Sweet Weekend!

Taylor Family and Friends,

I´ll just start by saying how truly grateful I am to know that God has a living prophet on the earth today. What an amazing opportunity we all had to be instructed by His servants the last two days. Ok, I´ll get back to that subject in a minute. :o)

Last week was a very busy week for us, and it started out in an interesting way...! Elder Davidson and I went in to Rivera on the noon bus on Tuesday, because he was leaving from Rivera at 00:30 on Wednesday morning. We had a good afternoon over in Rivera. At 10 PM or so, we went and helped get some of the other Elders on their buses and whatnot, and then another group along with Elder Davidson at midnight. Elder Gillis and Elder Davidson were both finishing, and as I stood there with them, the feelings started to creep in. They both commented on the butterflies and the nerves. No tears, though, because both of them are going on a little trip with their parents this week. I stayed with the Zl´s on Tuesday night, because the offices said that Elder Hughes would be getting to Rivera at noon the next day...

The next morning at 6:30 we went and picked up some of the new Elders in the zone, and then went back to the house for studies. At noon, we got a taxi and started over to the bus terminal. The taxi driver asked me what area I was serving in, and I told him Tranqueras. He then said, "Oh, there´s been a Mormon in the terminal for the last three hours who is also headed out to Tranqueras." No way. Haha. He said the blonde kid and put his suitcases in a taxi, got in, and then got back out as he realized that the taxi wouldn´t take him to Tranqueras. As we pulled in the terminal, I jumped out and started looking around for Elder Hughes; nowhere to be seen. I went and asked Jorge, a guy we know who sells drinks and candy at the terminal if he had seen a lost Elder. He said, "Yeah, he was here for a couple of hours, and then the other guy helped him get on the 11:15 bus to Tranqueras." By "the other guy", he meant the member of the Church who sells empanadas and milanesas in the terminal. I couldn´t believe it. I ran on to the next bus that left right then for Tranqueras and started calling the members in order to have them stop the bus. You see, as the bus goes into Tranqueras, there are various places where you can get off, but you have to know where you want to get off, or tell the driver. My comp had NO idea where to get off. I got ahold of one of the sisters, and as she went out her front door, the bus passed by! She went back inside and called the agency, telling them to tell the Mormon to stay on the bus until they brought the bus back to the garage, which is a block away from our house. Haha. I got there an hour later, and as I went up the stairs in our house, Elder Hughes stuck his head around the corner with the most relieved face I have seen in a LONG time! I felt SO bad, but the offices had told us he got there at noon. Well, the most important thing is that he arrived safe and sound!

Elder Hughes is from Boise, Idaho. He has been in Uruguay for about seven weeks now. He´s actually doing really well with his Spanish. He understands a lot, and he can speak pretty well, too. We´ve already set some specific goals to help him get better, and he´s progressed a lot even in just these last couple of days.

The baptism was done in the garage, in a thing they use to clean the cattle here. At least that´s what they´ve told me it´s used for. I´ll send a picture. The picture with Marcos and Paola by the cake is in the front room of the house, which is just like the foyer. The one of everyone outside before the baptism is behind our house, yes.

Had a sweet experience yesterday. The branch rented a bus so everyone here could go to the sessions yesterday. I locked up the house, and was the last one to go over to the bus. I made sure everyone was there, and then I asked the driver if I could sit up front with him so "I could see the view." Hehe...! We chit-chatted for two or three minutes, and then he opened the door...."So do you guys have some kind of convention in Rivera today, or what?" Well, just let me tell you where we´re headed...! We had a fantastic conversation over the next 45/50 minutes about the importance of prophets, Christ´s church and it´s restoration, as well as the Book of Mormon. I told him, as we were entering Rivera, that that´s why people call us "Mormons"-because we give that book to everyone we meet so they can know of the truthfulness of our message for themselves. Freddy´s eyes lit up and he asked me, "Do you have one of them with you?" "Yeah, my companion has it in his backpack." "Would you give it to me?" "I would absolutely love to. As soon as we get to the chapel, we´ll get it out of his bag." The countryside of Uruguay is beautiful, which could be seen very well from our seas, but the knowledge of God´s plan for us often times surpasses that beauty. How grateful I am for having been where I needed to be, when I needed to be there.

Mom, I went to send the pictures between sessions on Saturday, but it was closed. I will send them tomorrow. I hope. :o) Well, my time is up for this week. Know that I love each and every one of you! I´m looking forward to going over the counsel we all received this weekend again. I´ll send highlights and thoughts next week. Take care!
Elder Taylor