Well Hey There...!

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 So how ya´ll doin? Things are going really well here in Bella Union.
Elder Marroquín got up this morning, studied, and went back to bed. Haha.
It was great! For the next couple of weeks we´ll probably be writing in
the afternoon, because his family writes him on Monday mornings, so we have
to give them time to be able to write. Just a heads up. So this morning we
slept and cleaned. Afterwards we went down to the park by the river, took
some pictures, and played frisbee. I think I´m going to be buying a
basketball after we write. It´s been WAY too long since I played. Haha.
 So Elder Marroquín is from Lima, Peru. He´s been a member his whole
life. His mom´s a convert of about 20 years and his dad was baptized about
7 years ago. He is the oldest of 5 kids; 4 boys and a girl. His family was
sealed in the Lima Temple in April, so that´s pretty cool! As I think I
said last week, Elder Marroquín has been in ´Deo for the last 4 1/2
months. Elder McFarland (one of my first Zone Leaders) trained him, and the
last two changes he has been with Elder Bankhead, one of the first Elders I
met here in the ´Guay. He´s been here one change longer than me and is
from Logan. But that´s just for your info. Haha.
 Elder Marroquín and I are doing really well together! He has come with
the desires to work, and work is what we are doing! We finished up the week
wonderfully, and we are really looking forward to see what this new week
brings.
 Elder Huaman left at 8:30 on Tuesday night and until about 10:45 I was in
the house of one of the members here. At 10:45, Daniel (a
recently-returned-missionary) got out of his class and came to get me. We
went to my house, planning on going to bed and sleeping. At about 11:50, I
received a telephone call from Elder Huffaker, the zone leader in
Paysandu. He says, "Elder Taylor, sorry to wake you up. We have an Elder
that´s going to be in Bella Unión in about half an hour on his way to
Artigas. We need you to go get him and get him on the next bus to Artigas."
Sweet, thanks Elder Huffaker. Haha. So we forgot about sleeping, went and
got Elder Allen, and he and I went to my house to crash. Daniel went home
to get some sleep before work on Wednesday morning. So yeah, Elder Allen
was with me until Elder Marroquín got here, and then we put him on a bus
for Artigas. He was headed for Barrio 4 in Artigas. I told him to send a
shout out for the Rama.
 Last weekend had a great experience. Friday night, a lot of the young
adults from Salto came to have an activity with the young adults from Bella
Union. Elder Echegaraí (spelling-NO idea) who is an Area Authority came
and spoke at a fireside. He gave an AWESOME talk on prayer. It was SO good.
I´m glad that the young adults invited us to go. Haha. I´m not sure why,
but that talk was prepared with Elder Taylor in mind. Prayer is such a
powerful tool and blessing that our Father in Heaven has given us. Are we
putting it to use, or is it an un-opened gift on the mantel?
 We also went and participated in the service project with the youth on
Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun. We went and painted, cleaned,
organized and all that fun kind of stuff at a school here in Bella Unión.
 Mom-you´re going to sing for President Hinckley?! That´s so cool!
Don´t mess up. Haha. Just kidding. I can´t believe that General
Conference is almost here again. Crazy. I remember heading to General
Conference with Elder Stoddard in Artigas. Man, that was fun. Speaking of
Tyson (Elder Stoddard) have you guys heard from him yet? He´s been home
almost 2 months now. He´s probably using the excuse that he´s busy with
school, but that´s no excuse. Haha. I hope he gets in touch soon. I´ll
send you his info next week, if I can remember.
 Dad-how was the Titan? Everything you hoped and dreamed? Haha. I hope you
took a picture when it was sitting there in the garage! I have to know how
well my Tacoma is going to fit. :o) Looks like they did a pretty good job
on fixing up the van. Did it cost an arm and a leg, or just the leg? Did
the insurance help at all? Have you found the blessing or lesson that
we´re supposed to learn in this experience yet? If not, keep looking,
it´ll show up...it always does!
 Here´s a weird idea-our bishop here left yesterday after church and if
things go well, he won´t be back for 3 months. That´s kind of an
interesting thought, huh? Our bishop has been without work for some time,
just doing odd-jobs here and there for a couple of weeks at a time. He got
the opportunity to sign-up to take the fireman course like two weeks ago,
so he did it. He´s in ´Deo this week to see if he passes the tests. If
things go as we hope, we won´t have a bishop until about Christmas; if
things don´t go well, he´ll be here to preside in Sacrament next week.
The ward will be fine. The counselors are very capable men, and the members
know how things run. The Elders will be doing their part. So yeah, we hope
things go well for Bishop Molina.
 Well, I think that´s about it for this week. The work of the Lord is
moving forward here in Bella Union. I am so grateful for the opportunity
that I have to be a part of this wonderful work! He really does have great
things in store for each one of us, of that I have no doubt. I love and
pray for you often; don´t ever forget that!
 Love Always,
Elder Taylor

Changes...!

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 Well hey there!  How ya´ll doin? Things are going really well here in
Bella Union. This "beautiful union" has been a soaked union for the last
week. It has rained like every single day, all day. I don´t mind walking
in the rain at all, but the people here don´t think too much of it. It
makes the work a little more difficult, but hey, that´s what we do!
 So I think that last week I forgot to tell you all that this week is
change week-that´s why I´m writing today. Usually we write on
Wednesday´s change week, but they´ve now changed it. Apparently on change
week´s we´ll be having our P-Day on Tuesday´s. Who knows? I just sleep
when I´m told. Haha. So sorry about forgetting last week...! My bad.
 So I´ve been here in Bella Union for about a month and a half. The
changes brought with them at least another month and a half of Bella Union
for me! Elder Taylor is staying, with an Elder from Peru; but that Elder is
not Elder Huaman. Elder Huaman is headed to Mercedes, and Elder Marroquín
is coming to join me. Apparently the Lord knows that I need to learn
something from the poeple of Peru! Elder Marroquín has the same amount of
time in the mission as Elder Huaman, so he´s not NEW, but he hasn´t been
here too long either. I don´t know where he´s been here in the ´Guay,
but he´s coming from Montevideo. That´ll be a little bit of a change for
him. Haha. Montevideo is A LOT different than Bella Union. But he´ll do
fine. Elder Huaman bounces out tonight at 8:30 and Elder Marroquín gets
here tomorrow morning at 7. So that´ll be cool. We weren´t taken by
surprise at all by the changes. It was basically just waiting to find out
where he was headed and who was coming. Elder Huaman has mixed feelings
about leaving, which is understandable. This is his first area change in
the mission; he´s been here for 4 1/2 months. Things have really improved
in the last few weeks with Elder Huaman and I. Once we really start rolling
the way we should, the Lord sees fit to bounce him. But hey, He knows what
He´s doing, and He´s good at it. Just got to put our faith and trust in
Him, right? Ok, no problem!
 This week was a great week. We had a lesson with Maria Correa, a lady to
whom we had taught 3 lessons, and in those lessons we talked about the Plan
of Salvation. It was something that she needed, so we began with that. So
this week, we taught her the message of the Restoration. As Elder Huaman
was talking about the life of Jesus Christ, the thought came into my head,
"Invite her to get baptized." It kind of took me by surprise. She hasn´t
gone to church yet, and we still hadn´t given her a Book of Mormon. My
companion finishes, and I start talking about Joseph Smith and the Book of
Mormon. After a couple of minutes, the thought comes again, "Invite her to
get baptized, now." So I stopped and said something along the lines of,
"Maria, if this really happened, and I testify to you that it did, it is
the greatest thing that has happened in nearly two thousand years. The
power of God is here on the earth, restored through a prophet, and we can
have the blessings of that power in our lives. Maria, we want you to be a
part of that. We´re planning a baptismal service the 20th of October. Will
you be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints on that
day?" At first, she was hesitant it seemed. My companion and I both bore
our testimonies of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the Church. I then
extended the invitation again, and she accepted! We left that lesson
grinning from ear to ear. It was one of those lessons that you always want
to have! I´m so grateful for the promptings of the Spirit. It is SO
important that we listen and obey when we are blessed with those
promptings.
 Maria did not end up coming to church on Sunday, because her husband had
an operation in Artigas, but we are still confident with this opportunity!
The Lord will provide the way.
 We also extended another baptismal invitation Sunday afternoon to a
16-year-old named Diego Dacol. He is a teenager who has had some really
tough times in his life, and it´s hard for him to open up to people, but
he also accepted the invitation to be baptized. He still hasn´t been to
church, so this week is the key. I know the Lord will help us get him to
church, because He wants Diego to be able to enjoy His blessings as much as
we do! I´m so excited for this week!
 Had a great sacrament meeting on Sunday. The 2nd Counselor spoke about
sacrifice. It was an AWESOME talk. I don´t know why, but it just hit me
right in my soft spot on Sunday. It seemed like Hermano Molina had prepared
that talk for Elder Taylor. One of those little tender mercies of our
Heavenly Father!
 My little sister went to Homecoming?! Wow. I´m getting old. Haha. That
is SO cool! Mel, those pictures better be in my inbox next Monday when I
come to write! I want this kid´s full name, address, and any other
information you can get! Haha. No, I´m just kidding. It sounds like a
really fun date. I hope you had a GREAT time! Thanks for telling me about
it. And congrats on making the ensemble for the musical! That is SO cool!
Make sure somebody records it! I want updates. :o)
 Mary-Anne just couldn´t take it anymore, uh? Haha. I was trying to
figure out how long she was going to last. I knew she wouldn´t make it to
Christmas for sure! No Mary-Anne, I´m not making fun of you in any way.
That´s just the way you´ve always been! And I´m definitely okay with
that, because I got to see you like every week! I know what you mean about
missing the mountains. I´d much rather live by mountains than by the
beach! As for your question about my dates...my release date, as you saw in
the picture, is December 26, 2008. Which means that I´d leave Montevideo
on the morning of the 26th. But who knows?! That´s still PLENTY of time
away-we don´t need to worry about that at all! You just take care of what
you need to do, and I´ll do what I´ve been called to do; the Lord will
take care of the rest! Haha.
 Mom, what kind of souvenirs do you want me to pick up? I have no problem
spending money, if you give me permission. Haha. I´m still looking for
thimbles, by the way. The problem is that I´ve been in two pretty small
cities, and finding a souvenir like that is a little difficult. But don´t
you worry about it, I´ve still got plenty of time! :o)
 Dad, I´m glad to hear that your reviews went well. I knew they would.
What the Captain said about your review being an example does not surprise
me! You have always been an amazing example to everyone who knows you!
Thank you so much for all the love and support you have given me.
 Well, I think that´s about it for this week. I´ve now been out for over
9 months, in case you didn´t look at the calendar this last week. Haha.
That´s so weird. On Thursday it will be a YEAR since I received my call.
Wow. I remember it like it was yesterday. Ok, maybe two days ago. Haha. I
know the Lord has brought me here for a reason, and I will work as hard as
I can to make sure that that reason is fulfilled! I love you all!
¡Cuídense y pórtense bien!
Elder Taylor

Finally...!

