I know God Lives and He loves us!

Hey Everone!

How are you all doing? I am so grateful for the emails and the love that you guys send me. I am so grateful for the things that you are all doing and for the experiences you are having with the only true gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I just want to start this email off with my testimony.. I am 100% positive that this is the true church. I know that God loves us.. that in fact is the only way that people will be able to understand our purpose as member missionaries. As we invite others to come unto Christ, they need to know of God´s love. I know that He loves you all and that he knows each one of us. I know that He answers our questions and helps us through our trials. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I know that the Plan of Salvation, that we chose from the beginning, favors our success and our happiness! I love you guys soo much and hope you know that I think about you all daily and want the best for you!

It is interesting actually.. thinking about our purpose.. Invite all to come unto Christ. It isn´t.. Invite all to go to Christ.. why is that? You ever thought about that? I have come to realize that we invite others to come unto Christ because we are already on Christ´s side. Unlike sports and the many teams that there are.. there are only 2 teams. You are either with Christ or you not. May we all be with Christ and help others to come unto Him! 

Bautismo! Wow, fue tan bueno. De verdad, estoy muy agradecido por Ana y por su decisión de ser bautizada. Yo sé que ella va a ser un miembro excelente. Me siento muy bendecido por poder tomar parte en su progreso a la felicidad y al templo! #práticadeespañol

Seriously though, man it was so awesome. As you have seen in the pictures, Elder Naylor got to baptize her and it was amazing. He did so good with the prayer and it was just a one dunk baptism which always makes it better. It was my first baptism in the morning and I loved it.. no better way to start off the day. We went and visited her later in the day and she told us of her experience. She told us that the water was cold when she first got in but as she was baptized and came up she didn´t feel cold.. she felt warm and nothing else really matter.. only the fact that she was baptized. What a stud. 

Sunday came along.. and church here starts at 9:30 and it was around 9:25 and she still hadn´t shown up.. We went in and sang the song, prayed, the bishop did his ward business and we were just about the sing the sacrament hymn. I know as soon as we started the sacrament hymn that she was not going to be confirmed which would cause a long process with General Conference.. however, right before we started to sing a group of people walked in and among them was Ana. I was so grateful. Bishop then got back up and talked about the baptism and told the ward that they would do the confirmation. I had the opportunity to do the confirmation and it went really good. I will be honest, I sat down and felt like the confirmation was a mess.. My mind was blank and my spanish just didn´t come like I wanted it to. I then talked to Elder Naylor afterwards and he said that the confirmation was perfect and that he loved it... I felt really grateful and knew that Satan will do anything to make us feel down or miserable like him.Don´t let him get you down. I am grateful for the priesthood that I hold and for the opportunity to exercise it daily! God is great!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I am so proud of my little bro for being the King of the school and for the race that he ran! What a great kid right?! Not to mention the smooch in front of everyone... (; I love you all! Be sure to look for some fun and some smiles this week! ♥

Love, Elder Taylor Abel.. a very happy fellow

Elder Neilson, Elder Eiker, Elder Naylor and me

 Ward Friends

Ana Rocks!

Guided by the Spirit

This week I felt the Spirit guide us.. I know without a doubt in my heart that the Spirit guides missionary work. The other day we had 2 charlas fall through within 15 minutes of leaving the house.. #uruguayprobs.  We didn´t know what to do.. we were honestly just walking around aimlessly. Just then I had an impression that we should go visit Lourdes and Marcelo. I couldn´t deny it. I put it off for a second as we went to another house and then I told Elder Naylor that we need to go visit them because they are going to be there. (side note: beginning of the change we went like every single day trying to find them because they were such a family of gold. We continued to do that for about 2 weeks and we decided that they were never home, and besides that, their home was off the beaten path). Elder Naylor was down to make a visit so we made the long walk over there. As we showed up to the house they were outside. We were invited in and we had an absolutely beautiful charla with them about the Restoration. I don't why we were supposed to go other there... who knows maybe they won't be baptized by us, but I know that our Heavenly Father is preparing them to baptized. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and for the way that it guides us. 

