A Flash From The Past

When I started my first mission to Argentina forty-four years ago, my companion was Nick Mazanis.  We ended up not only spending the Mission Home and Language Training mission together but also our first three districts, Cordoba, Tucuman and Jujuy together.  To top things off we served as Zone Leaders at the end of our missions.  He is my closest companion to say the least.  They started a mission in Salt Lake City the same time we did.  As missionaries, they found a man named Roberto from Uruguay.  They started to teach him but he had to return to Uruguay for a time.  Nick gave me his name and address and we sent some missionaries to visit.  Elder Rodriguez and Elder Guerra were the Zone Leaders in the Maldonado Zone and taught him while he was here.  On his return to Salt Lake, he was married last week and baptized yesterday.  I have included a picture of Elder Rodriguez and Elder Guerra when they found out.  They were real excited.  That’s what I call team missionary work.

The past week was fairly typical of our assignment.  On Monday we helped a little with the Zone Leader Conference.  Renee helped with the cooking, while I was busy in the office.  On Tuesday we spent time catching up in the office.  This is important work but not really the stuff that gets into the blog.  To make things more exciting I included a picture of us with the Temple Missionaries in the Peruvian Restaurant.  Peruvian food is a little different than Uruguayan food.  It is very delicious.

Wednesday we inspected the Las Piedras Zone.  I really like this zone.  They have some of the best areas and the missionaries are always excited.  It is so fun to hear them tell us about their experiences.  We capped off Wednesday by stopping with the missionaries to buy pizza from “Papa Jorge”.  I included a picture of him cutting up the Pizza to show the unique way he cuts them and also to show you how much cheese they put on the Pizza.  The other toppings, ham and pineapple are under the cheese.  This is really good.

On Thursday we had to work on some water problems in three of the houses.  They had problems with toilets and also broken pipes in the walls.  Good thing we have some people that can help us.  The highlight of Thursday was going to the charla with Papa Jorge and Veronica with Elder Cheney and Elder Fix.  They had a good message and it was a good lesson.  At the end of the lesson, Renee asked Veronica if she believed the Gospel was true and if she felt the Book of Mormon was also true.  She said yes.  It was kind of an “ah ha moment”.  Veronica is making progress and we hope she continues to move forward.

Friday we were off to Castillos for the weekend.  We had to do some work on the water problems and also had to stop off in San Carlos to fix a bed and drop some other stuff off to the Rocha Elders.  I probably should have taken some pictures of the missionaries but we just ran out of time.
The weekend was filled with visits.  We were lucky to have Oreales and Rosanna go with us to visit some of the members.  It is so much better when members go with us.  We were able to talk to several different families.  It was good to share our testimonies and hear from them.  I wish I could tell you more about how they are doing.  It is sufficient to say that everyone has challenges and the good people of Castillos are working to meet these challenges.

Today was an exciting time in Castillos.  Twenty-four people came to Church.  It was one of the best Sundays we have seen.  We have come to love them so much.  They are working hard to come and participate and help the Church grow.  Elder Xavier is serving as the Branch President.   He was serving in the office when we arrived and helped to train us.  It is so good to work with him and the other missionaries.  It is amazing how much we have grown to love the people in Castillos.  We are truly a family.  We pray for them continually that they will continue to progress.

To end the week we made a detour on the way home and picked up some propane tanks from La Capuera and delivered them to Los Ceibos.  This added a couple of hours to our trip but it did get a few things off our list of things to do.  We are now home and hoping to get a good night’s sleep to do it again next week.

We continue to be grateful for this opportunity.  We love the missionaries so much and love to serve with them.

Love
Gordon and Renee

Welcome Home

First, we hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  It is such a good time to get together with family and enjoy the love we share.  We can hardly wait to get home to do it next year.  I must say that the Jelly Beans that I received from home are soooo appreciated.  Also, I hope we appreciate the blessings the Savior gave us through his Atonement and Resurrection.  As I said today in Church: “where would we be and who would we be without the Savior."  I hate to think of it.

Whenever we have an odd number of missionaries, we request part time missionaries from the Stakes.  I often have the opportunity to pick them up or take them home.  It is one of the best parts of our job.   Our friend Pablo served for a month and did a great job.  You can tell how happy his family was to see him.  He plans to put his papers in this summer.  Some mission president is going to be real grateful.

Another one of our jobs is to keep the missionary apartments in good repair including appliances.  For some reason, the missionaries really like blenders.  Here the assistants were more than excited to get a new blender.  They couldn’t stop talking about it.  I guess it doesn’t take much to keep them happy.

