Tranqueras Uruguay - April 24th 2012

Hi All,

As for elder Larson, we worked great together. He's a very focused missionary and he's taught me a lot about prayer this last change.  But........... I'm going to MonteVideo to be Elder Dickson companion before he leaves for home.  Elder Larson is going to stay here and train. It's colder in 'deo than up here.   Yup yup yup, I'm outta Rivera and on to the bustling city to help Elder Dickson finish his last change. I don't know a lot about him but I'll let you know what I think in about 6 days.


For the sake of time, I'll just brielfly summarize our week. This last Saturday Keila Fabiana Suarez Luz got baptized. The service was great. I was really nervous but things went really well. Her mom and younger sister who have been investigating with her came to watch. Her older sister Marcia who very recently started investigating came and her older sister Lucia who hasn't been investigating at all came too.

Sunday, was stake conference. They all went to that as well and Marcia said she really liked it.  I heard something that I really liked and so I'ma pass it on. "Hate is not the opposite of love. Pride is." For what is love, but the pushing aside of your wants and needs for that of another. What is pride, but the placing of yourself before all others. Let us be lovers, not people of pride.

Like I said, I don't have a lot of time, but know that I'm so happy and doing well.


My thought of the week. Mosiah 3.19

 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.


Chau chau,

Elder Andy

Tranqueras Uruguay - April 16th 2012

Hi All,

Weather wise, it rained all day Tuesday. The storm started at like 4 am in the morning and it was just cold enough that I could wear my trench coat without the thermal lining and only just be a little bit hot. That's tolerable. That said, I was told by a member that I looked like a secret agent and that if I was a little darker, like Will Smith from "Men in Black". I don't see it but hey! I don't mind getting told I look deadly. Same day, a fit of insanity overcame me and I sang in the streets. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!?! I've taken to singing lately, a cross between Spanish and English hymns and any snatches of songs I can remember from home. Think there is sunshine in my soul today crossed with blacken the cursed sun.

Wednesday, we had a great noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) with a couple members and Ricardo, who got baptized on Saturday. More on that later. Anyway, great lesson. We taught the word of wisdom and he said he'd stop drinking coffee. Then they all started saying how great of elders we are and that we're the best ever and this and that and the other and it was really amazing.

Seriously. It's not us. We're just out here trying our best to help the All Powerful Creator with His work. It's not us. Really it's not. Anyway, we were a 20 minute walk from home and got out of the lesson at 9:20 pm  ..............................................We ran. Hard. Our investigator thought it was funny and ran with us. We made it home at 9:29 pm. Gotta be obedient. The next day, Ricardo told us how great he thought it was that we are that worried about the rules. People are always watching.

Friday, our district leader bussed in with his companion at 7:30 in the morning. We got Ricardo and they had a baptismal interview while Elder Larson and I made pancakes and omlettes. That was a lot of fun. He passed the interview by the way.

Saturday, BAPTISM. 'Nuff said. K maybe I'll explain some more. It was great. We had 4 investigators show up and Elder Larson and I sang "I love to look for rainbows". The branch president baptized him which is wonderful. That afternoon, we went and picked up lunch from a member and got to the branch house at 1 pm and started filling the font. We were in and out of the building for the rest of the day, teaching lessons and cleaning. The font has a few small leaks. That was exciting to find out. Anyway, everything went well.

We had 25 people show up and Ricardo was very very happy with the way things turned out. So was I.  Afterward, we emptied the font with 2 buckets. Bout a half hour of solid bailing. Cleaned the floor, set up the chairs and home by 9:15.

 Sunday, we had lunch with an investigating family, a first for me and my companion. Their 14 year old daughter is getting baptized this saturday. Their 12 year old is unsure. The mom has to get married. After weeks of work, the husband has said yea what the heck let's do it. Now they just have to get birth certificates for their 7 kids and they'll get married sometime soon. The dad is starting to like us and their 16  year old who barely comes out when we're over, asked to listen to us today. Wish us luck.

Today we went to a sisters house and cleaned her  yard for about an hour and a half. Afterward, we ate with her. Then we went to the branch building, swept the floors, pulled the font back out and patched it. Now I'm here, writing you.

