Week 42

Hey family!!!

Monday, October 25, 2010 1:44 PM

Well that was an exciting subject line. Woo. I almost feel like it was a salutation. Whaddaya know. Anyways, how`s everybody doing in the cooling down, slightly more populated northern hemisphere? Down here, we southerners are stealing all of your heat and now my brains are starting to leak out my face. WOO HOO!!!!!

Anyways, thanks for the letters...um I mean emails...well I mean letters too. I got 38 last week and 39 this week. This past week has been wonderfully exciting. We found 12 new people, new investigators...that is to say, we taught a lesson and got a return appointment with 12 new people this past week. And some of them have some pretty awesome potential to keep going. I`m pretty excited as it looks like this area has some serious potential. We also taught over 30 lessons which may or may not seem like a lot to you, but considering that the week before, the other two elders taught barely 20 (and half were to less actives), I`d say we`ve taken a step in the right direction. As far as my comp goes, he`s pretty awesome to be completely honest. We`re getting along really well and we aren`t having nearly the problems I thought we`d be having considering his history. When President da Silva told me about the special change he advised me to be open with my new comp and explain that I was being sent to be his comp in order to help him be more obedient. So I did it that first day when I got there and I think it really helped to start our companionship off on the right foot and create an atmosphere of openness and trust. Sauce.

So like I was saying, we`re having a good time and I really enjoy working with Latinos because (as bad as this may sound) I don`t have to worry about getting nervous and antsy listening to poor gringo Spanish. Yeah it`s something I need to be more tolerant of and work on but it seriously makes me a little bit nervous when I listen to noticeably poor Spanish.

Boo poo on your mother`s monkey.

So anyways, I got word in one of the emails I think that Grandpa now has a cane. How`s that going? Speaking of which, I sent a letter out to him, but sent it to the house as I didn`t know his address. Just fyi. That`s why said letter will be addressed Grandpa. :D

Yep the work is progressing in this area, thankfully. We had 4 investigators in church yesterday which happened to be a stake conference broadcast. Elders Ballard and Packer spoke. It was really good. One of the biggest problems is that there are so many people who have to get married...or divorced first in order to be able to get married.

Since I`m back in the country on the outskirts of Montevideo, I am once again host to a variety of bizarre animal stories. For instance, the other day we were doing a contact (knocking doors) and this dog comes up in between my comp and me, jumps up on the fence and starts barking...so we totally did a contact with a dog. Woo! We also like to do the contact to random animals and plants (those obviously don`t count but they are fun). For instance, the other day we invited two dogs to be baptized. :D I`m not sure if they accepted or declined.

Um, so remember that garment bag, yeah well I was zipping it up yesterday and it had come undone and so the zipper thingymahoobob came flying off the top and sadly it required an hour and a half to fix...stupid thing. I actually ended up opening the whole zipper and then zipping it back up BY HAND. UBERFAIL. But yeah, it`s fixed. No worries. Just a good story. hey so thanks for sending shoes and flipflops. that`s real swell of all y`all. I realized the other day that the way my bag hangs kind of rubs on my right hip and now I have a hole in one of my white shirts. Oots (that`s Elder Lopez`s way of saying oops because he can`t say it correctly).

Let`s see quick picture update. FYI, this computer loads them faster so I`m not actually downsizing them. The first 4 are of the other cake I had for my birthday courtesy of the wife of the second counselor in the Bishopric in Minas. Look at the size of that thing. FREAK MAN THAT WAS A GOOD CAKE. Yeah, you can see how big half the cake is in comparison to my wallet and my dictionary right there. Wow, it was huge. and tasty. mmmmmmm. Then the other cake (the chocolate with things on top`) was a cake I had at my party that night (the second of two cakes that night). And then there`s a picture of Elder Sosa holding a sheep. just for kicks and giggles. And the last picture is of me after the buzzer system I was using died in the middle of my haircut. Oops. I look like I could be from the three stooges. Anyways, I had to wait for the thing to recharge before finishing. Good story.

Yes I think they celebrate Halloween here but it may be different. FYI, the agendas I`m talking about are a missionaries life. It`s where we keep all appointments and stuff. and I also had written different notes and stories that I wanted to remember from each day. Also the names of investigators...all types of memory stuff but hey what can you do.

Anyways, thanks for everything. I`ll be back in a week and it`ll be November. Wow. Cool stuff. Take care and remember that puppies are not for kicking!....well in most cases. :D

Love always,
DJ