Miraculous Last Week of the Mission

Hi!

I first and foremost would like to tell you a little bit about our miraculous week. It was incredible! I definitely saw the Lord´s hand in His work. This past week we set some high goals and I remember telling Elder Aliaga that there was no option this week.. we were going to hit our goals period. Great planning.. definitely set us up for a great week! Well long story short about the goals, we reached all but 1 that were in our reach. We had most of them finished by the end of Friday.. it was so great to see the Lord put His children in our way. I learned that if we truly want to hit our goals then the Lord will help us, of course, when we work hard and labor diligently. Well we worked hard and labored diligently and God made things grow. (sounds better in Spanish.. Dios dio el crecimiento). There is an amazing story about this past Thursday but why tell you it in email if I can tell you in a week (:

Secondly, I would just like to take a moment and say to the good ole parents.. see you tomorrow! I finally have my parents again.. not an orphan (;

Thirdly, Me gustaría tell you guys that I love you. I really do love you. You guys have made these 2 years truly "the best two years" and I know that it isn´t over.. the mission was the MTC for my life. These past 2 years have set me up for the next 2 years.. to make them even better and then the next 2 and then the next 2. This experience has completely changed my life and I couldn´t have done it without you. Obviously I could take more time and go into more depth but this is so lame in email.. let´s have a night out each of us.. just you and just me.. and then we will chat! Much more personal (: Who is down? 

Elder Aliaga and I chilling with our yummy onion, pepper and bacon pizza!

After eating more than I have in my whole life.. 2 lunches was not a good idea! Well it was good till I felt so sick that night.. yikes. I had to lie down and breathe deeply.. I thought I was dying but I lived so that is cool. #lessonlearned

Me with my buddies.. some good guys in the ward!

 I love you and we will see each other in such a short time! ♥

Elder Taylor "animado" Abel

Dios da el crecimiento!

How are you?!

Can I just begin by telling you how great God is and how much He loves His children? Yesterday we saw a miracle in church. Looking back to last week we had a very small showing of 59 people and yesterday the chapel was full, we had 91 people. You just walked into the room and you felt different as so many more of our brothers and sisters made it to church to renew their baptismal covenants. I was talking with Elder Aliaga about it and I was just thinking about how much the Lord really does in His work. I look back to last week and we didn't invite all the people who showed up yesterday but for some reason they showed up.  All I really know is that Dios da el crecimiento. It was amazing and brought me such joy to see people there who haven't attended the whole time I have been in the area.

Things have been going good this past week.  We found a new investigator that looks like she could really progress.  Right now she says that she is atheist but I can feel that she feels God´s presence in the charlas. Yesterday we had another charla with her and I felt so strongly to promise her that if she would pray to God.. have faith in Him that she would feel of His presence. We also talked about the Book of Mormon and told her what President Smith has told us.. that it is written for atheists and she promised to begin reading little by little. Missionary work is too good.. one full week left, got to give it my all!

It is so weird to think that next time I write you I will be 2 days away from being with the parents. How nuts is that. You can't beat the constant reminders from the members and the missionaries in the zone. There are 2 hermanas in the zone that told me that they are going to call every night to remind me how little time I have.  Then you got the classic, "How much time do you have left" question.. uh.. 9 days.. Pretty much the weirdest feeling ever. 

Well my wonderful family, I sure do love you sooo much! You all make me the happiest missionary alive. Cheers to another week of ministry in Uruguay! Enjoy your week and we will talk and see you soon (:

Elder Taylor "not trunky" Abel Ü

This is a happy Elder!  #ninedays

Elder's Quorum Activity - yummy pasta!

Dolores Service Selfie

What the BUSECA!!!

How are you guys?!

It is pretty much blowing my mind how fast time is going.. however.. in the week it goes by just as slow as a turtle crosses the road when a fast car is coming. #horribleanology but you get the point.. anyway.. we are down to 2 weeks. Next Pday.. just one week.. WHAT?! #trunkylife

