Tacuarembó Uruguay - Jan 28th 2013

Hi All,

Thursday morning one of the 3 storms we had this week rolled in and the zone leaders came over about 15 minutes before it hit. They needed to go look for some investigators that had been kicked out of their house in their area and that had recently moved to my area. Well, Elder Gonzalez and I found the house and they didn’t answer. So we mounted the bikes to head home. In the 2 minute bike ride it went from a couple drops to high speed wind and a brutal rainstorm. We got soaked. I laughed and laughed and laughed especially when we got home and Elder Lamb saw me. It was pretty funny, Then Elder Gonzalez had to go to the bathroom and we didn’t have toilet paper…..so Elder Larson and I went out into to the storm to go get some for him from an almacen. We got home just as he was getting out of the bathroom. Turns out he didn’t need it…….Go figure. By 1 that afternoon, it was sunny and warm. Welcome to my week. 

Here comes a storm

Best news about the week, Ignacio got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was a great blessing to be able to participate in that ordnance and see him come just a little bit closer to God. It took a lot of work and coordination this week, but it turned out well and I really have no complaints. I remember feel a large sense of calm come over me when he was in the font and Elder Lamb and I had happy little grins on our faces for the next couple of hours.

 At the baptism on Saturday, Ignacio’s sister showed up and we had chance to talk with her and her mom. The mom has been an inactive member for a while now but it would seem that she’s starting to make changes in her life and wants to come back. We’re going to go teach the retention lessons to Ignacio tonight and we would rather like to find his sister in the process and start her on the steps to follow the Savior as well.

At Ignacio's baptism

Well on Sunday was the confirmation of Ignacio, of course. It was a rather great meeting in my opinión. It was great to participate the full ordinance of repentance aka, baptism. It’s been long while and the spirit was so strong when we were confirming him and that spirit stayed with me for the rest of the meeting, especially during the sacrament. I’m very thankful for the atonement in my life. Sometimes I think we truly underappreciate the magnitude of what it truly is…. 

Aside from that, our only other find was on Sunday. Right before Ward Council we hit up our last plan and found him! We’ve been looking for him for a while and there was a family reunion going on. Well, we talked with Jonathan and found out that his cousin was baptized a couple years ago and so we called her over and talked with both of them. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and invited them over to church the following Sunday (I know. It’s a week away but you can’t start too soon on inviting people to church.) We were pretty stoked about that lesson and now we’re just trying our hardest to find new investigators because we literally have no one to teach for the time being.

Jonathan is only at home on weekends, but we have a few people that are right there close so we’ll see if we can pull off some miracles, under the direction of the Almighty.

I was reading the first half of Alma 17 today. If you want to know what it feels like to leave out on a mission, read that chapter. Especially verses 1 through 18. There’s a LOT of what it feels like in there and it really jumped at me this morning during my personal study. Ironically, it’s also been something that I’ve been seeking and needing lately and I know that the Lord answered my prayers this morning. Rather nice how it worked out like that.

Elder Andy

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Jan 21th 2013

Hi All,

This week has been pretty tranquilo (tranquil). No complaints from me. It's been a little bit tough trying to get fixed lessons going and new investigators to change into progressing investigators that we can count on lessons with. For the most part a lot of the people that we've been finding let us pass by once or twice but then they either start hiding from us, ignore us or just plain reject us.  That said, we've been conversing and inviting plenty. I'm finally to the point where I can talk about a great deal of things and striking up an engaging conversation with a complete stranger is fluid and not as awkward as it has been before. We take every chance that we get to teach and to testify and you meet all kinds of people doing that, from spiritualists to demon worshipers to wizards to almost any christian religion you can imagine. One of my favorite lines is when they say, "I'm not from your church." To which we reply  "We know. That's why we're here."  But it's okay because we've been teaching Ignacio for a little while and he's going to get baptized on the 26th.

