Cardona Uruguay - July 30th 2012

Hi All,

I'm really trying to take more photos now and I even carry my camera around in my back pack now.

Things with Elder Xavier are going well. He really really likes to laugh and joke around and tells me I need to loosen up, but hey. I'm a serious kind of guy. It's okay though, because we're getting along and we teach well together. The bike riding was going great til about 3 hours ago. I got a flat..... 


Luckily, we'll be gone most of tomorrow for district meeting and then I can pull out money on Wednesday and replace the tube. Until then, time to hoof it. My backside is getting there. Sometimes it's still a little tender but I think I've got a pretty calloused toosh by now. I hope so....and i'll let the photos I send tell you if I'm sporting a helmet or not k?

Everyone says that the Lord is putting his faith in my with this assignment. I just get stressed by it. Then I say a little prayer and just keep working. That's how I've made it through the first two weeks and it's worked out pretty well so far. As of right now since this branch technically does not have a branch president, but rather an acting elders quorum president, I have not been set apart or called to the position of 1st counselor. Regardless, I am acting 1st counselor. There is a missionary couple that is going to be called here in a couple of weeks that live in 'deo. If things work out the way that President Heaton wants, they will be called to our mission and he is going to assign them to our branch. They will move into the area and be offically called and set apart as branch president at which point, I will be called as 1st counselor. Because the Crawfords live in 'deo, anything that has to be done in the branch during the week is done by us.

Speaking of Montevideo, here is the picture I promised you of our Elder's quorum president.  He is also a temple worker... thought you'd enjoy it.

Back to the branch work, take Wednesday for example. We had to sacrifice our entire morning because the branch finally got the computer back and I had to reactivate the MLS record system that the church uses, call Salt Lake and get permission and access to certain files and download the interface software for our printer. It was a hassle but I got it done. On top of that, I now handle to the tithing too....and we read the church administration manual 2 in our spare time....and we have a church clerk orientation dvd that I need to watch so I can figure out how some more of the stuff works. Basically because I am the only branch representative that lives in this town, it falls on us. That's okay though, because I'm learning about the infrastructure of the Lord's church.

 As for elder Crawford, I translate everything. Interviews, conversations, all of it. He doesn't speak more than "hola" and "gracias".  And yes, I conduct the sacrament meetings, but we do not have to speak every week. Although, I did have to speak for a half hour yesterday and we also taught the class....that was a trip.

As for the miracle finds, I've now dubbed it the Bordon Drop. They dropped us hardcore on Saturday. We were cleaning the church on Saturday and the mom sent us a text saying that we can't pass by anymore. I was crushed. I asked if we could at least talk with her face to face and she said no way. It was brutal. We went to the branch presidents office to pray because I really had no idea what to do. God said let her be. I thought of the sons of Mosiah. I wasn't sad that we couldn't baptize her daughters, I was wracked with agony at the thought of them missing out on the blessings of salvation...it hurts. A lot. But I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, right?

Saturday was the second time that I've taught an english class in spanish and it's actually kind of fun. I'm learning more and more about teaching in this area and I'm really thankful for the chance to learn so much in a condensed amount of time. It worries me a little though because it means the Lord is prepping me for something even bigger just as soon as I get confident and comfortable in this situation.

As for this calling be normal, it's not. Every area in this zone is a branch and we just happen to have to one that's the worst off right now. It can really only happen in areas that are super super run down. A lot of things have happened in this are in the past in the leadership and as such, it's left a BAD taste in a lot of mouths which really hurts the church and the work. Other than that, our President just said to rely on the Lord and make sure to balance the work of the mission and the work of the Branch so that's what I'm trying to do for now. It eats up all of my time. But that's what I'm here for.

This last Tuesday, we went down to Colonia for a special orientation with the APs andPpresident. It really fired me up. They talked a lot (to the entire zone) about faith and hope and about how the zone is currently stacked and that it's in our hands to change the game. That's what I want to do. This area has so much potential it's ridiculous, I just gotta get people to move! I'm here to stir things up I guess, but I know we can baptize! The attendance at church in the last two weeks has been the highest in a while so I know we just gotta work the right areas and we're going to see good changes.

