Week 37 - June 28, 2014

Sat Jun 21. Pday. We got our hair cut today to start off the festivities. Then we got the other 4 Elders and went to lunch with Mary. We had a ravioli and pancake lasagna. It was BOMB. Then we wrote our families and hung out. I went out to work with the financers after that. They had two lessons that fell through so we contacted for a couple hours. It was a good experience and it made me feel better about my Spanish. I can honestly say, now at the 8 month mark, that I have no problems whatsoever in terms of understanding or speaking for the most part. Its amazing how much the Lord has blessed me with this language because I now I couldn't have done it by myself. A lot of times people answer the phone and ask if it is my companion talking, because of the accent. Hopefully I can leave the offices and PERFECT it! Thats my goal! After I worked a couple hours with the financers, I went to the Varela family with Elder Arbon, Paola(member) and my companion. We had a really good contact on the way and then we had a sweet lesson. I learned a lot from Elder Arbon. He said he thought we had a great lesson but he also gave us some great suggestions. 

Sun Jun 22. Today we had a crazy day of rest. We got 2 Elders at tres cruces before church that we had to take to their areas. We ended up taking one with us because their areas are so far apart. We had a great lesson in Priesthood from Gustavo Lopez aka Michael Jackson. After church, we took people from 3C and the Cerro stake center for the Charla Foganera (fireside). President invited us to come and so we went. It was a really cool experience. It was a super spiritual hour and half of music and testimonies. Then we had to take missionaries to 3C to go to their new areas from Cerro. We got home around 12:30. 

Mon Jun 23. Today I got to do numbers for the week. Its been a good 12 week break but I was glad that I finally understand them perfectly. We worked on the bolsa after that. H Smith called us to see if we could take things to put in the bolsa for the week. I went to the mission home with Botón, aka Adrian Paz, who is a corto plazo working with us for a couple days. Jerry let us in and then H Smith handed me the phone. I was scared when the mission Presidents wife handed me the phone. I answered and then it was Audrey. I talked to her for a little bit and then we had dinner with President and his wife. I really love their family. They are an amazing family. After we ate, we did the bolsa run and got home late again! 

Tues Jun 24. Today we had the corto plazo with us all day. We worked in the offices until district meeting. After the closing prayer in the district meeting, we heard a bunch of yelling, honking, fireworks, etc. Uruguay scored a goal against Italia with just a few months to spare. Uruguay won the game and literally the fireworks and honking continued for an hour and a half after the game. We are officially in the world cup tournament! We worked and planned for the rest of the day. 

Wed Jun 25. Today we had the corto plazo with two hermanas in the offices all day. The hermanas were planning for a lesson in concilio tomorrow. We had a lesson with Fernando and Joaquin. We went with the corto plazo and Andres (member). They helped us out a lot but maybe a bit too much. We ended up answering questions and talking about the deep history of the book of mormon. It was hard because we know that he just needs to simply read it and pray about it. 

Thur Jun 26. Today was concilio. We didnt go for the whole time though. We were there in the morning for the study with President. It was awesome. He doesnt even plan what he is going to say. He just starts with one scripture and then we talk about it. Then we keep going into the conversation and then an hour and a half has passed. We went to the temple with them later. It was of course super cool. I had a cool experience and a lot of cool things that I learned for the first time. We had to fly to a lesson after that. We went with the corto plazo to the Mello family. We taught about the book of mormon for a while. it was a pretty good lessson but they are not a very intergetic or talkative family so its kind of hard sometimes. Then we had to run to Carrasco, drop of the corto plazo, etc. We got home at 12:30. 

Fri Jun 27. I went to Concilio day 2 all day today. During the day we had practices of 3 lessons. They were all really really good lessons. I could have learned a ton just from the feedback that I heard. We talked a lot about things happening in the mission and how we can become better. Then we had the crazy races from Carrasco to 3C and then we finished off at 1:00. 

Week 36 -June 21, 2014

Wow this week was crazy. Change week. I went a week with little sleep and it was a lot of work, but we are done and ready for a new adventure! I didnt bring my journal this week so I wont be as detailed, but just imagine me running around Montevideo.

