This week has been great!

We have been working super hard this past week trying to get to know the members. We spent a lot of time going out on visits with members from our Ward to go visit less active families. It’s been great because now we know who they are and mas o menos what’s up in their life. We have been working a lot with the bishop and with our stake presidency.

On Tuesday morning, our stake president called us and told us to come over to his house to meet with him. He talked with us a lot about working with less actives and working together with the bishop. Our bishop is still pretty Young in the church and has a lot of things to learn but he is the most humble man I have ever met in my life. He told us to work as much as we can with him and we will havesuccess. He also talked to us about what kind of missionaries he expects us to be. He is the kind of stake president who if he doesn’t like what you are doing, the next change you are gone from that area. So he really takes control of what the missionaries are doing up here in Artigas. It’s been such a blessing to have a stake president that involved in the work and willing to go out with us. He counseled us on a few things, and then we went out to work. It was an awesome day.

We had a great district meeting and guess what! WE ARE GOING DOWN TO MONTEVIDEO TODAY! We have zone conference in Montevideo and we are all going to the temple. We are leaving in about an hour and a half. I am super pumped because I have never been in this temple down here because when I came into the misión, it was closed. So it will be the first time in about a year that I will go to the temple. The zone is super pumped!

We are still getting to know the area but the Lord always provides. Sorry i am not being too detailed, we have to go right about now. we are really short on time.

Artigas is honestly one of my favorite areas. Elder Owen is one of my favorite companions, we get along so good and we are always working hard and laughing. This change is such a blessing.

Well I want to leave you with a spiritual thought of sorts. It’s something that really struck me in our meeting with our stake president. He said that when we go to the homes of members or less actives, we aren’t there to invite them to church, or just make simple commitments, but rather we are there to invite them to come unto Christ. We are called to go visit these people and help them find their way back. As members, we have this responsibility to love these people and nourish their testimonies. A lot of the time, they just need a Little push. They need someone to show interest in their lives, their families, their struggles, their strengths, etc. As we go and visit them and encourage them, it wakes up their faith. It will draw them closer to Christ step by step. So my challenge for this week is so that you can go and ask the bishop, stake president, local leaders, etc, for people that you can go and help. Just a visit can make all the difference.

I know that the church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is THE testament of Jesus Christ and of His Atonement. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God. Yo sé que hoy es el día. Let’s go out and work.

Try a Little bit harder to be a Little bit better!

I love you all! Go share your testimony!

Elder Staffieri

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN SO AWESOME! I LOVE ARTIGAS!!!!!

So this week has been one of the best weeks of my mission. Seriously I am so happy. Artigas is so great! 

Monday and Tuesday we did change stuff, the new group of oros came in (Elder Pulsipher!!), and we just did all the normal change jazz. Nothing to new there. Then we went around and said goodbye to all the members and investigators I was teaching. Something cool that happened there. One of our investigators, Bruno, might move from Montevideo. And guess  to where??!! AARRRTTTIIIGGGAAASSS! In barrio 4 where we are serving! So that would be awesome! 

Anyways, Tuesday night me and elder Lopez got on the bus in montevideo at 12:30 and traveled all through the night and got here at 8:30 in the morning. It was pouring rain. We had too much stuff to fit in the taxis with the elders we had so I ended up taking a taxi by myself...in an area I didn’t know....but I got there and had a really good conversation with the driver. Got a reference! 

My new companion is elder Owen. He is from Draper, Utah. He is 19. He has about 3 changes in the mission so he is still relatively young. He is such a stud. Always excited to go out and work. Always has a smile on his face and always wanting to speak in spanish! It’s been so great being with him. I am so excited for our changes together. 

The first two days here in Artigas, I went on divisions with Elder Aqueveque (de Chile) for two days so that he could help me get to know the area and some of the members. It was an awesome opportunity to learn from him. He is such a stud! I learned a lot about contacting with him and how to teach in different ways. Such a blessing to have spent two days with him. He is a great example of what a hard working missionary lives like. 