This past week was great! It was full of some awesome experiences. One of these comes from my divisions in Dolores with Elder Mamani. We went to a house of some people who received help from the church during the tornado mess and now they are receiving the missionaries. While we were there, it was pretty hard to get a good religious conversation going. It seemed like they wanted to talk about anything else other than what we wanted to talk about. After some time and some tortas fritas a friend of theirs arrived and sat down to join the conversation. We finally made it a religious topic.. the word of wisdom as they had some questions and we took that and ran with it.. saying a prayer and inviting the Spirit by calling the attention. They were super hard in the beginning, we would ask questions and the 3 at one time would all give their answer. It was complete chaos. We then felt to share a little bit about faith and the importance of acting on that faith. By the end of the charla, we were only talking to the friend that arrived (the other 2 found other things to do) and this friend had completely calmed down. At the end of the charla she said that we brought a peace that she really enjoyed and that she would be willing to listen to us more. It was truly a miracle that this friend arrived at the perfect time for us to help her come to the knowledge of the truth, even though the others decided to reject us. The Lord sometimes works one by one. You know I have really gained a testimony on that principle.. one by one.. I know that it is true. I felt it as Elder Bednar told us and I have experimented with it and I know that nothing happens by coincidence. 

I sure love you guys! Thank you for being great and for the love and support you have always been! I hope you have a great week and can see miracles in your life during this week! Until next week (:

Love, Elder Taylor "ready to dance" Abel

Get ready for some music and moves in a few weeks.. find a song to dance to on the 10th (;

With Elder Aliaga

Elder Mamani and Elder Montenegro.. we had some yummy chicken to finish the night!

oh yeah.. I read my subject and almost forgot to tell you guys what was for lunch today! We went to a members house and ate buseca..now you are probably wondering what in the world is buseca. In this moment stop reading my email and look it up.. would you eat it? If you have not seen the picture and you are reading this.. repent and look it up. If you are feeling rebellious and still reading this without seeing what is buseca.. stop now! Okay.. so buseca is cow stomach, beans and on today’s menu and on my plate.. pig leg. yup.. I ate that. The things I studied in animal science are now inside of me and I put them in my mouth. 

Happy Mother's Day Skype!

Hola!

First off, I would like to say HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to t'he greatest mom ever! As we were saying a prayer before leaving the familia Curbellos house, it hit me that I forgot to say it in my call. Mil disculpas! I hope that you had a good mother’s day, I know that you guys sure made my day yesterday! Thank you all.  It was so good to see you all! I was so happy no one cried Ü haha! Only 3 weeks, why would anyone cry?  Unless Skylar cried .. understood. I honestly am so grateful for you guys! You mean the world to me.  I love love love you! Hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Taylor (coming home) Abel

Mother's Day Breakfast

Hair Probs

Shavingislife.. right jord?

One by One

Family, How I love and miss you.

This week was really awesome, it was full of great experiences!

I will be honest, I have had a lot on my mind this last little bit with the mission finishing up and with all the things that I have to prepare for following the mission. I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and really didn't have desires to talk to anyone about it. I am to the point where I can't wait to be with you all again but leaving Uruguay just breaks my heart, completely bittersweet. I decided to take it to the Lord in prayer. I prayed and prayed that I would be able to focus for the last month of my mission and I can truly say that I have felt God´s help as we have started a new week. I also think that the new key indicators (received in the leadership meeting) have really helped me stay focused as we set some more specific goals to hit all of our weekly goals. Like I said, I didn't really want to talk about it with anyone and just the other day Elder Aliaga asked if we could have a comp inventory and I was able to tell him how I was feeling and ask him for help. I am very grateful for him and for the support that he is, truly a great guy and I am grateful for this time that I have with him. He is definitely helping me be the best I can be. I know that my companions are inspired. Just gotta keep working hard so that this change can be one of the best!

This past week we were going to have the stake council and we even went to the church at 7:30 for it. We were the first ones there and I was thinking "This is a stake meeting.. there is no way they all are late!" We waited around for a little bit and youth started coming to the church.. there was seminary. As we waited, Elder Aliaga wanted to enter in the seminary class and I was a little against it. I was thinking that there were plenty of other things that we could be doing instead of sitting in seminary. We decided to enter after Elder Aliaga told me he had never been to seminary. As we sat and learned about patriarchal blessings there was a new youth there.. a friend of an 17 year old. This young man’s name is Alejandro and he had such inspired questions as he took in a whole lot of information. He said that he had been looking for the truth for 7 years. We took the time to explain to him our message and why we are here. It was a very spiritual experience for me. It was exactly what Elder Bednar said on the way that we work.. One by One. We would have never been in the church if it hadn't been for the canceled stake council and that was only Alejandro´s 3rd time in the church. What a miracle that we were able to find each other in that seminary class to help him to the truth. God truly is a God of miracles, I know it without a doubt.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I sure do love you guys! Keep smiling and keep living the gospel (:

Love, Elder Taylor Abel.. a re-focused missionary!

