Change Week Again

Change week started with a bang as we were invited to an “Asada” by our zone, the Este Zone on Monday.  They asked me if I would help cook.  Let’s see fire, smoke, cooking, that sounds like a scout trip so I’m in.  The picture of the Asada or barbecue was taken at the asada stand at the Malvin Church.  These little houses are everywhere and are really handy because the fire is up so you don’t have to lean over to tend it.  While I was building the fire I sure wished I had my good pocket knife and hatchet.  There was plenty of meat and it turned out real well.  The missionaries had fun and so did we.

We have stated before that motorcycles are everywhere.  They cut in and out and I believe that they want to be killed.  Well, the law makes them wear florescent orange so we have seen a lot of vests etc.  Since it started to get cold we started to see heavy coats also.  All of my “redneck” friends can already see where this is going because a coat like this would be real good to hunt deer and elk.  I have asked several people where I could buy one but so far we have not been able to find one.  As we stated in other blogs, we have had workers in the office doing some remodeling.  We have become good friends and I hope they come to the Capilla Abierta on Saturday.  The other day I asked them where I could buy one and Alvaro told me he had one for me.  I understood this to mean that he sold them.  Well, it turns out he brought me one that he had used and gave it to me.  It fits and is just what I want.  I tried to pay him for it but he would hear none of it.  Guess what is going home in my suitcase instead of white shirts and slacks?

Tuesday is the day the new missionaries come in.  Typically they arrive from Buenos Aires about 10:30 A.M.  This time we had missionaries coming from the MTCs from Buenos Aires, Sao Pablo, Bogata and Mexico City.  The first ones were scheduled to arrive at 11:30 A.M.  Sister Wankier and I got to the airport about 11:00 A.M.  As we walked up to the front door, two Elders were standing outside looking around. They took us to the rest of the group. Their flight got in early and they were already out looking for us.  As we were the first ones there we pulled them off to the side and took them all for lunch at McDonalds.  Over the next two hours, the other three flights came in and we were able to gather them all up and take them to the mission home.

Things went pretty smooth after that.  On Wednesday Sister Wankier helped cook breakfast for the new missionaries and their trainers.  In the afternoon she helped cook dinner for 22 missionaries going home.  It was quite a big project with so many missionaries.  Thursday was flight day.  We had missionaries leaving from about midnight until the middle of the day. There was a fog that caused delays in the flights.  It turns out the early morning flights were about three hours late and the middle of the day flights were about four hours late.  One of the sisters heading to Paraguay had to wait and go home on Friday because her flight was canceled.

Changes are getting harder and harder to do as we get to know the missionaries.  This change we saw several real good missionaries go home.  Sister Ramos spent several months in our zone so we got to know her real well.  One of the highlights of our mission is her and the other Sister missionaries singing to us on the way to the airport.  I have it recorded but we are not able to send it so you can see it.  Hopefully we can figure out how to download it so we can share.  Another Elder that we got to know real well was Elder Torres from Ecuador.  It was sad to see them both leave.  We hope we can see them when we get home.

Thursday night we stopped by to see Humberto and Cristina to invite them to the Capilla Abierta.  To “celebrate” our visit, Cristina popped out some Canelones.  Wow, are they good.  I wonder why we don’t stop by there every night.  Humberto is going to help us set up the Capilla Abierta in the Malvin Ward and Cristina is going to make some treats.  We are looking forward to this for next week.
Friday we spent the day working in the office and then went to the ward dance at night.  There wasn’t much dancing but there was a lot of visiting and eating.  That’s my kind of dance.  They did have a couple in the ward do a folk dance that was real neat.  The highlight of the night for us was when the missionaries sang some songs.  After they sang a couple of songs, Elder Peterson played a couple of pieces on the piano.  He is a tremendous pianist.  Just off the cuff he played two really special songs that were incredibly difficult.  It makes us feel so good to see the missionaries do so well.

Saturday was a much needed rest day.  Today we traveled to the Obelisco Ward in the Las Piedras Stake to do the presentation for the Capilla Abierta to be held on July 9th.  Sister Wankier did a good job on her presentation and the ward members seemed real enthusiastic.  We had an enjoyable day with them.  As I stated, this was change week.  This next week is “the Change” as we get a new mission president.  It should be quite a week.

