August 16, 2010
Hey family,
Well, here we are in the last week of the change, once again...but wonderfully enough this computer reads my memory card so I can send some solid pictures to you. Word. I know I`m kind of behind.
Anyways, life here in Minas is great, well I`m actually currently in Punta Del Este on the beach area. We are having a district activity type of thing. It`s pretty sweet.
So anyways, life is pretty awesome. I really appreciate your thoughts and prayers this last week, I`m sure they helped. Um, so we`re all really looking forward to changes. I always love to see what happens in the mission.
This Wednesday we have a conference in Montevideo with President Arnold of the 70. There are going to be 5 zones there at this conference (the rest will have a conference on Friday) so it`ll be pretty awesome.
Ok, quick update on pics, The first two are taken on the Virgin Hill (Virgin Mary) right outside of Minas. They are both views of Minas/other areas nearby from the top of this hill. Number 3 is on the Hill of the Cross in Pan de Azúcar. Picture 4 is of our zone inside one arm of this cross thing. You can climb up it and sit in the arms. Picture 5 is of the hill and you can see the cross on top. That hike was hard. My thighs burned. It was about a 45-50 min climb and a 15 minute descend.
Yeah, so anyways, this last week we had interviews with President and it went really really well. One of the best ones I`ve had for sure. I love President Da Silva. He`s pretty awesome.
I came to the realization, partly, this last week about how alarmingly fast the mission is passing. I feel like I still have so much to do and learn. It`s crazy, but yeah, we`re working hard on getting some investigators to church. There is a lot of potential in this area, I feel, we just have to figure out how to tap into it. Hey, I`m going to send this email and type the second part in another email to send more pics..........
Hey, here I am again. We`ll see if I can get these pictures off.
So yeah second part of the email. Life is coming along.....
Pic 1 is a picture of me in one of the arms of the cross. There was a cross like opening on the end of the cross, and that is what you can see there behind me. Pic 2 is my nametag and the ocean. 3 is me and my comp by the ocean and 4 is me standing on the thumb of the hand coming out of the sand.
.....Spanish is still coming along well enough. I don`t really know what else to tell you. This week was kind of slow on the productivity end. I got a letter from Ben my roommate (he leaves the MTC in a week) and from Aunt Margaret. That`s it. basically, I thank you for your emails and your love. A happy birthday to Grandpa on Wednesday. Oh also, I didnt realize that there were two different types of socks in the package you sent a while back. They both work alright, and I use them, but I`ll be grateful for the new ones you`re sending too.
Sorry, I`ve not got much to share on the spiritual end this week. Just kind of a routine week with not much that happened, other than the interviews. Just waiting for these pictures to load.
Have a great week all of you folks. The next email will come on Tuesday because I’ll be in Montevideo. It`ll be in the morning...well unless for some reason I get called to train, in which case it`ll be in the evening, I think. I don’t know, just expect some email from me by Tuesday night. Good story. Okay, well that`s all I got. I love all of you very much. (and Dad, don`t worry about your cold in August. it happens to the best of us).
Love always,
Your personal missionary,
DJ
DJ with his new washer
Piedra Alta, Uruguay
Ramon's Baptism
DJ and new Companion Elder Craynor
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week 31
well....
Monday, August 9, 2010 4:51 PM
Hey family of mine,
First of all, I`m very sorry to hear about Toni...just out of curiosity, what day was it that they think she passed away?
Secondly, this computer I`m on doesn`t recognize my flash drive and so I can`t send you any awesome pictures. Last week we went up on the Virgin Hill near Minas and this week we`re about an hour away on the highest point in Uruguay. We climbed up this thing to this huge cross, but you could see the Atlantic Ocean and everything. They`re awesome pics but regrettably I can`t send them. I`m now so behind on picture sending. Speaking of pics, I`m glad you got the SD card and that it worked, I assume that you`ll be sending it back and we can rotate them (now that we know it works).
We had some good overall results this week. We had 5 investigators in church and 3 with a baptismal date right now and we keep finding these people who are ready, at least, to invite us in their house and listen to us. It`s pretty awesome but I don`t know how we merit all of these blessings.
We do have this golden family, don`t know if I`ve mentioned them before, but we taught them tithing and offerings (which is usually one of the more difficult ones), but they were completely willing to accept and follow, that`s always a good sign.
