Week 32 - May 24, 2014

Sat May 17. Today was the day I have been waiting for in a while for a couple reasons. 1. I had studies like President taught us in our conference with 5 zones. Start with a song and then pray with sincerity. You should have prayer be something to work for. During the studies really focus on what you are studying and EXAMINE the doctrine. Look for things all during the day and be mindful about what miracles you see happen all around you. Have a notebook or something to write thoughts in with you. I did that and it was awesome. After studies, we bought bizcochos and a couple souveneirs. Then we went to the corto plazos house and took him to Tres Cruces. Then we went to the Montevideo sign on the rambla (highway on the beach.) Then we email and went to Nicole Priggionis birthday party that was happening in the gym of the church. We had an awesome lesson with Fernando planned. When we got there, Joaquin (11 year old son) and his friend were there. We talked to them for a while and found out that they didnt know anything about God. That was the first lesson where I taught someone who didnt know who God was. We basically ended up teaching the plan of salvation according to their questions and where they led. It was actually a great lesson. At the end of the lesson we committed them to pray and invited them to church that is down the street from them. They all took turns praying too and they were some amazing prayers. Elder Castellanos is a great teacher too. I will learn a lot from him.

Sun May 18. Today was a nice day of rest. Elder Castellanos and I taught Gospel Principles class about exaltation. We had a good turno ut and a pretty good lesson in my eyes. We had pizza for lunch and then we had our weekly planning sesión. We did a ton of organizing. We havent had any fights yet for our companionship inventories. We had good things tos ay so far.

Mon May 19. Today was a pretty normal Monday. We spent the morning on numbers and then we had the bolsa preparation. We also got everything ready for a Brazilian Elder who is coming tomorrow. We got home about 10:15after the bolsa run. We did a ton of work today, we could just use a Little help with the bolsa from ANYBODY. Sometimes its nice though because I can make sure I know whats going on and make sure everything goes to the right place.

Tues May 20. Today we woke up early to go get the Brazilian from the airport. We showed up way early to the airport and Heard his flight got cancelled. So we went and studied in the church hotel on the temple grounds. Elder Braga, showed up at 10:50. At first I started talking to him and asking him all about himself. Then after I payed the parking fee, when we jumped back in the car, President said, “He speaks English!” It was true… Elder Braga had gone to two weeks of the MTC in Argentina and he could speak better English than he could speak Spanish.President and I were laughing about it while I was driving everyone back. It was pretty funny to hear Elder Castellanos from El Salvador and Elder Braga from Brasil talking in English in the backseat, while we discussed somethings that were going on with a couple of Elders in Spanish. Usually its the other way around. Elder Braga learned his English from playing video games and listening to music. Thats crazy to me. We went to district meeting after we dropped Elder Braga off at his bus to go to his area. We visited the Varela family later at night and I feel like they really trust us now. I think they need the bishop and member help, so we will see what we can do about that.

Wed May 21. Today was an interesting day. We spent a lot of time in the offices. We went to ge tour licenses at 2, right after lunch. While waiting to be called, I got a call from our church lawyer who told me about 22 missionaries that need to come down to Montevideo this Monday to sign residency papers. Usually I have a month notice or so in advance, but not this time. I spent the rest of the day making the bus Schedule and routes for everyone and making sure they have companions. Then I sent out a ton of messages to the ZLs and individual missionaries to let them know the Information.Then we ran Elder Amaral and Teloma to Independencia to do divisions with Elder Watts and Elder Chuyes.

Thur May 22. Today was pretty packed. W eran all over the place in the morning dropping off mail, picking up mail, going to the distribution center, getting President to sign things, buying tickets, and getting the bolsas. We got lunch at 1 and went home and ate. We were in the offices until we met with bishop to make some visits. We first went to the Varelas house because I felt like they could really use his help. Then bishop had a meeting to go to so we went to the church. We had a karate activity with the Sayago and 18 ward but there were only 5 people there. It was pretty fun to have a Little 12 year old girl lead us and teach us karate. Hilarious story of the day. Elder Castellanos was going to get something from the financers house and he went with Elder Averett because I was in the drivers seat waiting outside with Elder Brown. We talked to a lady a bit who was cleaning their glass doors to the building. The other elders were in a rush and so they were going pretty fast. They ran out the door pretty quick. Elder Castellanos didnt see the nicely cleaned glass door that was following the first one and ran face first into the door, at a pretty fast pace. The poor kid got knocked back and then he just stopped and held his face. Elder Brown and I were blessed enough to watch the whole thing. It was hilarious. I have been waiting my whole life to see something like that. But when Elder Castellanos got into the car, we had to stop laughing and ask if he was okay. I was glad too because he just said that his face really hurt and then he started laughing about it. We all gladly joined in and laughed about it. I would pay to see it again.

