email 1/26/09
Another week with Elder Chapman in my same ward of Cerro 16. It is strange to me to think that I have been in this ward for almost 6 months. It doesn’t feel nearly as long as those 4 months in Artigas or Tacuarembo seemed to be. This is a good ward and I am assuming that next week the transfers will have me bidding farewell to my sweet ward in Montevideo.
Life has been good. We have a baptism set up for this Saturday: a woman named Graciela, about 45 years old. The whole family was listening, her two sons and daughter-in-law, but they lost interest and she fell in love with the church. I assume the rest of the family will come later, but for now we are baptizing her. The first time she went to church she loved it so much that she exclaimed, "see you next Sunday!!" and I was like "No, we are coming over on Tuesday to teach. See you Tuesday." and she said, "Obviously, but also see you next Sunday because I will be coming to this church every week till I die." She is really good and very sensitive to the spirit. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she said "I didn’t know it was a commandment! I will stop smoking right now!" And she did. She hasn’t ever smoked again. She is smart and she loves reading the Book of Mormon. The first time we went back after we had given her the Book of Mormon she had already placed her own handmade tabs to be able to flip from Nephi to Alma quickly. Fun convert.
I am very hopeful for transfers next week. I have loved Elder Chapman and learned a lot from him, but... Anyway, I am grateful to have been with him. We have had 2 baptisms together and we have found quite a few promising investigators.
Anyway, there isn’t much new to tell. It has been harder as of late for me to think of things to write home because the tales of Uruguay have been told. I will try to have something clever for next week. Take care! Love y'all!
Andy
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Divisions with Roxas
email 1/12/09
This week I was on divisions the whole week with the Assistants. I really enjoyed it. I got to go to their area bien in the city and sleep in the offices with an air-conditioned room and an oven to cook with. Their area was really nice. It is very well into the city and it has the old European look to it being so old. The buildings were all made a hundred years ago and it is a fun area to look at. It was also very easy to do street contacts because there is a lot of people. Mostly I really enjoyed visiting the members. This is a sweet ward, probably the best in Uruguay. Full Bishopric, Full YM and YW presidencies and youth actually coming, families with returned missionary fathers and mother, sister, and brother. I was sad that I only got to be there for a week. It is an area where you will never have to ask yourself if visiting members is the efficient thing to do. It is the only thing you can do almost. Besides street contacts and going by the addresses if you get them, there isn't much else to do. Knocking isn't an option because of the architecture. HUGE doors and behind the HUGE doors there are corridors with 10 or 20 doors and apartments. If you want to try talking into the doorbell voice box go ahead, but you usually don't get very lucky. Anyway, divisions with Elder Roxas was very fun. He is an Elder from California who has been my Zone Leader before. I really respect him a lot. It was really fun working with him for a week. He and I have the same teaching style and we agree on almost everything as far as missionary work and how it should be done. That was a pleasant week of the mission.
Yesterday after church Elder Roxas and I went to lunch with a member family that has one 5 year old son. The boy was the funniest kid. He spoke like such a grown up. "Señores, siéntense por favor." "Sirs, take a seat please". I can't really think of good examples and I am not in the mood to translate. The kids whole attitude made me laugh. And he knew how to use a computer better than I do. He wanted to show me his favorite truck game on the computer and so I watched him put it in, go through the options screen IN ENGLISH and begin driving in the Rocky Mountain route he had selected. He was up around Cheyenne Wyoming and I read him the signs and told him to start heading to Salt Lake City. It was a very realistic game and it made me very trunky to read those freeway signs. Here is where I thought he was adorable. He had pulled off the freeway to fill up on gas and stopped and waited at a red light. He waited. It changed after 2 minutes and he finally went. And at the next light it was the same story! On these kinds of games you usually just break all the laws and run the lights and drive like crazy because you can. But not this little boy. He had been taught that breaking the law was wrong and so he obeyed all the laws while driving. It was adorable.
In the meantime, my companion Elder Chapman fared well with Elder Anderson and they had our investigators in church and found quite a few new ones. Divisions are good like that. I was very grateful for a week that helped me feel more relaxed because not being in my area all of my preoccupations left me and I just focused on teaching wherever we were.