We went to mutual on Wednesday with all the jovenes at night and played soccer in the pouring rain. Man can these kids play. There were about 30 kids there so we made teams of 5 and just rotated with winner staying on the court. It is clear that the youth are one of the major strengths in the ward. 

We have been hitting it hard in the streets this past week. We found 12 new people to teach in half a week that we had up here with 4 of them being men over the age of 18 who will be future priesthood holders. 

Church on Sunday was awesome! We had 74 in church which is really good for this ward. After church, we met with some brothers from the high council and they kind of laid out their expectations for what they want us to help the ward with. At the end of the meeting, one of the brothers stands up and goes to the window and goes “You see that green field out there? That is where we will build the chapel for the people of Barrio 4" To do that, we need to have over 125 people in the church consistently for a year. We are going to do it. I know we are because the Spirit confirmed it as he said it. It was so awesome! The leaders know that TODAY IS THE DAY! It’s been so incredible. 

Later on Sunday, we met with our bishop. We talked about his goals for the ward, what he needed from us, etc. At the end of the meeting, he asked us if he could go out and teach with us. I have never had a bishop just come up to us and ask us what time he could go out to teach with us. He is such a stud! At first he was talking about all the things he had to do and then he thought for a little bit and goes HOY ES EL DIA ELDERES! Give me 15 minutes and we are going out to work. Then he went out to go on visits with us. He agreed to go out with us every Saturday and Sunday for as long as we needed him to go out. He loves his ward so much and wants to do everything to build up the church in his ward. 

One of the trials we have come into this past week has been the members. They honestly just about had a funeral when the last missionaries left. One elder had been here 6 months and the people here adored him. It’s been really hard because they are all in mourning still as he has left. We have been doing all we can to try to regain the trust of the members and help them move past it. Yesterday we were in lunch, and this member almost started crying when someone brought up the name of the elder. But we are making progress, little by little, with the members. They are beginning to warm up to us. We are just going to have to make it a point of focus these coming weeks! 

Today we went into Brazil with some elders, elder finnegan and pulsipher included! whoop whoop! We went to eat at an all you can eat Brazilian buffet. They kept bringing meat to our table for like an hour and a half. It was so awesome! It was only like 10 dollars too. Everything is so much cheaper in Brazil. I think we are going to be doing a lot of shopping there ;)

Well that’s all I have for this week! I just want to say that Artigas is so awesome! I honestly never thought I could love an area so fast. It has been one of the most successful weeks of my mission and we only had half a week! It’s been the best being up here with all these amazing elders. I know the whole zone basically from before. We are going to go to work in Artigas this change! We have been seeing all the blessings of opening an area. The Lord provides when we strive to do our best and follow all of his commandments! 

I love you all so much! 

Lets all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Staffieri

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, and some more RAIN!!!

It has been pouring here in Montevideo for the past week, it let up today but another storm is already rolling in and it looks like it will be here for the next week as well. Got to love it! Seriously I have never seen storms like this. To the point where you cant even see through the windshield but you have 12 missionaries in the van whose bus is leaving in 5 minutes. Ha-ha. Good times. But seriously, the streets turned to rivers. It was nuts.

This week has been great. One of the most frustrating but also good weeks of my mission. First off, my comp got both of his toes operated on this past week. They took out half of his big toe nail as well as the root on both feet. He has not been allowed to walk which means that every time I need to go out to work in our area, I need to do splits with the other elders or try to find some youth in the ward to go out with me and one to stay with him. It has made things really difficult to go out and teach. I have never had to cancel so many lessons. But come what may and love it right? I just feel bad for Elder Woods. He has been bummed not being able to do anything. He tried walking a little bit and then blood started soaking through all his bandaging, so he stopped. jaja. Poor guy. That combined with his partially torn ACL is making life difficult for him. 

So this week I got to go to concilio with Elder Castillo. It was so awesome. It is always good to get to go and get all the teaching right from president: don’t get me wrong, the zone leaders do an awesome job, but to see it come right from him and the assistants is powerful. We learned a new lesson about the Sabbath Day. I can’t wait to practice it with my new comp and go out and teach it. It is such an awesome lesson! It’s also a ton of fun to get to hang out with all the zone leaders. Some of my best friends are the zone leaders that we have and they all came down so we had a blast! You just learn how to be an overall better missionary at concilio. Can’t wait to get out and apply it all. Whoop whoop! 