Fri May 23. Today was pretty good in the offices. WE had bizcochos in the morning that were good. A homesless guy came up to us and asked for one. Trying to be a Christlike person, I gave him one. Then he asked for another, after pausing and thinking for a second, I gave him another. Then he asked for another one but it was a big nice golden Brown roll with Dulce de Leche inside. That was where I asked, “yeah we just gave you two, we have these for other people that we are going to give to.” And then he said, “yeah thats why you should give them to me.” I was pretty steamed on the inside so I just looked at Elder Castellanos and smiled. He gave him another after talking about it a bit and then we walked on. I am still working on patience. In the offices I did reservations for the temple, hotels for the oros, hotels for President, oro cards, papers for the health test, etc. Then we had a lunch and also a free singing concert at the Olivera house. Then we went to get plaques. We contacted in our area after that. It was very interesting, but we had no luck. Then we had coorelation. It was alright but I feel like the bishop just tells us to go visit less actives a lot. He says he has visited everyone and he doesnt know what to do anymore. Then we went home and had a good Little talk before we went to bed. PRetty good day but man we would sure like to have some more investigators! 

Week 31 - May 17, 2014

Sat May 10. PDAY! Today was not a day of relaxing or preparing for anything… We played futbol before studies. After studies we picked up the APs and then we had lunch with Mary. She made lentejas. It was super good. Its like a bit meat soup with a couple vegetables thrown in there. We had a giant dulce de leche cake with flan for dessert. Then we went to Tres Cruces to pick up the bolsas. We went to Plaza Independencia with Elder Woods to try and get souveniers from a certain store, but it was closed. We drove to the offices and cleaned the place like CRAZY. Then we emailed. At 5 I ended my pday with my secretary job that was to call all the missionaries who had not got Ahold of their parents to tell them when the best time to call home would be. As the night came to a close, I had called over 40 missionaries mothers, fathers, bishops, and stake Presidents to try and get Ahold of someone to let them know. I ended my calls around 11:45 and headed home. I will be happy to have a stress free day.

Sun May 11. MOTHERS DAY! Today was started off pretty good at church. Nothing new or mind blowing but it was a good Sunday with a couple good lessons. We made leftovers for lunch and then we took the sacrament to a lady in a health home. She was once again very thankful for us. After that, we got the APs and their proselyting companions, as well as the Cerro ZLs to go to the offices. All twelve of us took turns calling our families. I called my family at eight. The phone call honestly just jumped up right on me. I remember my first skype home I was thinking about it for a couple weeks and writing things down I wanted to say or ask my family. This time I was just happy to see their faces and hear their voices. It was kind of weird at first but time FLEW by and it seemed like we hardly talked. I had a couple of my best friends there too and it was awesome to hear from them. After all the calls ended and we kicked everyone out of the offices, Elder Castellanos, Elder Averett, Elder Brown, Elder Amaral and I were stuck in the offices without a car or keys. We had to clean anyways, so we cleaned until just after twelve oclock at night. Then Elder Amaral made a quick meal of things we found in the kitchen, then we slept in the offices. We had a wrestling tournament for the couches, and I ended up winning the biggest couch. (Thats totally a joke. We didnt have a wrestling tournament but somehow I got the big couch.)

Mon May 12. Today when we woke up in the offices, we sent out the number sheets and then we took a bus home. We showered and then went back to the offices to do the numbers for the week. I taught Elder Castellanos how to do the numbers and he picked it up pretty fast! We had lunch with the Olivera family. It was a good lunch and they seem like a Strong family. We were in the offices until we had to take Elder Woods to the mission home to head to the Reno Nevada mission to finish off his last 6 months. He forgot his Passport and so we had to go back. The financers came with us and then they dropped Elder Brown and I off in Ciudad Vieja to go get a health exam for our drivers license. We are finally getting drivers  licenses next week because we just got our Cedulas (Uruguay Identification cards)! Elder Brown and I walked around looking for this place for about 25 minutes, asking a couple people where to go. We passed our vision, hearing, and blood pressure test. However, the doctor told me that I have poor vision and I need to eat and drink more. After all that happened, we did the bolsa run and got home at 11:30. Another crazy day.

