Baby Bombers

The Baby Bombers

It is time to confess that I am a Yankee Fan, third generation at that.  The Yanks have always had the nickname of the Bronx Bombers for all the home runs they hit.  Last fall they brought up several rookies that can really hit and started calling them the “baby bombers”.  So when they just called eleven new missionaries as an Assistant, Zone Leaders or Sister Training Leaders, I thought it was time to call them “baby bombers” too.  This “rookie” class is really special.  I had to include Elder Paulson, as he has been a Zone Leader for one change now and felt left out.  Sometimes you have to make the children happy.  Oh, and by the way, the Yankees are leading the American League East by three games.

We had a pretty busy week taking care of business with the change of missionaries.  As usual, the new missionaries or Oros came in on Tuesday.  We had a good time with them as they received their training.  It was fun to see the missionaries come in as trainers.  They are so enthusiastic and anxious to help the new missionaries.  I didn’t get as many pictures of them this time as I was trying to get some other things done.  I did include the picture of Elder Richmond and Elder Hunt with their matching ties.  I hope they don’t have to wear the same thing every day like seventh grade girls.  They will get pretty tiresome.

I put in a lot of pictures of the missionaries going home.  They are a special group.  First there are three that served in the mission office as financial secretaries, Elder Xavier, Elder Petersen and Elder Caudle.  We have included many pictures of them in the last 17 months.  Elder Xavier also just finished serving as the Branch President in Castillos.  I could go on for several paragraphs about our exploits with them.  I also wanted to mention Elder Silva.  He is from Brazil.  He is always helping.  On several occasions, he took the initiative to fix things in his house and also in the house of others.  You notice that he had to help fix the final dinner.  What a great missionary!

Next is Elder Vallecillos.  He served as a Zone Leader for most of the time we have been here.  We have had many good experiences together.  Elder Lang is one of my favorite missionaries.  He has been very diligent in all of his areas.  He seems to be everyone’s favorite companion.  I really like the picture with Elder Leano, Elder Bustos and Elder Cruz.  They have been some of the most helpful and respectful missionaries that we have had.  Elder Bustos is from Cordoba, Argentina where I served so we always had a special bond.  We are going to miss Sister Harpole and Sister Rich as they served as Sister Training Leaders.  But, we do expect to see them at Utah State next fall.  Go Aggies!

After a week of getting up early and going to bed late with the change week the last thing we had the energy to do was go to Castillos.  But after we finished helping with the Zone Leader Conference on Friday we took off for Castillos even though we did not have as much time as we wanted.  We arrived in Castillos about 5:30 P. M. and made a couple of visits to some of the members we know real well.  Our first visit was to one of our favorite Sisters.  She has not been feeling well and we could tell that she was really ill.  We are praying and hoping for her to get better.

Next we went to see the Lopez family. We have become very good friends.  We had a good time trading recipes and sharing other experiences.  Elder Perez and Elder Terasas came also.  Elder Perez is the new Branch President in Castillos. He had such a good message to leave with them.

Our latest foto with Narda and our Bolivian missionaries, Elder Teraza and Elder Perez

On Saturday we made some other visits and also had a great time at lunch with Narda.  She is such a good lady.  We have become very good friends.  After lunch we did some more visits.  We have been waiting for two weeks to see a less active family that we just met two weeks ago.  They are such a good family and we were very anxious to return and invite them to Church.  When we showed up with the Elders, they would not let us in.  The dad was sleeping and the mom would not let us in.  How disappointing!  We had been waiting for two weeks and then were let down.  I reflect on how often this does happen to the young missionaries.  Their lives are filled so much hard work and disappointment.  I am so grateful for them and the great efforts they make to bring the Gospel to the world.

We also made several visits to some of the widows in Castillos.  It is very rewarding to listen to their life stories and the successes and challenges that they have had.  We concluded the week by doing a presentation for a Capilla Abierta in Rocha.  The branch was very receptive and we had a real enjoyable time.  On the way home, we stopped to drop off a heater for Elder Rodriguez.  We had a good visit.  It was so good to see him.

Now we are trying to get rested up for another week.  As it gets warmer at home, we are seeing it get colder down here.  We are preparing for our last winter.  We appreciate all of you.

Gordon and Renee