AND THEN IT GOT A LITTLE WORSE

From our blog last week you will remember that our iPhone was broken.  This is not a good thing as we use it to communicate with the ones we love like you. But it was still okay.  I wrote the blog last Sunday morning before conference because the first session does not start until 1:00 P. M.  We had a wonderful day watching Conference on the big screen TV with the Mission President and Temple Missionaries.  We had a great lunch of Indian Tacos which reminds me of the Rodeo on the Reservation.  Everything went real well.

When we got home at about 7:30 P. M. the lights were out in the house.  I had to switch the main breaker.  We didn’t think anything of it.  Well, Monday morning, Renee had hot water but I didn’t.  We’re talking Potter’s Pond cold.  It was chilly.  I was hoping that the tank would reset because the light was still on the water heater.  Well, faith is hope in things that are true and that wasn’t true. So we got the chance to have a cold shower Tuesday also.  Tuesday morning, the internet stopped working so we lost our ability to communicate with home.  On top of that the washing machine and stove quit working. 

So here we are with a smashed cell phone, no internet, no hot water, washing machine or stove.  I am trying to come up with a nice word for discouraged but I can’t.  I was ready to go home. It was obvious that Uruguay did not want us.  We continued to have other projects to do in the mission but we worried about how to take care of ourselves.  If you have to bathe in cold water and don’t have the ability to wash your clothes or cook your meals that is pretty much camping and I didn’t bring my good camping stuff. 

Slowly things started to get better.  First, our handyman Ariel came to help change the water heater.  I didn’t want to tackle it myself because of the bad luck I had last week.  We got that fixed on Wednesday. He also checked out the power and it was okay.  The water has been fine since then.  We also found MundoMac, an Istore, in Montevideo.  The iPhone is under warranty so they are sending us a new one for free.  That sounds pretty good to me.  Next, the washer started working and we really don’t know why but it’s washing the clothes so we are happy again.  And the stove, well we figured out what was happening on the propane tank and now it works too. Lastly, the internet quit working because our internet is hooked to an internet and cell phone connection that was for a Senior couple that went home.  We planned to continue paying it until the contract was up but somehow the missionaries missed it in the office and so when it went delinquent everything was shut off.  We paid it up to date and now have a plan to keep paying it so this doesn’t happen again. 

Now, we are back on the trail.  It was not a fun week but we did learn a lot about ourselves and Uruguay.  Things do work here and they usually work well, but, you need to work at them a little more than you do at home and sometimes you don’t know where to look.   We did have a good visit with our friend Umberto and Cristina yesterday.  We had planned to invite them to dinner this coming Wednesday.  As we started to visit, Umberto told us that they were leaving on Wednesday to go on vacation.  When I told them that we had planned to have them over for dinner on Wednesday, he said, “Great, I’m retired, I can go on Thursday!”  Don’t you just love that retired thing.  I’m retired but still haven’t quit working.  I guess when I get home we can become more like Umberto.

On Friday we attended a session at the Temple and did names that Natalie’s family completed.  Mine was Thomas Fish that was christened in 1629.  That’s awhile back.  It does mean more when it is your family.

Today was a neat day at Church.  Testimony meeting was especially good as we had people bear real sincere Testimonies, including Victoria, who is getting baptized next week.  After Church we had the “break the fast dinner”  (Rompe el ayuno).  I kinda like that phrase.  Good food was followed with good conversation.  We really do have good friends and good support from all that we meet.  We love our mission and appreciate that it is a challenge.  We have several things planned this week including: repair a roof, close a house, move into another house, look for a new house, a broken water system and several drain problems.  In our spare time I hope we get to go back to the Temple.

We love you all, 

Gordon and Renee