Week 44 - August 18, 2014

Another week in San Fernando. Quite a crazy, odd, but good week! 

Monday we had couple people planning to go play soccer with us for pday, but we ended up just getting to montevideo and 4 people showed up. We went to a local chapel and played pool and foosball for the day. It was actually super fun. Then we had a FAmily home evening with the Desalvo family. They had a friend over, who is named Flor De Liz. We talked a lot to her and she was super interested in us and what we do here. At the end of the night, we had full bellies, a couple good laughs, and a new investigator!!!!!!!! 

On Tuesday we had probably the best zone conference that Ive ever been to, in terms of what we learned. We talked about converting yourself, the young rich teenager (joven rico and I dont know the right translation) in the bible. The story is in Mark 10 or 15. I cant remember exactly. We talked about the law of sacrifice and the law of consecration and the difference of coming to and following Christ. It takes a lot to come on a mission (Come to Christ), but it takes a lot to be a Consecrated Missionary, someone who leaves EVERYTHING behind, does EVERYTHING you can, and gives EVERYTHING you can to help the Lords work to progress. Awesome conference. 

Today is HOT but besides today, its been pretty darn cold. I gave Elder Morales a couple winter things because he was dying, but we are doing good now. One night in particular, we were out and we were about 40 minutes from our house. We had been out for a while and it wasnt cold, however, a quick storm came in with crazy cold and strong winds. The only things I had were a sweater and scarf. I also remembered that I have the power of prayer constantly, something that we always teach people. We put it into practice and we said a simple prayer asking the Lord to not stop the winds, but help us stay warm and not get sick. Literally we walked less than 10 more steps and I was WARM. I havent had a ton of crazy experiences with prayer, but I KNOW that it was the Lord that helped me, through our faith and trust in a small prayer. (We never got sick either)

Leticia and Luis. They are a family that only the dad is a member, but inactive. They have been having a lot of doubts and we have visited them a lot lately. They told us one night that they wanted to talk to us and teach us the lesson this time. We listened to them and all their doubts, answered all their questions, and we decided to stop by every two weeks or so to see how there are. 

Valentina, the recent convert from this year, had a rough week too. She has had a lot of doubts about the church and its basically because she was offended a couple of times. I have learned a lot about how to be a good member and how to ALWAYS support people. 

Claudio and Karen are a couple that we found this week too. Claudio is a member who hasnt been to church for a while. His wife, Karen is not a member. They are married, and they just moved here a while ago. Claudio is a firefighter in Carrasco, which is about an hour and a half away. He has trouble being able to go to church now but he committed to go next week, because work permits him to. 

One day this week we had two lunches. We have three meals a day and snacks in between from generous people. I will get fat here, even though I walk MANY kilometers a day. 

Oh yeah, my birthday was this week. It felt like a normal day and I dont feel much older though, haha. I woke up and opened two packages that I have received, from my parents and my grandparents. Thanks so much by the way, they were great packages. I have 3 cakes to bake now. :) Today was the dia del niño also. Its literally the day of the child. Just like mothers day or fathers day, but for kids. Church was full of candy wrappers and everything else good for you. I just got assigned to play piano in church, which will be fun. I actually really enjoy it now, and I dont get as nervous. We had choir practice after church, practicing for stake conference this week. I am the only bass that showed up, and it was hard not to get upset with people that dont understand music. I enjoy singing a lot now though. I didnt get any special cakes from anyone from church, but I got a couple nice cards, phone calls, and emails from friends from home, the mission, and members in Uruguay. The Hermanas in our ward told a ton of people and they got me a couple snacks and a nice card. Everyone in church was saying happy birthday to me. It was super fun. 

This was a pretty good week, and I love that all my problems now are with people that are in my area. Its really cool to be able to come unto Christ and try to follow Him every day as his servant. We are leaving everything behind to be able to help other people and bring the world its truth. I love that I can be a missionary and I am super glad that I get to spend my whole year as a 19 year old kid serving in Uruguay. Yeah I am still a kid! I am not sure I want to grow up yet! I am loving that I can get to spend all day smiling, helping people stand up, walk, learn more about Christ, and help them change their lives for the better. Its a beautiful work and I know that its guided by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Eternal Life will be the "greatest gift of God" but the spirit world will be pretty awesome too, being able to preach the OBVIOUS truth to everyone else there, for who knows how long! 