This Saturday we have the opportunity to watch one of God´s daughters enter the waters of baptism.. Ana is so ready!  We still don't know who is baptizing her, I hope she picks Naylor... it would be awesome for him. We couldn't be more excited for her and we are soo happy to see her change her life and become a member of the only true church! Missionary work truly is a blessing! Love it!

We received changes and we got another change together! Wahoo! It is going to be a sweet change. I am super excited for all that we are going to do. I am so grateful for Elder Naylor and for the fun that we have as we work our tail ends off. We definitely are very blessed here in Cerro 8. 

Well peeps.. I sure do love you all! Time is going by way too fast.. next P-day we will be preparing for general conference.. like what?! I can't believe we are already here again! I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Keep smiling and know that the Lord blesses you daily!

Love, Elder Taylor Abel.. a smiling missionary!

In celebration of my 15 months out....we made a cake that Taylor Hancock sent me for my birthday last year.  It was a blue velvet cake with yummy yellow frosting... which is so Uruguayan and adorable!  We had fun making the cake, but it was even better when we each ate half of it in one night.... so much cake but so worth it!

Enjoying an "Alfajor" treat.  Now you see it.....

Now you don't

"Lift up thy head and rejoice..."

How are you doing? 

Things this last week went pretty well. I am super grateful for this area and for the people that are here to help us. I am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord that we are able to notice in our day to day activities. I am grateful for you and for the trust you have in me, and for your help in making me the man I know I can be. I am full of gratitude this morning as I received an email from a friend on a mission who is thinking about going home. He has a lot of time in the mission and I couldn't help but think of the many blessings he has received and the many blessings that the Lord has in store for him as he continues his missionary service. I hope he continues to serve because this is such a great work. I am so grateful for my mission and for the many things that I am learning, and for the love of our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. The gospel is true and I am so grateful to share the good news with the people of Uruguay. What a blessing! 

This past week I have been having some rougher days. I have felt pretty inadequate as I try to train Elder Naylor.  I have been praying to find out what I need to do to help him become the missionary the Lord needs. As I helped my friend who is going through this hard decision of staying in his mission or ending it short, I found my answer... Alma 8:15 "Blessed art thou, (Elder Abel) (insert your name here); therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God."  I need to just lift up my head and follow the other counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 6:36, "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."  I need to stop doubting myself and I need not fear.. the Lord is with me. I need to put my confidence in Him because I am nothing without Him. I am so grateful for this sweet answer that I was able to find. I am grateful for the scriptures and for the answers they truly give. The Book of Mormon is true and really does help us in times of need.  How blessed we are as missionaries of the Lord God Almighty.  How blessed are all of you as members of the only true church on the face of the earth!  

This week went pretty good other than the rougher days. We had some more cool stories with Ana and I will only share one with you today because I mean, I have to have some stories that you haven't heard! Her dad recently passed away....he was pretty old and pretty sick from smoking for most of his life. They had given him like 2 to 3 months to live, but he only made it a week after that.  We we had a charla with her and just answered her questions that she had. We set up another day to go by and share The Plan of Salvation.. the last part of it where we talk about where we go after we die. The last time, we had taught the Plan of Happiness but only to the Atonement and so it was the next thing to teach anyways.. the Lord works in mysterious ways! However, after talking with her for quite some time, she began to describe this rocks that her dad loves.. you find them in Artigas and Rivera (Northern Uruguay).. they have purple diamonds. As we finished up the lesson she told us that she had something for us.. we went out into another room and she let us choose a rock from her collection so that we would always remember her.. what a sweetheart. She then told us that we have done so much for her and that we don´t even know it.. as she said that, all I could think of is how much she is doing in my life. She blesses our lives with rich experiences every time we are over there.. such a blessing for us. (Picture of us and the rocks for next week.) Ps... she went to church and loved it as well! ¡Vamos Arriba!

Well my dearest family, I hope that all is well and that you may "lift up thy head and rejoice" and remember that the Lord is always with you. Elder Naylor shared this with me and so I would like to share it with you.. 

