Looking Forward to Winter

The weather has been very good.  We have not had too much rain and it hasn’t been too hot.  Since the middle of March the weather has been really nice.  That is until the last couple of days.  The cold started last year about this time so we were ready for it.  We have spent the last couple of months making sure the missionaries were prepared with heaters etc.  We really had an interesting week.  We started the week off taking some time on Monday to catch up.  We also had to get ready for our visitors.  Noel and Carol Johnson are from our Stake in Blackfoot.  They used to be in our ward.  They served a mission like ours in Neuquen, Argentina and got home in 2011.  Now they are on a mission, teaching English on the Church Farms in Santiago, Chile.  They had meetings in Buenos Aires last week so they took an extra couple of days and came over to see us.  It was really fun.
They arrived on the ferry on Tuesday morning.  We were right by the Independence Plaza so took them to see it first.  After that we had lunch at the Mega mila pizza place.  This is a pizza that is built on top of a milanesa.  It has a lot of meat, cheese and other deep fried stuff.  It is served on a bed of fries to make us Idaho spuds happy.  We purchased one for all four of us.  It was more than enough.  After that we had to drop off some Capilla Abierta invitations to the sisters in Pan de Azucar so we took them up the coast to see Punta Del Este.  I have said before, that this is basically Miami beach in South America.  It was a beautiful drive and we had a wonderful visit.

On Wednesday we went to the Temple which is always a good way to start the day.  After that we kept busy doing some things for the missionaries and other sightseeing around Montevideo.  On Tuesday they wanted to try and catch up with one of the missionaries, Santiago, that served in the office with them in Neuquen.  We stopped by his office in Montevideo and they were able to visit with him.  We agreed to meet for dinner.  As we were visiting he said something about serving in Comodoro Rivadavia.  I asked him if he knew Jared Montiel.  He said that his family served him an asado or barbeque the last night of his mission.  He still keeps in contact with them.  You may remember that Elder Jared Montiel spent 6 months in the office with us.  They remember each other.  It is definitely a small world.

On Thursday morning we said good bye to the Johnsons just in time to go to the mission conference.  Elder Allan Packer is in the Area Presidency and came to our mission last week to visit.  We had a conference with him on Thursday and Friday with about half the mission coming in each day.  We were able to meet with him individually on Thursday morning.  It was really a good experience.
Renee helped with the cooking as they served chili on potatoes on Thursday and Stroganoff on Friday.  The missionaries ate and ate and ate.  I can’t believe how much they can eat.  Elder Packer and President Eddy taught some real important principals.  They emphasized the need to teach family history as we teach the Gospel.  Many people are interested in their ancestors so it really helped.

They had a leadership conference on Friday morning for the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, so the missionaries that were on hand for the Thursday conference stayed over for Friday morning.  They worked with some of the local missionaries and then stayed in the Hostal by the Temple for the night.  Renee and I were asked to pick up the pizza.  It was fun to spend time with the missionaries.  You can see from their faces that they are so happy and so full of the Spirit of missionary work.  A special blessing that we received as part of our assignment is we picked up the pizzas from “Papa Jorge”.  You may remember that we have been stopping by to visit him and his wife from time to time.  He told us how he enjoyed doing the Priesthood lesson last week.  His testimony of the Prophets and the Gospel is really inspiring.  We love him.

Back to the weather.  We woke up Friday to a heavy rain storm.  As we walked up the ramp to get our car out of the garage I pushed to button to open the garage door.  It turns out that the garage door is also a dam.  The water came pouring out and filled our shoes.  What a great way to start the day!
Friday night we are pretty tired and ready for a good P-day.  Too bad we didn’t get one.  On Saturday morning instead of relaxing, Renee had to get ready to feed the Assistants.  Elder Mora is going home and we wanted to feed him and his companion before he left.  So at noon Elder Richmond and Elder Mora showed up for lunch with the new assistant, Elder Hunt.  You can tell from the pictures that we had a great time.  Renee made stir-fry.  It was excellent and a good beginning for the banana cream pie.  I think they liked it.  Who wouldn’t?

As we finished with them we took off for the Capilla Abierta in Pan de Azucar.  They have a new Chapel that was dedicated today.  They had a special Capilla Abierta to show it off to the community.  Included in the guest list were the mayor and Deacon from the Catholic Church.  Both men were very friendly and respectful.  They spent quite a bit of time learning about basic beliefs of the Church.  It was another good night with the spirit of the missionaries stealing the show once again.  The newspaper was there and took our picture for an article to be published this week.  Butch and Gene Jones would be so proud of me!!  Too bad I don’t have time to explain that one.
After that we took the Piriapolis Missionaries home, just because we could.  We got home about 10:30 P.M.  We had another good day at Church as we get ready for another change week.  Look for some more fun pictures next week.  Now we are sitting in our apartment with a sweater, slippers and other clothes as it is cold inside and outside.  Looks like winter is on the way.

We love the opportunity to serve and help the mission.  We are so grateful for the love the missionaries have for us.  We sure love them.

Gordon and Renee