Good times on the jam. That`s really pretty awesome. Anyways, the bros start school in 2 weeks then. boog boog boog. Hey, so I got letters 29 and 30 this week as well as a letter...finally...from Kyle. I guess this is the 3rd he`s written. Fail mail system.
There is no hurry on the socks...I`m managing for now. And also, as far as the Spanish book is concerned, I don`t really know. I`m just looking for something relatively small and manageable, but this is for the advanced student. Nothing huge at all...just another little book to use for study time. There`s really no hurry for that either.
So yeah. life is going. I swear the mission is more for shaping young men into the people the Lord wants than it is about tracting. Yeah that`s really important, but before the work can really take off, you have to improve the missionary first. Obedience always helps.
I`ll be in (and currently am in) Maldonado for interviews with the President tomorrow. We`ll be having district meetings during that time as well. We won`t get back to Minas until about 8 or 9 tomorrow night so we won`t be working in our area again until Wednesday. Anyhoo, Thank you always for your prayers. ;)
Take care this week. Have an enjoyable time doing whatever the gummy bears you do at the end of summer. It`s almost over!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta love the life of a missionary. Cheers!
Love Always,
Your favorite missionary.
Me
DJ
That`s me
Yep
Hee Hee Hee
Monday, August 9, 2010 4:51 PM
Hey family of mine,
First of all, I`m very sorry to hear about Toni...just out of curiosity, what day was it that they think she passed away?
Secondly, this computer I`m on doesn`t recognize my flash drive and so I can`t send you any awesome pictures. Last week we went up on the Virgin Hill near Minas and this week we`re about an hour away on the highest point in Uruguay. We climbed up this thing to this huge cross, but you could see the Atlantic Ocean and everything. They`re awesome pics but regrettably I can`t send them. I`m now so behind on picture sending. Speaking of pics, I`m glad you got the SD card and that it worked, I assume that you`ll be sending it back and we can rotate them (now that we know it works).
We had some good overall results this week. We had 5 investigators in church and 3 with a baptismal date right now and we keep finding these people who are ready, at least, to invite us in their house and listen to us. It`s pretty awesome but I don`t know how we merit all of these blessings.
We do have this golden family, don`t know if I`ve mentioned them before, but we taught them tithing and offerings (which is usually one of the more difficult ones), but they were completely willing to accept and follow, that`s always a good sign.
Good times on the jam. That`s really pretty awesome. Anyways, the bros start school in 2 weeks then. boog boog boog. Hey, so I got letters 29 and 30 this week as well as a letter...finally...from Kyle. I guess this is the 3rd he`s written. Fail mail system.
There is no hurry on the socks...I`m managing for now. And also, as far as the Spanish book is concerned, I don`t really know. I`m just looking for something relatively small and manageable, but this is for the advanced student. Nothing huge at all...just another little book to use for study time. There`s really no hurry for that either.
So yeah. life is going. I swear the mission is more for shaping young men into the people the Lord wants than it is about tracting. Yeah that`s really important, but before the work can really take off, you have to improve the missionary first. Obedience always helps.
I`ll be in (and currently am in) Maldonado for interviews with the President tomorrow. We`ll be having district meetings during that time as well. We won`t get back to Minas until about 8 or 9 tomorrow night so we won`t be working in our area again until Wednesday. Anyhoo, Thank you always for your prayers. ;)
Take care this week. Have an enjoyable time doing whatever the gummy bears you do at the end of summer. It`s almost over!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta love the life of a missionary. Cheers!
Love Always,
Your favorite missionary.
Me
DJ
That`s me
Yep
Hee Hee Hee
Monday, August 2, 2010
Week 30
:/
Monday, August 2, 2010 3:10 PM
Hey all,
Well here we are in Uruguay another week. It`s been good. Last week kind of seemed to drag on again, more so than the week before. Thankfully we are spending more time working now. I always feel better when we work more and the time goes faster. We´ve had some pretty good lessons and right now we`ve got some good investigators. There is this one family that is pretty sweet. They just have to get married before they get baptized. The marriage will be in about a month and a half based on laws here. They are really just a nice normal young family. They have been living together for 5 years and have a 2 year old daughter. She never really had desires to get married, but they definitely both want to get baptized now and they are fine with getting married to do it. We`ve had some great help from the members here in this endeavor. And then yesterday we contacted into another nice family. We had a really awesome lesson with them. The mother is pretty staunch Catholic, but it seems like the dad actually wants to find the correct church. We actually taught the whole family, including the 3 kids. That doesn`t happen very often. I have no idea if they`ll progress to baptism or not but it was a really good spiritual lesson nonetheless.