This should be a great Saturday. We're both rather excited and we've been working hard with him for the last week and a half (elder Mar and I were teaching him for the first half of December but then he didn't want to listen anymore and didn't want us to pass by for some reason. Yet, he continued going to church, even by himself at times so we stopped by the week before last and now he's going to get baptized! We're super excited.)

The weather here has been decent. Nothing too too hot but a couple of days when it's just been pleasant to be outside. This morning I wore sweats during our studies and we usually both wake up cold at about 2 or 3 in the morning and turn off our fans. So over all, the summer thus far has been GREAT! So much better than last year!!! It usually rains or at least sprinkles twice a week right now too so it's not been that humid.

Frog living by our door for a few days.  We called him Kermit

We usually go running 3 to 4 times a week for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how fast we get out of bed. Our alarm usually goes off at about 610 or 615 and from there it just depends on how quick we are out of bed. Elder lamb played rugby before this mission, so I'm pretty much sold on playing when I get home. I've always wanted to try and the talks that we've had pretty much convinced me that I want to do so

The wards here are really supportive. We've got about 90 active members right now and lunch every day. They love us to death and are always asking if they can help us. In turn we always ask the same, and we mean it. They take good care of us. There are 6 wards in this stake and 3 of those wards have 2 sets of missionaries. My ward is not one of those wards. 

Highlight of the week, Saturday night. We had a really really rough day and almost everything fell through on us and on the beckoning of the spirit, we went to a members house (her husband isn't a member and we're trying to build trust with him so that he can start investigating.) So we clapped from the gate and a young lady came out and told us that they were having a birthday party and if we could come back later it would be great.

Well, one of our goals this week has been to be more bold with our words and deeds and to fearlessly follow the Spirit so the story of an Ex-AP popped into my head and I asked if they would like 2 gringos to sing happy birthday in English to them. Well........It worked. They let us in and we were able to meet Raul their 23 year old son (it was his birthday) and also speak with the dad and sing in English and explain and present the Book of Mormon. We took about 20 minutes and left high off the spirit. It was a great experience and quite and adventure. I'm grateful for the promptings of the Holy Ghost and courage to follow them.

Anyways, I've been reading the conference talks this week because the English conference issue ensign came finally. It's like getting conference for the first time. I really liked Pres. Uchtdorfs Saturday morning talk.

Other than that we've really been looking for people to start investigating in any way possible. Knocking doors, speaking in the streets, finding people in members homes and asking for references. We're giving it our all and we're killing ourselves everyday. We see miracles each day I know we do and as we keep up this pace, the Lord will surely bless us. I'm just trying to put my all into this labor. The Lord called me to do so and I just want to place every fiber of who I am into this work. Elder Lamb and I consistently look for things that we can do to become better disciples and followers of Christ and we laugh and joke and love all day long.

We get along so so well and it's miraculous how much he's already progressed.  Have a stupendous week, for I expect you to have nothing less than that kind of week. After all, this life is what you make of it.

 Elder Simpson

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Jan 14th 2013

Hi all,

Elder Lamb

I’m doing great and so is Elder Lamb. We bicker a lot like brothers just because it’s funny to poke fun at Canada and at the US so we get along really well. He’s tired a lot and falls asleep in lessons sometimes too which makes for interesting visits sometimes ;D He’s told me various times now that he’s so tired and that he’s always tired and I chuckled and said, me too. He’s not a wimp by any means so we work hard and we are always doing it the best that we can, setting goals, looking for what we did well and what to improve and above all, striving to follow the will of the Lord.  He’s a really good elder and wants to be able to speak Spanish yesterday. He’s progressing so rapidly with his Spanish that I know that the Lord is truly helping him. He has great desires to do good and is very humble. He’s also not afraid to ask me for help which is somewhat odd at times because I’m the Sr. Companion that’s supposed to know everything, how to do everything, how to get every where and when and were we need to be all the time. I just….I remember relying so much on Elder Johnson and Elder Velazquez at the beginning of my mission and now I’m the one who  is doing the leading and the guiding.