I recently finished the Book of Mormon, this morning to be precise, again. I'm so thankful for this book in my life. I get to teach from it everyday and there is so much to be learned from it. I tried that Mormon guy on his promise yesterday and the Lord told me I already know it's true. It's true. I already know that it's true but it's okay to ask for a reassurance every single day. That way, we're working out our spiritual muscles each day. I've been really grumpy in the mornings lately and I don't know why. I talked to the Lord about it and he said that I had to serve my companion and choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice. Even in the gospel we face rough days, even when everything is going alright. You have to take an active part in how you feel.

2 Corinthians 4:5-9
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

We preach Jesus Christ not the gospel of mankind! We are persecuted but never forsaken! Rise and fight. Bare your teeth and rain the brutal fury of salvation upon their heads. With the blade in our hands we are quick and deadly, light shining from every orafice. The fierce warriors called upon by our Savior to crush the foe beneath our heel. On my dear friends, to triumph, bathed in the blood of our enemy. On, to salvation and the eternities, striking on the left and right, clearing the path for those that follow. We are troubled on every side, but we the vessels of light lead the way. Falter not, the way is steep now. Look high, to the peak! There, in His majesty, he stands with arms out stretched. Cleave your foe with each blow. Perplexed, but not in despair! Rise up and fight! To arms for the cause of Christ!

Chau chau!

Elder Andy

Tranqueras Uruguay - April 9th 2012

Hi All,

I''m doing well. I actually cannot believe how well things are going. Looks like your hopes and dreams have been fulfilled ;D Things with our investigators are.......................................I'll tell you about that in a sec.

I just finished watching priesthood session and earlier today we set up the baptismal font in the capilla (Chapel). Yes. That does mean we are having a baptism. It's this saturday. More on that to follow.

My week, very quickly. Yesterday, 5 investigators in church and a family that has been inactive my entire time here came. Looks like they squared their grudges away. I hope so. Saturday we went to that inactive families house and met up with representatives with the stake and our branch. Ricardo also came with us. That said, at 8:00 am we started building another room onto their house for them. By 3:00 pm it was done. Construction in South America is a new thing by itself not to mention the fact that I was taking instructions in very rapid portunol. Turns out I don't know normal Spanish. Just gospel Spanish as of right now...I didn't lose any fingers and I'm all  here so looks like it went well.

Thursday, the service that we did saturday was originally planned to happen. Well it started pouring at 4 am in the morning. And there was a brutal lightning and thunder storm from then until 430 am. Fun to watch from my bed.  It poured until about 7 am. We left at 7:30 for the service and got to their house at 8:20 am. Wellllll they canceled it. So we turned around and  walked back home. There was a road bike race that started in the center of town which was fun to see as we made our way home.

Easter was pretty tranquilo but I've been asked more than once this last week if we can eat beef on friday. I told them to go ahead and chow down.


Sunday here was actually  not fast sunday for us. Looks like Pascua (Easter) is still big enough to hold off fast sunday. THAT'S a depressing thought. Time to go root out more tradition, falsehoods and superstition I guess...Not tooooo much of that down here but I've encountered more than a couple instances. Mostly in the older members. Comes from their catholic roots.



Monday, we had tacos in a bag. That was a lot of fun actually. Basically it's taco stuff and you dump it in a bag of Doritos and eat it all. It was actually really really good. Meal idea i think. Okay, on to investigators.

Silvana still really needs to get marreid. We had a charla (lesson) with her husband yesterday but he still isn't jiving with it. Rather frustrating. We may just end up baptizing the 2 daughters and helping the mom to stay active even though she's not baptized. We'll see what happens. They went to conference and really enjoyed it and they also came to chruch this last week. We praying for miracles with them. Ricardo is a stud. He has absolute desires to follow Jesus Christ. He also came to church this last week and is ready to get baptized. He's goin under this Saturday! I'm so stoked. He very much wants to change his life and be the best person that he can be. I'll tell you more about all this next week hey? Other than that, we've got some others in the works. We'll see how they develop in the weeks to come.
 
And my Spanish is........yea. It works. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't. I still really struggle with Portuguese. Portuñol comes sometimes. I'm not too worried about it. I can survive on what I have and it gets better all the time. I'd say people understand me about 80 percent of the time. I'm okay with that.

Elder Andy

Tranqueras Uruguay - April 2nd 2012

Hi All,

How quick things change.  It's been COOOOLD here in the mornings and at night. I need to find a proselyting jacket or something because it's still too warm for my trench coat and my sweater has no sleeves...That said the days are still pretty warm it's just freezing in the mornings!

