Dakota and President and Sister Peterson

Ok. So week update.  today i´m in Las Heras with the rest of our district. just us four.
and they were the other two kids in the picture of basketball.
I´m alive. no one has robbed me yet. and... ya. i´m fine. not a lot to
report on. serious... all we do is walk around and try and teach
people stuff. Argentina is very stubborn like unto Europe with
religion. if they´re not Mormon, they´re either evangelicos or
Testigos de Jehova. so... we don´t get a whole lot of success. my feet
are fine. shoes are good. 

uh... ya. no dog better ever replace me, but
the spider is nice. =) i appreciate you guys feeding her. and ya i saw
the pictures. they´re great!  i´m gonna buy a usb drive someday soon...
maybe. 

oh, and yeah. i´m gonna try and send you guys a valentines
package, but it wont get there until like... march? ha ha ha almost.
so... yup. sorry... anyways. love ya´ll tons. tell everyone hello from
down south and... yup. that´s all. ha ha no usb port at this cyber in
las heras so i´ll send pics next week.

love you all!

-Elder Taylor

Weekly Report from Pico Truncado

This week was pretty regular.  Heard about lots of United States stuff with Obama from one member.  He's so legit.  Coolest guy in Argentina.


 We have 5 people with baptismal dates.  There is this one that's not part of the 5, but she is getting baptized when her daughter gets home, probably end of Feb.


Oh and yes, we play a LITTLE basketball.  The branch president and his family LOVE it.  So we had a huge game with my district vs. his family.  But we had his son.  ha ha It was so fun!


There are a lot of gypsies down here...did you know that?  Wow.  Talk about lots of gypsies...haha  they're usually nice.


We have this sister in the ward who washes our shirts and socks.  We have this cheapo washing machine and an indoor clothesline thing.  it is legit.



My (Spanish) Castellano is decent.  I can almost understand everything.  I kinda know my way around the town.  Which is good cause transfers are in 2 weeks and I think my comp is getting transferred, so...I gotta learn this area fast.  Wish me luck!


Everyone says that I look a TON like you, Mom. Sometimes, I just think about home.  I really miss you guys. It's kinda hard, this whole missionary thing.  But I'm sure it'll be worth it someday.  Not really much to report.  


It's really windy.  REALLY windy.  You can't comprehend.  I'm getting pretty tan though.  That's good.


Through my trials, I'm actually becoming stronger.  I'm lots more patient and loving, and I will NEVER give up.  Anyways,  more next week.  


Love ya'll tons!
Elder Taylor

The latest from Argentina!

 (FYI....Dakota's email address did not really work when he first got to Argentina, but I think everything is OK now.  He types on a Spanish keyboard and he says it is a lot different.  But....Here are his last two letters! I decided not to change all the capitalization.  it just seems more like Dakota when it is not using caps!   Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!)

 ok. wow. so.. it´s been two weeks since i last emailed ya´ll... ha ha sorry. things have literally been crazy... but i´m alive. barely.

so far, no baptisms. but, we have some good investigators. i don´t do a whole lot of teaching but... i can talk pretty good. understanding the words that come out of the mouths of some of these people is literally impossible to do. 

so lets do a report. so far, i have been cursed at (in english M****** F******) ha ha and spit at cause i´m american. a dog actually did bite me this time. but it´s not so bad. we were gonna go see sea lions monday for zone p-day. but... we didn´t. we play soccer every saturday morning with the youth of the branch. and i can almost beat the 11 year old... ha ha um.. life is good. elder garcia reminds me a lot of jj...sometimes... 

i had dieahreea... wow... do not know hot to spell it... i had fluid poop for the first 2 weeks, but all is well now.  the drinks are to die for and they have this drinkable yogurt stuff that tastes like heaven!!!! it´s so great. then of course is the famous dulce de leche alfahore. wowzers. the deserts and pastries are delicious. but everything else is... just average. ha ha i had tuna in this salad, i only ate it cause i didn´t know what was in it, and i seriously almost puked. ha ha so i really still don´t like fish. i eat lots of tomatoes. i really want the recipie for snicker salad. cravin it. the fruit here is delicious. best peaches i´ve ever had. i had this fruit salad that was litterally only fruit and orange fanta. it was sooo goood! so i guess things are pretty decent.

