ChChChanges...1/27/10

Steven and his new companion, Elder Polera from North Carolina.

A photo I came across from another missionary blog. Look how skinny Steven is! This is back in December

Hey fam!

Well, changes are come and gone, and it is definitely interesting. I am leaving Elder Fajardo and headed to Maldonado 2nd Ward. Huzzah. I hear it is really awesome and a really strong area. I am looking forward to being able to start over and tear it up. My new companion is Elder Polera from North Carolina. He's a stud, he is Elder Wright's kid (Elder Wright was my zone leader a while ago). I'll have more info on him next week. For now, here's a picture. His forehead really isn't that big. :P

Other changes - Elder Fajardo is going to Rio Branco, a border city with Brazil in Cerro Largo. He'll be with Elder Parraga, a former assistant to the President. Elder Wally is going to Maroñas (my old zone) to Toledo (where I did a musical family home evening with Elder Smeltzer). Elder Bulloch is headed to San Jose de Carrasco where he will be a zone leader with Elder Erickson. He's really excited, but kinda nervous. Well he's used to being looked up to, being

a mission president's son and all. So there are four new Elders coming to Trinidad. Elder Solano (Mexican) with a corto plazo (a mini missionary, youth who serves for one change to get the mission feel) who is from Asamblea. He's the WML's kid, Germàn. I talked to him today...he's excited and getting ready for his mission. The other couple is a Chileno Elder Gonzalez with a greenie. Don't know them yet. I passed the keys and stuff to Elder Solano, I hope they don't get lost or anything.

Dad, I transferred money from my savings to my checking to take out today, Maldonado is a really expensive place to live and I have been footing some serious expenses. I know I'm pulling a lot of money, but things should calm down since my new comp is getting a full check each month (elder fajardo's was discounted for mistakes he had made in old areas).

Good to hear that Corry is back in rehab. I hope he can make some good decisions and finish out the treatment he needs. I'm praying for him and hope he can return to full fellowship in the family.

Thanks for the pic of the living room. Looks really good... can't wait to see what you guys do to the rest of the house. I wonder if I'll recognize it! Here's hoping that you guys don't have to move for Dad's work. ;-) Also good to hear that Emily is already set up with Kevin. They'll be a good couple. It's ridiculous. LOL out loud!

Yes, the urumontemission@gmail.com is still OK. Just put Elder Steven Thorderson as the subject so it gets to me. It is really fast, faster than the post office or pouch. I look forward to hearing from her, (Nanny) I think there is a letter on the way. I lost a bunch of letters I have written... I can't really remember if I sent them or lost them. Thanks for the cards... way cool! I forgot how fat I was... my neck was as fat as my face!!! (Mom Note: I sent Steven business cards with his first day missionary photos on them. He was about 30-40 pounds heavier then...)

Well I'm going to zip off an email to tina. I love you all and hope you guys keep going strong! Say hi to the still single Sister Renehan for me! haha (Mom Note: I happened to mention in my last letter that the young sister Renehan was still single...Moms...always trying to set up their sons! Love you, Micaela! :-) )

Mom Note: After receiving an email from Steven, I received an email from his new companion's mom. This is what she had to say: That is awesome! My son's quote about your son "he's a pretty sweet dude" ---surfer lingo for Cody's highest compliment! :-) Cody is a hard worker and has endless energy. I think they will get along great. This is his first area but Elder Wright was a great teacher and I know they worked really hard. I know that they also have two other elders that were moved into their tiny apartment yesterday from an area that is now closed. Cody said they seemed like "cool guys" but he said it should be interesting to see how they all fit in their small space.

One week left this transfer 2/19/10

Hey fam!