Elder Simpson and Elder Lamb

We had a stupendous week here in the guay and things are pluggin along nicely. The highs were the great lessons that we had for the first half of the week and the lows were the lack of lessons for the last half and nearly 0 investigators in church but we keep marching!  We saw so many miracle finds at the last of the week before and the beginning of this last week. I was awestruck for like 3 days at all that the Lord was doing through us and then we had a hard last half  of the week. I know that bit of a roller coaster up and down kind of rattled elder lamb and he was a little down for a couple of hours on one or two days, but he’ll soon get adapted. 

As for the weather, it’s been chilly here at night which is rather interesting. As of right now this summer has been much less intense than last year for this part of January so I really can’t complain about that. Mild heat, but nothing like the blast oven winds I felt last year. I may just be able to make it through this summer just fine and dandy. It’s looking like it’s going to rain with in the next day or so (by now I can tell by cloud formations and how the air feels when it’s gonna rain, pretty neat huh?) as such, it should get a little cooler and we’ve been having a constant breeze for 3 days which has just been pleasant. Even the heat we have been getting cools off nicely at night and even gets a little crisp in the morning. When we go running. THAT’S RIGHT! Once more I am a  street demon beatin the pavement with my kid in the early mornings and it is GOOD. I LOVE running first thing in the morning. We’ve seen some nice sun rises as we get out to run and some really deep reds and purples in the heavens. I’ve always enjoyed the stars and space and the sky….maybe it helps me feel closer to God.

I saw the Hand of God in my life in various ways this week, but primarily with the people that we were able to find and especially in the progress of elder Lamb. We weren’t able to find Marcelo again except in passing twice but we’re going to try our hardest this week and see if we can help him become a solid investigator.

In front of the Temple in Uruguay

It’s the best when I have a great study because I receive so many insights and revelations in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, I fall asleep like 3 out of 5 times in my studies because I’m so tired all the time. I’ve taken to doing a great deal of my studies standing up just so I can comprehend what I’m Reading. But sometimes, there are days when I am wide awake and today was one of those days. I have come to love the bible quite dearly these past few months and this last week I studied out of 1 John 4 (see scripture below) and then I’m Reading the bible on my own time. Today I read the testimony and beginning of the trial of Paul in acts 22 and 23. He was a pretty boss follower of Christ. I also read out of Alma 10. V 5 is evidence of how often God is willing to spare us and  how much His hand guides us. V 6 talks about how He will call us many times and v 7 literally spells out how it will always be for the blessing of our lives and the lives of those we love. I really like that part because I started my study asking God to help me find something to strengthen my testimony of His love. He showed me what I needed for the day. I love the Lord so much and just want to be like Him.

Here is that scripture from 1 John 4.

1 John 4.7-11
 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might alive through him.
 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Love
Elder Andy

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Jan 7th 2013

Hey All,

My new companion is Elder Lamb. Unfortunately,  He is from Kamloops Canada, about three hours outside of Vancouver. He's 6 feet tall with blond hair and blue eyes so we totally look like CIA agents now. It's pretty cool. We get along really really well. We have a lot of fun together and I think we're working the hardest that I've worked in my mission. I'm not even kidding on that one. Already,we're seeing miracles and I'm so thankful for the help of the Lord thus far in my mission. I know that I will continue to see His hand as I continue to apply the entirety of my heart to this work.

Elder Lamb is super super excited to be in the field and we've had a great start together. He went to the MTC in Argentina. It's a little interesting being the companion that  knows EVERYTHING in the companionship and that has to do EVERYTHING. It's not a bad thing and he helps a ton and we're practicing a lot on giving him time to teach and a lot of times I've just let him start the lessons. He's Spanish is probably about the same as mine was at the beginning so sometimes he understands a lot and has decent Spanish and other times he's totally lost and cannot put anything he wants to say in words but I swear to you he's already progressed a ton! 