i don´t have an actual address. well i do, but like i know it. ha ha i guess just look in pico truncado, look for the main street for B. Rivadavia and then look towards the road Purreydón or somethinglike that. i´m the 4th house up or something. it looks like a legit cabin. ha ha but yeah. 

ha ha ha there are so many cool things here. bought a new wallet. leather. puma. it´s legit. so far.... that´s it. my milk is powdered. so i don´t drink a whole lot of milk. but i drink lots of yogurt. =)

i miss you guys a ton... i had a dream about Jessica and Garrett and we went swimming in this pool. it was great. 3 things i miss lots.  

that´s pretty much it really.... half of our branch is inactive. including the elders quorum president. and of the half that is active, half of them are on vacation. so... we had like 25 people in church... my first week there was like 15. ha ha ha ha it´s pretty different to home...

miss you guys tons but all is well. some guy from the 70 is comming next month. that´ll be cool. but yeah... anyways. gotta go buy some food for the week. MORE YOGURTÍSIMO!!!!!! it´s so delicious.

i love you all very much. thanks for the prayers and sorry it´s been 2 weeks since i last mailed. wont happen again. probably.

xoxo

Elder Taylor.

 Hello!  

all is well down here. i met this new member and he is the most awesome in the whole world!!! do you post these to my blog still? just wondering. anyways, his name is Monte De Oca and he gave me these canned peaches in a cup and then i added yogurt to it (it´s the liquid kind) and it was the best thing i´ve ever eaten in my entire life!!! ha ha 

they love their soccer down here. me and my comp are going shopping today. they have some legit stuff. 

Fenix is the greatest. can´t wait to see him again. ha ha i´m so excited. there are some ADORABLE kids down here. and they use really small and basic words so i can understand them! that´s a bonus! 

i keep good track of stuff in my journal. i write lots. oh, so yesterday, we were knocking doors, and it started raining... hardcore. and it was freezing. but i know the harder i work now, the more blessed i´ll be later. Garcia says the harder i work, the hotter my wife gets. ha ha so i´m workin hard!!!

um... not much else to say. hope you like the pics. i´ll probably send one or two home each week. jess has one i sent her. it´s just me in the dirt... so... maybe she´ll share.

i´m excited for JJ and Jaxson. i think about them sometimes. 

i think i´ll have a baptism next week or the week after. i´ll probably be giving the Holy Ghost. scary!  so.. yup. gotta go now. but have a great week and look for my e-mail next monday. 

thanks for the prayers. i could use the help.

love ya´ll!!!!

Elder Taylor

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

Everything is fine.  Did they tell you where I am? 

I´m in Pico Truncado. It´s the farthest south mission area. I was on the bus for seriously ever.  It´s a really small and very hot and very very windy city.  So crazy how windy it is!   I can´t explain how crazy Argentina is.  If you saw where I was living and showering and stuff, you would think my old room style was heaven sent. =) ha ha ha 

 I don´t have a whole lot of time to talk today. We´re pretty busy with stuff and lots of places are closing for New Years Eve and day.  All is well.  I´ve never been so tired or so... dead before. ha ha ha

I can't understand half or even 25% of what is going on. The members are really nice and Elder Garcia says that we have lunch usually every day.  Except this week and maybe next cause everyone is out of town for the holidays.

You wouldn´t believe how crazy it is here... the drivers in Utah are perfect.  Don´t EVER complain about them again. ha ha ha

I´m doing good. A little red with sun burn and stuff... but i´m really doing ok.  Not a single problem in the world. =)  Not sure what all to say...  except for I´m fine and alive and stuff.  Don´t worry. 

It was really nice to talk to you on the phone the other day.  Some missionaries (not my district) got a whole hour to talk!!!  Can you believe that?  Jealous.   Sorry if I wasted your day for 20 min.

I can´t believe Elder Higgs is gone.  It´s so weird being without him. But Elder Garcia is pretty cool. He´s been out for a while and speaks fluent English and Spanish. so. yeah. all is well!!!   I´m pretty much terrified of everything... ha ha ha but like it says in Nephi chapter 4, I will go on. Putting myself in the Lords hands and following the Spirit. verses 6 and 7.  Look it up.

Not sure what else to say to ya... except.... I love you. Tell everyone hello! 

Oh and tell everyone that I don´t speak Spanish. It´s Castellano. They get mad if you call it Spanish.  Ha ha becasue it´s actually quite a bit different. Also, typing on Spanish keyboards is really hard.   Everything is in a different spot. 

