Funny Package

Funny package that we got. Like the english on the outside would help prevent theft. Just a good laugh!

Saying Good-Bye to Elder & Sister Pugmire

Here is Ben's letter from July 5th

Hola,

Great to hear that everyone is staying super busy. Sorry I didn't email on Saturday. The zone is having an activity here in the capilla de Malvin so we changed the p-day for today. 

Today is also the day that Elder and Sister Pugmire go home. 

Elder Gallagher & Elder Quezada with the Pugmires

Ben & Elder Munoz with the Pugmires

Elder & Sister Burnett with the Pugmires

They are one of the senior couples here in the mission. Hermana Pugmire was the nurse for both the ´Uruguay Montevideo´and ´Uruguay Montevideo West´ missions. 

Élder Pugmire was facilities maintenance guy for the mission; he prepared houses to be opened and closed, bought and transported any kind of appliances and furniture for the mission, and a whole potpourri of other really important tasks. He worked a lot with us (as financiers), seeing as we are the ones who find the houses to rent, coordinate the contracts and pay for any necessary repairs or supplies. 

Tonight we will be able to go to the airport to see them off. They're very sad to leave, but I'm sure they can't wait to get home and see all of their grandchildren (some of which they haven't even met in person). 

I think it would be amazing to serve a mission with my future spouse. Every time I think more and more about how amazing the Church´s organization really is. After seeing just my little portion as financier, the church is amazing. One of the largest and strongest volunteer organizations in the world. That there are tens of thousands full time missionaries that not only are volunteering time, but personal, and family funds to serve the lord.

What a wonderful and inspired organization.

This week was really fun. Élder Gardner (on of the zone leaders that I live with), he was also my first companion and my trainer, had an operation on his foot so he is not going to be able to walk for the next two weeks or so. We've been having intercambios between us the secretaries and Zone leaders. We learned a lot getting to go out with the other Elders. 

This last week and a half President Cook was in the conference in Salt Lake where they gave training to all of the new mission presidents. I was on LDS.org and saw a picture of him in one of the conferences. (See link: https://www.lds.org/church/news/missionary-work-broader-than-ever-includes-before-and-after-baptism?lang=eng).

He´s the bald one in the Brown suit in the front row. In other fun news they changed our card management system for all senior missionary cards. It´s a big change, but not that exciting to write back home...

I hope that everything is going well back at home. I love you all so much.

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Ben made a pineapple upside-down cake for breakfast and it looks like it turned out well.

New investigators and an exciting bus ride

1. 
   
   

   Here is the letter from Ben we got on June 21st. 
   
   So great to hear from you guys. Trek sounded like it was a success this year. I hope everyone had a great time and will remember the experience. I tried to explain what trek was to my companion and a few members and they didn't really get it. They understand the whole pioneer thing, but they don't quite get the whole period clothing. I think if someone could start this down here it would be rather successful. There are lots of just open  fields here in Uruguay. Out in the interior of the country you could walk for days and only see cows.
   

   
   

   So I'll update you on what we did this last P-day. First is Belka and Humberto.They are one of our favorite families right now. Humberto is a member of the church, was baptized at the age of 14 way up north in the country in Artigas. Then afterward when he was still young moved and couldn't find the Church. Fast forward almost 60 years and by now he has forgotten a large majority of what he had learned when he was a youth. 
   
   Élder Muñoz and Élder Oliviera found him in the street one day walking his dog and invited them to come by another day. Now for the first time in almost 60 years he has returned to the church. Getting to know his past. He talked to the ward secretary and asked him to look for his membership records. They sent a request to Salt Lake and about 4 days later they found his records. He was so excited to see the names of the missionaries who taught him, who baptized him, familiar but forgotten names. Now he is having a spiritual rebirth getting reconnected with his own personal history. It turns out that he never received the priesthood so that is his next goal; to have an interview with the bishop and to see what he needs to do to be ordained.
   
   

   His wifes name is Belka. She is probably one of the nicest people I've met on the mission. She is a nonmember and is currently listening to the charlas. Every time we come over, she stops everything and makes us a steaming, creamy hot chocolate to fight away the cold outside. This last Pday we went to their house to make some lunch and to hang a "hood" above the range in their kitchen. Elder Muñoz cooked fried shrimp and fish Panamanian style with a delicious mango and papaya juice. It was so fun and a great opportunity to get to know them.
   
   

   Belka is someone who believes a lot in God, but like most people doesn't have any way of showing it outwardly. You must remember that it is not a custom to go to church here. The people just aren't used to it. We're trying to help her understand that her relationship with her Father in Heaven is made so much stronger by the way that we live. By going to church and by making covenants with our Father in Heaven we show him that we are ready to receive more light, knowledge and insight in our lives.

