24 May 2011 Email

We got our changes last night and I´m staying in Dolores again with Elder Hales! This will be the longest that I´ve ever stayed in an area! almost 6 months!!! Wow!!! It´s gonna be hard to say goodbye to people at the end, but I´m really excited to have some more time here! We found someone, led by the Lord the other day that I beleive was prepared. I´m excited to work with her and some others still that we are working with!

We had a really good FHE with Carlos and his family the other night, all about change with Alma the Younger. Trying to help them beleive that the Father can change sometime, and unexpectedly Teresa showed up, and I think it was good for her to be there too! Then we played a game like scatagories! All in Spanish, and I still won! :) How cool is that?! It was a really good FHE and really fun too.

They´ve made alot of changes in the mission recently, just in the ways of training and doing the district meetings and everything, so we´re gonna see what happens! Anyhow, it´s raining now, it´s been cold the last two days....I think it´s about ready to stay like that!

Well, that´s all for now! The photos are all from our last trip to the Villa Soriano! I hope you enjoy the model shots! HA! :)
Thanks for everything! Chau por ahora! Luv ya tons!

02 May 2011 Email

YAY for uncle Trent!!! That´s awesome! And OH NO for Daniel! AP testing stinks!
That´s a cool idea to read all of the events at the same time! I finally finished ALL of the standard works!!!!! And now I´m starting the Book of Mormon again and am in the middle of 2Nephi!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!!! Im marking all of the parts that talk about Christ in another Book of Mormon, it´s really neat!
This last week was a hard week, we´ve been having a hard time finding people and we didn´t get anyone in church this last week, I havn´t had that for awhile!!! It´s sad, I don´t know if it was the weather! Very stormy, windy, rainy, and cold! And it was also 1 de Mayo, it´s like Labor Day here! I was bummed. But we have received quite a few references from some members and are gaining their trust it looks like, so we are excitied to work with some of them, and hopefully we´ll get some more progress here :)
Anyhow, not much more than that for now! Thanks for the update and all the support! Luv ya tons! Chau por ahora!

Email 4 April 2011

Well....I LOVED General Conference.... we had 4 investigators make it, we are upset that a few didn´t go and we´ll find out why later on in this week, but for those who went we heard at least one talk that was perfect for everyone of them. Rosa was having some doubts about the temples and marriage and why the big expensive buildings are necesary! Pres. Monson hit that one right on the target. And that´s just one example, it was perfect for all of them.... as for myself... at the beginning of my time here in Dolores, I had just finished a really rough and trialing change in Rosario.... and I was thinking, what is the new lesson God will want me to learn here in Dolores? The very first hymn I sang in my very first sacrament meeting here was "More Holiness Give Me (Mas Santidad Da Me)", and as I song that song and felt the Spirit, I knew God wanted me to learn how to be more holy, or just how to be a kinder and more spirit-filled person. And as I listened to all the topics and talks in conference I realized that that was a great part of the unplanned theme. A few of the talks quoted "become perfect.." and a great many about service and charity. And then it was ironically finished, the conference, by singing the closing hymn...."More Holiness Give Me". Funny that at that moment, I felt the Spirit more than before. It made me think about some of my faults and realize I need to change some things..... really good stuff! Another thing I learned.... I gotta get married and not waist any time when I get home
I saw the snow on the TV! Oh, I want some snow here, the other night there were some intense thunderstorms! But they were all further away but encircled us about 45 degrees! And all the sky was flashing A LOT in that 45 degree radius, I went to the roof to film part of it with my camera... but alas....my batteries were dead.... a bummer.
YAY Easter!!!! My strep is gone! I´m doing a ton better! And we´re excited to get to work. We have a Noche de Hogar with Carlos and Rosa and Beatriz and hopefully Teresa and Lila will make it, tonight! Exciting!
Anyhow, Thanks sooooo much for the update and the commentaries on the conference, it was a really good one, my 3rd for the mission, LOCO! Time is running away! But I´m enjoying it all!
Gracias por todo! Te amo! Hasta Luego!

