Salto Uruguay - April 1st 2013

Hi All,

The area is a great area. There is so much potential and the people are so friendly. I feel like there is so much more we could be doing. As for wildlife, there are more than a couple of dogs in the area that aren't too fond of us. Other than that, we don't see too much. I've spotted hawks a couple of times and that's pretty fun. My favorite thing about the area is being out in the middle of nowhere at about 830 or 9 because you can see so many stars. It's like Tranqueras. The milky way shows up in some areas and I can see the southern cross and Orion almost every night. I like to talk to the stars. I usually offer a few mental prayers too.

The weather here has been hot since last monday, with each day being more humid than the last. Today, it's finally cloudly and overcast and it's been trying to rain for a while now. We'll see what happens here in the next few hours.

Speaking of that pday....my bike tire popped. 3 times. The original popped but we stopped at a farm house and changed it out. I got on the bike, and that one popped too. So then we walked like 3k to the closest colony and stopped by a back yard bike mechanic and he patched it for me. And it got me home and then we got on the bikes to go work and it popped again. I was SO frustrated. Anyways, the neighbor lent us his bike and I was able to replace the inner tube with one we've had in the house and thus far, it's held up. Luckily. Anyways, most of the week has been like that, just little things that will drive you nutty if you let them. I've been praying A LOT this week for help. It's just so frustrating. But, I keep going. There's nothing more that I can do.

Things are like a rollercoster. Ups and downs and twists and turns and at the end of each day you're sick and tired of the insanity. :D I feel like that's an appropriate description of this week.  Our teaching has been like a buck shot round. Scattered and random.  I try to seek opportunities to serve and to support my companion.  It's a struggle, but it's in the struggles that we learn the most.

We did service on Saturday.......I swear to you his parents used their back yard as a dump. There was anything from food waste to rusted out bikes to armadillo shells to mice and frogs. It was repugnant. I had a hard time with a lot of it. The entire time I wondered how people can be okay with things like that in their back yard. It made me so thankful for the states and the conditions that we live in.

. It would be super cool if I could get this into a cake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_de_membrillo because I freakin love that stuff. It's better than dulce de leche which is what all of the north americans apparently go nuts over. I love dulce de membrillo in cakes. It makes me so happy inside. I ate some last night. It was great.

This is a photo that a professional photographer took of my Zone Leaders here in Salto. It got put up on FaceBook, snagged by a member, sent to Elder Crawfords family who then sent it to him who sent it to me. Cool huh? Anyways, Elder Crawford is the taller one and E'Nuffer is the other one. They're both studs. I thought you guys would like seeing it. 

 It looks like we're getting to the wind down on my mission. I never thought this would come.... it always seemed so far away. But here it is, and there's no escaping it.  4 months left in the service of the Lord. There's still time to do so much good here. 

Other than that, it worked out perfectly that during this Easter week, I was reading of the last week of Christ's life, His Death and Resurrection in Jesus the Christ. I know that on multiple occasions I paused to ponder the gravity of the reality of the resurrection. I know that Christ lives. He loves each and every one of His children and He died so that each of us may live once again. I know that is true.

On that note, a scripture that I've been studying recently and that I will continue to study is Helaman 3:35. There's a lot to be found and learned here.

 35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

Have a great week.
Elder Andy

Salto Uruguay - March 25th 2013

Hey All,

Things are great here. It's currently 80 degrees outside. It's been like that since I got here. I hope it keeps it up for a long while.  The baptism on Saturday went great! They are such a prepared family and the Lord has truly prepared their way to be able to come and partake of the gospel of Christ and have it in their lives as a family. They were so so happy Saturday and Sunday.  On Wednesday they are going to the temple with the branch. Even though they can't go in they are still super excited to be able to go which is rather impressive. The Lord is really going to bless them for so actively seeking after Him.

Things with my comp are good. Last night we were taking a short cut on a dirt road in the middle of no where and I started to feel just awful inside. Rather unsure about our way and I honestly felt scared. It didn't help that it was getting dark too. So I mentioned it to my comp and he said we should keep going so we did. Then he started to sing Let the Holy Spirit Guide.  He's really not that great of a singer at all. But. It helped me so much. I am so grateful that my companion was willing to invite the spirit with a hymn. Nothing happened to us. We got to where we needed to be safely. But I know that in that moment, I felt a little bit more of the Saviors love for my companion. If we had turned back, perhaps I never would have been able to learn to love my companion a little bit more.