Change weeks highlight what missionary work is all about as we see the new ones show up, kinda scared and wondering what to do and contrast this with the missionaries that have been here for 18 months to two years and see how much they have learned and grown.  It is an amazing thing to watch the growth in their testimonies and also see our testimonies strengthened.  We continue to be grateful for this experience and we both enjoyed bearing our testimonies today of the truthfulness of Christ’s mission on this earth and the blessing that we have in our lives because of Him.  We love you all.

Gordon and Renee

“Por la Balsa” or “No Bridge Over Troubled Water”

Last week we wrote the blog from Chuy which is on the border of Brasil and right next to the coast.  We stayed there after our trip to Castillos because it is geographically much closer to Melo and Treinte y Tres.  By doing this we could save a lot of time for the inspections in these zones scheduled for Monday.  We stayed in a nice hotel that kind of reminds you of the hotels in Bolivia from “Butch Cassidy and Sundance the Kid”.  We got a good start and made good time to the town of Cebollati.  When we got to this town the paved road kind of ended and we could not figure out what road to take to go on up to Vergara.  We stopped to ask a guy on the street and he responded, “Por la Balsa?”  I thought that this must be the name of the road so I said yes.  He gave us the directions and off we went.  After about 15 minutes of driving on a dirt road we came to the river.  There was some concrete that was more or less a boat ramp going into the river.  It was then that I realized that “balsa” means barge or ferry.  We needed to cross the river on a ferry but there was none in sight.  We found a sign that said the ferry was not working so we had a little problem.  The little problem turned out to be about a 30 mile back track and an extra several hours to the trip.  Well at least I learned another word.

Our trip through Melo and Treinte Y Tres was long but good.  The Melo Zone even had a Zone activity to cook French Toast for us.  We saw most of the missionaries and had a good time.  We arrived home about 10:00 P.M. having covered about 1,500 kilometers since Saturday morning. That’s about 900 miles.

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the time in the office helping with the utility bills and arranging to get repairs on the apartments done.  On Wednesday night we helped the office missionaries put on dinner for the mission president and his wife.  It was a real good evening highlighted by the Elders doing the dishes.  At least that was what they were supposed to be doing in that little dance.  To see the dance, click here.

Thursday was another travel day as we had a couple of houses on the coast that we had not inspected.  So off to Piriapolis and La Capuera we went with two of the Temple Couples, the Jensens and Nesses.  The missionaries were in good spirits and ready to tell us about the families that they were teaching. These houses are close to Punta Del Este so we took the missionaries up there to show them around.  There are two bridges that are tourist attractions in this area, the wavy bridge and the circle bridge.  The picture of the wavy bridge is pretty good but our pictures on the circle bridge really don’t show much other than that we were on the bridge.  You can google “circle bridge Uruguay” and it shows a good aerial view.

Friday we helped in the office and took one of the Elders for his driving test.  We have a rule that when the Elders receive their Uruguay drivers license they also have to pass a safety test with me.  Well, some of the tests are quite interesting.   Some of the Elders have never driven a standard transmission and most of the vehicles here are standard so it can be quite eventful.  This one was quite uneventful and Elder Martinez is going to do well.

On Saturday we did our usual apartment cleaning and had the Secretaries over for lunch.  Elder Jensen is leaving and Elder Neilson is taking his place.  This is a real good chance to say thanks and et to know them better.

Today we did the “Capilla Abierta” (chapel open house) presentation for our ward, the Malvin ward.  Renee gave her presentation again and is gaining more confidence.  We expect a good turnout in two weeks.  This afternoon we had a Father’s day lunch with the Mission President and the Temple Missionaries.  It is kind of sad as President Cook and his wife leave the end of the month and we get a new president.  This week is change week.  We have about 20 missionaries going and coming so we are going to be busy.

We love you all and appreciate all you do for us.
Love
Gordon and Renee

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Last week we wrote that we had a lot of real big things that were finished so we expected a little bit slower week this week.  That was a dream.  We started out the week by attending the Corndogfest with the Este Zone.  Sister Wankier put the brakes on my title for this week’s blog of “The Missionaries Are Going To the Dogs.”  Kinda catchy but not real reverent.  Anyway, you can see that the missionaries had a good time.  I only had three.  I guess that is because they tasted real good.  The Zone Leaders, Elder Vallecillos and Elder Mitchell are good corn dog cooks and do a good job uniting their zone.  I couldn’t decide which picture so I put all of them on.