We played soccer this morning at the church and it made me really tired. I am just not a soccer player and playing with a bunch of Latin Americans the game got really intense because soccer for them is like basketball for me. It got rough. I scored 2 goals! But I paid a price for those goals because I am in a super amount of pain right now. I am so out of shape.
There isn't much more to tell. Oh wait yes there is. On Thursday we were in the chapel for a baptismal interview because the APs were having a baptism on Saturday. Anyway, after the interview the baptismal candidate left and we went back to shut the door after saying goodbye and Elder Roxas said to me "oh dang, get inside." And from down the street came walking a crazed 23 year old fat man in sweat pants and a white T-shirt. We got inside and locked the door. The man just waited outside at the gate, and eventually came up to the glass doors and put his head against the glass doors as he continued to mutter curses at us and look at us as if he wanted to kill us. He gave me nightmares. Anyway, this guy had apparently attacked a missionary last week in the city, punching him in the face and running away. He was completely nuts. He pulled his pants down a few times and shouted I think every swear word in both English and Spanish. The police finally came and he ran away and we got out and locked the chapel and left. It was very crazy.
I felt so bad. I just feel bad for people like that. He is obviously mentally ill and it seems he never really had any chance at a real normal life, or a life with love in it. He wanders the city like that. It makes me very sad. Part of me thought that we needed to go and cast a devil out of him or something. I just feel terrible that some people have to live lives like that. I am certain he didn't choose to be that way. Thank goodness the Plan of Salvation is so perfect and that God will restore unto him whatever agency he may currently lack and he will too have a chance at eternal progression. Even knowing that, it is hard seeing persons like him.
I will end now because there isn't much more to tell. I hope that everyone is happy and healthy. I pray for you tri-daily and I love you all very much!
Andy
This week I was on divisions the whole week with the Assistants. I really enjoyed it. I got to go to their area bien in the city and sleep in the offices with an air-conditioned room and an oven to cook with. Their area was really nice. It is very well into the city and it has the old European look to it being so old. The buildings were all made a hundred years ago and it is a fun area to look at. It was also very easy to do street contacts because there is a lot of people. Mostly I really enjoyed visiting the members. This is a sweet ward, probably the best in Uruguay. Full Bishopric, Full YM and YW presidencies and youth actually coming, families with returned missionary fathers and mother, sister, and brother. I was sad that I only got to be there for a week. It is an area where you will never have to ask yourself if visiting members is the efficient thing to do. It is the only thing you can do almost. Besides street contacts and going by the addresses if you get them, there isn't much else to do. Knocking isn't an option because of the architecture. HUGE doors and behind the HUGE doors there are corridors with 10 or 20 doors and apartments. If you want to try talking into the doorbell voice box go ahead, but you usually don't get very lucky. Anyway, divisions with Elder Roxas was very fun. He is an Elder from California who has been my Zone Leader before. I really respect him a lot. It was really fun working with him for a week. He and I have the same teaching style and we agree on almost everything as far as missionary work and how it should be done. That was a pleasant week of the mission.
Yesterday after church Elder Roxas and I went to lunch with a member family that has one 5 year old son. The boy was the funniest kid. He spoke like such a grown up. "Señores, siéntense por favor." "Sirs, take a seat please". I can't really think of good examples and I am not in the mood to translate. The kids whole attitude made me laugh. And he knew how to use a computer better than I do. He wanted to show me his favorite truck game on the computer and so I watched him put it in, go through the options screen IN ENGLISH and begin driving in the Rocky Mountain route he had selected. He was up around Cheyenne Wyoming and I read him the signs and told him to start heading to Salt Lake City. It was a very realistic game and it made me very trunky to read those freeway signs. Here is where I thought he was adorable. He had pulled off the freeway to fill up on gas and stopped and waited at a red light. He waited. It changed after 2 minutes and he finally went. And at the next light it was the same story! On these kinds of games you usually just break all the laws and run the lights and drive like crazy because you can. But not this little boy. He had been taught that breaking the law was wrong and so he obeyed all the laws while driving. It was adorable.
