On the Road Again

Monday started with us driving about 120 kilometers (75 miles each way) to Maldonado to clean a vacated apartment and put screen on windows.  With the help of 16 missionaries, it took longer to eat Sister Wankier’s cinnamon buns than it took to clean the apartment.  That’s when Elder Cuessy made fun of my driving as he drove in the mission home and so he had the right to point out how bad my parking was.  Oh well.  From there we took a short trip to the beach at Punta del Este.  This is a huge vacation spot where tourists from all over South America come during the summer.  We could sure see why.  From there we stopped in Piriapolis to put screen on the Elder’s apartment there.  You can see why we had to take another picture.

On Tuesday, we drove about 300 kilometers (about 200 miles each way) to Treinte Y Tres.  This is a real neat town.  We delivered food to some of the Elders and did some more mosquito screen.  We got home about 11:00 P. M.

Wednesday and Thursday was spent in the office where we helped pay the bills.  It is amazing how much needs to be done to keep a mission going.  Wednesday night we were invited to a Birthday Party for Humberto’s wife Cristina, who turned either 18 or 81, we could not be sure.  We had a real neat time talking to his family including two of her daughters.  The birthday cake was one of the best I have ever eaten.  To make sure, I ate two pieces.  We hope to send you some pictures of our friends soon.  They make us feel so welcome and we enjoy them so much. 

Friday was a real neat day.  We needed to drive to Rocha to close a house.  It was a complicated transaction and took most of the afternoon.  Elder Olivier and Elder Bauer helped us a lot.  After we got it closed, they showed us to one of the best little bakeries in Uruguay.  We took advantage and bought empanadas, sandwiches and biscochos.  Biscochos is a Uruguayo word for “real good baked goods”.  I have mentioned it before but need to mention it again, spending time with the missionaries is a real special event for us.  They are literally Helaman’s Army fighting to bring truth to the world.  They are on the street every day, rain or shine, taking the good with the bad.  Elder Olivier and Elder Bauer are some of the best.  They have such great leadership ability to go along with their great attitudes and spirits.  We love being around them.

The highlight of my week was our food delivery to Castillos.  We were in a hurry as we had other things to do but had a chance to visit with Elder Montiel and Elder Chavez for a bit.  When we fasted at the beginning of the month we made a special point to fast and ask Heavenly Father to help the Castillos Elders to find some good people to teach.  We were more than excited to find out that they have found four different people that are interested in the lessons this week and that they are progressing.  We know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.  To go along with that we asked one of the Sisters who is going home what she had learned from her mission.  After some thought she told us that she had learned that Heavenly Father keeps his promises.  She then related how, early in her mission, they promised a man that if he would study and come to Church that he would be blessed with more work.  We he did and his business changed overnight.  What an answer to prayer and to the promises made by the Lord’s servants.

The weekend has been taken up by Stake Conference.  We sang in the choir.  It was a lot of fun but challenging to sing in Spanish.  We are just hitting our three month mark and are really getting into the swing of things.  The weather has cooled a little and we are getting to know our way around and our place in the mission.  We love you all and appreciate your love and support.