Next we had the visit from the mystery Missionaries.  About two weeks ago I received a call from Sister Norton.  She stated that she and Elder Norton were coming to Montevideo and wondered if we could pick them up.  She was not sure where or when.  After the call we still did not know why.   We did have some limited contact and figured to pick them up at the bus station at Tres Cruzes (three crosses).  As soon as they arrived we had to ask them the three questions, where did you come from, why are you here and where are you going.  On a side note, while we were waiting for them, two other missionaries from our mission showed up.  Seems as though they were on their way to the doctor and needed a ride.   We are going to call that, “listening to the still small voice”.
Anyway, the Norton’s supervise all of the chapel open houses for the South America South area.  This includes, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile.  They came over to give a presentation to the other Uruguay Mission.  They stayed from Monday afternoon until Wednesday morning.  We had a good time with them including dinner both nights.  Tuesday night dinner included the Crocketts.  They do essentially the same thing we do in the other mission.  The Nortons are from Utah Valley and currently live in Spanish Fork.  We discovered that Elder Norton’s Grandpa Norton lived on 5th South and Main in Nephi.  This is a few blocks from where my Grandma and Grandpa Warner lived.  We both remember going to Clark’s Market to buy treats.  His Grandma Francum is from Levan and would have been a little older than Dad.  No doubt that our grandparents knew each other.  I expect we will see each other on Memorial Day each year as we decorate the graves of our families.

On Wednesday we had the trip to inspect four houses, Canelones, Santa Lucia, San Jose and San Ramon.  To make it even more “Saintly”, the Elder in San Jose is Elder Santa Cruz.  It was a saintly day!  These apartments are off the main route and are very picturesque.  The highlight of the day was meeting with the missionaries.  They are so positive and excited.  Their warm smiles and grateful attitudes make us feel very happy.  I think they really like the treats that Sister Wankier takes for them.  No question that the best part of these trips is being able to hear the missionaries tell us about the people that they are teaching and all the good things that happen to them.  Included in our trip was the stop to take the pictures of the bridge.   The teenagers were right on the road where we stopped and were very fun to talk to.  They are taking a dairy production class at the school and were feeding the calves.  I think I have fed no less than a million calves in my day so I could kind of relate with them.

Thursday and Friday were spent helping with the rent and utility payments in the office and supporting the missionaries for the Oro Conference.  The new missionaries are called “Oros” or gold.  They bring them in at the end of the first change to teach them and support them as they get used to being in the mission field.  They are so strong and their companions are some of the best in the mission.  It is so good to spend time with them and watch them grow.  I kid all of the new ones that they could be the one that drives us to the airport when it is our time to go home.

Saturday we were off to Castillos again. Normally we take Saturday as preparation day or “P-Day, to iron, clean the house and go shopping for groceries.  So when we go to Castillos, it changes our schedule and we usually don’t get a P-day.  Usually we head to Castillos knowing that we have something to do but don’t know what it is.  This time we inspected all of the Rocha Zone houses too.  They are mostly clean and provide a good launching pad for the missionaries to share the Gospel with the people.  We had our usual visit and lunch with Hermana Narda which included Noochis.  Noochis is a secret word for really good.  They have them at Olive Garden but I like the ones down here a lot more.  Lunch was really good and Hermana Narda shared some real good experiences that she had recently had with less active members of the branch.  We love listening to the faith promoting experiences that she has.  After that we visited the Branch President and two Sisters that have been having some health problems.  We always feel good as we visit those in need and feel the love that they have for the Gospel and for us.  I have said this many times that it doesn’t take much to be appreciated and you surely feel this when you are able to visit.

