April 20--Asamblea Week 2

Hey fam!

First, saludos a Lucia. I'm glad the scan came back clean, it is surely an answer to our prayers! I'm sure she'll be back up and running in no time!

Packages... what was in the Easter package? I might have gotten it already... but the Zone Conference is tomorrow and I'll get stuff there. Sending the SD cards will be quicker just in the package, I get your packages within a month (the first four at least) but I am still waiting for the snail mail with the addresses. Yeah, I can always use more candy, we may or may not have eaten all of it already. *cough* 

Em is SO CUTE! man...

Mom, I need a huge favor. I'll put some white space in here so you see it.

 

I am going to cook breakfast for the zone (12 people) before we go to the temple week 5. The problem is that I need to make pancakes without buttermilk and eat it without syrup. Luckily we can get our hands on bacon. But do you have any recipies for me that I can make these pancakes and some sort of sauce or something for on top?

 

This zone is pretty awesome. We are getting some people ready for baptism, two are going to get baptized on the 9th and hopefully two more on the 16th. Vamos arriba. Celina didn't come to church, so we had to bump her date back to the 9th (from the 2nd) with Nilda. Nilda cried in church yesterday because she felt the spirit so strong. The topic was the second coming and I wanted to fall asleep I was so bored! But I'm glad she felt something and I'm sure she is a "lifer". We haven't been able to catch up with Patricia, she said she would come to church but didn't. We also found the son of an investigator. He told us all about bad stuff that was going on with his work and his family and stuff and asked us to pray for him. Elder Godoy read Mosiah 3:41 or something like that that talks about the state of neverending happiness for the people who keep the commandments of God. Then Elder Godoy asked "are you in a state of neverending happiness right now?" and the guy, without thinking, said "no, of course not." so we invited him to start taking the lessons and he is really excited to learn more and find that peace that he is so sorely lacking. I don't think we'll baptize him this change, but definitely the next. OH! and yesterday, a missionary named Elder Correa baptized his dad in the area next to ours called Estaciòn. The baptismal service was the best ever, and wow. It's a story for the Ensign, for sure.

Well that is it for this week. Saludos a todos, hope you get my letters soon for distribution. I'm going to try sending some letters through the pouch and see what is quicker. Vamos a ver.

April 23--Asamblea week 1

Mom Note: It was my turn to be the evil parent and not get the email sent on time! So, poor Elder Thorderson didn't get an email from mom...No need to beat me up about it--I already did! 

Hey fam!

First half-week down. Things are going pretty well with Elder Godoy! He is awesome and we are going to tear this branch up! Last week, he and his old companion Elder Correa found a lady named Celina who had already been taught by the missionaries (a lot), got a testimony, then moved and lost contact with the missionaries. So we taught her once, and she came to church yesterday. She just accepted a baptismal date of the 2nd of May, and I think she'll follow through! We also went and visited a friend of one of the sisters in our ward, and tought her for an hour and a half! She (Nilda) had a ton of questions, but the day after we taught her for the first time, she came to church! I am sure she is going to get baptized too. We are planning on setting a date of the 9th of May, but we have to teach her some more because she is a little old and has studied all sorts of religions, so we need to make sure she's all straightened out and has a testimony before we get her wet. We also have Tony and Patricia. We found Patricia first, and tought her the first lesson. She read the pamphlet we left her, and when we came back for the next visit, she had a friend to listen to us too, and she said that when she was reading the pamphlet she felt an incredible peace. So we taught the friend, and she is interested too because a lot of bad stuff has happened to her, and then Saturday we went by and found Patricia's husband Tony and tought him. They are progressing pretty rapidly. They live out in an area that is rarely visted by Elders, but I think it is a very fruitful vineyard out there!

Let's see... stuff for my next package... Lots of American candy, lots of chocolate. Whoppers, Milk Duds, and Gobstoppers. Gobstoppers you can find here, they are just pretty expensive. And send a soft case for a keyboard.

I'm kinda running out of things to talk about while I wait for your email... I guess this Las Vegas trip is just too fun to talk to your son that is in Uruguay! Well my time is out waiting for your email, so I'll talk to you all next week I guess. I sent a piece of mail to the fam for redistribution, along with the SD card from all my CCM and Las Piedras pictures, and a picture of my CCM group.

I think I am going to buy the keyboard... I haven't made up my mind though, but if a lot of money disappears, don't be surprised, I guess.

Love you all and I am looking forward to a very big letter next Monday!

Transfer!

Hey Family!