The weather has actually been fairly nice. It was a little bit warm but it's really just been nice temps for the last 4 days. It's been over cast for the last 2 days, so no complaints from me. Our new phone should be arriving tomorrow in the bolsa (bag) at district meeting.

As for emulating the Savior, it's a daily struggle. Sometimes, I'm rather childish and some days I'm too serious and so I'm just trying to find the balance that the Lord used as He taught others. Severity, tempered by love. Intensity, mixed with humility. Power, manifested in a gentle touch. It's a bit of a challenging teaching style to copy, but that's why I'm here.

Funny story about these pillow cases.  Elder Childers and I opened presents together Christmas day. So he pulled his out and was like wow cool and then I pulled mine out and we just started laughing and laughing. Too good to be true.



We had a pretty interesting experience yesterday. We've been teaching a 19 year old named Enzo and he's the son of a member who has recently been reactivated. He's been really slow in his progress, but he's making changes and I know that the Lord is helping him. Our latest hurdle, getting him to church. Well, yesterday we went over to his house before church twice to look for him. No answer. Then we looked again during priesthood. No answer. So then no one showed up to the gospel principles class that I was supposed to sub. So we called his mom. She answered the phone. Turns out she had strep. Regardless we went over and she let us in and we marched on over and proceeded to wake Enzo up. Boy does he sleep DEEP. I talked to him for like 10 minutes straight trying to convince him to get out of bed. Then we gave a blessing to his mom and talked to him for 5 minutes more.....and he didn't get up. We left the house and I knew that we should have persisted, but I didn't know why.

So last night, I asked in prayer why getting them to church was so important. I know it is and I knew it is, but I couldn't exactly tell you why. Well, God answered me. I realized that the reason is that it makes so much of a difference in our lives! I look at my life when I wasn't going to church and when I was and there is a world of a difference. I was so unproductive before and lazy and now it's 100% different. I know the church is true.

President is really stressing perfect obedience in trainers and I know that I should be even more strictly obedient if I want to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost at all times in this His work.  I know it's not that much, but I want to help Elder Lamb have a lot better start of a mission than I did. We get up and run at 6:15 some days and we come home so tired every day. We've been teaching and finding new investigators already and we're both so excited and thankful for the miracles that the Lord has given us.

Have a great week.

Elder Andy

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Jan 2nd 2013

Hi All,

I know it's been a while but Elder Ender is back online. So let's get ready to roll out! (Starcraft reference) Two weeks without writing was okay with the Christmas call, but by this last Sunday I was gettin itchy for some electronic lettery goodness. As such, I'm here bright and early at 11 on a beautiful p'day morn. After passing through a rather frigid night....rather cold really. A bit nippy even. Enough to make this pant wearing nanny shiver! Anyways, it poured New Years Eve (we got SOAKED) but it was okay because we couldn't help but laugh at the utter ridiculousness of the situation and keep going and doing our visits. Then the power went out at 7:30 pm and we had some cool candle light visits. Lastly, we were with a huge family for the evening and taught them about new years resolutions! That was all pretty fun. A good way to spend the last night of my only full year as a single adult missionary in Uruguay.

Artigas statue, with me posing like him

The phone was doing okay til this week. It doesn't charge now so we've been biking over to the closest set of elders every other morning to change the phone battery with them and they just charge the one that's almost out and we get the good one. Elder Mar bought a new cellphone for the mission and now we're just waiting for it to get here. I might be able to pick it up tomorrow when I'm in 'deo...we'll see.

Dead Iguana we found by the road... at least we hope its dead.

