Things are Heating Up in Uruguay

Things are heating up in Uruguay.  We included a picture of the downtown area in Montevideo.  We live about ten miles from the center of town.  It is typical to see big trees lining the streets.  What is unusual is the empty streets. We shot this late on a Saturday so there wasn’t much traffic.  

We also included a shot of Renee’s dinner in La Paloma.  There were several types of fish that were quite good, but neither of us had the courage to try to baby octopus.  We told some of the native elders that we had been served octopus and they seemed a little disappointed that they were not offered the chance to eat them.  That being said, we are still not going to try them.

We have had a some real neat experiences this past week.  We added another chapter or two with Humberto and Christina.  We stopped off to visit them Thursday night.  They were ready for us as they had a “Peonono con Dulce”ready. This is basically a jelly roll with blueberry jam and dulce de leche inside.  It was very delicious.  In fact, I think this missionary stuff is really going to my waistline. 

Well, when they served the dessert, they wanted to have a prayer and asked Renee to say it.  She did a great job even though it scared her pretty bad.  The family was very appreciative and you could feel the love that they have for us.  After another good discussion about their family and also about what crops they grow in Uruguay we got ready to leave.  They wanted to say another prayer and Humberto said, “well, I guess it’s about time that I said the prayer.”  He did a wonderful job and the love that we felt for them and from them was really strong.  Afterward, he thanked us again and again said, “mi casa es su casa”.  I told him that I really do feel that we are brothers.  What a wonderful night. 

So, we get to Church today and he is there.  What a neat surprise.  He participated in all of the meetings.  In the Gospel Essentials class, we discussed the role of Joseph Smith in the Restoration.  We had a few members including Humberto and three people that were being taught by the Elders and Sisters.  They were amazing as the visitors essentially taught the lesson.  We really enjoyed how they taught each other and bore testimonies of modern day Prophets.  I really liked that one of the new visitors stated that having Prophets and Apostles on the earth just made sense and seemed so logical.  To that Humberto bore his Testimony that it was true.  Some of you may think that I came to Uruguay just to eat Dulce de Leche again.  Even though that is true, getting in on experiences like this is even more of a reason to come.  We have been invited to come over Wednesday night for Christina’s birthday.  We are going to be bringing a treat.  We can’t wait.  In the meantime we will be visiting apartments and helping the missionaries do their job.

We are so happy to be here.  Serving others really makes our lives better.  Our testimonies are growing stronger every day as is our love of Uruguay and its people.  We know that the work we are doing is God’s work.  We know that we are helping the kingdom of Jesus Christ on the earth.  We are so grateful to be here.

We love you all.

Gordon and Renee