Tues May 13. Today was quite a day. We had to run to 3C in the morning to buy a couple tickets. Then we took the bolsa to Cerro. We ate lunch and then had our zone conference. Our new District Leader is Elder Amaral from Brasil. He is a stud. Then we cleaned the offices until they were cleaned almost to a scary point. Then we took Elder Arbon to his area in a taxi, and then we came back. Then we got the bolsa from the ZLs from Cerro, and went to our area. We went around contacting people and a couple references we had. A couple girls that were probably about 18-20 called us huevos, and Elder Castellanos said we should contact them. They were cracking up the whole time and when we were talking to them. They were super embarassed too. Then we contacted a man called Fernando. He let us in his house and we taught him lesson 1.1 about the restoration and prayer. He had a lot of great questions. He doesnt have a great family situatioon and he smokes, but we have faith! Then we went to the Salas family and talked about perspective and attitude. I really enjoyed that lesson. It was a GREAT to get out to work and to FINALLY FIND an investigator!

Wed. May 14. Today the financers had a big audit that they have been preparing for. Also, Elder Zaballos, from the 70 was coming to have a tour of the offices. President first arrived and was very impressed with the cleanliness of the offices but he said there is always more to do! We worked in the offices and then we had to take the auditor, Gomez Paz, to the airport. Then we stopped at 3C to pick up bolsas and send vean bags for the Winter. Then we went to the Varelas and had a great lesson about families. Then we stopped at Disco and I bought Yogurt which is the first food I have ever bought for this house.

Thurs. May 15. Today was complicated with the cars. President was in Tbo with the van. We took Jerry home from school, went to Carrasco and back in a taxi, and had a ward council and mission meeting with our new ward mission leader. We also picked up all the bolsas and bought Colonia tickets for the week.

Fri. May 16. Today we had a conference with Elder Zaballos. We learned about prayer, effective studies, and learning languages. It was a really good conference. I loved Presidents talk he gave about good prayer and studies. He proposed a really cool and new way to pray and study that can affect the rest of the day. I also came out with a desire to learn Portuguese. 80% of the LDS members can speak Spanish or English. 90% of the LDS members in the world speak either English, Spanish or Portuguese. We had to make a run to the grocery store to buy 18 6 liter jugs of wáter for the conference. Then we had lunch and talked for a while. Then we worked in the offices. We went to go play futbol but the other ward had the chapel. Then we went to a corto plazos house who will serve for 3 months that is leaving tomorrow. We helped him pack, calm down his parents, and give him a blessing. He will leave tomorrow to work in Rivera for 3 months. 

Week 30 - May 10, 2014

This week we had changes. My change is up to Senior Companion now. Elder Castellanos is my new companion. He has one more change more than me here but we will end together. He is from El Salvador. He is a stud too. Comes up to my shoulder and weighs a whopping 115 lbs. Its a bit of a change from Elder Woods who is 6 foot 2 and 240. He is awesome. I like him a lot. He is a go getter and wants to work hard. So far, we have. I now live with 3 latinos. The last time I lived with three latinos was in Florencio Sanchez my first change. I remember the first night sitting at the dinner table just eating my food while the other elders were laughing their heads off. I felt so lost and helpless. Now I feel like I am somewhat in charge and I can even crack the jokes now! Its pretty fun living with latinos though, as long as they keep everything clean. 

Sat May 3. Today was an alright day. We got hair cuts after our studies and I went short again. Then we went to get the APs in Cerro. They dropped us off to go eat with the financers. Elder Brown made his noodle dish that he likes to make a lot. IT was pretty good. Then we went to the offices and wrote our families. Then I started on changes to be on top of it. Then we went at 5 to get the bolsas. Luis got baptized too. We went to his baptism. It was really cool. We found Luis the last week that we were in Barrio 5 before we changed areas. He shared an AMAZING testimony and I was very impressed. We had a lesson with the Salas family about agency. They yet again promised to go to church, so I hope they do this time!

