Email 26 Dec 2011

Cool! Stuff! This call was wierd becuase it wasn´t that hard to hang up cause I´ll be seeing you all in basically a month! It was my comps first call home! He said he felt wierd afterwards! And I called my kid and he said it was really wierd, he did Skype and his girlfriend was there! I think he was more trunky than me! HA! The fireworks were cool because they were all around us, there aren´t illegal fireworks so everyone buys all the big ones and launches them all at midnight Christmas eve! Sweet stuff! So, I figure I have to start making some return missionary resumes for all the girls back home, they can start filling them out and we´ll see which ones are future prospects! HAHA! The rest of Christmas was fun... we finished the area book basically! It´s a thousand times better... and we basically chilled the rest of the night chatting about our calls and stuff... that´s about it! But today we ate at a breakfast buffet! not that crazy, simple stuff, but still good, and we watched KUNG FU PANDA 2!!!! It´s a pretty good one, I really enjoyed it! I feel like I want to karate chop someone!..... with the Spirit of course! Well.. there´s not much to tell.... we already chatted yesterday! The photos, there´s some fireworks!, us chilling on the roof watching them, uhhh.... me with mine and Elder Rodriguez! and us eating some tacos! YAY! Christmas tacos! Well... that´s really about it... I can´t think of anything else..... we´ll let ya know next week how the New Years celebration goes! we get to stay out late again, just not sure what we´re doing! Probably more fireworks! Luv ya tons! I hope all is well! Chau por ahora! Feliz Año Nuevo!!!!

Email 12 Dec 2011

Well we got some service in this last week, we got to help another family with their moving, it was lots of fun! Then we got to play soccer with some wards, it´s actually been awhile since i´ve played and I´m sore now, but it was lots of fun! I was also supposed to talk in church yesterday but the first speaker took 20 min instead of 7...... so they had to cut me... sad day. I bought a Uruguay sweater that I´ve wanted for awhile now, so I know for sure that the card works :) This is the last week before my last change begins! Wow! That´s really strange! Ya, we did get an iron from santa! Too bad we don´t have an ironing board or other surface to use it on! I´ve been starting so see some christmas trees here now, it´s that time of year! Our tree is up too! it´s only about a foot tall, but it´s up! :) And actually, that´s about all it from my end as well. The photos are of us trying to catch fish with a bucket and a stick! Our gangster photo! a view of the bay, and a surprise package from Grandma Snelson! I´m writing her a letter, but you can give her a thanks from me as well! :) I hope everything is well! Luv ya tons!

Email 5 Dec 2011

My eye is a whole lot better! And the weather is still nice and hot and humid! This last week was actually pretty cool because I had my last zone conference!!! It was really wierd! I got to give my farewell testimony! and it was really cool because it was actually in the same church building where I gave my first one! and my last 4 companions were all there! It was really cool to see them all again and see how they´re doing in their missions! And as you can tell from the photo, SANTA was at the conference! He gave us an iron! wow! It was actually really cool, I thought I´d never make it to that day, but now it came too fast! Also, something really cool that happened this last week! For the last couple weeks an Australian family has been vacationing here! and they´ve been asisting our ward, they´re all members and don´t speak spanish at all! So it was fun for us to chat with them and get to know them! They even invited us over for dinner! It was my first dinner in English I think Ive had in the whole mission, it was really wierd talking in English the whole time! And then we shared a scripture with them, the first time I´d done that in the mission in a year and ten months! And I´d always heard that the Spirit is more powerful in your own language, but now I actually felt it, just passing the scriptures around with this family, everyone reading in english (even though they had cool australian accents) it really hit me hard and I loved it, it reminded me of FHE back home! A little bit of a trunky moment! Really cool! The daughter spoke english, had a cool accent, and she´s a DRAMA GEEK like me!!! I haven´t found that here in Uruguay! Cool stuff! But, alas.... she´s gone and I don´t even know here name! But it was a fun experience, and Elder Goeckeritz just liked being able to understand everyone, but he´s learning really fast despite the fact. Awesome, thanks for sending the package! I hope Ezequiel and Evalin progress more too! And we found a really cool kid named Leonardo this last week too, the only problem is that his grandma is a die-hard catholic and just blabbed the whole time, so one of us would talk with her to distract her while the other could chat with Leonardo, he even told his grandma to please give us a chance. Really cool kid. We are also teaching a few people english now... and that´s about it! Thanks so much for the email! I luv ya tons and all the support I appreciate a lot! Have a good week! The other photos are the Australians (McGown family) and another shot from Thanksgiving! Que disfruten!

