Week 83 - May 25, 2015

Wow Artigas is awesome! I am really loving it so far! This is such a cool place and its amazing to be with an incredible missionary as my companion! That probably the highlight of being ZL, having a studly comp. We have been running around a lot, especially during changes. We had people get to the zone at 9am, 2pm, 2pm, and 2am the next day. We had to walk to centro, which is a long way away to greet the new missionaries in our zone! Plus we have the mission council tomorrow with all the ZLs and Sister Training leaders tomorrow and we had to do a bunch of graphs for that! I dont miss that part of the offices! 

Artigas is an amazing zone. We have some great missionaries and a ridiculously awesome group of leaders that support us. I think the main key to the great missionaries is that we have 6 companionships of Sisters and 5 companionships of Elders. 

In our zone we have 3 DLs. All three of them are new. We had a meeting with them on Thursday just to help them feel more comfortable about their meetings on Friday. The district meetings on Friday were fun. I went to our district meeting for the first half and it was really good. The DL taught a lot about the direction of the mission. Then I spent the other half in the Quaraí district meeting. Its the district with the missionaries serving in Brazil. The meeting was in Portuguese. It was super awesome because I literally could understand them! I have been practicing more and I can speak better but I can understand a lot now! Its super cool! 

My second day here we were working with our ward mission leader. We found Rodrigo, who is a 21 year old kid. We had an incredible lesson with him and we gave him a baptismal date during that first lesson. He is a stud and we are excited to work with him! He went to travel this weekend though so he didnt come to church. 

Elder Amaral and I have been thinking about things that we want to do this change so that it will be incredible. We want to do this: FLOOD the earth with the Book of Mormon. We have been studying and praying a lot about this. We have come up with the idea to have a stake study from the Book of Mormon. We went to President Bueno´s house (which btw is probably the most incredible family ever.) Presidente Bueno is our stake president. He is in our ward which makes things super easy for us. We have come up with 15 stories from the book of mormon that all of the families in the stake are going to study, one story every week. Then we are going to have each ward present two skits of these stories. I dont know if I explained it well but we already talked with our stake president and bishop and they love the idea! 

The Bueno family is amazing. He is our stake president, she is our primary president, and they have 5 kids. 3 are theirs and 2 are adopted. This week they are giong to have two kids from the states come and stay with them until July I believe. The kids are 13 and 15. They are coming just to have an experience. Their parents are from Mexico and Peru and they want their kids to learn spanish and experience south america!
Every Sunday the missionaries eat with the Bueno family. They bring two big tables together. One tradition they have is that the missionaries make dessert. It was my turn yesterday. I made crepes with dulce de leche! At first they were too thick but I got the hang of it after a while! Mom I need some easy quick recipies now too for dessert! 

I am so glad to be able to be here in Artigas. I feel like I have changed so much over the last almost 20 months and I am so grateful for that change. I know that two years in ANY college (BYU, Harvard, the Air Force Academy, or the University of Oklahoma) couldnt have changed me like this. I am so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me so much. I am so grateful that he loves and trusts me enough to teach his gospel, even though I understand just a little part of it! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know it is the word of God and that if anyone reads it and lives what it teaches, they will return and live with our Heavenly Father again. The gospel is amazing and its true! 

#InundarLaTierraConElLibroDeMormón

Week 82 - May 19, 2015

CHANGE WEEK! We just got our changes on Sunday night. I am headed to Artigas as zone leader! I will be the ZL of all of the areas in Artigas and Brazil! We have a district leader in Brazil so I will be able to do divisions in Brazil too! My companion is going to be Elder Amaral, who is from Brazil. I met him when I was in the offices and he is a great missionary. He is supposed to be ending this change but he extended his mission so it will be longer! I hope I get two changes with him! We are going to be opening an area in Artigas 2nd Ward. I cant wait to serve in Artigas!

President Smith gave us our changes after stake conference on Sunday. It was really fun because the whole zone was together in the same room. Elder Abel, who is in my ward, is going to be Elder Huntsmans next comp, which they are super excited about. Elder Baggett is headed to Argentina to be Zone Leader also! We will be headed out early tomorrow morning! 

This week in our area was great. Like I mentioned last week, we had the Meet the Mormons activity. We showed the movie and there was around 50 people there, which is the best I have seen here in Salto! Seriously I have loved my time here. In two short changes Salto has become really dear to me! I love the people here and I have learned a lot! 

We had the interviews for Jakson, Gema and Candela, the three people that had a baptismal dates! I found them, taught them, got their interview, but I will miss their baptism sadly. Its cool to be a part of their conversion! 