Sunday we had a pleasant surprise as the District President came to visit.  President Aguilar is a great leader and did a tremendous job teaching the Priesthood/Relief Society Class on living the Gospel by doing the little things.  I was assigned to teach Sunday School.  Then in Sacrament Meeting Renee and I both had to speak.  So Renee gave her first talk in Spanish.  It was scary but the people in Castillos love her so much that you could feel how much they enjoyed it.  We really do love the people and have such a great time when we visit.  Two pretty neat things happened.  First, Sister Oreales has been sick.  We tried to visit her in the hospital the last time we went but could not find her.  Today she came to Church for the first time in a month.  You could tell that she was recovering from her hospital stay.  She bore her testimony about the power of receiving a Priesthood blessing.  She is a wonderful lady and we pray that she will get well.  Second, we stopped to see the Elder’s quorum president after the meeting.  Juan has not been able to come to church because of the some problems in his neighborhood.  We had a real good visit and you could tell that he was grateful that we stopped by.  We are praying that he can get things working in his neighborhood so that he can come to Church.

I put in a picture of the Proa Sur Hotel.  I did this because it is such a wonderful place to stay.   It has been quite cold in Uruguay and we have a hard time keeping our apartment warm and keeping enough hot water for both showers.  Well at the Proa Sur Hotel, it is warm and there is plenty of hot water.  It is at least as good as Little America.  Couple that with a breakfast that includes all the Dulce de Leche that you can eat and we are truly blessed.  Tonight we are staying in Chuy.   The Brasilian border is just out the front door of the hotel.  This Hotel is not quite as nice as the Proa Sur but is still comfortable.  We are going to visit the Treinte Tres and Melo Zones tomorrow.  It will be a full day.

We love serving and spending time with the missionaries.  We love what we do and feel a great deal of satisfaction in serving.  We love you all and are grateful for what you do.
Love Gordon and Renee

Super Bowl Week

This past week was one of the biggest weeks of our mission.  We have been working on several things and we completed the last one this week.  First, one Monday, we did apartment inspections in Florida and Durazno.  This is an all day affair but is a lot of fun because we are able to meet with a bunch of missionaries in their apartments.  They are always so fun an appreciative.  We are getting to know most of the missionaries and are able to visit with them about many things.  We are also impressed by how much the missionaries help us.  For example, Elder Silva, in Florida had a list of things he was willing to fix from bathroom problems to locks.  What a great help he is.  Next in Durazno we were able to help the missionaries with a bunch of things including putting in the smoke alarms that have been sent from the US.  Durazno is more spread out so it takes longer to see everyone.  For example, Trinidad is off the main road and takes about 40 minutes each way.  The Sisters there are so wonderful and full of love for the work.  I really like the street scene in Trinidad.  It is so Uruguayo.

Durazno includes Paso de Los Torros which is at the end of the road on route 5.  They are not on the way to anywhere.  This ward is real strong and gives the missionaries a lot of help.  The missionaries love working here.  They highlight of the day was our dinner.  Sister Ramos has lived by us for four and a half months.  She was transferred to Durazno for her last change as she goes home in two weeks.  On the way home we went to dinner with her and her companion.  They had to go early as they had charlas for most of the evening.  This is so typical of the missionaries.  They are so good to teach the Gospel.  Well our dinner was real special.  I think I am going to take a video of Sister Ramos’ laugh so I can play it back when she is gone.  It always makes me feel better.

Tuesday was a real big day.  We have been working to close a house in the 18 de Mayo area since March.  Several delays, contracts from attorneys and other issues have made it difficult to get done.  Well, Tuesday at noon we finally got it done.  Woohoo!  We were more than happy.
We had an interesting experience on the way home. We decided to take a short cut home instead of the usual way done the ruta.  We stopped in Las Piedras to gas up the van.  As I got out I saw two Elders, Elder Santa Cruz and Elder Ruiz.  They were on their way back to their area from Zone Conference.  We talked for a minute but they had to get moving to catch their bus back to their area.  After gasing up we headed home passing by the Las Piedras Stake Center.  In front of the Stake Center were the Zone Leaders.  We rolled down the window and yelled the obligatory “Mormones” as usual.  Well about a block later we get the phone call.  The Zone Leaders had a problem.  It seems as though Elder Santa Cruz and Ruiz didn’t have enough change to get on the bus (and yes we wondered why they just found this out too).  Well we just happened to have enough change to help them out.  It’s kinda interesting how these things work.