Sun May 4. Today was fast Sunday at church. I was able to pass the sacrament too! After church, we found food mixes of mashed potates and stuffing. We made all that together with some chicken that I made. It turned out really good despite our first thoughts about it. After that, we went to take the sacrament to an Hermana in a health home. She was super nice and it was nice to have Hermano Betancour there. He is awesome. He is the only member that asks us if he can come work with us. He is pretty impressive. We went to the offices after that and worked on the changes until about 1:30 in the morning and then crashed on the couches. 

Mon May 5. Today was the most stressful day of the 7 months of my mission so far. We woke up and continued to work on changes. The thing that messed up our day was that one of the mission couples had to go take a health test and we had to be the personal taxi. We worked on concilio, changes, and the oro information all day until we bought tickets. Then we spent about an hour and then we took our taxi home. 

Tues May 6. Today the oros got here. Their flight got delayed so they got here late. Too bad that they didnt make it to breakfast, because we got to feast on all of what was ready for them to come. Then we took President and the financers around to run errands. On the car ride, we all talked about music and bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd. President also told us that he is taking his daughter Starla to the One Direction concert. What a fun mission president/dad. We also talked about high adventures that we have had. We had a great time together and I wish we could have more time with President like that. We did all the suitcase moving and then they kicked us out before lunch. We worked in the offices and took the oros to Flores and to a Choque de Fuerza. Then we went to 3C to buy the tickets for the concilio meeting. Then we took the oros back to the mission home. We came home so Elder Woods could shower. Elder Averett and I went to buy chorizos. On the way back, a guy that lives on the street called us over. He asked us about God and His plan. He told us about all of his problems and how he used to believe but now he doesnt. He doesnt believe God loves him and would let him live like that. We testified to him that we know that God has a plan. It was kind of a cool experience because we didnt know what to say to him, we just had to testify. 

Wed May 7. CHANGE DAY. Today was insane too. Elder Woods spent the night with our ZLs in Tres Cruces and Elder Brown slept with the oros. Elder Averett and I woke up at 5:45 and went to Carrasco. We got there and made sure that the oros were ready to go and their rooms were clean. Then we went to tres cruces to get Elder Woods and pick up Elder Castellanos. We took them to the mission home. The oros got back really early so we talked with them until it was time to meet their trainers. When they went to the temple after they had met their trainers, we went back to the offices to work. Then we were eating lunch. President called all the office elders in to their secret side of the house for a meeting. The meeting ended up being about Elder Woods. They got a letter in the mail with Elder Woods new call. He will serve his last 6 months in Reno Nevada. He leaves the 12th of May. The video is on the facebook page if you want to see the opening! After all that, we took the oros to 3C. Then we got the bolsa run ready and done. Then we took the Artigas ZLs, Elder Bulloch and Elder Aqueveque to the mission home. Got home at 11:15.

Thur May 8. Today was crazy. We woke up early to go fix President car. We took it to a Honda dealer in Ciudad Vieja. Then we went to concilio. Within a few minutes of feeling the spirit, I was asked to take Elder Larson and Elder Zapata to the airport. It was pretty cool but sad too. Elder Larson is a stud and I will miss that kid! Then I went to concilio to stay. Concilio was awesome. We were all sharing things at the end about what we learned and the spirit was SUPER STRONG. Its so cool to be with a ton of the studs in the mission. After it all ended, we made three trips to Tres Cruces to take the ZLs to make their buses. We finally ended in our own house at 12:15.

Fri May 9. Today was crazy too. I know its new news but still... We were running all around trying to get stuff done, but people from higher authority always let us know that we had to do something for them PRONTO. I ended up printing the list of the converts for every ward in the mission and making them into two different folders. We also had to get Presidents car from downtown and take it to his house. Then we went to the bienvenida for a missionary that just got home from Peru. We also met with the bishop and he gave us a couple more less actives to visit! Hopefully PDAY Will be relaxing! 

Week 29, 2014 - May 3, 2014

Sat Abr 26. This morning we had futbol really early. I got a dead leg that is STILL killing me and already looks like it might be a good lookin bruise. After studies we had to go get the APs. We played baseball catch with gloves that we found in the APs house. Then we went to nuevo shopping mall, just to look around. We had lunch with Mary. We had lasagna and a birthday cake for Elder Arbon. Then we went to the offices, hung out and emailed. We had an adult stake meeting tonight. It was really good. A lot of talks about missionary work and doing the Little things so we can always progress. Laura, a member of the Salas family went too!