Speaking of being in Montevideo. I’m training for the next 2 changes. I go to 'deo for trainers capacitacion (training) with president tomorrow and the other trainers, and I find out who my comp is. Here’s fingers crossed for a gringito!   So that also means  I'm not district leader anymore.  President wants the District leaders to focus on their thing and the Trainers on training.  The other district leader here is training too and now he's not a DL anymore either. So I didn't do anything wrong.  :D  I’m rather excited to be able to train. I dunno why, but I’ve been wanting to train for 2 changes now so I guess it’s finally time. I’m really excited to see what I’ll be learning.

Merry Christmas from our District

So....Christmas day was really really hard for me. Sadly, it has nothing to do with you guys. Sorry.  I do miss you all, but I'm used to that. Anyways, like I told you all, Elder Childers and I had a good long talk in the morning about how to become a more Chirstlike leader. Well....that night....the Zone Leaders called me to inform me simply that the sister missionaries in my district were going to be doing divisions the next day...which is fine....it's just that they told them they were too scared to call and talk to me. I then conferred with Elder Mar and he said that they'd made similar comments to him....and it just hit me full in the face. I know that I'm gritty in your face full on scottish rage sometimes.....but I just do that to get them amped. I never once reprimanded my district....so I called Elder Larson...Good ol Elder Larson. And had a nice cry over the phone as we talked about it. As such, I've been rather....pensive this last week. My comp has been worried that I'm trunky but I've decided that it's time for another drastic overhaul of my character. The epicness of metal that I engrained into my system....doesn't translate. And Christ never taught in such a manner. (Jesus the Christ is a rather illuminating read for any of you are curious as to what I refer.) Now, I don't know if the sisters really are or were scared of me. That's not what's important. What's important is if I'm emulating the manner of the Master. So that's been on my mind almost day and night for the last week.

I wrote a list of my goals for 2013 with the family last night in a family home evening and I left the paper in my english scriptures in the house. That doesn't do me a lot of good now does it??
Here goes:
1.  Things to do in 2013? To be continued.
2.  Favorite color? Black. (Trivium Reference)
3. Favorite food? AMERICAN FOOD!! Take me home to the paradise city where the food is clean and not too gritty.
4.  Favorite movie? On the Lord's Errand or Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration
5.  Favorite teachers? Christ, Alma, The Holy Ghost, Jacob, Enos, Dad, Mom, Jess, Grami, Moroni, Joseph Smith, The Bible.
6. Things I remember about 2012? I remember special changes to Tranqueras with Elder Velazquez. I remember a feeling of peace in the temple before my change with Elder Salgado. I remember my only 3 baptisms in the mission thus far. I remember almost starving sometimes in Colonia. I remember coming to know just a little bit more of Christ. I remember learning how to study the scriptures. I remember being willing to change who I am to who the Lord wants me to be.


Until next week,
Elder Ender 

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Dec 17th 2012

Hi All,

In honesty, it's just been a tough week for me. I am not dis-animated in any way, I've just been struggling a lot lately with who I am as a missionary. But that's okay. It's that kind of inner reflection that just pushes us to greater heights. It's what makes it so that we aren't pleased with being mediocre, but rather seeking excellence. Anyways, I'm in one piece, I'm still fighting tooth and nail and for the vast majority of the time, I've had a smile on my face.

Funny story of the week....Monday night we had a BRUTAL storm come screaming in at about 9 pm and our power went out at 9:30. I have my flash light and the cell phone has a little flash light so my comp was using that.
WELLLLLLL....he went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and I was finishing something and I hear clunk clunk.
 E'Mar: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
E'Simpson: Que paso???  (What happened?)
E'Mar: Venga rapido!!  (Come quick)
I get to the bathroom...no light....uh-oh. CELLPHONE IN THE TOILET YEA SON!
E'Simpson:..... agarre lo elder. Ahora. Tenemos que desarmarlo y ponerlo en una bolsa de arroz. Ademas....es su pichi y yo no quiero meter mi mano ahi. Que asco.   (Oh elder.  We need to get it and put it in a back of rice.  More over, its your pee, so I don't want to put my hand it there.  That sucks)
Yea so we put it in a bag of rice and by Tuesday night it was fine...just slightly traumatized. The screen is wack and it likes to turn off by itself now and then, but it still works so it's all good. I just laughed the whole time. My comp was pretty stressed but I just couldn't stop laughing. . 