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!  

Week 43- August 11, 2014

This week has been quite a week. I have really realized how much I LOVE THE MISSION! I also realized, the very first day, how calm life is outside of the office. Its nice to be at home at 10:00 and not know what to do. I really missed walking and teaching all day long, but I have sure made up for that last week. We have had a couple mornings that are HARD. We have a Giant area and we walk just 15 minutes to get to the area from our house. One morning, we were out from 9:10-12:30 without stopping to sit down. Lessons falling through isnt fun. One night, we were on the opposite side of our area and it took us an hour to get home from our last lesson. I have worn the same pair of shoes since day one of the mission, now they have gone about 10 months. This week, I got a hole in the sole. I feel very proud of it actually. I havent shined the shoes for a month now and I want to wear them until I cant anymore. They will be my shoes that I will keep as a memory.
This week we had service that reminded me of working with my uncle Josh about a year ago. We were cleaning and moving furniture in a less active families home. I felt like it was an abandoned home and no one lived there, just trash was thrown. I cant wait for you guys to come see this beautiful country :) I have also gone back to 100% Spanish, which I really like actually. I just live with my comp, and I learn a lot just by listening to people. I feel like I will better my level of understanding here because a lot of people are very poor and they dont speak well, due to lack of education.
The bad part of the week, I have had stomach problems of some sort since Friday, and its still going on. I have thrown up, and been to the bathroom way too many times. I am not exactly sure what happened but I think its the water. We will see and hopefully it will be gone by next week. On Saturday morning I woke up and I had the throw up feeling at 12:00. I took off sprinting down the hall to the bathroom, but I didnt make it. That was the first time I have had to clean up my own throw up. That was an experience I wont forget. I sure missed my mommy that night.
I mentioned the cold, and I mean its cold. Our area is long and narrow, right down 2 parallel highways. Its cold, and windy. I have worn my giant jacket everyday and I have worn my scarves for the first time. Now they are my best friends. 

Lunches in this area are bomb. We have lunches like every day of the week that we ask, besides Monday and Tuesday. Craziest thing I ate this week was OCTOPUS. Yeah. It was actually pretty good. Its a very soft textured but tough meat. ACtually pretty good, too bad my stomach hasnt been happy with anything. 

We have 105 that showed up to church this week. I am the lucky one that gets to play the piano though! That is something that I have gotten to do in every ward or branch now where I have served, despite all of the whining and yelling, I am glad that somehow I kept practicing piano until I did. I wish I was a lot better though. 

The work in San Fernando. WOW! This is where I get really excited. I heard great things about the area before I came, but I saw the numbers every week of what they were accomplishing and it wasnt much at all. In week one, we have made a good start. We found 4 new investigators this week, Worked with members EVERY SINGLE DAY this week, and had about 20 lessons. The week before I got here, San Fernando had 6 lessons and no new investigators. I AM EXCITED!!!!!! You guys, the mission really is awesome. 

Familia Lopez. Okay this family is pretty awesome and they have a crazy story. 

First off, Hermana Lopez, the mom has cancer and tumors throughout her throat and lungs. She is a mother of 5 kids, two who live at home that are about 5. She has a daughter who is named Lucia, who is 16 and pregnant. Lucia is a member, who was baptized when she was 9 years old. Hermana Lopez was just called as Gospel Principles teacher this week. We had two lessons with both of them this week. The first lesson was with just Hermana Lopez, she told us her whole story, and we shared a scripture story, which I forget what it was now. I felt the spirit super strong in the lesson and she actually cried during the lesson, when I was speaking. That was the first time that someone has cried when I was teaching. It makes me feel like I really am helped by angels. Then she told us about her daughter, Lucia who is 16, pregnant, and living with her boyfriend. She thought that we were good elders and that we should go visit her and see if now was her time to come back to church, now that the pregnancy has opened her eyes a bit. We visited her the next day and had a great lesson with her in the home of her boyfriend. We havent met the boyfriend yet, but thats a goal we have. We decided we should meet the next day at her moms house after a good lesson. The next day, we met with Hermana Lopez and Lucia in the house of HErmana Lopez. We taught about the Book of Mormon, just like we would to investigators. It was a GREAT LESSON. Super strong spirit and it was really cool to be there and be teaching. They were both crying at the end of the lesson and they testified that they both KNOW that this is the true church and they want to be together forever with their whole entire family. I loved Hermana Lopez`thoughts because she said she was grateful that Lucia has this opportunity to be a mother and start her own family and raise them in the gospel. Then Lucia shared her testimony, which was amazing. She said she knows that this has all happened for a reason, and she has learned a lot from her mistakes. I am super stoked about them. They are great!!!!!! 