In the meantime, my companion Elder Chapman fared well with Elder Anderson and they had our investigators in church and found quite a few new ones. Divisions are good like that. I was very grateful for a week that helped me feel more relaxed because not being in my area all of my preoccupations left me and I just focused on teaching wherever we were.
We played soccer this morning at the church and it made me really tired. I am just not a soccer player and playing with a bunch of Latin Americans the game got really intense because soccer for them is like basketball for me. It got rough. I scored 2 goals! But I paid a price for those goals because I am in a super amount of pain right now. I am so out of shape.
There isn't much more to tell. Oh wait yes there is. On Thursday we were in the chapel for a baptismal interview because the APs were having a baptism on Saturday. Anyway, after the interview the baptismal candidate left and we went back to shut the door after saying goodbye and Elder Roxas said to me "oh dang, get inside." And from down the street came walking a crazed 23 year old fat man in sweat pants and a white T-shirt. We got inside and locked the door. The man just waited outside at the gate, and eventually came up to the glass doors and put his head against the glass doors as he continued to mutter curses at us and look at us as if he wanted to kill us. He gave me nightmares. Anyway, this guy had apparently attacked a missionary last week in the city, punching him in the face and running away. He was completely nuts. He pulled his pants down a few times and shouted I think every swear word in both English and Spanish. The police finally came and he ran away and we got out and locked the chapel and left. It was very crazy.
I felt so bad. I just feel bad for people like that. He is obviously mentally ill and it seems he never really had any chance at a real normal life, or a life with love in it. He wanders the city like that. It makes me very sad. Part of me thought that we needed to go and cast a devil out of him or something. I just feel terrible that some people have to live lives like that. I am certain he didn't choose to be that way. Thank goodness the Plan of Salvation is so perfect and that God will restore unto him whatever agency he may currently lack and he will too have a chance at eternal progression. Even knowing that, it is hard seeing persons like him.
I will end now because there isn't much more to tell. I hope that everyone is happy and healthy. I pray for you tri-daily and I love you all very much!
Andy
I watched a kid break a clock
email dated 1/5/09
We are now moving into week 64 of the mission. Elder Thacker, my good Zone Leader, is always capable of telling every missionary how long they have been out and how long they have left. At one point in time I knew that I had exactly four hundred and something days to go but I never count. And it isn't because I am anti-counting or anti-trunky or anything like that. I am just too lazy to count. It is easier to just do the mission and not think about it too much.
I am very glad that we have moved passed the holiday season. To be honest, I really didn't enjoy it very much. Looking back on it it wasn't so bad, but at the time I just was really bored because we weren't allowed to do anything and I was really hot because my fan broke. I took a nap. I wrote some letters. It was actually more boring than a normal P-Day because we weren't allowed to go out and do anything. Today is more fun than Christmas because we came into the city and had lunch and I finally bought some hats for souvenirs. Today is a good day.
Well, we didn't have any investigators in church yesterday, however we did confirm Caroline and her Dad came again and looks to be reactivating. We are teaching and finding. Elder Chapman and I are actually working really well together. We have found quite a bit of people but we cant find the people that are willing to go to church. One trick in missionary work is learning to not let your happiness rely on the actions of others. It is difficult because our entire work is trying to change others lives...but I am trying to remember to find my joy in my work regardless of the results. Anyway, in church yesterday we had fast and testimony meeting. It was a really good meeting I thought. One of my favorite converts in the whole mission got up and bore her testimony to the congregation. She said "my family was happy before. We didn't know we were looking for anything. But we are even happier now and I didn't know that it was possible." The truth about them is that they already were an amazing family. They were so good, they did family home evenings without being members, playing games and watching movies, having treats. The only thing we taught them was the closing prayer and thanking God for everything they have. Anyway, she bore her testimony that she knew the true church of Christ had been restored and demonstrated an understanding of the principles I didn't know that she had. Sometimes I think I don't give enough credit to these people.