Let`s see...what else. I forgot my planner so I can`t remember what I wrote down to tell you guys. Today for pday we went up on the tallest "mountain" around here, well it`s a hill, and we took pictures and stuff. It`s really pretty around here. Beautiful stuff.
Ok, when I got the socks a couple weeks back, I thought I told you that I also received the other package wth the hot chocolate and tide pen. Well if I didn`t tell you, I am now. I actually made me some nice hot chocolate this morning :) and then this week I got the garment bag, Dad`s card with the pics :D:D:D and a letter from grandma. Thanks for all of it. The pics are awesome. I couldn`t figure out what could possibly have been so thick and heavy.
Okay I am attaching 4 pictures. I don`t know exactly what they are of because they come from my Comp`s sd card, but one is (I think) a picture of the 4 elders and the member couple who went on the hike, another of the view from the top with the city of Minas in view, and another is 3 of us elders by some Catholic shrine. You gotta keep in mind that this is a huge Catholic hill. It`s called the hill of the virgin and there is a huge shrine of Mary at the top. supposedly people go on homage to this place and climb up without shoes or on their hands and knees or something.
Things with my comp are still going. We definitely get along, He says some pretty funny things. The last picture is the Mary Shrine
Um, thanks for finding a flash drive, but know that I can get foot powder stuff here. I`m going to get some here soon. The mission definitely requires one to live frugally. Not a problem for me, but I have to be careful nonetheless. :)
Well, life is pretty good for the most part. Feels weird that Patrick will be starting his senior year in a few weeks. Only one more year of forced school. Anyways, every day that I`m out here and teaching this message about the importance of the family and stuff, I realize just how important it is. I realized the other day that if I do all I can and reach the Celestial kingdom without you guys, that`ll kind of suck. Moral of the story...keep going strong and doing all you can and then we`ll reach it together. Good stuff. and definitely a good goal too. Have a great first week of August.
Love always,
DJ
^^^That`s me, your very own full time missionary. :P
Monday, August 2, 2010 3:10 PM
Hey all,
Well here we are in Uruguay another week. It`s been good. Last week kind of seemed to drag on again, more so than the week before. Thankfully we are spending more time working now. I always feel better when we work more and the time goes faster. We´ve had some pretty good lessons and right now we`ve got some good investigators. There is this one family that is pretty sweet. They just have to get married before they get baptized. The marriage will be in about a month and a half based on laws here. They are really just a nice normal young family. They have been living together for 5 years and have a 2 year old daughter. She never really had desires to get married, but they definitely both want to get baptized now and they are fine with getting married to do it. We`ve had some great help from the members here in this endeavor. And then yesterday we contacted into another nice family. We had a really awesome lesson with them. The mother is pretty staunch Catholic, but it seems like the dad actually wants to find the correct church. We actually taught the whole family, including the 3 kids. That doesn`t happen very often. I have no idea if they`ll progress to baptism or not but it was a really good spiritual lesson nonetheless.
Let`s see...what else. I forgot my planner so I can`t remember what I wrote down to tell you guys. Today for pday we went up on the tallest "mountain" around here, well it`s a hill, and we took pictures and stuff. It`s really pretty around here. Beautiful stuff.
Ok, when I got the socks a couple weeks back, I thought I told you that I also received the other package wth the hot chocolate and tide pen. Well if I didn`t tell you, I am now. I actually made me some nice hot chocolate this morning :) and then this week I got the garment bag, Dad`s card with the pics :D:D:D and a letter from grandma. Thanks for all of it. The pics are awesome. I couldn`t figure out what could possibly have been so thick and heavy.