Luis and Anna have pretty much disappeared....that happens a lot in this country. Their baby was born and is fine but they didn't come to church on Sunday. We'll see this week what we can do for them.

 I went on divisions with Elder Nuffer on Wednesday and Thursday. He's an elder that I was in the MTC with and he's my zone leader out here. I've always really respected him. Turns out we get along great and we had a blast. So while i was there, there was a rat in their house. And it kept us up all night long. Not kidding. It got trapped in the bathroom but every time we got up to go try and trap it, it would go hide. It doesn't help that Elder Nuffer is also very very afraid of rats. Which is kinda funny if you see him.  He's like 5' 10'' and weighs probably 200 pounds of sheer muscle. He's HUGE. 

Yesterday a member of the high council spoke in sacrament meeting. One thing that he said really stuck with me and I thought I should share it with you. Service is the way we grow as people. And it's true. When we serve, we learn so much more about who we are and how to love others. The Lord, when He was distraught about the death of a dear friend, went and served others. And then something that the stake president said that I really enjoyed was that in this life it's not why did this happen to me? It's for what did this happen to me? How can I learn and benefit and grow from what is happening or has happened? Like I've said before, the Atonement allows us to change. Let us take advantage of every chance we have to grow.




I've been focusing a lot on teaching about the atonement and gaining a testimony of it's power. That was one thing that I noticed about Elder Nuffer when we were on divisions. He spoke of and testified of the atonement in every single visit we did. When I told him I'd never seen an elder do that before he looked at me and said, "We'll that's why we're here isn't it? To teach and testify of the atonement." And that really is why I'm here. Everything we teach about, the restoration, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation, the commandments all of it, is thanks to the atonement. All of it. We're here to show others how to apply the atonement in their lives and live happily as a result. I know that's why we can live as a family forever. The Atonement is so earth shakingly vital and we treat it with almost a trite simplicity far too much. It is EVERYTHING! I know that Christ lives. I know that He suffered it all so that we can change who we are to become more like Him, and thusly, become happy. HE is the reason for this life. Wouldn't it make sense that we all live a little more for Him...

Well, I think that's about all for now.
Beware of the Jabberwock!
Have a stupendous week

Elder Andy


 


 Elder Andy

Salto Uruguay - March 19th 2013

Hi All,

I’m doing great if slightly damp. It rained this morning on our ride into Salto for our leaders council. Salto is called Zion because it’s probably the strongest stake in our mission and they consistently baptize the most almost every single month. It’s been that way since I got here. It’s a legendary zone for the success they have, the availability of Argentinian goods and overall awesomeness. I guess. It’s pretty much the same as Rivera or Tacuarembò if you ask me but I like it here a lot.              

My comp is Elder Delgado and he’s from Peru. He’s 25 years old and we get along okay. He’s still a relatively young missionary having only 10 months in the mission and is still unsure of a lot of things and how they work and what to do.  I’m searching for the balance so that he doesn’t spend the entire change irritated with me.  We are indeed co-district leaders. We just take half of the work. Each does half of the calls and we’ll take turns doing divisons and my comp is going to teach the district this Tuesday and I get it next week. So on and so forth. Yesterday in interviews president Heaton said that he'd like me to teach my companion how to be a good leader and how to be disciplined, because part of our responsibility in the mission is to promote leadership in South America.  My comp speaks with the same tonality of Yogi Bear. The whole up and down laid back thing with the voice. Makes me chuckle sometimes.

My first week on bikes has been great. I really have to try not to get frustrated by the fact that my companion never leaves 1st gear…..We could literally third or half our travel times if he bumped up to 2nd or 3rd gear. But. That’s really not important. He just likes to ride slow is all. Other than that, I’m great. I get haulin when we get out on the freeway and I haven’t been sore and for that I’m grateful. 

We taught the Ferreira family. The came to church for the third time on Sunday and they are getting baptized on Saturday. They are such a prepared family and accept everything with no doubt. It’s amazing how much the Lord has prepared them and how willing they are to accept the gospel into their lives. Fanny and Fabian are the parents and Gabriel is their 10 year old son. Aside from that our most promising investigators are Ana and Luis. They came to church for the first time on Sunday and are also very willing to learn. It would seem that after about 9.5 months, Ana is finally having her baby. That’s what her neighbor told us last night because they went to the hospital and haven’t returned. They’re going to name their son Moroni because elder Delgado made a joke about it like 2 weeks ago and they liked they name. So that’s….interesting.

