Taking Care of Business

February 26, 2017

Never pass up a chance for a picture of the horse drawn carts.
This is on one of the busiest streets right in the heart of Montevideo

We had a pretty busy week that included taking fans to missionaries and doing the basic missionary business.  Let me tell you with as hot and humid as it is, when you show up at a missionary house with a fan you are one popular dude.  The weather has been so hot. We are so grateful for the work the missionaries do and the challenges that they put up with.  These things are important but not necessarily what makes for an interesting blog.

So I think I’ll talk about the missionaries instead.  This is the last week before changes so Renee made lunch for the Elders.  Elder Hayden and Palomino are leaving after six months.  They have worked hard and served well.  For lunch Renee served pulled pork sandwiches, green salad, jello and banana cream pie for dessert.  You can tell by the missionaries that they enjoyed it.  Elder Palomino especially liked the red punch.  You know, working in the mission office looks pretty good when the weather is bad but most don’t see the 2:00 A.M. plane flights or other emergencies that come up.  I am really grateful for all they do.

We had a couple of things pop up where we needed to change the water bill numbers and things like that.  It always takes time and is probably more complicated because I don’t necessarily understand everything they tell me.  Included in our jobs was a trip to Maldonado to check smoke alarms.  We thought we better take a picture of the Sisters as that always makes the blog better.  I’ll let you judge on how they are doing.

The main attraction for the week was our weekend in Castillos.  We have quite a few friends that we like to check up on when we go.  We also are working through the list of members to try and find all we can.  This time we were able to check out several names.  We only found a couple but we were able to visit with several good people and get to know them better.  It is interesting that some people are open and warm.  They have no problem visiting and sharing their beliefs on the Savior and Religion in general.  Others act like we have some sort of plague and they may catch it.  One of the most interesting visits we had was when we stopped at one of the addresses on the list and instead of finding a member we found a Jehovah’s Witness.  This guy was quite friendly and we had a good visit as you could tell that we both have a desire to serve the Lord.

We were able to stop by several families that are more or less active.  We were able to have a good Gospel discussion with them.  One of our favorite lessons is when we talk about Lehi’s dream.  We like to describe the dream and then ask them where they are in the dream and where they want to be.  Without question, they all want to partake of the fruit but it is quite interesting as they tell us that they are somewhere besides the path.  This gives us a good chance to bear testimony and teach that in order to stay on the path, you need to read the scriptures daily and come to Church.  Some have responded quite strongly.  In fact this week we probably saw the most success that we have seen in inviting people to Church.  It amazes us when we see the challenges that we see the members face.  As we get to know the members in Castillos better, we have grown to love them more.

One of the members lives in a house in back of the Church.  Her name is Marilu.  She had her 71st birthday party Saturday night.  The Elders painted a flag of Uruguay on the fence to help her celebrate.  We had a good time at the party and even got to discuss the Church with a few of the neighbors.  It was quite the party.

This is Elder Jensen’s last week end.  It would have been quite easy to just come to the party for the evening but he and Elder Ramos had Charlas all night as he served hard right up to the end.  They dropped by late to say hi to everyone as they had plenty to do.  I am real proud of him.  In the meetings today you could tell that the members really appreciate him and will miss him.

So we are in the middle of summer and it is hot and humid.  A couple of weeks ago it cooled off a bit so we hoped that we were through the worst part.  But this week the heat and humidity returned.  When we are visiting missionary apartments it is quite humid.  After a little bit in the street or in a hot apartment we are ready to melt.  We are such big babies as we enjoy the air conditioning in the car and our apartment.  I guess we could survive the heat without the air conditioning but I am so glad we don’t need to find out.  Our love, respect and appreciation for the missionaries grows every day.

We have been getting some info about the flooding in Blackfoot and elsewhere and we are worried and praying for our friends.  I hope everyone is able to survive.  We wish we could help but for now we’ll just enjoy the heat.

Thanks for all you do for us.  We really appreciate the love and support as we serve.