So it has been the last week in the offices!! It´s a little bittersweet to be honest. The offices have been awesome! Getting to work so closely with president and his family, the assistants, all the zone leaders, and just getting to know the entire mission. It was so much fun from everything like getting the new missionaries from the airport, 2  hour drives to get things to president, staying up all night during changes, to going and spending 3 hours in DHL trying to free a package for a missionary at Christmas. I have learned so much about myself in the offices and how to maximize the time you have to work in your area. BUT something I am looking forward to is leaving all this stuff behind and not having to focus on anything other than helping the people we are teaching to come unto Christ. Its going to be awesome having time to write in my journal too...;)

SO president talked to me this past week and told me that i am going to an area that has not had success since before he arrived in the mission. But we both have faith that we can change that. I am going to ARTIGAS!!!! I am going to the 4th ward up there. I am so excited. It is the most northern department in Uruguay. It gets suupppeeeerrrrr hot up there. Dirt roads and campo. I can’t wait. I think I know who my new companion is, but cant say for sure at this point. I was here in the offices when he came into the mission. He is such a stud. I am so excited for this coming change. 

Well I am out of time for this week. But I love you all so much. Thank you for taking the time to write me. It means a lot to know how everyone is doing! I hope that you all have a great week! Keep the faith and a smile on your face! 

Lets all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better. 

Con Cariño,

Elder Staffieri

Clearing the Drains on Top of the Church after the storms!

CONGRATULATIONS TO HENRY!!! Moscow, Russia!! That is so awesome bud! I am so excited for you. You are going to have so much fun out there. You are going to bless the lives of so many people. I am so proud of you!

So this week has been awesome! Full of thunderstorms but so much fun. We have been seeing a lot of success in our area by following the direction of our bishop. 

But first off, we had an interesting start to this week. Elder Woods has some pretty gnarly ingrown toe nails. it took him to the point of infections in both of his big toes to go to the hospital. They saw him, cleaned out all the nasty stuff that was in there, and then scheduled him for surgery this coming Thursday. Until then, he can’t walk or do anything that requires him to be on his feet for a while because this will start the infection again or something like that. So I have been going on divisions a whole lot with the other office elders trying to get time in our area. It’s been really awesome actually. It really makes us focus on having shorter lessons and be more focused during planning. I feel like I just adopted the other half of our ward as well working with elder Castillo and elder lamb.

This past week we have had some awesome lessons. We had two lessons with the girl and dad who we found a few weeks ago who stopped us on their moto in the street. Ursula went to Brazil so we hadn’t had that many lessons with her but she is such an amazing person to teach. When she was in Brazil, she was reading the book of Mormon and said that she telling us all about what she was reading. At the end of the first lesson we had with her this week, she accepted the invitation to be baptized. Yesterday we had another lesson with her and her family and she had invited her friend over to listen to us as well because she wanted him to know what she was learning. Her father is traveling in his ship so we will start teaching him when he gets back. They are an awesome family! 

Fernando is still progressing super well. It was a little harder to find him this week but they are all doing great. 

We have been praying a lot this week to find people to teach. We have been really struggling to find people to teach in our area just through tracting alone. One day this week we felt like we should go visit one of the members in our ward. As we get to her house, we just start talking about how everything is going and what has happened recently, just start visiting. And then she just cuts us off and goes, "I bet you don’t remember this but I have been praying for what you asked me. You two came to me a few months ago and asked me to pray to find someone to share the gospel with. well, I got my answer" she goes on to tell us about her friend who had come to her to talk about how she feels that she is lacking something in her life and that she feels it is spirituality. Her friend had asked her if she could come to learn more about the "mormonas." Maria Luisa, the member, got so excited. Her face lit up when she was talking about her friend. She wanted us to come the next day to teach her. We have a lesson set up with her later tonight. ¡¡LA OBRA VA BIEN!!