Sunday and Monday Jun 15-16. Ticket Day. It was a long night last night and even longer mentally doing it by myself. My comp still had work to do from the last change that he had to finish, and then in the middle of it all, Elder Brown and him got into a fight with hand stamps. Elder Brown ended up winning the over all fight, and Elder Castellanos ended up on the floor with a cut just below his eye. It was a pretty small cut and is healed now, but Elder Castellanos was so mad and shocked, that he told us he wanted to go to the hospital. Elder Brown was the only one that could take him to the hospital, so he did, even though my comp was furious with him. After all, he was fine. They put glue on it and that was it. We came home about 2 after I finished organizing all the tickets. After we bought the tickets in the morning, the APs called later that night and told us that one of the zones would not be changing for another week because of a stake meeting that they will be having this Sunday. There, we lost a lot of tickets and money. We organized all of that and then bought the tickets. That threw a wrench in what would be my perfect changes. 

Tuesday Jun 17. Today we got up really early to get ready to pick up the oros from the airport. When they answered our phone call, we were already in Cerro with the financers and APs. They were delayed for fog. Eventually, the fog disappeared, but that was around 12 oclock mid day. We had eaten the oros breakfast and had everything set for them to come. They got to Uruguay at 2:30and then we carried on with the day. It was a fun experience. I got to spend a lot of time with them, because every change one office Elder gets to hang out with the oros. I got to teach with the APs, translate for the North Americans, and eat their food. I was in charge of them all getting in the hotel rooms and ready for bed. Everyone decided to shower during the night except me, and they all got in bed around 12. 

Wed. Jun 18. Today we woke up at 6:00 to get ready. They all got ready but they took forever. They will learn pretty quick how to get ready and out the door. We were going to do the push up contest, but literally they were all ready late, except for the two Hermanas. CRAZY RIGHT?! They all went to take their health test at 7:00. President then told me that one of the missionaries hadnt been through the temple. President asked me to take him through the first part of the temple and it was really cool. Then I did baptisms in the temple with Elder Arbon, Elder Minert, and a corto plazo. That was the first time that I have ever had the opportunity to confirm anyone in the temple. It was AMAZING! After the oros all left for their new areas, I went out to work with the financers, because Elder Castellanos was out with Elder Arbon running errands. We went to a couple houses but no lessons. They have good attitudes though. Elder Holt is the new financer. He is from Spanish Fork Utah and he is about 5 foot NOTHING. Dead serious. Hilarious kid and he has about 10 months in the mission. 

Thur Jun 19. Today was almost a normal day in the offices. We got to watch the Uruguay vs England game. It was a heck of a game. Here in Uruguay, there are flags, shirts, scarfs, lo que sea ALL AROUND. Almost every single corner has someone selling something Celeste. We went to a less active families house. They invited a friend over too. I learned quite a few new words the first game against Costa Rica, but I yelled a lot the second game against England. After the game, There were fireworks, people running around like crazy, and everyone honking with no purpose. We stopped by Fernando and Joaquins house after the game. It was amazing because we havent been able to get a hold of him. He said today was the only day that he could have talked with us, so it was a miracle we came by. We had a great lesson with him. Its really cool becuase he usually just leads us into a lesson with his questions that he has. It was a really powerful lesson about the priesthood and prayer. We do everything in the church just so perfectly, and we also have the Lord guide us with a beginning prayer. 

Fri Jun 20. Today was a bunch of running around. The APs had to run a bunch of errands and we had to change cars with President for the weekend. Through the day, we had 2 corto plazos come and go. One we picked up at 2am. I went to the car wash with President and I was able to talk to him for about 25 minutes. He is an AMAZING man. I have no doubt he is called from our Heavenly Father to serve here. We also ran to the bank, to get gas, make plaques, pick the plaques up, buy a violin for a missionary choir in cerro this weekend, pharmacy, make copies of keys, and had a coorelation meeting. It was quite a day and pretty hectic.

I am ready for another fun week and change in the offices! I am ready to be a normal missionary and just preach the gospel all the time! 

#gloriosoceleste

Week 35 - June 14, 2014

Sat June 7. Today we got up and left the hostal to get ready. We got a call saying we had to take a couple things that Elder Lira forgot to the airport. They couldnt find a ticket for Elder Lira so Elder Arbon bought one. What a stud. Then after Elder Lira left, we played soccer on the rambla against the other mission. It was windy, rainy, and COLD. However, we were pretty stoked about playing the other mission. We had been trash talking for a bit. We ended up DESTROYING them. It was super fun. Elder Gesch visited us with his dad later in the day! Then we went home, my comp showered, and we went to the Correa home. They have bad health so there isnt much we can do to help them. They are supposed to stay in their house. My comp felt sick so we went home and planned. 

Sun June 8. Today was alright but we will see fruits this week hopefully. Church was pretty good, we met a lady that is a reference at church. Then we went home to eat lunch. We waited for Elder Balliff and Gonçalves to come get something from the office. Then we planned. We had a great planning session. Elder Castellanos felt sick again and he had a 99.8 fever. Then I gave him a fever reducer and told him to go to bed.