General Conference. We came to Riviera on Saturday to watch.  What an experience with the theory of relativity it was! Before the mission the rest hymn used to be the sign that I only had to hold on a little longer. Saturday and Sunday I felt like they had just stopped singing when the rest hymn started up again.  At home, it was like 2 weeks crammed into 2 hours each time. On the mission I swear each session was only 20 minutes long. I feel cheated... Not to mention the ulcer I recently acquired on Sunday. We bused home Saturday night from Rivera so that we could make sure 4 of our investigators made it on the branch bus for the Sunday sessions. Yes, we did watch both sessions on Saturday but we booked it home Saturday night so we missed priesthood session Sunday morning because our branch bus left at 12 and the elders in rivera watched priesthood Sunday morning. Anyway, so we ran around like madmen making sure our investigators made it on the bus which they did. Then we got to the conference and it was all great. Between sessions our branch went to go eat the lunch they brought in the plaza. Well there are 2 plazas in Rivera and turns out the branch decided that they would split. One of our investigators went to one, 3 to another. We went and taught a lesson with the three and then looked for the other. We met them en route and they said they didn't know where he was. So we called him and asked him to meet us at the obelisk. And we waited. And waited. And called him 15 minutes later asking where he was and he said he was coming. And 5 minutes before the second session started we got a text saying that our investigator was back at the church....nice. I wasn't worried at all. I just need to go talk to the doctor about the stress induced gaping hole that's in my stomach lining. (I'm kidding about the ulcer by the way. )

Our investigators really liked the sessions and I have great hope for them. One of them has to get married and El Juez is closed for all of holy week so we might have to wait til the 21st to baptize them. Her daughter will probably wait for her. The last investigator really wants to get baptized and he has fecha (date) for the 14th and we found him on Wednesday, had a second lesson with him Thursday morning and he made it to conference. We'll see what happens with ricardo.

 Conference itself was spectacular. I loved President Eyrings talk and Elder Christofferson's was amazing as well. Not to mention Elder Cooks! Right on man, right on. I'm so stoked for the May ensign! It's gonna be great to read all of it again.

Love
Elder Andy

Tranqueras Uruguay - March 26 2012

Hi All,

Things are going well. It's a bit rainy but it really stopped raining this morning at about 9 am. I woke up at 6:25 am and could hear the rain on the roof, not the worst ever though. I have no idea when it started because I've gotten pretty good at sleeping through noise. I sleep on buses all the time now, and fall asleep to the sounds of dogs howling and motos screaming past. You get used to it.

Silvana Camila and Keila are doing fine. They sent us a text at 7:00 am in the morning on Sunday saying that they couldn't come, probably because it was a little brisk. Okay it was cold but still. We passed by and they came out ready to go which was an absolute miracle. So we had 3 in church again and they went to the full three hours this time. They branch was really nice because we've been really working to get some members involved with this family so everyone was talking to them. Hopefully we can get them to General Conference. The branch takes a bus that the church pays for so really we just need someone to go get them and they'll be there for both sessions of conference on Sunday. As for other lessons, we have two other very promising investigators named Paloma and Yaneli. Yes, that does say paloma. I just think it's easy to remember but she doesn't seem to fond of it. Means dove. Nice girl really. Yaneli is about 25 and has three kids and her oldest daughter Belen, 10, is a recent convert. Hopefully we can get her and Silvana married to the guys they're living with.

...Also, Yaneli fed us Molito. Or.....better known as armadillo. It was interesting......nuff said.

Thursday we had interviews with president at the stake center in Rivera. He's really excited for us and has a lot of confidience in this area. It's really starting to turn around so I hope we can see some success soon. I love meeting with president. I can feel his love as soon as I see him and I know he's called of god to guide and direct us as the missionaries in the Lords work.

Friday, I had my best door contact ever. I understood everything the lady said, made a nice connection with her and we left her happier than when we'd knocked. I was rather pleased. On Saturday we were at a members house and they brought out 2 glasses of coke. They went back inside to grab summat and elder Larson says, elder Simpson I hate coke. So....I pounded mine and then swapped him glasses just as the member came back out. I then had the problem of finishing off what looked like my untouched glass of coke. Bottoms up hey?