We have spent the last two days visiting everyone and saying goodbye. I have a ton of pictures that I will send after of people that I have met here! 

The best thing about the mission is getting to grow and learn. I have been able to learn and grow a lot in my time here in Salto! I love the people, the city and the ward here! With the help from Elder Huntsman and Elder Kelly, I have really enjoyed and grown to love Salto! 

Week 81- May 11, 2015

Hey everyone! Wow this week was ridiculously good! Mainly because I got to skype my family.

This week we went to two differnent baptismal services. One where my companion baptized a girl, and another in our ward for the other elders. There were a bunch of cute little girls that got baptized and it was fun to see their reactions as they entered the chilly water! 

I did divisions with the Elders in my district this week. I went to their area and we had a great time. We gave a guy a baptismal date and it was super cool! Their house didnt have hot water and it was literally the coldest shower I have ever taken (not that I have taken very many). Still though, the water was ridiculously cold. 

We tried to set up a lot of Family Home Evenings this week with awesome members and we had 3 that were all just super fun. I really enjoyed them and my companion did too! 

We have an activity this next friday where we are going to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. We are planning a lot and its going to be awesome! 

Awesome news: I will not be leaving Uruguay until October! My parents are coming down and we are going to spend some time here together and go to all of my areas! I am super excited! 

Thanks to all of you that have supported me! I have 3 more changes left in the mission and wow is that crazy to say. I really appreciate all of your love and support. 

Quote of the week: Attitude by Charles Swindoll-
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes."

Week 80 - May 4, 2015

Well hey everyone! A little bit of everything happened this week...

A couple awesome things that happened this week; 

I finished the book Jesus the Christ! Ridiculously cool book! 

The key indicators in our mission officially changed and we only count the amount of new investigators that we find while working with members every day. 

I did an interview this week for the Hermanas in my district. A cute little girl who was really smart! I am loving the zone here! We have some of the best missionaries who are working super hard!

Winter finally has come! We had a HUGE rainstorm one day. Literally the streets were like rivers. We got SOAKED even though we had waterproof boots, big jackets and umbrellas! After the giant rainstorm It got really cold! Ive been wearing a sweater since!

Skype is going to be awesome! 

This week my comp and I had a companionship inventory that really fixed a lot of things and we are doing pretty good now! 

This week I had some awesome studies. I got a talk that is called "Beginning with the end in mind" by Elder Russell M Nelson. It was a really good talk and it explains how the final goal should be the temple, not baptism! When we talk to people in the street, we should imagine them with white clothes on. But the white clothes in the temple, not the white clothes of baptism! I really loved that! 

I also was listening to Elder D Todd Christoffersons talk from this last general conference. He says one line that I LOVE! He says that many things are good, many are important, but few things are essential. I made a list of things in all three categories and its really cool to think about what the essential things are in our lives, according to our final goal. 

I did divisions with Elder Teloma, who should be famous in the history of my mission. We have been in the same zone for 11 of my 13 changes. That has to be a record. The last time we did divisions I was his DL and he was a senior comp. Now he is my ZL and I am a DL (still)... If I am DL next change I think I will break the record of longest time as DL in our mission! Elder Teloma is a stud. I really respect him a lot and I love to be able to listen to other missionaries teach. We had a crazy awesome day together in my area! 

This past Friday was basically Labors day here. No one worked. We had a crazy awesome day and we just contacted like crazy. We got denied a lot but everyone was making food so we got fed well!! 

I got to go to gospel doctrine this week with a new couple we just found this week who are new members here. The teacher was super awesome and It made me wonder how my dads gospel doctrine classes are! I cant wait to find out! 

The mission is so awesome. I can not explain how much I love being a missionary. Its so cool being able to share the gospel every single day! I am so grateful for this sacred time I have here! I am so grateful to be able to learn constantly and understand Heavenly Fathers plan for me! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Week 79 - April 27, 2015

This week was INCREDIBLE. Honestly one of the best working weeks in my mission. I dont know if I have ever felt such an incredible love for the work as I do right now. I love it so much that I am nervous and kind of scared to go back to the real world! 

This last Monday night we left Salto to go to Montevideo for a giant conference with Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the twelve apostles. It was incredible. I was chosen as one of the 10 Elders in our mission to be in the choir and I loved it. When we sang our song, Hermana Smith was crying and Elder Oaks said "that was absolutely wonderful" when I passed him on the stand! A couple things that Elder Oaks talked a lot about were that the mission is not the last goal of our life, that exaltation is. Then he went on a marriage tangent for a while :) I really loved how he highlighted the importance of obedience too. He talked about how we need to balance all of the responsiblities that we will have after the mission. But that is AFTER the mission. NOW IS NOW! We have to enjoy the mission and concentrate all of ourselves to this sacred calling. 

