Rivera Uruguay - December 12th 2011

Well I don't know about the States but down here, people are finally starting to get into the Christmas mood. The stores are decorated in centro and people have lights up. That's about it. It's not nearly as commercialized down here so it's not nearly as in your face as it is in the States. I recently decided that I want to play the accordion someday as well.... We're going to have an end of the year party with the ward on the 15 so that should be fun and we're having lunch with a really funny member family on Christmas and a pretty solid family for the noche buena, which is apparantly a lot! bigger down here than the actual Christmas Day. We'll see what happens i guess. :)

Well, Tuesday was Zone conference in T-bo which is what I mentioned last week so that was a lot of fun. It was a two hour bus ride to there and we left at 5 in the morning so that was nice. Or not. And then we talked a lot about Christmas spirit and Christ-like attributes and what we can to adopt them into our lives which was rather inspiring. :) Pictures of a special visit during that time will follow as well. (See below) One thing they told us that I believe can be applied to all walks of life was this. Cuando se termine su mision, que hara apredido el Señor de usted? Rough translation, when you finish your mission, what will the Lord think of you? I'd rather not be a missionary that let the Lord down, know what i mean? :D

Well, not a lot happened this week.  We went to coisa nossa, in brazil, for lunch. It's like a far less classy version of Tocanos but it was still great to have a meat buffet once again. We're allowed to go once a change as a district because it's so far out of our areas. Centro technically is, but we're allowed to come for p-day and district meeting because the ATM's are here and so are the Stake Centers, plus in order to really buy anything we have to come here. But the restaurant is like 6 blocks further into Brazil so we only get one shot a change. It was really good though. Funny story. We were in a free shop like 20 minutes ago, free shops only sell to americans and brazilians so they don't have to pay Guayan taxes, and there was this wall of tvs. 90% of them were playing this concert of these scantly clad chicks. I was glued to this wall of TVs. Because, there were two TV's right next to each other playing Lamborghini promo videos. Yea i'm an engineer. I didn't actually notice the girls until one of the other missionaries asked what the concert was. I was like, what concert?? I'm looking at these precision designed works of sheer beauty! It was pretty funny.,... I guess you had to be there though

So Josè absconded for like a week. Then we finally found him again. Turns out his aunt is in critical condition at the hospital and his mom and he are her only family. Which means he's missed two Sundays in a row so we had to bump his baptisimal date to the 7th of January. Then, we contacted Yonathan out of the area book and he let us right in and we taught a pretty good lesson. He already had a Book of Mormon which means the missionaries taught him at some time or another and then I extended the baptisimal commitment for 7th of January and he said yea, i can do that. He's already been to church a few times and so we went to find him on Sunday morning and he was gone playing soccer. Soccer on Sundays is something we've really been fighthing with lately but hopefully we can get through all this. Matias still meets with us and his eliminations are over so hopefully we can get him to church as well. We'll see what happens this week.


My turn to share a scripture. D&C 8:1.
Oliver Cowdery, verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as the Lord liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall cask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive a knowledge concerning the engravings of old records, which are ancient, which contain those parts of my scripture of which has been spoken by the manifestation of my Spirit.

I love that without faith, we can do nothing. I love dearly reading from the scriptures everyday and I've been studying out of the New Testament and conference issue of the liahona everyday in my spare time. It's so nice to know that I can turn to the words of the prophets an anytime and know the will of the Lord for me.


I don't know if i've told you yet, but they have all the new missionaries bear their testimonies in their first zone conference so i went up and bore mine. It has to be in spanish of course, but i think it went well. Really though, I just want to share a tidbit with you both. I'm very thankful for the opportunity we have to kneel with our investigators at the end of every lesson. As knew as these people are to the gospel and teachings of jesus Christ, when they open their mouths to talk to him, the spirit of the lord fills the room. It's a wonderful thing to feel and an absolute blessing. God is there when these people open their mouths to speak to him. This truly is the Lord's work, I can tell you that much.

Well, that's all for now. Love from the 'guay,

Elder Simpson

Rivera Uruguay - December 5th 2011

Hola from the 'guay!

I wake up every day at 6:30 and start working out, after prayers of course. I then hop in the shower, because the water is really hot and really cold off and on so you have to hop....or something like that. After getting ready, I cook breakfast which is either oatmeal with cinnamon and sugar or rice and eggs. Or rice with cinnamon and sugar. Then we do personal study from 8 to 9 and comp study from 9 to 11 and language study from 11 to 12 and then we have lunch with a member till about 1 or 1:30 and then we get out and beat the streets. We look up old contacts, less active members, struggling members, recent converts, go tracting, teach lessons. Ya know, the usual. We do this until 8:30 unless we're in a lesson or close to home and we're home by 9. We then plan til 9:30 and if I feel up to it, I do core. If not, we eat a little more of whatever, prep for bed, write in journals. Sack out at 10:30. Wake up, repeat. That's my life. Don't worry. I'm getting enough to eat. We do some manner of service every week or so.

We have not been able to meet with Nikolas since and America's daughter who lives next door wouldn't let us talk to her mother because "she's evangelical and doesn't wanna hear your message". Funny, she told us to come back when we were teaching her... Oh well.... We found a few new investigators this last week so we'll see what happens. Josè stands out because he pretty much came up to us at church and said he wanted to be baptized  So, we made the hour and 20 minute walk to his house to talk with him on Wednesday and he was super receptive and we said we'd come back for another lesson on Sunday, we'd see him at church and we commited him to be baptized the 17th of December. Well... He didn't show up to church. And then he wasn't home when we went for our lesson. So we contacted around the area and came back and hour later. And still no one was home. So we trekked the hour and 20 minutes back to another lesson. Rather nice, huh? Whaddaya do? I just hope we can get in touch with him again and get him rollin on the right path. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday.