THE MISSION IS THE BEST! I cant believe Ive almost been here for half my time! Shoutout to my boys Elder Opfar, Elder Mott, Elder Loertscher and Elder Argyle who are just being blessed to START their mission! 

I cant wait to tell you how this week goes! I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

August 4, 2014 - Week 42

Fernando & Joaquin

Okay I am writing my first letter out of the offices! I just got to San Fernando last night at about 11. This week, we had changes. They were super crazy. First of all, we had changes. We had a ton of more changes than ever before. I have no idea why. Then, we had 17 missionaries that had to travel to Argentina to be able to have residency here in Uruguay. The financers ran out of money, and we had an oro that came at a different time from the rest of them. The oros were awesome. Super great group. I slept with the oros and then went to the health test with them. I still hold the all time mission record for push ups and I did the most of the day too :) The health test was really fun to go to because it was just a long wait so I got to talk to all the gringos who were super scared, nervous, and excited about it all. I ate some awesome food too. 

On my last pday in the offices, we had to be at the Charla Fogonera practice for most of the day, so that was a blown pday. I had to go early too because I was in the groups for singing. My ward was super awesome with all my going away festivities. I got a ton of food, and our investigator Fernando gave me a new tie! It was super awesome. I felt like I have really got to know a lot of people and I can speak well enough to have good relationships with them now. 

The charla fogonera ended up AMAZING. We had a TON of people show up, although I dont know the exact number. There were a lot of emergencies and complications right before but it all ended up well. An hour before, we still couldnt get the projectors to work for the video portion. Also, we had a hermana who didnt feel good and couldnt hit her notes, and she had a solo. She rocked it though when it counted. Then when we were going through the final practice, there was a random song that a group put in that I have never heard before. President stopped the song in the middle and said we couldnt sing it because it wasnt good. So... With ten minutes before game time, we made a group and sang Nearer my God to thee. Its a very easy song, and it sounds awesome in parts. I sang bass, Elder Moffat sang tenor, which is funny because he is HUGE. Then 3 hermanas sang the alto and soprano parts. It sounded amazing though honestly. We sang acapella the last verse and it was SUPER AWESOME. Maybe I can somehow get it on video. Afterwards, I said goodbye to a lot of the people from my ward, and a bunch of the missionaries. Then we had to wait for a while.Then I drove my last time to my new house in Ciudad de la Plata. It is not a city of money, even though thats what it means. Its basically just like the interior part of the country again, which I have missed. My new house is VERY humid and gross, but I spent this whole morning cleaning just the kitchen, which looks a LOT better. The house is huge and its just two of us. Elder Morales is my companion. He was born in Mexico, but has lived in Italy for the last 14 years. He is very quiet, but a good kid. I havent been with him for a whole day yet, so I will have more about him to tell yall next week. I have heard a lot of good things about the ward and it will be fun to see how this week goes. I am excited to get out and work. I almost want to stop pday to get out and work! I have had the most calm morning that I have had in 6 months. Its crazy how crazy the offices are and how accostomed I got to the offices. 

I am going to miss the offices, but I am excited to be out to work all the time again. Let me tell you, it is pretty darn cold when you have to walk around all the time. Our area is huge too. We have to walk 15 minutes to just get to our area. We live two blocks from the church, super market, the cyber place, bus stop, and the hermanas in our ward. We have everything super close, but our area  haha. There are no investigators here right now that are progressing. I am interesting to met people and see how hard this is going to be. The Lord never said it would be easy though, he just said it would be worth it. 

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish this week. It was awesome and really cool. President Hinckleys promise I think is true for me, after reading it in a different language, I would consider myself fluent! 

This weeks highlight was definitely the charla fogonera, we had so many people there and the spirit was just so strong! It was a great manifestation and testimony builder of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, and the restoration of the gospel, through Joseph Smith. 

