The Things My Father Taught Me

November 13, 2016

The past week has been quite average which means we were able to get a lot accomplished but have to look to find something interesting for this blog.  I’ll get to the title a little bit later but first a recap.
Monday and Wednesday we spent the day in the office.  Besides doing utility bills we worked to make journal entries into the budget to make sure the budget was correct.  This was quite important but not the kind of stuff you put in a blog to make it interesting.  On Tuesday we had to go to Florida to take the Capilla Abierta and buy a new fridge for the Zone Leaders.  This was a fun day as we enjoyed carrot cake with the Wall family and had a good time with the Elders.

On Thursday we had several projects up Rita 8 (Route 8).  First, we had to take a bed to Lascano.  This ended up being a real project.  First, Lascano is about three hours away and the last half hour is on a terrible road.   The first time we tried to take up the bed we had to drive through the water.  You may remember this from the blog on September 5th.  When we got there it was the wrong bed.  About this time they took missionaries out of the house so we did not need to be in too big of a hurry.  Last month we sent someone to fix the lock on the door in Lascano and also take some stuff to fix the bed.  Turns out the bed was not worth fixing.  So here we are about two months later without a bed in Lascano.  This time we arranged to take an extra bed from the apartment in Los Ceibos.  The missionaries had it all broken down and ready to go.  Trouble was, when we arrived to pick up the bed, the Elders were gone to a zone conference.  The frame was outside so we could get to it, but the special screws were inside with the door locked.  That was when I remembered what my dad taught me.  “You can fix about anything with grabber screws.”  So Uruguay being the great country that it is, I stopped at the first hardware store and bought some grabber screws.  When we got there we fixed the bed good as new in short order. Thanks, Dad.

Mega Milla Pizza.  It looks great and tastes even better.

Our next stop was at the Zone Leader house in 33.  We dropped off a new fan and picked up some more Lemons.  Looks like we are having lemon bars and lemon pie again.  Our last stop was in Vergara where we renewed the contract with the dueno.  He was very friendly and signed the docs without any problem.  The missionaries needed a new fan too so we ended up buying a new fan for them from the dueno’s variety store.  It was a win-win situation.  An interesting thing about the dueno.  As we were visiting he told us that his jewish grandparents fled Poland in 1934 to escape persecution.  He showed us a picture of his father as he landed in Montevideo and also citizenship papers from his grandfather.  It was quite interesting.  They raise a lot of rice near Vergara, and he offered to take me to see the fields the next time we are up there.  It should be fun.

We have passed by the “ant hill” fields a bunch of times but this time we had time to stop.  I think these are kind of neat.  Also as we entered Treinte Tres or 33 we saw this Rotary sign and it reminded us of home.  We are not getting trunky or anything.

Friday we were back in the office doing office work and seem to be catching up.  We do have to move Elders into a new apartment in Pando in the next week or two and we have some contracts to renew but for the most part we are caught up.

Saturday was a much needed day of rest.  Between visits to Castillo and Capilla Abiertas we have not had a free day for over a month.  Our apartment needed a good cleaning and we needed a day to relax.  Right after lunch we received a call from the Zone Leaders in Norte.  They needed a fan.  We had the house cleaned and it looked like a fun trip so we took one up to them.  It has been getting hot lately and the missionaries are having a hard time sleeping without a fan to help them.  You can see that they were happy to get it.

Elder Molina and Elder Vanderlinden loved the new fan!

Their smiles sum up our week.   We expect more this week.  We are just hitting our 11 month mark and so will be going home a year from now.  The only thing that keeps us from missing home too much is the many tasks we need to do each day.   We appreciate all the support we get from home.  We love all of you and are grateful the Gospel in our lives.  If you will excuse me, I have some lemon cake to go eat.

Love
Gordon and Renee