Week 66- January 19,2015

First week in Rivera!! They say Rivera is Zion so I am going to see soon! I left my area in Montevideo on Wednesday morning and I took a bus to Rivera at 12:30. I rode with two other Elders. It was a long trip. Luckily I had some snacks and music so that helped a lot. When we got to Rivera that night, we had to just hang out until the trainers and new missionaries got to the terminal. We went to Brazil and just walked around and ate burger king. We brought protein for our house too. When the trainers and their kids got to Rivera at midnight, we made sure they all took taxies and then we headed to our area on another bus. We basically just crashed around 1:30 in the morning. Sad news about this travel, one of my suit case handles broke, so that will make some complicated changes after this. 

For the first two days in Rivera we were in a trio with my companion Elder Adasme and Elder toledo, the ZL. Elder Adasme just completed 6 months this past Saturday. He is half chilean. His mom met his dad while she was serving as a missionary in Chile and after she finished the mission... well the rest is history. Elder Adasme is super funny and a good missionary. He is absolutely crazy though. He has pretty good Spanish because he lived in Chile for 9 months before the mission. We live in the same house with the Zone Leaders. Its super fun but sometimes I dont like it. Elder Toledo (Chile) and Elder Lima (Brasil) are our ZLs. 

I am not district leader anymore which is kind of nice to have a break and just to be able to focus on my area. Our area is tough. We had 49 people at church on Sunday and its just now starting to grow. President told me that he hopes I can give Santa Isabel the good push that it needs. The ZLs just got moved to this area last change so it needs some help... 

The members here are pretty good but the bishop is just alright. There arent a ton of leaders though. I taught gospel principles this sunday because the teacher didnt show up. Bishop talked with us yesterday and he is going to have all four of the missionaries in the ward teach a class... It makes me appreciate my awesome teachers and leaders that I have had! 

BRASIL. Yeah its pretty awesome. I have been there 3 days now. I have eaten three times there and I realized I dont know as much portugues that I thought. I have never felt so uncomfortable since I got to Uruguay... Its weird to walk the streets of brasil and not understand hardly anything. However, I am studying portuguese and I live with a brasilian so I just need time! 

This week was slow with the changes but we are excited about next week! We are going to have to find a bunch of new people because this area isnt doing so hot. We have a potential baptism though whose name is Solis! We will see how it goes with him! 

HOJE È O DIA!!!!! I love you all! 

Elder Cordy

Week 65 - January 12, 2015 - Goodbye San Fernando...off to Riveria

TRANSFER INFORMATION: I am out of San Fernando after 6 months. I am going to Rivera! It borders Brasil (separated by literally just a normal road) and I will be in Brasil every single P-day! I will be with Elder Adasme, who is a newer missionary with about 6 months. I know him already and he is pretty funny! I am excited about it! I am going to the Santa Isabel area, which is a hard area and very poor from what I have heard. I am excited to learn a bit more Portuguese and hopefully I wont be too lost! 

This week was pretty good though! I have a couple funny stories.

1. I went to order ice cream last pday. As soon as I ordered, Elder Cline said he had to RUN to the bathroom. We had to ask around and we finally found a sketchy place on the side of the road. However, it was occupied. Elder Cline was dying and he literally yelled "hermana!!!!" because he thought he was going to have an accident in his pants! It all turned out good though. I got a nice laugh too! 

2. We helped a guy pull his four wheeler out of a ditch on the side of the road. He wasnt looking and literally just turned to tight and fell in a swampy looking ditch. I felt so sorry for the guy but we got a good laugh. 

We had a conference with President Smith at the beginning of the week, which was awesome. We got taught about the new key indicators for the mission, which are crazy. Now we will just be counting Baptisms, Attendance of church, Members Progressing, Investigators Progressing with a baptismal date, New investigators found while working with members, and total hours working with members. Its going to be a tough change, but it will be super good! 

I did divisions with one of our ZLs, Elder Moffat, who is finishing his mission tomorrow and heading back to Idaho. He is a stud and I worked in his area. Its a giant hill and its just flying. They have been working super hard. 

This week has been pretty good, but mostly full of conferences, meetings, and good byes. I really love this area and its become my favorite area I have had so far in the mission! I am ready and excited for something new though! 

Mom and Dad (and maybe Isaac), when you all come here, we will have quite a fun ride from my first 4 areas (within 3 hours of eachother). But then we will have to make a fun 7 hour drive to Rivera!!!!!!!! I think this will probably be my second to last area! 

I hope everyone had a great week! Shoutout to all my studly brothers, who all destroyed in their wrestling tournaments this week! I love you all! 

Week 64 - January 5, 2015

This week was NEW YEARS! 2015! Its crazy to think that I spent the whole year of 2014 in Uruguay and its even crazier to think that I will be home at the end of this year!

We had a fun last pday. We had 4 elders over and we made pancakes and hung out in our house. We had a couple services too this week. We made a roof of a house with cement, which was super fun. We also had a service project as a district in Playa Pascual. We went to a members house and helped him clear our his yard which was covered in branches, metal, glass, and a lot of trees. I was the lucky one with a machete :) 

This week we had a decent week of work.
-Daniela and Alejandro are doing great and they are in Montevideo right now to try and get all of the marriage paperwork that they need. We had a super awesome lesson about tithing. Yeah thats possible as crazy as it sounds. It may have been one of the most spiritual lessons Ive had in a while.
-Valentina and Bris are going to move together this week officially and Bris is coming along well with the gospel learning. He has a ton of questions and really wants to prove us wrong more than anything, but we answer his questions and he prays, so he is progressing! 

-Richard Martinez is the ex ex bishop of our ward. He has been through a lot and now lives with a lady who doesnt believe in God and smokes. He doesnt go to church anymore though but we visited him this week after he went for the first time in almost a year. It was a tough lesson just because he thinks he knows all the doctrine. He does know it very well, but he doesnt understand. That is a sad truth for many members of the church. 

Funny story this week was with an investigator that isnt progressing but we visit her every couple weeks. She always gives us food. We didnt have lunch that day and so we decided to go to her house. We had the lesson about Alma chapter 8 which talks about Alma when he meets Amulek. When Alma enters the city he meets Amulek and asks him if he will give some food to a humble servant of God. When we got to read that part of the lesson, I looked right at the ladys eyes and asked if she would give US "humble servants of God" some food, because we were hungry. She said yes and then she started cracking up. It was hilarious but pretty solid. We had a good lesson about consecrated missionaries and we got lunch! 

This week the hermanas in our ward had a baptism and Elder Cline got to baptize the girl! It was pretty awesome and he was freaking out nervous but it all went well. 

I have been learning about Obedience a lot this change. I feel like it is totally vital. We have to be obedient. If we are not obedient, we will never be able to reach Heaven. The first law of heaven is obedience. The law of the CELESTIAL kingdom is the law of consecration. Consecration is exact obedience. We have to be exactly obedient if we want to live with our families forever in the celestial kingdom with our Heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ. WE MUST OBEY. 

Next Tuesday I will let you all know about my next change! I am getting excited about it already! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!