We have Zone Conference in Tacuarembò tomorrow which means I will not be getting the mail bolsa. That means, no mail or packages, in or out for all of this week. I started reading the new testament. I'm reading it in my spare time. It's rather nice. I've got a thumb in all the standard works now hahha I love the scriptures. Tell everyone sorry about the wait on mail. Next week!  My spanish is getting better. I understand a lot now and speaking gets a little bit easier every time. I still can't speak nearly as well as i'd like to but I know it'll come.

We call this place The Shire because everyone is super chill, no one works, they're always drinking their matè, all a bit on the short side, love to give you water and food, throw rocks at anything that moves on 4 legs, lots of campo and a decent amount of poverty. (That was something I thought you might get a kick out of. :)

We play soccer on Saturday nights with a bunch of the local kids as a means of finding new investigators. We use the courts that are on the same property as the church and we always close with spiritual thought and sometimes place materials.

The most I feel the spirit is when we kneel in prayer with investigators! Whew that stuff lays into you and you just wanna go take a nap afterwards.

Here's a scripture for you. 2 NefI 32:9,
9  But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the cname of Christ, that he will dconsecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the ewelfare of thy soul.

We don't pray in just our trials, we need to pray to him at all times. We don't do a thing without talking to our Father. It's not really a sugguestion. More of a way of life. Pretty boss that we've an all knowing all powerful father we can talk to at anytime, right?

One more scripture reference. Alma 5:7-9 and 7:24

7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.

 8 And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not.

 9 And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.

and
Alma 7:24
 24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.


First off, might I say I love the wording of the book of mormon?  There are so many passages where the word choice is wonderful! Other than that, this is what God can do for us. I love it.

These pics are from today. We were trying to find the other elders house and ended up finding this hand.  Until next week

Chau!
 Elder Simpson

Rivera Uruguay - November 28th 2011

Hi All,

I little translations. Alfajores are chocolate cookie pastrie things. And bolsas are bags. Generally when i say that, i mean our mail bag. And recuerdos are souvenirs and apargatos are these boss lounging shoes!!!

 I realized that Thanksgiving did pass and it blew my mind. I completely forgot about it and so we really didn't do much about it. It also helps that we're freakin busy all the time so i really don't have time to think about what i miss. Its starting to get really hot and fairly humid all the time. I'm getting tan too haha.  I'm on the Lords errand and I'm not doing anything stupid which means he wont let anything bad happen to me.

I did splits this last Tuesday and Wednesday with our District Leader. It was rather uneventful except i did get clothes-lined by a clothes line. I was walking so it wasn't too bad but i found it rather humorous. This last p-day night, I walked out the door without a tie on and so I had to go get one and then my comp realized two blocks later that he was wearing apargatos! We figured we'd go with it so we walked the half hour of campo to our appointment and after we got out it was pouring. Needless to say his feet were just a bit wet and we both got soaked. :) Apargatos are a type of moccasins

This last friday we were getting a reference from a member and i watched these two youths walk into an almacen a house behind us. (we were in the street) about a minute later i heard a sound like a fire cracker so i turned around. Out run the two dudes, and the shop owners wife comes out screaming. They start sprinting their guts out and luckily a cop was on the street we were on. He bummed a ride off a moto and they took off after him. This is very lucky because there are almost no police in our area. They ended up catching the guys and the gun shot only grazed the shop owners side. Saddest part is, one of they robbers was a recent convert....

Today, we played soccer for a couple hours and then we went to this taco joint and i passed because they were 33 pesos a pop and they were pretty small so i went to the line later with Elder Johnson, Elder Mullen, Elder Heaps, Elder Killpack and Elder Mcdaniel and my comp and i snagged 4 panchos, or hot dogs, for 24 pesos. My comp and I are going vegetarian, unless members give us meat. It's really not a diet choice, just that it's a ton cheaper to live off of rice, eggs, oatmeal and fruit and veggies which the last two are reimbursable plus we've been working out so we'll see what happens hey?

On the lessons, we found this great kid named Nikolas this last week and this sweet older lady named America.  Elder Johnson has started handing off parts of the lessons to me and I kind of have to just go with it if I don't know it that well.  But the lord blesses me with most of the words I need and my Spanish gets so much better every single day which is rather convenient.

Well that-s all for now. We say good bye for the time being so that we can have the joy of another hello. I'm on a journey, as real and as frightening as you can imagine. The pain and suffering are real, but so is the joy. I fight monsters every day. Sometimes their mine, sometimes they belong to others but all the same they are as terrible and destructive as the orcs of fantasty. Each day I rise, to battle. But the difference is, I rise clothed in the armor of God, weilding the swift and terrible blade of the almighty God, riding forth to bring salvation. If I might quote a dear friend, Peregrin Took, "For Frodo." Yet on this day, I paraphrase. "For Christ", and for salvation. I'm a soldier in the army of the Lord, and I'm here to fight the great destroyer. Until next time,

Elder Andy

¡Chau!

Rivera Uruguay - November 21th 2011

Hello,

We walk a lot between appointments and a lot of the menos activos (Less actives) that we visit live in the boonies so that's like a 15 to 20 minute walk and it takes us about 45 minutes to get to the church from our home and there are investigators who live out beyond that so we really just do walk a lot. I ward mission leader is cool. He's recently back from a mission in Chile so he's still pretty mission oriented. Hey tell Uncle Darrin that there is an Elder Talyor from american falls in my district and he says hello ;)

Oh hey so the ward. It's a pretty even mix. Recent converts, life time members, old time converts. You name it, we've got it. We had about 50 people attend yesterday where as the week before we had probably closer to 80. They're all super nice and very helpful so it's just a good first ward to have.