All of my comps that attended the leadership meeting (: (except Elder Saldivar)

Elder Saldivar and Elder Emrich at the leadership meeting.. rocking the new suit!

The crew having a blast bowling...Elder Cline, Elder Correa, Elder Huamali, Elder Bogarin and Elder Vasquez.  

A Beyond Grateful Elder

How are you doing? This week was really good, I am really missing Elder Saldivar. I think that I had the most fun with him, he was a great companion and even though we had our struggles with the zone. 

Things are looking up here in Mercedes.. there are some great missionaries that arrived last week. I am very excited to see what we can do this change as a zone. I know that Elder Bushman, Elder Alvarado, Hermana Evans and Hermana Bojorquez are all here on very inspired changes and I am so glad that they are here. What a blessing it is to see the missionaries come and go. Talk about a long day but a very good one. I was seriously running off 4 hours of sleep and then we woke up early again to go back to Fray Bentos from Mercedes, but I made a big decision and got a new suit. (Pictures to come this next week because we got the leadership meeting on Wednesday with Pres, the other zls and the assistants. The suit will make its debut there!) 

Elder Aliaga has been good to have around, it is weird that he knows the area already due to his 3 changes here not too long ago but it has been nice because I haven't had to show him around.. he more takes me around to the people that Elder Saldivar and I never made it to. It will be a different change, but different is good. We are going to go to the Stake Council tomorrow, so that will be good to see the direction of the stake and gain the confidence and relationship of Presidente Patrone our stake president.

This last Saturday we had the chance to go to Dolores as a zone and it was so humbling. We went to familia Rodriguez.  They aren’t members but they have a son in Chile serving a mission. It was neat to see how they have completely softened their hearts. As we served them I just began to love them. It is amazing how service does that. I also had a very tender experience.. we went to put a tarp over a roofless house and so we all left.. us 8 strong elders ready to go. As we got there we got the tarp up.... there was a lot of standing around waiting for some wire. As I was looking around observing I saw Hermana Leyva and Hermana Evans off in the distance.. and then out of nowhere there were a group of 7 to 10 kids running full speed to them. the Hermana's were giving out toys and that is all these kids wanted.... just a new toy because they were left with nothing. It truly touched me.  We are so quick to take advantage of what we have and there are kids who don't even have a toy. I just wanted to run over to them and hug them. It was a great experience for the zone.

The time is going so quick.. it is weird to think that every time we talk there are 7 days less. (good math right?.. Am I scared for math class.. yes!) We are so close .... blows my mind but just gotta stick to it and endure to the end of each day right?! I sure do love you guys. You all make me the happiest missionary alive. I hope you have a great week!

Elder Taylor Abel.. a beyond grateful elder.

The Plaza in Dolores

Asado style bbq

The One Where He Realizes ALL of His Blessings ♥

We are done to less than 20 days before mothers day.....How are you guys?

I am doing really good. I am a little weirded out with this upcoming change being my last, but I am excited and ready to work hard until the very end. I will be receiving a new companion. Ü   I look forward to being with him and working with him here in Fray Bentos. In my study today after my prayer I opened up the Book of Mormon and I landed in Doctrine and Covenants 104 and as I was reading a little bit I read around 8 times.. the faithful will be blessed. As I studied more, I felt the Spirit testify that really through our faithfulness we will be blessed. That the Lord will really multiply His blessings over our heads. This past week I have realized how blessed I am. I was watching a Mormon channel series called Two Brothers Two (check it out.  It made me think a lot of my great brothers) and I realized how blessed we are as missionaries with all the love and service that the people give us here.... especially here in Fray Bentos.  So many great people!  You just gotta love the mission!