Love
Gordon and Renee

Fannies in the Seats

February 19, 2017

We had a worldwide missionary conference a few weeks ago that gave us some great training.  In the conference they changed the reporting requirements from about 9 things including hours worked, discussions and about everything else to only four things: 1. New investigators, 2. Investigators in Church, 3. Baptisms, 4. Confirmations.  This is so inspired.  We are all normal and want to fill our report with as much stuff as possible.  This teaches us to concentrate on the most important.  Finding people and getting them to Church leads to baptism and confirmation.  Now the missionaries are really hustling to put something on the report.  That leads to great success.  Today the two sets of missionaries in Malvin each had investigators in Church.  They were real excited.  The investigators felt very welcome and they have high hopes for more success.  I swear, there are very few things that make missionaries happier than having investigators in Church.  Also, the work that goes into getting someone to come to Church is beyond what most people can comprehend.  I am so excited for them.

After two chances to rent a house fell through,
we needed a little cheering up.
Good ice cream will do that

We had what we consider a slower week with not as much stuff on our plate.  We had a  few stops to help missionaries and their houses so we had to take a picture.  Also, we are trying to find a new house for the Zone Leaders in the Norte Zone.  We went out one day and found two pretty good choices.  When we went back two days later they were both rented.  We were pretty bummed so we had to have a little ice cream to cheer us up.

Everyone needs a little sugar in their life

We also had time to go to the Temple for the second week in a row.  That really felt good.  I am feeling more comfortable with the session in Spanish so it is quite enjoyable.  The big project for the week was painting the house in San Carlos.  We drove up Thursday morning to get everything set up and then on Friday while Renee cooked for the Oro Conference I drove up and helped the missionaries paint.  We had one Member, Brother Machado, help also.  It was a big job, but we got it done in about 5 hours.  I was very tired and very hungry.  The missionaries were good to stay with it and get it done.  Too bad painting isn’t more exciting to talk about.

We finished the paint job.  I'm glad you can't see how tired I was

Oro Conference.  Let's hear one for Sister Kessler

We included some pictures of the Oro Conference.  I wish I could have been there.  Renee said all the newbies are doing well.  Saturday we had a chance to rest and relax a little.  In the afternoon we took the Capilla Abierta kit to the 18 de Mayo ward.  It is always fun to spend time with the missionaries.  We know this group of missionaries real well.  It was kind of hard to get people to attend but in the end they had seven investigators with three of them very interested.  That does not count the many people the missionaries invited to come in but declined.  I continue to be amazed at how strong the missionaries are and how much effort they put into getting people to listen.  Seven may not seem like a lot but I think that one is huge because they are one of our brothers.

Of course we had the "Cristo" picture

We finally got a good picture of Humberto and Cristina

To finish off the week we went to Church in Malvin.  Humberto came with his white shirt and tie already to administer the Sacrament.  He was very humble preparing the Sacrament and did such a good job passing.  I was so proud of him.  His reverence of the Priesthood helps me understand what a privilege it is to hold it and use it to bless my family.

The last thing on our list this week is our special visit from the Aunt and Uncle of our son-in-law, Trent.  Hope you keep the genealogy straight.   Larry and Darla Allen came to Montevideo yesterday on vacation.  Larry spent about six years here in the ‘60s when his dad supervised chapel construction for the Church.  They wanted to tour Uruguay a day or two before they go on a cruise around the bottom of South America.  We met them today and enjoyed lunch and a little tour of Montevideo.  They are so fun.  It was fun to hear Larry tell about how the Church has grown.  For example, he remembers when the Bishop of the Curasco Ward was baptized as a teenager.  He even has a picture.  It is amazing to see the growth of the Church.  What a neat blessing we have to be part of it.

Some of you may know that we finally got on facebook.  That is so we can follow the exploits of missionaries that have gone home.  It is fun to see how they are doing.  It also makes us miss them more.  We love you all and look forward to hearing from you.  It sure is a blessing to be able to serve.

We love you
Gordon and Renee

EL BAURU

February 12, 2017

El Bauru. Hamburger, ham, cheese, fried egg, veggies.  The ultimate health food.

Is this a great sandwich or what?  It’s called a Bauru.  It is made by frying hamburger and then putting ham, cheese, a fried egg, corn, peas and other veggies and salsas on it.  They then put it all together and then cook it like a big toasted cheese sandwich.  Renee and I can’t eat a whole one.  For the Elders, it is no problem.