Okay I am attaching 4 pictures. I don`t know exactly what they are of because they come from my Comp`s sd card, but one is (I think) a picture of the 4 elders and the member couple who went on the hike, another of the view from the top with the city of Minas in view, and another is 3 of us elders by some Catholic shrine. You gotta keep in mind that this is a huge Catholic hill. It`s called the hill of the virgin and there is a huge shrine of Mary at the top. supposedly people go on homage to this place and climb up without shoes or on their hands and knees or something.
Things with my comp are still going. We definitely get along, He says some pretty funny things. The last picture is the Mary Shrine
Um, thanks for finding a flash drive, but know that I can get foot powder stuff here. I`m going to get some here soon. The mission definitely requires one to live frugally. Not a problem for me, but I have to be careful nonetheless. :)
Well, life is pretty good for the most part. Feels weird that Patrick will be starting his senior year in a few weeks. Only one more year of forced school. Anyways, every day that I`m out here and teaching this message about the importance of the family and stuff, I realize just how important it is. I realized the other day that if I do all I can and reach the Celestial kingdom without you guys, that`ll kind of suck. Moral of the story...keep going strong and doing all you can and then we`ll reach it together. Good stuff. and definitely a good goal too. Have a great first week of August.
Love always,
DJ
^^^That`s me, your very own full time missionary. :P
Week 29
Parental figures and offspring,
How are you all? This week absolutely flew by. I seriously don`t know what happened.
Well life continues on here in Minas. The work is good. As much as I was enjoying it before, I`m actually enjoying it more now. We are doing some new things as a result of the conference last week and I`m really enjoying it. Yesterday, we had a first visit with some lady and put a baptismal date with her...the only thing is that she doesn`t live in our area. She lives in Montevideo, so we`ll be sending her information along.
The first picture on here is me, Elder Carlock and Elder Nomani (when I was still in Toledo)
The second is of the baptism we had here my first week. Sauce.
Anyways life is really good. It`s hard to believe that this is the last week of July.
Oh hey, I was going to ask you guys to see if you could find and send (eventually, there`s no rush) a really advanced spanish book. I`m kind of looking for more to study. I don`t know what`s available, but maybe you could look around and peruse.
Third picture is this last change in Toledo. Zone picture. Check out Elder Nomani in the back middle. :)
And the 4th is a good picture of me.
Oh and yes, I`m feeling better. Thanks for asking. I`m good to go.
About food, yes it is slightly different, but only in the sense that people here are more well off in general so we have tended to eat more expensive foods. That`s what I`ve noticed so far. We also have more desserts here. In Toledo, desserts are mostly fruit which is actually really good, but here they tend to have more dessert stuff (which if I described it, it wouldn`t make any sense). So just accept that there are desserts more here.
This 5th pic is my district in the MTC with our night teacher, Hermana Dàvila.
Anyhoo, my comp is sweet and we get along well enough. Sorry for the lack of Minas pictures. We didn`t get out to do our district activity today. Next week, I should have some. Have fun this week and travel safely. Hi to all.
Love always,
DJ
How are you all? This week absolutely flew by. I seriously don`t know what happened.
Well life continues on here in Minas. The work is good. As much as I was enjoying it before, I`m actually enjoying it more now. We are doing some new things as a result of the conference last week and I`m really enjoying it. Yesterday, we had a first visit with some lady and put a baptismal date with her...the only thing is that she doesn`t live in our area. She lives in Montevideo, so we`ll be sending her information along.
The first picture on here is me, Elder Carlock and Elder Nomani (when I was still in Toledo)
The second is of the baptism we had here my first week. Sauce.
Anyways life is really good. It`s hard to believe that this is the last week of July.
Oh hey, I was going to ask you guys to see if you could find and send (eventually, there`s no rush) a really advanced spanish book. I`m kind of looking for more to study. I don`t know what`s available, but maybe you could look around and peruse.
Third picture is this last change in Toledo. Zone picture. Check out Elder Nomani in the back middle. :)
And the 4th is a good picture of me.
Oh and yes, I`m feeling better. Thanks for asking. I`m good to go.
About food, yes it is slightly different, but only in the sense that people here are more well off in general so we have tended to eat more expensive foods. That`s what I`ve noticed so far. We also have more desserts here. In Toledo, desserts are mostly fruit which is actually really good, but here they tend to have more dessert stuff (which if I described it, it wouldn`t make any sense). So just accept that there are desserts more here.