Zone Conference was a blast. It was really good to see the elders from Rivera. My MTC comp Elder Tyree is in Tranqueras finishing up the training of his jr companion. It was really good to see them both and talk about the area. It's a good area. Tranqueras and Cardona have been my favorite areas so far. It's interesting because you'd think I'd healthy wards but I prefer hellish doubt-filled firey pits. Go figure.  The zone conference was our meeting before Christmas and I loved the Christmas letters. I loved Jessica's peanut themed card and Jakes tribute to childhood. They both made me very trunky, but I love them anyways. The snow monster consuming Calvin is currently pinned to the wall in front of my desk. Win. 

The investigator pool is shallow, but we're still digging. And the hillssssssss are getting easier. Which means my legs are getting bigger. I hope by the end of my time here that they still fit into my pants.  I wish it were just a little bit cooler here. To put it this way, I'm tired of sweating. But it's alright. I know that it will only get hotter and that time is absolutely flying here. I can't believe that I've already been here for a month. 2 more weeks and the change is over. That's just nuts.

Teaching by the Spirit is the only way to teach. It's something that we stress a lot out here. You know and recognize the voice of the Spirit, all you have to do is open your mouth when it comes to your mind. That part is a little difficult at first and usually one has to humble themselves to do it, but it always goes so much better when we speak by the Spirit, sharing the things of our hearts. It can be the difference between an okay lesson and a sacred grove experience.

I'd like to share quote from our bishop, something that he shared about 2 weeks ago in sacrament meeting. "The greatest things that happen in this life are the spiritual things. They are gifts from God."

I agree. I couldn't agree more. The greatest things that happen in this life are the ones where we feel the presence of our home around us, remembering what it feels like to be in the presence of our heavenly parents. The birth of a child, often lauded to be one of the most amazing things on this world. is really the arrival of another of God's precious spirit children, arriving for this mortal sojurn. Of course one is going to feel the spirit at that point, I'm sure there are big beefy angels with gnarly spiritual swords that protect the ethereal conduit that conducts from heaven to a small human body. Anyways, thought that illustrated the point nicely.

I will honestly submit that I think I'm the most dedicated now to the work of the Lord that I ever have been. Regardless, I'm still striving to feel the spirit in greater and greater measures and I struggle at times. This is the work of the Lord. It just has to be. I've received answered to prayers so fast that it's utterly stunning. Take yesterday for example....We got of ward council where some remarks were made about the fact that we weren't baptizing. Those words cut me to the soul. As we were walking to our next appointment, at first I was mad at the inconsiderate remark. Then, the anger turned to grief at the fact that they're right. But then....I just started to look inside....and question....and ask....and wonder....and doubt....(Yes, I doubted, even Frodo Baggins doubted. The difference between Frodo and Gollum is that Frodo made it through the trial (with the very important help of Samwise Gamgee)) and within an hour we were teaching the Restoration, centered on the happiness of families and God quelled the fear of my soul. I know I'm doing what's right. The spirit filled my heart  in that lesson and I know it's true. All of it. I'm not wasting my time, but learning at the feet of God. I love being a missionary. And so at the very edge, the point of tumbling into boiling lava, The Savior extended His hand...and eyes shining with tears and realization, once more I took it and He hoisted me to safety, out of the dangerous mouth of Mt. Doubt.  H,ave a stupendous week.