Mon Jun 9. Today we running around crazy. Elder Finlay sprained his ankle playing basketball and we took him to the hospital. It was GIANT and nasty. Elder Brown and I went to a couple banks and then went to a place where they will be laminating the 8 Creencias cards. Then president changed a couple things after everything had already been printed. All of our working in the area plans crashed, then we did the bolsa run, bought tickets, and took Elder Arbon home. 

Tues June 10. We woke up today by a phone call about a corto plazo waiting in 3 Cruces. We ran over there but when we got there, all the buses from Rivera were delayed. An hour later, the corto plazo showed up. Then we went home and got ready. We had a district meeting that was awesome and then we worked in the offices. We had lessons a 6, 7, and 8. Our lessons at 7 and 8 fell through. We were out with a member named Paola though and we visited Hermana Gomez, who recently had surgery. We had a lesson with Maria de Carmen also, who is the lady that showed up at church with a friend! Then we came to the offices to find out what to do with the changes. President changed the changes, and now he wants the missionaries traveling during the day instead of the night. We have an excel document with a bunch of formulas to make the traveling easier for each zone. However, since we are changing the times of changes, I had to rewrite the formulas for each zone. It took a good 2 days literally. I have learned a HECK A LOT about excel though. 

Wed Jun 11. Today I spent almost all day on the new change formulas. We had a gizo and lentejas lunch with the Munilla family. It was really good. I later called the guys doing the new 8 Creencias cards and asked how they were doing. They put off our project and had to stay late to finish. The fun part is we stayed there too and helped a bit. Then we had to go and find a bunch of tables for the conference in Cerro tomorrow with our whole mission. We got back home at 1am. 

Thur Jun 12. Today we had the 2 BIG conferences. They were both awesome and fun. The conference in Cerro was super cool to be able to see ALL the missionaries that are in the mission. It was so awesome to know almost everyone too. The 8 Creencias cards were passed out in that conference and I was finally happy to hear that what I made was "PERFECT" in Presidents eyes. The Malvin conference was great too. Elder Robbins is a stud. He opened up about an hour after just for questions. You have to be a STUD to do that with 500 missionaries. After that, we stayed to clean and got home late again. 

Fri Jun 13. I couldnt sleep last night. I woke up with a fever of 100.5 degrees. The whole day was rough because of that. We worked in the offices until 1:00 and then we went to a marriage with a couple that is getting baptized in our ward, with the other missionaries. It was pretty simple and short. Then they had their baptism at 6. They had freezing cold water too because no one turned on the fire to heat the water. There were 2 men that walked in and wanted to watch the baptism. We taught them about the restoration and a lot about our church. After the baptism, we went to get gas and then we got the changes. My comp ran errands with Elder Averett and the APs until about 12. At 1am, we called it quits and went home. 

8 Creencias - Wow that was quite a work. I made 9 drafts, always getting feedback from President. The 9th draft, President said it looked perfect. Its pretty cool that all the missionaries in the mission have something I made! 

Changes - We will have 3 APs this change. Elder Bossa and Elder Aqueveque both extended their missions and will end their missions at the end of this month. Nothing crazy happened with anyone in my group. We are getting Elder Favero as our new ZL, who is from Brasil. He will be with Elder Mella, whos parents just got called to be mission presidents in California San Jose. 

Conference in Cerro - WOW it was awesome. I hugged so many people during that conference. It was cool to see EVERYONE. 

Conference in Malvin - Elder Robbins is a stud. It was a really cool talk about the mission and he dropped a little cane about people finding their spouses on the mission. 

EL MUNDIAL - YES. The world cup is crazy here. There are Uruguay flags, jerseys, etc sold at EVERY INTERSECTION. That is not an exaggeration at all. Crazy news too: WE GET TO WATCH THE URUGUAY GAMES: President talked to me about it after he announced it in the conference. He said that the country will be dead as it is, and it only happens every 4 years, so why not!? So at 4 oclock Uruguay time today, sorry but I will be watching the world cup. We bought two Uruguay flags that go on car windows and we have them on the mission van. Gotta represent. We went to the estadio today and I talked to a couple that was from Brasil, in PORTUGUESE. I didnt understand it all, but the cool thing is that I had a conversation with them! Thats absolutely crazy to me. 

