Hola Familia. I didn´t die. Don't worry--Letter 2 Days Late!

Ben's letter did not arrive until Wednesday this week. John and I were both checking our emails frequently Monday and Tuesday anxious for his letter. I am happy he had the opportunity to go to the temple and think that is a great excuse for his PDay being delayed.

Hola familia,

Sorry it took so long to email you. We found out last Friday that we were going to the Temple today. Today was super awesome! We woke up about 30 minutes early to catch the omnibus, to take another omnibus, to take another omnibus, to bring us to the Temple, which is in a part of Montevideo called Carasco, so we could catch the 9:00 am endowment session. It was super awesome and relaxing. But now P-day is Today (Wednesday) for this week. 

I received your package. I actually just got it about 30 minutes ago and haven't had the opportunity to open it. But it looks completely intact. (This is the package with peanut butter fudge, drink mixes and most importantly his replacement camera. I hope we will have more pictures soon!)

I have really enjoyed this last week. It has rained every single day and the members say it could rain another 5 days or so. It's sorta funny, when it rains, since that almost no one has a car you can walk on the street for 30 minutes and only see one person. 

This week we have been working with someone who has been investigating the church for almost a year and a half. His name is Juan Carlos; He is about 45-50 ish and lives in the fondo (back of a house; almost all houses here go back 2 or 3 more from the front) of his sister´s house (her and her husband are members). They´re awesome and are always willing to sit in on our charlas. He tells us that he has the desire to be baptized, and he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ, but his lack of confidence is keeping him from "Pulling the Trigger." We are praying so much for him, and passing by him every night to leave him something to read and to remind him to pray. If everything continues like this, I think that he will arive to his decision soon.

One thing that we have been doing with all the members that we pass by is sharing some scriptures about prayer or missionary work, and then we leave them with a list of 2 or 3 names of investigators. We share that praying for our investigators is a way that all members can be contributing to the missionary work in their own ward. We tell them a little of the people's background, what their main need is and ask them to include these people in their prayers. This has been the most successful forms of animating the members to do missionary work. We have already had a few members call us back a few days later and ask how "So and so is", "Is there anything more I can do to help", "I have a friend that I would like for you to pass by to see if you could help her."

I wish I would have understood the power of prayer better before I got on my mission. I've really been trying to make my prayers more sincere, more focused, and less selfish; It has completely changed my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Thanking more has made me a lot more aware of my blessings, and when I do ask, asking more about our investigators has made a huge difference.

Well sorry if you guys worried a lot. I love you guys a lot.

¡Les Amo!

-Élder Taylor

Ben in front of the Montevideo Temple

Ben & Elder Ve'e at the Montevideo Temple

Montevideo Temple