We've yet to have someone tell us that their mom says they aren't home but there was this one old lady sitting with her daughter that we tried to talk to and she wouldn't talk directly to us. She had her daughter as a go between because she didn't want to talk to us. That was interesting. We've also been told that there is no one else at home and then we heard a toilet flush in the other room.

The dogs run rampant through the streets. There have only been a couple times when E'Johnson has had to act like he's reaching for a rock because they wouldn't leave us alone but other than that they mostly just stay out of our way. The poverty isn't that bad, but i find it absurd when people have flatscreen tv's and dirt floors. Whatever works i guess.....

Currently it's been raining for two days :) That's okay though. It will relieve the humidity that we've been having. It was atrocious once again. We played futbal with most of my district today from 1030 to about noon and then we head to the line to snag recuerdos and hotdogs. I got E'Johnson a watch because his birthday was yesterday and he gave his away to a member a couple weeks ago. We do our grocery shopping out of almacens that people operate out of their front rooms because we really only eat like rice and crackers and juice and eggs. Everything else we eat with members so we just buy cheap food. For laundry we have a sort of machine type thing in our apartment. Elder Johnson says its the first house he's had with one. Before then, he'd always had members do his laundry.

Matias' team won again so he still can't come to church because of the tourney that's on sundays. and yes we found a waffle iron for his birthday. We had some last night and again this morning.

There are little things that i pick up already that i really do like. I'll probably buy and bring a few pairs of apargatos home with me just because i love them so much. I love soccer a little more everytime i play it and so i get that too.

I really don't think anything cool happened this week. No funny stories currently. Hopefullly i'll have some next week

I finished the Book of Mormon in the MTC and i'm midway into Alma now and i just love reading out of it. I try to read out of the Bible and Jesus The Christ to make sure my studies are rounded out but more often than not i just read the Book of Mormon the whole time because it's just so wonderful to read. There is so much there and it applies to us all the time. It's the best!

Que pase bien

Chau

Elder Simpson

Rivera Uruguay - November 14th 2011

Hi,

The area we are in is called tres cruzes. Triple-X for short. A lot of the people are really poor and everybody lives in cinderblock or brick houses. Probably 30 percent are fairly well off by american standards but more oft than not, a lot are just really poor, and some are fairly prideful in their destitution. It's interesting to say the least.

We're currently working with a 14 year old named Matias. We've taught him the first lesson and had him reading parts of the Book of Mormon.  He asked about the law of chasitity so we taught him that as well. We're currently trying to get him to come to church on sundays because he  has a fecha (baptism date) and so we need him to go!

He's got a tournament that's happening on Sundays though for his team so we have to work around that. He's really receptive and seems genuinely interested. I hope it all works out. BY the way, whenIi say we taught or we teach, my comp does most of the teaching and I bear testimony near the end and add bits here and there. That's really all i can do for now.

My comp is Elder Johnson from Logan Utah. He's a metal head as well and he really loves doing the work. We laugh and joke a lot and we talk about everything. There are a lot of hills in the area and we do a lot of walking. My feet are slightly swollen every night but that's to be expected. I've yet to wake up sore so that's a good thing. We walk long distances sometimes and so to kill the time we talk about books and movies. I spent 4 hours detailing enders game and we're currently on day 4 of battlefield earth :)

The ward we're a part of is super fiel (faithful) which is nice. They're all very kind and love saying hello to us, waving when they see us, or honking as they drive past (usually on glorified dirt bikes). The dirt bikes are everywhere, they're obscenely loud and i really just don't like them.  We wave a lot.

We eat a lot of rice and chicken. I eat oatmeal for breakfast usually with some fried eggs. We make popcorn sometimes and Elder Johnson likes to make crepes some mornings. We're trying to borrow a waffle maker this weekend because it's my comps birthday and we want to celebrate.

The weather has been nicer this week. Not nearly as humid at all. It really has not been muggy which is such blessing and i hope i don't jinx us by saying that. Overcast somedays and we did catch some gnarly rain on like Wednesday. Got soaked a couple times actually but it really wasn't that bad. It hasn't been too hot and if i go without a backpack I do pretty well. Sometimes the nights and mornings are cold so I usually hang around the vivienda (apartment) in sweats and i'm fine. Christmas isn't nearly as commercialized down here as it is in the states so we really have yet to see anything christmas related at all.

So one day we were off in the back country. And a chicken crossed the road in front of us. Naturally, Elder Johnson asks, why did the chicken cross the road? I reply, to get away from the missionaries!! We see that all the time so it's just great to see that chickens do it too. We are supposed to preach the gospel to EVERY creature and this one just waan't havin it. Eesh. Missionary humor.... We did have this gnarly ant problem when we got to the house yesterday and Elder Johnson did work with some raid and a lighter. No more ant problem

Tell grami i'm getting a portugese Book of Mormon tomorrow and I plan on reading it and that i'll be looking for a tutor when I get home :)

I totally got called a devil yesterday. This guy chased us down and asked if we were servants of Satan and what the difference between Satan and Christ was. We tried to share our message but he just wasn't having it. He then asked how old we were and why we were half way across the world sharing religious stuff instead of partying and being immoral like he was at 19. I'm here because I KNOW Jesus Christ is my savior. I know that this is his work and it can bring a happiness and solace that no other thing on this earth can. I'm a literal servant of God the Eternal Father and I'm here to share his gospel of love. That's why I'm here.

Well that's all i've got for now!

Pasen bien.
Chau
Elder Simpson

P.S.

Hey one more thing! Tell anyone who uses the urugoeste@gmail.com to write to me to also include an addresss to which I can send letter back, because I can not email back and without an address I cant's write them.

