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
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| Standing between the Brazil and Uruguay flags |
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