Taylor Family and Friends,
 You wouldn´t think that skipping one P-Day would be a big deal, but you
could´ve fooled me. The second we got done planning last night, we were
changed and in bed. Out like a couple of lights. And we have big plans for
this afternoon...3 hour nap, here I come. Haha. It has been a long, good
week. Not to mention, the heat has started to show up again. I can´t
decide which I like more, the heat or the cold. They both have their
advantages and their disadvantages. But hey, we work anyways, to the
surprise of many. Haha.
 So this week was a week full of work, but there´s not a ton to report.
We are teaching a lot, but our investigators are having a rough time
grasping the concept of the importance of going to church. But hey, that´s
why we are here as missionaries, right?! What an opportunity we have to
help them learn. Haha.
 Couple of cool little events...I have now eaten some "weird" stuff in the
´Guay. A recent convert named Jimmy Pio has made us two unusual dishes.
Cow udder and stuffed intestines. Sounds good, uh? Haha. The cow udder was
kinda different, but the intestines were actually REALLY good. I had like 1
1/2 servings of the cow udder stuff, but I had 3 1/2 of the intestines. I
was almost disappointed that that was all I could fit in. It was really
good.
 Mary-Anne, it seems like you change jobs faster than I change ties!
Sheesh kid. So now you´re working at a Day Care. Whatever happened to that
insurance company place or whatever? Did you ever check more in to that?
You could have hooked a brother up if you had taken that job! Haha. And you
found the ghetto Oregon version of Desert Star. That´s awesome. So it´s
like a movie theater place, not a live play? That´s cool. The other day I
was actually thinking back on Desert Star-that was a fun job. Most of the
time. Haha. You said you thought it was weird to go to your stake center
that is half an hour away? Get this: we belong to the Salto stake; Salto is
where we go to plan every week-a two or two and a half hour bus ride to get
to the stake center! I don´t know if I will ever ride to church in a car
again! Yesterday as we were walking to church, I was thinking about how
nice it was outside and how nicely it sets the mood for the Sabbath to walk
to church. Just an interesting little thought.
 Mom and Dad, are you guys still going to the chapel up on 40th? It seems
like there has been so many changes, I can´t keep them straight anymore!
Haha. Speaking of the changes, how is the neighborhood behind the house
looking? Can we still see the mountains? If we can´t, I´m building a room
on top of the house. I miss the mountains. People say mountains here, and I
just laugh when I see the rolling hills. Good times. Ignorance is bliss. Or
so they say...right?
 Robby White got his mission call?! Holy cow! That is SOOO cool! That is
so weird to think that Robby is that old. I can still remember when he ran
straight in to our tramp when we were playing soccer in the backyard! Haha.
He did a lot of crazy things, and always got up laughing. You make sure to
tell him before he leaves that the Lord protects us from danger, but not
from stupidity. Haha. And then give him a huge hug for me!
 So I want to hear all about this Aida thing that Melanie and Megan did.
What theater was it? Was it like one of those community theaters, or what?
All I´ve heard was Aida and lead role. Come on, people, I´m 6,000 miles
away and hanging on one sentence. Haha. Melanie tried out for Bingham´s
musical, right? Isn´t it Oklahoma this year? How did she do? All you´ve
gotta do, Mel, is just put the nerves behind you and bust it out, kid! I
know you´ve got it in you! They all know it, and you know it too. Now just
let them see it!
 Megan, how´s your new school going? Keeping up with all the stuff
you´ve gotta do? Keeping away from all those South Jordan boys? Yeah, I
know how they are. Haha. Oh yeah, that reminds me...how did Melanie´s
first date go?! I didn´t even get an update on that! Sheesh. You think my
cute little sister or my best friend would keep me updated on something
like that...! Keep dreaming, uh? Haha
 Dad, I know how you feel about the whole talk thing. Sometimes we have
something great in mind to say, and then something completely different
comes out. It can be frustrating. But even in times like that, I´ve found
that the Lord´s hand is in it. Sometimes it´s hard to think that He would
want something like that...but why do you think that is? I expect a 500
word response by next Monday. Haha. As long as we have done our part in the
preparation, we can rest easy, no matter what comes out of our mouth; even
if we think that we butchered it. But the key is to make sure that we are
prepared.
 Last week it happened again. I was sitting at the piano playing prelude
for sacrament, and the first counselor comes up and ask me if I can give a
10 minute talk during the meeting. "Absolutely."  Great answer, Elder
Taylor. Haha. I went up to the pulpit with my Book of Mormon and Bible,
praying for the Lord to fulfill His promise of filling His servants´
mouths. He did. He always does. The counselor had said that the topic was
preparation...funny, uh? But it was a testimony to me. The Lord was able to
put into my mouth the scriptures and principles that I have learned
throughout the course of my life. Through personal scripture study, we are
showing the Lord that we want Him to use us in His work. He can´t put into
our mouth something we are not familiar with. He cannot tell us to share a
scripture that we have never read or studied. Kind of an intimidating
thought; but at the same time, what an amazing blessing. The Lord wants to
use us in His work, but He won´t deprive us of the opportunity of learning
and growing according to our desires. It was a nice reminder.
 So anyways, that was a fun experience. I know that the Lord is always
there to lead and guide us, even at times when things seem to go wrong.
Through small and simple means, the Lord will bring great things to pass. I
don´t remember how it goes in English. Alma 37:6-7 if you want the correct
wording! Haha.
 So I think that´s about it for this week. Sorry that it´s kind of a
bland letter, but there´s not a lot that you guys can do about it. Haha.
The work of the Lord is moving forward in this part of the world. And from
what I hear from Elder Homer, in the Philippines as well. I got a letter
from him this last week. I would love to receive updates and notices from
every one of you; even if it´s a wedding announcement. By the way, Mom,
did you send congrats to JoHanna and Brandon for me? Shayla´s wedding is
in just a bit too...make sure that you get a hold of her for me! Well, know
that I love each and every one of you and I can´t wait to hear from you!
¡Chao!
 Elder Taylor

Hey, Hey!

Taylor Fam and all the rest,
 Wow, it´s been a crazy week. I am SO tired; well, physically. We had an
amazing time yesterday in Montevideo!
 Elder Huaman and I left Bella Union on Thursday night at 8:30 and got to
Salto about 10:30 to meet up with the rest of the zone. We then left Salto
at 12:30 (AM) for Montevideo. We got there at about 7 in the morning. From
the bus terminal, we took taxis straight over to the chapel in Flores,
where the conference was going to be. We were probly the second or third
zone there. It was SO fun because the ENTIRE mission was there. It was cool
to see a lot of familiar faces and catch up with everyone. This is probably
the only time in my mission that all of us will be together. So we spent
about an hour to an hour and a half just mingling and chatting and what
not. Then as the word came that Elder Perry had left the hotel, we started
a mission study on Ether 12. It really helped set the mood.
 About fifteen minutes later, Elder Perry along with Elder Robbins (Area
President) showed up, accompanied by their wives. It was a pleasant
surprise to see Elder Robbins-we didn´t know he was coming. I´ll lay out
the scene: if you´re looking at the pulpit, I was sitting on the left side
of the chapel, the second row, on the very end of the bench towards the
center. So I was like 10 feet from Elder Perry for like 4 hours! It was
awesome! He came in, we all stood, and they went and put their stuff on the
stand. Then, before doing anything else, he told us all that he wanted to
greet us individually. "Tell me your name and where your from." We went row
by row until all of us had met the four of them. Elder Perry was very laid
back and comical. Cracking jokes the whole time and commenting on weird
names or cities. It took around 15 or 20 minutes, I would imagine. Then we
began the conference.
 Hermana Peterson bore her testimony as did President Peterson to begin.
We then heard from Hermana Robbins for a few minutes and then heard from
Elder Robbins for about an hour, I think. It was an amazing talk. He talked
about having the faith to expect miracles, how God knows every one of our
individual circumstances, and how He and the Savior know each one of us
personally. He stressed the importance of helping those we teach and meet
develop faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, more than anything else. We will
be successful missionaries and can rest easy if we help others develop
faith in Him. It was a great learning opportunity.
 There was then a special musical number, "I Believe in Christ." There was
7 or 8 Elders that sang. Mostly in Spanish, but with the last verse in
English, with Hermana Peterson at the piano. It was very powerful.
 We then had the opportunity to hear from Hermana Perry and she talked
about 9 things that we must do in order to be successful missionaries. Good
talk.
 And then the moment arrived...dun dun dun...Elder Perry came to the
microphone. He is a lot taller than I remember. But same amazing character.
I don´t know if you remember Elder Arrieta, but he´s the Elder I flew
down here with. (he´s from Miami) Anyways, he was translating for Elder
Perry. He was SO nervous. It was pretty funny. Elder Perry just stood up
and said (basically) "Alright, what are your questions?" And then he spent
the next while just answering questions and telling the Latins to learn
their English. Haha. After a long while, he gave his "talk." It wasn´t
what I was expecting, but it was great. He just talked about the importance
of learning all you can from your companion and growing together. He talked
about some of the companionships he´s been in as well as other
companionships in the Quorum of the Twelve. One thing that I had no idea
about was that the Quorum studies together every week. That´s a part of
their temple meetings on Thursdays. How cool is that?! How amazing would it
be to just sit and listen to that study of the Gospel? Wow.
 I learned a lot from that advice. My companion is really quiet, I don´t
know if I´ve told ya´ll that yet, but when he talks it´s usually because
he has an opinion about something. It has been an adjustment for both of us
because he has only done the work in the way that his trainer did it, and
he´s now realizing that I´m not his trainer; and it´s an adjustment for
me, because I´m learning how to work with someone who knows the language
and knows the responsibilities of a missionary. I was with Diego, who knew
the language great, but his knowledge and desires weren´t all there; and
then I was with Elder Holmes, who has all the desires in the world, but was
still struggling with the language. Now I´m with someone who knows the
language and who knows why he´s here. It is fantastic! We could be such a
powerful companionship if we could just hurry and make the necessary
adjustments. We do well together, but I know our potential is so much more.
We had a good talk on Thursday, so hopefully things will snap into place
now! I´m pretty stoked!
 After the conference, we took a picture with the whole mission (Elder
Perry wasn´t there-they left to eat with Pres. Peterson) and then we just
chatted and caught up some more. GREAT NEWS-I found out yesterday that
Eduardo has recieved the Melquisedec Priesthood! I don´t remember how to
spell it in English, so that´s Spanish! :o) I was SOOOOO excited when I
found that out. I had no idea that he had. I sent a letter with Elder
Holmes yesterday, so hopefully I´ll be hearing from him soon! But yeah,
that was just fantastic news.
 Then we left and ate at a buffet called Coco´s. When I got there, there
was maybe 16 of us there. When I left, there was close to 100 missionaries
in this restaurant. Haha. It was awesome! I felt bad for the workers, but
they did well! The food was amazing. First time in 9 months I´ve had
Chinese food. Wow.
 Anyways, then we went and shopped a bit, just kind of hung out in ´Deo.
We then went to the bus terminal and found out there was a bus strike
yesterday morning (after we had arrived), so everything was backed up.
Wonderful. Haha. We were trying to figure out what we were gonna do, when
we decided to check one more time on our bus. The guy at the counter said,
you´re in luck-that bus is gonna leave like RIGHT now. All 22 of us ran
out to the platform and jumped on the bus. Good timing. So we took the 7-8
hour bus ride back to Salto; but by the time we got there, the last bus for
Bella Union had already left. Elder Huaman and I stayed with the zone
leaders and our district leaders (the 4 live together) last night. Elder
Huerta (ZL) and I slept on the floor, and Elder Huaman took Elder Huerta´s
bed. That´s the second time the two of us have "slept" on their floor. I
actually got a little sleep this time, though. Then we got up and took the
7 AM bus back to Bella Union, which is about a 3 1/2 route. But after all
is said and done, we are back here safe and sound in Beautiful Union!
 Had a once in a lifetime experience on Wednesday. I cut sugar cane! One
of our investigators has a field with some of his co-workers and we offered
our help. He accepted, so we went and helped them cut for a couple of
hours. It is a hard job, but I loved it! Maybe I´ll have the chance again
before I leave, but I doubt it. Bella Union is the only place in the ´Guay
with the climate for sugar cane, and I´m here in season, with an
investigator who has a field-a pretty good string of luck. Haha. Good
times.
 So I got Melanie´s letter yesterday...LEAD ROLE IN AIDA?! Holy cow! I am
SO excited for you! That is SO cool! You´ll have to let me know how it
goes, kid! I wish you all the best! And you tell Skyler to behave himself
on your date...! Haha. Thanks for writing me and letting me know about all
your fun experiences, Mel. It was good to hear from you!
 So a wreck with the newly fixed van, uh? Wow. I´m glad no one was hurt.
How bad is the damage? Does the guy that hit you have to pay for it, or
what is insurance saying? Hmm. Well...it´s going to be interesting to hear
what blessing comes from this experience!
 Mary-Anne, I´m stoked about your new job. Sounds like a great chance to
share the gospel at the same time. :o) Just ask your local missionaries for
a pamphlet or two, and stick them on the desk. Then be ready for questions!
Haha.
 Yeah, Mom, I have been traveling a lot. It seems like it to me, too. The
Elders here in Bella Union used to just plan alone in the house every week,
but for some reason they changed it. I don´t know when, I don´t know why,
but it´s no big deal. "Por sacrifico se dan bendiciones." :o)
 Sorry about my letter from Monday being somewhat confusing. My bad. I´ll
clear things up-I´m writing today, September 1! Monday is not going to be
P-Day. The next time I´ll write is the 10th. We used our P-Day yesterday
to go to ´Deo. Well worth it. So yeah. You all have a whole 9 days to get
your letters written and sent! I´ll be waiting anxiously.
 I love you all! Thanks so much for your support and your prayers. There
are days when you really can feel the prayers from home pushing you along.
Thank you! ¡Cuídense y pórtense bien!
 Love,
Elder Taylor