I especially realized my blessings as we took a trip over to the part of the zone that got wrecked by the tornado. When we got a call from the Elders there in Dolores and they told us that there was a tornado, we were thinking yeah.. sure there was, we were sure it was a big wind and all the Uruguayans were calling a tornado but we were so wrong. We have 4 missionaries over there. The Elders were in the house when it came by and are doing good. Their house was a little damaged and their front door was destroyed. The Hermanas were away from the major damage but if they would have left their lunch 20 minutes later, they would have been outside when the tornado hit and where it hit hard. We are talking that this tornado threw cars and uprooted huge trees. It was a number 3 out of 5 tornado and it hit the little town of Dolores.. only 19,000 people. We went over there and I was amazed by all the different people from other parts of Uruguay ready to help. We went looking for the church and we asked like 5 different people and they all told us that they didn´t live there. We found the church and there was so many things that people had sent.. we too also came with a truck full of clothes, food and water. It left many people homeless.. they say out of the 19,000 people that live there.. 10,000 were affected. It tore up the center of town. The worse part was when they told us that people were robbing the houses that were destroyed. What a world we live in.. it was definitely a time to think about all that I have in my life.. sooo grateful.

I should probably tell you about the new comp! I called President the other day to talk to him about the progress in Dolores with all that happened.  As we were finishing the call, he thanked me for all that I have done here in Mercedes with the zone and told me that I will be receiving a new comp. He said that is was a last minute decision but thinks that my comp will benefit from it.  He is Elder Aliaga from Bolivia.  He will be my last comp. He already knows the area because he was the one that left when I got here.. so he was only out of Fray Bentos for one change and now he returns. I am excited. He was in Elder Huntsman's zone this past change and Elder Huntsman told me how great of a guy he was. If Elder Huntsman says so I believe it because Elder Huntsman is pretty straight forward.  I am ready to work hard! We are both old missionaries so it should be great!

Thank you for all you do! You guys rock my work. I love you all!

I Feel My Savior's Love

Bom Dia! 

This past week was great! I have good news and bad news.. the good news is that I am completely stoked for that little brother that got his mission call. I know that his call to serve in the Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission is inspired. I know also that he will be the best missionary out of all of the Abel boys.. that is just what happens when you are the youngest, you learn all the goods. Hence his good looks, his charm, his smile and his testimony. You have big shoes to feel putting on the Elder Abel nametag on in Portuguese .. who am I kidding, you have bigger shoes than dad Ü   No but seriously, you will be great. I love you Sky, couldn’t be happier for you. You better be ready to speak a little Portuguese with me on Skype.. I am gonna be practicing. I already have a lot to say! It is very similar to the good ole Spanish.

Now onto the bad news.. Our investigator Mathyas will not be baptized this Saturday. We headed into Saturday ready to teach him the remaining doctrines and principles and we started the charla by asking him if he is ready to be baptized on the 16 and he said, "We actually have to talk about that. I talked to my mom and she said that I can’t be baptized." I was honestly shocked. He has been coming the church and has had a change of heart and now he is stuck waiting for his mom to either say yes or wait until he turns 18 in a year and 3 months! let the countdown begin Ü   We decided that we should probably teach a little bit about staying positive and how we can find strength through Christ. It went good, he is a strong kid and has a real desire. I know that he will do great things here as a member or not.

As for the zone, things have been pretty normal this week.  It has been a great change. I have never laughed so hard with a companion.. love him. So yeah, next Tuesday I will be writing due to changes. I can’t believe that changes are already here.. like what!?

#trunkytime.  We are about to drop under 50 days.. and I was thinking, we should probably focus on the Skype call first. I mean we do still have another Skype call before I come home.  Ü I am so excited, I have a song in mind.. maybe two. Let the countdown until Mother’s day begin? #27days "I hope that this doesn’t make you trunky".. one of the classic lines you all say, I love it. Cracks me up every time. I only am trunky on pday when there is a whole lot of time to think haha (;

Well, my cute family. I must say, I love you with all my heart! You make me the happiest missionary ever. This week, I would just like to share my testimony of this great work. I know that this is the work of our Savior and that He leads it. I know that we have to share the gospel, it is our duty as members and you may wonder "why?" It is because the house of Israel is scattered and as we preach the gospel we are gathering the house of Israel and making it easier for Christ to come. I know that we can receive spiritual strength from the Lord’s Atonement to do things that we couldn’t alone. I know that Christ lives and as we have Him on our lips all the time, we will feel His love more abundantly in our lives and that is my hope for all of you.. so share the Gospel.. talk of Christ and I know you will be blessed! I love you!

Elder Taylor Abel.. couldn’t be happier.

Lots of rain lately.. causing some flooding.

Delish lunch!

A WONDERFUL Week in Uruguay

How are you doing? 