Chau

Hello from Rivera Uruguay - November 7th 2011

Hola!

Soo...it´s been very very hot the past couple of days. Since I got here actually. Very very humid and really hot. But today the weather has been rather pleseant. I woke up somewhat chilly last night and had to pull my sheet over me. It was crazy :) As you can tell by the picture I took about 10 minutes ago, I´m in an area called Rivera at the very northern border of Uruguay and Brazil. I was just coming back from Brazil, just one block in, from a store. We have to get permision to go in any farther than that.

The area I serve in is called tres cruses (3 crosses) and my trainer is Elder Johnson from Logan Utah. He's into hardcore metal and extreme sports so we get along pretty well :D The transfer was freakin long. Friday morning we got up at 3:30 am and couldn't eat breakfast so that we could have blood work done upon entering the country. That and a urine test. Great huh? Needless to say, I was rather hungry because we landed at 9 am, local time, and had to go straight to the clinic. From there we went to the mission home, but we got there at like 2 pm for dinner which was brutal. We then had super fast orientation because we had no time and at 3:30 pm we went to meet our trainers. The mission home is literally on the same grounds as the temple and the home itself is like being in the U.S. again. It was wonderful. We then met our trainers right in front of the temple and then took a van to the bus station in Montevideo and then hopped a double decker bus to Rivera. We left at 6 pm and got there at 12:30 am. I didn't sleep at all and it was SO humid and hot because we couldn't open the windows.

Saturday was long but really fast. We went and contacted some people and mostly had appointments to meet. I had my first bit of carbonated water which really isn't that bad at all. It was still extremely humid and hot but in the morning we went and helped a family move. I can't remember their name. I should but i can't :D There's so much Spanish going on all the time so fast and here some people throw in Portuguese so that makes it all the better right? I'm catching a lot of rays, but i'm wearing sun screen so i don't get skin cancer :)

We started our fast Saturday afternoon after lunch with a member, (we get to drink water on fast Sundays because we walk everywhere and president doesn't want us getting heat stroke.) and this really isn't that different from any other day because the people don't really eat dinner ever. We do lunch at like 3 pm and it's huge and then on regular days we just go home and eat crackers or rice and eggs so we don't go to bed hungry.

We live in a 5 room vivienda, como a condo (5 room dwelling like a condo), probably slightly larger than our main room downstairs. We have a living room, kitchen probably the size of your walk in closet, our room is the same size as Jake's and mine was, the bathroom is probably the same and then we have a small storage room where we keep all our clothes and luggage and a room for hanging all our clothes out to dry. We mostly eat with the members and they really don't do breakfast here so I'm still figuring that one out. I feel like I understand so much more every day and the Spanish is coming along. We walk everywhere! The area isn't small and so when we have to go super far, we just catch a bus but for the most part we just walk. I come home tired every night and it's a good kind of accomplished tired. I feel like i've been here for 3 weeks already but each day flies past. It's nuts.

I know god is there. He answers my prayers and the prayers of people all over the world. He is always there and He loves us always. Even if we have hidden ourselves from God, he is there. We just can't see him anymore. I know that if we do the things we've been told to do all our lives, we can feel his love. I have already seen people here with literally nothing, living in houses they've made on their own out of cinder-blocks and garbage and they KNOW that God is there and that he loves them. Christ is our redeemer and he will be waiting with open arms until the day we turn our eyes back to our Father in Heaven. I know because I had to do the same thing.

Tell Uncle Darrin that there's an Elder Tayor from American Falls and he says to tell his old seminary teacher hello. He's in my district and he's a pretty nice guy from what I saw today. Well, that's all I've got for now. I love you all and i know that what i'm doing here is crazy, but if it wasn't true i wouldn't be here. Until next week,

Elder slightly crispy. (From the sun......) Simpson

Standing between the Brazil and Uruguay flags

Welcome to Uruguay!

Friday November 4th 2011

Dear Simpson Family,

We would like to inform you of the arrival of your son to the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission. He arrived here safe and sound this morning and met President and Sister Heaton. He will receive some training in the mission home to help him get to know the mission and feel comfortable in Uruguay. The missionaries will have lunch with the Heaton Family and, afterwards, he will meet his trainer and leave for his new area. It is such an exciting time for him, and we wanted to share it with you. We have included a picture of your son with President and Sister Heaton.

Elder Chad J. Empey
Executive Secretary
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission

Pictures from the last day at the MTC

Elder Simpson with MTC President George and his wife

One of my teachers, Peter Morinico. He's boss. Plays the drums and so we talked music all the time.

Email from Nov 3rd 2011 - Last one from the MTC

This last week dragged into infinity and now it´s finally Thursday and i´ve been packing for so long and i'm tired and i just want to go to bed but it's only 4 in the afternoon. :) We have to wake up at 3:30 am tomorrow and have breakfast by 4:30 leave by 5 am and our flight leaves to Montevideo at 7:25 am.  I have no idea about the mission home and i have no idea what's going on after we leave Buenos Aires. All the elders in my district are bound for Montevideo West. :)

It's really weird to think that halloween has already passed and all of you are preparing for Thanksgiving. I'm sad to be missing my favorite holiday so that's something to look forward to in a couple of years. :D

I'm coming more and more to terms with the baptism thing.  I'm here to share this happiness and invite people to come unto Christ. Baptism is just a part of it, not the entire purpose. And if i come home with a stronger faith in Jesus Christ and a knowledge of this gospel and that I helped a great number of people, all the while doing my very best, I will be completely happy. Because that's why I came on a mission.

 President Arnold of the 70 is our area president and we've heard from him twice now which was kind of  cool. His whole devotional and all of the orientation today has been in Spanish. It's freakin nuts. It's so hard to focus and it's just an utter deluge of speech but i'm getting pretty good at catching most everything now.