The new missionaries came in on Tuesday.  Well, they were supposed to come in on Tuesday.  One of the sisters leaving from Salt Lake had airplane trouble in Miami and didn’t get here until Wednesday.  We only had four missionaries this time including one Elder from here in Uruguay that is waiting on a visa to serve in the Salt Lake City West Mission.  So the change went pretty smooth.  The new missionaries were enthusiastic and excited to get going.  I made a few shots of them milking alfajores.  This has kind of become a tradition to show the new missionaries how to do it.  You can also tell that the office missionaries don’t have any problem taking part.

I decided to put in some extra pictures that I call “the faces of Elder Childs”.  A few things you need to know about Elder Childs: 1. He loves being a missionary. 2. Loves milking alfajores and 3. We love him.  These shots show just how much joy there is in the mission.

Now for the ones going home.  We only had a half a dozen going home.  The sad part is that all but one of them is from South America, so the chance of seeing them again is diminished.  Sister Mejia and Sister Alonzo both lived next door to us.  We attended several charlas with them and fed them a few times.  They are great missionaries and we will miss them.  Next we have the Elders.  We managed to work with them several times and became very close.  In fact, as I have said before, it gets harder and harder to say good bye each change.  I can’t think of them without tears coming to my eyes.  I hope you can see how much we love each other by the pictures.  We didn’t get the usual airport pictures as they left on several different flights and we were not there to see them all off.  I’m telling you, it gets harder every time we say good bye.

As we were waiting to send off some of the missionaries there was some commotion at the arrival gate including TV cameras.  It was the Peñarol soccer team coming in.  This is real big news in Uruguay.  About 90% of the people in Uruguay are Peñarol fans.  The rest are just misguided.  Maybe we can convert them at the same time we baptize them.

To end the week we spent Friday inspecting apartments in the Maronas zone including cutting grass on some of the apartments, checking heaters and smoke alarms and doing general repairs.  I took another picture of the “bird of paradise” flower.  This is so cool.   I really wish I could grow it in Blackfoot.

Saturday we took a much needed rest and cleaned the house.  And I had nine shirts to iron.  It was good to take a break.  This morning we were on the road by 8:00 A.M. to do a presentation in Canelones which is about an hour from our apartment.  This is a community in the country.  The people are so friendly and eager to help.  Our presentation went well and we look forward to an exciting time in two weeks.  Renee not only did her normal presentation but also spoke in Sacrament Meeting.  She is getting braver all the time.  I am proud of her and all of her efforts.  I would say that our Spanish is not quite ready for General Conference but the people do seem to nod once in awhile indicating that at least they act like they understand.

So how do you end off a perfect week?  How about a turkey dinner with the Temple missionaries in the afternoon and dinner with the Sisters at night?  Ya, it works for me.  The Wibergs and Atkinsons go home next month so this may be our last hoorah.   We try to do the dinners with the Sisters when the Sister Training Leaders come in for training.  It is always good to see Sister Campbell and Sister Luker.  It doesn’t hurt to have Sister Perales and Sister Anderson here also.  We had so much fun.  It was so good to hear about the people that they are teaching.

Well another change is passed.  We have a lot to do in the next change that will keep us hoping.  We hope we have the energy.  We love you all.

Love Gordon and Renee

All Smiles

Our two 8-year-old Grandsons

I’m starting this blog with a picture of two of our grandsons that got baptized yesterday in Blackfoot.  We were able to see it through Facetime that made it a little easier.  Also, one of our dear friends received her endowments on Saturday.  This kind of puts into focus some of the things we are missing.  It is good that we can fill our lives with other good things to take some of the sting away.  Either way, do you think I want to give these two a hug?

First, we had a trip to the temple

I could fill this blog with a lot of real boring stuff like cutting grass and working with apartments.  That is what we did for the first part of the week.  It is important but not interesting.  So I think we’ll move right onto Thursday.  This change all of the missionaries came in to go to the Temple.  Because the office missionaries schedule is a little different, they went Thursday instead.  We decided to tag along.  It was really a neat experience.  The Montevideo Temple is a tremendous blessing to the country.  I can see it in the lives of all of the members.