I'm working out spiritually and physically each day. I've never testified so much and I'm working at leaving meaningful commitments in each visit and following the spirit in all things. It's really hard, but I'm learning to listen to my heart and follow the guidance of the Lord. Everything goes a lot better when I do so. I feel the spirit a lot more during the lessons and I don't struggle to find the words that I need to help the people that I'm talking to. More than a couple of times we've walked away from talking to someone and Elder X has made some comment or another about my teaching and it's all the spirit, I know it is. I've been studying more from Preach my Gospel lately because I've recognized that I lack SO MUCH as a missionary and a teacher. I want to be the best that the Lord would have me be, but to do so, I have to understand what the best is. There's a profoundness to following the spirit that at times, I cannot fathom how much deeper I have to go, but it's okay. I feel the Lord's love around me all the time and I know that He is protecting and guiding us. Take this morning for example. We had to decide who we thought could be baptized this month. It took three prayers and a lot of thinking, but I know without a doubt that the Spirit answered me. I got that burning in my chest that they speak of in the scriptures. I'm so close to the Spirit and I know that it will only be this way for 13 more months. That scares me and makes me sad, but it also makes me appreciate how truly blessed the missionaries of the Lord's work really are. 

Love

Elder Andy

Cardona Uruguay - July 23rd 2012

Hi All,

My week was a blitz.... a literal blitz. I swear to you I just blinked and it disappeared. It's nuts. Aight, so, I met Elder Xavier once in Rivera but it was nothing more than hello how and who are you. He has been out for 7 months this last sunday and we get along great.   Elder Xavier did not speak spanish before the mission but rather learned some in the Brazilian MTC and then perfected it in Rivera where the members and people could at least understand portugese. I'm replacing Elder Sorenson who is from Elder V's Mtc group.  However, Elder Xavier does speaks a great deal of broken english. Really all that he needs help with is some of his grammer and his pronunciation and vocabulary. It's impressive really. He says his father had to learn english for work and then his sister went to Riverton High in Utah her Jr. year to learn english and then came home for a year and is now at BYU so she and his dad spoke english all the time which is where he picked up a lot of it. Pretty cool. He was already in Cardona and its a lot like Tranqueras. It's defintely a farming/bus into work at a factory town so there's not a whole lot that goes on. Biggest hunk of news, we ride  bikes. I was SO saddle sore the first two days it was absurd. Now I get a little sore by the end of the day but it's nothing too bad. As for the church here....I'll explain that later. I can hardly believe that I've been out for so long. Here in two weeks I hit 11 months and after that....welll 1 year. oof that's insane. It blows my mind.
.
Okay so events of the week as I promised! Saying goodbyes was hard. The Da Salvo family was the hardest. He's the stake patriarch and she's just great and we all got along just swell. We talked a lot about the importance of this life and what ever deep and profound topic that we wanted too because there aren't too many people down here who do it that well. They kind of just glance of the surface like a weakly aimed shot where as we acted more like a teflon-coated super sonic armor piercing bullet from a high caliber rifle. We got to the point.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. When I was leaving they said to tell you that they got to know the Simpsons through me and that the apple really doesn't fall too far from the tree in this life so they say that they love you all and that you did a good job on me.

I caught a 05:30 bus from here to Colonia Suissa and got there at about 9. I met elder Xavier, and Elder Flake who is my Zone Leader and also saw elder Duke whom I know from the MTC. He's the group just below me. Then elder Xavier hopped on a bus at 11:30 and headed out to Rosario which is the first stop, and we then got off and transferred busses to go to Cardona/Florencio Sanchez.

Naturally, on both buses, right in front of us, were couples who couldn't seem to figure out how to stay off of each other, stop slobbering on each other or quit eating face. However you want to describe it, they couldn't handle it. Repulsive.


We don't have to travel super far for district meeting, but tomorrow we're going into Colonia because the Assistants are going to be teaching a class to the Zone. Speaking of them... They called me on Wednesday, to tell me that they and President are going to be watching closely and are expecting great things. Then the branch president called and said pretty much the same thing and that they were so excited to work with me. Great....thanks guys. No pressure.... Phillipians 4:13. Also, President wants me to call too.  Then I found out why. 

 I got to the Colonia Bus Station and Elder Flake said, "Welcome. You ready for all this?" Ready for what....?  Well turns out the Zone Leaders in Oeste didn't know that I was going to be 1st councilor in the Branch Presidency, nor did they know that I was going to be full time translator of the branch president who is also from Ceder City Utah.....Yea...............Not to mention the fact that the average attendance of the branch lately has been about 14, 4 of which are missionaries.

Elder and Sister Crawford are the housing authorities/office couple for the mission and are currently living in Deo. They come out every Sunday to preside and Elder Crawford does not speak a work of Spanish.   Sister Crawford does but she's not really able to be Branch President seeing as she doesn't and cannot hold the Priesthood.  Anyway, this last sunday, 27 people came to church.  Elder Xavier and I worked HARD. We're currently using the ward directory to locate all members, incomplete families and less active members. We've also been getting references and knocking doors to find them. The going is...interesting. Obviously it helped this last week.