So for the week, Monday and Tuesday we were busy doing office stuff.  We have several things we are doing to make the office run more efficient like having the water and light bills come to an email instead of looking them up on the internet.  Good stuff but not the kind of stuff that gets people to read your blog. So let’s talk about the sandwich a little more.  On Wednesday we needed to go to Durazno, about a two and a half hour drive to fix a bed for the sisters.  You might as well make a day of it so we met the six missionaries in Durazno for lunch at the street diner called El Gaucho.  Guess what their specialty is?  El Bauru!  We have had it before but it was especially good this time.  The sisters shared one as did Renee and I.  The Elders ate a whole one each.  Wow, they are my heroes.  I remember when I could eat like that and stay thin.  Not so much anymore.  After lunch, we fixed the bed in about ten minutes.  I put a board up the side of the broken part and put in a few screws.  You know, if a few do a little good, a lot will do a lot of good.  Sister Vasquez was good help even though she has no idea what to do with the saw.

We also found out that the tap in the kitchen of the Elder’s apartment was leaking, so I stopped at the hardware store and got a new one.  Elder Oroche was in charge and had the old one off before we got back.  As is the case with all plumbing jobs, we needed a few other parts so I took the second trip.  But, all in all it was done in a two trip job and now they have a new tap.  I am so impressed with Elder Oroche and Elder Ruiz, the zone leaders.  They are so positive and happy.  I’m thinking of asking President Eddy if I can be their companion.

Thursday was another office day which helped us stay caught up.  Friday we were off for Castillos.  We had a special request to have Renee show the Elders some quick and easy recipes.  She got everything ready to make tin foil dinners, Spanish rice, stroganoff, stir fry and the rice/pea/hamburger casserole that our family likes.  The elders were real good to help prepare the veggies and help cook.  They were also good at helping to clean up.  Guess what they were the best at?  Eating!!  They each took some of the five different meals and really put the food away.  A big surprise is that they still had room for the chocolate chip cookies that Renee made.  You can tell from the photo that they had a good time.  We sure did.

The rest of the weekend we spent in Castillos.  We stayed at a hostel called “La Vieja” right in town.  It was really quite nice and probably better than any missionary apartment that we have.  We slept pretty well and did not have to travel as much.  Our emphasis is getting to know the existing members and inviting them back to Church.  We pray continually that we will be led to those who need us to visit them.  Friday afternoon we decided to find our friend Johnny Lopez and family.  Problem is, they don’t live in Castillos during the summer as he lives in “Aguas Dulces” which is on the beach about five miles from town. He lives there so he can do paintings for people and sell them.  We had some idea where he was staying so we took off, kind of like Nephi, not knowing what to do.  We found a guy that knew Johnny and told us where to go.  As we wandered around in the car we ran into Johnny and his wife.  We had a good visit.  They are such good people.

After that we made some other visits in town and then went to the Hostel.  On Saturday morning we started by going on a charla with the Elders to see Anna.  She is a wonderful lady and very sincere about her testimony.  We were able to testify to her about the Church.  It was fun.  Then we were off to find more people on the list.  We had some success and have the list organized now so we can find some more when we go back in two weeks.  Lunch at Narda’s was great as usual.  We had milanesas, green salad and “Russian salad”.  This is made with rice, potatoes and carrots.  The Uruguayos put a ton of mayonnaise on it.  I prefer it without.  I think Narda realizes this because she makes it without and then you can add what you want.  I want none, so that is pretty easy.  We topped it off with Renee’s pear pie.  I’m telling you it is worth coming to Uruguay to get some pear pie from Renee.
Saturday evening we had a good couple of visits ourselves and went on a Charla with Elder Jensen and Ramos.  They taught the principle of baptism and following the Savior.  They did such a wonderful job.  You could feel the Spirit and we enjoyed bearing testimony also.  So that brings us to Sunday.

The Missionaries work all week with one goal in mind- how many people are going to come to Church.  I can’t even begin to tell you how hard they work to teach and inspire and encourage people to come to Church.  So this morning when FOUR investigators came to Church, that was big!  I mean really big!  Elder Jensen is currently the branch president.  He along with Elder Ramos really form a good companionship.  They work hard and teach very strong charlas with the Spirit.  It is a blessing for us to be with them.  I sent the picture of Sunday School to Elder Stewart who was in Castillos until November as Analia, the sister in the middle was baptized when he was here.  I hope he likes it.  We are already looking forward to going back in two weeks.

Another thing, we got on Facebook this week. I have to say that I don’t understand anything about it but it is fun to learn.  We have found out a lot about the missionaries that have gone home.