Not too much to report here. Just a super cool experience. Trivia: Flores is the most sparsely populated state in Uruguay. It has about 25,000 people with only two cities with a population over 1,000. One is Trinidad, with about 21,000, and the other is called Ismael Cortinas, which is an hour away from Trinidad and lies where four state borders meet: Flores, San José, Soriano, and Colonia. It has a population of like 1,064. There is one elementary school and one high school (the elementary school is bigger) and there is a member here who is a teacher at the elementary school. So... Wednesday night we were up late and just talking about how we are getting a little bored with the areas and knocking the same doors, etc. So in a flash of inspiration, we decided to go to this town of Ismael Cortinas. We left the next morning at 6:30 and spent the whole day in Ismael Cortinas. We actually didn't get much work done. We only knocked 12 houses on three blocks... but 6 of those people let us into their homes and we found (talked to and left committments with) 9 new people. That doesn't include family members and stuff. We had four straight lessons going from house to house and it was really incredible. We met a lot of cool people and taught some really strong lessons. If we can work something out to get them to church, we will really see some progress. It was just way cool to talk to people who had never seen missionaries before. We found that people without preconceptions or predujices are quite open to listening to us, even with an open heart. By doing so, they are able to accept the message and progress in the gospel. It was such a neat experience and we are going to go every thursday until we have at least talked to 1,000 people. The Ismael Cortinas branch... it has a ring to it. :D

Friday we had an exchange and I did an interview in Hospital. Elder Sessions worked with Elder Bulloch, and Elder Wally worked with my comp.

I got the package! They are starting to send packages to the zone in an effort to keep us happy - and it works! Thanks a ton for everything! I loved the little gifts and the scriptures! Say thanks to the beehives for me. (Yea! Shout out to the Beehives!) They're the best! Also, I got a package from the Nelson fam. I'll be writing them a letter, but I do send my love and my thanks. Everyone is pretty jealous that I have fudge and gingerbread men!

The ZLs are hinting that Pte was hinting about closing down my area again... which means that I was here to make an area explode, sat around 4 months without doing anything, so they're going to close it back up. Kind of a sucky feeling. I guess we'll see what happens. The ideal situation (what we are hoping for) is that if he does close the area, he sends me with Elder Bulloch, preserving one from each area. Kinda weird, but similar changes have occured, so we're hoping. I'll let you know next week.

Marcelo's son did make it to church, but the mom threw a wrench into the gears (is that an idiom?) and said that it is fine if we teach him, just not in her house. So we would have to do it with Marcelo, but he lives like 4 km outside the city and so we would have to do the lessons in the church, but Marcelo works a lot. It is all pretty complicated. But we keep chugging along with less active members and part-member families. We had one commit to come to church and pay tithing, it was a good lesson.

Well I am praying for Corry. Sounds like a pretty rough situation, but we trust in the Lord. From Henry B. Eyring's talk "Our Perfect Example" -
"The story of the prodigal son gives us all hope. The prodigal remembered home, as will your children. They will feel your love drawing them back to you. Elder Orson F. Whitney, in a general conference of 1929, gave a remarkable promise, which I know is true, to the faithful parents who honor the temple sealing to their children: 'Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold.'
"Then he goes on to say: 'Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God." You can pray for your children, love them, and reach out to them with confidence that Jesus reaches for them with you. When you keep trying, you are doing what Jesus does."

I love you both, and I am praying for you as well as the kids. I hope for better news next week.

Dad, I'm not sure if you got my email last week, but I took my suit into the tailor and am in need of fundage to get it back. Also bike repairs, but that could wait I guess. Could you send me like $60? Love you bunches.

One Wek More, One Week Less (1/11/10)

Hey fam. Not too much to report on here. We did a huge companion interchange starting tuesday afternoon and ending thursday morning. Elder Sluder came here and Elder Fajardo went to Sarandí del Yí. It went okay... Elder Sluder has been really sick and we couldn't work too hard for fear of "accidents". But we had some good conversations and he is doing a lot better.

Torradefló is still progressing. The other dad we saw he dad smoking, but the bishop says he has goals and so we are hoping that he is working towards them. We are going to have a FHE tonight, and I am making brownies. And Eugenia's friend Martina is going to come (she has been going to YW and stuff) and we are officially going to start teaching her.