This week, all of the new missionaries and their trainers came down to Montevideo to receive more training and get all of their medical stuff done. It was really cool for them and a marathon day for us. We spent about 6 hours in the car taking missionaries different places, picking up different things, getting stuff for president, etc. 

Today was an awesome day! We woke up, went and did a few hours of service for the same guy we have been working with for the past few weeks. We have been cleaning all of the dirt and rubble out of his house so he can start the actual construction. Well it has been raining a lot this week so everything in the house was just saturated with water and way heavier. We got a solid work out though which was good. So we were wheeling out wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow down these makeshift ramps into this giant trash bin. Well we got a little fan club. There was about 6 drunks sitting outside the house on the other side of the street and when they saw us running down the ramps from inside the house across the sidewalk and up the other ramp they all started yelling and shouting at us. it was funny because when someone was struggling they were all like "come on man! You got it! You are almost there!" and when we finally dumped it in they all just started celebrating and jumping up and down. haha. After service, we went and got a haircut and then we went to a member’s house to have a p-day asado. We started up the fire, threw the meat on there, and ate for about an hour and a half. Honestly one of the best asados I have ever had. 

Well I am just about out of time for this week. Sorry. It kinda sneeks up on you. But I love you all so much. I hope that you all have a great week. 

Try a little bit harder to be a little bit better. 

Love,

Elder Staffieri

This week was awesome! Probably one of the best weeks I have had in a while. We got out and taught a whole bunch. Last Sunday we met with our bishop and he asked us to stop working in the area we were working in and start working in the old area that the sisters had when they shared a ward with us. It is an area that he said "hasn’t had success for missionaries in 10 to 15 years." There are no members that live in that area. That area is called Prado. It’s a really rich area with giant houses and big gates around every one. It makes working there a little difficult but there is still work to be done.  The bishop holds the keys to the missionary work in our area so we are going to go out and follow his council. HOY ES EL DÍA that we will have success there. We have been going out and knocking doors and making street contacts like crazy. We have found a few people that invited us back to receive the lessons. It’s been really cool to see how the Lord provides as we are following the counsel of our bishop. Even though we have been working a lot more in the streets, we have been having a lot of lessons. People are always there when we plan for them. I love being a missionary!! LA OBRA VA BIEN!

We had a lesson with Fernando this past week. It went really well. We showed up at his house and he wasn’t there but his sister in law was with her mom and some other people so she invited us in to wait. While we were waiting, we started talking to her asking how everything was and seeing how she was doing then she goes on to tell us how she used to talk to the missionaries too.  She in fact was the one who brought the missionaries over to their house in the first place. She went on to tell us that one day she was walking feeling really sad about what had just happened to her and then some missionaries came up and started talking to her and then walked with her to her house. She said that after they had finished talking, she was left feeling happy and at peace. We asked her if she would be willing to learn more and she said yeah. We sat down and had a lesson with her for 20 minutes and then just as we finished, Fernando walked in with his wife and son and then we had a lesson with them. We taught him the Restoration using a little more of the bible than normal to explain how the church was set up and line of authority and showing how it has gone from apostasy to restoration to apostasy, etc. We talked a lot about prayer and shared the Joseph Smith experience with him. He really enjoyed it and committed to pray. We taught two different lessons without even having to move a seat. 

This week I also went on splits twice. First off with Elder Lamb because his companion was sick. But we had full days planned in both areas so we decided to go out to work with the car. We had a different lesson in a different area every half hour. We were running back and forth like crazy but it all came together. It was actually one of the most fun days I have had. Teaching half the lessons with people I didn’t know and the other half with only people that I knew. It was good constantly switching off lead and learning from Elder Lamb and seeing different ways of teaching. It was awesome. Then I went on splits yesterday with our zone leader, Elder Miranda, de Colombia. It was a really good day. We went and worked over in barrio °4. It’s the middle of Montevideo, downtown. Its kind of different working there because everyone seems to be in even more of a rush than they are in our area. But we had a great day. Great lessons and ended with a ward activity. 

Last night we had to run to the airport at 12:30 and got back at 2am. It was a good trip though. Elder Woods and I always have a blast on those airport runs. There was a gnarly storm that came through Montevideo this week and there were trees blown down everywhere so that made it even cooler. 

