I Ended Up Dropping Some Cane

Christmas jammies!  Thanks Mom!

Hey Crazies!

Wow it was so awesome to talk to you guys on Christmas! Sounds like it was super fun in Hawaii! But I can't talk about Hawaii cause then I start thinking about the beach and hiking and golfing and food and you guys and see what I mean my mind just wonders! haha Bo, Soph and Mags look so old already, it's crazy!!!! Mace, Kenna and Dalt look the same... ugly ;) Wow I felt kind of weird after talking to you guys, but I actually felt more excited to be here. It really helps and motivates me so much to know that Macy is out doing the same things and having the same difficulties as me. It's awesome, she's awesome!!!

Someone is playing that one song from pitch perfect, You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone, right now!!! wow I miss music, but holy cow I can't believe that in a couple of days I will have been gone for 6 months!!!!! I can't believe how fast it has gone! It makes me kind of scared, I don't want to reach the end of my mission and look back and regret not working hard enough. I really just want to put it all out there, so that's what I'm going to do! This is going to be an awesome year!!!!!

So Alejandra was baptized after 4 months of teaching her and she is still doing great! We are trying to help her kids get excited about the church too. Washington on the other hand is not doing so great. We went by yesterday and didn't even really want to talk to us, and told us that he was done with the church and didn't really want anything to do with it. Well I then asked him if we could come in and share one more charla or lesson. I had actually been reading in a conference talk, (darn I can't remember who it was) it was from this last conference and there was a story about a less active lady who told her visiting teachers when they came to her house that she didn't want them to come back ever again, and the visiting teachers asked if they could sing one last hymn and when they sang the lady totally changed and returned to the church. So I was thinking about that, but with Washington it wasn't as pretty. We started the charla and he was really angry and was angry at God because he said he had been praying and reading every day and had been asking for things that hadn't happened. Well we started explaining more about how if we are obedient God has to bless us, and that we need to ask in faith and even then we need to respect the Lord's will and accept it. Well he was still angry and it was getting kind of heated as we were talking about every subject that he had doubts about or didn't agree with. But Elder Cruz and I ended up dropping some cane, or crackin down and just telling him straight up here is what you need to do if you want help... The lesson actually ended really well, and I have hope that he is going to return to come to church and quite smoking and continue strong. 

Mirtha came to the first hour of church yesterday but then bolted out, and we actually saw her leaving and ran up to her and asked why and explained that she could stay more if she wanted, but she did not want to. We have been having some problems with Mirtha. We have had some great lessons and she is always willing to talk with us, or I should say was willing to talk to us. But she hasn't been doing any of the things that we have been inviting her to do. Like I don't think that she has read one of the reading assignments that we have given her and they are only like one or two verses. I am just really hoping and praying that we can help her to read and pray cause I know that it will help her so much. Her husband died like a year ago or so and I can tell that she is still having a lot of trouble with that, so we just really want to help her but we can't do it all ourselves. She has to put in her part and show her desire. Anyways we are going to pass by this week, I'll let you know how she is doing.

Dang I loved Macys invitation to do missionary work! I think it is an awesome idea. I have learned so much about how to share the gospel since I've been here, and it doesn't have to be scary at all! Sharing the gospel can be so easy! Please pray and search for moments and experiences to share the gospel and I know that you will feel a different spirit in your life, because I definitley have!!!!

Well have an awesome week, and a Happy New Year!!!

I love you all more than you will ever know!

Elder Inglatera

Merry Christmas!!! It looks like it's snowing!

Alejandras baptism

Christmas Day 2013

3 way skyping with Mace and Davis!

It worked awesome...they were able to see and

talk with us and each other!

Aloha!

Alooohaaaa!!!

haha I just thought of a moment in one of the films of the district when they have a Luau and one of the Elders says Alooooohaaaaa! Dumb missionary quote! Anyways how is Hawaii bums? Sounds like it is awesome, and that is so sweet that you saw sister Annen. Holy cow I am so dang excited to skype!!!!!! We were going to do it with this awesome family that I love, la familia Oyarzabol but they can't cause they are going to be traveling. But don't worry we found another family. La family Garcia Clavero, the dad Waldemar was our ward mission leader. They are really nice people. But okay sounds like everything is already worked out, I wrote down my username and password just now! soooooo excited!