This 5th pic is my district in the MTC with our night teacher, Hermana Dàvila.
Anyhoo, my comp is sweet and we get along well enough. Sorry for the lack of Minas pictures. We didn`t get out to do our district activity today. Next week, I should have some. Have fun this week and travel safely. Hi to all.
Love always,
DJ
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Week 28
HEY FAMILY IN NEW YORK!!!
Well here I am in Minas. It`s awesome here. I love it. It`s really different from Toledo because it is way more city like and there are mountains...more or less. There are hills but in Uruguay they are mountains and it`s nice. It actually reminds me of the little towns we used to drive through in like New England or wherever. Just little shops and stuff...no highrises or anythign like that. So yeah, really pretty. There are 4 elders and 2 sisters in this area. One of the sisters here is from my group in the MTC which is fun. Good times.
My comp is pretty cool. His name is Elder Sluder...I think I mentioned that. He does want to work which is good although last week was pretty crazy. The ward mission leader here doesn`t plan baptisms so we had to plan our baptism last week which added a lot to our schedule. But we did have a baptism...a 20 year old girl who lives with the patriarch here (he baptized her). So that`s my second baptism and the second one that I really didn`t do anything for...oh well, as long as they stay active.
So right now, I`m in a trio. I don`t know if you heard, but apparently every mission in the world is changing, i.e. preach my gospel is changing or something. As such, every zone and district leader is now in Montevideo for a 3 day conference. So my comp who is district leader left yesterday solo to go to Montevideo and now the three of us are working both areas as a trio for a few days. He should be back Thursday. Anyways, some huge change is obviously happening, should be interesting and I think zone conferences are now changing to once every two changes instead of once every change. I don`t know if and how that might affect packages.
Speaking of packages, we just got a box today from the mission office (Minas is so far away from our zone...i.e. 2 hours...that we get our own box of mail and stuff directly from the mission office. and I received two packages filled with socks and I don't know what else. I haven`t opened it yet, but I`m incredibly amazed. I saw that they were postmarked the 8th of July. It is now the 19th and I already have the packages along with a ton of mail, letters 26,27,28, various letters from Grandma, Bishop, Bernie...um yeah, it`s awesome. I haven`t received mail for about 3 weeks now so this is make up time.
Ok, I`m attempting to attach 2 pictures to this email. The first is of our golden investigators in Toledo. As soon as he gets divorced and they get married, they`ll be baptized. They`re more firm than some members. They are numbers 3 and 4 counting from the left. The brother on the far left is a member and their neighbor. He went to almost every lesson with us. :) and Elder Nomani is doing who knows what. The second picture is of a less active family in the ward in Toledo, they are awesome. They are only inactive because some of the members made some very unfriendly remarks to them that kind of drove them away. But the family is amazing. She also has a son who is 10 and taking the picture. The daughters are 6 and 4 and the third picture that I decided to put on is of me. enjoy. :) hopefully I`ll get some pictures of Minas on there next time.
So the work here in Minas is alright. I`ve heard it`s pretty hard, but it`s not too bad. and I was misinformed...the members feed us almost every day. Good stuff. Right now we have this golden family that we are teaching. young guy and his soon to be wife. They have a little daughter. Their only obstacle was getting married (because she didn`t really want to) but we think they`ll get baptized now because they seem to have the desire to get married. We`ll see. Other than that, there were some things I had to adapt to in this area that are different than Toledo, but it`s not been too bad. I`m enjoying it...and it`s my first time moving to a new area so that`s cool too. I`m trying to put into practice the different things that I`ve learned.
Tell Holly to write to me.
Glad you guys are enjoying Rochester. I think that Nana should get the letter I sent her while you guys are there. I assume you are going to Sea Breeze? Um, when do you leave to go back home?
Well I`m doing pretty good. It`s raining right now, but with my boot things, I`m good, not too much to worry about. Oh I am a tiny bit sick...congestion and sore throat, but not enough to keep me from working. The house here in Minas is sweet. We`re up on the second floor and we can go out on the roof and chill and we have a fire place which is sweet because it is cold here. We`re higher up in elevation. Minas is pretty rich overall. It`s amazing to see the difference because Toledo was very poor (overall). So that was a pretty big switch too.