Email 28 Nov 2011

We actually are feeling better! And then I got a stye in my eye! (see photo) it´s really quite annoying! I´m going on day 4 with it, but it´s getting better luckily, it irritates me though, especially now with the sun! It´s so hot now!!!! The last 2 days have been pretty humid and we are sweating! Sleeping without covers and a fan blowing the whole night! Fun Fun! That´s cool that you´re reaching out to those families, it all starts with the example! We´re trying to get our ward members to get going, but it´s taking a lot more effort than I thought! Our Thanksgiving was with a smaller crew too! well.... 2 as a matter of fact! We ate good (see photo) but it was just me and my comp! Oh well, last thanksgiving in the Guay! And we also have zone conference this next week! MY LAST ONE!!!! It´s pretty intense! The full impact has not yet hit me.....2 months left! This last week, besides the heat, was pretty good! We found a few more people! Had a good lesson with a new couple we´re teaching, Ezequiel and Evalin, they´re trying to get married, and then we´ll see if we can get them in the water! :) They´ve had a lot of trials within the last few years, I think they´re ready! We´ll see what the Spirit can do! Happy Birthday to Josh!!!! Wahooooo! And yay for family pics! I really like getting photos! Girls are still growing fast! yikes! Tell Dad to get better! Just cause I get sick, doesn´t mean he can! JaJa! (that´s spanish for HaHa!) Well that´s about it for this last week! Oh, we did go to a ward get together last night for 3 families that are moving, or have moved from the ward! Herman Paola and her fam were one! Sad day, but we visited her! She´s doing fine in her new house! Thanks for everything! Luv ya tons! Chau!

Email 21 Nov 2011

Hola! ¿Cómo anda? I hope you´re all doing just great! and hopefully better than me, at least physically. These last couple of days have really kicked mine and my companion´s bottoms with health. It all started saturday morning, I woke up just horrible, my stomache had a nuclear bomb dropped in it or something. Constantly I flet like I was going to throw up, but didn´t thank goodness. Then started the diarrea! and then aches and I felt really hot and sweaty! It was not good, I actually took a nap for awhile and my comp studdied more... then we pretty much had to stay home and find things useful to do there cause I couldn´t leave, we did make it to a couple appointments, but I felt bad cause in each one I had to use the bathroom for awhile. When night-time rolled around, my comp started feeling the same symptoms and he went to the bathroom probably 9 times during the night, and you can imagine that we were both just dead for church the next day, just feeling exauhsted and yucky! But we survived church thankfully, but no investigators came.... not that great of a way to end the week. Luckily today we´re feeling better, at least we hope we continue like this. Anyhow, sadly enough, that´s the biggest news we have for this last week. We´ve been trying so many things to find people, but it´s still been difficult. and our health situation didn´t help, but this week we´ll find some more! I´m glad that there´s a lot of work in the studio, that´s good stuff! A few of our investigators/ less active members that we have helped out have been able to get better jobs and are more happy lately, their starting to see the blessings of the Lord more in their lives. Here Thanksgiving is called Dia De Gracias! but no one celebrates it, they just have the name! We´ll try to find something fun to do, or at least something good to eat that day! The photos are of one of the many cakes we had on our birthdays! a photo of us helping Hermana Paola move (notice what it says in the background, and that wasn´t even planned!) and a funny picture of us with Maite and Aurora! Thanks a lot for the email and the love and support! Luv ya tons! Keep up the good work!