So this storm that came through was crazy. Giant wind storms, lightening, thunder, pouring rain, etc. It was so bad, and part our fault for leaving the window open, that we broke our door. We have a glass door in-between our laundry area and our kitchen and someone had left the window out the laundry area open. So at about midnight, a giant gust of wind blew through our apartment, slammed our door shut and shattered the bottom half of it. In our defense, it was already broken. Now it’s just...a little more broken. 

So this week I kind of had a little light bulb moment. So I will share it as a spiritual thought. I began re-reading Jesus the Christ in Spanish this past week and so I have been learning about the preexistence and the creation and everything like that. In the pearl of great price, we learn that Satan presented his plan in opposition to that plan the Father had set forward. In this plan, he would take away the agency of men to bring upon him the glory. I just thought about what that means and how that must have been when it kind of hit me. Satan is still doing that. He is going after our agency to engañarnos (i dont know the word in english and i think it is a lot more powerful in spanish). Think of some the sins that people commit. Drinking and using drugs. It goes after our ability to fully use our agency. They often create addictions that even lesson our agency, o sea, make it more difficult to use. Pornography and immoral media. They begin to bring people in and numb them. It’s incredibly addictive and is hard to break.  Even a simple lie. It limits the ability to tell the truth. People end up trapped in a white lie that they have told not being able to come out without losing all that they had built upon a deception. This fear makes it harder to use the agency we have been freely given. It goes on and on. He still works this way so that he can bring the "glory of man" upon himself. We understand that the only way to overcome the natural man is with the Savior. All of us at times fall into temptation in one form or another. We know that with the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all of us have the power to overcome anything that is put in our path. I think it is the most rewarding part of being a missionary is seeing the Atonement of Jesus Christ in action. People who are so burden ridden and feel they are too far gone to see the way out, those who feel too weak to continue, once they pray and come to know that Christ is their Savior and He has set forth the way, there is a change. This life once filled with darkness, captivity, and confusion is now converted into one with light, freedom and understanding. 

I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He has given us the only way to return to live with the Father as eternal families. I know of the power of the Atonement. I have experienced this miracle first hand in my own daily life as well as those whom we have the opportunity to visit. I know that Joseph Smith was called to restore the church here in the earth today. I know of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. There is no way for a man to get closer to God than by reading and prayerfully pondering the message it contains. There is a difference of someone who is converted to the church through the Book of Mormon than someone who is not. I know that we have a prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson. It is such a blessing to be able to receive revelation through him. We are so blessed. 

I am about out of time for today but I love you all. Thank you so much for all of your support. 

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

Con cariño, 

Elder Staffieri  

So this week was really good!

Elder Woods gave a talk in sacrament meeting on the Book of Mormon. It was a great talk on why it is important to have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon as the key to our conversion. Everyone there learned a lot and the bishop was thrilled. He said it was exactly what the ward needed to hear. 

Then we taught the Sunday school class on the Law of Chastity. It was actually a really good lesson until we someone brought up birth control and things kind of went their own ways. In the end we wrangled it back and explained how it was a decision between husband, wife and God. So it ended pretty well. 

Monday, we had interviews with president. Interviews are always an awesome time for a zone. We all get trained by president as well as his wife and his assistants. We got taught a new way to teach tithes and offerings. It’s such an awesome lesson and it really helps them feel the spirit and understand why it is so important and the blessings that come as we are obedient. It’s kind of funny that now I cant wait to teach that lesson. Sometimes as missionaries, it’s the last lesson we teach and it’s a little touchy. But this new way to teach it is going to help a lot with that. 

Today was fun! We went out to go visit these Japanese Gardens here in Montevideo and then go to a museum. I wore my Brazil jersey today and this Brazilian couple came up to me and started speaking Portuguese and stuff. After a while, they knew that I wasn’t from Brazil, I wonder how they found that out....but we still had a great conversation. I am happy that we are teaching a Brazilian lady right now so I can speak a little bit of Portuguese. They asked us what we were doing down here and everything. It was a cool contact. The gardens were cool too. I took some cool pictures. We will send them to you. 