Just so you know, I'm no longer nervous about being senior comp. I think the nerves went away the night before I got on the bus. After that I was just stoked, even when they threw an enormous pail of cold water on me when they told me all that when I got into the Zone but no pasa nada right?

 Also, English...is getting hard sometimes so sorry if I throw in some Spanish. Yesterday, during sacrament meeting (first sacrament meeting I've ever directed in my life, by the way) the Lord told me that it will all be okay and not to sweat the little things. So that's what I've been doing and it's worked out pretty well so far. We've had more than a couple of miracle finds so hopefully we'll be seeing some baptisms this change. We taught Sunday school and have to every Sunday. I also have to speak for half of sacrament meeting and the other half goes to a conference talk. We listen to translated conference talks for half of sacrament meeting because there aren't enough members to give talks, nor enough who are confident enough to speak for more than 5 minutes without just reading it all. Oh well. No pasa nada. Side note, I'm currently teaching and English Class on Saturdays... that's a different feeling, explaining English grammar in Spanish

I'm the most tired I've ever been in my life and I'm stressed all the time, but it's not an overwhelming stress. More of just me realizing that things need to be done and thinking about how to do it. I've never prayed so much in my life, and the Lord is working miracles in my heart and the hearts of others. Realistically speaking, I'm here to rock the boat. Things have gotten comfortable and that's not acceptable. So I'm gonna shake things up. Hard. There's nothing wrong with comfortable but when it means that roughly 90% of your members are inactive and comfortable with it, things need to change. As my dear friends of August Burns Red would say, "Leveler, make level the way for the righteous." Today is the day of repentance. I'm in the trenches, and the shells are up to my knees. The grit and the smoke from the powder cakes everything around me. I've got my orders from HQ and they got them from On High. I've got my walkie talkie, keeping it precisely tuned to the station. And off we go again, into the black to oust the foes and find the fallen comrades. My rifle is more and more worn each day. I don't know how many rounds I've fired. I lost count months ago. The stripes on my shoulders are heavy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We will rise victorious because the end is so very near. We're gonna take the hill or we're gonna die trying, and when we get there, we're gonna hoist the Christian Banner high. Oorah

Vamos Arriba
Elder Simpson

Sayago Montevideo Uruguay - July 16th 2012

Hi All,

I'm doing great. This has been a tough week, maybe one of the toughest of the change.  My district leader elder Bryant has consistently advised me to, "go with the flow like crush from nemo".... It's been difficult but I think I'm getting better at it. We'll see what the future says about my performance.

The lady that we found in the street few weeks ago is named Ana and things don't look like they're going to get better with her. She and her daughter are arguing about the church and the mother still hasn't come... I just don't know. She says she's so ready to make changes in her life and let God back in, but she hasn't been making the effort to do so. She's not reading the scriptures, she's praying some what and like I said, hasn't made it to church. We have to do those things to have God in our lives...

During district meeting on tuesday, we had pizzookie, which was stupendous. In case, like me, you don't know what that is, it's a giant cookie with various toppings. We had bananas and dulce de leche which was just great.

So you know, Keila Suarez, that I baptized in Tranqueras, her family has been changing a great deal. 3 of her sisters have been baptized and her mother got married and baptized! I'm super stoked, and now, Elder Tyree, my MTC companion is heading out there to take Elder Larson's place.

Yes, that does indeed mean that changes are happening. I have good news, and bad news.... The good news is I'm leaving....and going up....the bad news is, I'm going up. I'm a little bit nervous about being senior companion, but I'm very excited because I know that the Lord is going to guide me.  I feel like I've been more or less doing that for 3 changes now, so I think things are going to go well, but only if I rely wholly upon the merits of the Lord and the atonement. I'm going to an area called Cardona in the department of Colonia and my companion is Elder Xavier from Sao Paolo, Brasil.... Looks like I'm gonna learn me some Portuguese! I'm very excited and can't wait to see what the next 6 weeks of my life bring.

I talked in church this last Sunday and also taught principles of the gospel. I spoke for 20 minutes on fathers. I spoke about dad, fathers from the Book of Mormon and our Heavenly Father. There are 4 things that we need to learn from fathers which are, wisdom, love for the lord and our family, the virtue of work and thanksgiving. If we utilize and apply these 4 traits in our lives, we will become more like Christ and by doing so, we directly influence the missionary work of our generation and generations to come. Just take a look at the son and grandsons of King Benjamin. 

My lesson in POG was about the scriptures and even though its such a basic lesson, it was a nice review of the scriptures. Elder V recently told me that we can't just read the scriptures, we have to see them! If we cannot see them, there will be no understanding, and we can't apply what we can't understand.


