I'm here with Elder Cary from Peru, he has about 3.5 months in the mission and he's awesome! He has a super strong testimony and he teaches really well! The only downside is he takes a REALLY long time to get ready in the morning, but I love the guy to death! My area is split in 2: Chuy A, and Chuy B. We have Chuy A which is the plaza and a lot the city part. It's pretty cool because I've never worked in the city before so its an experience, Also, half of our area is in Brasil, so a bunch of people speak Portuguese or Portuñol! I don't understand anything, but luckily Elder Oliveira lives in our house and he's from Brazil, so he's gonna teach me! The ward is amazing here and its got about 100 people that go, kind of. It's gonna be great!!! Not to mention that everything is super duper cheap!!!! And they have American stuff! I bought a Milky Way the other day for like .75 cents!!!! WOOOHH!!! Not to mention all of the FREE SHOPS! It's gonna be great!!!
July 28, 2014
It definitely was an adventure getting to my new area!!! I didn't get to talk to the President about being a leader, but luckily I got to talk to a lot of my old comps who are leaders. And there is this Elder in my district who used to be a zone leader so he's been a helping me a little bit. Elder Cary and I get along great! He is an incredible missionary and he testifies with such power, I'm just trying to help him get out of the house on time so we can be obedient with exactness.
The city has been really fun to work in and it's been an experience trying to understand Portuguese.... We had lunch in Brazil yesterday with a family in our ward and they spoke Portugese the whole time with Elder Oliveira from Brazil, so I didn't understand anything. It' kind of cool though that I serve half the time in Brazil and half in Uruguay, I just have to cross the street!
We have been finding a lot of great people to help prepare for baptism, but unfortunately we didn't have a single person in church... The kids went out of town and the rest I don't know, but we're gonna get better this week! We have this CR that got baptized last week, the other missionaries taught her but she lives in our area, that we visited yesterday and her twin sisters they are 11 went to the baptism and now really wanna get baptized, so we are working with them now!! They are super awesome!! It all started with the grandma getting baptized then 2 granddaughters who are cousins, then these sisters of them, an ex sister in law of the grandma wants to come and some other of her family, it's super awesome!!!!
Free shops are stores on the borders that don't have to pay taxes and they have all sorts of American stuff, like Pringles, BBQ, technology, starbursts, more candy all sorts of cool stuff, it's nice. Plus, the super market we go to in Brazil is a lot cheaper than in Uruguay!!!! The biggest difference in being a DL is that I have to worry about the well being of 3 areas and not only 1... I also get to help other missionaries and get to know them really well. Its super awesome, its also a lot of work! I did go and buy a coat because it is getting super cold at night! I'm glad I'm here in Chuy and not farther south like in Montevideo, they must be freezing to death!!!!
We're having trouble with the contract with our house, so I think we'll be moving... Oh well! OH also this week we found this super rich guy from Brazil, it was cool because he only speaks Portuguese and English, so my comp didn't understand anything! He is super awesome, unfortunately he recently got married and his wife is still living in Brazil... She is coming down this weekend for a bit and like august 20 they are taking there honeymoon to Brazil for over a month!!!! So, hopefully we can baptize him and his wife before they go!!!! He gave my comp some poem books he wrote, too bad they're in Portuguese!!!! This week was great and we'll see what the next week has in mind for me!
August 4, 2014
This week was a great week! The whole district saw a lot of success!!! Elder Cary is an amazing Elder and he's definitely helping me to work hard every day! He still has a little trouble getting ready on time but he's getting better! Having part of our area in Brazil is crazy because I don't understand any Portuguese!!! I guess I get a few words, but not really!
Our work definitely paid off this week because we got the goal of 4 Inv. in church! It was an incredible accomplishment, but we're going to continue working our butts off so that we can do better every day and every week! I'm learning so much about how to be a better missionary and a better leader every day! I love being able to serve the other missionaries like I'm serving now! We should be having 2 baptisms this Sunday, the next and hopefully the next! Like every says, Chuy is the promised land! Cheap stuff and super nice people! I love it here!
We haven't move apartments yet, but we looked at a couple today. They were a little small for 4 Elders and a little far from the other Elders area, so we are still looking, well there is a couple serving that is looking for our house, but we should have it by today and be moving in next week!!!
This whole week has been rainy and humid!!! The floor in all the houses and the walls are just always wet! Mold has been getting to some of our clothes and stuff so we're trying to avoid that. But luckily since it's been rainy it hasn't been super cold! Thats our week, love you guys tons!!!
It was a good week this week, learning my area and how to be a district leader!!! I definitely have grown a new respect and love for other missionaries, especially the Elders in my district!! We had a super successful week, each area baptized!!!! I got to each of the baptismal interviews and it was an incredible experience!!!! It was amazing to see how these people have grown and used the atonement in their lives!!! It's incredible to be able to be a part of that process, I'm just not excited for the day when someone doesn't have a testimony or has a problem that they need to get fixed before they get baptized...
In our area we found these 2 kids, 11 years old, on friday and we invited them to church. We went by their house on Sunday morning and they were waiting outside for us!!!! They're super awesome and I'm sure they will be our next 2 baptisms!!!
I finally got the package!!! It had some interesting stuff in it, pumpkin spice??? I love it, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it, maybe put it in pancakes or something but its awesome! I'll be able to use all that stuff!!! Just for future reference though,there is cinnamon here. I know you didn't know, all the other stuff though is awesome!! Thank you tons!!!! Love you guys tons!!!!
August 11, 2014
This week was a crazy but great week! We had a conference on Wed and Thurs and an intercambio on Friday so I think I spent a total of like 18 hours on a bus this week and I slept like 3 nights in my bed, but it was awesome!!! We learned a lot in our conferences, especially about using our time planning better so we can work more effectively! That is something that we can always be doing better at!
We found a house to move in to so we are going to be doing that in the end of the month, it's really nice! Im excited!
We had 4 in church and we had 2 baptisms!!! Julian y Ezequiel got baptized on Sunday! It was awesome! All their parents came and it was a great experience! Saturday our mission president came up here to Chuy with his wife to do some shopping, and while they were up here they took us out for pizza and then they went to a charla with us! It was an incredible expèrience to be able to go to a charla with Pres. There was a lot going on in the house when we had the charla, but we were still able to feel the Spirit!
We actually visited Julian and tried to put a baptismal date with his mom, she didn't accept... for now! She's gonna get baptized I know it! Julian felt really special, his family too, that a "President" from the church went to visit them! It was really cool! I've really been trying to dedicate my mission more to the Lord everyday, I hope I'm reaching that goal! We've got a whole week to work this week and I know we're going to see a ton of miracles this week!
My favorite kid in the whole world!
Baptism of Julian and Ezequiel!!!!!