Elder Davis from Livermore was in Elder Lambs MTC group and I met him the day I went to go pic up Elder Lamb. He said that some people back home told him to watch out for me and there I was on his first day in the field so that was pretty cool.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance to the atonement in my life as of late….We watched the Mormon message mountains to climb with a portion of President Eyerings talk. It’s….one of a kind. I would highly recommend that you guys watch it.

 Til next week,
Elder Simpson

Salto Uruguay - March 12th 2013

Hi All,

The Patria Gaucha last weekwas actually kind of a let down. There were mostly just artisan booths of leather goods, gaucho clothes, mate’s and novelty items. Most of the cool stuff they do at night and we were out of there by about 4:30. It’s a festival that happens annually here in T-bo and every year the missionaries get to go. So for that, it’s pretty cool. All in all it was okay. Something that I can say I did at least once in my life.

This week has been miraculous. I have 0 complaints in relation to this week. 0. None whatsoever. For the last couple of weeks Elder Lamb and I have been finding people almost non-stop and we are seeing so many miracles. This next change should be a very interesting change and I do believe that many miracles will be witnessed.

As for transfers now…..I’m going to………………SALTO!!!!!!!!!! One of the most legendary zones of the mission, most commonly referred to as Zion. But. Of course, as is to be expected. There’s a catch in my area. It’s the only area in the zone that’s a branch. ? Back to the sticks, back to the complicated area. We have bikes….which means God has been telling to get ready for this for the last 2 areas and I’ve been ignoring the messages. We absolutely need the bikes in the area because we have three small towns that we visit and the main town is about 25 minutes away by bike. So….yea.

My companion is Elder Dalgado and we’re going to be Proselyting comps. He’s really young in the mission, not even a year yet. He’ll hit that point in June. Also, we’re both going to be district leaders.  I know that there’s a lot I’m going to be able to learn out there.

I’m really sad to be leaving Tacuarembo. It just hit me the other day how little time I have left in the mission.  I can’t explain what I’ve learned even in the last three days. I’m so very happy with this life and I love the Lord more than ever before. I know that this is His work and His will. I know that we can become like Him. That is what He wants. He wants us to come and live with Him and have all that He has. I love the Savior. He is my friend and my advocate. He leads me along, step by step as I am willing to follow His loving yet firm instruction.

Elder Ender. I’m here to finish this.

Tacuarembó Uruguay - March 6th 2013

Hi all,

 
All in all this summer has been much less than what was the summer of last year. No complaints from me on that one. We'll see how winter behaves herself. 

Things this last week really involved a lot of personal growth really. I've been learning a lot about how to overcome myself and let go of all of the nasty little pride particles that float around in my blood. I really feel like over the last 2 changes I've become a lot more humble and that the Lord has truly blessed me with rapid growth and progress. Regardless, I know that I still have an extreme distance to go. It's really actually been a hard week for me. Lots of negative experiences, or rather, lots of experiences in the which I had to choose to be humble and charitable or not. They were super tough. Just lots of negative people and comments. Total buzz kill. I'll be honest. T-bo has not been one of my favorite areas thus far. I truly do love a lot of the people here. Some great great people and I've learned and grown so much here. So for that, I wouldn't trade my time here for anything. Not much more to do but put one foot in front of the other.

I'm fine. I'm tired. All the time. Getting out of bed is probably one of the top 5 hardest things that I do every day. Also on that list of top 5 is staying awake during studies and lessons. But the Lord blesses me with strength and the days continue to absolutely fly past. It's rather astounding at times at how relativistic the mission is. I mean seriously. There should be some quantum theory  based solely upon a missionaries perception of the passing of time. I don't know if there's any other point in life where the rate of time passing can be plotted on an exponential graph! Quite obscene really....for example. Elder Velasquez goes home in 6 weeks. I can't believe this...All of my friends are leaving.