I hope everyone is doing great and I hope you all know that I love you more than you know! Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Cordy

July 26, 2014 - Week 41

Saturday Jul 19. Today was a fun Pday. One bad thing that happened was that we were playing futbol in the morning. I kicked Elder Teloma on the shin and we ended up taking him to the hospital because he couldnt walk. Everything should be fine though. We also shopped at a ferria today and we bought a bunch of cheap groceries and other funky Guayan stuff. We had a lesson about "despertandose en cuanto a Dios." I have no idea how to make that sound good in English so sorry about that. 

Sun Jul 20. Today we had ward conference. We had the biggest attendance that Ive seen in the 18th ward. It was 63 people. We had a weekly planning and numbers session after that. 

Mon Jul 21. Today was insane. We finished the bolsa super quick. We had to pick up hermanas from 3C and take them later. They all wanted to write their families. Then we had to wait for their food they ordered. We ran to 3C and told the hermanas to run to the bus. They walked, we drove to go park, and then we saw them missing their bus. They left an hour later though. Then we went to Hermana Smiths house, just thinking we would be there for an hour. Hermana Smith ended up taking us on a shopping spree. We had to get things for the mission but then she took us and had us fill up a cart of things we wanted from a big Tienda Inglesa, which is a big supermarket. Then she took us to Jean Vernier, a nice dress store. She told us to get what we needed. I told her I was doing great but she ended up making me get a tie at least. Starla helped me pick out a nice purple paisley tie. We then had dinner at her house. I felt like it was my birthday with grandma and grandpa! Hermana Smith is the sweetest woman. We actually joked later in the week that we should take her to get the packages out of customs, just because she would be so nice to people and they would give us the packages. 

Tues Jul 22. Today we had a practice for the charla fogonera. The financers had a miss communication with eachother and they ended up missing the big bus ride to the practice. The new financer was NOT happy at all. When we got back, it was all good though. We had a fun lesson with the Varela family later that nice. 

Wed Jul 23. Today we had quite a few visits and lessons, which was nice. I really enjoy just chatting with people. It really just makes missionary work fun! 

Thur Jul 24. Today was a bunch of running errands and then we had milanesas that were made of fish. That was probably the best fish I have had, but Im not a huge fish guy, so thats not saying a ton. We had a lot of lessons today fall through, but we have fun working now together, so its enjoyable. 

Fri Jul 25. Today we got the changes! I am headed to the Cerro Stake in Montevideo to the San Fernando ward. I will be with Elder Morales, who is from Monterrey Mexico. He is very quiet but I am excited. The area has not had success for a long time but I will see what we can do. Elder De La Cruz, who is from Spain but lives in Peru, will be the new secretary. 

I will leave the offices on Aug. 3rd after the charla fogonera. I will get to San Fernando late at night. So just one more week in the offices!

This week I have really recognized that I enjoy being a missionary. Its fun. We have a lot of good times. I enjoy Elder Castellanos, even though no one always sees eye to eye. We are always laughing and joking with each other. We enjoy lessons with people. We may not have had a baptism, and of course we could have always worked harder, but I love being a missionary and I am glad I am here! Of course I am excited to go work full time, in a huge area that has not had much success in the last couple years, but there is a strong ward waiting for me and I am ready to go help the members find their love for the gospel and missionary work! 

Week 40 - July 19, 2014

Sat Jul 12. Today was super fun. We played soccer in the morning with 10 missionaries and then we went to the palacio for pictures. We visited Andres Varela in the night. He had a good story for us. He was walking with his wife back home from a date. They obviously had to be looking pretty good. Andres heard a man that was following them, whistling and making smart remarks about his wife. He turned around to talk to him and the guy just kept being disrespectful. The guy tried to punch Andres and he went off on him. Andres said he had him on the ground and was pounding on him. I totally believe him because he has a bunch of marks in his hand. He said that was cuts from the mans teeth. After that nasty story, we sang a song to bring the spirit and then had a really good lesson about Jesus Christ.

Sun Jul 13. Today I taught gospel principles with E Castellanos. We taught about the holy ghost. We had a good lunch with Majo and Lucas. They are fun to be around. Then we helps the APs with the numbers and planned.

