June 09, 2014

I LOVE ARTIGAS!!! I never want to leave this place! Every week just seems to get better and better up here. 

This past Tuesday I went on divisions with Elder Merino in Pintadito (a little town outside of artigas)! I have been waiting for so long to go out there to see how it is. Elder Merino and his companion, Elder Segura, are starting up a branch out there and we have been trying to set up divisions to go out there to see how it is going. I guess I was so excited to go out there my comp told me I was talking in my sleep about it. Saying things like, "¡¡VIVA PINTADITO!!" and "BUENO, YA QUE ESTAMOS AQUI, VAMOS A ENSEÑAR A TODO PINTADITO!" and then teaching some of the plan of salvation. idk. I don’t really remember the dream but all the elders in my house wont let me live it down. But it went awesome. We had some great lessons and I learned a lot from Elder Merino. The members really support them as well. It was a testimony to me of what happens when members and missionaries work together. 

Tuesday night, we headed down to Montevideo for some medical stuff. We left at midnight and got in at 8 in the morning, went to some appointments, and then helped out in the offices and went out to visit my old area. It was a pretty good day. we got back on the bus at 630 at night and got home at about 3 in the morning, took a 3 hour nap and got up to work Thursday morning. I don’t think my eyes have ever felt so heavy haha. But we had a great day Thursday.

Saturday, we had a stake soccer tournament for 30 and up. It was an awesome activity for the whole family and investigators. Next week, two of our investigators are going to play for our ward so we are super pumped! 

DOMINGO WAS AWESOME!! CLARA LEAL CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN!!! WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!  aahh it was so awesome, we walked out of young men’s and she comes walking out of relief society with the biggest smile on her face! We were stoked out of this world! And now we are working even more with her family as well! 

This week we have been making a ton of contacts. Like basically shifting into super contact mode. We have been trying to teach more people so in order to do that, we have to talk to more people. We have loved it. It’s been a little slow but it’s getting better. We have been getting more references as well! 

a cool thing that happened this week is we were teaching a lesson with a recent convert on her patio in front of her house and a cobrador ( a bill collecter) shows up as we are teaching. He asks for the owner of the house as we keep teaching and then the idea pops into our head....ask him so questions. So we do. We asked him what it meant to have faith (as we were talking about faith) and he responded what it meant to him. and we started teaching him while he was standing out side the gate while we were teaching Tamara and just involving him as much as we could in the time we had and after he was paid he was about to get back on his moto and leave but we asked him if he had 15 minutes and he said yeah so we invited him to come in and take a seat. We talked about the restoration of the gospel and how it blesses the family and the importance of prayer. He was really interested in the lesson and turns out that he was baptized when he was 15 years old but went inactive soon after. He expressed that he felt a peace like he hadn’t had in years and that it brought back memories of his baptism. He explained that now he has two kids a wife and said that he would like them to know about the gospel as well. And then the kicker, he said that a missionary recently returned to his mother in laws house about a month ago with his family, the missionary that baptized his wife’s mom and grandma. We started asking a few questions about the missionary and it turns out it was President Smith and his family. How awesome is that?! We were bummed that they don’t live in our area but we are so stoked for elder Mar and elder Chavez to be able to teach them and complete the family. aaahhh! Miracles in the mission! So cool! This is just one example of the importance of talking with everyone. Just sharing a simple testimony or asking a question can have great results. If we just take a minute or two to talk to those around us, a lot of times we can find those who are looking for truth, the truth that is only found in the gospel. GET OUT THERE AND SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY! 

I cannot say enough about this place. I love the Artigas. I love the mission. I love these two years that I have been given to share the gospel with the people of Uruguay. Life honestly doesn’t get better than this. 

But that’s all the time I have for this week. I will try to send some pictures. I love you all! 

Lets all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better this week! 

Go forward in faith! And share the happiness that the gospel has given you! 

UN abrazo grande, 

Elder Staffieri

This past week has been so awesome! We have been seeing some miracles in our area! 

We had such an awesome lesson with Jose y Mariana this past week where we talked about marriage and the family and they expressed their desire to get married. And JOSE FOUND WORK!!!! And a blessing for us, it is in this bakery that closed down a few months ago where we went every day for breakfast! haha. But we are so pumped. He has been looking for work for so long and we have been praying with him for a while so that he can find it and he finally did! aaaahhhhh I seriously felt like jumping up and screaming I was so pumped when he told us. But that would have killed the spirit so we kept it in until we left. And the best part is that he doesn’t work on Sunday. Ever since he has accepted the invitation to get baptized, everything has been falling in place. It has been such an awesome week with them.

The familia Machado is progressing again! And so is Jesus! We have been finding a ton this past week too! Ah it has just been awesome. 

This past week we talked about making the most of every moment in the mission! And making sure we are making the most of every lesson we teach. Even though I was the one giving the class, I think I might have learned the most. Sometimes I get content with giving 90 percent or even 80, I don’t know if it’s just being lazy or if it is insecurity about going a little farther or pushing a little more, idk. But this past week, I was reading and studying, and realized that I don’t have time to be content with less! That’s not what I am here for! So we redoubled or efforts this past week and have been going the extra mile in obedience, diligence, and teaching. And we have been seeing the blessings in our investigators and menos activos. Everything seems to be looking up! This has been one of the weeks where I have just been so stoked out of my mind to be a missionary! Well, I am every week but this week in especial. 

We also had a few difficulties this past week as well. My comp is having some health problems and couldn’t leave for 2 days from the house. And there was literally no one to go out with. I think I called just about every man above the age of 16 in Artigas who could go out and they all couldn’t. But there was another missionary who was sick so I went out on divisions with elder Chavez. We had a great day.

And Elder Pulsipher went on divisions in my house!! whoop whoop whoop! It was fun to get hang out with him a little more. We have such a blast together. He is such a stud. He knows so much Spanish already and is loving every minute of the mission. I feel so blessed to be here serving with him in Artigas. 

This past week we had church together with another ward because they were having elections in our building. We had probably one of the most spiritual testimony meetings I have ever had the chance to be in. many of the members here in Artigas were baptized in barrio 2, where we had meetings Sunday and they all bore their testimonies about that. It was so awesome. And the best thing ever happened Sunday.....CLARA LEAL CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!! I WAS SO STOKED OUT OF MY MIND THAT SHE FINALLY CAME! I HAD THE BIGGEST SMILE ACROSS MY FACE THE WHOLE DAY! I WANTED TO GIVE HER A GIANT HUG I WAS SO PUMPED! We have been working with her since I got here and doing just about everything we could think of to help her to get to church and she finally went! She also bore her testimony!! It was so awesome! Few times have I ever been so happy! 

Well, sorry that is all the time I have for this past week! It’s been challenging but it has been awesome. I love the mission so much! It has been one of the biggest blessings of my entire life. I cannot thank my Heavenly Father enough for this chance I have to serve. There is no place I would rather be. 

Let’s all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better this week! 

I love you all so much! 

Con cariño, 

Elder Staffieri