Sun Apr 27. Today we had our zone conference. All the missionaries sang put your shoulder to the Wheel. We had our weekly planning after the conference. It went very well and its always fun to have the last companionship inventory together. Elder Woods says that he really admires my work ethic and politeness. The thing I am going to work on that he brought to my attention was doing things that are in my control. We had our offices inventory. We are starting morning devotionals as the offices too. That should be fun. Then we worked on number sheets for tomorrow. Pretty calm day. Wish we could have worked though!

Mon Apr 28.  Today was alright. The financers had the car almost all day and we ended up missing a bus that a corto plazo from Paysandu was going to take, because the financers were late. After we figured out all the bus situations for him, we went to a lesson, but they werent home. Then we did the bolsa run and a McDonalds hamburger finish.

Tues Apr 29. Today was pretty slow. We had our last district meeting together before changes. We worked in the offices for most of the day. I felt really ineffecient though because we had to run errands and the financers had the car all day again. We had a lesson with Hermana Mello. She is an only member of her family and hasnt been to church in a very long time. Her husband doesnt even want to meet or see the missionaries. We had a good lesson with her about the lost sheep from the Restoration lesson. Then we went to the Salas house and talked about how Laura liked stake conference. We also talked about doing the Little things to help us become constantly converted to the gospel. We had two really good lessons that we were happy about!

Wed Apr 30. Tpday we started off by getting the information done for our Uruguayan identification. Then afterwards, I was running all over Montevideo with Elder Averett. We took the APs to buy shirts for the concilio soccer game, then we went to two different Banks, and then we took the APs to the hospital, then we got plaques. We had lunch with the bishop and his wife. They had home made milanesas, which were bomb. They only lesson that didnt fall through today was with the Varelas. We finally met their son Andreas and he is a stud! He just needs to go to church.

Thur May 1. Today is the feria. Its a day where almost no one works, much less gets out of bed. We had service right after our studies with the Varelas. We helped them put in another door in the house and put cement around that. It was actually a really fun service Project and I liked it a lot! Afterwards we made an asado that was amazing. We helped them make a good fire after they failed a couple times trying. Then their son came over with a big bottle of gas and lit ´er up. We went back home to shower and change, and then we went to a lesson with the Munilla family. We talked about all the things that the church has revealed in the last days through revelation. Then we had a lesson with the Betancours. We taught the first half of the plan of salvation. It went really well. It was a really touching lesson for me too. I loved the input from the dad of the family. I really thought about the sacrifice that Christ made for US and how scared he was to experience pain and suffering for the first time. We went to the offices and Hermano Cancela from the 5th Ward was having his birthday and he brought us food. Then we went to 3C to look for the bolsa, but EVEN TRES CRUCES was closed. I thought I was part of the movie I am legend walking through streets today. Thats how dead the city was. I lost my voice today too.

Friday May 2. Today we had a change meeting with President. He told me that Elder Castellanos will be my new companion. Our change meeting went very well too. We had basically everything ready to go, so we didnt have to go over much! Then we had the Restoration lesson with Hermana Devita, who is inactive. It was a really good lesson. She asked us to come back to read the BoM with her. When we were walking back, a lady stopped us and asked if we could come speak English for a class before a big test they take at school. We had a lesson with an ex investigator that we found in the area book. We talked to him, but he has no desire. This was the sentence that basically made it sure, “No sé quien inventó diezmo, pero esta LOCO!” I dont know who invented tithing, but they are CRAZY. We went on to teach him how tithing has been a commandment since the olden days even before Jesus Christ. After that lesson, we played futbol for the church activity and then we had chorizos!

My cool story about my new companion. About two weeks ago, I had been praying so President would be inspired to send someone to the offices that would help me and the offices out the most. Later on, I came to find out that President had changed my future companion from Elder Diotaiuti to Elder Castellanos. President told me that he had felt inspired to bring a spanish speaking Elder to the offices. President also told me that he had a very spiritual experience in the revelation that he received. That was really cool for me to hear, especially after a couple days of praying that President would know who to send to the offices. I love Elder Diotaiuti and all but needless to say, I am really excited for the next two changes!