The pictures I attached are of me and one of my teachers, Peter Morinico. He's boss. Plays the drums and so we talked music all the time. It was really nice having him as an instructor. He's also really short. Heck, everyone down here is short. We took pictures with my district and all the latinos that are leaving this transfer. I'm the tallest, behind Elder Crawford who is 6' 3''.

I love you all!! I'm bound for a strange new land. P-day is Monday. You'll hear from me if i'm still alive. Wish me luck.

¡Chau!

Elder Simpson

Email from Oct 27th 2011

First off, I have some news. I leave this next Friday, the 4th of November. The moved upped our departure date from the 8th. Pretty much that means I probably don't get p-day next week because we'll be in an all day orientation class. I may be able  to drop a note but other than that, you'll have to wait till Monday the 7th for a full letter. Monday's are p-day in the field. :)

In other news, I've had an okay week. I'm tired. All the time.  One more week. I love Elder McDaniel to death and he and I keep each other sane. We've been talking as much as we can, every day since like week 2.5 here in the ccm. I greatly appreciate having him here with me.

I always pray for Jacob. I miss him a lot. All the latinos think he's my older brother when they see pictures and they say he looks buff in the one of he and I in front of the golden gate bridge. I talk about him a lot and think of him often. I miss gaming with him. And running with him. And climbing with him. And rocking out with him. And watching the Cosby show with him. He and I have a great deal to do when I get home, especially if he's leaving right after I get back.

The weather is fine. We get storms off and on and the temperature is sitting in the 60's and 70's right now. I'll let you know how that keeps going. I've decided I'm for sure going to live in scotland one day. I just want to. Also, I think I'm going to start a band when I get home and call it Dumbledore's Bathrobe. Yes I did come up with that name, so don't steal it. It'll be metal band and it'll be totally hefe (boss).

 I've really been struggling with inviting people right off the bat and seemingly on focusing on getting people baptized. I feel like that´s the focus of too many misioneros and that they just want the number and to get the people in the water but that isn't why I'm here! I had a very stirring experience with elder Mcdaniel last night in a role play. I had the problem that the baptismial fecha es muy pronto y no siento listo (I had a problem with the baptismal lesson its too early and I don't feel ready) . Es muy rapido. (Its very quick)  Pero, cuando nos fuemos hablando, (but while we were talking) he asked me to pray. Out of the blue. And to ask if these things were true. Ironically, earlier I'd really been wondering what the heck I was doing down in buenos aries and wanting to go home.

During the prayer, I asked if the gospel was true. I know it is. I got the answer, again. I don't know how many times I've received it. But God cares enough to tell me again and He told me last night. I also realized, that we're not here to pressure people to get baptized, but when it's time, it's time. And we have to act on the guidance of the Holy Ghost and it'll all work out because it's the Lord's plan, and it's the Lord's time. Needless to say, he and I were both teared up by the end of the prayer and it's just one of those things that you had to be there for.

I'm still goofy. I'm still crazy. I had a dream about climbing last night. I still miss metal. But i'm the lord's servant. And I'm supposed to be here. And I'm thankful for the opportunity.

Chao
Elder Simpson

Second set of pictures from the MTC

Elder Gomarrah and I. He's from Paraguay and is 26

Elder Gomarrah and I chest bumping.  

I showed him that the first week he was here and he 

couldn't get enough of it. 

Such an excellent elder.

Elder Chafala and myself 

Me, Elder Mazon, and Elder Mcdaniel (Elder Mazon left this last transfer) 

Elder Hayne and i. He was my roomie this last transfer 

He was really funny. Such a riot. 

Email from Oct 20th 2011

Well here it is. This is my last three weeks in the ccm. This is the time where we are supposed to ramp it up as much as we can because these are quite possibly the last english speaking days we have so if we don't understand something, we'd better ask now. This means the days fly by at a snails pace. Yes I just said that because both of them are true. These past 4 days have been some of the longest because somebody let slip that I had maill.....ON SUNDAY! And I don't get my mail until Thursday. Needless to say I was rather peeved. Other than that the week went well. First off I just want to say thank you to everyone that sent me mail. It made today spectacular! I was so happy to get all of them! You'll all be getting replies soon, (I hope) Mail leaves friday and Monday so I should have all the replies out by then.

My spanish improves each day and I'm astonished when I remember how to conjugate this or account for that irregular verb or remember some word or another. I know it's not me (there's no way it could be) and I'm so grateful to have so many blessings from the lord. I do core in the mornings for a half hour, sometimes during mid-day when they let us out to be in the yard, (usually Elder Mcdaniel and i just walk laps and talk during this time. He's my very best friend here. We talk about everything and do as much as we can together including hell-raising and rabble rousing) and then I do it again for a half hour at night. My entire district does it at least twice a day so in the mornings and evenings the floor is filled with grunting half asleep missionaries. A pleasing thought no doubt.

I'm so happy to hear about everyone at home. It really makes me happy to know my prayers are paying off.  No I'm just happy to know you are all doing so well.  I love Elder Chafala. He left this last transfer but he was a shred of light in the ccm. Not only was he funny, he too has an absolute love for all things awesome, namely death metal. We were always air guitaring together and singing (if you call death metal vocals singing. Needless to say, everyone now knows that he and i are metal officionados.

Last week during proselitismo we passed a house as we were moving rather rapidly to the pick up point so as not to be late. We passed this house with a little girl playing with some dogs in the front yard and I shouted a hello as we passed. I then stopped. Backed up, memorized everything about the house because God told me to and then we took off with me telling my companion we were going back next week.