The bus rides to and from Montevideo were super fun! We went with Artigas and I got to talk to a lot of awesome friends that I have made during my mission. It was great to catch up! I talked to the Elders in Brasil too and I got excited about learning portuguese again but I doubt that I will head there now! I still have a goal to learn portuguese! 

The day after the conference the Hermanas in my district wouldnt answer their phone. I had told them to text me when they got home at 12:30 at night but they never did... I couldnt go out to see if they were out but I was really worried about them! The next day they still wouldnt answer so we went to their house during studies to see if they were alright. They were doing great but they had lost their phone. So we made a few calls and hooked them up with a new phone! It was quite a freak out moment though! 

Today we are going to the doctor again to see the results of a Ultrasound that they did on my comp on his back. They still have no idea what it is but we will see later today! 

This week was AWESOME in the work. We found 3 new people while we were with members and then we gave 3 people a baptismal date! Its going to be pretty awesome to have 3 baptisms! We had over 100 people in church again which was good! We are starting to do something else this week. We are contacting all of the members on the ward list and teaching all of them. That way we can get less actives back to church, complete part member families, and get a lot more references from different people all around! I hope keeps working because it worked AMAZINGLY this week! 

Seriously the mission is incredible. I can not think of anything better that I could be doing right now. 2 years is a long time but that is the only way that people can truly change! I love the gospel, my Savior Jesus Christ, and I love teaching that to EVERYONE! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Week 78 - April 20, 2015

Hows it going everyone? This week has been pretty fun and I am super excited about this coming week too!!! 

I did divisions with three different Elders this week. All three were in my area with some Elders from our zone. The first one was with Elder Castillo from Peru and we had a sweet lesson with a family that we found and then we went to a barbeque that we got invited to by a member of another ward who loves me because Im from Texas! :) Then I went with Elder De La Cruz from Spain who took my spot in the offices when I left. He is a fun kid who knows how to work hard. I really enjoyed my time with him. Then I went with Elder McGuire from Utah. He is good friends with Elder Huntsman and we just had time for one quick lesson because we had an hour together. 

This week I got to do two baptismal interviews for a companionship in my district. One of them was an older man who is blind. It was very interesting but it was a great experience. Then I interviewed a nine year old girl who was so darn cute. She was really impressive with her knowledge of the gospel. Her parents want to get baptized too but they are trying to stop smoking first. 

My convert here in Salto, Agustín just got the priesthood last week and on Sunday he passed the sacrament. It made me feel pretty proud. Now I feel like I kind of understand what parents feel the first time their kids pass the sacrament! He is such a stud! 

Our ward mission leader has been slacking lately and two hours before coorelation I decided to call him and confirm it with him so he wouldnt ditch us again. He said he would see us in two hours at the church. We went there and waited for an hour but he didnt show up. So the next day all four of us missionaries went to his house to have a surprise coorelation meeting. It worked out and all was good afterwards! Then he didnt go to church on Sunday.... I think we are going to start to teach our ward mission leader the lessons... 

Well the most interesting but gross story of the week this week was about my companion. Elder Kelly on Tuesday saw something weird on his back. It looked like a small bite of something but it kept getting worse as the days went on. He tried to pop it on Friday and a bunch of puss came out. Finally on Saturday he decided he couldnt deal with it anymore. We called people so we could go to the hospital. When we got there they immediately let us in and took a look at his back. they squeezed more puss and blood out of it and then told us that they have no idea what it is and that they would hook us up with a surgeon. Then they just gave him antibiotics and sent us off! We have an appointment today at 4 with the surgeon. We will see how that goes. 

Tomorrow we have a conference in Montevideo with Elder Dallin H. Oaks!!!! I am super excited for it! We leave tonight at midnight to Montevideo with the Salto and Artigas zones. Its a conference in the morning with just our mission but in the afternoon is the conference with Elder Dallin H. Oaks with the two missions! I am excited to see everyone and meet Elder Oaks for the second time (if I remember right he came to our stake a while ago). I am super excited too because I got asked to be in the choir for the conference. There is only 10 Elders and 10 Hermanas from our mission and they called and asked me! 

This week we had a lot of success with less actives but we just cant get any investigators to go to church! Its pretty frustrating but its part of life! I am loving the mission and loving Salto! 

2 Nephi 5:27  "Vivimos de una manera feliz!"

BE HAPPY! LOVE LIFE! I love you all! Have a great week!