We went to a widows house and weeded her garden for about an hour and a half which was fun. I realized I miss growing type things. I really miss good grass that actually looks like a lawn not crab grass that gets cut with a weed wacker. It's been pleasent this last week weather wise. Not too bloody hot during the days and brisk at night and in the mornings. Looks like winter is coming. Then I can tell you which I hate worse. Sweating to death or freezing to death. In relation to the month of march, I think I could probably tell you that it was hot....and rained a couple times....that's about all I can remember.

Elder Andy

Tranqueras Uruguay - March 19th 2012

Elder Larson is from Bullhead City, Arizona. We are doing great together, partially owing to the fact that we were in the same classroom together 9 hours a day for 9 weeks in the MTC. We've been doing a lot of teaching, a lot of cleaning, a lot of walking and a lot of sleeping.  I let you know about the Hand of God in my life in a little bit.

Elder Larson and I are rockin the St patties ties.

I'll refrain from telling you anything too gross but I'm almost positive I've grown alien life forms in some dishes in this house....and the missionaries there have a CAR?!? What on earth is that?? I only see motos and cheap excuses for cars most times down here although I did see a very nice BMW the other day. It sent me into cardiac arrest. We don't even have bikes, which would be very very nice in this area... Oh well. They probably couldn't handle it down here. They send the hardend criminals to south america and africa. We need to be broken and shattered so that we can become good people again. But they'll never break me. Never.

Things are never too difficult with the Lord on our side. Or rather with us on the Lords side. I love the work and I love every single person I see. I knelt in prayer the other day and i was praying about the area. I remembered that quote you sent about the Lord not tolerating us but rather loving us unconditionally. I'm not here to tolerate the people of Uruguay nor these two years. Rather I'm here to love every one and use my time as the Savior would.

Changes were really hard.  I really love Elder V like a brother. I miss him a ton and i struggled the first few days of this last week. That said, through prayer and turning to the scriptures, I'm doing much better now. I know that this is the Lord's will for me and even though I'll probably never have a companion like him again, I'm doing what I need to be doing. I can help each of my companions and learn from each of them. I just have to keep my eyes open, as well as my heart.

We sent Elder V off at 4 in the morning, not my favorite thing in the world. Elder Larson came in at 10 from artigas and he and i went to the terminal and talked about the area for a couple hours til the bus came. After that it was pretty routine. Friday we  had dinner with a member and got out at 9:20 pm. It was a 15 minute walk home. SO we ran. and got chased by dogs. But out ran them. and made it home at 9:29 pm. I don't think we'll be doing that again. I don't know why but the dogs here really don't like Elder Larson because we never had problems with dogs before....I hope they don't eat him....

The branch had about 18 members this last sunday, yesterday, and we had 3 investigators come to church. That's the first time I've ever had that in my mission. I'm a little bit excited about this. The spanish is good. He speaks really well and we do our studies in spanish and speak a fair amount of it in the streets so hopefully I'll see a deal of improvement soon.

Alright, so like I said, we had three in church on sunday! It's a mom named Silvana and her daughters Camila and Keila. I was super excited that they came. We went to go look for them at about 10:30 and the mom wasn't home so we waited for a couple minutes and she came home and said she wanted to come! So we all went to church. Well on the way there, we saw a dead cat...that was rotting...and half eaten... and then Camila's front tire on her bike blew out. I'm really glad they're not too superstitious. We missed the sacrament because we showed up 10 minutes late and it was the loudest roudiest sacrament meeting I've ever sat through. Afterward, Silvana said she really liked it and that she could feel something very powerful during it. Hopefully we can get them to the full block next time. They have fecha for abril 7. I'm praying for a miracle...

Todays metal scripture, Luke 24:5, Why seek ye the living among the dead? (Followed by screaming guitar solo and ridiculously fast drumming.)

I see more than I like to of people refusing to let the Savior in. As representatives of Jesus Christ we knock. They turn us away and instead of being mad or irrate, I feel terrible that this might have been their shot at eternal salvation and they're too busy watchin tv to let the Lord into their lives. I too am thankful for the knowledge of the eternities that i have. Jesus Christ is the guiding star for us the wayward travelers on this bleak and restless ocean. If we neglect the guiding light in our life we too may follow the fate of the sailors in the peom by Robert Louis Stevenson. "With a sudden plunge on the sullen swell, three fathoms deep on the road to hell." That sudden plunge may come at any moment but if we are following the guiding star in our life, the deck will be illuminated and we will be able to cling to the iron rod and life giving salvation.