Fast forward a week to this just passed Saturday. It's about half way through the day, we've had moderate success and no real interest. I remember we're supposed to go to this house so we go buzz em and wait. They open the window and ask what we want but because of the road behind us can't really hear us. They close the window and I was like great. Nada. Then they opened the front door and came out front! So i'm already blown away and we tell them we're misioneros y tenemos un mensaje sobre las familias eternas y un plan de felicidades. (we tell them we are missionaries and have a message about eternal families and the Plan of Happiness)

They go okay and unlock the gate at which point I swear to you I nearly had an anurism. We talk for about thirty more seconds in the patio area before they ask if we want anything to drink. This is the first time I've ever been in a house down here so i'm completely overloaded. We sit down and just start talking. Juan Pablo lived in the Chicago for a year and worked for IBM as a consultant and he and his girlfriend just moved into the house two weeks before we got there. He likes american sports and rugby and his girlfriend has a 10 year old daughter.

We then started teaching. We taught the plan of salvation. They liked that. The kingdoms of glory intrigued them. Then Juan Pablo talked about growing up in italia (Italy). They both voiced their distaste with churches that get money and forget about all the people that really need there help so we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ being a gospel of love and all about the welfare program the church has. We then talked about the first vision and the book of Mormon which they also apreciated.  At this point, about an hour and a half later, she stepped out of the room to let some friends in. We then committed Juan to read all of Moroni 10, pray about it and write down any questions he had. We said we might not be able to come back next week but he said he'd like to hear more from other missionaries. Needless to say, I cannot describe the feelings that were in there so many times.

They offered to feed us by the way which almost never happens. So after two hours, we walked out completely blown away and really really tired. It was such a blessing to have this happen and I've kept them in my prayers. I hope we can go back next week so that we can teach them more, because my Spanish is better. There's more I'd like to say, which I can't remember so I'll go. I've already stolen a few extra minutes because it's transfer week and no one else needs to email so for now, I take my leave. I pray for you all and I love you all so much!!


Real men cry. Jesus wept. Remember that. Also, an alarm clock in the ceiling at 2 am is always hilarious  Words to live by indeed.

¡Chau!

Elder Ender

Email from Oct 13th 2011

Hi All,

 I haven't seen the sun in a week and it's been pouring for 5 of the last 7 days. It's been a rough week, and so i'm just trying to refocus myself. I think part of it is the weather and i just get discouraged by the language a veces por que es muy dificil y I(at times its difficult and I) expect myself to be doing so much better. We're expected to be doing so much and carrying on full blown conversations at almost full blown speed and it feels like a deluge sometimes. I drown in the absolute flood of words and there are currently state senators from Utah and Idaho in the computer lab with us absolutely going crazy with questions and wondering how it's going. It's rather funny to see and I can't begin to imagine the jet lag they're feeling right now. Political figures. Ha. I love these people. This is just so funny. Trying to be all nice and get to know us. hahah they're like us we're just better at getting to know people faster.

We just got called into the kitchen to listen to the senators for a few minutes which means I get 15 more minutes to write.  I have not seen the southern cross yet because we only go outside once a day and that's at 3:30 in the afternoon but I'll be sure to find it in a couple of weeks when I get into Uruguay.

 So a lot of the misionaries are from all over the place but most of the natives are from the different states in Argentina like Jujuy and Mendoza. I'm so glad Jake is doing great at running. Tell him to love every minute of it because I hardly get to run. I do core three times a week to stay in shape so I get a work out in and I think I've lost a few pounds already but nothing really beats taking off into the hills for a few miles.  Jake is a rock star and I miss him so very much.

Confirmed date of departure for Uruguay at this point: November the 8th. Wish me luck because I'm going to need it.  Elder Chafala is the greatest. He's one of our roommates and he absolutely loves death metal. I'm surprised and totally delighted with all the metal heads that I've found down here. Looks like I was born in the wrong country because a lot of them just love it down here.


I got a letter from grami too which absolutely made my day and p-days are just the best day of the week. OH! Proseletismo (Proselyting) went great! My understanding is getting a lot better and I can carry on a pretty decent conversation at a pretty solid speed. We learn so much every day and it never slows down. This transfer is almost over, bout a week left. After that it's 3 more weeks and they huck me into the deep end. Good thing God is the life guard.


¡Chau!

Elder Simpson

Email from Oct 6th 2011

I literally just got out of the fastest haircut of my life. I sat down and 2 minutes later I was getting hurried off so the next missionary could sit down. And I lost a ton of hair in the process, makes me chuckle. I loved conference it was a blast. We watched all 5 sessions in conference. We watched all the sessions live except for priesthood which we watched Sunday morning.

Now I'll share a little story with you about how the Lord blesses us. This has been a really rough week for most of my district. We're on week 4 or 5, can't really remember any more, and so the work load is increasing and so are the expectations. We now have 2 progressing investigators so we're teaching every day and classes are more and more in Spanish. We get more grammer and we also teach the native districts for a half hour during the day. Needless to say, we wake up tired and get hit by an absolute deluge. Then you throw in the fact that we're learning increasingly existential and somewhat odd portions of spanish on a daily basis, for instance the usage of the words por and para, and you get some somewhat grumpy missionaries. I know I've offered more than a few prayers of suplication as of late and gone to bed and not been able to sleep because my brain is going a bajillion miles an hour.

So, God decided it was time to answer our prayers. We do story time at 9:30 some nights in order to unwind and grow more together as a district. Tuesday night, we decided to share spiritual experiences. The first one was like a blow to the guts. I had been wondering if I should be out in the field and how on earth I could handle all of what's going on. Then our District Leader went and spoke of his father.  Then I lost it.  I felt the spirit so strongly and I knew that I could do all the things that I needed to and that I listen the spirit will guide me and that try as I might, even if I can't see God right then, or I've hidden my face from his sight, he still knows where I am, what I feel, and loves me very much. Then elder McDaniel bore his testimony and I already love him and he lost it too so you've got a couple of nearly grown young men crying about how much god loves them and this is where it gets great. An elder I've been struggling to love opened his mouth and I was filled with so much love for him that all the problems have left. I hope it stays like this because this is so much better and he's a great kid. Needless to say, the testimony meeting was exactly what a number of us needed that night and you could have burned a house with the intensity of the spirit we felt.