Mon Jul 14. Today was the normal Monday. Bolsa prep and running to get things for the bolsa that was from the Smiths. We went to get plaques, but they messed up on a couple for the week. We waited for the APs to do the diario until 10:30. They worked a whole 10 hours total on the diario... Patience is a virtue.

Tues Jul 15. We had a conference with 4 zones today. It was another conference with President and the APs. We talked about a couple things that I liked a lot. First, you have to learn to resist love. You have to go to an extra effort to be unkind. Light always chases the darkness away. Darkness really isnt something that exists. Its the inexistence of light. Jesus Christ says multiple times that he is THE LIGHT of the world. Second, waking up “en cuanto a Dios” I dont really know how that would sound good in English. But its in the Doctrine of Christ in the BoM. Third, We bring the lesson to the hearts of the children of men, then Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are able to work together to get the message INTO their hearts! Then we went over the purposes of each lesson and had a couple practies. Afterwards, we were able to talk for a while. I talked with a ton of people. Its really to know every single person out of the missionaries in Cerro, Flores, Colonia, and Oeste.

Wed Jul 16. We had the charla fogonera practice this morning. I love them so much! Music is so amazing and I am grateful I have been blessed with music in my life! Later that night, we went to the airport with one of my best friends from the mission so far. We dropped him off and then ran a couple Elders around to fix the changes for the new area.

Thur Jul 17. Today we went to drop of the mail early and then we went to the charla fogonera practice. We had a good talk with Andres and Flabia again about the deep doctrine behind Jesus Christ. I was kind of glad because Andres was really excited about that talk and was really interested. We ended up teaching about the book of Mormon. We had a reference that had been to Church 3 times, has 3 kids, but just needs to get married! That would be cool to meet. We knocked at the door, but they werent there. We visited the Mello family too and had a pretty good lesson. The mom, who is the only member, is kind of working against us and saying that she just wants us to come once a week. THAT DOESNT HELP! They have listened to the góspel for 7 years but they havent progressed or gone to Church because they dont keep their commitments! Yuly is our hope there. She is quiet, but always has good questions and is very interested. She has kept her praying and Reading commitments for 2 weeks now so thats good! She just needs to go to Church now! We have tried to talk to Fernando and his son Joaquin but they are very busy with the divorce and worrying about where Joaquin will stay. He wants to stay with Fernando, his dad, but the men dont have a big say in this country about those things!

Fri Jul 18. We had a pretty normal day until our Ward activity. We had a good show up, but the games were crazy and people were not necessarily getting along. We had some good food at the end though. Then we were playing soccer with the Young men and I got a call from Elder Nelson. He had told me the other day that he had got shot in the back of the head by a BB gun. He didnt think he should go to the hospital though. That was on Tuesday. He calls me Friday night and told me he is in the hospital and found out the BB is still in his head. He will have to wait ANOTHER week for surgery. He is fine but he just has a head ache. We picked him up and took him home.

Funny story that happened Thursday: We went to the Financers house. When we pulled up, there were a bunch of girls that were waiting at the door of the apartments. They were about 16-20 years old and there were 6 of them. We walked up behind them but we had to wait too so we just said hi and then waited.  Their friend came down and let us in. Then they had 7 girls going in the elevator. We decided that we didnt want to go in with 7 girls even though there was probably room. The elevator took what seemed like forever. They were kind of whispering back and forth to eachother and then they would all burst out laughing. Then the elevator came and we decided we would just take the stairs. We were running up the stairs to tell the financers what happened. Then a couple floors up, we heard them get out of the elevator and go into their apartment. We stopped and then kept running. The financers live on floor number 4. The tricky thing is that the ground level floor is number 0. Elder Castellanos didnt know that and he burst into the floorth floor room, where the financers were supposed to be, instead of floor number 4. Just our luck, my comp ran right into the room where the party of girls was. He stopped and then said “PERDON ¨PERDON!”, slammed the door, and continued running upstairs. I was on the floor dying. 

This week has been hard for us to get out and work because of other emergencies that have came up. We have had some good lessons though. Elder Castellanos and I teach pretty well together. We are both doing awesome on our office work so hopefully this week will be better in our area! 

Dad asked me a couple questions I thought I would answer on this email! 

