Ben is getting transferred!

 Hola Familia

I hope everything is going well back home. Everything is going super well here. This week was strange, we had a lot of baptismal interviews, service projects, stake activity, meetings... and we also got changes for this next transfer!!!!

We had a service project with Hermano Castro. He had a house out back that he needed help removing the roof (by roof I mean corrugated metal sheets, what all the roofs here are made of). Then afterwards we had an asado (roast or BBQ) with him. It was super awesome, and we had a few missionary experiences with some family members of his that aren't members. He cooked beef, a few different types of sausage, one was pork and another type of blood-sausage. It was super good!!!

Normal/typical asado

pday activity earlier today, Asado at "the other elders we live with"´s Ward mission leader´s house,

youre gonna need to fix that last sentence, I have no idea how to say things anymore.

This made me laugh. Getting better at the language and not speaking english anymore is making it harder for Ben to write letters to us. Here is what I think he meant to say 

"Here is a picture from our PDay activity earlier today. It was an Asado (BBQ) at the house of the Ward Mission leader for the other set of elders they share a home with. You can see both sets of elders in the picture below.

At the asado, there´s always some kind of salad, rice, and potato salad kind of dish. the meat isn't seasoned very strongly. It almost always has some kind of chimichurri (a piquant sause or marinade traditionally used on grilled meat, typically containing parsley, garlic, vinegar, olive oil and flakes of chili pepper) afterwards to put on it. The meat is always super fatty so that's where most of the flavor comes from.

Then after, we had our stake activity. The missionaries of the Maroñas stake put on an "International Night." 

It was very successful. We had 4 less actives and 2 investigators show up. Our stake had over 8 distinct countries represented that got to present something to do with the culture of their home country. 

Since there are so many missionaries from the US we decided to share something from our states. I shared about Snow, Corn, and The Indy 500. Everyone was super interested in the racing aspect. 

Afterwards we had food. I got volunteered to make the American food. I didn't have time or the patience or the money to buy the ingredients for something so I just made Pigs in a Blanket with hot dogs and pre-made empanada wrappers. It worked out pretty well. It certainly wasn´t the same as croissant roils, but it was good none the less. All the Uruguayans really loved them, and were all asking me what this food was called, Some things don't translate super well. It was really funny, because they already don't think I know what I'm saying most of the time anyways, and then when I say something like that, they get super confused. 

This week we also made my very first Empanadas (a Spanish or Latin American pastry turnover filled with a variety of savory ingredients and baked or fried).  Apparently it´s like a huge stepping stone/right of passage here for missionaries. 

We went to the store one day when we didn't have lunch and got all the stuff. It was super simple, just ground beef, onion, boiled eggs, green pepper, Empanada crusts, and hot oil. This is definitely a food I'm going to make back home.

Now the good stuff:

Transfers! So last night we got the call from the Zone Leaders. 

Elder Ve'e is... staying in Libia.
Elder Taylor is... Going To... Zone "La Costa(The Cost)" in the area "Lomas de Solymar (Banks of The Sun-and-Sea)." 

So my next area is going to be up on the coast of Uruguay (if you look real close to Uruguay on a map, there are a few islands east of Montevideo, then you look directly north of those islands and that's my area). I have no idea exactly what it is like there, but I'm super excited. I've heard that the coast is a very beautiful area though.

The Yellow Box is approximately where Ben is right now. The marker by the word Ciudad de la Costa is the area I think Ben will be getting transferred to.

My new companion is named Élder Aguilera. I've been asking around about who he is, but no one really knows. Some one said he might be from Chile. I guess we'll just see tomorrow in cambios (transfers).

I think if you want to look up my city online, it's called Lomas de Solymar, Uruguay.

Also, it's also starting to get cold here. Yay! We've had a couple days were I've actually worn a sweater, Whoo hoo!

I love you guys! Thanks for all the pictures. I hope everything continues well back home.

With Love

-Élder Taylor

This is the street that Ben lives on and is what the area looks like where he has been serving.