I found dental floss for the first time last night in 3 months. That made me pretty happy. Apart from that, I'm really not in that much need. A lot of the American brands have production companies in Argentina and Brazil and Uruguay imports a lot of those goods so brand names are super familiar. Johnson and Johnson, Colgate, Dove, Speed Stick, so on and so forth. The quality isn't quite as high, but it's still okay material.

This week I've really enjoyed reading out of the old testament. I don't know why but I'm flying through it. I really wish that I'd paid more attention during seminary.  Today in my study, I was really impressed and saddened by the persistence of Saul in disobeying the commandments of God as he became more and more enraged by David. He threw away so much and for what? Stubbornness? Pride? Jealousy? How petty. How depressing that one of the greatest warriors of Jewish history and the first monarchal figure in what was hundreds of years at that time threw everything away for sheer pigheadedness! (The entire story is in the book of Samuel. You should glance it over really. Rather entertaining and enlightening.) Anyways, it makes me think about us sometimes. What are we willing to put up as our excuse for not being perfectly obedient and giving our whole self unto the Lord? What celestial blessings are we willing to sacrifice in the name of such pathetic pretenses? Christ invites us to repent, be baptized and be saved. That is the entire purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 One thing that always always always helps me out here when the days just bite is praying it all off. I get steamed or bugged or depressed or whatever and right then is the moment to pray. Even if were on a busy street. Especially when we get frustrated. Those are the moments when I tell my companion to stop, pull out my agenda so it looks like we're merely conversing and offer a fervent and heartfelt prayer. That's when I've seen some  of the tenderest blessings of the Lord on my mission. Some of my favorite moments have been on my knees as well.  He's got all of the answers and can calm the wearied soul. 

Elder Andy

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Feb 25th 2013

Our biggest miracle this week was a process of multiple days. After the team visit that we went on with the hermanas (last week), we didn't really have much of anything til Friday rolled around. Our new Zone Leader, Elder Geschwandtner (say that one 10 times fast ;D) came out to do the interview and the hermanas came to our church as well. The night before I called an hermana who is super awesome to come and help us out with the interview to help Araci feel more comfortable with the situation and not be too overwhelmed by  missionaries. So we started the interview lesson and the Hermana Da Rosa showed up in the middle of the first hymn, said nothing and sat down to sing with us. We then asked Araci who she wanted to say the first prayer and she looked directly at Hma. Da Rosa and said I want Mabel to say the prayer. Turns out they were old class mates like 30 years ago and had maintained contact and decent friendship up until 2 years ago and Friday was the first time that they had seen each other since that day. Small miracle, right? It gets better.

The interview took a long time but she passed and we were able to have a great endure to the end lesson and filled out the baptismal record. It's always a lot of fun to be able to get together with other missionaries and talk. Plus I love being able to laugh and joke in Spanish as well as in English. Anyways, the interview took up most of the day on Friday and then that night when we got home I was on the phone non-stop until 1030, getting everything set up for the baptism on Saturday. We'd had a lot of people cancel on us last minute and we needed to get back ups into place so that we could do the baptism, in spite of minor hold ups.

Saturday started calm enough, and then we started to fill the font at 2. Everything was great and we hung around for an hour filling out paperwork to make sure that nothing went wrong then we left to go to another charla (lesson). When we got back, the water in the font was brown and it was 5 and the baptism started at 730. Not cool man. We turned the pump on to take the water out and then grabbed buckets and started bailing the water to exterior drains to get the water out faster, cleaning as we went. We got the font drained and cleaned by 530 (sweating like pigs  by the end of it) and turned the water back on, full blast.

It filled for about 10 minutes and then the water stopped....so we went out to check the tanks and see if there was a problem. No problem really. Just empty. At that point, we went back to the font and the water would fitfully squirt out in a pathetic dribble as the smallest amounts of water filled the tank, giving enough pressure to reach the font. We had 4 inches of water and a baptism in an hour and a half. So, we got down our knees and pleaded with God that we could pull it off. We ran home, changed, ( I got my suit on and elder lamb prepped his white madness) and we ran back to the church. 6 inches of water and a baptism in 40 minutes. The hermanas showed up right about then, after not having believed me about our situation. They believed me when they saw the font.
Elder Lamb and I grabbed buckets and headed to the nearest members house. We explained the situation and they said sure elders, help yourselves to water. So, we did. We made three trips, with three buckets each time. We now had probably a foot of water. Boss. We gonna do a baptism. And we did. Elder Lamb knelt in the font and araci sat with her legs straight out. Right then, I knew we'd done our part. I knew it. When they were all in the bathroom changing, I had a moment to myself in the hall and I was just....full. So very very full. I knew in my heart and soul that I'm doing my part. I cannot possibly explain what I felt in that moment, nor the celestial communication that reached my being. But I know that God has my back. I know that He will always, always prepare the way for His servants.