Montevideo...

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 It is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Bella Union. Yesterday was freezing and
cloudy, but everything cleared up for our Preparation Day, thank heavens.
The Lord loves His missionaries. Haha.
 So first things first, just to make sure I don´t forget. This week is a
little complicated, so pay attention! Haha. Today is P-Day, obviously. NEXT
MONDAY (Sept 3) WILL NOT BE P-DAY. I WILL BE WRITING AGAIN ON THIS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31. Our next P-Day will be September 10. So yeah, I´ll be
writing this Saturday, August 31, and then not again until September 10.
And now I´ll tell you why...
 ELDER L. TOM PERRY IS COMING TO MONTEVIDEO! He is coming to reorganize a
stake, and he is going to have a special conference with the missionaries
from our mission! Last year he came and only the missionaries close to
´Deo could go, but Pres. Peterson got permission for everyone to go, on
the condition that we change our P-Day next week. So for that reason, our
P-Day from Monday has been moved to this Friday so ALL of the missionaries
can go to this basically once in a lifetime opportunity. Not only because
we are going to hear an Apostle, but also because the WHOLE mission will be
together! SWEET! Pres. Peterson told us last week in our Zone Conference.
The whole mission is stoked! Obviously. Haha.
 Bella Union has a new member of the Church. Cristian Ayala was baptized
on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. Everything went really well with the
baptism. I baptized him and Elder Huaman did the confirmation yesterday.
The coolest part of the baptism (ok, maybe not the COOLEST, but it was
good) was that after the ordinance we had time for testimonies. Our ward
mission leader invited Cristian, his two member sisters, and his non-member
father to bear their testimonies. His father, after the others, got up-to
the surprise of many, including me and my companion. He proceeded to say
that he knows this is the true church and that as soon as his economic
situation permits, he and his "wife" will get married, and he will be
baptized! It was SO cool! Right now, he is living in Montevideo (working)
and his family is here. His kids, and his "wife" are all members, and now
it appears that he is on his way! We were pretty excited. So yeah, all went
well with the baptism!
 Yes mom, the Spanish is still improving. Of course! I´ll never get to
the point where I´m not improving. Right now I´m really working on my
listening. Haha. Elder Huaman speaks REALLY quiet, even in the street. It
is so hard to hear him and distinguish what he´s saying when cars are
passing or music is playing, or whatever. It´s kinda drivin´ me nuts, but
hey, what can you do? I just tell him to speak up about every 30 seconds.
Haha.
 Megan´s going to South Jordan Middle?! Where did that come from? Haha.
Did they start today? I hope it´s a good change for her. I know that she
had some challenges over at ghetto Elk Ridge, so I hope this helps! Megan,
YOU can make it a good thing! Just make the decision that this year is
going to be unbelieveable, and it will be. You can do it, Goose.
 And Melanie´s a big Junior now. Weird. Drivers Ed starts today, doesn´t
it? Wow. Lots of crazy changes. How are the parents doin´ with that
driving idea? Good Luck! Haha
 So yesterday was probly the trunkiest day of mission. Don´t tell
President. Haha. August 26-my big sister and my best friend that I haven´t
seen in 2 1/2 years both had their birthday. Crazy. I looked at pictures
last night, for sure. Probly sang happy birthday like 4 times yesterday,
too, with different people. So yeah, here´s a shout out to those two-HAPPY
BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU!
 Dad, what happened with the eMachine? I didn´t break it! Haha. Finally
you guys can´t tell me it was because of my music or my chatting. :o)
Sometimes things just have problems. But hey, you´re basically a genius,
so it´s no big deal! Yeah, I did find the $20 in my coat pocket. Right
away, actually. Haha. And no worries, I made sure to take care of it, too.
I was in ´Deo-I can´t remember exactly, but I think that it helped to
have a good, healthy American meal. No, not McDonald´s-SUBWAY. It was
amazing. Thanks. :o)
 Well, I think that´s about it. I hope you´re all anxious for my
Saturday letter, because I´m anxious to be able to write it. I´M GOING TO
LISTEN TO AN APOSTLE WITH ABOUT 150 MISSIONARIES! SWEET! I´m only a little
excited. :o) I love you all, and I´m waiting anxiously to hear how ya´ll
are doin! ¡Cuídense!
    Love,
Elder Taylor

Just Don't Let Go...

I don´t have the words with me, and it´s hard to remember without being
in front of the piano, so I think these are them. I´ll bring the words
with me next week to make sure! Love you!

Just Don´t Let Go, by Elder Aaron Taylor

Just don´t let go
He´s on your side
He won´t let go of you

So far from home
from the things you know
Trying so hard
to keep on each day

Sometimes it seems
that you´re meant to fail
But He won´t let go of you

At the end of the day
As you lie in your bed
The tempter may play
with the thoughts in your head

What can you do
but just sit and bear
But He has borne all for you

Just don´t let go
He´s on your side
And He won´t let go of you
And you will be lead by His endless love
and He´ll bring you safely home

What you make of you
Is your gift to God
"Shall we not go on
in so great a cause?"

Just to look Him
through your smiles and tears
And you´ll have no need to fear

So just don´t let go
He is on your side
And He won´t let go of you
And you will be lead by His endless love
and He´ll bring you safely home

When the road seems to hard to climb
Just remember that He will work through your faith
In time