Until Next week
Elder Andrew

Tranqueras Uruguay - March 12th 2012

So right off the bat, I'll fill you in on my changes. Elder V is heading out to Salto to be with Elder Minter, who is one change below me. I knew him in the MTC. He's good peoples. I'm staying here in Tranqueras and Elder Larson from my MTC group is coming to join me. We're going to be proselyting companions which means that neither one of is senior companion nor junior companion.

Weather wise, it's been HOT this last week. The locals say it's not natural for it to stay hot this long. This week has been a rough one with the heat and humidity. A good week though. It hasn't rained since I last emailed but it looks like it's going to try and rain again today. The coolest thing i saw this week.... A sheep answered a door we answered. We figured the person was a bit sheepish and decided to transfigure before answering the door. My favorite thing about my companion is that he is my best friend, because we are both focused on this work, we receive a great love for one another.

This is my week. Monday this last week, The barber used a straight razor to shave the edges of my hair. So cool! I'm going to learn how to shave with a straight razor when I get home. Tuesday I went on divisions with the companion of our district leader, Elder Peterson. Elder Shaw went with elder V back to our area. Elder Peterson has been out for the same time as elder V but his Spanish isn't quite as good.

Elder Peterson and I visited a lot of people while I was there. That said, I did a fair amount of the teaching. He didn't really seem to take the lead in some of the lessons and so i just decided to even though I didn't know the people or the area. He's a really good missionary and I really enjoyed my time with him. I spent tuesday afternoon in his area, all of Wednesday as well and we got up at 5:30 pm to catch the 6:30 pm bus home so he could grab his companion and head back.

While I was there, we got caught in this freak rain storm. Funny thing is, we had just knocked a door with a overhang above the porch. The lady completely shut us down and we turned around and it started to pour. Soooooo we did what any good missionary would do. We camped out on her porch for the next 40 minutes because we didn't have umbrellas and we didn't have a fix lesson until 50 minutes later. So, we camped out and made it to the next lesson on time, and dry.

While we were there this little chubby kid was running and strutting around trying to impress this girl who had to be 11. He comes up shirtless, jumps across the 2 foot ditch in front of us, lands like spider man and asks if we're from the states. We tell him yes and he says that his older brother studies english. "I don't study though. I go to the gym. That's why my arms are so huge. Are you guys Jesus men? I know God is a fountain of power. Wanna know how? I read the Bible." He did stuff like this for the entire time we were there. I couldn't stop laughing for the next hour. Check it out. I work out. BAHAHAHA

Wednesday we climbed up this hill that overlooks all of rivera. Half of it is in brazil and there is a marker at the top.  Thursday was my 6 MONTH MARK!!! I cannot believe I've already been gone that long. I feel like I just left for the MTC... To celebrate, I ate the snickers bar and opened my peanut butter. For lunch we had chicken fried steaks, I made french fries and we drank pepsi. It was wonderful. I burned a tie.

That night we went out to go have a lesson. We got there and their front door was open and the house was empty. Guess they just didn't like the missionaries. :) We have no idea where they moved to. Hopefully some other missionaries can find them some day.

Sunday, Elder V's fan cord exploded. I borrowed some electrical tape from a member and put it back together because the last tape had just gotten old and the cords touched and shorted. That was fun. I used real electrical tape this time instead of plumbing tape which is what was used last time. Some peoples kids....

After church we took the sacrament around to a widow who cannot make the walk to church. She says we can bring it if we like but she doesn't want to distract from the work of the Lord. Silly lady. I don't think she recognizes that she's part of the flock that we tend. :) Well... That's about all for what happened this week. I hope that's a better description of what my life is like. We walk a ton. A ton a ton a ton.

Ya know...We're starting to have a lot of people ask us if the world is really going to end. We tell them that not even the angels know. Yet, with a lot of the members out here struggling, Elder Velazquez helped me realize something. He said, "Our world ends when we break our covenants with God." The gravity of that sentence is staggering. I would that no man would ever be a covenant breaker but rather that we all be covenant keepers. I'm sure there is some general conference talk or other that speaks of this. I would only say, let us not end the world early. Let us live worthy to the end.

Elder Andrew