On to expounding about God.  I understand so much more now, and will continue to for the rest of my life.  I pray for you all the time, (we pray A LOT) and it's all going well.  The mind is willing but the flesh is weak. I am still a man of flesh and bone and try as I might, I will never be able to pay back the love of my savior. Christ loves us, and only through the atonement can we be redeemed. I'll write soon. I love you all and God watches over you.

Love,
Elder Andy

Missionary letter from Sept 29 2011

Hi All,

All the elders in my district are bound for montevideo oeste and there are hermanas (sisters) but there are none in my district. I think there are like 8 now. We just had transfers today in fact. We are watching General Conference live on Saturday in english but we're watching priesthood the next morning and then everything else live on Sunday.   (Note: Argentina is one timezone ahead of Eastern).  Sunday's are always in English which makes them and p-days the best. :)

During proselitismo (proselyting) I defiantly had a faith building experience. Elder Tyree and I went back to a guy named Cristian we had met the week before and talked to briefly. Unfortunately, that was the day he decided to open up to us. He sat there and talked to us in very rapid nearly incoherent spanish about how much he loves his family, how he had to leave them behind in Peru and how he dearly wants to be with them forever. I didn't understand a word he said. And that, is the gift of tongues. I know without a shadow of a doubt, that's what he was speaking about yet I could not  understand him for the life of me. Elder Tyree and I walked away from it feeling desperate and somewhat depressed yet when we conferred, we both knew of what he spoke. I testify to you that was such a blessing of the holy ghost.

I learn at such an accelerated rate that I promise it's the Lord blessing me. I know this is his work, which is why i can teach lessons and understand a great deal more now than I did three weeks ago. The Lord watches us and blesses us which is why he sent a lightning storm to Buenos Aires last night. he knew i'd get up and would be fascinated by the almost constant rumble of thunder and rapid flashes of pure electric power. God's the best. No proselitismo (proselyting) this weekend so I'll have to come up with some other stories to tell you guys.

Proselitismo (proselyting) was great. We knocked doors for half of the time and then street contacted too. Juan was there and he had some really heavy questions. He opened with, in the Book of Mormon, why did so many people die for their faith. That was great to try and answer :) he then moved on to the importance of Mary in his life and why wasn't she mentioned as a member of the godhead?  Then we talked about the after life, all in broken Spanish. But i'd say my Spanish is 500% or 600% better by now than when I got here. My English is getting worse and worse though and I'm constantly frustrated by the fact that I don't know the words to express what I'm feeling or how to say what I want to. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the locals don't know the words I have an affinity for when I find them in the dictionary. I mentioned the word for necromancer and also for leviathan and they looked at  me like I was speaking a different language. Pun intended  :)

For now I'm going to call the email good so I can be sure to get you those pictures. The lord is blessing us in his work. When they announce the number of active serving missionaries in General Conference, know I'm one of those numbers. :)

Elder Simpson

First Pictures from the MTC in Argentina

 Elder Wray, Elder Simpson, Elder Crawford and Elder McDaniel

Elder Smith and Elder Simpson

Letter home Sept 22 2011

Hi Mom and Dad,

I proselyte each Saturday I´m in the ccm (MTC) and it went really well. The 9 week elders came in the night before and gave us a crash course in Argentine street gestures so we didn't get in trouble. We met some really nice people and no one was particularly rude although we had this queer ability of being able to clear streets. It's like we reek of god or something.

Juan is our most promising investigator. He was extremely nice and we talked for about a half hour. He was very slow and made sure he pronounced everything so that we could understand and follow what he was saying which was absurdly curteous. Elder Tyree and I greatly appreciated the effort he made to communicate with us. He's Lutheran and we're going to meet with him again this Saturday. We left him a copy of el LDM (Book of Mormon) and we're going to follow up on the commitment we left to read it and see how he handled it. Our area will switch the next Saturday and so we really hope this one takes off. He has so much fe  en jesucristo (faith in Jesus Christ) it's ridiculous.  Sorry for the pidgeon español but i have difficulties thinking in ingles a veces. (in English at times)

Master the Tempest is Raging is a new favorite hymn of mine. All the norte americanos (North Americans) get together the night after proselitismo (proselyting) and belt it at the top of our lungs. On September 11 we also got together and sang the Star Spangled Banner and America The Beautiful. I got just a tad emotional. I miss you, but i wouldn't rather be doing anything else. The Spanish is coming. Some days it's really easy, some days it really isn't.

I'm really tired a lot. a lot a lot a lot. Members of the CCM (MTC) Presidency and Bishopbric teach the classes on Sundays and they're really great if i can stay awake through them. We're all constantly falling asleep and prodding each other to wake each other up. I usually end up standing half way through classes so that I can stay awake and hear everything that I need to.

Transfers are this Tuesday which means we lose a third of the north american elders and they're replaced by a new set and we get an entirely new batch of natives. My favorite thing that happened this week was Sunday. Sunday rocked. We had a fireside and instead of that we did a scripture trivia game with the president and all the norte americanos (North Americans) and my district totally wiped the board. Elder Tyree Elder Larson and I were all MVP's which was a blast.