31 Oct 2011 Email

Oh ya, the pictures! that´s our new project we did in our house, we also have one of temples! A picture from Hermana Paola´s birthday party! Fishing with Pat! Decorations! and the baptism! Wow.....First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! I expect to see everyones costumes! Secondly, this last week really was a week full of blessings! Starting off, I did get my package! Thanks a ton! I already ate the oat-meal and some of the cereal! And the decor is up (see photos) and I´m waiting now for my B-day in order to open up the wrapped (in special spiderman wrapping paper) items! Then.... WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see photo) Silvia is now baptised! It went really well! I had the privilege to baptise her! The water was warm! It was awesome! We had a decent turn-out! It was also my kid´s first baptism! Nice stuff! The best part was after we had finished changing the mission leader asked Silvia if she wanted to give her testimony, being a timid girl she said no, but to finish off the night he gave time to the members to bare a quick testimony and guess who got up at the very end?.... Silvia! and I liked the other testimonies a lot, but her´s hit me hard. It is the greatest feeling for a missionary to really be able to see that a convert is truly converted and knows.... it was a great experience! The next day she got confirmed! And they asked Elder Goeckeritz to do it! He was freaking out so bad! He was so nervous! I think he gave her a head massage! But he did just fine! Also his first confirmation! It is really cool actually for me to be able to have these experiences with my kid as a trainer, he also annointed an Hermana for a blessing yesterday! Also, I don´t know if I´ve mentioned the Sarubbi family in any of my emails, they´re a less active family that used to be really active, really good family! The grandma, mom, and her two kids. Something happened in the church and they stopped coming at the beginning of the year. The missionaries have always visited them because they are really cool but they just haven´t been able to get them to church. In my whole 4 months here we´ve been visiting them still every now and then to try and build up their spirits! The last lesson we had with them just ended up bad, lots of shouting and tears, and anger towards the ward at least from the grandma, we were really sad and just didn´t know what to do, we left a conference talk, "Two lines of communication" by Elder Oaks, and they hadn´t read it... to my surprise, when we were taking Maite to primary sunday, the 2 Sarubbi kids came running in the room! My first thought was ´What are you doing here?´ then I had one of those duh moments, if they were there then the mom and grandma must be down stairs! We hurried down and sure enough! They were in there sitting with the members! And I don´t think I´ve had a bigger smile on my face in my whole life when I waved to them in there! The mom then told me afterwards that she couldn´t stop thinking about us the whole week and that she´d read the talk and something must have touched her and gave her the strength to go! She said they´re going to go every week now! Those are amazing words to hear. It truly has been a blessed week! We´re preparing for 2 more baptisms this saturday if all goes well! And we are really excited! I haven´t been so happy in such a long time! It´s amazing! The district is doing really good too and if all the planned baptisms go through this weekend we´ll have 6 baptisms in the district! That would be the best birthday present for me and even for my comp. Anyhow! Glad to hear that Abigail is such a great baby! I can´t wait to be able to see her in person... well I can wait.. about three months more :) Thanks for writing me! I hope you have a great Halloween! It´s my favorite holliday so party it up!!! Luv ya tons! Chau!

Email 10 Oct 2011

I´m glad you got to meet Elder George! I think I had more fun with him than any other comp! He´s a really cool guy, I´m glad to hear you got his info too! Nice! And the gifts! Just to let you know, I bought the little jersey before I heard that Ariel and Mick had already gotten one! So it was my idea! Vamos arriba Peñerol! I´m excited for the package, fun little detail, Elder Goeckeritz has his birthday on the 8th! so we´ll be celebrating together! Cool stuff! Well right now the whole city of Montevideo is just partying it up! with their 200 year anniversary of being a country! There are stages set up all around the city and bands playing on them all, it´s really cool, but we´re not gonna get much work done unfortunately. But it´s still really cool some of the stuff they are doing! Other news! Silvia has a date for the 22 of this month! She came to church yesterday and really liked it! The young women leaders really liked it too becuase she´s pretty much the only young woman in the ward right now! And we´re working with Marcelo again! He fasted and we fasted for his smoking problem, he´s got a plan to follow and we´re going to help him out and hopefully get him baptised, I really want to see him make it! The training is actually pretty fun! We´re getting along really well and working hard! Anyhow, got some cool photos of the ocean and the new comp and stuff, I hope you enjoy! It´s been a good week! Thanks for everything! Luv ya tons! PS yummy steak!