Another busy week is past.  We continue to have a great time.  Thanks for all of your support.
Gordon and Renee

AND IF IT SO BE THAT YOU SHOULD LABOR ALL YOUR DAYS…..

February 5, 2017

February 5th is significant to me because I arrived home from Argentina on this day 42 years ago.  I mark it every year.  It is special to us now because of the great blessings that we have received this week.

This week was pay off week.  We saw many things completed that we have been working on.  Let’s start with Cristina and Humberto.  Humberto has been a member for over 60 years but still does not have the priesthood.  Cristina is not a member.   If you have read our blog you have seen pictures and comments about Cristina for the past year.  It started a year ago when we started attending charlas at their home for their niece.  We connected right off and became good friends.  We had some good charlas but did not see any baptisms.  We stayed in contact and visited Humberto and Cristina from time to time as our schedule permitted.

 In July, Cristina had a stroke that robbed her of her speech and use of her left side.  Renee and I went to the Hospital with Humberto and Elder Peterson and Rodriguez to give her a blessing.  It was well received, and we were hopeful that she would recover even though she was very ill.  Well, less than a week later she was discharged to the home of her daughter where she regained her speech and ability to use her left side.  Even though she was still quite weak, she came home in late August.  She continued to get better.

 In November, we invited her to go to a meeting with Elder Rasband, one of the 12 Apostles.  It was a very special meeting.  After the meeting, Cristina started to talk about getting baptized.  She started reading the Book of Mormon without being prompted and started to come to Church. She commented that she felt a very special warmth whenever she reads the Book of Mormon.   Humberto’s church attendance had been somewhat erratic but started to get better.  The Sister missionaries, Sister Nava and Anderson, did a great job fellow-shipping and teaching Cristina.  Humberto started taking classes to learn about the Aaronic Priesthood and they continued to progress.  From the day that Cristina first told us that she wanted to get baptized she has been very faithful.  They have come every week even though she does not feel well all of the time.

Monday night, the Sisters taught Cristina about families

Last Sunday, Humberto was presented to the Ward to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  On Monday night as we completed the charla for Cristina, the Bishop stopped by and conferred the Priesthood on him and ordained him a Priest.  He was overcome by emotion as he has talked to us about the importance of receiving the Priesthood and now he finally has it.  What a special day.

That all led up to Saturday night.  Cristina asked me to baptize her.  It is my first actual baptism of a convert as we always had members do it the first time around.  Humberto also came into the font to help so that she would feel more secure.  What a special night.  Renee gave the talk on baptism and did a good job.  She is getting better all the time with Spanish.  After the baptism we had a little get together at their house with some of the ward members.  It was really neat.  Today she was confirmed.  It was another special meeting.  It is really hard to describe how you feel when this happens.  You kinda have to be here.

The "after" party

Just so you don’t think that all we did was wait around all week for the baptism; we included a few photos of our trip to Melo and Treinte y Tres.  We left early on Thursday morning to put the mosquito nets on the beds of these last two zones.   We got over half of the beds done on Thursday and spent the night in Melo so we could finish on Friday.  All in all it was over 1,000 kilometers.  We really had a great time with the missionaries.  They were able to share stories of how things are going in their areas and we were able to encourage them.  I wish I had time to talk about all of them.

I will talk about a couple of companion-ships.  First, Sister Wickell and Sister Parada.  Sister Wickell is from Nephi.  That is where I was born so I naturally like to meet people from my home town.  Sister Parada is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  Emily Park from our ward in Blackfoot served in her ward last year.  Emily served with Sister Quackenbush, who is the daughter of my niece, Tanya.  Pretty small world.  These sisters are working hard and I expect them to have success.

Next we have Elder Ward and Fix. They were both real helpful in putting up the nets and we had a good visit.  It also isn’t too hard to get them to be a little crazy.   I like to include Elder Ward because he is from our daughter’s ward and his mother comments on the blog.  So if you happen to be a missionary parent that reads this blog from time to time, I guess you now have an idea on how to get more pictures of your child in the blog.  So with that trip we have now put nets on all of the houses in the mission.  That is 70 houses and about 190 beds.  We are tired and ready for something else.

Lastly, I wanted to include some pictures of the Melo countryside.  It is so green and beautiful.  I especially love the clouds.  Uruguay is a wonderful place, but not so much today as right now we are having a big rain and wind storm.  I hope the missionaries can stay dry and protected.

