Eating, We, We, We, We, All The Way Home

Sorry for the “three little pigs” reference but we have been eating a lot.   This is our last blog from Uruguay.  The next one will be our last one when we get home.  Just so you know the next one is going to be really “trunky”.

We started off the week in the usual manner having staff meeting Monday morning.  You could take this shot every Monday but we thought we would add it just for fun.  You can see me on the phone.  I’m texting some missionary about a house problem.   So, not much new.

On Tuesday we had the office Elders over for lunch.  Renee made enchiladas.  One of the Elders ate 10 of them.  Yes ten, and then he had two helpings of the chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for dessert.  I have no idea how they eat that much.  The pictures show them laughing.  It was almost “blow milk out your nose” laughing except we did not have milk.  We all had a great time.  We are going to miss them.

Wednesday was “okay I’ll paint one more house” day.  We agreed to go up to Prosperidad and help paint the house for a couple of reasons.  One, Elder Yardley is relentless and second, we really like the dueño.  The fact that the house is close and pretty small made it even better.  The Elders really pitched in and stayed on task.  It was really quite a bit of fun.  We had it all done before noon and enjoyed Renee’s black bean salsa and banana cake.  If you think the pictures of the Elders indicate that they are little crazy you would be correct.

The worn out gym shoes have an interesting story that is based on a family story involving hunting boots made in China.  You have to ask me about it.  So when I finished the last paint job I decided to leave them on the side of the road just like we did in the olden days.  They lasted less than 10 seconds.  These Uruguayos really like worn out gym shoes.

Wednesday we went out to eat at the restaurant by our house called La Salmuera with the Duffins.  It was a lot of fun.  Renee and I both had Salmon which was excellent.  The Duffins are so delightful.  We are going to miss them.  We didn’t take a picture because the light is not very good.

Thursday we took off for Santa Lucia to repair some broken windows in the house.  We arrived just in time for District meeting to end so we took advantage of the moment and took a picture.  This is really a great bunch of missionaries.   You can see they are successful by the smiles on their faces.

We had to replace four window panes in the back door of the house.  I had the sisters measure and let me know the size I needed to get.  Too bad I didn’t instruct them that the measurements need to be a little less than the actual size.  So when we got to the house the panes were about 1/32 too big.  No problem, because there was a glass store in Santa Lucia.  That closes  for the siesta at noon.  We got there about 12:15 so we had a nice little wait.  The sign said they reopen at 2:30.  It turns out that this is a lot closer to 3:00.  So we had plenty of time to clean out the windows before we could get the new ones.  Anyway after we waited for the glass it was about a fifteen minute fix to install them.

We decided to go home through San Jose as it is a better road.  So we took the Elders to their house.  On the way they told us that the water heater was leaking.  Good thing they told us so we could get a new one for them.  It really ended up being a good thing.  We drove home in the rain and got home at pretty good time.

We were glad that we had time to feed the Sisters that live around the corner from us on Friday.  They are really happy and are working hard.  So that was our last meal with the missionaries in our house.  Kinda sad.  We are going to miss the opportunity.  On Saturday afternoon we were able help the Missionaries from the Minas Zone do baptisms for the dead in the Temple.  As the Elders were taking turns in the font it came to mind that it sure would be good if my granddaughters were able to latch on to one of them.  Wishful thinking, I know.

So if you think we should have about been sick of eating, you would be right.  Except we were invited to Humberto and Cristina’s for lunch Saturday.  They said they were going to feed us Empanadas but it ended up being an Asado or BBQ.  Do you notice all of the meat on the grill?  They had beef, chicken and chorizos.  They also had what they called “Pamplona” that they cooked in the oven.  This is chicken wrapped around ham, cheese, bacon, peppers and olives.  Wow, it was really good.  We ate way too much and enjoyed every bit of it.  We are certainly going to miss Humberto and Cristina.

Good thing it was Fast Sunday as we did not really need anything else that day.  Today we went to Church for the last time at the Malvin Ward.  It was a really good meeting with a lot of great friends.  Even though we may never see them again, they will always be our friends.  We finished off the day with our last “break the fast” lunch with the Temple missionaries.  It included birthday wishes for me as my birthday is later this month.

I hope you didn’t count how many “going away” dinners we had.  I’m not.  We have had such a wonderful time here in Uruguay and made so many eternal friends.  It is really sad that we have to leave.  But we do have a few that we are looking forward to seeing this week so I guess it balances out.

As I said at the beginning, this is our last blog from Uruguay.  We get home on Friday the 10th and have a very full life ahead of us.  We really appreciate the love and support from those who have commented on the blog.  In case anyone is interesting we will be speaking in the Blackfoot 7th Ward on Sunday, November 26th at 11:00 A.M.

Thank you so much.

We love you all,

Gordon and Renee