Just look to Him
through your smiles and tears
And you´ll have no need to fear

So just don´t let go
He is on your side
and He won´t let go of you

And you will be lead
by His endless love
And He´ll bring you safely home
To Him

Semana 1 de Bella Union...‏

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 How ya´ll doin´? I´m doing well here in Bella Union! So remember when
I was in Artigas and it rained a ton and I loved it? Yeah, I don´t want
the rain anymore. Haha. It has rained everyday here since Tuesday and it is
COLD rain with a COLD COLD wind. And almost all of the streets here and
just dirt (o mejor dicho-MUD) streets. My shoes are just covered in mud as
well as the bottom part of two pairs of pants. Good times. Today it´s
looking like it might clear up-we´ll see!
 Mom and Dad-thanks for the coat you sent, again. My trench wouldn´t have
worked hardly at all this last week, but the other one works great!
 The work is going well here in Beautiful Union. Remember last week when I
told you a little about Cristian? Well he´s getting baptized this
Saturday! And he´s asked Elder Taylor to baptize him. It´s gonna be a
pretty sweet week. Tomorrow night we are taking a bus down to Salto so we
can leave with the rest of the zone on Wednesday morning to go to Zone
Conference in Paysandu. And then we´ll stay the night in Salto on
Wednesday so we´ll be there for planning on Thursday morning. Then Elder
Huaman will stay in Salto and our District Leader, Elder Maughan, will come
up to Bella Union with me to do the interview of Cristian on Friday. Then
we´ll switch back on Saturday morning. Pretty sweet, uh? So yeah,
Cristian´s baptism. That´s the big news for this week!
 We received a new rule from the Area Presidency this last week-we can´t
ride bikes anymore. They didn´t give any specifics, but the missionaries
can´t ride bikes anymore. I have mixed feelings. The bikes are a pain to
ride, but they make the work more effective, especially since there´s only
two of us here. For example, on Saturday morning we went to contact a
reference that we received, and they live in the neighborhood of Las
Piedras. It took us about 25 minutes to walk out there. So yeah, it would
have been nice to have bikes for that. But, we´ll be blessed for our
obedience, so it´s all good!
 When we went out to Las Piedras on Saturday, the reference wasn´t even
at home. We had decided that we were just going to spend the rest of the
morning out there knocking and contacting, so we did. After trying to
contact the reference, ´Huaman looked at me and asked, "Now what?" I
said, "We start here" and walked up to a door. We knocked and out walked
Mirna. Ten seconds later we were inside the house getting to know her
better. We introduced ourselves, chatted, sang, and said a prayer. We then
proceeded to talk about how the gospel can bless our families and such. We
got through the whole first lesson and after we went over the steps of
prayer, I asked her if she was up to praying before we left. She quickly
accepted and proceeded to offer a very heartfelt, sincere prayer. She
thanked our Father in Heaven for having sent these two ´muchachos´ to her
home with the word of God. We set up to head back out there tomorrow
morning, so I´ll keep ya´ll informed! It was just a cool experience.
 Dad, you´re in charge of Special Needs Mutual? That´s awesome! What a
great opportunity to learn and grow while teaching at the same time. Wow,
I´m stoked for you! Make sure to let me know how it´s going!
 Mary-Anne, I´m glad you´ve finally come to accept the fact that I´m
the favorite child. Haha. Just kidding. What is this teaching position they
offered you? You said a teaching position of 45 kids; what would you be
teaching? Is it like daycare place or what? Sounds pretty intense, but hey,
we gotta work. Unfortunately, it seems sometimes, but still!
 And Nathanael now is going to be up to his head in homework. Sounds like
fun. I miss school, but I don´t miss those first couple of weeks when they
just overload you! Just do what you gotta do, bro-you´ll do fine! And you
have 24-hour access to the library? Haha. That´s awesome. That´s another
scare tactic for this first semester. Show them you´re not scared-move a
tent into the library! That´ll show your professors what´s up! :o) Just
don´t forget to keep me up on my Lions, bro. Remember, this is our Super
Bowl year...!
 Mom, you asked if there´s anything else I want/need. If you can find
them, either my Lions or my Indians baseball hat. I don´t know why, but
I´ve been craving a baseball hat. If you send me one, I won´t have to buy
one here. Haha. If not, well...! And I think I asked you before to send me
my Eclipse Christmas cd. If you can find it, that would be great. That is
if the girls didn´t steal it along with all of my other stuff that I left!
What was I expecting, right? It´s a good thing I have cute sisters...!
 Nathanael, everyone here keeps telling me that we almost look like twins.
It´s pretty sweet. Haha. You and I look more alike than any of my
siblings-go figure, uh? That was just a cool little tidbit. Of course,
everyone still says I´m better looking, but hey...we already knew that,
right? ! Haha. Love you bro!
 Mom, make a scan of JoHanna´s invitation and send it to me in an email,
if it´s not too much trouble. If so, just keep it there to make sure it
doesn´t get lost. Make sure you send them my congrats and my love!
 Well, that´s about it for this week! Know that all is well and that I
love ya! Take care of yourselves and don´t forget to write!
 Love,
Elder Taylor

First weekend in Beautiful Union...(Bella Union)‏

Family and Friends,
Well, here I am in Bella Union. It´s different from Artigas, obviously,
but it´s very similar at the same time. It´s a nice little pueblo that´s
pretty tranquilo. I like it a lot. We have 700 members on the list
here...how many are at church on Sunday? 60. That´s probably the biggest
obstacle here in Uruguay, and I imagine that it´s the same in other
missions, as well. There are TONS of menos activos. We found three new
people to teach last weekend, and then found out they were already members.
Haha.
 So as I said before, it´s just me and my companion in here this corner
of the country. The closest missionaries are probably those in Artigas-2
hours away. For our weekly planning session, we wake up at 5 AM to catch
the 6 AM bus to Salto, which is about a 2 1/2 hr drive. Pretty crazy. On
the way back here on Thursday, there weren´t any seats left on the bus, so
we stood for 2 and a half hours. I´ll make sure to buy tickets as soon as
we get to Salto this week. Haha.
 Elder Huaman is my new, short Peruano companion! He´s really quiet, but
way funny, too. He is from the selva in Peru, and he was never a social
butterfly. This is his 3rd change here in the ´Guay. The members say he is
starting to talk a little more, but it´s still not much.
 The teaching pool I arrived to was a little different. We have like 5
kids we are teaching! Haha. 2 of them are AMAZING, and another 2 are pretty
sweet. We´ll see how things go.
 We are on bikes here in Bella Union. Yeah, that´s what I thought
too-SWEET! But then I actually got on the bike...hmmm. How much would it
cost to send my TREK down here? Haha. And then watch it get stolen the
first day-yeah right. But just thinking of the bike and the ´roads´ here
makes my backside hurt. Good times!
 The house here is pretty cool, though. Well, taking in consideration that
the bathroom faucet doesn´t work, there´s a trick to the toilet and
bathroom door, and the water in the shower is AMAZING...for the first 4
minutes. Apparently the Elders have been on the lookout for a new place the
last bit, so we´ll see if the members have got any leads.
 Church was cool yesterday. I´m in a ward! This is the first week of my
mission where I haven´t participated in some way in the program. Just make
sure my investigators are comfortable and relax. It was great! Well, I
lied, I participated in the confirmation of an investigator that got
baptized the night before I got here. Her name is Jimena, she´s 18 years
old, and she´s got a sweet testimony! But yeah, they have deacons,
teachers, priests, everything! It´ll be so cool! In Artigas, we had one
Aaronic priesthood holder that was 13 and went about twice a month. Haha.
 The members are great, so far. We eat with or collect food from the
members like every day here, too. Except for when we´re in Salto for
planning on Thursdays. But yeah, they were really warm and friendly as they
welcomed me to their ward on Sunday.
 We found out yesterday that President Faust passed away when they
announced it in church. Thanks for sending the article, Mom. I was
surprised, but at the same time, not. I´m guessing that´s just about how
everyone feels.
 Mary-Anne, I got your pictures and Airheads and Skittles on
Thursday-thank you! My companion enjoyed the 2 Airheads I gave him, and I
think he liked the Skittles, too. It was cool to see what the new
crib looks like. I´m pretty stoked for you guys. Nathanael-hope you had
a great birthday yesterday! We sang to you at lunch with the Familia Cruz.
Your cake looked pretty sweet. Mary-Anne-how´s the job hunt coming? Any
breaks?
 Mom, I decided to use that last journal you sent me as my companion and
convert journal. I was going to buy one when we went to the temple, but it
was closed when we went. So yeah. I´m not sure how many pages I have left
in my first one, but if you find some time to send me another one in the
next bit...that´d be great. I kinda slowed down on my journal writing
(sorry) but maybe that will help. Haha.
 This morning I bought new shoes, by the way. My Rockports were gone. The
soles are slanted (I´ll send pics) and there´s a couple of nice holes. So
this morning I bought some new ones that I´ll wear on Sundays. I´ve
started using my Ecco´s everyday. The new ones only cost 700 pesos, so it
was bad. We´ll see how long they last. :o)
 I´m glad you found the pictures from the Daimaru´s. Why was Blaine
(that´s his name, right?) so quiet? What did you ask him? Elder Stoddard
is in his house by now, so he better be getting in contact with you guys
soon. I wanted to see him SO bad before he left, but oh well. I forgot to
bring his info with me to the cyber today, but I´ll bring in next week
just in case he hasn´t gotten in touch with you. He´ll be able to help
you with names and what not. At least he better-he was there for 6 months!
 How did Melanie´s week go? I hope everything went as she had planned. I
thought about her a lot last week.
 Dad, sounds like it´s time to buy a new car. You could always start
looking at that Tacoma you always wanted....!
 Mom, good luck as you get started with school again. At least this year
you´ll be able to breathe now that you´re done with your classes. Or have
you started with your Spanish ones yet? ¡Hay que empezar si quiere hablar
conmigo cuando vuelva! Cómo dice en Alma 34:33, "no demoréis el día de
vuestro (aprendizaje)" Espero que todos estén aprendiendo de a poco.
¡Sería muy divertido si pudieramos burlarnos de los demás en español!
¡Que aprendan! You might need to get someone to translate that...
 Well, time is up. I love you all. Take care of yourselves and I´m
waiting anxiously to hear from all of you! Give Kyna a big hug for me!
It´s so weird to think she´s home. Crazy. Oh, I got a letter from Elder
Trane this week. That was cool. He was my comp in the MTC, just in case you
don´t remember. He´s in Ecuador, doing great. Love ya!
 Besitos,
Elder Taylor