Week 34 - June 7, 2014

Sat MAy 31. Today was good. we went to a sealing at the temple for the Alvarez family. We did initiatories and then a session, then we went to a sealing. It was amazingly awesome. It made us super trunky because it was so beautiful. Then their child Franc, two year old little spaz ran in the room in all white and I think there were wet eyes all around the room. President went too! He told me when I got there that I look like a President, I was scared to ask him what that meant. One thing that the man who got sealed said that I loved was, "Cualquier esfuerzo, vale la pena." We went to the Varela and Betancour families and shared our awesome experience with them, and then talked to them about their goals to be sealed for time and ALL eternity. 

Sun Jun 1. Today was cool at church. Because of voting that was happening in Montevideo in the chapels, all the missionaries from our zone went to one ward. It was awesome to see a church so full, and there were only 141 people there. We planned for most of the day after church. 

Mon Jun 2. Today was the normal monday. We got the APs after studies and talked with Elder Myers while we waited for them as always. He told us about his last time he got robbed. We had numbers and bolsa prep almost all day. We had a giant bolsa run today and it was not a ton of fun. Elder Brown and I had a good talk today about working in the offices, being a normal missionary, and trying to balance all that and have success in the two. Funny story: Today I called President to ask him if he had any people he was thinking about to be the next financer. He told me a name, so I could start the long getting a license process. Later Elder Arbon was going through our emails and shouted, "ELDER HOLT?" That was the name of the next elder, or possibility. Elder Brown, his next comp, was standing right behind him. 

Tues Jun 3. Today was alright. The financers robbed us of the car all day again, but we had a good day in the offices. Our district meeting was great too. We went to the Varela family home and had a great lesson with them about prayer and how to do it better. I really thing Andres will progress. 

Wed Jun 4. Today we ran around like crazy. We woke up at 5:30 and had to take a corto plazo home. Elder Staffieri came down for a doctors appointment with his companion,We ran to burger king with them and then worked at the offices with him, because he used to be a secretary. 

I am slacking hard core on my journal entries. I hardly have time to write. That is short and thats all I have for this week so far. 

We have been running around crazy this week. I have been doing a lot of redesigning programs and things that President wants to change for the better. As much time as it takes, I really love working with President. He is so awesome and he teaches me a LOT. We have had a couple studies with him this week too. We just read a couple of scriptures and talk about them and learn a lot. 

We have been contacting a lot lately. We only had 5 lessons this week that didnt fall through. We have a TON fall through, and not much to back us up. This area is tough. 

Last night, we also slept in the hostal with the APs and Elder Lira, who was going home. We have been eating out a lot so far this month, so I dont know how I will be doing on money at the end of the month. This week we will be having a meeting with a area 70 with the other mission as well as ours. We are going to meet as a mission before but no one else knows that yet, so keep it on the Down Low.... 

Also next week I will be receiving changes... Sooo I cant garuntee i will write a lot next week! I want to have changes PERFECT this change! 

I miss you all a ton but I cant say I want to leave! :) I love you all so much! 

Week 33 - May 31, 2014

Sat May 24. Today was relaxing and we had plans to go to the estadio but the financers didnt feel good. We made lunch in the financers house. Elder Brown and I made chicken alfredo and banana pudding. We went to get Elder CAstellanos hair cut then we hung out at the offices until we ended Pday. We visited Hna Gomez and gave her a blessing. Then our other 2 plans fell so we got the map from Cerro 17. Elder Diotaiuti and Elder Sosa.

Sun May 25. Today was pretty good. We had a good day at church. The lessons werent the best but maybe they were for someone else. For lunchg we cooked pizza with green olives and giant cuts of carne. We took the sacrament to the Hermana Pais and had a good talk with her. We ran by the offices to grab all the passports for a thing tomorrow and then we went back home. We had our weekly planning but we only finished about half until we had to go to lessons. Our first one was with Fernando, the investigator. We brought Hno Betancour with us. We went over the restoration and led that into the Book of Mormon. It seemed like it wasnt a great lesson for me or us, and we both thought we could practice more. However, Fernando sent us a message saying how much he loves when we pass by and talk to him. That made us feel a alot better. Then we passed by the Salas family even though it was getting pretty late. After we left their house, we RAN home to be on time to our house. We ran for a while and we were exhausted. My comp when we turned the final corner, told me to stop because he thought he was going to throw up. We walked the block without problems and got home a minute late. 