We also had Marcelo Mediza's son come to church today. He is 8 years old, but he was born with a different wife before Marcelo was a member, so he isn't a child of record. Convert baptism! Hehe I'm not sure if he'll be getting baptized this change, but we will see. We have a little bit more leeway with young kids... It is rare to see a real testimony in an 8 year old, and their activity is based on the activity of the parents. But it looks like Marcelo (who was inactive) is coming back for good, and I trust him.

We have a friend named Patricia. She's an employee of the cyber we always go to. We taught her once, and she was okay with it. But last week, her grandfather died, and it really hit her hard. So we taught her about the plan of salvation and she ate it up. It was a pretty good charla and I can see her progressing with just a little bit more interest.

Not too much to report on this week, a pretty quiet week.

Let's see... if you are still prepping a package, could you send me a couple of laundry bags and a few metal hangars? Love you!

Hope you have a good week, I'm waiting for news about Corry.

T-Dad, Who knows which week--I lost count! (1/4/10)

Sorry for not getting an email out last week. I hope you guys had a great New Years. I sure did - we watched the fireworks and discharged an airhorn for like 45 seconds and almost froze Elder Wally's hand off from the frozen can. :P

It was an alright week, work-wise. It was pretty hard with the holidays, but we worked hard. We did a companion exchange/baptismal interview on Wednesday. I went to Hospital Ward with a ZL Elder Sessions (who was in Las Piedras with me) and did an interview there. The lady I interviewed had 10 kids! And now one of them is getting baptized in a couple of weeks too. In the interview, I felt like she really gets it. It was a good experience. I have an exchange planned with Sarandí del Yí tomorrow, one of the missionaries is having some problems so he'll be coming here with me. Then I'll have another interview in Hospital Friday. Lots of travel, for sure (5 hrs round trip from Sarandí del Yí). But we're looking forward to it. Elder Fajardo also needs to get out of the area... He's starting to get a little cabin crazy, so to speak.

We are getting pumped for Zone Conference on the 20th - we'll be starting it out with a temple session with the President and his wife. It should be awesome - it has been like 6 months since I've been to the temple. Something like that. And I should also be getting that other package. Huzzah!

As far as the work here, I have come to the conclusion that there is a lot of work to be done with the less active members. The bishop has asked us (the two couples) to work with 6 endowed members who aren't coming. 4 of them have children that are of age and not baptized. So there is work to do. There's another family reactivating (oddly, the brother of a family we've recently started to work with) whose son wants to get baptized. Point for Trinidad II. Also, the Torradefló family (Eugenia) just got back from a vacation to Florida (UY). Today the dad Nacho was in a white shirt and tie, and a nice trimmed up haircut. It definitely shows that he is progressing and working towards the temple. There is a ward trip to the temple on the 30th, and I talked to them about going - the mom to get her endowments and Eugenia to do baptisms. They said they'd talk about it as a family... so I guess we'll see what happens. I think there's something going on though - it's the temple. We'll talk to them about it tonight in the FHE.

So funny story... Last sunday we were out doing contacts and we find this great mother/daughter couple. They just sat on the curb and started to talk to us like we had been friends all our life, so we just sat there in the street and chatted with them. They don't drink (in excess) nor smoke, and they have a really Mormon attitude about family life. So after talking for a while, she offered us water, and when we said yes she offered us a soda. Again we said yes and she offered us a cider (which in Spanish refers to any sparkling drink - just most are alcoholic). That's where it got dicey. We politely refused, and she assured us that it didn't have alcohol. So we accepted, and she brought out the most incredible sparkling dark strawberry cider I have ever tasted. The bottle said "Sidra Leve," and thus we drank. I had two cups. That night, I had the wierdest dream I think I have ever had in my entire life, and woke up with a pretty intense headache. About midday it hit me that maybe the word "leve" required more investigation. (stop laughing, dad) Turns out, it means "slight". Hmmm... So we headed to the store and hunted down a bottle. Sure enough - 4.5 grams/liter alcohol content. That's basically nothing, but it was enough! It was really good sparkling cider though. :D

(rest cut for family)