Then we had the birthday party

Then we had another birthday party

Including lemon pie

Thursday was also Elder Cheney’s Birthday.  We started with a little birthday party at the office where we ate cake from Sister Eddy.  This included a scented candle that was blown out by Elder Cheney.  We finished off the day with dinner made by Renee for Elder Cheney and Elder Montiel.  This was for his birthday, to also thank Elder Montiel for his six months in the office and to have a Charla with one of our friends.  Kind of a multiple use dinner.  The meal included tin foil dinners, jello and lemon pie.  The Elders ate a lot.  We had a real good Charla where the Spirit was strong.

Then we had inspections, including cookies

These Elders won the prize for "the cleanest this apartment
has ever been."  Thanks Elders Hemeyer and Riscanevo

We couldn't decide which picture was better, so we included both

Friday we took off as soon as we could for Castillos.  On the way we stopped at the Maldonado Zone to do inspections.  We were so impressed.  All of the apartments were very clean.  Elder Hemeyer and Riscanevo’s apartment was especially clean.  We had never seen the apartment like this.  It really shows in their apartment and their smiles.  In fact, all of the missionaries did such a good job.  You can tell they are happy and doing such a good job.

At the Capilla Abierta

We also did inspections in the Rocha Zone.  Again we were so appreciative of the work the missionaries have done to keep their houses clean.  I didn’t take pictures of them in their houses because we had the Capilla Abierta with them on Saturday.  The Capilla Abierta went real well.  The missionaries contacted hundreds of people and invited them to come in.  There were not a lot of people attending but two of the ones that attended accepted an invitation to be baptized.  I’d say that was a pretty good night.

My job was to show the video on “The Prince of Peace” and invite the people to view the other videos at home.  From my vantage point I could see the Elders working as they explained the various parts of the Gospel and invited the people to learn more.  What a wonderful blessing!  They are so knowledgeable and express such strong testimonies.  I love to be a part of it.  One of the things that I noticed about these pictures is how happy the Missionaries are.  You can see it in their faces and feel it in their presence.  We love it.

Including "the old Man" Elder Vallecillos

I had to include a picture with me and Elder Villecillos.  He has been a Zone Leader for most of the time we have been here.  He also served in the zone that includes the mission office so we have seen him a lot.  He goes home soon and I am already sad.  We make such good friends with the missionaries it is so hard to see them go.

We also spent the weekend in Castillos again.  We love serving in Castillos.  From Narda’s lunch on Saturday, to the individual visits, to Church on Sunday.  This little branch is trying to grow.  It is rewarding to visit the members and support Elder Xavier and Elder Ramos in their efforts.  Each time we go we try to listen to the Spirit to be directed to visit the right people and support and help.  We always come away feeling rewarded for our efforts.  Most of the experiences are a little too personal to share in this blog, but we continue to feel the Spirit and are rewarded for our efforts in so many ways.

We just had one last minute thing.  Just as I was getting ready to write the blog, we got a call that a set of missionaries had lost their keys.  This is a challenge on a Sunday evening.  As I headed out to help them I remembered that we have some copies for some of the apartments in the mission office.  As an answer to prayer we had an extra set for them.  This turned a difficult problem into an easy solution.  We were so grateful.

Thanks for all of the support we receive.  We love you all.
Gordon and Renee

You Know It Don’t Come Easy

One of the first things I noticed when we got here was that most of the lawn mowing is done with weed whackers.  It is very common to see several guys on the highway median with weed whackers, cutting the grass.  At first you may think it is quite inefficient but you begin to notice that they do a pretty fast and good job.

Several of the apartments have yards with grass that needs to be cut.  We try to get members to help but sometimes that is difficult.  No, actually, it is always difficult.  So we end up with either a rather expensive bill or yards that look like the people have moved.  To help with this, the mission purchased some electric weed trimmers.  They are mostly burned up so we are now trying to do it with a gas powered weed whacker.  We have one in the storage unit but it has not been operated.
I decided to see if I could get it going.  The first step was to buy a gas can.  It took three stops but we finally found it.  We had to present the new gas can with the receipt at the service desk to get the cap.  That’s kind of a security thing.  With fresh gas the weed whacker didn’t start.  I pulled on it quite a few times including the time I didn’t notice how close I was to the wall and whacked my elbow.  We’re talking tears-in-your-eyes whacked.  It really hurt.