Email 29 Aug 2011

This last week was kind of difficult, all our investigators had problems with meeting with us so we didn´t really get to see any of them this last week! And we didn´t find any new people.... but on the flip-side! Marcelo has quit smoking and now has a date to get baptised the 10!!!!!!!! I´m so happy for him, they´re getting married on the 5th! He really wants to get baptised! The first wedding I went to I wasn´t a witness, I just was invited and took photos for them, this one i actually am a witness! neat!

I filled out a form, my trunky papers, is what they´re called, and I´m going home the 2 of Feb! I assume no one´s coming here right? Oh, I went on my first divisions as a district leader with Elder Pace! He´s taller than I am and from New York, a really cool guy! He´s a really good missionary and a good guy in general! I had to set the example and all, but he´s probably a better missionary than me! :)

Wow... so the other night we were visiting members and we were talking and eating some tortas fritas! And it just so happens, that right when when everyone quits talking and it´s silent for a moment, I passed gas!.......oh, and I made a face so everyone knew it was me! We had a pretty good laugh though so it all turned out fine in the end. I actually haven´t laughed so hard in awhile!

We also made quesadillas with a less active family too, they turned out really tastey, but I didn´t get any photos, and this computer is not reading my camera so there will be no photos today.

Tomorrow we´re going to talk about faith and using it to find people in our district meeting! It´s super important, to know that God is preparing people to receive the Gospel, we just have to find them and have the courage to talk to everyone! and share our testimonies with everyone! following the guidance of the Spirit of course! Our whole district and even zone is having a hard time finding new people.

Oh, we had our zone conference last week, and it was all about...faith! And another trunky thought, next zone conference is my last one! we do it every other change! that´s crazy! I´ll be giving my final testimony like all the older missionaries who are leaving! scary!
Well, I think that about does it, Sorry again that there are no photos, but probably next time. Thanks for the update and for all the love and support like always! Luv ya tons! Chau!

Email 22 Aug 2011

Hey! What´s up! How´s the week been?! We had a pretty good week! We found some new people that seem like they will progress pretty well! My comp and I are getting along just well! He´s a really fun guy! A couple less-active members came back to the church for the first time 2 sundays ago and just this last sunday they brought two friends who´ve never been to the church before! It was a little miracle, we´ve got an appointment set up to visit them! Also, I am a marriage witness! I signed as a witness for Marcelo so he and Susana can get married and then baptised! The lady who was working there said that they always accept the missionaries! Awesome! The district leader stuff is going well, it´s pretty fun! Had my first district meeting last week another tomorrow! wahoo!
Hey, another fun question! During the apostacy the priesthood was taken from the earth, right? But what about John and the 3 Nephites? It´s a question that has come from investigators before!
So that´s about it for now, not much more! Oh, the photos! I took a picture with Courage, the cowardly dog! I´m sure Daniel will appreciate that one! And a photo of a pretty special fountain in our area!
Thanks for everything! Luv ya tons I hope all is well! Chau!

