Elder Taylor Bradley Abel: The Lost package....FOUND!

Family.. oh I love you!

This past week was super good, it got pretty toasty on Friday when the temperature hit in the 50`s.. 53 degrees to be exact...yikes! I will leave it to you guys to go and convert it to Fahrenheit. However, things went super well. We saw the ward progress a lot this past week and that has been awesome. It started with a meeting with the elders quorum president, high priest group leader and the 1st counselor in the relief society to go over the plan that the area has come out with and their role in helping the ward grow. It went really well, we went over the parable in Doctrine and Covenants 101. They all understood and we had a pretty effective huddle(meeting when we talk about the people who didn't come to church and assign people to visit them during the week) on Sunday. To make things even better, we got a ward mission leader now! After two changes without one it should be great to have him to help us. We are excited to get working with him and get him on the same page as the other leaders so that we can continue to see growth! Just when we thought that it couldn't get better, Obispo Conti and Presidente Tate talked in church on Sunday about respecting leaders and staying far away from the great and spacious building and the "dedo de escarnio"(finger of scorn). Basically talked that we needed to stop offending people and start loving them. It has been a real problem lately and it must have gotten worse recently for them to take a whole sacrament meeting talking about it. We hope that this ward can leave its old ways and find the iron rod that leads to eternal life. Great week!

So yesterday around midday we got a call from President Smith with our changes. It turns out that I will be staying here in Salto with Elder Emrich. Elder Orihuela is leaving to be zone leader somewhere else. I will head into my 8th change here in Salto.. that will make it a whole year. There are 16 changes in the mission field itself.. yo soy salteño (; I am super excited! I will be honest, this whole week I have just been praying that I will be happy with my change and it worked. I am stoked.. Elder Emrich is from Missouri and has one change less than me so we are basically on the same page as far as wanted to work super hard. He was in my district for one change.. there is just one problem he is a hardcore Y fan. Ü I also just want to set the bar from the beginning that we are going to work hard.. no options. We are the pioneers.. or the Roger Banisters.. whatever you want to call us (; I was reading today in "A future as bright as your faith" and it talked about how a pioneer is someone who goes and explores unknown grounds and that is what I want to do this change.. Leave the comfort zone.. go outside the box and work hard! It should be one great change.

Mommy.. I got the package and I love it! New white clothing is always a blessing after 19 months..English hymns are great!.. Brownies are even better (: Wonderful package! Thank you! I also received two great letters.. one from Bryce and one from Jord. Super good to have a change in letter writing.. I would love letters from the rest of you. I also got letters from the ward, from the Bonas.. (love you guys!) and from Grammy and Grampy Abel (You guys are the best.. I love you both so much and I am grateful for all you do!). Thank you for all the love during the holidays.. I am so blessed and I thank our Heavenly Father everyday for the family and friends that He has blessed my life with.

As we head into these next 6 weeks of life.. I am gonna go into it with a smile.. who is with me?! I hope you guys all enjoy this week and are able to find joy! May the Lord bless your lives this week and may you see His hand daily.. look for Him and I promise you will find Him. I love you all! Until next week!

Elder Taylor Abel.. a caramel brownie lover (;