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.