Another great week is complete.  We hope everyone enjoys the Super Bowl parties and time with family.  We love the work that we do.  It is not easy by any means but we love it.  Today in Sunday School that taught of the creation.  So our Savior created the world and everything in it.  Then He came to earth to teach us the right way and to top it all off he died for all of us so that we could return to live with Him and our families for ever.  So how important is the Savior in our lives?  He is everything!

We love you all.
Gordon and Renee

Learning from an Apostle

January 29, 2017

The highlight of this week was spending time with Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve.  What a great experience.  Sister Konopnicki and Sister Luker are Sister Training Leaders in Melo.  They needed to come in on Monday for conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday.  That gave us the perfect opportunity to have a little BBQ.  We grilled the burgers on a grill we have and added the jello, potato salad, etc. and we had a party.  It was a lot of fun.  The Sisters are such great examples.

Tuesday we had a special conference.  It started at 2:00 P. M. and included the Zone Leaders and District Leaders of both missions.  It is quite a project to feed 150 missionaries.  Renee and Mary made sloppy joes and fruit for the lunch.  The missionaries ate well and were prepared for the conference.

During the morning, I ran a fan out to the Elders in 18 de Mayo.  In this hot muggy weather a messenger with a fan is very popular.

The conference was held at the Carasco Chapel.  It is a nice chapel but let’s say the air conditioning needs a
little work.  I don’t think I have ever been that hot.  Even with that the conference was extra special.  Elder Stevenson taught us the importance of teaching principals and also teaching the promise.  For example, in the last verse of D&C section 4 it states, “ask and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  What if there was no promise?  It would only be, “ask, knock”.  Quite a bit of difference.  His whole message was one to fill the missionaries full of the Spirit and get them ready to teach.

Tuesday night there was a conference for adults in the other mission.  We took the Temple Missionaries to it.  Again it was very hot but very good.  Elder Stevenson taught how to be missionaries.  He gave several small steps including praying for missionaries by name and praying for people to teach.  All in all a very good day.  So that makes three apostles that have visited our mission in the last twelve months.  We feel pretty special.  It is too bad that all the missionaries could not attend.

Wednesday was Zone Leader Conference.  Renee helped with the cooking and I did some office work and got ready for the rest of the week.  Wednesday also included a worldwide missionary conference from Salt Lake where we were instructed on the things we need to do to be better missionaries.  I am amazed at how good the teachings are.  They are so good to give us what we need.  I am also amazed at how even though things have changed and gotten a lot better than 42 years ago when I was on my first mission, things are still pretty much the same.  In spite of all the advances and changes, the hardest thing to do is find someone to teach.  Then, it is very important that they are taught the Gospel in a simple, powerful way so they can gain a testimony.

Thursday and Friday we spent going up Route 5 to put mosquito nets on beds.  We went to 13 houses and covered a lot of Kilometers.  We got home late on Friday night, tired but grateful to have another leg of the mission complete.  We included quite a few pictures of the missionaries.  Some of them really got into the pose.  There are some great leaders in this group.  My favorite picture is of Elder Avendano.  He really did a great pose.  He is a little older than some of the missionaries and is a great leader.  It is great to spend time with him.

We finished up by milking a few alfajores

On Friday they had a Zone Conference in Durazno so we kind of had to dodge that while we did the nets.  We accomplished it by doing some of the Durazno nets on Thursday night and then early Friday morning.  This gave us a chance to attend Zone Conference.  The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders presented information from the conferences that they had attended.  They have changed the number of things that need to be reported each week.  There used to be 9 things including lessons, hours, etc.  Now there are only four: 1. new investigators, 2. Investigators in Church, 3. Baptisms and 4.   Confirmations.  Notice how it makes you focus on real important things.  I expect to see some real improvements in the coming weeks and months.  Of course, the zone conference had to include an alfajores milking contest.  I love that part.  On a whim I decided to Google “milking alfajores”.  Guess what?  Our picture comes up. We also get some Elder Rogers and Elder Brumble.  Fools names and fools faces!