The lifeline of prayer, by James E faust of the april 2002 conference sunday morning session. That's changed the entire face of my prayers. I try so much more to talk to the Lord like I would talk to you. It makes a difference.

We had this killer dessert in the house of a Brasileña on Sunday. It's called Quindin...I freakin loved it. Super potent and heavy, but delicious. I'll have to look it up when I get home.

We'll, I gotta bounce already. The Lord has something in store for me, and I'm going to find it! I just have to turn it all over to Him and I will see miracles this change. The trick is to believe, not just hope.

Elder Simpson

Sayago Montevideo Uruguay - July 9th 2012

Hey All,

This week was decently warm here. It poured all day Wednesday but other than that we've had nothing but sun. It's crisp in the mornings and it's getting warm enough again that I really can't rock much more than a sweater which is nice. I'm really not complaining. Everyone says it's usually brutally cold by now so I'm happy with the sunshine. The greatest part of the day was that night when we were walking, out of nowhere my comp asked my to sing in english. Soooooooo I sang the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. :D God Bless the States... I miss them a lot. Also, that morning, my District Leader called at 6:35 AM and wished me a Happy 4th and talked about the birth of the greatest nation on the planet. Prideful? Naw. Honest.

We're not currently passing by Luna right now. She had a nervous break down and can't handle her struggles with school crossed with the missionaries passing by so frequently. As such, her family has decided to give her some time. I'm actually in agreement with them, because the gospel nor the missionaries should never cause someone to suffer. Granted, there is a marked difference between suffering and change. While both are difficult, and can both be endured, change is better than just simply suffering.

Joel was confirmed yesterday which was great to see. I was happy that the President came to support us. This ward is really struggling and so it's hard sometimes to bring new converts into such a sickly environment. It's okay though, because the ward is really animated to have Joel as a member and a great deal of them are watching out for him already.

We've not really been able to find anyone else for the time being so we're mostly just trying to find. We've got the daughter of a lady who has been inactive for more than 10 years. She stopped us on the street about two weeks ago and asked if it would be alright if she could come back to church. She also asked if we could pass by and help her kids out, so we're currently in that. We've been doing lots of contacting and looking this week. I'm just happy it's not that cold.

I can't believe it's already July. This is the last full week of the change and tomorrow is the last district meeting, which means we'll be taking pictures.  By the way, I made french toast and mint hot chocolate for breakfast yesterday and about had a heart attack! It was stupendous! It was a happy little flash back to my boyhood and Sunday morning family breakfasts!

Last night we were going to look for a contact that we'd made a few days earlier. She's a girl of about 19 who has lost her parents a while ago and is currently providing for her siblings. As we were getting to her house, I realized that we were walking into a potentially hazardous situation at about 7 at night, (which is long since dark down here. It gets dark at like 6...). The Spirit told me quite firmly to pass by the house of a member on the same street so we did. We arranged so that if the contact was home, we could go get him in the moment and have a lesson with her. We went and knocked the house, and she wasn't home. I have no idea why the spirit told me to go talk with the member, I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't. Possibly nothing, I'll never know. I just know that following the spirit is sometimes hard, but it is never a waste of time. Difficult though it may be, we must strive to constantly recognize the voice of the Lord God Almighty, as He guides us in each footstep.

However, the strongest I felt the Spirit this week, was yesterday morning. I got up and got a ton done, (something I've been getting really good at as of late, as in make a great breakfast, work out, shower, get fully ready for the day and either wash some clothes or write the majority of a letter all in an hour and a half. IT'S FANTASTIC!!) anyways, after the a fore mentioned  breakfast of french toast and hot chocolate, we set out to go find Joel. I dunno what it was.... It could have been the sun tipped trees, the brisk wind or the freezing clarity of the air... perhaps even the slight chill that spread across my cheeks and the tips of my nose, but God was all around me. I was so happy to be alive. I saw the Lord in the trees and the cloud brushed sky. I felt His love in the invigorated charge of the purposful step of a missionary. It was one of those mornings, where i would have loved to have started running and never stopped. Or perhaps set out with my father to hike some distant peak. And I know God is in all of nature. He made this world for us to learn and to grow, but also for us to enjoy. Nature is amazing.... It was a moment like unto summiting a peak, or the fluid strian that is placed into the crux of a climb. It was the runners high, invoked by the very forces of nature, without raising my heart rate or increasing my pace. The Lord was with me then, and I felt His love and I knew that this life is good. This life is so good, because I have the gospel.
 