Wednesday was another big day as we had to move the sisters in Sarandi Del Yi.  This is about three hours away from Montevideo on Ruta 6.  This is a less traveled road.  We stopped at one of the other apartments on the way and picked up some furniture that they needed.  We arrived about 12:30 and to our delight the members had all of their stuff ready to load.  We had about ten members helping clean out the old apartment and move into the new one.  They even put up balloons in the new apartment.  The help included lunch for all of the missionaries by Bishop Lemos.  What wonderful members we have down here.  It is so neat to spend time with them and listen to them share their testimonies.  The Zone Leaders and District Leaders came from Durazno to help with the move.  We took them home so they didn’t have to buy a bus ticket.  It added about two hours to the trip but it was worth it.
Thursday and Friday we spent time in the office, helping with the finances.  Also on Friday, they had Zone Leader Conference and we helped with the meals and moving missionaries around.  Those are really fun days.  I like the picture of the Assistants laying on the floor after the Zone Leader Conference.  It takes a lot of planning to pull that meeting off and they were tired.

The weather here remains chilly.  We have been able to go for a walk most mornings but we do bundle up.  It has been about 50 degrees, but when it is cloudy and the wind is blowing, the cold goes right through you.  We have now been in Uruguay for 5 months and are starting to learn our duties.  We had a real neat conversation with Elder Vinas of the Seventy last week.  He was the first mission president of the Salta Argentina mission.  We were immediate friends when he found out I served there.  We discussed the difficulty of customs of managing the apartments.  It made me feel a lot better when I let me know that he had the same problems that we have.  I guess that is why they call it missionary work.  If it was always fun, they would call it play.  Every day we find new challenges and learn new things.  It is not easy but we do receive a lot of satisfaction knowing who we serve and why.  The missionaries continue to bring us joy.  We love them and are always made to feel better when we are with them.

We are grateful for our Testimonies of the Savior and the wonderful things He did for us so that we can spend Eternity with our families.  We love you all.  Remember, a little comment on the blog earns a lot of “points.”

Gordon and Renee

Okay, So It’s Not Always Paradise

It has been pretty good weather the last couple of weeks as we have not had much storm, but today it is rainy and cold.  We are staying inside and with the help of our heaters, we can stay warm.  We have a great deal of respect for the missionaries strength as  they go out in weather like this.

Last Monday we had Elder Torres and Elder Childs over for lunch.  Elder Torres is going home next week and we wanted to have him over for dinner before he goes.  Elder Childs is actually in our “group” and will go home when we do.  Elder Torres is from Ecuador.  We have become real good friends.  We kid that instead of going home, he is just going to stay with us.  He is a tremendous missionary and a great friend.  We will really miss him.  Based on how much they ate, I would say that they enjoyed it.  I mean, three plates full indicates a preference, right?

Wednesday was a busy day as we went to “Treinte y Tres”  (33) to move the Sisters into a new house.  I have mentioned this before, that this town is named after thirty-three men that launched an attack as part of the revolution.  To me, 33 also stands for three hours up and three hours back.  It is mostly on 2 lane highway with a lot of slow trucks and other vehicles.  Anyway, when we get there is it always fun.  The missionaries are always enthusiastic and helpful.  It didn’t take us long to move and get them settled.  We did make a couple of trips to the store to purchase the things that they still needed.
There was one neat thing that happened.  While we were moving, a couple of the Elders had to leave for an appointment for a “charla”.  We saw them as they returned and they were all excited.  The person they met with had several questions and issues.  They were able to answer her questions and understand the Gospel better.  This was really positive for them and in turn for us.

Saturday night we put on our first “Capilla Abierta”(chapel open house).  It was held in the Las Piedras Ward which is about an hour away from our apartment.  The members were very enthusiastic at the meeting we held to discuss the Capilla Abierta, so we were pretty optimistic.  The missionaries met us early to put up the posters and get everything ready.  I have included a picture of the Christus which was taken in the visitor center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  The tour starts in the Chapel with this picture with the missionaries playing a CD of the words of Christ when he visited America in the Book of Mormon.  From there they take the people to various places around the meeting house to explain the other parts of the Gospel.

It went very well with about 50 people coming including 10 people that are not members of the Church.  We expect to have some good discussions with them in the coming weeks.  Doing the Capilla Abierta is one of our duties and we expect to do more in the coming months.  We would like to show more pictures of the people but are trying to be careful of what we put on this blog.

We continue to take care of the business end of the mission as we help maintain the housing for the missionaries.  In the last week we have had one clogged drain, two bathrooms that needed new fixtures, a broken gate and a house that needs to be painted.  That is a typical week.