Next step was to buy a spark plug.  So, how do you say “spark plug” in Spanish?  Bujía.  It was on the tip of my tongue.  First, I went to the hardware store.  They said to go to the service station.  No luck there.  They said to go to Cymaco.  You can see by the picture that this was the right store.  It is on the corner of the two most common streets in our mission.   I have passed it well over 100 times.  With a new spark plug, still no luck.  I then went to the service store for weed whackers.  They sold me the little bulb for about $3.  It still did not work.  They told me they would give me 10% off on a new one.  When we went back to buy the new one, they said they couldn’t do the discount with a credit card.  So now we have a new weed whacker and an old one that is in the shop until at least April 26.  This week has made me really appreciate my friend LG at Mr. Mower.  You can also tell from the pictures that I really miss my John Deere Mower.  “Nothing Runs Like a Deere!”

After that we made short work of several of the houses.  The missionaries were good to help rake up the cut grass, especially when I remembered to take a rake.

Friday was Oro conference when they bring the new missionaries in after 4 weeks and give them and their trainers more training.  It is a fun time to see how the new missionaries are doing.  This is a really fun group.  You can tell that the new missionaries are doing well with their trainers.  The new Latino elders are even learning English from Elder Newman.  So far he has taught them, “Oh Yeah”.  He is quite the teacher.

Our favorite part of the week was the Charlas that we have been able to attend.  Elder Montiel and Elder Cheney have invited us to several.  It is a highlight of our mission to be able to attend these charlas and feel the Spirit.  We had a real special experience on Thursday night.  We had a charla with a part member family that went real well.  Elder Montiel ended the charla by inviting them to General Conference.  We are very hopeful that they will come.  Then we dropped by another lady that they have taught but have had trouble finding again.  She was home and invited us in.  She was very quick to tell us that she was not planning to change religions.  We’ve never heard that before.  In the middle of our discussion Elder Montiel invited her to General Conference.  In the middle of talking about modern day prophets, she stopped him.  “You mean there are Prophets on the earth today that speak to God?” she said.  Her whole countenance changed.  She became very interested in what she could learn from them.  We are hopeful she will come to Conference today.

We also went on another charla to another lady that was about to be baptized a couple of years ago but decided not to.  The Elders found her on the street.  She is reading and praying and attending Church.  Her home was filled with the spirit.  We are expecting a baptism this month. What an exciting time to be in the mission field.

We are ending off the week with General Conference.  We go over to the Temple Missionary apartments to watch Conference with them.  We really enjoyed the messages yesterday.  The sessions start at 1:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. here so we have all of the morning free.  The time change makes the 9:00 P.M. Priesthood start time a little late but it was so good.  Like dad always said, “they always bring out the big guns for Priesthood meeting.”

Yesterday we had “Mega Milla Pizza” for lunch.  This is a 12” diameter milanesa with pizza toppings.   It is served on a bed of French Fries.  It is very delicious and low calorie.  You can tell that by the grease dripping down your arms.  I’m sure we all lost weight yesterday.  Today we are having omelets, thanks to Elder Jensen.   They are extremely good.

I better get ready for conference.  We love all of you and miss you more and more.  Thanks for all of your love and support.

Love,
Gordon and Renee

Groundhog Day

I got this title from the movie with Bill Murray where he had to do the same thing over and over.  That’s kind of how this week went.  Monday and Tuesday started out simple enough.  We did a little office work and tracked down some things that needed to be fixed in some of the houses.  This is a never ending battle.  We have also been working to get several of the houses painted.  The key to this is if the members will help because we just don’t have the manpower to paint them all and we also don’t have the budget to hire it done.

What works out the best is if the members will team up with the missionaries.  This is per the direction of the area office so we are actually following orders.  Kind of new for me, I know, but I’m working on the obedience thing little by little.  So, on Tuesday we went out to the Las Piedras Zone to meet with the Elders that serve in the Obedelisco Ward.  The members of the ward have offered to help so we went out to help coordinate it.  Hopefully we can get it done in the next couple of weeks.  I hope you like the picture with the Elders with all of the empty cereal boxes.  This picture explains their diet a lot.  I do think Elder Cole and Christensen look a lot alike, just like Elder Perez and I.  I decided not to show the stack of empty toilet paper rolls.  Actually, Renee decided and I followed.

Tuesday night was a neat opportunity.  Elder Roquemore and Yardley had to come into Montevideo for some business.  They worked Tuesday evening with the finance Elders of the office.  We figured that they needed dinner so we invited them to come after they got done working.  Well, you can’t invite them without the finance Elders.  And you can’t invite the finance Elders without the Secretaries.  So pretty soon we had a full house of Elders eating pulled pork sandwiches, sliced peppers, carrots, cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon.  They finished dinner off with peanut butter bars.  It was like ravenous locusts had descended on our house.  There was not much left.
Wednesday we met them early to take them to their appointments.  We also met some other Elders at the bus station, Tres Cruzes, to take them to some appointments.  After we took the other Elders home to La Capuera and went all the way up to Rocha to pick up an Elder to bring to Montevideo.  We were on-the-go all day.  When we got home Wednesday night we found out that all of them needed to do some more stuff so we spent a good part of Thursday doing the same thing, just like the movie Groundhog Day.