Hey guess what, you're not going to believe it! Alejandra got baptized this week!!!! I baptized her and actually had to try three times:) but hey third time's the charm! I am so happy that she got baptized and that she is really starting to become a part of the Branch. I know that this is going to help her and her kids soooo much! But it's just like what you said in your email dad, baptism isn't the end but the beginning. I am going to try so hard to help her to be active in the church along with her children. We have been trying so hard to help Washington, and have had some awesome lessons with him where he says that he is going to come to church every Sunday and he says that he is going to stop smoking which is the biggest problem. We have tried to help him so much, but the hard thing to realize is that we as missionaries can only do so much for the people that we teach. They have to make their own choices. It's really frustrating sometimes, but I really believe that Washington is going to return and stop smoking. 

So other than them, we don't have very many people. We have some investigators but the thing is that I feel like a lot of the time people just listen to us cause they are nice but really don't want anything to do with the church. But we have Mirtha who I think could be our next baptism. I think I explained a little about her before. Anyways she is so nice, but she didn't come to church this week and she hardly ever follows through with the commitments that we extend. But we will see with her, I hope that she can just give this a chance. 

Well I will talk to you guys in two days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldnt figure out how to download pictures, this computer is really old sorry, ill send them next week:)

Have an awesome two days nos vemos!

I love you more than you will ever know,

Elder England

Bring It On Florida, This Will Be An Awesome Transfer

Playing some uno last p day!!!

Hola Familia!!!!

Bueno, we have transfers this week that is the reason I am writing today and not yesterday. But I am staying here for another transfer!!! I pretty much already knew that was going to happen because the trainers are usually with their comps for 2 transfers, but there is always a chance for everything. As I thought of what was going to happen, for a minute I kind of wanted to leave Florida. I just felt like I have literally talked with everyone here, and not many want to listen. But I then realized that I was being so dumb and selfish! We have Alejandra who is going to get baptized this Saturday for sure!!!! I really am so glad and grateful that she is going to get baptized. It's been like 4 months that we have been teaching her, and I have seen them struggle with so many challenges. I just know that everything is going to be sooooo much better after she is baptized! So bring it on Florida, this is going to be an awesome transfer! Oh and Elder Canete and Elder Gallacher are staying too.

As for Elder Cruz and I, we are doing awesome right now. We had a few disagreements this week, but now we are all good. It all has to do with the schedule pretty much. I feel like I am always waiting for him when we are leaving to go proselyting, and I've been trying to be patient (okay I think I could definitely be more patient) but we should be leaving on time to go proselyte. Okay we don't fight that much over that, It's more like ¨Vaminos Elder Cruz, ya es tarde!¨ and he usually just says "I'm coming, I'm coming". But then there was Sunday night. So we have to be in the house on Sunday at 8 instead of 9, and we had just found some new people sitting outside their house at like 8:40. So we taught the first lesson pretty quickly, but we didn't leave ourselves much time. So after I was like okay let's go, we need to run to get to the house on time so that we can record our numbers and give them to our district leader. So I started running, but Elder Cruz didn't. After looking back I asked him to run so that we could get back on time, but he said let's just walk fast. Then I said we don't have time, we need to run. And then I started running again, but he didn't. I then lost it, and started yelling! Elder Cruz tenemos que ester en casa a las 8, VAMINOS!!! He started running but just for a second, then stopped again. Okay the thing is I knew that he could run, he said that he played soccer every single day with his friends. So then after that I started saying I thought you played soccer in Peru, but you can't run for two seconds to the house! He just said, you can't tell me what to do. I said I'm not!!! These are the rules, I didn't make them! Well he ended up starting to run and we made it to the house drenched in sweat! After all that I realized that maybe I've been a little hard on Elder Cruz, I remembered how hard it was to be a new missionary, so I apologized and we are all good.

Yesterday was Elder Cruz´s birthday too, I bought him a six pack of alfajores (which are the best things ever you should look it up if you don't know what they are). We had a pretty good day yesterday and actually went to our branch presidents house for a family home evening and food. It was so fun, the presidents son in law, who is the secretary in the bishopric actually taught the family home evening. He talked about the spirit of Christmas and shared what Christmas was like when he was on his mission in Chile, Rancagua. I had a great time, and we also watched the Christmas devotional talk from President Monson last year where he talked about giving our hearts as a gift to the Savior!