Email 16 Aug 2011

Well, after a week of being constipated and another week of diarrea, I´m finally passing my food normally again, oh but it was bad, turns out that it was bacteria, I was having nothing but liquid and mucus in my stool! But I took a three day medication that the mission nurse gave me, and I´m finally normalized! YAY!!! Well it´s is change day again, I´m now starting my 13th change! 13 out of 16!!! YIKES!!! I´m staying here in the city, but I´m getting a new comp, Elder Telle from Mexico, he´s got the same time as Elder Garcia, and I´ll be District Leader... I don´t really have desires to be District leader, but I´m sure it will be fun! Also, Today I went to the temple for the first time in over a year and 4 months! It was really great to go through and do a session again, but honestly...It made me trunky! I didn´t want to leave the building and enter into the cruel world again, and I just thought about how nice it will be to go through with the family again! and it made me trunky, but give me until tomorrow and I´ll get over it, I think!
I can´t believe school is already starting up again! Oh, I´m out of stamps! I don´t know what happened, they all went and I didn´t even realize I was out! So I´ll need some more, and unless someone else lets me use some, I won´t be able to reply for a little while.
Fun questions huh?! You know, we´re all made up of inteligences and the same substance as everything else, but something cool, to be made from the dust means to be born! In Moses 6:59 it explains that were born of water (like being in the womb), blood (like a mother sheds in birth process), and the spirit (enters our body in the process), Brigham Young taught that Adam was born from parents just like you and me and was placed on the earth in the garden. Interesting, it´s also all a symbol, we must spiritually be born again as well through the water (baptism by imersion) Blood (the blood of Christ) and the Spirit (received by the laying on of hands) cool stuff!
In the Pearl of great Price it talks about Ham´s wife Egyptus! You got it right! Egyptus literally means ´forbidden´! Her daughter´s name is also Egyptus and she settles Egypt, her first son being the first king, his name was Pharaoe (not sure how that´s spelt) And you found the location of the Garden no problem!
From what I understand, the flood came from a rushing of great waters from the north and the south! not just rain, and these waters rushed in and divided the one giant land mass, seperating Noah from the Americas! Because he floated from where the Americas were and when the water level dropped landed in Asia!
I´d love to write more but there´s no more time! Gotta run, I´ll think of some more questions for the next email! Lots of cool stuff to be learned! Thanks for everything, I attached photos of the temple trip today, a FHE, and something else I forgot! Oh ya, my poop pills!
Luv ya tons, thanks for everything! Hasta Luego!

Email 8 Aug 2011

Well... I was feeling better! I´ve been riding a physical roller-coaster it seems like! Turns out I was pretty much constipated! FUN! and it was causing me pains in the stomache, so I started drinking more water and eating a lot of fiber! Which helped things ´run´ a little better! Too much as a matter of fact, it all left me within the same couple hours. This day we just so happened to go to the hospital to give a blessing to an investigator of some other Elder´s (because the hospital is in our area) the only public bathrooms were on the other side of the building, so we crossed a few times, someone actually had to ask us what we were doing, because we can´t wander around the hospital, after we explained my situation she uderstood and actually gave me some more tips! I´m sick of hearing different ways of curing constipation! Anyhow, after it all left I was fine.... a day or two, now I think I´ve got a virus, maybe a fever of some sort with the head aches, the chills, and muscle aches..... oh it´s gotta be a test or something.... oh well... life still goes on! Marcelo we actually haven´t seen all week, he hasn´t made it to any appointment we´ve set and didn´t make it to church, from what Susana tells me he still wants to get baptised, but after they get married.... we were supposed to go with them this morning to get a date ready... but they didn´t show, guess we´ll find out later what happened. Estela is doing good, she has all of the lessons now and has accepted it, but she´s still in the process of asking the Lord about marriage with her man. But she has a good testimony. Ya, I haven´t seen a new card yet.... I don´t know what happened, the one I´m using has pictures from maybe 5 months or more ago...
Hey, thanks a lot for finding out about the schooling.... It´s just now been crossing my mind... this change or the next I get what´s called the ´Trunky papers´ , if someone needs to leave early or change something they have to fill it out in the papers... But I don´t really know what to do, I want to talk with the President about it, If I left early it would probably be between Christmas and New Years and I don´t even know if that´s possible, the benefit would be catching the winter semester, but it might even be good to just work and start with a summer semester.... I really don´t know. Oh well, I´ve got a little while to ponder it.
I´m glad you liked the questions, just little things that come up in studdies that are interesting! I got Elijah as well, according to the Bible Dictionary, as for the Nephites, that´s a good question, we know they had temples, and according to Helaman 10:7 Nephi was given power that what he sealed on earth would be sealed in heaven! Good Job! Jethro is correct, it´s found in D&C as well! (I also did not know he had another name) As for the last question, that is the same scripture I read for the answer as well, and I personally say it was the Holy Ghost becuase it´s kind of like Alma the Elder when he was baptised, he took someone and after the Holy Ghost rested upon them they both went down into the water and then came back up and after Alma only put down the other person he was baptising.... interesting... I thought you needed a body to do a baptism though... more interesting.
Ok a couple more questions then! A little more difficult (maybe not you´re smart) How was Adam´s physical body created? Where is the Garden of Eden located? And how was Cain´s race saved through the flood? Interesting, Suerte!
Well, having finished Jesus the Christ, I´ve been studying the soul questions from the book of mormon and other things from the scriptures, with a little bit of bible dictionary as well. It´s amazing how much stuff you can keep on learning! I´ve also been studying up a bit on how science and the Gospel go together, it´s fascinating, we´ve talked with a few of the sciencey people lately, It´s amazing that all they say... still could prove that God exists.. they just don´t understand it all. It´s kind of like Albert Eisntein, he said "The more I study science, the more convinced I am that God exists!" Cool!
The Christus is actually in the church building here! They also have a replica of the plates and other little models, and the shovel the prophet used in the groundbreaking of the Montevideo Temple! And yes that is the mission President! These other photos are of a cool graveyard in our area ( did you know that here in Uruguay after 2 years they dig the dead bodies back up and put the bones into concrete boxes? que raro!) A view of the coast, also in our area, and believe it or not the building is an elementary school... It looks more like a prison!
Anyhow, thanks for everything, love and support! and all that stuff! Hope all is well! Hasta luego!!!