Anyways, I gotta go. Send love to the family. Tell Bernie thanks for the email even though I haven`t read it yet. Travel safely...I don't know when you are leaving. Peace to puppies and banana peppers.
Love always,
DJ
Well here I am in Minas. It`s awesome here. I love it. It`s really different from Toledo because it is way more city like and there are mountains...more or less. There are hills but in Uruguay they are mountains and it`s nice. It actually reminds me of the little towns we used to drive through in like New England or wherever. Just little shops and stuff...no highrises or anythign like that. So yeah, really pretty. There are 4 elders and 2 sisters in this area. One of the sisters here is from my group in the MTC which is fun. Good times.
My comp is pretty cool. His name is Elder Sluder...I think I mentioned that. He does want to work which is good although last week was pretty crazy. The ward mission leader here doesn`t plan baptisms so we had to plan our baptism last week which added a lot to our schedule. But we did have a baptism...a 20 year old girl who lives with the patriarch here (he baptized her). So that`s my second baptism and the second one that I really didn`t do anything for...oh well, as long as they stay active.
So right now, I`m in a trio. I don`t know if you heard, but apparently every mission in the world is changing, i.e. preach my gospel is changing or something. As such, every zone and district leader is now in Montevideo for a 3 day conference. So my comp who is district leader left yesterday solo to go to Montevideo and now the three of us are working both areas as a trio for a few days. He should be back Thursday. Anyways, some huge change is obviously happening, should be interesting and I think zone conferences are now changing to once every two changes instead of once every change. I don`t know if and how that might affect packages.
Speaking of packages, we just got a box today from the mission office (Minas is so far away from our zone...i.e. 2 hours...that we get our own box of mail and stuff directly from the mission office. and I received two packages filled with socks and I don't know what else. I haven`t opened it yet, but I`m incredibly amazed. I saw that they were postmarked the 8th of July. It is now the 19th and I already have the packages along with a ton of mail, letters 26,27,28, various letters from Grandma, Bishop, Bernie...um yeah, it`s awesome. I haven`t received mail for about 3 weeks now so this is make up time.
Ok, I`m attempting to attach 2 pictures to this email. The first is of our golden investigators in Toledo. As soon as he gets divorced and they get married, they`ll be baptized. They`re more firm than some members. They are numbers 3 and 4 counting from the left. The brother on the far left is a member and their neighbor. He went to almost every lesson with us. :) and Elder Nomani is doing who knows what. The second picture is of a less active family in the ward in Toledo, they are awesome. They are only inactive because some of the members made some very unfriendly remarks to them that kind of drove them away. But the family is amazing. She also has a son who is 10 and taking the picture. The daughters are 6 and 4 and the third picture that I decided to put on is of me. enjoy. :) hopefully I`ll get some pictures of Minas on there next time.
So the work here in Minas is alright. I`ve heard it`s pretty hard, but it`s not too bad. and I was misinformed...the members feed us almost every day. Good stuff. Right now we have this golden family that we are teaching. young guy and his soon to be wife. They have a little daughter. Their only obstacle was getting married (because she didn`t really want to) but we think they`ll get baptized now because they seem to have the desire to get married. We`ll see. Other than that, there were some things I had to adapt to in this area that are different than Toledo, but it`s not been too bad. I`m enjoying it...and it`s my first time moving to a new area so that`s cool too. I`m trying to put into practice the different things that I`ve learned.
Tell Holly to write to me.
Glad you guys are enjoying Rochester. I think that Nana should get the letter I sent her while you guys are there. I assume you are going to Sea Breeze? Um, when do you leave to go back home?
Well I`m doing pretty good. It`s raining right now, but with my boot things, I`m good, not too much to worry about. Oh I am a tiny bit sick...congestion and sore throat, but not enough to keep me from working. The house here in Minas is sweet. We`re up on the second floor and we can go out on the roof and chill and we have a fire place which is sweet because it is cold here. We`re higher up in elevation. Minas is pretty rich overall. It`s amazing to see the difference because Toledo was very poor (overall). So that was a pretty big switch too.
Anyways, I gotta go. Send love to the family. Tell Bernie thanks for the email even though I haven`t read it yet. Travel safely...I don't know when you are leaving. Peace to puppies and banana peppers.