So you think we have had a full week?  Well now for the best part.  We had two charlas with our friends, Humberto and Cristina.  Cristina is preparing for baptism on Saturday, February 4th.  Forty-two years ago on February 4th I got on a plane and left Argentina to go home from my first mission.  Kind of a fun coincidence.  Cristina in progressing well.  She is reading the Book of Mormon and bears her testimony of its truthfulness every time we see her.  Last night we had a neat experience.  When we arrived, Cristina was not feeling well.  We said hello to her in bed and then left to talk to Humberto.  The Sisters went into visit for minute and in that quiet setting were able to help her understand several good concepts.  Meanwhile Renee and I read D&C 107 and 121 with Humberto to help him get ready to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  It was the perfect setting.

Humberto and Cristina attended Church today and Humberto was presented to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  It was a great day.  We are scheduled to go over tomorrow night for another charla.  This is a great time.

Saturday we were able to relax after not having a free day for several weeks.  It felt good to do nothing.  We are now rested up and ready for the coming week.  As always we have several things on the list this coming week.

We hope everyone is enjoying the snow and cold.  We are still hot and muggy.  It doesn’t seem as bad as last year and we know that we only have a couple more months until it cools off.  We have received some comments from family, friends and parents lately.  We appreciate your comments.  We really do love serving the missionaries.

We love you all.
Renee and Gordon

Changes in Lego Land

January 22, 2017

Because sooner or later, everyone needs to have a "beer crate lego man" on their blog

Elder Richmond getting read for driving test

This was on the beach in La Paloma.  When you have a bunch of kids and grandkids that love legos like ours, you have to put this in.  Also, the second picture was taken by Sister Eddy as we took Elder Richmond for his “test drive”.  As a veteran Southern California driver, he passed with flying colors.

All ready to go

The main part of this week was changes.  We only had 10 come in a 7 go home so it was not too much work compared to the groups of 20.  We sent home mostly sisters.  When we got here a year ago, these sisters were just starting to lead.  We have had several great experiences with each of these missionaries.  They really excelled in “Capilla Abiertas”.  They all worked so hard to find good people and then teach them the Gospel.  We will miss all of them.

Elder Montiel balancing the books

My change week was a little different than the others have been.  On Tuesday we welcomed the new missionaries to Uruguay like normal.  On Wednesday instead of helping the new missionaries get out to their areas and prepare for the evening meal with the “Valientes”, I had another assignment.  It started at 7:30 A.M. when I dropped Renee off to cook.  I then took off to pick up Sister Antipani and Elder Ontiveros who were out on the coast.  I brought them back to the mission home, dropped them off, changed from the Nissan Versa to the mission van and trailer and then was in the bus station at Tres Cruzes by 9:00 A.M. in time to pick up the other Valientes.  I had them back at the mission home in plenty of time to be ready for their first meeting at 10:00 A.M.

From there I traded back to the Nissan and headed back to Tres Cruzes to pick up a part time missionary to take him to Maldonado.  You might ask why I didn’t just pick him up the first time.  Good question.  I know why, I just can’t explain it.  By the way the Tres Cruzes trip is anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes each way depending on traffic.  I love this trip!  Yeh, like I liked my colonoscopy.  You would think that things would start to settle down.  No they were just getting going.

Elder Ramos had an appendectomy on Saturday and was being transferred to Castillos.  The assistants asked me if I would take him.  Elder Ramos is a great young missionary but after surgery, not in real good shape to go on a four hour bus ride.  So I loaded up the part time missionary and Elder Ramos and headed up the coast.  I took a little detour from the normal route to Castillos and dropped the part time missionary, Luciano, off at his home in Maldonado.  It was fun to see his non-member mother welcome him home after two weeks.  She was so excited and so was he.  I am sure that there was a little missionary work done in their home while he was away.

Elder Ramos and I stopped at a local roadside establishment and had a “milanesa completo” for lunch. This is a milanesa with ham, cheese and a fried egg on top.  It was delicious.  We stopped in Rocha to pick up Elder Ramos’ companion, Elder Jensen, and then off to Castillos.  So Elder Ramos is doing quite well after surgery but he still has a hard time moving, especially stairs.  When he saw the tall, steep stairs that lead to his bedroom in Castillos, his heart sunk.  He tried to go up the stairs but his desire was more than his ability.  They spent the first two nights with their mattresses on the floor downstairs.

The three hour drive got me back to the mission home by six, which was in plenty of time for the dinner at seven.  We had a wonderful evening with the missionaries.  Thursday is flight day.  The flights went off as scheduled except for two late entries.  Elder Hayden spent about an hour on the phone with missionary travel in Salt Lake to get things straightened out.  In the end everyone got on the plane and safely home.  We are really starting to miss the missionaries going home.  They become such a big part of our lives and we worry that we will not seen them again, especially the Latinos.