(So that is how his letter ended.   I guess he ran out of time.  This is the last we have heard of him, so when we get more info we will post it!  Here's hoping all of you are having a very wonderful NEW YEAR!  There is a lot to look forward to in 2011!  Keep in touch!  Thanks for stopping by....) 

Dakota is in Argentina! But still has a long way to go!

 Dakota will be starting his mission in a little town in Santa Cruz, Argentina called Pico Truncado. It is a 21 hour bus ride from Neuquen where the mission home is. Good luck with that bus ride, Elder Taylor!  
I talked to the Mission President's wife and she was a very sweet, kind, loving person.  She thanked us for sending Elder Dakota Taylor to Argentina to them and she said he was a very respectful Elder and that she could just tell by being around him that he was going to be  a wonderful missionary.  She really seemed to like him.  
I should get an email from him in the next few days and I will post it. 
I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas and New Years Holiday!  Thanks for all you do for Dakota and for our family!  We have the best friends and family in the world!

Here is the letter from this week.  I think now I am up to date.  So enjoy reading and comment if you want!  Thanks for your patience!

Hey guys!

This week has been soooo much the same as all the others!!! ha ha ha woot.... =) 

A guy from the Seventy came and talked, named Zwick. He served in Argentina and Bolivia. Funny stories. His plane when he got to Argentina didn't have any brakes and so they like landed and drove into a muddy grassy hilly place, and he had to slide down on the plane's wing. ... =) woot. He also was attacked by a pitt bull his first week. So... lets pray things have changed a LITTLE.

Everything is going great.  Uh... oh! Mail stops at the 22 of Dec. and won't start up again till probably after I leave the MTC. so... yeah. Wanna send anything, hurry. I think at that point in time it will be best to use only e-mail for a while. I'm sad I wont get to read a daily report of home and stuff, but letters take like 3 weeks to get to Argentina. So just stick with the e-mail? =) Thanks.

Everyone thinks that someone from the First Presidency is comming for Christmas. I sure hope so!! That'd be so wicked awesome cool!!! 

Yesterday, my district was hosts for all the new missionaries, but i don't think we get to do it next week when jj comes. I'm definately going to look for him. He's hard to hide... ha ha ha!  

Tomorrow and Monday we have some long meetings with the Argentine Consul or something like that to get our Visas taken care of. Super crazy! Sounds so scary... ha ha but whatever. 

There is this new sister here from Manti Utah. When I found out, the first thing I said was; "I'm getting married in your temple!" ha ha and she said: "I know... they told me". Apparently it's getting around... ha ha i have been telling everyone I know who comes in and says they are from the Manti area. So funny! 

I see Jaxson a lot. He's got almost my same schedule. and Kendall Stauffer too. Donovan... not a ton. But sometimes. Everything is just great! not sure what to tell ya... Spanish is comming pretty good. it's crazy... we try and speak exclusively in Spanish.. but it's REALLY hard. Hey, at least it's not some Asian language. YIKES! or Romanian... ha ha ha  

Elder Higgs and I are doing great! We stick together pretty good. He's a really really awesome young man. I was so blessed to have him as my first companion. He is making this whole experience great. He fits in good with my other friends.  =) 

Look up the "kids and christmas" clip thing on mormon.org or somewhere. It's soo cute! ha ha There is a little boy that looks like Fenix. One that people kinda say looks like me, and this one little redhead that looks just like Jessica, or Jessica's little sister Lindsay. anyways. yeah. look it up!!! and then... um...

these two quotes: 

 "It's not your mission. It's the Lords mission. You are just his servant. Use HIS time wisely"  Crazy to think I really AM a proxie for Jesus. Ya know?

"My hands contain power far beyond that of my own."   I hope I'm always worthy of it. That is so crazy. Dad, look at your hands, and just remember, that's the same power Jesus used to create the earth and the heavens and everything in between.

Life is really so great. The cookies were AMAZING! You guys are so good a baking stuff.

Well... time's almost run out. Tell the family hello and tell them I love them and I miss them tons!

And just remember Christ this time of year. He is the only reason we have anything we have. I love you all so very much and I'll write you in one week from now!

-Elder D. Taylor.

ps. They said it doesn't really snow in Neuquen, but it's humid and cold and windy, so I'll be cold, but no snow.  hasta luego!