slacker, get on top of that! :o)
Everyone seemed to be doing pretty good, so that´s always nice to know. After my phone call yesterday, Elder Maughan called his family and basically just said, "Hey, see you in two weeks." He was feeling a little trunky yesterday, needless to say, but I snapped him out of it. Haha. We had a pretty good week this week. Like I´ve been saying, we´ve needed to focus on finding. We had a pretty cool experience on Friday afternoon. We left after lunch focused on just that-finding. We decided to go by a ladies´house whom we had talked to in the street; went by, and no one was there. Knocked a couple of houses down and just talked to them in front of their house-nothing; but while we were there, we saw Leticia (the lady who we had talked with) return to her house. We went over there and just talked to her in front of her house, because she was home alone with her baby. We explained a little bit of the plan of salvation and she seemed to gain interest. At the end of our little chat, we asked her if she had any questions, and she said, "Yeah, I have one, but it´s kind of off the subject...what´s your baptism like?" Elder Maughan and I just kind of looked at each other and then explained that our baptism is like the baptism of Christ, by inmersion and by the priesthood. Then she says, "In the Bible, there´s a scripture that says that when Christ comes again, He will return to His church...how can we know which church that is?" With a smile, we explained that that is exactly what we teach, how people can know with a surety where the true church of Christ is in our day. We set up a return appointment, and we´re excited to head back tomorrow and answer her questions! The Lord is preparing His children, we just have to be willing to open our mouths and help them find what they are looking for!
Mom, you asked what we have been studying in our studies...it really kind of depends. One of those three hours is dedicated to language study, one to personal study, and one to comp study. I rotate between the BoM, the Bible, Patriarchal Blessing, and other books from the missionary library. Right now I´m in the process of re-reading the BoM, I´m in 1 Corinthians in New Testament, and I´m almost done with Moses in the Pearl. A lot of reading. :o)
I haven´t really eaten any "new" foods lately. That´s one thing that I´m not too crazy about in the ´Guay-there´s not a lot of food variety. Every restaurant or store you go to has the same things on their menu. But hey, it´s all good. For zone meetings, we usually take stuff to make sandwiches, or we order a milanesa, hamburger, or pasta, usually. Just depends on the day. :o)
I´ll think about stuff that I need/want and make a list so I can tell you next week. You could also make a list of ideas to help, if you want. Haha.
Well, I´m gonna end this letter and try and send off some pictures. I hope all of you mothers enjoyed your day yesterday! Take care!
Elder Taylor

Asado...

Taylor Family and Friends,
Well here I am, tired and worn, but with a full stomach! This morning we had a zone activity with the whole zone. We went over to a member´s house in our ward and had an asado. (BBQ) While the food was cooking, we went over to the nearby field and played ultimate frisbee, soccer, and tossed around the football. It was a lot of fun, but doing a full-out exercise like that just makes me realize how long it´s been since I ran around on a field! I´m looking forward to a nice, warm shower and a little nap before studies. :o)
Last week was a great week. We had the Sector Conference here in Paysandú on Wednesday, so that means Elder Maughan and I were running here and there on Monday and Tuesday making sure everything was ready. Food, tables, chairs, audio, etc. Everything turned out really well, and the conference was a success!
Things are going really well for us here in Barrio Ombú. Elder Maughan and I are working with a couple of families really closely. The Rodriguez family, whose parents are inactive members, and the Zaballos family, where all 5 are nonmembers. The 4 Rodriguez kids who are of baptismal age are excitedly preparing for their baptism on the 24th, where they wil be accompanied by the 3 children of the Zaballos family. Mario and Diva Zaballos, the parents, will follow shortly thereafter, after everything goes through for Diva´s divorce from her husband in Argentina and they get married here in Paysandú. The longest delay will be waiting for the divorce to get through the courts, because the husband is in Argentina and has already remarried there. But they both have very strong testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and seeing their children progress encourages them to continue despite the delay. Their youngest daughter, Belen (9), got up and bore her testimony yesterday in Sacrament Meeting; the look on the faces of her parents said it all. Sweet!
This week will be a week of finding new investigators to keep the work moving forward at this quick pace. The zone of Paysandú is doing better than ever before-20 people have baptismal dates for this month already. The Lord is mindful of His children here in this part of the vineyard!
Mom, all is well with the question of health. I got over the little fever I had in a day or so. Yesterday my comp was fighting with a fever and congestion, but he´s doing better today. Congratulations on your graduation ceremony, Mom! That´s awesome! Don´t forget to send me pictures of you all dressed up in your cute little gown. :o) I´m glad that your concert went well.
Mel and Goose, what happened?! I´m still waiting for my letters...! Mel, how did your solo go in the concert? How are your guys´ grades looking for this last quarter? I hope they´re doing well...if not, I´m gonna drop the cane. :o)
So Mary-Anne´s gonna be subbing at Mom´s school...that should be fun! I want to hear about this wonderful growing experience. Haha. I don´t think I could teach; I like little kids and all, but the lack of focus would kill me! More power to ya.
Nathanael, when do you find out the results from your finals? How was this first year? Am I going to survive through my first year of law school? Haha, yeah right. That´d be interesting!
So Dad, what color is my Tacoma? Is it my metallic silver one, or is it the black one? I´m not feeling too picky. I can always get a paint job later, right?
Well, I think that´s gonna be about it for today! I hope everything is going well for all of you up north! Don´t forget to drop me a line and let me know how things are going...yes, that means you. Have a good one!
Elder Taylor