When is the next change? The change happens July 30th. However, since I have been asked to stay for the charla fogonera, I will leave August 3rd to the next area! Hopefully I can tell you all next week where that area is!!!! 

Whats the weather like? Nice! Its been really cold in past weeks but this week was nice! I have been feeling a bit chilly without a sweater but I like it! 

What I have learned this week: I am ready to leave the offices and preach the gospel! I have had a crazy busy life in the offices and I am ready to worry about people more than numbers and peoples health! Give me something better, like peoples salvation or something like that. Things happen that arent according to plans and you have to be able to catch the new wave and ride it!  I have been trying to help the other office elders too so that when I leave, they will work the best to their abilities! It doesnt help to keep your feelings inside, when others can be corrected. Also in that same way, I have learned that you have to be able to take feedback well. It doesnt help to get upset, most of the things people tell you are to help you out and make you better yourself! Thats a lot of what the repentance process is: Becoming better and changing the way you do and see things to become like our savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much! Thanks so much for your love and support for me! 

Week 39 - July 12, 2014

Hey everyone! This week was really great. I am loving the choir (charla fogonera) practices that we will have for the next couple weeks until the performance August 3rd. I have that much time until i leave the offices. I am not sure where yet but I am excited! I love the offices and I have learned and grown a lot! However, new things are great too! I am ready for a change and chance to teach more! We havent had a great week with our investigators. We are having some good lessons tonight though that we have set! Hopefully those will go well!

Sat Jul 5. Today was really chill. We made hamburgers that were bomb and we walked around plaza independencia. We had a good lesson with Andres Varela and we worked with Paola Comas. We asked Andres´ wife to join us but we got a firm NO. Haha it was kind of funny but she was on the bed like 10 feet away doing whatever on her phone so at least she got to hear.  

Sun Jul 6. Today was fast sunday. We had a really good day. Good lessons and testimonies at church. We had gizo for lunch. It was FREEZING today. 7 degrees Celcius was the high. Windy like there was a tornado. I almost wanted to try and fly Elder Castellanos like a kite. We helped the APs after that with the numbers and we had the best weekly planning we have had. It should be a great week. 

Mon Jul 7. Today was the epitome of the life as a secretary. After studies we ran to 3C to buy tickets. Then we worked in the offices until lunch. I worked on the bolsa all day. When we got back from lunch with the Oliveira family, we continued working on the bolsa. Then we had to take a corto plazo to the Hermanas in Sayago because Hermana Keith was heading out today for back problems. We went to the mission home with Hermana Keith and we had dinner with Hermana Smith. President and the APs are out this week at interviews. As we pulled out of the Smiths driveway to head to the airport, I realized we didnt freaking bring the passport... It happens. We flew to get it and met the financers on the way with the passport. When we got to the airport we realized we forgot the residency papers. I just paid her out of the country. Its totally legal by the way... Then we said goodbye and we went back to the offices and did the bolsa. Elder Godoy and Elder Teloma who are the elders that live with the financers did it with us. It was pretty nice. We got home around 12:00.

Tues Jul 8. Today we had out first practice for the charla fogonera practice. (Fireside) We are making a choir from the Oeste and Flores zones. We went to work after that with the ward directory and looked for people we didnt know. We have a GIANT area and we did a lot of walking. We had two members with us for 4 hours though so that was really great! I had a quote in mind that I heard the other day. "You have nothing to lose but so much to win in missionary work!" There really is nothing to lose. But think about all the lives we can CHANGE! Its pretty cool to think about. 

Wed Jul 9. Today we started with the charla fogonera practice. I was sent with the bass group and practiced with them for a while. I havent played piano for a while so that was pretty nice! I just played with them. I also was asked to be in a small group for the charla and I sing the BASS LINE! Woohoo. I really have missed music a lot! Its fun to be around people who are very musically talented and can sing well. Mormons are weird like that. We cooked pizzas and then we worked in the offices. We went to the Varela home after that. They had the last bit of the Holanda and Argentina game on. We talked to them about Alma 48 when it talks about preparing for war. We used a cool comparison with the soccer game. We went to various other houses in the next couple hours without luck. We went to 3C to buy some tickets. Elder Castellanos got mad today because we are always running around like crazy. He got mad at the APs becasue they always make us do things very late and at their will. Elder Arbon sent him a message and I hope it helps him to forget about himself and serve selflessly! 