We did get done in time to go on a Charla with the finance Elders.  We stopped off to visit an inactive member that has family in Blackfoot.  What are the odds of that?  We had a good visit and then went to a Charla with Jorge and Veronica, our pizza shop family.  We had a real good Charla on the importance of gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  It was really neat.

Friday we got a few things done at the office and then attended the Temple in the afternoon.  We went to a session and then attended a sealing or marriage of one of the Temple workers.  It was really a peaceful evening.  After the Temple we needed to do something for dinner so we stopped by Jorge’s Pizzeria and picked up a pizza.  They really like to put on the cheese.  What a great custom.  We were very satisfied.

Our plan for the weekend was to do a Capilla Abierta on Saturday night and then drive to Rocha to do the presentation for a Capilla Abierta there in two weeks.  But, Thursday afternoon we received word that the Rocha Capilla Abierta was cancelled.  This was too bad because we already had hotel rooms booked for these two weekends and we could not cancel them.  Renee suggested that we see if we could do one in Chuy.  This is quite a bit farther but would work with the hotel rooms.  We made a quick call to the missionaries in Chuy and the set it up.  So we were back in the money.

Saturday afternoon we went to the El Bosque ward of the La Costa Stake to do the Capilla Abierta.  The missionaries were very enthusiastic and did a good job inviting the people to come in.  I got a pretty good shot of the Elders meeting with people on the street. There were a half a dozen new people that showed quite a bit of interest.  We got done about 8:30 P.M. and then drove to La Paloma to stay in the Hotel.  We arrived about 11:00 P.M.  A little late for a couple of old people.

Chuy is on the coast and actually straddles the Brazil border.  It is about four hours from Montevideo.  We took off from La Paloma for Chuy as soon as we could in the morning and arrived in plenty of time to do our presentation.  We had no sooner arrived and we could feel that we had been led in the right direction.  The people were so open and friendly.  They were excited to participate and anxiously asked for invitations to invite their friends.  The Church building also sits right on the major plaza so we should have a good crowd in two weeks.  We can hardly wait.  It is amazing how the Lord leads us in the right direction.  Chuy is not what we planned but it is what needed to be done.  We are so grateful to be able to be led in the right direction.

We got home about 5:00 P. M. today, tired but happy.  It was a pretty fun week.  We have had some good opportunities lately to teach and to bear our testimonies.  That is what makes the mission worthwhile.  We are looking forward to Easter and General Conference.  It is a fun time to be missionaries.  We love you all.

Love
Gordon and Renee

Kind of Like Missionaries

March 19, 2017

Our original plans for this week were to go to Durazno on Tuesday and fix some things for the missionaries.  They ended up coming to Montevideo to attend the Temple so that gave us a free day.  We took advantage of it by attending the multi-zone conference with the Este, La Costa and Maronas zones.  It was really a treat to hear from the assistants and the Mission President as they taught the missionaries.  The Mission President spent quite a bit of time on the importance of obtaining the Spirit and following it.  I really enjoyed listening and feeling the Spirit.

The Este Zone Leaders were assigned to provide lunch.  They asked us to help.  We did so by ordering 58 foot long subway sandwiches.  We do this quite often.   We are good friends with the folks at the Subway Sandwich shop.  They treat us real well.  Anyway after lunch the missionaries were off to work.

On Wednesday we took off early for Durazno.  We made a quick stop in Florida to talk to them about painting the house of the Zone Leaders.  After that we stopped and had a good visit with Elder and Sister Wall.  We arrived in Durazno just in time to see the tail end of District Meeting.  It was fun to spend time with the missionaries.

Our main purpose for going to Durazno was to fix the stove of the Zone Leaders.  All of the stoves in Uruguay run off propane tanks.  None of the four burners worked.  My first question was whether they had checked the gas.  It was fun to see the look on the Zone Leaders faces when I asked that question.  Apparently they had not.  I guess you could also ask why I didn’t ask them this from Montevideo to save the trip.  Another good question, but hey, I’m asking the questions.