Another change in Artigas...?‏

Taylor Fam and Friends,
Well here it is-the end of another change! I can´t even believe it. This change FLEW by. I don´t know what made it so different, but these last six weeks seemed like nothing.
Just so I don´t get too distracted, I want to make sure Melanie knows that I hope she has a GREAT birthday! I can´t believe she is 16 today. That is SO weird! I´ve been talking about her all week to the people here. Haha. I want the address of every boy that shows up to the party...I´ll drop them a little line from the ´Guay! Just give them a little culture... :o) No, Melanie, I really hope you have a great birthday. Know that your brother loves you with all his heart and thinks about you often! ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
Alright, now I can move on to changes....are ya´ll ready for this? Elder Taylor is staying in Artigas for another change. Can you believe it? I couldn´t. I´ve been in Artigas for 6 months. Crazy. But it´s all good, because that doesn´t mean I´m staying in the same place. Haha. Elder Taylor is headed to a city called BELLA UNION in the department/state of Artigas. I hope you understood that. Haha. In Uruguay, there are 19 departments, which are like states (kind of) For the last six months, I´ve been in the city of Artigas. Now I am moving to Bella Union. It´s about two and a half hours northwest, but still in the department of Artigas.
Bella Union is the northern-most city in Uruguay. I thought Artigas was, but I was wrong. Bella Union is right in the corner where Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay meet. It´s basically out in the middle of nowhere. It will be just me and my companion in the city-the next closest companionship is at least 2 hours by bus. Crazy, uh? Now about my companion: Elder Taylor is going to be in all-Spanish-mode yet again. I don´t remember his name, but my companion is from Peru. This time it´s an actual Elder, not a Corto Plazo, so that´s cool. This will be his 3rd change. I am going to be his 2nd companion. I´m really excited! I love the Rama 5 here in Artigas, but I am stoked to get to know another part of the country, new people, etc. I leave tomorrow morning at 5 AM.
Elder Holmes will be staying here in the Rama 5. He will also be receiving a Latin companion! Haha. We had talked about it this last week, and we both saw it coming. He is a little nervous, but pretty excited. Elder Rojas is his companion´s name; he is from Paraguay, and he finishes the mission in 2 changes. It´ll be really good for Elder Holmes this next change. It will be REALLY different, but good. I´ve heard about Elder Rojas-he sounds like a great missionary.
So that´s the big news from this end of the world! It´s been hard saying goodbye to the members and whatnot these last couple of days. I wish I could take them all with me. Haha. I never believed it before the mission, but you really do come to love the people where you serve, it´s unbelievable. The Martinez family (my Uruguayan parents) were really excited when they found out I was going to Bella Union-they know a ton of people up there. They said they´re going to come visit the ward up there. Haha. We´ll see.
Mom, yes I did send a cd of pictures home with Elder Daimaru-if you want them, just give him a call or something. I don´t know-it´s on that side of the world now! And you asked me if there´s anyone that I want you to be inviting over....I´ll leave that up to you and Mary-Anne! You let me know if anything develops. Haha. Thanks for the good laugh!
Who is Mary Fletcher that asked you if I know this girl? Do you know Sabuda´s last name? It´s not ringin´a bell at the moment, but who knows?
Dad, you don´t remember my first date?! I´m crushed. Haha. But that´s because all you worried about when I was younger was those so-called "stealth dates." I still can´t help but laugh when I see those words! Good times.
Mary-Anne and Melanie-I will not be WEIRD when I get home! I promise. Haha. You know me better than that. I might talk a little different, but that´s only because I´ll mix my English and my Spanish. But it´s all good. I´ll only be weird if I have more weeks like last week when I got one letter...thanks Mary-Anne!
Julianne is pregnant?! Wow. I didn´t see that one coming. That´s cool, though! Send them my congrats, and tell them thanks for taking Mary-Anne´s turn in line! Haha. Mary-Anne, you just keep out of that line for at least another 5 or 6 months...after that, doesn´t matter, ´cuz I´ll be home when my niece/nephew is born! Haha. Melanie and Megan...just keep playing with your dolls! :o)
Mary-Anne, how is the job hunt coming? Found anything yet? If not, just be patient, it´ll come. D&C 58:4. And Nathanael-how is the school-prep comin? It´s been a while since you´ve done the whole school thing. Hopefully you can back up your studies better than you can back up your talk with your game! Yeah, yeah-I know you miss me! Haha
Eduardo is doing great: blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday-it was awesome. I don´t know if I told you, but I passed it with him for the first time a week ago. He is still on fire. The Branch President called him a "bomb" last week in Ward Counsel. Haha. Good times. He´s not too excited about me leaving, but he told me last night that he had prayed and he knows that we are going to see each other again! So whoever wants to come back to the ´Guay with me in a couple years...start saving your money! And put some away for me, too. Haha.
Hermana Martinez is doing a lot better. She is still in bed a lot, but she definitely looks a lot better. She´s headed back to the hospital on Monday for more tests and whatnot-we´ll see what happens! Thanks for your prayers.
Well, I think that´s about it for this week. On Monday I´ll be writing from a brand new city with a brand new companion. Crazy. Oh, just to let you know-the last couple of weeks I´ve written pretty early because we went over to play in Brazil, so I don´t know why you´ve been getting my emails late. Sorry. We tried to write early this morning too, but the page wasn´t working. I still haven´t gotten the emails from Melanie and Megan-I don´t know if something´s wrong with their addresses or what. I think I´ve gotten the ones from Julie-tell her thanks. And tell Skyler to step it up! I slacked because he told me I couldn´t write emails-he has no excuse. Haha.
I love you all! Know that the work of the Lord is moving forward in this wonderful country! Let´s do all we can to give it another push, uh? Take care of yourselves!
Con Cariño,
Elder Taylor

A Beautiful Day...!

Family and Friends,
 Today is a beautiful day here in Artigas. Might only need a long-sleeve
shirt today! Haha. We´re gettin ready to head over to Quarai, Brazil in a
couple minutes. Elder Holmes has only been once, so we´re gonna goi play
over there.
 Must have been a busy week on the home-front this week-I only heard from
Mary-Anne! I hope all is well at home and that ya´ll are taking care of
yourselves. :o)
 This is going to be a shorter letter, ´cause I wrote Mary-Anne for a
while, but that´s ok-she deserves a long letter every once in a while!
 Good week, pretty routine up until yesterday. Eduardo passed the
sacrament for the first time yesterday. That was really cool! Also, he cut
his hair after church! That was AWESOME! He looks SO good! He got a job
offer (after 5 months of looking) to drive taxi´s and the owner asked him
to cut his hair. We were so stoked. Haha. His mom and all of us have been
trying to convince him forever. He promised me before I left that he would
cut it, and yesterday he did! I took lots of pictures, no worries.
 I had a good scare yesterday-I almost lost my mother here in the ´Guay.
Hma. Martinez had a heart-attack yesterday morning. We didn´t find out
until about 5 o´clock, so we went over about 8 o´clock last night to see
how she was doing. She is doing a lot better, but both her and her husband
thought she was gone for a while there. But the Lord decided that she
hasn´t finished what she needs to do here yet, so He sent her back. She
said she asked politely. :o) Good thing too, because I´ve still got a week
and a half left here in Artigas, I can´t be left without careful motherly
supervision. Haha.
 Changes are next week-that´s crazy. This change FLEW by. Oh, that means
that P-Day is Wednesday next week, just for the heads up. We still don´t
know changes yet, but it´s about a 99% probability that I´m going to be
leaving my first area-after 6 months. Haha. It´s kind of a bitter-sweet
thought, so we´ll talk about that when the time comes.
 The work is going well. We are knocking and walking a lot in the nice,
freezing cold weather. The Lord is just in the process of finishing up the
preparations for all the people we are going to find this week!
 Well, like I said, this letter is short. I know, I´m sorry. Don´t be
mad. I´ll write more next week. But I´m under obligation to my companion.
Haha. Good excuse, uh? Love you all!
 You are all in my prayers daily! Take care and break down that postal
barrier! :o)
 Love,
Elder Taylor

¡Montevideo...!‏

Fam and Friends,
 So I´ll just apologize real quick to start off this letter. I forgot to
mention last week that we were going to the temple this week, which means
we had to change our P-Day. So I´m writing you from Montevideo. We were
going to leave at 12:00 last night, but the bus we rented was still on
it´s way home from Buenos Aires, so we didn´t leave until like 6 this
morning. We got here at about 1:30, our temple session is at like 5, and
then we´ll leave here for Artigas at about 10:00 tonight. That´s a LONG
day. It´s about a 7 hour trip back up to Artigas. Haha.
 This is the second time our zone has gone to the temple for reaching our
baptism goal. Pretty sweet, uh? This is the "reward" for LAST change, so
it´s a little late, but it´s all good. I don´t know what all we´re
going to do until our temple session, but ´Deo is big-we´ll find
something to do. Haha.
 Elder Holmes and I are doing really well. Working hard, and getting along
great. No Mary-Anne, when I say he´s interesting, I just mean we´re
different personalities. He´s always asking me if I´ve seen that movie or
played that video/computer game, and I only say yes about 2% of the time.
It´s pretty funny. Elder Holmes turned 20 in March. I haven´t had a
companion younger than me yet, even my Corto Plazo. Elder Holmes had a
mullet for a while before the mission-that´s a pretty interesting fact.
Haha. He´s a really funny kid. He´s doing better with the language. He
still looks at me as soon as somebody responds to him when we´re knocking
doors, but that´s part of the fun of training! Haha. At least now he
understands when people are asking him if he understands a word they´re
saying and he can say No. Nah, it´s not that bad. Well, not quite! :o)
 So quick Eduardo update-HE GOT THE PRIESTHOOD ON SUNDAY! Yes! I´m so
stoked. He´s doing really well. He´s still got his long hair, but he made
a promise to me last night that he´s gonna cut it in two weeks. We are all
pretty sure I´m leaving this change, so that means I have 3 weeks left in
the Rama. So he said he´d cut it before I leave. I´m excited; it´ll be
cool to see him with short hair!
 We are teaching a guy named Jose Enrique. We found him last week and he
came to church with us on Sunday. We gave him a baptismal date before he´d
even gone to church. He´s older: probly about 35-40 with 5 kids. He´s
separated from his "wife" or the mother of his kids. His house isn´t as
big as our kitchen (meaning my family´s at home) and it´s all out of
boxes and tin sheets. It is a very humbling sight. He had talked with the
missionaries before, but for some reason, they dropped him. We don´t know
details as to why. So we just keep praying that he progresses and
everything works out! We invited him, now we are just putting it in the
Lord´s hands to make sure he has a testimony of the truth. As long as he
reads the Book of Mormon, there is no doubt in my mind that he will.
 Speaking of the Book of Mormon, Pablo, (the lawyer) is now in Helaman
chapter 12. He´s reading like crazy, considering his ridiculous schedule.
It´s hard to find him at home in order to have lessons, but every one we
have is fantastic. We invited him to go to church with us again, but he
said he doesn´t feel ready yet. He said that the day he shows up at church
is the day he knows it true and he wants to get baptized. So now we´re
anxiously waiting for the Lord to answer his prayer! By the way, I don´t
know if I ever told you this-but Pablo is a Mason. Meaning like, the
Masonery. I haven´t dared to ask him straight up and forward, but yeah. Do
you know any interesting facts or any anything about the Masonery? I know a
little bit, but not a lot. So yeah, that´s the update on him.
 Dad, thanks for telling me about Jonathan Shelton and his stories-that
was really fun to read. He was such an amazing person. An awesome example
for all of us!
 Mom, you got a new principal? What´s Dr. Burnside gonna do? Anything? Or
just play? That´s cool. And you took the sister missionaries out! That´s
awesome! When you took them out were they able to talk to anybody? That was
a surprise to read, but I was really glad to hear that. My talk a week ago
Sunday was all about how important it was to work with/through the
members-way to be an example! What did Megan think of the whole thing?
 Speaking of my sisters, tell each one of them I love them and give them a
big hug for me. And Nathanael, give Mary-Anne one for me. I have thought a
lot about those three in this last week. I´ve got a pretty sweet family,
huh? Lucky kid. Just know that I love each one of ya! And I can´t wait to
hear from EACH one of you... :o)
 Mary-Anne, I can´t remember if I said it last week, but HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY! I hope you guys enjoyed it! The water looked freezing. And-did
you dye your hair or is it just light from the sun? Looks good! :o)
 Well, we´re gonna go play a little bit here in ´Deo! The Church is
true! I love all of you! Take care of yourselves!
 Love,
Elder Taylor