Friday we had some training in the mission office and then headed to Castillos for the weekend.   Good thing I know the way.  We had a Capilla Abierta scheduled for Saturday night so we spent the rest of Friday and Saturday getting ready for it.  When we pray each morning as we leave the apartment we pray to be lead to those who need help and that we will be able to say things to help them.  This was certainly true with our visits this weekend.

Sister Oreales, helped set up the Relief Society and Primary displays and all the missionaries from the Rocha Zone showed up to invite people to the open house.  We did not have as many come as some other times, but the missionaries worked hard.  They invited hundreds to “come and see”.  We enjoyed our time in Castillos and have grown to love the people.  We are working to see the success that is going to come.

We are in the middle of the tourist season so it is a challenge to get a room.  We ended up staying at “Cabo Santa Maria” which is the high class casino in La Paloma.  We expected first class accommodations.  Well not quite.

First, there was no air conditioning, second we had to leave the window open to get some air and it opened to the main street in La Paloma.  They were making noise until about 2:00 A.M. each night.  My favorite was the kid screaming bloody murder for about ten minutes.  I guess I won’t mention the dirty floor, the shower that sprayed in every direction or the lock that did not work.  We did okay but our review with booking.com might not be all roses.  We have stayed in a few less than desirable places and have lived through it.  I guess our expectations are a little high as we have been so pleased with the Proa Sur hotel.  Whenever we stay in a place like this I think of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid going to Bolivia.  It’s about the same.

We ended the week by dropping off something to Elder Johansen in Piriapolis on the way home from Castillos.  I do need a little shot of “Johansen” once in awhile to keep me going.  The love and enthusiasm that surrounds us is amazing.  We are very tired but very grateful to be part of this great effort.  We know it’s true.  We do it because we love Him and want others to feel the joy that we feel.

What better way to end the blog and week than Elder Johansen and Elder Guindo!

We love you all
Gordon and Renee

Big Hat, No Cattle

January 15, 2017

In Blackfoot, this term refers to someone who walks around with a big cowboy hat and shiny boots and thinks they are a cowboy but aren’t. The missionaries don’t have any cows but they are sure hard workers.  We took these pictures as we visited the various zones to install mosquito nets.  I hope you can see the brightness in their eyes as they have the chance to share the Gospel.  It is a tough job, but one that brings joy to their lives.  We did the Las Piedras Zone on Friday.  It was very humid and even tried to rain.  Elder Ward and Cole met us at their house as they were hurrying back from picking up lunch.  As they arrived they were soaked in sweat.  Elder Ward’s face looked like you had just thrown a cup of water on him.  I can’t get that image out of my head as it is such an example of how hard they work.  We hope you like the pictures.  Some mothers will note that if you respond to the blog you child gets in the blog more.  Funny how that works.

We spent Monday and Friday putting nets up and now have most of the zones completed.  We need to find some materials to do the other four zones.  We did the Rocha Zone on the way home from Castillos on Monday.  They have an electrical problem in their house.  I hope it is fixed now.
The biggest project we completed this week was closing the house in La Capuera.  We moved last week but had still not given it back to the owner.  Owners or Duenos can be very particular and often take advantage of us.  This was an unusual house.  Most of the houses come unfurnished including no water heater, stove, fridge, nothing.  Well this one came fully furnished including a TV.  Now if you think that after two years, all of the stuff is still going to be there and in pristine condition, you over estimate life and certainly missionaries.  First, with the humidity, chairs etc. just fall apart.  Second, all of the plates etc. are made of glass.  Guess how many survive a fall to the tile floor?  So we knew we were short on some of the stuff that we would have to pay for.  The big problem was the TV set.  Renee and I kind of remembered that there was one, but we weren’t sure.  The current missionaries certainly couldn’t remember one.  I was not really looking forward to telling the owner, “Oh yea, we lost the TV.”