Elder Simpson

Tacuarembó Uruguay - Dec 10th 2012

Hi All,

Things are warming up around here. I'm happy, a bit tired and a little bit sore from the ultimate frisbee that we played this morning. I'll explain that a little further on.
It's been a long hard week. We're still really looking hard for the chosen that are waiting to hear the gospel we're not finding too many people that are wanting to progress. I actually told Elder Mar on Friday that I feel bad that everything seems to have dried up in the area since I got here. Trial of faith right? Anyways, we just keep chugging on and on and on.
 We're using the bikes some days, and some days we're not, because it's getting so hot already that we're showing up to lessons almost literally soaked in sweat and that's just not too presentable. We work up less of a sweat by foot, I have my cowboy hat still, the only down side is, we take a little bit longer to get to our lessons instead of zipping around on our bikes. Really the biggest reason it's so hard for us  is beacuse the entire area is situated on a set of decent sized hills and so we just have to plug up and down hill after hill and at like 1 and 2 in the afternoon it's just miserable.  Let me tell you a little about Elder Chiilders, one of my new best friends.  His is in our district and on Saturday's we do divisions.   He and I got along really well. He's from St. George and so we can talk about anything we want and know exactly what the other is talking about. He's really goofy and loves to write so we just got along swimmingly. I hope so much that I will be able to keep in touch with the elders that I've really connected with on my mission.
Alright, so today as a zone we went to the bañario. It's like a pond and wilderness park area about 10 minutes outside of town. Elder Mar and I went and stayed at the house of Elder Childers last night, (because we live so far away from everything) and this morning the entire zone went out there because we met our zone baptismal goal last month. We have such a good zone and they are all so fun and get along so well. We played ultimate frisbee and mafia (the card game) and uno and just had a lot of fun during the morning and a lot of the afternoon which is why I have so little time here. I really didn't take pictures because you know how chill I am (almost to a fault) so i just didn't want to worry about pictures. Anyways, it was like any park in Utah that has tree-y portions and open areas like all the parks up Provo Canyon. Lots of fun.
We had fun with the zone and did a banana eating contest between one of the sisters (she volunteered.....) and one of the elders that we recruited and me. They blind folded the three of us and had us start pounding bananas down.   Well....problem is.....I just took of the blind fold and started eating a banana because I was peckish and the rest of the zone started cheering and shouting and saying that I was eating like a machine (all according to plan).  So the elder and the hermana started pounding banana after banana for like 2 minutes. I think the hermana quit after 4 and the elder got 6 and a half done and they pulled of the blind folds and I was just sitting there with my arms crossed leisurely eating my second banana. Pretty funny.
In my district I have one set of Hermanas, 2 sets of Elders and 1 of the zone leaders.  I really like my district a lot. I've been having a problem with one of the elders in my district who likes to try and change everything that I say or ask of him which just really bugs me, but I don't want to sew the seeds of strife and so I just side step a lot of potential problems by not letting it bug me. It's both a lesson in charity and in patience. We'll see what changes bring, if i'm still DL and if he's still in my district, all quite possilbe. Not that I want changes to come, but we've always got our eyes on the future out here.
We usually have a rough plan of the next 6 weeks, every single week so it's really hard not to think of dates and numbers and statistics. That said, I don't like the focus on numbers out here. I know that they are supposed to help us grow and indicate performance. All of that is great, but I refuse to put of good numbers on empty lessons, and eternal investigators. There are some elders that do that and it's their call, but I just don't feel like that's okay. I've really been trying lately to love the people here, develop my charity and learn more about the atonement in this area.
I feel like I know what I'm doing is true but that it's become monotonous and hollow. as such, the lord answered my prayers through Mosiah 3. Great great chapter on the atonement and all things that have to do with it. So yea, zone conference tomorrow,  no real investigators and it's getting hot. Life is good, the gospel is true. I spoke on sunday about sharing the gospel through our testimonies of Jesus Christ and meditating upon the eternities to open the windows of heaven ( see D&C 76:19-24)
 19 And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about.

 20 And we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fulness;

 21 And saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever and ever.

 22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

 23 For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

 24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

Pretty awesome. I love speaking in church.

Have a great week,

Elder Simpson