Mon May 26, Today was Elder Castellanos bday. We got ready quick and ran to Tres Cruces for people who had to sign residency. Twenty had to sign and Six companions had to come with them. The companions didnt know what to do, so we took them all to the offices. Elder Finnegan, Elder Goold, Elder Nuñez, Elder Santos da Silva, Hermana Valverde and Hermana Fullmer came to the offices. Elder Nuñez gave me one of his Hoy es el Dia ties that he got in a package from his dad that makes them. I ran to get packages with Elder Goold. Then after that, we headed back and dropped them all off at tres cruces and made sure they all had tickets ready to go. We were going to take the Cerro Companionships to Cerro but Elder Goold and Elder Merrill ditched. We took Hermana Valverde and Hermana Llonto. It was a really fun, hilarious, and awkward drive. Then we worked on numbers in the offices. The financers made lunch for my comp and then we ran to the mission home where Hna Smith had a present and cake for him. Later I bought him 20 bizcochos and told him to eat them all. After a lot of my juice and a couple hours, he finished all twenty. We did the bolsa really quick today but then the APs called me and asked me to do the Diario, which shot all of our time to go work out. We got home from the bolsa run around 11.

Tues May 27. Today was pretty normal. We picked up the APs and took the Cerros ZLs to the church. Then we had a reunion de distrito that was great. I really loved it. Then we worked in the offices until 5:30. We contacted referenced we received from the bishop and then we visited the Salas family and they had a cake for my comp. I had a really cool experience there. I was just really trying to think WHY they dont go to church. After beating my testimony various times, I realized that I really do love these people and I want them to be on the good side and I want them to be able to live together FOREVER as a family! 

Wed May 28. Today was awesome. We started out at Presidents house with a meeting about two mission conference coming up. We decided that before our big conference with the other mission, that we would meet as a mission before because it has never happened before. We also had a brunch in honor of my comps bday. Thats three straight days of meals for him. I hope my comp hooks me up for my bday like I hooked up Elder Castellanos! We worked in the offices for a while then we got the car from the financers and bought tickets and brought the bolsas. The bolsas this week were golden for me.Elder Woodcock Sent me a 3 Liter guaraná from Rivera that was 40 pesos. Less than two dollars. Then Hermana Valverde sent me alfajores and Hermana Llonto sent me brownies. Then when we got back, we went on divisions with Elder Amaral and Elder Teloma. I went with Elder Amaral, who is our District LEader from Brazil. He is awesome. We contacted for a while with no success. Then we got a call to give a blessing to an hermana who is getting surgery tomorrow. She asked me to do the blessing so that was really cool! We did that and then we got a call from Fernando and he asked if we could visit him. So Elder Amaral, Teloma, Castellanos and I all went to his house. We talked about faith and repentance. It was going really well and I was starting to talk about baptism and the gift of the holy ghost. Right as I was about to give him the baptismal challenge, someone clapped at the door. Fernandos brother and his wife came and they were really cool. We all talked with them for a while. It was a great time and I feel like we gained a lot of confidence with them. 

Thur May 29. Today was good. We took the mail to Carrasco and then we went to DHL by the airport. It took an hour to get mittens, a scarf, and glasses. We worked in the offices until 5:30 and then we went to fill out info de progreso and we went to correlacion. That took a while but it was good. Then we drove to the house of Andres and Andrea, who are a newly wedded and recent converts. We had a great time with them. They are only a  22 and it felt like we were just friends talking. The awkward difference was the companions haha. Needless to say, after a great lesson of the gospel, we both were pretty trunky and we talked about getting married the whole drive home. 

Fri May 30. Today after studies I worked on updating the phone list on the computer. Then we went to get packages and tres cruces to buy tickets. Elder Sipan made lunch. Then we went to the aduana at the new location that doesnt look or feel like jail like the other one did. They were even playing Lady Gaga music. When we got back, we had more distribution center packages come so we organized all the packages that we got over the day. I was feeling great at 5:00 because we had time to leave to work. I called 3people that we were going to meet with today but none of them answered. Then we street contacted, reference contacted, and got to know our area well. We did that for 3 hours and then we went home to start weekly planning. We talked to a lot of people with not a lot of success. We talked to a guy that really wanted to change his life. He said he ahs problems sleeping at night because of addictions. I just have to keep in mind the potencial and maybe he could be a mission president someday. 

Today we went to the temple and it was AMAZING! We did initiatories at first, and then we went to a session with the people who were going to get sealed. We did that and then we went to their sealing. The whole time it was super cool to see someone go through the first time. The sealing was BEAUTIFUL. They got sealed first and then they brought their 2 year old son in after. Everyone was teary eyed when they got sealed but when the two year old cute little kid walked in dressed in all white, I am pretty sure everyone cried. I did for sure. and I know his mom did too. It was precious and I absolutely LOVED IT. That was one experience I probably will never forget.