Email 1 Aug 2011

This week´s been a long week.... but we survived, I spent this week with a really bad stomache ache that is just now winding down, I really don´t know what caused it, but it was no fun! Didn´t give me much sleep either! But on a brighter note! We have two investigators that want to get baptised, Marcelo has a date for the 13, he just has to quit smoking, but he has the desires and member that is really helping him out! the other is Estela who actually has a son on a mission but doesn´t know much about the church and never was a member herself, she wants to get baptised, just has to get married first! Her grandchild just had a tumor removed from his eye! they had to go to Buenos Aires to do the operation, she was so nervous, they were praying so much and us too! And the operation went through perfectly! They were so happy and their testimonies grew!

Today we played some soccer! just with the district, it was pretty sweet! I made a few goals, not to brag or anything :)
Anyhow, Oh ya! I finished Jesus the Christ! It´s such a good read! How are the studdies going over there? I hope well! Scripture trivia: who was the last prophet on earth to hold the Priesthood sealing power before Christ? From who did Moses get the Priesthood? Who baptised Adam? enjoy!
The photos! Uruguay Champions!!!, The baptism!, the dance!, A face made of mandarins!, I don´t remember what else I put.... oh well!
Thanks for everything! Luv ya tons! Chau!

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 4:25 PM, wrote:
Hola! Elder Hancock!

Hurray for the baptism! And that is awesome about Uruguay winning the world cup!!!!! We were not able to follow it this year because we don't get the cable channels anymore. We just get the basic main TV channels.

Did you get your package yet? You should be getting it any time now.

I have been spoiled this week. Andra got me some capris and shirts for my birthday at a Maurice's splurge party. Then she and Ariel took me out for a pedicure (I now have bright blue sparkly toenails), and for some Cold Stone ice cream! Yum! Today, everyone is coming over for a fondue party. I will have some steak and chicken that we can fondue in hot oil, Ariel is bringing veggies and bread for cheese fondue, and Andra is bringing her chocolate fountain! Happy birthday to me! You have an extra good week this week! No better gift than the gift of the gospel!

Sandy, who used to work at our studio, is not there anymore. She found another job because we could not afford to keep her on. It's been interesting getting used to being at the studio more. Now it is just Dad and I there trying to run things. The economy is just not getting any better. We will keep on keeping on. Sometimes, I wish the Millenium will just hurry and get here. But there is still so much to be done!

Oh, Dad took pics of the Major family. Dallin Major is going to the Tacoma, Washington mission, and Jessica Major is going to New York North, spanish speaking mission. I think they went into the MTC on the same day. All of you are out doing some great work. Keep it up! Hopefully you will get to plan more ward parties, and get the members more involved getting some investigators there! I hope you got a video clip of your dancing! I'd love to see it!

Love you tons!!!!!

Mom

Email 25 July 2011

WE HAD A BAPTISM AND URUGUAY WON THE AMERICAN CUP GIVING THEM 15 WINS IN ALL MAKING THEM THE NUMBER 1 TEAM WITH THE MOST WINS!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!??