I am so excited to have this opportunity to be on the mission for Christmas. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to give back just a portion of what the Lord has given me. I know that this is what Christmas is all about, it's about helping others to know and feel of Christ's love! And I am striving to really give my heart to the Lord. The only thing that the Lord doesn't have already is our will, is our hearts and our desires. This Christmas I am giving it all! I only hope that he can use me to bless the lives of others in this glorious time of the year! I love my Savior, and I love all of you more than you will ever know!

I am also so excited to skype!!!! So I'm thinking that 6 will work, we just need to find a family that will let us use their computer. But I already have a skype account, so you don't need to worry about that! I hope that the whole three way thing is going to work out. Anyways I love you all - have an awesome week!

Elder England

Our last district pic before transfers

Our branch presidents wife gave us a christmas tree!!!

And yes, I did decorate it :)

All The Single Ladies

Elder Gallacher's sister sent him
these reindeer antlers!

Hey fam!!!

I got my FIVE Christmas packages!!! haha everyone was freaking out cause I got five of them, all I said was, ¨Yeah my mom is crazy for stuff like this¨ But I was soooo stinkin excited to open them! I've already eaten a lot of the food, but we haven't made the pancakes with SYRUP yet! I think we might save that for Christmas. Ugh I wanted to open the presents so bad, but then Elder Gallacher told me that I would regret opening them before Christmas. And I guess I realized he was right, (curse you Elder Gallacher). Anyways super duper excited for Christmas, especially for skype! So you guys need to tell me what time would be best for you and for Macy, and then I can try and find a family with a computer to use. I already asked a family that I'm pretty close to, but they said that they might be traveling and need to know what time. Anyways t´would be nice if you could figure the timing out. 

I'm pretty sure I tell this to everyone here, but I do not feel like it is almost Christmas at all! First of all the temperature is a thousand degrees, and secondly I just can't believe how fast the time has gone. I am so excited to have the opportunity to be in the mission for Christmas, I know it's going to be unforgettable!

This week has been great, actually I was a little down at the beginning of the week. We had been finding quite a bit of new investigators, but practically every single one of them (even the ones that I really thought were going to progress quickly), told us that they didn't want to learn anything more from us. The problem here is that a lot of the people have been Catholics there whole life, well I shouldn't say Catholics cause most of them actually haven't even ever gone to the Catholic church, but they are really set in their ways and don't want to change. So I was just a little stressed at the beginning of the week because no one was progressing other than Alejandra. Well we had a meeting in Montevideo for all the oros, and we got there a little early so I studied for a little. And I read in Alma 34, I love this chapter! Anyways in like the third verse I think, it talks about having the faith sufficient to allow the spirit to touch hearts of the people! I was thinking a lot about that and about if I really had the faith sufficient to help the spirit touch the hearts of the people that we teach. I also realized that I needed to be more grateful for what I have! I mean we have Alejandra who has progressed and changed so much and is probably going to get baptized soon. I was focusing on the things that I didn't have rather than the things that I did. So I have been trying to be more grateful, and also have more faith that we can touch the hearts of the people that we teach. And guess what, we had three investigators that came to church! Haha I was so happy, but one of the investigators that we had was this old lady from the Evangelical church. And apparently in Relief Society she stood up and started preaching or something, haha I don't know exactly what happened but by the time that we got out of priesthood she had already gone. Also one of the other investigators that we had left after the first hour, we called her and asked her why she left and she said that it was because she did not believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. Anyways we went by her house after and tried to explain the first lesson to her really clearly, but I don't think that she understood. I think that she has some mental problems, okay that sounded really bad but I think that she might because she does not understand a lot of what we tell her... I know that my Spanish is hard to understand but really it is super hard to help her to understand but we will see how it goes with her. And the last investigator we had was this sweet old lady named Mirtha. (I know three old ladies), all of our investigators are single ladies, oh and Alejandra didn't come:( she said that she slept through her alarm), so we are going to try to talk to her today or tomorrow. Anyways Mirtha is so nice, and came for the third hour and sat with us. The topics that the speakers had weren't very great for the situation, but I still think that she had a good experience. I hope that we can help her to progress.

Anyways there's what's going on in Florida Uruguay, just trying to baptize ¨All the single ladies oh oh oh¨

Okay I've been super bad at taking pics, I promise I'll be better this week!

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!

Elder England

On the first day of Christmas my mother

sent to me....five packages!

I Thought I Was A Pretty Patient Person

I forgot to take pics this week, sorry, so I just took

one right now - hope you like it!