   
   

   I forgot to tell you that story that Édler Muñoz shared. So we were waiting to take the bus (our most common type of transport). There is one bus that is the 64A and the 64B. Flagging it down Élder Muñoz asked me if 64B worked for where we were going. I said I wasn´t sure and figured we would just wait for one of the others that we knew worked. 
   
   The bus stopped for someone else and next thing I know Élder Muñoz is half way up the steps to get on the bus. "Ok", I say to myself, "I guess we're taking this bus." I make my way to the door (within arms reach of my companion) put my foot up on the first step and the doors close and I loose my grip on the handle inside of the bus. 
   
   So I'm standing in the bus stop, my companion had turned around and was looking at me through the glass with the biggest look of terror. (keep in mind, we are literally in the middle of the city right now full of people, basically chaos and confusion). It took about 3 seconds to register what had just happened, and I started running the 4 blocks to the next bus stop, hoping that my companion could get off in time for the next stop. Thankfully he was able to pay for the bus ticket (22 pesos or about a dollar) then get off in the next stop and run towards me. 
   
   It was ridiculous. We just sat down in the street breathing heavy from our sprints and adrenaline rushes, and just started laughing. Who knows how many members that were in that crowd saw me running like a wild man alone through the streets without my companion; But oh well, we did the best we could. And now I have a great memory of taking the bus.

   
   

   well. I love you guys. Thanks for all of your support and love.

   
   

   I love You Guys So Much,

   
   

   Élder Benjamin Taylor

   
   

   P.s. I got the letter from Dad with the first presidency message. Thanks, And by the way. The Open House was not just successful because we are in south america. Montevideo is basicaly the exact same culture as the states. They're no more receptive nor unreceptive than the people back home, it was successful because we had 6 missionaries and all the members inviting people at every opportunity we had for 5 weeks. 
   
   

   If anything it would be easier to get people to go to church back home because they don't need to take a 35 min bus ride and pay 7 dollars to take the bus to get to the church building. If they don't have a car, a member can give them a ride. In our congregation of 150 people, there are probably 6 cars in the parking lot every Sunday. Anyways that's my 2 cents on the subject.
   
   

Cool Picture!

This is a picture Ben sent a few weeks ago. I love it!

It is graffiti that Ben found and got his picture taken in front of. The funny thing is that the word "Barrio" can mean neighborhood, but they use that word to mean "Ward" (the way we organize congregations in our church based on geographic boundaries). 

This is a great picture of Ben and you can see how much he loves Montevideo and being on his mission.

Found Uruguayan Gram--Very Short Letter

I am finally caught up!!!
This is the letter we just got from Ben on June 14, 2014. I felt bad because we did not have the ability to send Ben a nice long letter like usual due to Youth Conference the end of the week. This year was Trek (pushing handcarts in pioneer clothing and sleeping outdoors for 3 days). As Stake Young Women President, I was busy with making sure things went well and John came as support for the Logistics person. It looks like he did not have time this week to do a long letter either, so it all worked out. We will both send longer letters next week.

Send me pictures of trek. 

I was at an investigators house all day so we didn't get to email the full time. I'm gonna email better next week.

I found the Uruguayan version of Gram. She cooks amazingly and acts the exact same way, and is about the same height. 

Her name is Belka and she is investigating the church. Her husband is a member and we had lunch with them, and did some service all day today. 

It was super fun. 

Love you guys!!!

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Changed Jobs in the Office & Transfers--Busy Week!

This is the letter we got from Ben on June 7, 2014. This was another letter I did not get posted in a timely manner. Enjoy!

¡¡Hola Familia!!

This week has been fantastic... ly busy. This last week was the week of cambios or transfers (where all of the missionaries come here to go to their new areas). This week we only had 6 Oros arrive (what we call the new missionaries) and 7 Valientes head back home (what we call the missionaries in their last 6 weeks).

Ben and Elder Munoz on the day they picked up the Oros (new missionaries) 

Elder Muñoz and I also changed responsibilities in the offices. I was the Tarjetero (card manager) and mainly was in charge of all basic missionary funds like the

-Missionary Cards

-Monthly Allowance

-Reimbursements to missionaries for travel expenses (City Bus mainly)

-Cell phones

-Medical Insurance Solicitations

-Vehicle Gas and basic maintenance purchasing

-And the Cards of the adult missionaries to purchase mission related expenses

Now as the Chequero (Check Maker) and Housing Coordinator I:

-Pay the rent of all 88 missionary Apartments

-Pay the Water and Light Bills of each House

-Manage all city taxes (the houses in Montevideo all have specialized taxes to pay for various public works)

-Buy/Order Food for conferences

-Rent Bus charter companies to bring the missionaries to and from conferences/changes

-Prepare a monthly report of all spending in the mission and meet with President Cook to control the mission budget

-Make/Cash Checks for various large mission related expenses

-Control the Petty Cash fund (extra 25,000 Uruguayan Pesos used for emergency and unforeseen expenditures)

So now I'm starting to adjust to my new responsibilities. I spend a large majority of my time calling the land lords and reading the contracts to fix any kind of dispute the land lord and reality companies have with us. It's probably one of the most stressful things I've ever done, yet I find it very fulfilling. 

