Week 9 - December 9, 2013

Mon Dec 2, Today we went to Colonia for pday. We walked around the gorgeous city, took pictures and visited the river. Then we went to play soccer with other Elders in the zone. We had three teams. One of all Peruvians, one of a mix of Latinos, and one team of all AMERICANS!!!! Woohoo! The big ole white boys from the United States of America kicked Latino trash. I am the second biggest out of all the Latinos, and I am the smallest American. We destroyed actually. It was super fun. We just played really aggressive and it was too much for the latinos "skill". We went and bought a chorizo sandwich after soccer and then we bought some dulce de leche, and went back to Florencio Sanchez. When we got back, I realized how sunburned I was. It was bad. We bought Mathambre (kill hunger) for Elder Chalis one year mission anniversary coming up. Then we made visits to a couple non active members houses. We had a great message with both of them. 

Tues Dec 3, Today was great. We had a quick breakfast, and headed to colonia for the district meeting. We made sandiwches after that for lunch and I headed off on divisions with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Bulloch. He is a stud. He has been out for just over a year. We went to a kid´s house who is getting baptized saturday and we taught him the ten commandments. After that, we went to an English Academy to teach and English class. Apparently she told us the wrong day, so we ended up just teaching two girls that were there. They have been studying English for 7 years. They were pretty good! They were amazed at my Spanish when I told them that I have been out for just about 2 weeks. Their teacher, when she first met me, asked if I was from Chile. I thought that was hilarious. After that, we were going to a FHE and then we decided to stop by a references  house that we had received. At first she didn´t want to talkto us, but after 20 minutes, she didnt want us to leave. She cried for almost all the lesson. It was amazing. FHE was really fun. We played games and had a spiritual thought. After that, we went to a girls house named Victoria. She is 17 years old and all Elder Bulloch told me before, was that she was crazy. She was crazy. She was super touchy and basically wanted to know everything about my life. It was quite interesting. After that lesson, we went back to Elder Bullochs house. Perks of having a latino companion that I don´t communicate very well with: I had NO IDEA that I was spending the night in another city. 

Wed Dec 4, Elder Bulloch got me pumped towork. His spirit was so awesome. Even the speed that he walks is astounding. When I got back to Flo Sanchez, we studied and went to paint Olgas house. After that we went to Mevir, which is about a 40 minute walk from our house. It was blazing hot. Our appointment fell through, so we decided to go contact a family that was talking outside. They accepted our message and we set up an appointment to talk again. Then we went to the Acevedo home. They were pretty nice. We talked to the daughter about her relationship and a tattoo that she wants of the band Guns and Roses. We talked to her dad after that, and he ended up invited us to FHE to play Call of Duty. When I told him that we cant play COD, he was pretty devastated and upset, especially because he said he had played with other Elders before... I am trying to be exactly obedient though so NADA. My allergies were kicking my tail all day, and it didnt help that the Acevedos had a cat. 

Thur Dec 5, Today we ate very well. We had breakfast of crepes with dulce de leche at Hermana Reys house. It was the cumpleaños of Elder Chalis mission, so we went and had the mathambre after that. Both the meals were AMAZING. After that, in our comp study, Elder Chali asked if I would teach institute tonight. I was really nervous and I didnt want to do it. It actually went really well though. I taught from Alma 48 about Moroni. I had an awesome personal study today too. I was thinking about how we will meet people that will change lives for generations. I was thinking about Elder Hofstetter, the Elder that taught my dad. He changed many lives because of that one baptism and he helped make my dad the hero that he is to me today. On a little bit of a different note, today I was messing around and trying to scare Elder Chali while he was trying to find something in the chapel. I jumped up on top of one of the classrooms, and there was a nail sticking out and I it went all the way into my wrist probably about an inch. It hurt like crazy. It looks like I have the same marks that Jesus had on his wrist when he was crucified... Elder Chali pointed that out to me. He had to put a sharpie on my palm too. We took a picture of it. It is pretty funny. We had a interesting movie night. The crazy spaz kids that we met on the street showed up. They woudnt watch the movie and they ended up breaking a door knob off one of the doors in the chapel. Viviana, one of the Yw, set them straight and basically kicked them out. It was pretty funny. Elder Robles also gave us work that President Smith is thinking about closing Cardona and Florencio Sanchez, because of the lack of members and priesthood holders. We started a fast. 

Fri Dec 6 Today was awesome. I got through the Isaiah chapters of Second Nephi. When we woke up in the morning, Elder Chali didnt have his camera. After calling all the mmembers at the movie night last night, we decided to go to the spaz kids house. They had the camera. Then we went to Hermana Reys house and she offered to feed us lunch. WE had a great meal with pasta, potatoes, and beef. We taught a new investigator today too. He is a ten year old boy named Nicolas. We call him Nico though. He is awesome and really entergetic. We played ping pong for Noche de la Rama and Elder Robles and I had a great couple matches. Everyone else stunk. 

Sat Dec 7, Today we studied for a couple hours and went to the family that we contacted the other day. The Clavero Family. It was a great lesson, besides the fact that all three of the ladies that were there decided to feed their children in front of us. We got a call from President Smith after the lesson. He was calling about our area. We got our answer from our fast. He said that we now have permission to return home at 10 and that they will work to get us bikes. That will definitely hasten the work even more. For lunch we had milanesas. They were great. We went to Natalias house to paint her house after that. That took all afternoon. We went to another institute class, came home, planned, studied, and then went to bed. 

Sun Dec 8, Today I had a great attitude, and we had a great day. I played the piano at church and it went really well. Everyone was surprised that I could play and a lot of the women were really grateful for it. I also was asked to teach primary, just as primary was starting. It went really well though. We went and had hamburgers at Hermana Reys house afterwards. She made a ton of food and I had three hamburgers. The hamburgers here arent really hamburgers but man they are freaking good. Then we visited the Villegas family, the Mesa Family, Matias, and the Lopez family. We set a baptisimal date with matias for Jan 25th. We had the best week yet, stat wise and I thought it was the best week overall. Elder Chali said it was his best week yet in Uruguay too! Tomorrow is Pday and my TWO MONTHS of being out!