This week was a wonderful one to say the least. It started a little rough but it ended perfectly! Last Tuesday we took some time before the district meeting to talk to the zone about obedience because they didn´t quite get it the first time. We talked very clear and very direct with them to help them and it went pretty good. We had a little "companionship inventory" between us and the zone and I thought that we were on the same page. We are now on the same page about obedience but we have seen that some of the missionaries have hardened their hearts to us and no longer want to be around us. I feel like the zone really isn't too fond of me.. in fact, they quite frankly don´t like me and aren´t afraid to show it but if they only knew that we did it out of love and not only to "drop cane" then they wouldn´t treat us any differently. It is sad that they have changed their thoughts toward us in a negative way but that is just part of being a leader right?.. not everyone will like you and I guess I am okay with that. It really bothered me throughout the week but what do ya do? Only two more months and no more dealing with missionaries.  However, that also means only two more months of teaching this great gospel as a full time missionary.  Definitely bitter sweet.

So yeah, that was the start of the week for us but the weekend made up for it all. I loved 1conference, it was amazing. So many great talks and I can testify that God answers our questions. God sure is great, I love Him and I am grateful for His love. The two talks that hit me hard were Elder Oak´s and Elder Holland´s. I also found some answers to my questions as Elder Waddel talked. So many good messages. This time I tried not to write down anything that they said.. I only wrote down impressions and it was really good. I quite enjoyed it that way, notes that I will actually use instead of just quotes of the talks.

During one of the breaks between sessions we had a charla with Mathyas and we have seen a complete 180 turn around in him. He is ready to be baptized and already has a date to receive the priesthood a week later. I am so grateful that he had the desire to act and that the Spirit was able to help him come to know that these things are true. What a true blessing he has been for me, I am positive that he has blessed my life much more than I have blessed his. The Spirit does it all, we are just there to help him feel of the Spirit. If he has the Spirit as a constant companion then he will stay firm in this wonderful gospel, I am sure of it because someone who has the Spirit as a constant companion keeps the commandments. I am grateful for him and that he has been able to have a change of heart.. the Lord sure does prepare His children.

What else could I say that hasn´t already been said to close an email.. I miss you and I love you. I love you more than you can imagine.. now picture that love and make it perfect. Yeah, that is God´s love for you. He loves you perfectly even though you are imperfect. I hope you have a great week! Until next week (: See you in 8 weeks!

Elder Taylor Abel.. an Elder who is learning a whole lot.

Luis Rovelli and I watching conf in English in the family history center.

 He lived in North Salt Lake for 4 years so he likes to watch it in English so he doesn't lose anything in the translation.

so many miles!

God Loves YOU!

How are you doing? 

Things here have been going good.  We had a little scare the other day when Elder Huamali and Elder Medina separated from each other due to miscommunication between them.... classic mission calls telling us that they are alone and don't know where their comp is.. can´t beat it  Ü  Other than that it was a awesome week! Yesterday was amazing, I was able to travel down to Montevideo for a fireside with Elder Huamali. (Those who hadn't participated in one yet had the chance to go down and participate.) We sang songs, there were videos and some really good testimonies from recent converts. I loved the opportunity to participate. I felt the Spirit so strong in so many parts of it. The part that I was just overwhelmed by the Spirit was during the first testimony. I believe that her name was Candela.  She bore such a powerful yet simple testimony and I had another confirmation that the church indeed is true. It was a feeling that I can´t deny.

To add to a great Sunday, after the fireside on Sunday we got a text from a young women in our ward that has been helping us with her boyfriend as he investigates the church. He is Mathyas. The message asked how many charlas we still needed to teach him so that he can be baptized. I definitely wasn't expecting a message like that because he has been kind of up and down lately and hasn't really had the desires to be baptized due to some doubts that he had.. however, I responded to the message and it turns out that he has the desires to be baptized. I then talked to Elder Saldivar about it today after getting home and he told me that yesterday at church he had a change of heart, the Spirit testified to him and helped him solve his doubts.  I am so grateful for that beautiful gift we receive after being baptized, what a blessing it is in my life and in so many others.  