One of the members of the Bishopric named Brother Baez shared his conversion story with me this week. He was an investigator for 15 years!!! I cant even imagine that because now he is the best most positive attituded, and normal, member in the word that i know. He tried reading the Book of Mormon to prove it wrong. He tried a few times but found himself loving the book rather than disproving it, and found himself with a faith in Christ that he didn't know he lacked. I thought it was a very cool story.
There really are some good people here. I was thinking about our Stake President here in our ward, named President Guartechi, and he is one of the men I respect most in this world. I have had lunch with him a few times and you can see that what the gospel does for his family. I love his 6 year old son that every Sunday brings me and my companions one piece of candy each. After church yesterday I decided to go and thank Sister Guartechi for her beautiful son and told her "every week him giving me candy after the meeting is my favorite part of church." I come to find neither she or her husband had any idea that he was bringing us candy. The boy just did it because he loved to share with the 4 Elders in the ward. Every week he brings 4 pieces of candy in his pocket to church that she assumed he was eating. Isn't that the cutest story?
Anyway, I gotta go now. Find happiness and love in your lives by being with your friends and family. There is no better way!
Andy
We are now moving into week 64 of the mission. Elder Thacker, my good Zone Leader, is always capable of telling every missionary how long they have been out and how long they have left. At one point in time I knew that I had exactly four hundred and something days to go but I never count. And it isn't because I am anti-counting or anti-trunky or anything like that. I am just too lazy to count. It is easier to just do the mission and not think about it too much.
I am very glad that we have moved passed the holiday season. To be honest, I really didn't enjoy it very much. Looking back on it it wasn't so bad, but at the time I just was really bored because we weren't allowed to do anything and I was really hot because my fan broke. I took a nap. I wrote some letters. It was actually more boring than a normal P-Day because we weren't allowed to go out and do anything. Today is more fun than Christmas because we came into the city and had lunch and I finally bought some hats for souvenirs. Today is a good day.
Well, we didn't have any investigators in church yesterday, however we did confirm Caroline and her Dad came again and looks to be reactivating. We are teaching and finding. Elder Chapman and I are actually working really well together. We have found quite a bit of people but we cant find the people that are willing to go to church. One trick in missionary work is learning to not let your happiness rely on the actions of others. It is difficult because our entire work is trying to change others lives...but I am trying to remember to find my joy in my work regardless of the results. Anyway, in church yesterday we had fast and testimony meeting. It was a really good meeting I thought. One of my favorite converts in the whole mission got up and bore her testimony to the congregation. She said "my family was happy before. We didn't know we were looking for anything. But we are even happier now and I didn't know that it was possible." The truth about them is that they already were an amazing family. They were so good, they did family home evenings without being members, playing games and watching movies, having treats. The only thing we taught them was the closing prayer and thanking God for everything they have. Anyway, she bore her testimony that she knew the true church of Christ had been restored and demonstrated an understanding of the principles I didn't know that she had. Sometimes I think I don't give enough credit to these people.
One of the members of the Bishopric named Brother Baez shared his conversion story with me this week. He was an investigator for 15 years!!! I cant even imagine that because now he is the best most positive attituded, and normal, member in the word that i know. He tried reading the Book of Mormon to prove it wrong. He tried a few times but found himself loving the book rather than disproving it, and found himself with a faith in Christ that he didn't know he lacked. I thought it was a very cool story.
There really are some good people here. I was thinking about our Stake President here in our ward, named President Guartechi, and he is one of the men I respect most in this world. I have had lunch with him a few times and you can see that what the gospel does for his family. I love his 6 year old son that every Sunday brings me and my companions one piece of candy each. After church yesterday I decided to go and thank Sister Guartechi for her beautiful son and told her "every week him giving me candy after the meeting is my favorite part of church." I come to find neither she or her husband had any idea that he was bringing us candy. The boy just did it because he loved to share with the 4 Elders in the ward. Every week he brings 4 pieces of candy in his pocket to church that she assumed he was eating. Isn't that the cutest story?
Anyway, I gotta go now. Find happiness and love in your lives by being with your friends and family. There is no better way!
Andy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