18 ¶And the children of Israel arose, and went up to athe house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And theLORD said, Judah shall go up first.
 19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, andaencamped against Gibeah.
 20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.
 21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
 22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
 23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORDuntil even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)
 24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.
-Judges 20:18-24

Some times, the hardest thing to do in this life is go out on the second day. The second day isn't always the day that makes it worth either. Israel didn't prevail until the third day. But it takes a man of courage to fall on his face weeping before the Face of God and plead with the Creator, asking only His will and then follow that will without doubting until the sunrise of the third day.

I've reached the third day and the time in the field stays with me but a short while longer. Time to slake the blades.


Elder Simpson

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Feb 18th 2013

Hi All,
The battle marches on and the soldiers rage upon their foes. Elder Lamb is proving to be a powerful messenger and witness of the restored truth of the gospel and a great ally. We've made huge steps since he got here.

I'm doing very well today. How are you? This week was actually a decent one, so I have no complaints. I did see Elder Rosette on Tuesday!! I was super stoked to see him and he and I laughed and talked and hugged a lot. It's really good to have him here in the zone right now and I know that he's super stoked to finally be out of Cardona.  Ironically, Cardona and Tranqueras are my 2 favorite areas of the mission. Go figure.

Cecilia....has disappeared. We had members promise to go talk to her and help out and none of them did which was just frustrating. Then we called once and I'm almost positive she was in an anti-mormon church. That really just made me sad more than anything and I honestly hurt for her. I just want her to be happy and I don't know why so many people want to attack other churches. That doesn't make any sense to me at all.

Anyways, we'll do what we can for her this week but I'm not sure how much we can do at this point. It really all comes down to her, the members and her grandma....

The most outrageous thing that happened was the fact that a water main a block from our house broke Saturday evening. We saw the water coming out of the ground as we went home and found out that we had nearly 0 water pressure. So...we rag bathed ourselves that night, out of the bathroom sink. Then Sunday morning, I filled up like 10 liters of water and we discovered that if you put the shower head (it was attached to a hose) on top of the water fixture, you got a decent amount of pressure, enough to take a crouching shower. That was.....eventful. And then we had water again during Sunday afternoon but it was black! I was super disgusted, but elder lamb said that happened all the time in his city with water line repairs and whatnot....I've just never seen brown water come out of a water fixture and I was appalled. The water is pretty much clean now, so I'm not too worried about it, but still..... That was all pretty outrageous.

I forgot to say that I got both of the packages 2 weeks ago. All of the candy is gone and I've  nearly finished a jar of peanut butter! Elder Lamb and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the American goodness that arrived.

We found a guy named Jose this week. He was in a hit and run with a motor cycle a while ago, (has a massive scar from most the way up his stomach down to his groin where they opened him up to operate.) and is really interested in the Book of Mormon. We're trying our best to help him understand that it's not a simplified translation of the bible, but another volume of holy scripture. We'll see how we do.

Sacrament meeting was great. I really just felt the spirit a lot leaving our house and going to church and it was with me very strongly for a lot of the morning and afternoon. I spoke on Sunday about the Resurrection. Man, 1st Corinthians 15 is SUPER helpful. The nice thing is that I'd already studied in there a lot. I thought it was a very poorly done talk even though I'd prepared for it. But. That said. I feel that I have a stronger testimony of the resurrection. That makes it all worth it.



Then, we went on a team visit with the Hermanas (sisters) in the area next to us.  That was super cool and we did a four way beat down in a lesson which was just impressive. The spirit was very strong.

Well, I think that's about all the time I have to write. May the Lord guide you and protect on this your mortal sojourn. For this life is merely a shadow, a flitting occurrence that as it quickly as it began can end. "We being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers" will return once more to the celestial heights to assume our rightful places in the Eternal Kingdom of God.

Elder Andy
(Jacob 7:26)