Did I Really Just Type November

November 6, 2016

Picture of the Montevideo Temple taken by Melissa Eddy

taking Elder Johanson and Elder Hemeyer to Tres Cruzes
You can't have more fun than this!

I can’t believe it is November.  First off, we have had some really hot days this week that are not November weather.  Second, time does fly.  We had a real fun and busy week.  On Monday we had to drop some stuff off in Los Ceibos first thing.  This was good because that gave us the chance to drive Elder Johansen and Elder Hemeyer to Tres Cruzes to get their residency papers signed.  They are such a happy couple of Elders.  They spent the whole time talking about the neat experiences they are having as missionaries.  The car was full of a fun and happy Spirit.  Oh, and to Elder Hemeyer’s mom, the dog bite is getting better; he hardly walks with a limp anymore.  No really.

Monday afternoon we killed two birds with one stone as we took some Elders back to their area and also dropped off a washing machine at the Sister’s apartment in Pan de Azucar.  We were met by a bunch of “spooks” that demanded that we say “trick or treat” before they would let us in.  It was fun.  And the treats were good.  Their happy spirits show from the smiles on their faces.  I might add that these sisters are real all stars in missionary work.  They are great examples.

Tuesday and Wednesday Renee kept busy cooking for Zone Leader Conference on Tuesday and then District Leader training on Wednesday.  I know we show a lot of pictures of Missionaries eating.  They do more than this but they do know how to eat very well and seem to enjoy the food coming out of the mission home kitchen.  I wonder why?

Elder Caudle tried to cheer me up.  It worked

Thursday and Friday we spent time in the office doing “real interesting stuff”.  It amazes me how much work it takes to keep the mission operating.  There are a lot of details.  We learned how to pay the rent on the missionary apartments on Friday so that was a new thing that should help with the mission operations.  Friday afternoon we took off for La Paloma so we could be ready for the activity in Castillos on Saturday.   We arrived in La Paloma about 7:00 P. M. and went to dinner at “La Bellena” or “the whale”.  Dinner was really good.  I had noochis and Renee had chicken and salad.
Saturday we jumped up early and headed to Castillos.  I dropped off the food and Renee at Hermana Narda’s house and went with her husband, “Pocho”, to get the bread.  I love that nick name.  I think I’ll get a dog and name him that.  For some reason, Renee doesn’t want me to start calling her “Pocha”.  What’s with that?

When we told the bread lady we wanted 4 kilos, she did the double take.  That is a lot of bread.  Narda and Renee made sandwiches out of tuna fish and chicken pate. We arrived at the park at 10:00 A. M. ready for the party to start.  Trouble was only the missionaries were there.  About 10:30 some of the members started to arrive and by 11:00 we had a crowd. This is standard operating procedure for Uruguay.  I know it gets us gringos real up tight but the natives don’t seem to mind and they really do have a fun time together.

While we waited for the crowd to arrive, Johnny Lopez did some paintings on our arms.  We were really impressed.  He is a great artist.  In fact, he is doing a painting for us of Castillos.  I can’t wait to see it.

 I hope you can see from the faces, how much fun it was.  The kids had a great time doing the sack and three legged race.  Even the adults got into it.  As a second thought, we decided to pull sticks.  Everyone got into this, especially the ladies.  We laughed and giggled and had a great time.  Besides the sandwiches we had some cookies and other treats including, Renee’s lemon bars.  No wonder it was a success.

Well, about 12:30 we had to leave the party and high tail it for Toledo which was about 2 1/2 hours away so we could pick up the sisters and take them to the Capilla Abierta on Saturday night in Toledo.  We were really impressed with this branch when we did the presentation a couple of weeks ago and we were not disappointed.  They were very prepared.  The Spirit in this branch is one of the strongest that I have seen.  We really had a great time.  Attendance was not the best because the Chapel is kind of in a remote area, but we still had some investigators and they were very welcome.  The picture with us and the Branch President and his family is a treasure.  I love his spirit and desire to help the work move forward.

Branch President Acosta and his family.
They don't come better than him

After arriving at home about 10:00 P. M. we were tired and got ready for bed.  Good thing as we had to be up and at ‘em at 6:30 A. M. to take off by 8:00 to get to the Colon and Ferrocarril Chapel for the presentation to these two wards.  We did back to back presentations which went quite well.  We are going to try something new on these two wards.  They have a street fair or “Feria” right by their chapel on Saturday morning.  We are going to hold the Capilla Abierta in the morning to try to attract more people.  They have a baptism planned for right after the activity so it should be a real fun day.
We finished off Sunday with the monthly “break the fast” with the temple missionaries.  It is always fun to spend time with the senior couples.  So that’s the week.  Another busy one with a lot of time spent with the missionaries.  Every week we come to know more that this is a special opportunity that we have.  We love the people and the food.  It is really great to get to know all the wonderful people.

We love you all.
Gordon and Renee