So we changed the tank and the stove still did not work.  I took some time to clean each of the jets that feeds the individual burners.  I asked Elder Oroche and Ruiz what the Spanish word for jets is.  They responded, “la cosita de la cosa”.  Or in other words, “the thingy of the thingy.”   That really helped.  I thought how much fun that would be to walk into Standard Plumbing and ask Jason for the “cosita de la cosa”.  In reality, Jason would probably know what it was and would have one for me.  We did get three of the four burners working with instructions on how to fix the other one.  We could not buy the parts as it was during the siesta.  Shopping for things like that from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm is really quite fruitless if you are in the rural part of Uruguay.  Long live the siesta!

We then hurried home to fix dinner for Mary and Javier.  Hopefully you remember that Mary is the Mission cook.  She is a trained chef, so Renee was pretty nervous that her meal would pass the test.  Well, she solved that problem by serving my favorite Idaho dinner, Tinfoil dinners.  I think they turned out great as they ate every morsel.  I love Tinfoil dinners.  I can’t wait until I get home so I can make one over the fire.  Renee topped off the meal with apple crisp.  You can’t get any better than that.  Mary and Javier are such great people.  They are about our age.  Javier is a returned missionary and has served as a Bishop and about everything else.  Mary has too.  Renee and Mary are best friends.  We will really miss them when we leave.

Thursday we ran out to Los Ceibos to fix another stove.  Maintenance on the stoves and other fixtures in the houses is a constant battle.  We also stopped at the store to get the paint etc. for our little painting project in Minas on Friday.  We had to hurry because we had been invited to a Charla with Elder Cheney and Montiel.  We got back just in time.  Our first Charla was with Marcela.  She is a real neat lady.  The missionaries were so prepared with their message.  It went very well.  After our discussion, Renee and I helped her move some furniture in her house while the missionaries mowed the lawn.  Quite the lawn mower, I must say.  It is such a privilege to be able to bear testimony.

After that we went with them on another Charla to visit Jorge and his wife.  Jorge is a member and his wife is not.  Again, the missionaries had a real good message prepared that touched their hearts.  I can’t wait to see how they progress. By the way, Jorge owns a pizzeria.  Guess we need to make some more visits.  I hope my waistline can stand the “service” we have to do.

On Friday we arrived at the Minas house about 9:00 AM and the four Elders were ready.  The first thing we discovered was that the paint we bought did not work.  So we drove to the paint store and bought some more.  It ended up working great.  Elder Leano, Bio, Munoz and Cristobal were such good help.  It was a pretty big job but we managed to get it done.  It is not perfect but the walls are now clean and white and they look so much better.  My favorite part was spending time with the missionaries.  I was able to visit with them and get to know them better.  They come from a variety of backgrounds.  Some have families that have been members for generations.  Others are the only members in their families.  It is so neat to hear about how they decided to come on a mission.  We love listening to them.

I am real tired just telling you about our week.  But, we still had the weekend.  We took a little time Saturday morning to clean the house and then were off to Treinte y Tres before noon.  We dropped off an iron and ironing board in Minas on the way up and arrived at the chapel in time to set up for the Chapel Open house.  The open house was held at the Central/Plaza building in the Treinte Tres Stake.  I was so impressed with the preparedness of the members.  They brought several friends to the open house.  One of them even attended all of the meetings today.  Usually the Sisters do the tours, but, last night we only had two sets of Sisters so I was invited to do a couple of tours also.  It is such a blessing to testify of the Savior and the Restoration.  We had a great time with the missionaries and the people of Treinte Y Tres.

After the open house we went to dinner with the Bishop of the Plaza Ward and his wife.  Bishop Martinez has become a real good friend as he helps us with housing problems when needed.  We had a special time talking about our families and the Gospel.  Once again, if we lived in Treinte Y Tres I am sure we would be good friends.  I am sure I could teach him how to fish.

We got to bed a little late Saturday night and then were up for Church today.  It amazes me how organized the Church is.  The lessons that we had today were the same as all over the world.  The teachers taught with the Spirit and taught wonderful principals to help us throughout the week.  I love going to Church in Uruguay.  We were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting.  Renee did a good job with her Spanish and always brings a special spirit.  I talked about missionary work, quite a unique idea I know.  After church they had a special meeting for a young sister to open her missionary call.  She is going to Brazil.  It was another great experience.

What a great week of special experiences.  Our testimonies and friendships have been strengthened.  We continue to love the opportunity to serve.  Thanks for all you do.

Love,
Gordon and Renee