Email 28 March 2011

Well... I HAVE STREP THROAT!!!!!! WHOOPIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, not that exciting, I actually feel quite horrible right now, a few clouds you could say, but at the same time I feel very happy! We had a wonderful baptism of Maria Beatriz Rodriguez Ibarguren this past Saturday, and even better, she was baptised by her nephew Juan Carlos! That´s the first time I´ve witnessed someone I´ve helped get baptised have the opportunity to baptise someone else, it was a feeling very incredible. And the amazing thing was that it was such a simple service, without music, not a whole bunch of people and just a couple speakers.... but the Spirit they brought and that was present made it all worthwhile! One of the cousins of Carlos that we are actually teaching, told her Mom that she loved the simplicity of it all and that she could see herself getting baptised in the future, so we´ll be working on that with her! That´s a whole lot of sun for a few pathetic clouds I´ll tell ya what! We are truly blessed, we even got some new pairs of shoes from Carlos´ Father! Which was another blessing because mine are getting pretty beat up! Amazing! God is really blessing us for the efforts we are giving.
Thanks for the update and for the encouraging words! Luv ya tons!

Photos: A giant tree! and the Baptism! (Us, Beatris, her Daughter, and Juan Carlos!)

Email 14 March 2011

My companion is doing a lot better! I´m struggling to stay awake! Because of some new laws I had to come to Montevideo today and get finger-printed! I left with another missionary last night at 2:30am, ironically when I have the chance to pick up an extra hour of sleep... I loose it and more the very next night. We went and visited some of his converts because we were in an old area of his. And we head back to Dolores at 6...fun stuff.

We are teaching a really cool couple, Nestor and Paola. They´re a young couple living together without kids, not married, surprise surprise...... but they are really awesome and don´t really have any religious background, we teach the basics of the basics and they actually really like it. The other night we went on divisions with the ward and I went with an Hermano Luis, and my comp with another Hermano. We taught them all about eternal marriage.... I´ve never taught that before on a second lesson, but it was actually really good and Nestor liked everything said that it all sounds good. He actually really wants to get baptised, someone who was prepared before hand, they actually came to church the day after we found them (not common) and he takes the Book of Mormon with him to work! I´m so excited to keep working with them!

Ya, Elder Maes just died! (in missionary lingo that means he left for home) also Elder Lockheart is now at his house! My second comp I had, and now all of my comps I´ve had start dying

There´s always a reason for the callings we receive! ALWAYS! Sometimes we are given callings to humble ourselves and let Christ pick us up higher than we were before! He´s always there to help in the calling, trust in him and listen, he´s always talking to you! I´ve been learning that lately! We just have to give him heed and he´ll help us :)
How old did Dad turn?

Thanks for the update! Le quiero mucho!

Photos: chilling in the plaza, ´the sword of the spirit´, FHE with Carlos and his fam, a bug!

Email March 7, 2011

Carlos received the Priesthood sunday! It was such a great moment, 3 young men received the priesthood in total! And the Spirit was so strongly present! His Mother was there and was crying in the end. It´s so great that their household now has a priesthood holder! And Beatrice, his aunt, is moving along great, we have a FHE with them tonight and I think she´ll be ready for the water the 26th of this month! We are being blessed. My comp, however, this last week got sick and was throwing up a little and using the potty a LOT! So we didn´t get to work as much as we wanted to, but I got a lot of study time! And I´m learning a lot! With the other elders in Dolores we gave him a blessing, and he´s doing a lot better now!

Pics: The baptism!!!!!!!! and a keepsake we got! Bicentenial year here in Mercedes area! and we are here for it!
Thanks so much for the update and the support and amor!
Luv ya tons! Chau!

Les Miserable 25th anniversary.

Dad to Michael: We are watching Les Miserable 25th anniversary. Its were they are in full custom but are coming up to mics and belting out the songs, powerful, I'm thinking of you while watching it, Daniel's singing his heart out April not so much, but belting it!! lol. Did you get the photo from last week? did I miss any, mom has been burning stuff to DVD's to get more room on the computer and I think the Riddler is on one of them and she can't find it, at this writing. I'll keep trying. I told everyone in High Priest how your doing and Brother Goudy says Hi. He reads your blog every week. Hope all is well, Mom and I pray every morning for those in your area that they will be ready to meet you and your companion's message. And for you that you may be ready to know who they are, find them! You are amazing? I love you very much!! Dad.

Michael to Dad: Sounds like a blast! I miss those days of just blasting songs in the car! I just sing hymns now! But I get a lot of practice with those!
It´s not that important if you can´t find them, just to show some people but don´t worry about it!
Well, I say hi to everyone back in the ward! I´m greatful for their support! You really can feel it out here!
Thanks for the update! Hasta Luego!