This week I would like to testify of your divine potential. I know that each of you have divine potential and that God loves you. I know that our Heavenly Father is loving because I have felt His love. I know Him to be a very merciful God as well and that mercy is due to His perfect son Jesus Christ. I know that Christ died for us so that we may live. This last week I found some time on my hands and decided to decorate around my desk a little bit.. I cut out some pictures of Christ and found a line/quote that I love. I put the quote in the middle and taped the pictures of Christ around it. The line is "Para que tengamos gozo". I know that Christ lived, died and rose from the dead so that we may be full of joy. I know that Christ lives today and that one day we will find ourselves in front of Him to be judged according to our works, what a blessing it is to know these things. I hope that you had a wonderful Easter and I wish you all a very happy week. May you find yourselves on your knees in prayer this week searching for guidance and may you find it as we listen to our church leaders is my desire for each of you. I love you! 

Elder Taylor Abel 

Anchored by Faith

How are y'all doing? 

I really enjoyed this last week it was full of opportunities to change. We had our leadership meeting with President Smith, the assistants and the rest of the zone leaders, along with the Hermanas who are leaders. I had a moment to talk with President one on one and we talked about everything that was going on.. he then said, well it has been a problem in other areas as well so we are going to address it today. The Hermanas left and did their own thing and we had a big boy talk with President Smith. He "dropped cane" as people say it here in Uruguay but he did it with love. We then all committed to raise the bar of obedience in the mission and be the leaders.... pretty great talk! It was exactly what we needed here for Fray Bentos and for Mercedes and to add to it the divisions with Elder Chuyes and Elder Guevara.. the assistants. After concilio we went back to Fray Bentos in Hermana Smith's car.  The divisions were great, I had the opportunity to be with Elder Chuyes in the studies and the afternoon and he helped me out a lot, we had one of my most spiritual companionship studies in the mission together and we just laid everything out on the table and he gave me advice of what I could do. Very inspired divisions for sure because I know that Elder Guevara was exactly what Elder Saldivar needed too. Lots learned! The leadership meeting was awesome Ü

Between the leadership meeting and the divisions I learned a lot about being very clear and direct but also doing so with love. We are going to do divisions this week with Elder Medina and Elder Huamali. I believe that I am going to go with Elder Huamali and try to help him reach his full potential by being straight forward and loving.. I mean there is a reason that we have spent so much time together in the same zones. I will let you all know how that goes.

Our zone training here was amazing and we were able to be edified by each one of the zone members. We set some high goals together and set little short term goals to hit the high goals. We are going to start a zone fast today after lunch and end it as a zone tomorrow after district meeting. We are building faith to see miracles here..(see 2 Nephi 27:23) I just finished up a study about miracles and faith and I now know that faith is truly needed in order to have miracles.. one line that President said that I loved was.. "Miracles don´t require time, they require faith".. amen to that. So many great scriptures that testify of it as well. I also received a testimony as I shared mine.. that a day without the Book of Mormon is a day in darkness.. so grateful for my daily study of the Book of Mormon. I gained this knowledge through something Elder Bednar taught us.. The world is darkness and the Book of Mormon is the light. Some people get so confused in life about church doctrine and things they find on the internet and there is a simple question.. "Are you giving the same time to the sources that destroy your faith as you are to the Book of Mormon?" "Then why are you surprised to find yourself in the dark when you turned off the light?"

Things here in Mercedes have been better and we are going to amplify the spiritually here in this zone. I know that all things are possible in Christ and I thank the Lord for the challenges and difficulties that He gives me so I can grow and learn. Thank you for all you do! I sure do love you all so much and I know that God loves us.. and that He loves YOU!

Elder Taylor Abel.. a missionary anchored by faith.

Arrived in Mercedes

Look who I found in Mercedes....Elder Vargas

A Beautiful new area....Fray Bentos

Hola!

  

This week has been amazing and quite difficult. First things first, I love Fray Bentos. I had told you all that I was going to Mercedes and I am in the zone Mercedes but I am actually in the city of Fray Bentos.  It has been so great to re-open the area (which means that they just sent the two missionaries that were here to another part and we came in. Elder Huamali and an Elder Medina are opening the other area in Fray Bentos but we don´t share a ward with them) The ward here is called Commercial. It has been a very humbling experience nonetheless it has been wonderful. It is weird leaving the house with little plans but somehow we always find someone to talk with and the members have been a huge help. 