CONGRATS MOM! Another fun-filled week...‏

Taylor Clan y Amigazos,
 Mom is done with her Master´s! Holy cow! I thought this day would never
arrive-I can only imagine how Mom fills! That´s so cool. Now, Mom, take
some time to learn how to breathe and relax again-YOU DESERVE IT! But
that´s awesome. What an awesome example you are for the rest of us.
 So both Mom and Mary-Anne said I didn´t comment a lot on Eduardo´s
baptism-I´ll try and recap. Eduardo got baptized. Pretty cool, uh? Haha.
No, we had a combined baptism with Barrio 1, Elder Sacco and Elder
Richards. They had two jovenes get baptized: William, 20, and Gabriel, 11.
They´re brothers. Good kids. I had met them a couple times before at
church and while on divisions. Good, short service. We had asked Hmo.
Martinez to speak, but a job opportunity came up that made it so he had to
travel, so his wife (my Uruguayan mother) spoke in his place. So Elder
Scco baptized Gabriel first, then Elder Richards and William, and then me
and Eduardo. Out of the three of us, only Richards and William had to do it
twice. Haha. It was good. Eduardo has some problems with his legs, so we
were a little worried about keeping everything under, but we did fine.
Elder Holmes said I put him down slower than anyone he´s ever seen. But
hey, I figure slow and right instead of fast and wrong-right? One of the
best parts about it was that Eduardo´s mother, sister, niece, and nephew
all came to support him.
 Just this last week Eduardo´s two daughters, that live in Montevideo
with their mother, came to visit him. THEY ARE SOOOO CUTE! Marcia Veronica
and Maria Belen. Marcia is 6 years old and Belen is 4. They are darling. We
had a FHE with the three of them as well as Hmo/Hma Martinez in the
Martinez home. It was great. At the end of the night, there weren´t many
dry eyes. Eduardo brought his two beautiful daughters to sacrament with him
yesterday. Even though they had to get on a bus at 12 noon, he wanted to
make sure they knew what it was like. They loved it. Marcia even waved to
me with a big smile while I was giving my talk. It was a great experience.
And, even more, Eduardo was sustained to be able to receive the Aaronic
Priesthood. He will be receiving it next week!!
 Mom, I´ve already told you about my food arrangement here, but I´ll
tell you again...I eat with members EVERY day. Except P-Days and Thursdays,
which is when we have our weekly planning. P-Days we eat where we want and
Thursdays we all eat together in the Coca´s house. I don´t ever cook. If
we´re hungry at night and we don´t have leftovers-we live a block away
from El Rey de Las Empanadas! 6 pesos a piece-it´s a beautiful thing!
Haha.
 We had interviews with President Peterson on Saturday morning. We
weren´t expecting them, because they usually take place in the 4th week of
the change, but it´s all good. He wanted to get to know his missionaries
sooner. Yes, mom, we have individual interviews with him. My very first
interview with President Bankhead was the only one where we had a
companionship interview and an individual one. President Peterson is
awesome! I was kind of apprehensive at first, like with any big change, but
the next year and a half are going to be sweet! No worries, Montevideo
Oeste is in good hands!
 Mom, to answer your question, I receive a few random letters here and
there, but not too many. Oh, but I got hit by a ton of bricks this last
week...I found out Shayla Troff and JoHanna Veater are both engaged! Wow.
That was weird. The last letter I got from Shay she said she "was seeing"
an RM, but it was anything crazy. And I hadn´t even heard from JoHanna
yet! Now she´s gettin´ hitched in August and Shay in October. Weird. Send
them both my love and my best. If I don´t get announcements...oh boy...we
don´t wanna know what Elder Taylor will do...! :o)
 It sounds like Mary-Anne and Nathanael got settled in ok, that´s good!
And they´ve already got my room on hold for me! We might have to look into
the University´s up in Oregon. Haha. Yeah right. Just the vacations! I´m
glad everything worked out so well. Mary-Anne-find yourself a GOOD job! And
I mean GOOD. None of this, "Oh, this one was easy to find and it´s easy to
do." You´re SO good at SO many things-put it to work! It´ll help you with
the change if you keep yourself busy with something that you enjoy doing
and something that CHALLENGES you! You know I love ya! :o) And Swift-I hope
you´re ready to hit the books, bro! I´m not gonna lie, I don´t envy you.
I miss school, but not that much. Haha.
 Well I was hoping to get an email from Melanie telling me about her EFY
experience, but I guess I´ll be waiting another week. Dad said something
about a duet?! What´s that? I can´t wait!
 So Megan´s gonna buy a $40,000 truck, uh? Well, I´ll be home in time to
drive it, so I´m ok with that! Make sure it´s a Tacoma, Goose!
 So the coat is working out great, thanks a lot. It´s perfect. I finally
finished the tape that came with it-it was a TON of fun to hear the
different people talking. All the members from the ward and what not. Make
sure you send my thanks and my love to each one of them. And Mom and
Mary-Anne sent me a "special" musical number-HAHA! I was laughing SO hard!
Thanks for that! For more details, talk to Momma T and/or my big sis.
 Skyler, I think I´ve only got one letter from you since you´ve been
home. Just talking on the tapes from my family doesn´t count, bro! You can
send emails through the mission-something I couldn´t do. C´mon, slacker!
Haha. I love you man. I hope all is well.
 The work is going well. Sorry I didn´t take much to talk about it today.
Elder Holmes is doing well. Starting to try and talk more. Gave his
testimony in church yesterday-it was good. I gave a talk about the
importance of members. Only got a LITTLE emotional at the end-that will
probably be my last time talking in the Rama. But who knows? Haha. Elder
Holmes is way funny. Like I said, he´s a little different, but we get a
long really well.
 I hope ya´ll know that I love you! Thanks for all you love and support.
I look forward to hearing from all of you. Take care of yourselves and
don´t forget to read your scriptures. :o)
 Con Cariño,
Elder Taylor

President Peterson and My Sister is in OREGON!‏

Family and Friends,
 Wow, those were some loaded emails that I received this morning. Oh,
P.S., your sister is now living in Oregon! WHAT?! That´s awesome! I was
looking forward to the hot weather in Tulsa, but now I´ve got the cold
beach in Oregon! Wow, I think I´m still just trying to soak it in-I can´t
even imagine how Mary-Anne and Nathanael are feeling. I guess you could
kind of say that´s how changes feel! That´s a good example. Haha.
 Oh, and then I find out that my sister has some crazy deal with her eyes
that makes it so she can´t get LASIK? Man, you leave for 7 months and the
whole world changes. Haha.
 Anyways, this last week was a great one. As I had said in some of my
previous emails, the area where I´m at (still my first area) is kind of in
a stand still. We´re working, but just not seeing the greatest results.
Well, Elder Holmes gets here and things are starting to change. This last
week we found 6 people, 3 of whom are males. Who knows if they´ll progress
or not, but it was a great way to start off this change! Elder Holmes is
from Mesa. He has two older brothers who served in Mexico and Honduras and
an older sister who served in Canada. He is a little different, but he
makes me laugh. We are having a really good time together. It´s really
funny to see his face when people just rattle off in Spanish to him, and
even more so when it´s in Portuguese! (I don´t know how to spell that-my
bad!) I wonder if I pulled those same kind of faces? Hey, for all I know, I
still do! No, but he has desires to learn and work, so he will pick up
quick. He reads in Spanish really well already, so that will help him a
lot.
 And then to finish the week, we met President Peterson for the first
time! On Saturday we took a little bus for three hours to go and have a
combined Zone Conference w/ Tacuaremba. President Peterson is awesome. And
he speaks Spanish REALLY well. He served in Mexico, lived there for 6, and
lived in Chile for 3-so he better speak well. Haha. He is tall, as is his
wife. They brought their two youngest kids (sons) with them. Jamison, 16,
and Michael, 12. They are going to keep the mission entertained! The Zone
Conference was just a simple one in order to get to know the Petersons, and
for them to be able to meet us. I am really excited-they´re exactly what
we need and- more importantly- what the Lord wants!
 I got an email from Sandy Aurich this week-that was really nice. It´s
weird to think that Jason is already home with them. And now Andy Sellers
is home, too. Crazy. Does Andy talk with a crazy accent? I sure hope so.
Haha.
 Elder Holmes and I had a lesson in English last Friday-with two
Americans! Haha. We had lunch with our Ward Mission Leader, whose daughter,
Andrea, is studying English in Salto. Andrea{s birthday was last Friday, so
she invited two of her friends from school to come to Artigas to celebrate
with her. One is a ´Guyean from Rio Negro and the other was an American
from Oregon. And the American´s sister is here visiting her. We all
started talking over lunch and they asked what a missionary does in
Uruguay. I was more than happy to reply! Haha. They had never had much
contact with the Church, and so they had some random questions. I basically
ended up giving them a lesson about what a great blessing the Gospel is,
especially concerning the family. Elder Holmes had a few words to say, but
I think he was still in shock that he was hearing English again. Haha. It
was a really different and cool opportunity. It amazed me how much they
didn´t know about the Church. It really opened my eyes to how easy it is
to talk about the Church with our friends and acquaintances-even in
English! I had never had an opportunity LIKE THAT to share the Gospel in
English, so it was a really fun experience. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
 I hope you are enjoying the hot weather. We are now in the middle of
winter. Last week we had a couple of days of short sleeves, and now we´re
in thermals. Haha. Seems like crazy Utah weather. I love it.
 The Lord lives and loves us! He is just waiting to bless us with
everything He has, we just need to invite Him into our lives by doing the
things He asks of us. I hope and pray that we will be able to recognize the
whisperings of the Spirit and have the courage to follow them! Share this
amazing knowledge that we have! I love you all. I cannot wait to hear from
you. :o)
 Love Always,
 Elder Taylor