 Yesterday we had a really great PI (prospective investigator) session. The role playing is helping a lot and it´s getting so that Elder Tyree and I can communicate on the fly and not panic when they ask un pregunta (a question) that we didn't plan for. We eat a lot of meat. Like a lot. Usually twice a day. And they always have slender loafs of Italian pan (bread) in a bin and so i snag some all the time as i walk past.  I have an affinity for alfajores* and Argentine food. Ese es muy bien.  (Its very good)

We currently have sun about once or twice a week so we're thankful when it gets above 50 :)  I've become the go to guy for sprains, twists, and tweaks in my district which is funny because i only know what i picked up from climbing and running.

Yo se que jesucristo es nuestro salvador y El expiar con nosotros pecados. Dios ama su. El evangelio de jesucristo es verdad.  (I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and He atoned for our sins.  God loves you,  The  gospel of Jesus Christ is True).

¡Chau!
Elder Simpson (Andy )

*alfajores = It’s principally a sweet sandwich of 2 round cookies with dulce de leche (manjar blanco or arequipe) (dulce de leche or manjar is caramelized sweetened condensed milk) in the middle and sprinkled with powdered sugar or they’re rolled in coconut as well. The cookies can be hard or soft-type depending of the recipe.   Read more: http://www.sweetsfoods.com/2009/08/alfajores-with-dulce-de-leche-maicena.html

Letter to Mom from Thursday September 15th 2011

¿Como le va?

Things down here are just plain nuts. While the hours are pretty regular, 6:30 am to 10:30 pm, we fill em to bursting. we've crunched some numbers and we do about 10 to 11 hours of in class time each day so it's a full day.  Sorry about the english and grammer and all that but my language skills are already slipping and I only have a haf hour to read emails and pound out a reply. We learn so much every single day and they all blur into each other. I feel like I've been down here for a couple months already and I'm really familiar with a lot of my district. 

There are 8 of us in it. Elder De hoyos is the district leader and then there is Elder Mcdaniel, Elder Crawford, Elder Wray, Elder Tyree my comp, Elder Larson and Elder Pyatt.  That is all of us and we all get along really well. We spend a lot of class time together and so we all share in the ups and downs of the entire process. Elder Tyree and i get along really well. he's from West Valley and loves being down here. He's very focused on learning the languge and inspires me to be the same way. 

We're currently working with a progressive investigator each day. Fortunately it's one of our instructers but we have to treat him as an absoulte stranger and he doesn't speak any ingles (English) for that entire time. It's the best though because Elder Tyree and I have been doing really well at that, which could be good or bad. 

It could be good because of the confidence boost and knowledge increase but it could be bad because we're going street contacting this sabado (Saturday) for 7 hours. proselitismo. (Proselyting) I don't know how to feel about it so i just have faith that whatever happens will be what is supposed to happen. 

Domingo (Sunday) has a couple of prep periods we have two full length sunday schools two other classes and sacrament meeting. Fortunately sunday dominga esté en ingles  porque no hablo muchismo español. (Sunday's are in English because we can't talk much spanish).  

We don't go to the temple because it's either being remodeled or built i can't tell. Either way we live in the middle of a construction zone because they are overhauling the entire complex. There 27 North Americans and there are somewhere around 40 Latinos. We speak a lot of spanish and today  they asked to start speaking entirely en español todos lo tiempo. (in spanish all the time).    It gets better and better each day and they strongly encourage us to hablamos en spanglish. (speak in spanglish). 

 Yo (pronounced sho) se el evangelio is verdad y jesucristo es el salvador de todos los gentes.  (I know that gospel is true and that Jesus Christ is the savior of all people.) Yo amo jesucristo y yo se dios loves me. (I love Jesus and I know that God loves me).  I'm so happy to be down here and I can't wait to get to work. vivá argentina. 

Ciao,

 Elder Simpson

Letter to Dad from Thursday September 15th 2011

¿como le va?

My spanish is coming seeing as it's the only way i can talk to three quarters of the people in the ccm  (MTC) and anybody outside it.  I don't know about sending any pictures from here. they're pretty strict about cameras and we can only bring them out on the third Sunday, transfer day. We turn over a group of Latinos every three weeks and a group of Americans every 9 so there are currently three transfers worth of North Americans here and one of Latinos. 

The food  is muy bueno so I need to work out more. I do core in the mornings before breakfast and then we have an hour of actividades fisica (Physical Activities) and yo corro por 20 minutos mas o menos (I run for 20 minutes more or less) and then i just do core work outs for the next half hour or so.  I can hold myself verticly out from a pole for about 15 or 20 segundos acá  (20 Seconds now).

I think of you all when i have time to take my brain off the wall from whenst it was thrown.  I wish you could see all this and feel of the power of el evangelio (the Gospel). el evangelio de restaurado es verdad. (The restored gospel is true.) jesucristo es nosotros salvador. (Jesus Christ is our Savior).  This is all true. el libro de mormon testifica de la vida de jesucristo. (The Book of Mormon testifies of the life of Jesus Christ).  

Ciao

Elder Simpson

Arriving at the MTC in Buenos Aires

Thursday September 8th 2011

Good morning good morning good morning.

It's 10:35 here right now so you may just be getting up. I apologize for anything that doesn't seem to be written correctly because the spell check only does spanish. The flights were long to say the least but really rather uneventful. I slept on and off from atlanta to buenos aires and called it quits on sleeping at about 5 am.

There were 8 other elders traveling with me and the mtc is currently nearly empty. We're waiting on all the other sisters and elders from the latin countries still. I really don't know what to say other than I'm very excited to start learning. Our day here doesn't start til 5 (just for today) so we're not doing a whole lot. I'm supposed to tell you that our p-day is thursdays and you'll get my address from this message.

I'm in great hands and the mtc is on temple grounds. I'll keep you all posted.

Elder Simpson