Footprints in the sand

"One night I dreamed a dream. 

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
- by Mary Stevenson 

I love you ♥

when bad weather comes and you can't hang clothes outside 

#wetclothesprobs

La Iglesia.. hermoso no?

Down the street from our house.. welcome to Cerro!

Gathering the House of Israel

How are you?  Things this week went super good. We were able to meet up with Ana a few times this week and she is as good as they get. We feel so blessed that we were able to find her. This past week she attended stake conference.  She is still strong in preparing to be baptized on the 26th.  Last night we taught the Plan of Salvation. Every Sunday or weekend, she goes and visits her son in jail. She usually comes back super down and very disseminated.. but yesterday she was smiling and happy after going to the conference. As she went over to the jail and through the scanner, the scanner started to go off because of her HLJ ring and the guards asked her to take it off.  She told them that it means a lot to her.....  the guards let her through and just told her not to wear it next time. As she was talking to her son, she told him that this was the way to freedom and gave him the ring telling him what it meant. Haz lo justo.  She said it was a very tender moment for her as she gave her ring away to her son who recently entered jail 3 months ago. Last night things just kept clicking for her through the lesson and her testimony is growing stronger and stronger as we explain things that she has never heard before. Every time we go to her house we just leave feeling so good, with a new love for the mission and the people. As we help her grow, she has no idea what she is doing for us. We have grown tons just from visiting her and seeing some of the troubles that she faces and her determination to learn, change and continue smiling. Definitely the highlight of the week in the work.  p.s. We took Ana a new ring because she asked for another, she said she felt naked without it.. golden right?

Stake Conference went super good. We heard from President Guarteche (stake pres), some people with testimonies about reactivating in the church, President and Hermana Ventura (Temple Pres and wife), President and Hermana Smith, and Elder Svec and his wife.. he is a member of the area 70 I believe. The conference went super good and Ana listened very closely to the messages. Two of the messages that I would like to share with you guys. One comes from Hermana Ventura.. she talked about baptism and how it is only valid if we go completely under the water, she likened it to missionary work and the work of salvation all together.. we must completely immerse ourselves in the work for it to be valid. May you all do what is need to immerse yourselves in the work of salvation. The other comes from President Smith.. it is another analogy. He talked about how when he was 5 years old, he was playing with his friend and they went into the backyard and played and played for around 4 hours. He was having a blast but his worried parents were frantically looking for him.. he had no idea but when his parents found him, they stressed how worried they were.. he likened this to the house of Israel.. we have many of our friends lost.. they don´t even know that they are lost, because they don't know that they are part of the house of Israel. Why are we not frantically looking for them? I invite you to begin worrying for those who are lost as if they were your own kids.. let's gather the house of Israel together!

I love you guys. I know that Christ and Heavenly Father love you all soo much. I hope that you are able to enjoy this week.  Share the Gospel and you will be blessed. Have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Taylor Abel a proud son, brother and missionary.. a missionary who loves his family with all his heart.

"Go UTES" all the way from Uruguay!

Bowling today with the zone! Super fun!

Haz lo justo

My dearest family!

How are you guys doing? I am so excited about Sadie Kade.... sounds like a total cutie!  I was so excited when I logged on and read that from Aim. Pretty sweet that I was super close with my guess. When I was sitting in the cyber guessing.... I took like 5 seconds on each and made my guess. I don´t think that it has much to do with me being closer to the Spirit.... I just know my nieces and nephews (; 

This week felt a little longer but it was a good week. No we didn't find 4 new investigators again or have any crazy successes but we did have a good week of fun and maintaining!  We walked quite a bit this week.... we just didn't have too many people receive us.  We did a lot of walking for not too many charlas so we will be making some changes tomorrow in weekly planning.  If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that if something doesn't work.... you gotta change it. You can expect good results if you are doing the same thing as last week and last week didn't quite add up.  The same in life.... if we want to change things or see changes, we need to change.  We can't expect to become real disciples of Christ if we aren't making appropriate changes when they are needed. " It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow." - Robert H. Goddard. Change is necessary to go and get those dreams Ü

I would like to give you a challenge this week and it comes from an anonymous source.. "Try to give ten compliments a day, to ten different people. You´ll find that your whole world changes by the accomplishment of this goal." What do you guys think?.. will you do it? I am going to give it a try.. don´t start tomorrow.. start today.. Today is the Day!