We were able to talk with Bishop Selius and he has been great, love the man already. He is a lot like an Uncle Jason or Dr. Prince with the way that he jokes but once he began to be serious it was great. (read my journal entry picture for me.. )(Let me know if you like the idea of sending journal entries to read as well) We also had the opportunity to talk with President Patrone, and he was the reason that we are in this area now. He is a good friend of President Smith and he asked that we be here in this area. What an excellent stake president. I am super impressed with him, he gave a few references and told us that we could have a charla in his house whenever we wanted, lots of blessings here in Fray Bentos.

As for the zone, I have a few worries. This last Friday when we had district meeting I realized that the zone is super close.. which isn´t a bad thing but I feel like we are a little too close that I am not sure what went on here last change. I talked to an Elder Alvarado (who was here last change) a little bit and he said it was pretty normal for everyone to mess around. I also have some worries for Fray Bentos, I have been obedient for 21 months.. not just gonna throw it away like that.. this may be a very lonely 2 changes. I talked a little with Huamali today because we are pretty good buddies since we have been together for a good part of the mission.. I feel like if I can get him to be obedient with me we will be fine. Other than that, it has been great here, love it! It has some real potential to be my favorite area.. so beautiful.

Things here though have been good so no worries just got to get back into the hang of things.. like I said this just could be a very lonely change.. let´s hope not (:

Well my cute family, I sure hope that you guys have a wonderful week! Keep smiling and find time to pray lots and read them scriptures.. I know that if you guys do you will see that you are happier and are more at peace.. I promise! I love you soo much! Until next week Ü

Love, Elder Taylor Abel.. an elder not giving up that easy!

Beautiful bike ride this morning! It is sooo beautiful here. 

Twelve Weeks to GO....but who's counting!

Well.. I can´t believe how fast time is flying. I only have 12 weeks left. To put it into perspective for you.. the time I have left would be my time with either.. Elder Vargas, Elder Studebaker, Elder Devashrayee or with Elder Naylor.. take your pick! Pretty nuts if you ask me, but hey I still have plenty of time! #nottrunky solo para que sepan como me siento (;

So you are all probably wondering what happened with changes.. they actually came relatively early yesterday. We finished our personal study and we were both praying when the phone rang..I was thinking that it was a missionary from the zone asking for their changes.. like normal even though we don´t ever get changes early haha.. anyways.. so I didn't worry about the phone and I noticed that Elder Emrich either.. just as the ringing was about to stop Emrich got up and it was already too late.. missed call.. I heard under his breath.. "ah.. President!" I thought.. well that sucks, the one time he calls we are praying! Emrich gave him a call and I finished up my prayer and I heard that Elder Emrich was getting a new companion.. Elder Blair from Indiana. I didn't know what to think.. I then had the chance to talk to President. He told me that I am headed down to Mercedes! I finally get a 3rd zone! I will be opening an area as zone leader with Elder Saldivar a good mission friend. He is from Elder Huntsman's group so he has right around 17 months. He is from Paraguay and he is a super stud! He was in Salto a change ago.. great kid!

I am very excited for what lies ahead for me in Mercedes with Elder Saldivar. It will be awesome to be with him, he is a great friend and I look forward to working with him. Super excited to open the area and work with the stake president there. I was sure what to think of the change when I first got it just because things were finally clicking here in Ceibal but I know that it where I need to be and more importantly where the Lord has called to me to serve so vamos arriba! Also parents it looks like we have another stop to make before getting to Salto Ü

Things here in Ceibal this past week went super well, I really enjoyed my last week in Salto. It was definitely one to remember and I can say that I went out with a bang. We worked really hard this week to have a better attendance and get our investigators back to church and it worked out. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful Sunday and it couldn't have better. We were able to have 5 investigators in the church. Margarita, Monica, Lauro, Mikaela and Juan.... and an attendance of 105 all together. The best week I have had in my time here in Ceibal.. lots of good things to come for Elder Emrich and Elder Blair. I am excited to see all the great things that they do! 

This basically sums up the good ole week.. today we had a zone activity. We played Volleyball and 21 Tip-in. Volleyball as a zone. Pretty good time, lots of good missionaries here in Salto! Other than that today we just have some packing to do and some more "see you later's".. the two things I am not too fond of doing.. but do what you gotta do right? Blessings of staying for a lot of time in one area Ü

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and are able to enjoy some time reading the scriptures! I have been reading in the war chapters of Alma and I know that we have these chapters for a reason.... other than great war stories we can find many great things for our life. Check it out (: I love you all so much!