I thought I was a fairly patient person before the mission, but that has been tried lately. I've been praying  for patience and help with more frequency than I think I ever have. I can honestly say that my Father in Heaven is hearing my prayers. He is providing me with people to help, problems that were huge at one point are just fixing themselves. I can't be thankful enough for the help that I've received.

We were also blessed to have been able to pay all of the rents for the month of June almost 5 days earlier than the deadline, with almost 90% less problems than what we had this last month. 

And having everything done early we were able to leave the offices and work (like a real missionary) almost 3 full days (after 4 in the afternoon) this week. We have been having great lessons talking with everyone we see. So many people have been prepared by the Lord to hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After this week I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who loves me, that helps me with the seemingly small and insignificant things.

I Love You All More Than You'll Ever Know,

Élder Benjamin Taylor

Better Late then Never-Letter and Pictures from May 31, 2014

First, I must apologize for how long it took me to post this letter. This is a letter and pictures we received on May 31, 2014. Life has been a little hectic, so it took me a while to get everything done. I am very sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy his letter and all of the pictures we got this time.

Hola Familia,

I'm so glad to hear that things are going well back home. I know I've said it a few times (still not enough), but you guys are amazing! Thank you Mom and Dad for all of your sacrifices on behalf of us, your kids. It means so much. I realize now how ungrateful/unobservant I was before the mission. 

Every time I look back to any moment in my childhood, I see the difficult things you had to do, the hard times you persevered through, the sacrifice; but it never affected my happiness or the love that you showed to me. I was so blessed to have an easy childhood. Being here "in the real world" (or at least the closest I've been to it) on my own and far away; I've seen other families, home situations, and the lack of a stable parental environment and it has been very hard to see honestly. It has made me think a lot recently about what does it meant to have two loving dedicated parents. 

This week we (I, Elder Gallagher, Elder Muñoz, and Elder Hansen) went to the house of an investigator of Elder Gallagher and Elder Hansen, named Roberto. He is 73ish yrs old, living with his 6 yr old  grandson Alex. They have passed through alot of trials in life. 

Roberto & Alex

Roberto was married to a member of the church, but about 10 years ago she died. After that, one of his children had Alex then stepped out of the picture leaving him with the grandpa Roberto. Recently, in the last two years, Roberto had a stroke leaving the left part of his body severely affected. And all this time caring for Alex (he reminds me alot of Will). 

Now he's a lot better health-wise, can walk to a point, but it is still a struggle to do lots of the basic household tasks. Now he is listening to the lessons and wants to eventually be sealed to his wife (a faithful member while she was living) in the temple. 

Roberto is a great man, but it was very obvious that he was in need of a lot of help. So the other Elders organized a service activity with the Elders Quorum to help him do some deep cleaning in his house. The activity was great. He was in need of a lot of help.

The ward is being very helpful in making him feel loved. I think the Relief Society will also be playing a fairly large part in the future in helping this lovely family. 

About the Pictures:

So this last p-day we went to Ciudad Vieja to go see some of the most popular sights in Montevideo. 

It's not a huge city but it has a beautiful older neighborhood.

A lot of the spanish and Italian Influence is seen in the buildings and in the streets.

This is a cool building in Montevideo--Ben did not know the name of the building but liked the way it looked

This is the most touristy area in Montevideo. 

The Feria (fair) is where you can purchase many items. These are gourds that are for sale in the Feria

José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) is a national hero of Uruguay, sometimes called "the father of Uruguayan nationhood"

This is the monument of Artigas

Ben by the monument of Artigas in the Plaza Independencia

According to Wikipedia, Artigas was exiled to Paraguay in 1820 and he died in 1850, at age 86. It is said that Artigas, feeling himself to be near death, asked for a horse and died in the saddle, as a gaucho. His remains were buried and then re-interned at the Panteón Nacional in 1855. On the 19th of June, 1977, his remains were transferred to the Artigas Mausoleum in the centre of the Plaza Independencia. 

From the plaza with the Artigas statue you're about a 3 min walk away from the beach. This is technicaly out of our mission but because we always have to come here to go to the bank or to deal with card problems President Cook lets us go on p-day if we want because it's practically our area.

Well, I love you guys so much!

With Love Élder Taylor

Here are some other pictures Ben sent this week to show us where he is living.

This is a look down the street in his neighborhood

This is the view towards the ocean from Ben's apartment window

This is his apartment building (the tall one)