Love always,
DJ
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Week 27
word
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 7:18 AM
Family family family,
Hello all. Well the big news this week is that I`m getting transferred. I`m going to Minas. I don`t really know where it is, but I think it is northeast of Montevideo and should be easy to find based on the city name. Supposedly, it`s a really cool place and my new comp is Elder Sluder. He seems pretty cool too. Should be a good change. The only thing I`m not looking forward to is that the members don`t really feed us there. :(
Anyways, life is good. It`s pretty sad and hard to leave an area. Those people were my family everyday for 4 months. Elder Nomani and I printed off some pictures of us and signed them, giving them to some of our closer families to remember us. It`s hard. The end of the mission is going to suck booty booty.
I think you guys are leaving on Thursday if I remember correctly. That`s fun. Have a good time with the family...and say hi to all obviously.
Well Uruguay ended up getting 4th place overall in the world cup. It`s awesome. Too bad they couldn`t have pulled out better but top 4 ain`t too bad. I`m going to try and get a flag and a jersey once they go down in price. Right now jerseys are going for about 2000 pesos. Seeing as it`s about 20 pesos to the dollar and we get only 3000 to live on each month, you can see that they are a bit steep.
Anyhoo, cool beans about the apricots. Hopefully they won`t all disappear or anything. That would be sad.
Well, I don`t really have much to report this week. I`m kind of excited to be moving areas. I`m in the same district as the sister who was with me in the MTC. That`ll be fun too. Um...wow this email is really kinda tiny.
Oh yeah, I managed to get everything packed but I have a load of stuff already. I have my 3 suitcases...a duffel bag I bought yesterday...a backpack...and an extra plastic bag that has my pillow and a blanket. Crazy. Thank goodness there are no weight limits in the mission.
Anyhoo that`s all for now I think...sorry for the small content. Thanks for the letters. Oh hey no mail this week because of changes. but I forgot to tell you that I got letter 25 last week. Yep that`s all. Have a great week and a great trip.
Love always,
DJ
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 7:18 AM
Family family family,
Hello all. Well the big news this week is that I`m getting transferred. I`m going to Minas. I don`t really know where it is, but I think it is northeast of Montevideo and should be easy to find based on the city name. Supposedly, it`s a really cool place and my new comp is Elder Sluder. He seems pretty cool too. Should be a good change. The only thing I`m not looking forward to is that the members don`t really feed us there. :(
Anyways, life is good. It`s pretty sad and hard to leave an area. Those people were my family everyday for 4 months. Elder Nomani and I printed off some pictures of us and signed them, giving them to some of our closer families to remember us. It`s hard. The end of the mission is going to suck booty booty.
I think you guys are leaving on Thursday if I remember correctly. That`s fun. Have a good time with the family...and say hi to all obviously.
Well Uruguay ended up getting 4th place overall in the world cup. It`s awesome. Too bad they couldn`t have pulled out better but top 4 ain`t too bad. I`m going to try and get a flag and a jersey once they go down in price. Right now jerseys are going for about 2000 pesos. Seeing as it`s about 20 pesos to the dollar and we get only 3000 to live on each month, you can see that they are a bit steep.
Anyhoo, cool beans about the apricots. Hopefully they won`t all disappear or anything. That would be sad.
Well, I don`t really have much to report this week. I`m kind of excited to be moving areas. I`m in the same district as the sister who was with me in the MTC. That`ll be fun too. Um...wow this email is really kinda tiny.
Oh yeah, I managed to get everything packed but I have a load of stuff already. I have my 3 suitcases...a duffel bag I bought yesterday...a backpack...and an extra plastic bag that has my pillow and a blanket. Crazy. Thank goodness there are no weight limits in the mission.
Anyhoo that`s all for now I think...sorry for the small content. Thanks for the letters. Oh hey no mail this week because of changes. but I forgot to tell you that I got letter 25 last week. Yep that`s all. Have a great week and a great trip.
Love always,
DJ
Monday, July 5, 2010
Week 26
goober pie
Monday, July 5, 2010 12:31 PM
Well hello family of mine!