This last Monday was probably the highlight of the week. We had another charla with Ana. This time, the charla was just us with her and we taught the Book of Mormon. As the charla came to a close and she began to express her feelings, Elder Naylor jumped into the conversation to invite her to be baptized.. she said yes! As she began to talk more, I came up with the date of the 26th and she accepted. She then told us that she would do everything in her power to read, mediate and pray about The Book of Mormon. We have passed by her house but haven't had another charla yet.  She loved our CTR rings.  We just have the simple green shields that say HLJ and told us that she would like one.. not because of its worth but because of what it means.. Haz lo justo.  

As for Ken, we hadn't been able to have a charla with him but yesterday he showed up at the church and we had a wonderful family night with him, Maria Almada and Hermana Britos about prayer and testimony (Alma 4:19). Pure Testimony. We have another charla with just him tonight in the church. Ken and Ana are the big focus for now for us. Josefina doesn't want to progress right now and we have been struggling to find the others.... we will take what we got though! 

The week was super good and yesterday we had a beautiful conference in the stake center to only Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile from Elder Walter González, Elder Richard J. Maynes, Sister Niell F. Marriott, Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Robert D. Hales. They talked about the importance of prayer and family night and then they hammered the two topics of missionary work and the Sacrament.  It was perfect for Uruguay.

I am so grateful for the work and for my compy and all that we are doing! I am happy, healthy and we are working hard in every way. I sure love each and every one of you! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Taylor Abel 

Lunch on Saturday.. delish.. made in home! (Raviolis given to us by Maria Imelda)

Finding JOY in the JOurneY!

How are you guys doing?  I must tell you.. I sure do love you so much! Thank you for your emails. I wasn't able to write you all back individually because of the craziness of the day and not as much time as normal but I thought I would just get right into it with the big email.... hope you don´t mind.

Things this last week went super good! I was super grateful for the work we were able to do. We got a lot done and were able to find quite a bit of new people to teach. I would like to share an experience that I had this past week. On Tuesday morning we were planning and Elder Naylor and I took turns setting some goals.... it was his turn to set the goal once we got to news with members and he set the bar high.  We set the goal of finding 5.  When he said that, I was thinking to myself, wow.... we are going to have to work hard with some members this week. (Something we should do every week) However, as the week went along we were able to find 4 new people and one of the new people has fecha baptismal for the 26th of September. His name is Ken Rey. He is the nephew of the Hermana Maria Almada.  She is also the sister who took us out and showed us like 7 houses that we could visit... basically like 7 references.  Yeah, her nephew is our next victim (; It was a week of many blessings. I am so grateful for Elder Naylor and the faith that he has.

This past week was honestly one of my favorite weeks of the whole mission. It was up there with the time that I spent with Emili and Macarena.... remember that? I had thought that I found like a new love for the mission.. which I definitely did.  However, I am finding a way to find that daily. I left the house this last week with a new energy to share the gospel.  I loved it and look forward to it this week.  The Lord truly blesses us as we work hard. It is so good to have a comp that wants to work hard too.  I mean I definitely had that with Elder Huntsman not too long ago but this time is just different.... a good different.  Such a good kid though! love him.

We have been having a competition between us to see who can jump out of bed the fastest. It is actually a mission competition between the oros and their trainers. We had a tie today which puts us at a tie for the whole time we have had together. The kid gets out of bed so dang fast though.. it’s like bro.. wait for me to wake up before you jump to your feet (; It has been fun to jump out of bed!  Have you jumped out of bed lately? It really does help you to have a better day! Try it!