Elder Andy

Sayago Montevideo Uruguay - July 2nd 2012

Hi All,

 I got up today and made french toast for my comp and I. Originally I wasn't going to, but I've really been focusing on being charitable this week and this obnoxiously persistent little voice in the back of my head kept telling me to make him a portion. As soon as I gave in I felt a lot better and it wasn't grudging giving after about 5 minutes. It was really tasty and my new apron works great.

 Speaking of my focus on charity, we talked a lot about how we can develope christ-like attributes during district meeting. Our entire purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come to Jesus Christ. Well, invite provides the implication that we are at least near by Him if not at His side. In order to be located in such a position, we have to become more like Him, hence the dire need to develope said attributes. (See Preach My Gospel Chapter 9.) Anyway, I've been setting daily goals and have a 9 week program to follow in order to develope such attributes and check my progress. Eesh I'm a nerd.... Anyway, being like Christ isn't as easy as it sounds!

I'm constantly striving to follow and recognize the promptings of the spirit. You made a hunch comment in your first letter to me in uruguay and it still saves my skin. The Spirit brings so many things to my mind at different times everyday and I know it's because I'm trying to purify this vessel. So many words of advice, so many things that I've read, all in this combative struggle to be a true follower of the Redeemer of Mankind.  

I'm very thankful for my sleeping bag and warm water. It's not too cold yet but i'm starting to see signs of what's in store for me. It does not make me happy. You know how much I loathe winter. That said, the weather was fair until about thursday so i guess fall got more than it's fair share of the year and it's winters turn. 

As for pdays in the big city, I like to clean some, wash clothes by hand, which should answer that question for you, write you guys and maybe do a little shopping in the local super store. Other than that I read things like the ensign, Jesus the Christ and Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage and write letters. I also enjoy long walks on the beach, star gazing and a hot cup of cocoa. :D


I'll explain the baptism in a bit and I'm feeling good. I'm starting to understand the things that I can do to be happy in my situation and what I can do to make sure that we have a stronger measure of the Spirit in our companionship. That's not to say I don't get frustrated anymore but I'm discovering ways to prevent and disperse said frustration without being a total jerk. That tends to kill the spirit.... Anyways, I'm happy a lot and it's going great. My prayers have been improving and I'm focusing a lot on my daily goals for CLA and my scripture studies. It's great. As for the temple, I don't know if I'll have another chance to go while I'm down here.

I gave my first full blessing in spanish this last week. I've always just anointed, deferring the blessing to my companion because I lack confidence in my ability to be a mouthpiece for the Lord in another tongue. Well, the member, Luna's father to be exact, asked me to provide the blessing.... It was hard for me to follow the Spirit, being in spanish and all, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity that I have to act in the Name of God and utilize the Holy Priesthood that I have been authorized to use. 


I must say it's always rather weird to answer the phone in english, tell the caller who I am and then have them speak to me in english....  I was overjoyed to talk to brother Eccles and I hope he makes it back to the states in safety.  I'm freakin stoked over the package that I got and WAS NOT EXPECTING and I was also rather curious about the lack of u.s. postal service markings on said package and then it all came together the next morning with Brother Eccles called. That was a great pick me up. I love the apron and the tea and the chocolates and the lemon heads. I've worn the shirt once and it's now packed in a plastic bag to protect it for the next 14 months.... I just can't bring myself to ruin such a beautiful beautiful article of clothing.....

 FYI, I bought Hungarian made pretzles.... and about had a heart attack. It's just like american salty goodness! BAHAHA it was stupendous! First legit pretzels I've found in 10 months and I about had a fit from all my joy. It was great.

There is a quote from  Elder 'Velazquez ... It goes something like this, "It's not who we are born to be, but who we have in ourselves to become." The Gospel changes lives. You can see it in the eyes of those it has changed. I would know. I see the difference between the sad old man that I found and the man who shined with the Spirit after I brought him out of the waters of baptism. Christ heals all wounds. I know it.

Para que sepa, the baptism went well....right up until I pulled Joel out of the water. We then vamoosed to the bathroom to dry off and change. Well, about 2 minutes later a member stepped in and asked me to throw on my wet shirt and go back to the font. That was weird but I did anyway. They then asked me to drain the font and I was like "ohhhhhh Okay" and then I asked where my comp was and why he hadn't done it...Well turns out, he didn't even have to get in the water, because Luna had a panic attack and DID NOT want to get baptized.... sad day. Anyway, that night we talked to her and it turns out that she hadn't been reading the scriptures. Our fault for not verifying commitments. How can we expect people to take the leap of baptism if they're not taking the little steps that lead up to it? We can't.   We'll keep working with her.

Well that is about all for this week.

All my Best,
Elder Andy