Well sure enough, I got transferred! Only two changes in one area is pretty quick, but here we go. My new companion is Elder Godoy from Buenos Aires. That's right, a Latino comp! I'm pretty scared... he's got a pretty rough accent, but I'll catch on soon enough. I'm sure I'll have Spanish down really well by the end of this change, though! He is a Zone Leader, so I am looking forward to a lot of late nights waiting for phone calls and everything. From everything I hear, he's a stud (acá se dice "capo"). I am headed to Florida, an area called Asamblea. It's in the city, but it stretches out into the campo, if I understand right.

Update on Las Piedras - everything was going well when I left. We found a golden family (Barrios) and took them to the General Conference. He can't stop talking about how awesome it was, and he is going to stop smoking and drinking and watching this televangelist. So I'm pretty sure that Elder Duggins is going to baptize them this change. Sergio (Jessica's boyfriend) is going well, Dugg is going to put a baptismal date with him the next visit. Still haven't heard from John and Stephanie. Lorena came to church (she has inactive parents so it has been a while) and the mom is going to start home teaching. Hopefully the family will reactivate and Lorena will want to get baptized, because the last baptismal date we set, she rejected and said she didn't want to get baptized.

Wasn't conference awesome?? I heard a lot about adversity, and a lot about temples. I also loved Jeffery R. Holland's talk about Christ and Easter and stuff. And the new Apostle, Elder Anderson, looks like a stud too. For those who were there, President Uchtdorf's Priesthood Session talk was incredible! I love Nehemiah 6:3 now. My favorite quote is from M. Russell Ballard: "You cannot do a Google search to get a testimony and you can't text message faith." lol out loud! Other good quotes: "The Gospel is the way of Discipleship" from President Uchtdorf's Sunday talk, and "Unfortunately, the time of the full-time missionaries is spent finding people instead of teaching them," and "We must open our mouths and testify. We must warn our neighbors," both from L. Tom Perry's Sunday talk. Finally, from Kevin W. Pearson, "If we desire more faith, we must be more obedient." I'm just waiting for the Ensign to come!

I love you all, and am still waiting for letters! *cough* Loved the pictures of Em!!

3/30/09 Another Week

(Mom note: first part of the letter was in Spanish to Dad. This is what follows)

Good to hear that Elder Barrett is back home and safe, with a mexican accent and all! I'm worried that I'll give a talk in the mount ensign ward and nobody will understand me with this thick uruguayo (prounounced oo - doo - GAI - show) accent. hehe

If you want to send a couple of short sleeve white shirts with sister mckell, that would be okay. Patricia lost one, so I'm down to three. 16 1/2, Van Heusen. :D

What's the name of the student in Colon? I would probably have to send it to her via another missionary, because I probably couldn't go there on p-day w/out permission from the pres. But yeah it is in the zone, part of another area, we think. Maybe La Paz?

I got the packages, three in one day! There are Elders here who go months without seeing packages, and I got three in one day! Haha take it easy, some of the other elders probably hate me right now! We don't really have fried chicken here, the closest thing is milanesa. But the other two elders tried some of the Wingers sauce on bacon pizza, and loved it. We'll put anything on bacon pizza. That reminds me... we gave ranch dressing to one of the sisters in our ward (patricia) and she said it was so good she would eat it with saltine crackers! lol out loud!

I'm still waiting for answers from chortney, ask him also to quote his source about the holy ghost being a jesus-in-training.

John and Stephanie aren't taking the lessons right now... they have started studying and don't have time to meet with us too much. We have started teaching the boyfriend of a member, it is going well. We found a family and I think they are going to get baptized. They are looking hard for the truth and are being obedient as well as they know, but don't know where to find it. Their name is the Barrios family. Still waiting for the Barrios family's family's address. Man, I am waiting for a lot from you guys!

I got letters from Chelsey and Luke through pouch (the PO box) and they were only postmarked two weeks before I got them. So I'll retract the DearElder thing, looks like real letters are just as fast. :D

You won't get a letter until wednesday next week... change day. :D Just FYI.

March 23 email

Sorry we fell behind in blog posting! I've had problems getting them to show up on Facebook, so I ended up changing some settings! Now there are duplicates on FB, but hopefully they'll start importing again.

This week's letter from Steven was a little sad! He ended up at the cyber WAY early and our emails hadn't been sent yet. I sent mine just a few minutes after he sent his, so he did get mine, he just couldn't respond! So, we will never again wait until email day to type up those emails!! 

From Steven:

...and no letter? I see how it is....

Well I need to make it short anyways, we're going to make invitations for the General Conference to give to members, less actives, and investigators.

Everything is going well, they changed the schedule for church from evening to morning and it killed us because nobody came! So we are hoping for more people to come next week so we can put some baptismal dates and baptize some peeps here in guay!

I'm sending Corry a letter, I hope he likes it. Maybe he'll write me back, unlike my parents....

Love you all,

Lonely in Las Piedras