Yesterday we had our first exotic food together.. we had squid! They told us what it was before we started eating it but I didn't understand the word they said so they just told us it was like fish. I ate two servings and then after we got talking about it and they described it like octopus..... and that is when it hit me.. Squid.  Pretty great. I actually didn't mind it though, it was like a soup so it wasn't just plain or anything crazy.  When I first saw it I thought it was cow stomach so when they said something like fish I dug in (;

Needless to say.... the week has been one to remember. We worked hard and are going to continue to work hard! I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Keep smiling and look for the blessings that God puts in your lives daily!  I was able to find JOY in the JOurneY.... were you?!

A very happy and excited.. Elder Taylor Abel

Elder Macdaddy? McDonalds today.. yummy!

letters from the beautiful mommy and studly skysky.. thank you!! Loved them.

Dulce de leche and bread.... free? We will take it.  Our investigator Ana has a little store in front of her house and so we asked if she sold Dulce de leche and she gave us this huge jar for free.  We then had bread left over from lunch.,,. and you all wonder why I am fat (;

Taylor, Naylor & Puppy

Family.. how are we?! Long time no talk right? It may have been a long week but it definitely was a week that I will remember!  

The journey began at 11:30 when I went to bed like a little kid on Christmas Eve.... the nerves and the excitement were definitely there. Surprisingly I got a good amount of sleep with the dog I slept with (we found a little puppy in the gutter outside our house in the rain and we couldn't let it just suffer .... so what do we do? We took the little feller inside and dried him off and turned on our little heater and heater him up. We went from a wet sad mutt to a very happy, fluffy pup.  In between my legs for most of the night and then like right up by my face.... soo cute! We woke up early and got Figallo´s stuff ready and called the taxi to go to the terminal.  We arrived to the terminal and met up with all the trainers... meaning my boy Huntsman. From there all the trainers left together and we headed over to the Temple and the Hostel. 

We had a yummy breakfast.... it started to pour rain. 

After our breakfast, the assistants, President Smith and us 11 trainers had a charla about what our thoughts were and about what we were feeling.... as well as the responsibilities as trainers/parents. President brought up the scripture in Luke that says, "Forgive them for they know not what they do." He stressed that these missionaries are innocent.... they will do everything you do. Forgive them for they know not what they do... good lesson learned. 

He then told us a little about each of our companions in front of the group. After I shared what I was feeling... "I am excited, nervous.. I just want to be that best friend I had in Elder Devashrayee".... President said, "Elder Abel is very humble and very obedient and that is why his companion is who he is."  At that moment I had about 100 things going on in my head... I thought for sure I was getting some Peruvian who was prideful and disobedient.

We then made the 2 minute walk over to the hostel. We got lined up behind our companions.... they were looking at the wall and had their eyes closed. I was standing right next to Huntsy.  My kid is white!  We then sang Called to Serve. Just the first verse and gave our theme a yell.... Hoy Es El Día! He turned around ... we both gave it a good yell and had a big tight hug.

My kids name is Elder Naylor. He is from Las Vegas, NV. He lives in Summerland which is like 20 minutes from the strip. He played soccer and lacrosse for Pablo Verde High School. He was Student Body president over 1000 kids. He went to the Y for a year and actually played lacrosse up there for the team. He isn't a Y fan which is a blessing and he is not prideful nor disobedient. He is humble, tender, confident and reminds me a lot of a young missionary me. I am super grateful for him and love him already. These 2 changes are going to be soo amazing! I can´t wait to learn and grow with him. We have worked hard already and are going to do so all 12 weeks!

What a blessing it is.... his testimony is so pure and he is so ready to learn. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the many blessings and opportunities it gives me. I am grateful for the love of God in my life.... for the confidence that the Lord has in me to help Elder Naylor begin his mission. I am grateful for you guys.... for all you do for me. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!  enJOY the JOurneY! ♥ 

Love, Elder Taylor Abel.. a very happy and excited missionary!

  

with President and Hermana Smith

Hunstman and I with our boys.  His kid is from STG.  He went to Dixie High and played football there.  His name is Arthur Anderson.  We were stoked for the experience! 

This little guy slept with me!