Beautiful Artigas w/ a new companion...!‏

Well hey there everybody,
 This last weekend was one of the craziest, best weekends so far! We left
for Montevideo last Wednesday Night/Thursday morning at 12:30. The trip
down was pretty fine. We got to the offices about 7:30/8ish. I walked in
and Elder Walker (one of the assistants) says, "Hey...what are you doing
here?" Thinking he´s just playing, I say, "I´m training, remember?!" And
he says, "No you´re not...not today." I think my heart stopped for like 5
minutes.
 What happened is that the new Elders that came from the USA got delayed
in Dallas because of flooding. They were supposed to getto ´Deo on
Tuesday, but they didn´t arrive until Thursday afternoon. Elder Stutz, the
other assistant, was supposed to call my Zone Leaders and have them tell me
to wait to come down to ´Deo, but he never got to it in the confusion of
trying to figure out what to do. Haha. So Thursday, I went and did
divisions in one of the wards down in Montevideo that´s called Flores 9.
It was fun. I was with Elder Evans who played for West Jordan´s basketball
team. We both recognized each other. This is only his second change in the
mission, so that´s cool.
 Thursday night I slept on the couch in the offices-it was SO fun to sleep
on a couch again. Haha. That sounds retarded, but for those of you who know
my sleeping schedule from before the mission will understand! :o) Friday I
just kinda hung around the offices and helped them do some of the work they
needed to take care of there. Then I went to the airport with Elder Hoffman
(ex-assistant) to pick up his dad! That was really fun. And no-I´M NOT
TRUNKY. We just had some good conversation while we were waiting for his
dad. Elder Hoffman and I get along really well. Friday night I went to an
activity in ´Deo with Elder Hansen in their ward. We had scripture study
and played UNO. Good times.
 Then, Friday night at about 10:30, I finally met my new companion. His
name is Elder Holmes and he´s from Mesa, Arizona...Mary-Anne totally
guessed it! Haha. We met at about 10:30 and then we left that night at
about 12:45. None of the other new Elders met their trainers because they
were all going to do the traditional meeting on Saturday morning, but if we
would have stayed, we would have missed our baptism. The Assistants and I
decided it would be cooler to have a baptism you first day than to
participate in the "traditional" meeting. So yeah.
 We got back to Artigas at about 8 on Saturday morning. Worked all
morning, ate lunch, studied, and then started the preps for our baptism! We
had a combined baptism with Barrio 1. It went REALLY well! EDUARDO IS
OFFICIALLY A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH! YES! His mom, sister, and two nephews
all came to support him. I was so excited and he still hasn´t stopped
smiling! We have pictures. :o) Presidente Lorenzo confirmed him Sunday
morning as Hermano Rosconi and also participated. Afterwards, Eduardo bore
his testimony for the first time in sacrament meeting! Man, I have never
been more stoked in my entire life. Ok, well maybe I´ve been stoked like
this, but it´s a different stoked. Haha.
 Mom and Dad, I got the coat! Thank you SO much. It´s perfect. And thanks
for all the goodies, too. Because of my delay in ´Deo I actually got to
talk to the Daimaru´s. I gave Elder Daimaru a CD of pictures to bring
home, so yeah. Mary-Anne, you have GOT to buy that t-shirt you saw for me!
Even if you don´t send it to me, it sounds SO cool! Haha. Oh, and M-A, I
got your other packages with the pictures in it. Thank you so much. A
random set of pictures, but that´s cool!
 So Mary-Anne just informed me that I have now been out over 200 days.
That´s kinda weird to think about. How many days are in a mission? Like
730? Wow. That´s not very much.
 MARY-ANNE´S GETTING LASIK?! Holy cow, that´s so cool! Isn´t that like
ridiculously expensive?! I´m so excited for you! You´ll have to let me
know how it goes. Oh, by the way, Mary-Anne, who is Sugarland? The name
sounds familiar, but I can´t remember any songs or anything. So how the
Kenny Chesney concert? Everything you hoped and dreamed it would be? Haha.
I´m glad you took Mel and Meg, that´s a fun memory!
 MELANIE, I AM SO GLAD YOU HAD A GREAT TIME ON TREK! I got your letter in
my coat! Thank you SO much for telling me all about your experience. I´ve
got to tell you, I started crying when I read you letter. I am so glad that
you went and stuck it out. You will be able to look back on that experience
and learn for the rest of your life. You sounded so grown-up in your
letter-I think that´s why I cried. My little sister is getting so big! But
hey, you leave those boys alone. :o)
 Well, make sure you all have some fun with fireworks this week for me.
Nathanael and Skyler, don´t let me down. Haha.
 I hope you all know how much I love you. I am so grateful for the example
that every one of you have given to me. Because of all of you, I am who I
am today. Thank you. You are in my prayers always! Take care of yourselves!
 Love,
Elder Taylor

June 27th, 2007

Taylor Fam and Friends,
Well, here it is, the end of another change! That´s so weird. This change has been really good for me. It wasn´t the easiest of my mission, but I have a feeling I will look back on this change with a great deal of gratitude.
Just so you know, the weeks of Changes, we have P-Day on Wednesday. I forgot to tell you last week. My bad. But I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. Haha.
Ok, I was going to try and delay telling you the changes until the end of this letter, but I´m so excited that I can´t even think about anything else until I tell you. So here it is...ELDER TAYLOR IS STAYING IN ARTIGAS! How cool is that? Haha. I´ll be here for at least 6 months. But, as all of you probly could have guessed, my Corto Plazo is headed for his house, so who is going to be Elder Taylor´s new companion? To tell you the truth, I still don´t even know. "Why?", you may ask. Well I don´t know because I AM GOING TO BE TRAINING! I am still in my first area, and this will only be my fourth change in the mission! I am going to be training a brand new missionary! I just barely got done with my training. Haha. I can´t even begin to tell you how excited I am!
So this is how it´s all going down...I head to Montevideo tonight at 12:30 with my Corto Plazo, two Elders who are finishing, and Hma. Aranda (she will be training as well). We get to ´Deo at like 7/8ish tomorrow morning, have a meeting with the Assistants or the President, and then we go up on the roof to meet our new companion. They don´t even tell us the name! I will be standing behind him tomorrow morning and not even know who it is. He´ll turn around and I´ll have to read his tag to know his name. I am so excited! So we meet tomorrow morning, and our bus that comes to Artigas leaves at about noon. Sweet, uh?
So there it is-the craziest change ever! I was with my trainer for 2 changes (normal), Sr. Comp w/ a Corto Plazo my third change (REALLY weird) and now I´m training in my fourth. If I wasn´t so excited, I would feel really overwhelmed. Haha. Now the only mystery from this change is if he will be a Latino or a Gringo. I can´t decide. Any guesses? If you do, you better get them in before Monday when I write again!
So that´s the REALLY exciting news for this week. Other exciting news-Eduardo´s getting baptized on Saturday! I´m stoked. This will be the first one I have had from start to finish. As you can tell from that, the work is slow here in La Rama 5, but it´s happening!
Mom, did you by chance get a surprise birthday email last week? I hope so. Hmo. Martinez said he sent you an email, so I hope he got the address right. Haha. They are an AWESOME member couple. I´ve told you about them in past emails, I think. So yeah, just checking.
Had a training on Sunday night from the Area Presidency about La Obra Misional. It was really cool. ALL of the leaders from the wards were invited as well as the missionaries. It was about the different roles that each organization plays in La Obra Misional. It was really good.
As house-cleaning items, I took out some money from my personal card last week because I had to pay the bills and I didn´t have enough left from my Giro; but it´s all reimbursable, so don´t worry, I didn´t just waste it. Haha. Just didn´t want to you think I just went crazy all of a sudden. :o)
It looks like Artigas is going to be headed to the temple again for this change, but I don´t know if I should go. The trips to the temple we have to pay for ourselves, and it is a bit expensive. (Because we are 8 hours away from the temple!) What do ya´ll want me to do? Meaning mom and dad. Haha. Opportunities to go to the temple don´t happen often, but I don´t want to be reckless with money. The last trip we went on, when Elder Stoddard was here, was the first time that he had gone to the temple since he arrived in Uruguay. Well, he went the day after he got here, like everyone, but he hadn´t been for a year and a half. Just to help put it in perspective. I´m not the one working like crazies right now, so I´ll just leave that decision up to you! :o)
Other than that, all is well here in beautiful Artigas! It has turned COLD, but it´s bearable. I´m excited for my new coat. Haha. During the morning and afternoon´s it will be perfect. And everyone says it´s not going to stay cold like crazy for much longer, so when it starts to heat up again, it will be nice to have for the ´jacket weather.´
Just trying to do my best here in this amazing part of Zion. I´m glad to hear that Melanie enjoyed herself on Trek. I can´t wait to get the report. And Mary-Anne and Nathanael were enlightened a little more on Uruguay, thanks to the Travel Channel. Haha. To answer your question, EVERYONE drinks Mate (pronouned Mah-Tay) We have a rule that as missionaries we can´t drink it (because we´d waste time), but I´ll buy some before heading home to try it. It doesn´t look very good at all, but I´ve got to at least try it once in my life, right? It´ll be a fun experience.
If you have any other questions, just ask! I´ll do my best to answer! :o) Tell Elder May that he had better eat some Domino´s Pizza for Elder Taylor! Oh man, that sounds SOOO good. Wow. Haha.
Know that I love you, and that you are in my prayers daily! I can´t wait to hear from you! It is nice to hear the updates from people, so keep them coming! Uncle Mike, thanks for your words of encouragement; they´re received with excitement every week! Take care of yourselves and just remember that the Lord is waiting for us to invite Him to take part in our lives!
Love Always,
Elder Taylor Alma 29:9-10

Howdy

Taylor Fam and Friends,
 So...I never know what to say to start these things. That´s probly the
hardest part about writing them. Haha. I remember it was always like that
with my essays in school, too. Well...when I wrote them! :o)
 I guess I´ll start by wishing my beautiful mother a Happy Birthday this
Wednesday! YAY! I´ll make sure to remember to sing to you! And just to let
you know, this last Saturday (the 16th) was my ´Guyean Mother´s birthday:
Hma. Cristina Martinez. She invited Diego and I over for cake, so we went
and had a piece in between lessons on Saturday. It was fun. And she said
we´re gonna put something together for your birthday...so be waiting
anxiously! Haha. And, just to prove I haven´t forgotten EVERYTHING,
Saturday was Shayla Troff´s birthday too. I don´t know if you are sending
these e-mails to her (I hope so) but if you are-Happy Birthday, Shay! We
sang happy birthday to you, too. Haha.
 And, Happy Father´s Day, Dad! I don´t even know if Father´s Day exists
down here, because no one said a word, but yesterday in Priesthood I had a
good opportunity to brag about my Dad. :o) So it´s all good. At least I
remembered, right? But I hope that you had a good day yesterday and that
you know that your favorite son is always thinking about you!
 What is this I read about trying to get rid of the brown chair?! Are you
crazy?! I have had dreams about the Sunday when I will be able to come home
from Church and talk a nap in that chair! I think I´m going to cry...!
Skyler has been slacking in his responsibility, I can see...but what else
is new? Haha.
 Melanie gets to go on Trek this week! How cool is that?! Mel, I am SO
excited for you! I wasn´t the most excited to go on Trek, but I am SO glad
that I did. It was such an awesome experience for me! Part of me wishes I
was home so I could go with you, but you will be in my thoughts and prayers
every minute! Just go without any worries or fears and be willing to have a
good time. You will make a GREAT memory!  I want to hear all about it in a
letter from YOU! :o)
 So Friday was ATK´s Lagoon Day. That´s cool. I remember stuff like
that. Haha. Melanie FINALLY went on the White Roller Coaster, Megan was
scared out of her mind (but laughing-what else is new?! haha), and Mom
almost didn´t make it to her birthday-sounds like one for the books! :o)
Mary-Anne said something about a Wicked roller coaster-what is that? I had
a dream about Wicked the other night...must be a sign that we need to go
again! Hmmm....okay!
 Mom, I asked Elder Talbot last week and Henry Talbot is his
great-great-great grandpa! YES! We´re related! We knew that we had to be,
because we´re so much alike! We were so excited. Haha. And then, last
Friday, he was the victim of a "special change" so he isn´t here with me
in Artigas anymore. Cruel irony, uh? Find a relative and then because of
someone else, you can´t expound on it. Oh well, maybe I´ll get bumped to
Tacuarembo with him next week....doubt it. Haha. But that was cool
nonetheless!
 Great news for the week...Eduardo has a baptismal date! FINALLY! Haha.
There has been a couple of bumps in the way, but we´re finally there!
He´s going to get baptized next Thursday, June 28th. That´s the day of
changes, so I´m actually praying that I don´t get moved, but only the
Lord knows, right? We invited him last night and he accepted without a
flinch! He´s so anxious. We talked a little more and then told him to
start thinking about who he wants to baptize him; he started to get tears
in his eyes and said, "Well if it´s ok, I´d like you to do it, Taylor.
After all, if it wasn´t for you, I wouldn´t know anything about the
Church." I had to hurry and ask him if we could end with a prayer so I
wouldn´t start crying. :o) But I´m really excited! This will be the first
baptism that I´ve been a part of from start to finish, so I´m stoked!
Make sure to keep him in your prayers, as he prays for all of you in every
single one of his prayers.
 What an amazing blessing it is to see the Gospel change people´s lives.
He has stopped smoking; he has stopped drinking; he has changed the way he
talks to and treats other people. A little over two weeks ago, he wasn´t
really reading in the Book of Mormon; we talked about how important it was
in a visit, and from that day forward, the second we sit down he has his
Book of Mormon out to show us what he has read and marked in that day.
There really is a power in the Book of Mormon! If I have learned nothing
else so far in my mission (which isn´t the case), I can testify that the
Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that if we not only read it, but
seek to apply the principals in our lives, we will be blessed in ways that
we can´t even comprehend! I love being a missionary and this opportunity
that I have to see the Lord work in the lives of His children! Let Him work
in yours!
 We´re getting close to the end of this change. It has been really
different, and hard-I´m not gonna lie. But I have grown and learned SO
much in this change, especially about myself and my relationship with my
Father in Heaven. The Lord knows each of our needs and is here to help us
if we just invite Him into our lives by doing the things He asks of us.
What a blessing it is to know that! Know that I love you all and that
you´re constantly in my prayers!
 Love Always,
Elder Taylor

