June 30, 2014

So this week was a little bitter sweet for us Uruguayans....but it was an awesome week anyways!! The mission just gets better and better! 

So to start it out, Tuesday was such a great day. Tuesday we had district meeting right at the same time Uruguay was playing so we were kinda bummed that we couldn’t see the game. It was pretty hilarious though because right as we finished district meeting, we heard fireworks (meaning gol uruguay), and my entire district bolted out of the church to the nearest almacen hahaa. Got so see the last 4 minutes of the game. Uruguay won against Italia and just about all of Artigas exploded. haha the streets were jam packed for miles with motos, autos, people, horses, dogs, just about everything and everyone that lives in Artigas was headed for centro to celebrate. haha. Everyone with their flags. It was pretty cool to see all of that. I have never seen anything like it. And to make it better, we had a great day of visits because everyone was stoked out of their mind that Uruguay won. 

This past week we also found a ton of awesome people to teach from references and from contacting. The spirit has played a giant role this past week. We were talking about it as a companionship and about the things we did different to seek for the Lords guidance and what we still need to improve. And it’s been helping us out a ton. We have been focusing on it a lot more since the conference we had with Elder Robbins, when he talked a ton about how it is impossible to gain a testimony with the 5 senses. The only way to do it is with the Spirit. And it’s awesome if we feel the Spirit but we need to start focusing on if our investigators, menos activos, members, etc really FEEL the Spirit. It’s been so awesome the difference. It’s changed everything from our studies, the way we talk to people, our practices, the way we think, everything! I think that that has been the reason this week has been so awesome. Just the entire environment has changed. 

Also this week the members have been working with us a lot more which has made a huge difference. We had been going out with the same members for a long time and we sat down this week and started calling people that we had never gone out with, went to their house, capacitated them a little bit, and then went out teaching! And it was so awesome! THEY CAUGHT FIRE!! There were people who were scared to share their testimony before that were teaching in lessons this past week! We are so excited to work with members better. We had talked about it a lot but it had kind of just stayed there, in the talking stage, this week we actually went out and did it. And we are seeing a change in our area and ward! Seeing miracles and loving it! The mission is the best!! 

We also got awesome news that a family that had moved away from our area is coming back! whoop whoop! We are pumped. It is the familia vasquez that lived in front of us. They were one of the strongest families in the ward and they moved to Montevideo but now they are coming back! Awesome! 

sábado was a super sad day for Uruguay...we lost against Columbia. But I am pumped that Derek’s country is still in the mundial! ojala  que ganen contra brasil! haha. But president asked us that we move studies to the hour of the game so we could be more effective during the day. Leaving after the game was kind of like walking into depression. It’s amazing how much of an effect a sport can have on a country. 

Sunday was another hard day in church. The number of people has dropped as it has been getting colder. That is going to be one of our biggest challenges we will have as we are starting winter. I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting and I spoke about Ammon and about the kings sheep. and how we need to go out in search of those members who lost and how we need to be of good cheer (I think that’s what it says in English. in Spanish it says "sed de buen animo") and it went pretty good. Thanks mom ;)

Then Sunday night we had our first practice for a fireside we are having on the 26th of July. It’s going to be awesome. We practiced some songs we are going to sing as a choir of missionaries and then had a devotional with the stake president. It was one of the spiritual highlights of the week. He talked about all the different kinds of "fruits" we take from the mission, most of them we are not able to measure. Like how many kilos of faith, or patience, or love for the Lord and the people we serve, etc. he shared experiences from his mission and it was so powerful. It made us reflect more on our personal relationship with our Savior. 

Well that is all the time I have for this week. Sorry that this email was kind of scattered all over the place. I need to do a better job of preparing my emails before I write but oh well. ya fue. haha. I love you all so much! I hope you have an awesome week! 

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

Get out there and share your testimony! 

Un abrazo grande, 

Elder Staffieri