Love, Elder Taylor Abel Ü

I spilled some milk eating some cereal the other day and it totally made a Mickey Mouse!

Beautiful Salto!

With Monica.. she is definitely getting baptized next change!

Elder Bednar Makes a Visit!

¡Muy buenos días a todos!

¿Cómo están?  Espero que hayan tenido una semana muy feliz y que hayan sonreído mucho!

This week was absolutely unforgettable. It was filled with Elder Bednar. He got to Argentina early on in the week and he had a few transmissions there that got sent out to the rest of the area.. Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. We had the opportunity to attend the transmission for the youth on Tuesday and the transmission for the young single adults on Wednesday as well.. not to mention a missionary transmission for the whole area on Wednesday in the morning and then the real face to face conference on Friday.. like I said this week was full of Elder Bednar and I loved it. I learned so much and now I have a lot to put to practice. I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have had to grow and to learn in the last little bit, the gospel is so great! 

One thing that I loved that Elder Bednar said was that we don’t go anywhere by coincidence. He shared a story about how he was working on his roof one day.. and he needed some nails so he went to the store in a baseball cap, jeans and a dirty t-shirt. While we was there a guy came up to him and asked "Are you Elder Bednar?" and he told him that he was.. The man then said.. "The disguise isn´t working" then the man continued and asked, "Can I ask you a question?" Elder Bednar said yes.. He said, I came to the store to answer your question. I need nails but that isn´t why I came to the store.. I came to answer this question.

He just kept saying.. the Lord works in his church.. One by One.. like said in 3 Nephi 17:21, 3 Nephi 28:1 and 3 Nephi 11:15. Remember that when you are asked to help someone in your calling.. the Lord works one by one! For us as missionaries.. I think a lot of the time we just get caught up in the motions and don´t take a moment to think about why we are in the place we are in or why we are in the situation that we are in and now I am going to take that moment to think about.. I really feel that it will help us as missionaries fulfill our call to serve!  

He also talked a lot about agency.. and it is interesting because there is a scripture that really has caught my attention that is found in Doctrine and Covenants 58:28. It really hit me hard during a charla when we were talking about the plan of happiness with a progressing member.. "For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.".. I love it. It has gone perfectly with what we have been learning from Elder Bednar.. the power is in us and we are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon. I took the chance to study agency more too after the YSA transmission and I had a remarkable study in Moses 7. Agency is awesome, check it out. We really don´t have the agency to choose between good and bad after making covenants and you can find it in the scripture. Just think about this question.. "Why do we have agency?" If you remember from a few weeks ago.. the doctrine always answers the question "Why?".. so go find the doctrine!

This week in the area was great! After such a spiritual week full of Elder Bednar we topped it off with a baptism on Saturday. Maikel is such a sweet kid.. right after being baptized and changed into his clothes again he had the opportunity to share his testimony. He couldn't finish it without just breaking down, we are excited for him. He will get the priesthood next week and we couldn't be happier! Church didn't quite go as we would have liked but we were able to help one investigator come.. we went an picked up Margarita and about 2 or 3 hours after church finished she sent us a text telling us that she has a friend that wants to go to church and change her life. We were able to meet her last night and it was awesome, so much potential in her friend. Her name is Monica and has 3 kids. References from investigators are amazing and now they both have a friend to walk with to church because they live right by each other! 

We also received another reference from a progressing member and her name is Mercedes. She is 56 years old and doesn't like with any guys nor have marriage problems.. she now has fecha for the 26th. Missionary Work is awesome (:

This week we did better with our progressing members.  We aren't quite sure what happened with our attendance but we aren't going to let it get us down. Only 74.... but we are going to try to get 100 people there this week to end the change right! I won't be writing until Tuesday just FYI. I love you guys! I hope you know. My desire for you guys this week is that you can feel my love and feel the love that I have for this work and go and do something about i.. The power is in you, you are agents to act! I hope that you have a wonderful week! You all make me the happiest little guy! Until Tuesday ♥

Love, Elder Taylor Abel.. an agent ready to act!

Maikel and his momma and little bro. His little bro is the cutest.. His name is Matias!

Us and Maikel.. cutie huh?

Elder Emrich and I chilling at a birthday party.  We went to visit one of our investigators.. Juan Carlos, and they were having a party for 2 of their 3 sons and so they insisted we stay. It didn't take too much convincing once we saw the cake Ü