We love serving in the mission.  It is not easy and we have challenges every day.  But, the Lord helps us overcome them and help the missionaries be successful.  We love the Lord and consider it a privilege to serve Him.  We love each of you and appreciate your support.

Gordon and Renee

Another fun week at the office

The pictures that are included may look like all we do is eat, but actually we do get a little work in.  Monday was our quarterly visit to inspect houses in the Maldonado Zone.  When we called the Zone Leaders to confirm they said they were planning to do an” asado” for us so we had to oblige.  After doing the house inspections and changing a lock on one of the houses we were off for the asado.  Elder Anderson and Ontiverous did the cooking and the rest of us did the eating.  They bought 10 kilos (22 lbs.) of meat.  Asado meat is kind of different.  It is mostly waste meat from the backbone of a pig or cow.  It is delicious.  We had a great time with the missionaries.  It is great to hear about the people that they are teaching.  They are so fired up.  I had to include the picture of the four coats hung up on the door.  It has been cold so they have had to bundle up.  I love all of the hard work that these coats represent.  Our trip to Maldonado included a visit to Rocha to drop off some food to the missionaries up there.  It was a full day.

We helped the missionaries in the office for part of the week but we did get a chance to get in on some real missionary action.  On Wednesday night we were invited to go with Elder Peterson and Rodrigez to teach.  We started at Hermana Nilda’s house.  She is a relatively new member that fed the missionaries dinner.  She has a strong testimony and is so supportive.  She served us empanadas and a torta.  After our meeting with her we went to visit Oscar.  Oscar is from Peru and has some members of his family that are members.  The missionaries have been challenging him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  As they talked to him about what he has been reading, he said that he woke up in the middle of the night the other night and decided to do some reading.  After reading the Book of Mormon he prayed to Heavenly Father.  He stated that he had a real warm feeling inside and feels real good about his decision to join the Church.  We reviewed Moroni 10:3-5 with him and he agreed that had received and answer to his prayer that the Book of Mormon is true.  What a neat guy.
 On Thursday night we went to see Humberto and Cristina again.  We had a great visit as they told us about their vacation to the north of Uruguay.  Cristina made a special cake or torta where you make a crust and smear dulce de leche all over it and then bake it.  It was delicious.  We had a chance to visit with Cristina about her belief in God and Jesus Christ.  We had another wonderful evening.

We were planning to visit them on Friday night but Humberto told us we had to change it because there was an Elder’s Quorum activity on Friday.  I think us gringos could learn a little bit about how this party was organized and how it was carried out.  We heard through the grape vine that they were going to cook hamburgers starting at 7:00 P.M.  We arrived at 7:00 P.M. to an empty Church except for the office elders.  About 7:30 P.M. we saw some hamburger buns and stuff show up.  About 8:00 P.M. some of the members started to come in.  About 8:30 P.M. they started to fire up the grill and at 9:30 P.M. we started to eat.  During all of this, the men of all ages played soccer, ping pong, foosball and other activities in the gym.  No one seemed to mind about how things were planned and carried out.  Everyone had a great time.  It was especially good because Oscar, who we visited on Wednesday came and got to meet a lot of good members in the ward and had a great time.  The missionaries had another investigator come also and he had a good time.  I sometimes wonder if we would all be more happy if we just slowed down a little and enjoyed life a little more.  By the way, I can just see my family members rolling their eyes at this comment coming from me.

Our day was filled with a multi-zone conference on Friday.  We had three zones together with about 60 missionaries.  President and Sister Cook delivered wonderful messages and the missionaries were inspired.  The highlight of the conference was the video.  The Assistants asked all of the zones to make a video so they could compile them for President and Sister Cook for their last zone conferences.  It will be sad to see them go the end of June.  The video was a hit and the feelings that the missionaries have for the Cooks is incredible.

Saturday, we were off to Castillos.  This was one of the neatest experiences of our mission.  We had trouble deciding when to go.  This week end was District Conference in Rocha so originally we decided it would be better to go another week so we could attend to the Branch meetings.  But this was the only week we could do it.  As last week we had the Capilla Abierta presentation at Las Piedras and next week we have to do the Capilla Abierta.  We had our usual lunch visit with Hermana Narda.  She told us that she was not going to go to the District Conference.  We invited her and hoped that she would come.  After that we stopped to visit the Branch President.  He had some family issues and was afraid that he was not going to make it either.  At that point we wondered what was going on.