This week we had an interesting experience. We had to go over to another zone here in Montevideo and we didn’t have a car so we were trying to flag down a taxi. This empty taxi was driving down the road, as soon as he saw us trying to wave him down, he turns off his free light and shakes his finger at us and then keeps driving and turns on his light again. We just kinda laughed it off. We don’t normally get discriminated like that so it was a good laugh but then we just flagged down the next taxi. I got in the front seat and started talking to the taxi driver and asked him about his family and how work was and everything and then we ended up on religion....;) he talked about how he used to take lessons from the missionaries and how now he just started dating a Mormon girl and he just started talking to them again. We started talking about why he was talking to them again and how he was feeling to start over with them. He said that he was really happy to be learning about the church and it felt good. It was a short 10 minute drive but he was left with a little more animo, a pass along card, phone number, and the testimony of two missionaries. The Lord provides. 

Right now we are working with the family of Fernando. He is a hard worker, rides his bike an hour each morning to go to work in the home of a family and then an hour back each night. He comes from a family of strong religious beliefs in another church and he really wants to be certain of what is right. His wife is a great support to him. They had gone to the church several times before and now they are working their way back. We will keep you posted. 

We are still working with our investigator Bruno and his mom to try to reactivate her and get a solid example going for him. It’s a work in progress :)

Well that’s all the time i have for this week. Its crazy how time just sneaks up on you that fast. I am going to attach some pictures and get off. I love you guys! Have a great week! 

Try a little harder to be a little bit better! 

Con cariño, 

Elder Staffieri

Sorry this one is going to be short, we got into the offices late and we have people to teach so bear with me. LA OBRA VA BIEN EN URUGUAY!!!

This week was so awesome!!! It was a week full of thunderstorms which meant a week full of service. We had a few members whose houses flooded so we went and helped them clean it up. In one sister´s house, her sewage got clogged. that one was fun jaja. we took a good long shower after that one. 

We finally picked up the mission calendar for the year of 2014. It was quite the process in getting it done but we finally did and all the work paid off. We went and delivered some yesterday to an area where president was doing interviews. When we were there the assistants told us that we needed to go find lunch for everyone so off we went. we needed to feed 32 people in about 45 minutes. we went to the store, got 16 pre-made sandwiches and then 16 loaves of bread (kinda like french bread), ham, cheese, and mayonnaise. sped over to the church only to find that there were no knives to prepare the sandwiches. being eagle scouts, we found a pair of scissors and went to work. it all turned out pretty good. we got the whole zone food under the hour and it didn't taste half bad. 

We had concilio this past week so i got to go on divisions with elder Castillo!! whoop whoop. we had a blast together as we went out to teach. we taught some great lessons together and i learned a lot from him. He is from my group, meaning i came to the mission with him, he was in the ccm with me, and it was just a blast. Such a great missionary and an awesome example for all those who are around him. 

We received some great references this week from members. We went to go find one yesterday and they are awesome. It is of a man named Fernando and his wife and child. They had talked to the missionaries before but with changes and everything, had gotten lost. They were excited to see us walk up to their apartment and eagerly accepted a visit. They are a great family that really wants to see the difference the gospel makes in their life because they have seen the difference in the lives of their friends. 

A recent convert, Yoshua, has been inviting friends to lessons at his house. He has really caught the missionary spirit and is so happy to share what he has with everyone. His fiend Florencia saw us coming over to his house and then followed us in asking if she could listen again. We are going to go teach them again tonight at 8. WE cant wait! They are such great youth.

Yesterday we had an amazing experience as a result of a prayer. It is amazing how the Spirit will guide you if you are willing to listen. We got to the house we needed to be at when we needed to be there. I don't have time to explain it all. 

We have found some good people this past week and i am sorry i cant tell you more about them. Next week i promise i will. We have got to go. We have a lesson here quick. I will try to load up some pictures before i get off. 

I love you all so much! thank you for all you do to support me out here on the mission. Time is ffllyyiing by.

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

con cariño, 

Elder Staffieri