¡Buenos días!

Taylor Family and Friends,
It´s June 30th, and it´s a beautiful day! That´s a nice change. The last few weeks we´ve just had clouds, rain, and COLD. Everyday when we wake up all we can see is fog! Yesterday you couldn´t even see a block ahead of you as we walked to church. But this morning, the sun decided to come up and all I need is a jacket instead of my two-layered coat! It´s funny to think that I never thought it would get cold in Uruguay...!
We had a really good week last week. Yesterday was kind of disappointing in terms of having investigators in church, though. We were expecting a pretty big amount of investigators, but a lot of them were sick because of the weather the last week. Not cool. But hey, that´s just more incentive to work harder this week!
We also had interviews with President Peterson on Tuesday. I love that man! He and I talked quite a bit about the zone (obviously) and the things that he expects from the mission. I´m so grateful to know that he is the man that God has called to lead this mission at this time. I have seen a great change in the mission over the past year, and it´s very exciting. Sometimes I wish I could stay longer to help keep it going...! But...
"I´LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!" I asked President before he left on Tuesday what he was going to do with my group, and he told me that we´ll at LEAST be home a week before Christmas, and most likely two weeks. Which means I might be home for my birthday, as well! Pretty sweet, eh? I would be leaving here (most likely) the 11th of December and arriving home on the 12th. That´s the plan for right now! So there ya go. Enough of that talk, I´m going back to work...! :o)
Elder Shupe and I went back out to Casa Blanca on Thursday afternoon. When we got off the bus, we ran into Yanina who said she was sorry, but she had to go in to Paysandú for a meeting at her daughter´s highschool. She felt bad, but there was nothing she could do. So Elder Shupe and I looked at each other and just said, "Well, the Lord has brought us here for some reason...let´s go find out what it is." Two and a half hours later, we knew. On Thursday afternoon, we found 8 people, comprised of three families! We found three married couples, two of which had children of baptismal age. The husbands in two of the three lessons participated in and enjoyed the message; the other participated, but very cautiously. It was interesting, because by 6:30 it is already really dark now, and even more so out in this little pueblo. At 7 o´clock, after we had found two of the families, Elder Shupe and I were trying to decide if we should keep knocking around in the dark (not very effective-ask any RM you know) or if we should start heading back to P-dú. The bus didn´t come until 8:30, so we´d have to walk-and a very considerable distance. We decided, no, we need to stay. We knocked to door on the corner...no, we´re busy, sorry. Ok. We looked to the other side of the street and realized that we were looking at the first house we had knocked in the afternoon, but no one had been there...now there were lights on. We knocked the door and Enrique came out. He couldn´t talk a lot, because he had just arrived from having two molars pulled out at the dentist. We asked him if we could come in for just ten minutes and share a message with him and his 9-year old daughter. Sure. As we got into the 9th minute or so, we hear someone coming to the door, and he says, "Should be my wife and my daughter." And in walks Rosario! My mouth dropped open, and Elder Shupe says, "¡No me diga!" We had talked with Rosario the week before while looking for a non-active. Really nice lady, with lots of questions about the mission, but who didn´t want us to come by her house another time. When she saw us at her kitchen table, she just laughed and said, "Well, you found me!" We sat and talked, laughed, showed each other pictures, and shared a message that will bless their family. We have a return appointment for this Thursday evening! The Lord wanted us there for a reason...I´m so grateful for the guidance of the Spirit, even when it means knocking the same door twice!
Yesterday I gave a surprise talk in sacrament meeting, so that´s always fun. I talked about the importance and the power of prayer, and I learned a lot as I spoke. Those are the best learning moments; as you share your testimony or your feelings, and the Spirit whispers something to you that makes you look at it or think about it a different way. What a blessing!
Anyways, I think that´s gonna about do it for me today! We´re gonna go play basketball, soccer, and frisbee with some of the youth. On Wednesday, we´re headed to Mercedes for Zone Conference where we will meet President´s son who just returned from his mission! Sweet! I hope this letter finds that all is well for all of you! Have a great 4th of July, and shoot off some fireworks for me! Can´t wait to hear from you and everything that´s going on in your life! Take care!
Elder Taylor

Some fun pictures from last week!

-Elder Taylor pretending like he´s rich with the rent money for the apartment!

-Elder Taylor and Elder Shupe playing around the cauldron of Buseca that we ate for a priesthood activity

-Elder Taylor looking off into the distance and contemplating the eternities...!

Enjoy! I wouldn´t mind getting pictures...especially if there´s any new cute girls in the ward! :o) Take care!