Well Sunday came and both Hermana Narda and the Branch President were able to come.  The conference started off with a primary choir singing "If I listen With my Heart".  What a wonderful experience to see these 15 wonderful little children sing from their heart.  At that moment it struck me that I am not in Uruguay just to Preach the Gospel, I am here to help build the Church for these little ones.  The Church in Rocha and Castillos needs to grow so that these beautiful little children have the opportunity to grow up with the influence of the Savior in their lives.  If you don’t know this song you can click the link above to watch it on you tube.  It has a very powerful message.

Next we heard from President Cook.  He spoke about the need to forgive and how important it is that we forgive others.  This is the last address that he will give to the members in Rocha.  What a wonderful message.  The other messages were also very powerful and touched everyone.  After the meeting, Hermana Narda had tears in her eyes.  She felt so good being in Rocha and meeting her friends.  It was then that we realized that we came this week so we could help invite the Castillos members to come to this wonderful conference.  I remember what Elder Bednar told us a couple of months ago.  He said that we should not be sitting waiting for the Spirit to strike us and tell us what to do.  If we feel that we should do something, then we should do it.

We continue to love serving as our testimonies are strengthened each day.  We love the missionaries and the people of Uruguay.  Most of all we love the Lord and know that he is our Savior.  What a wonderful blessing to be able to serve Him.  We love you all.

Gordon and Renee

You Can’t Make this Stuff Up

May 15, 2016

There are two missions in Uruguay, our mission and the West mission.  We both have 10 passenger Hyundai vans that are operated primarily by the office Elders.  The other mission van got a flat tire during the Easter Holiday week which was also change week for them.  All of the tire stores were closed for the Easter Holiday.  As they did not have a spare, they asked if they could use our spare.  When they, arrived, for some reason that I am not sure of, they put our spare on our van and our good tire on their van.  This was a joint effort of the office elders from both missions.  We understood that we would get the tire back as soon as the tire stores opened the next week.   Well Easter was the last week of March. 

After several weeks we started asking about our tire, we even sent them a bill.  No answer.  Finally a couple of weeks ago the Elders from the other mission showed up to get their old wheel to put on a new tire.  At that time I told them that I was going to hold one of the missionaries, Elder Jara, in our office for collateral until we got our tire back.  That would have been a good idea, as they took another two weeks to get our tire back.  Finally we got our tire back.  We have had it for several days and have not put the good tire back on yet.   Oh well, maybe this week.

This past week was change week and had it usual wrinkles.  It started on Tuesday with the Mission President going to the airport to pick up missionaries for a 4:30 A. M. flight.  The plane did not actually get in until 8:30 A. M.  Needless to say, the Mission President was tired.  Most everything else went about as planned and we busied ourselves with feeding and busing missionaries for the week.  We really appreciate all that the Mission President and his wife do.  They have a big job.

One of our responsibilities is to sponsor Chapel Open Houses.  They call them a “Capilla Abierta”.  We have been slow to get them going as we have had so many other things to get going.  This is a formal program of the church.  We go to a ward and give a presentation during Sunday School about the program and then come back in two weeks to do it on a Saturday night.  Our first Sunday program was today in the Las Piedras Ward which is about an hour from our apartment.  We are supposed to do a slide show that tells a little bit about our family and then discuss what we do on the Capilla Abierta.  Renee started first and told about our family including pictures of Idaho and our family.  She did it in Spanish and did a real good job.  I then took my turn and explained the process to set up the posters etc.  It went really well.  The members of the Ward were so friendly and helpful.  We could feel their excitement and enthusiasm.  We expect a real good program in two weeks.  It is so wonderful to have the opportunity to bear our testimonies of the Savior and what we know to be true.  When we do it we feel the love of the Savior and the love of the people.  You will have to stay tuned for how it goes in two weeks.

The weather continues to be pretty chilly.  The temperature is in the low 50’s and the wind is blowing.  It has also been raining most of the day.  We really have a lot of respect for the missionaries that are out in this tough weather.  They are so strong and are so committed.  We love you all and are so grateful for all of the support. 

We send our love from Uruguay, 
Gordon and Renee