6-Month Email....Wow‏

Taylor Clan and Comrades,
 So that´s a crazy thought-as of Wednesday, it will be 6 months as a
missionary. As I´ve said before, some days it feels like it and some days
it doesn´t. We´re already in our 4th week of this change. We go to
Tacuarembo for interviews this Thursday, we have a ward activity next
Thursday and the Thursday after is Changes. Wow. Weeks really are a lot
shorter in the mission field. Days? Now that´s usually another story...!
Haha.
 Mom, to answer a couple of your questions at the beginning of the
email....I think I´d like you to send me my Detroit Lions baseball hat, if
you can find it. If not, my Cleveland Indians one. (If you can´t remember
which is which-the Lions hat has a Lion on the front and the Indians has an
Indian: pretty convenient, uh?) I miss wearing a baseball hat. Weird, huh?
I never thought of that as something I´d miss, but there ya go. I´ll only
be able to wear it in the house and on p-days during activities, but at
least it´s more than never! Other than that, ya´ll can send whatsoever
your little hearts desire with the Damairu family. Mary-Anne said she sent
some pictures last week, so if she sent enough, I think that´ll be good.
You´ve always had a good knack for this kinda thing-I´ll trust ya. :o)
 As for the yard-sale, you can go ahead and sell my punching bag. I´ll
find other ways to take out my frustration...Skyler´s home, remember?
Haha. Just playing, Skyler, take it easy. It´s not my fault you gained
weight and I´m losing it...! Or is it...?!
 So Mom gets to speak in Church on Sunday-that´s cool! We are having our
Ward Conference this Sunday, so that´ll be fun to see. I had a first-time
experience in Church yesterday. Hma. Rosconi asked me if I wouldn´t mind
playing the hymns in sacrament meeting so should could take care of her
baby, and I said I´d be glad to. So as I´m sitting there playing prelude,
President Lorenzo (of the Branch) came up and asked if I could give a 10
minute talk because one of his speakers didn´t show up. Of course
President, I´d love too. So I play the hymns, go and sit down and listen
to the first 2 speakers; both really good talks. Just really short. So the
time comes for the last speaker-me-and there´s still 20-25 minutes of the
meeting. I walk up to the pulpit and whisper to the President "Vamos a ver"
or "We´ll see" and he just smiles and shrugs his shoulders. The next thing
you know, we had 2 minutes left and I was still talking about how service
is a great way to open the hearts of the people to the gospel. Behind me I
hear Hmo. Machado say to Pte. Lorenzo, "El don de lenguas" or "The gift of
tongues." What an awesome feeling it is when you just open your mouth and
the Lord fills it with words. It´s like the magic trick when people pull
scarves out of their mouth-the words just keep coming. What an awesome
opportunity we have to recognize the hand of the Lord work in our lives,
even in the littlest ways.
 So we leave sacrament meeting and head to Gospel Essentials for Recent
Converts and Investigators when I am told that the teacher for our class
isn´t there...."Elder Taylor, could you give the class today? Hermana
Duarte must be sick." Yeah, no problem, I´d love to. So then we had a nice
little lesson about the Spirit World. The topic went from the opportunity
we have to prepare in this life, to the death of Eduardo´s daughter, to
the passing of one of my best friends, Grandpa Talbot. I explained to
Eduardo that just as I am sure that I have felt the presence of my
grandfather many times since his passing, he too can have the peace of
knowing that his daughter is in a better place. We all left that class
extremely grateful for the wonderful blessings of our loving Heavenly
Father.
 What a great chance we have to rest from our busy lives one day a week to
give appreciation and thanks to our Heavenly Father. This little sacrifice
makes such a difference in the life of every person who is willing to keep
this simple, power-packed commandment.
 No Mom, I haven´t asked Elder Talbot yet if his ancestors come from back
that way, I´ll make sure to ask him this week and I´ll let you know. I
wasn´t sure of anything besides Gobo Fango, so thanks for passing along
that bit of info. When we were on divisions last week we found out that we
have A LOT in common. We decided we´re going to have to ask is mom if she
ever placed a son up for adoption, because we think we might be
twins...he´s just a little older. Haha.
 So dad gave his first talk as a High Councilman (again) That´s sweet.
And Kevin was your speaking comp! Crazy! I can´t believe he´s home, I
love that kid. Man, we had some good times. Next time you see him, make
sure you send some saludos from Elder Taylor!
 So this Thursday we are headed to Tacuarembo to have our interviews with
Presidente Aguilar. It will be my last time seeing him, most likely,
because President Peterson gets here July 1 or something like that. Man,
I´ve only been on the mission 6 months and I´ve already got three Mission
Presidents. That´s a fun little stat.
 I haven´t taken hardly any pictures this change, but I still have a ton
from the MTC and from my first changes with Elder Stoddard, that were on my
2nd card. I´ll get them on a cd like next week and send them on home to
ya´ll. I´ve started jottin´down notes so you´ll be able to know who´s
in some of the pictures and what not. Hopefully that´ll help. How´s the
book comin´?
 Well, I think that´s about it from this end of the world for this week.
Know that I love ya and that all is well here! The Church is SO true! How
cool is that? We belong to the only true church! Sweet! Let´s share it so
everyone can enjoy the peace and happiness that we do! ¡Vamos arriba!
 Love Always,
 Elder Taylor

¡Pero qué bueno che!‏

Family and friends,
 Well hey there! How ya´ll doin? All´s well and cold here in beautiful
Artigas. Yesterday was pretty darn nice, but the last week it has gotten a
LOT colder. But with all the walking we do, it´s not too bad! This week
has seemed to go by really fast. I love what one of my first Zone Leaders
said, "The days go by like weeks and the weeks go by like days." It´s
weird, but it´s so true. And next Wednesday I hit my 6-month mark-now
THAT´S weird. Some days it´s hard to believe I´ve been here that long.
 I went on divisions with Elder Talbot last Saturday and he said that once
I get out of my first area (which I´m still in) the time will go by even
faster. He finishes like the first of November. We get along REALLY
well-divisions was a lot of fun, and the work went really well too. Not
necessarily in order of importance....haha. I think it was just liberating
to be able to talk in English again. It´s funny, I´m already starting to
talk a few second pauses to remember words in English. And the speech
between the Gringos is a mix of Spanish and English-it´s so fun. Like some
words are just easier or cooler in Spanish, so there´s Spanish splattered
all over in our speech. I love it. Haha.
 The work is moving a long. Last Thursday, Diego and I found a really cool
lady and her 13-year old daughter. The mom USED to be Catholic, and the
daughter is VERY Catholic. I can´t believe it. This girl is probably one
of the smartest 13-year olds I´ve ever met-what´s she doin´in the
´Guay? Haha. Just kidding. But she knows A LOT about the Bible, about the
Catholic church, and she just likes to learn. We have a lesson with them
again tonight, so I´m stoked to see what happens.
 As for an update on Pablo, we´re still waiting anxiously right along
with you. He had a case that he had to take to court last week, so the
schedule was basically impossible to coordinate. But there´s no need to
worry, he´s in the Lord´s hands. Maybe he just needs a little more prep
time. Either way, we´re excited to see what´s going to happen!
 Eduardo had a really good week last week-he turned down the opportunity
to drink like 3 times! Sweet! We set up for Jose Luis to go and get him on
Sunday morning to go to church, but he wasn´t home when Jose Luis went
by. We passed by after church yesterday twice, but he wasn´t there either
time. We don´t know what happened, but we´re praying that he´s ok. Since
he didn´t come to the church, we have to postpone his baptismal date, but
the most important thing is that he makes it there.
 Diego and I are doing well. It´s very different, like I´ve said, but I
am growing A LOT. I am really grateful for this opportunity the Lord has
given me to get to know myself better, and to learn to rely on the Lord.
 Well, the silence from the States was broken this week-I heard from
Alison! Finally, somebody penetrated the postal firewall. Haha. I´ll be
waiting anxiously for the rest of them to filter in. :o) And I´ll do my
best to break down the wall that exists here, but I´ve learned that time
is quite the opponent! Haha.
 I apologize for this letter being short, but there´s not a lot of
groundbreaking news this week. The work of the Lord is moving forward, and
what a blessing we have to be a part of it! Stay prepared, worthy, and in
tune, and the Lord will use you to do His work. Christ lives, and He
presides at the head of His church! Let us do our part to prepare for His
coming. Know that I love you all and that you are in my prayers daily!
 Elder Taylor

Melanie-Congrats on the award! I agree 100%! Haha. And Family, don´t
forget-I´m waiting to hear from each one of you something you´ve learned
from the Book of Mormon! :o)