Thur Jul 10. Today we had the last practice for the week. It went really well and we are sounding somewhat good. Music doesnt click as fast for a lot of latinos though. Then we worked in the offices until lunch. We had a bomb lasagna with the Munilla family. Then we visited the Gomez family and they are doing better after the moms surgery a couple weeks ago. We went to the Mello family with Paola. Just Hermana Mello was there and we had a good lesson with her and then when we were leaving, the others walked in. The spirit wasnt as strong after they came and sat down with us. Thats always tough after a great lesson. We stopped by the church by invitation of our ward mission leader to eat some pizza. Then we had to buy a ticket at 3C. 

Fri Jul 11. Today we started off awesome with bizcochos from a new place we tried in Cerro. The offices were well for the day. We had lunch at the house. Elder Sipan cooked. In the middle of lunch, Elder Sanchez got a call from President. He found out that his father passed away. If any of you can imagine that happening to you on your mission, it would be VERY HARD. We all sat and cried there for a while. He is taking it very well though. The first thing he said was "I just want to go pray for a while and then we will go head out and work." When we got back to the offices, I went on divisions with Elder Brown to get packages near the airport and then get plaques. Elder Brown and I had a good talk about almost everything possible. When we got back, we went to soccer for mutual. 

Week 38 - July 5, 2014

Sat Jun 28. Today was super calm. We had to take keys to Carrasco from Cerro in the morning. We ate lunch and went to the offices. We wrote our families, talked, and wrestled. Uruguay was playing and so we had to go to our house to study. They lost to Colombia 2-0 and ended their trip. Then we had to go buy tickets, find lost keys, and clean clothes. 

Sun Jun 29. Today church was awesome. Great talks and lessons. We had a good lunch with Majo and Lucas, who just got baptized 2 weeks ago. They are 20 and 22. It was like talking to friends that were my age, which was really freaking weird. We planned after that and then we had to do a couple things in the offices with Elder Arbon because we are going to change the way the numbers of the mission are done. 

Mon Jun 30. Today was the usual crazy monday. I did the numbers for hopefully the last time. President wants the APs to do the numbers with him so they can talk about everyone and everything. We had an asado with the zone and we worked in the offices like all day. We had a FHE with the Mello family. They are doing well. We showed a mormon message about getting out of the cabin and having fun and trying to make changes. They made pizza that was bomb. Then we waited for the APs to finish the diario and then we did the bolsa run. We got home at 12. 

Tues Jul 1. Today we had interviews with President. We recovered all that we went over during concilio. E Castellanos and I did the practice and we got a lot of good feedback from the lesson. My enterview went well. President just asked me to talk to him. I talked about our area and the offices. He talked about what he thinks about me and the things I am doing in the offices. I really feel like he loves me. I love that man! He is such an amazing example and a great support. 

Wed Jul 2. Today I got a lot done in the offices. We tried to go work but the three lessons we had set all fell through. We ran a lot of errands for Elder Bossa because he leaves tomorrow. Elder Bossa is a stud. He is a missionary I have looked up to since day 1 in this country. He is so real and never changes how he acts to kiss up or be unnaturally nice. He enjoys himself and is always supporting others. 

Thur Jul 3. Today we had no internet until 4 so we ran all kinds of errands. We went to the aduana, Carrasco, we had lunch with the Llambi family, which was odd because they are very eco friendly people. I learned a lot about my bodily energy and things I can put around our house to stay calm. We went contacting until our first set lesson, which fell through. We passed one of the members of the Mello family carrying groceries, so we helped her out and then talked to them for a while. 

Fri Jul 4. THE 4TH! Today I made hot dogs for breakfast in honor of the US of A! We worked in the offices for a while and went to lunch. Tania Bentancor made lunch and it was super bomb, even though it was the classic Uruguayan food. Milanesa, arroz, y enselada. We couldnt get ahold of President all day so that didnt help a lot of the work we wanted to do. We had futbol game later at night and it was pretty fun. I can only really play soccer decently on a field where I can run. Then we picked up the APs who were on divisions with our ZLs. We had to wait for them for an hour, but it was alright because we had EFY music, doritos, and pomelo drinks.