So, on Monday, as we were putting nets in the Rocha house we mentioned this to Elder Paulson who lived in the house last spring.  He said, “Yea, the TV was there but my companion just sat and watched it for three straight days.  I was going to put my foot through it but instead I gave it to a new member named Elizabeth.”  Well that answers that.  Only problem now is that Elizabeth moved to the neighboring ward and he could not remember her last name.  That put us on the hunt.  We called the current missionaries and after some work found the number for Elizabeth.  We called her up and she was more than willing to help us.  We drove to Piriapolis on the way home from Rocha and picked up the TV.  The only problem we had was that Elizabeth lives on a very busy street with no parking.  We stopped in the middle of traffic and put on the flashers.  As she gave it back she wanted to tell her life story.  The only problem was the twenty cars behind us honking.  So that visit was a little short.  We think the fact that we were able to find the TV and get it back was a miracle.  At least we are calling it that.  We were able to return the keys and settle up with the owner on Wednesday.  That made it a good week.

Dinner at Mary's.  You can't even imagine how good the food was!!!

So much more than friendship!

Thursday night was one of our best in the Mission.  Mary; pronounced “mari” is the mission cook.  Renee has spent many many hours helping her cook for the missionaries, like in December for the Christmas conferences when they served breakfast and lunch for over 100 for two straight days.  Mary is certainly one of the best parts of our mission.  So our invitation to dinner at her house on Thursday night was one we looked forward to.  They have a very neat and tidy home.  I was really impressed.  We arrived at 7:00 P.M. and started out with a relaxing visit on the patio.  So, if you think it is good to eat at the mission meals with Mary as the cook, you need to eat at her home to see her at her very best.  We had Canelones!  Woohoo!  I can’t even describe how good they were.  Included, was salad and some finger sandwiches to get started.  We topped it off with Lemon Pie.  I’m still dreaming about it.  I asked what time dinner was on Friday.  Hey, it was worth a chance.

We cooked six hamburgers and four hotdogs  Look at what's left.
And they still had room for pie.

This coming week is change week so we had Elder Caudle and Montiel over for lunch on Saturday.  They wanted hamburgers and chili dogs.  They each ate two hamburgers and a chili dog besides the potato salad and jello.  Renee is really getting the missionaries hooked on jello, especially the latinos.  Elder Caudle leaves the office next week.  We are going to miss him.  He is quite artistic and has made several drawings for us that we cherish.

I hesitate mentioning this next part because I don’t want you to think that I am making fun of Uruguay.  Anyone that has ever stood in line at customer service at Wal-Mart or any other store at home knows that this kind of stuff happens everywhere.  So with that, I need to buy drugs.  I take an antihistamine for some allergy that makes me itch.  We don’t know what it is but we do know what makes it stop.  I’ve been taking this for over twenty years.  Most of the drugs in Uruguay you can buy without a prescription.  Renee buys her meds anytime and anywhere.  But I need a prescription.  This is real easy to get because of the helpfulness of our mission Doctor, Dr. Bregante.  Due to the humidity, all of the pills come individually wrapped in tinfoil.  I started out last spring with a prescription for 90 pills.   When I went to the pharmacy, the first thing they did was go to the book and look up the drug.  They didn’t know what it was.  Then they told me I couldn’t buy the drugs because they only come in boxes of 20.  So, we changed the prescription to 4 individual ones of 20.  We usually have to go back a couple of times because they do not have them in stock.  One of our favorite episodes was going to buy the drugs and being told the prescription had expired.  We went to another pharmacy around the corner and they sold them to us, no questions asked.  So now we had a good pharmacy. This made us very happy.

Well, the last time, we stopped by our favorite pharmacy; they told us that they had changed ownership and that after looking in the book, that they don’t carry these pills any more.  We went to three other pharmacies and they told us that they don’t make this drug anymore.  This was after looking it up in the “book.”  We finally found one that told us that we had the name wrong on the prescription and that they only come in boxes of 25.  So, Dr. Bregante is going to give me a prescription with every name we can come up with for 100 pills because with boxes of 20 or 25 we are still okay.  This makes life more interesting.  For my family, it makes me wish I had gone to the “Voodoo Doctor” before I came to Uruguay so that I could get rid of the allergy.  But that is a whole other story.

Lastly, we had a charla with Humberto and Cristina on Friday night and have set a baptism date for February 4th.  That’s the day I left Argentina forty-two years ago.  We are excited for her.  We have another charla tomorrow night and hope to keep things moving.

We love you all and appreciate what you do.  Remember why we are here and thank Him for all we have.

Love,
Gordon and Renee

This jet was at the airport at Maldonado.  Everyone must have one of these.