Hello Family!!!

Sounds like Thanksgiving was a blast with the Sister missionaries. I actually didn't say anything last week about Thanksgiving cause I wasn't quite sure if it had already passed or if it was coming up, but sounds like it was a great day. HEY I'm soooooo excited for Christmas! I think that we have to ask one of the members if we can use one of their computers to skype, so I am hoping that we can find a member with a nice computer. But I'll try to figure everything out there.

Wow it is starting to get soooo hot! The humidity here is ridiculous. I don't think that there is a time in the day when my face is not drenched in sweat, but I think that just might be me. Elder Cruz, Gallacher, and Canete say that I sweat an unusual amount on my face. But other than the heat everything is going pretty great.

Elder Cruz and I get along pretty well, he might be right about me getting a little mad haha. I thought I was a pretty patient person, but I don't know - Elder Cruz is so annoying sometimes! He is always TOUCHING me, either poking my zits and asking me if it hurts (which obviously it does, it's like the worst pain ever!) or he is pulling the hair on the back of my neck. Apparently he thinks that having hair on your neck is weird or something. But I really feel like we get a long quite well. I think it might be just because he is new, but I feel like Elder Cruz isn't that excited when we leave our apartment to proselyte. But I have been trying to help him be more excited to go out in the heat and talk to people!

We had an interchange of companions (I don't know how to say that in English) and I think that it helped him to see how another missionary works. I know that I learned a lot from it, I was with Elder Schill my district leader. He is a hardworking missionary and I learned a lot from him this week. But Elder Cruz is a good missionary, I just want to help him be the best missionary he can be. He said he hasn't read The Fourth Missionary yet, so I'm going to try and find a copy in Spanish for him, I think that Elder Canete has one. 

Okay things with Alejandra are or were really confusing. It is a really long story, but I'll try to explain it. So we had taught everything to her obviously, we had been teaching her for forever. Anyways so the week that Chandler passed away, we were trying to get a baptism set up for that Saturday. Well we got everything set up, just barely in time, (we had a little trouble trying to find clothes that could fit her but we finally found some). Well that Friday night the President of our branch called us and told us that he had heard a lot of things about Alejandra from some of the members about how she has had some problems with the law of chastity, yeah - it turns out she was a prostitute. Her whole situation is so sad. But we have talked to her and the zone leader has talked to her, and she passed the baptismal interview so we are sure that she doesn't have any problems with that anymore. Oh so yeah because the Branch President had heard all of that he decided that he would have an interview with Alejandra before the baptism to be sure that there wasn't a problem. Well I was pretty sure that he couldn't do that, but I didn't say anything. Afterwards I talked with my district and zone leaders and they said that yeah he can't do that because she is not a member in his Branch, (that is why the interview was done by Elder Schill). Anyways we ended up not having the baptism, the whole situation was super awkward. After that Alejandra told us that she wanted to talk to us. We have had like three or four lessons with her since this, but she explained to us how she felt so bad. She had felt like the members were judging her and talking bad about her, which they had. Anyways we have talked with the Branch President about all of this and I think that he was just trying to help obviously, and Alejandra says that she still wants to get baptized but wants to wait a little bit. The whole situation was so uncomfortable and difficult, but I really have faith that she is going to get baptized this month. 

Other than Alejandra we don't really have anyone that is progressing. We have some new investigators! We actually found a bunch of people this week. The week before this week I was a little down with the whole Chandler thing and the Alejandra thing and just the fact that we didn't really have any investigators. I felt that we had knocked on every single door in our area, (which is almost true), but I just felt that we couldn't find anyone to teach. But this week, I don't know why we found a lot of people to teach. However it often happens that we find someone and they seem really interested but the next day they tell us they don't want to learn anymore or we can never find them. I am just hoping that we can help the people we have progress. Also we are trying to work more with the members, which is really difficult. I often feel like we are just a burden, because I feel like the branch just doesn't really want to help us that much. But we are trying, and I feel that we have really gained the trust and love of a lot of the members. So I'll let you know how that is going next week.

Well that is pretty much it, oh haha Elder Cruz says he wants to learn English so I am trying to help him learn some. He often starts mumbling and just saying random jibberish, then asks me what he said after. I'm not quite sure if he thinks that he is saying something or not, but he difinitley isn't. 

Well I hope you all have a great week, I love you more than you will ever know! 

We got a new fridge, and it is the best thing in the world