So ya, the baptism was really neat! Erika Estefania Serpa Rivas was baptised! It was a lovely meeting, and the first baptism in this ward this year! Hopefully we can get some more! President Heaton actually came to the confirmation with his wife! It was pretty cool! I´d send photos, but this computer won´t let me for some reason, so maybe next time! We also had our Conferencia del Barrio! A few activities during the week! Starting with a emergency prep program! A talent show! and a dinner / dance!!! I danced pretty good actually.....sadly enough... I was the only one dancing.... We actually had a table set up for all of the activities with photos and pamphlets of the church to show and give to the non'members who came...only thing is.... there were no nonmembers that came! The ward dropped the ball on that one!!! I was kind of upset because it seemed like a waste of time and we did all that work..... but oh well... life goes on! And we had a wonderful baptism so I can´t complain!

I did think about the reunion though, I don´t get to go for 3 years and a half ish! sad stuff! But oh well. I didn´t know Daniel had a machete! That´s what I get to use out here!!!! NICE!!! I also like the cowboy thing, that´s pretty funny!

Well.... that´s actually about it for now... sadly the photos aren´t working, so next time hopefully ther´ll be some photos! I hope all is well... I hope ya still got the reading going! I´ve got 90 pages left! Just finished up with the ascension! It´s really good stuff! I actually realized as well that I hit 3/4 of the mission this week!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow.....time is flying! Thanks for all! Chau!

Email 18 Jul 2011

The ward here is actually decent sized, there are about 70 members that are going, not very many youth, but many young couples and returned missionaries! And I´m getting fed probably better than any other area I´ve been in so far! I hope I don´t get fat! And yes.... there are a great many less active members! The happy news, is that we will probably have a baptism this weekend!!! Erica! An 11 year old young lady, whose father is actually Muslim, but we talked with him today and he gave his permission, really a great guy! She´s been going to the church with a recent convert and her kids! It´s been great! We may have some other possibles coming up! Oh, and the other night Uruguay beet Argentina in the American Cup and are going to the semi-finals!!!!! It was pretty intense!!! People were celebrating late into the night!

The Terry reunion will be fun! Tell them all to write me! :) Because so far the Birds are winning everyone! They´re the only ones who keep writing me.

I actually just read about the prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem! In Jesus the Christ! I´m actually on his last week as well! Pg. 585 mas o menos! It´s really good stuff to learn and really interestig, I´m enjoying learning all about it.
Today we went out to the pier, I was there about a year ago! weird to think!

Anyhow, thanks for the updates! I hope you all have fun at the reunion! Here you have a photo of my comp with a dog, a view from our apartment window, me with a member of the military, and I forgot what was the other photo! oh well!
Thanks for todo! Luv ya tons! Chau!

Email 27 June 2011

Did we have a baptism the other day?!.....Just look at the photos! Oh, It was AWESOME! It was the greatest feeling to see Enrique, after such a long hard life of sin, find his mistakes, correct them, and make the changes to follow Christ.... and then to see him washed clean!.....All of it gone! To start anew, reborn in Christ. The Bishop baptised him and afterwards told us that the water was cold! But as soon as he said the prayer, the water felt warm, after he pulled Enrique out of the water he hugged him and asked him if he felt cold, he said no, he felt perfect! I´m so excited for him. He was confirmed the following day and now he´s a member!

Well... other unique things... we did a bit of service this week! We helped move some furniture, we painted some chapas! (there like plywood walls), we pruned some trees ( as you can tell from the photo! With a machete :) NICE!) and filled bags of sand to fill up some holes in the church soccer field! It was all lots of fun!

We are actually freezing over here! The last 2 days have been really cold! And our heater stinks! ( not litereally, just doesn´t work well at all) But we are surviving! WE ARE SURVIVORS!!!!!!

Some missionaries I was with back in November have already gotten married! CRAZY!!! Any of my friends married yet?

That´s awesome that you´re reading! I love that part! I´m now hitting page 300 in Jesus the Christ!!! It´s really awesome stuff! It´s neat to get to know the Savior more!

Well, that´s about all for now! Luv ya tons!

Photos: Service in the tree!, 2 baptism photos!, and our Schin tower!!! Don´t worry, there were four of us drinking to make that, not just me!