This past week was a bit interesting as I was sick until Thursday. I got kind of better on Tuesday and was able to work and everything but Wednesday wasn’t good. We ended up only working from 10 to 12 at which point we were forced to come home and I crashed for the rest of the afternoon. I also purchased some medicine, so between the prayers and the medicine and the sleep, I was able to get over the sickness and I`ve been fine since.
Oh, before I forget, happy birthday to Nana. I`m going to try and get a letter out to her today.
Yes, I was able to see Grandpa in his apartment last week, but I didn`t/couldn`t print it off. That`s ok. I don`t know what I would have done with it anyway.
Oh, I`ve got a good Uruguay story for Dad...he`ll love it as it has to do with planning. Anyhoo, traffic here is the fritz. There is this one intersection by where we have district meeting. The intersection is one of two pretty busy streets. One street has stop signs but it is very busy so traffic gets built up a lot. The other street which is busier, though, has something very useful for regulating traffic control....wait for it....speed bumps. HAHAHAHAHA! They use the speed bumps to slow down the traffic so that the cross traffic can go! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Gotta love Uruguay.
You know what one of my pet peeves is....lack of punctuality. For example, Sundays we are pretty much always late for church or if we have a meeting, we`re late for the meeting. Only by like 1-5 minutes but it still bugs me. Good story.
So I play piano in sacrament meeting and people here don`t really know how to sing. Consequently, it sometimes causes problems. For instance, we sing “Because I have been given much” about once every two weeks and people don`t know how to sing that song. I spend half the time trying to figure out where they are at in the song because they just really sing willy nilly. It drives me bonkers. oh well, South Americans aren`t known for their abilities to sing. :)
So yeah, Uruguay made it to the quarter finals. People here are nuts...by nuts I mean crazy excited. Uruguay hasn`t even made it to a world cup for like 12 years and the last time they went they lost in the first round. Consequently, everybody is beserk here. Word. The other night, we were at the church cleaning when it went into the penalities (you know where they take turns shooting goals <---- I almost typed girls here. heehee) and we took a break, took one of the girls MP3 players and there were 7 of us guys huddled around on the ground outside listening to the radio coming through the two headphones. When we ended up winning in the penalties, we, as well as the entire country of Uruguay, exploded. For the next several hours, we saw and heard people shouting, honking horns, and doing whatever. They play tomorrow. Should be crazy again. I`m trying to find a jersey or souvenir of sorts because this is epic. they play against the Netherlands. and then Germany and Spain play on Wednesday. the championship game is Sunday. So by next week, you`ll know where it all went down. And yes I realize that you don`t follow it...you and the rest of America.
The emails are fine. I read fast and type fast so I have plenty of time to write.
Oh also, next week is transfers...again...so I won`t be writing until Tuesday, probably earlier in the morning. We`ll see. More than likely, I`ll be leaving the area....ugh I hate moving.
The weather here has been strangely bizarre too. Or so it seems. It`s been very humid and warm. We`ve been walking around in short sleeve shirts the past couple of days. Supposedly it`s going to get colder again here soon. Either way, it`s kind of weird. Maybe we took some of your warm weather. I don’t know.
Well, not much more to report for this week. Keep on keeping on over there in those States of yours. Thanks for everything you guys do. I appreciate it, but you already know that. Say hi to all for me. Rawr.
Love Always,
DJ
Monday, July 5, 2010 12:31 PM
Well hello family of mine!
This past week was a bit interesting as I was sick until Thursday. I got kind of better on Tuesday and was able to work and everything but Wednesday wasn’t good. We ended up only working from 10 to 12 at which point we were forced to come home and I crashed for the rest of the afternoon. I also purchased some medicine, so between the prayers and the medicine and the sleep, I was able to get over the sickness and I`ve been fine since.
Oh, before I forget, happy birthday to Nana. I`m going to try and get a letter out to her today.
Yes, I was able to see Grandpa in his apartment last week, but I didn`t/couldn`t print it off. That`s ok. I don`t know what I would have done with it anyway.
Oh, I`ve got a good Uruguay story for Dad...he`ll love it as it has to do with planning. Anyhoo, traffic here is the fritz. There is this one intersection by where we have district meeting. The intersection is one of two pretty busy streets. One street has stop signs but it is very busy so traffic gets built up a lot. The other street which is busier, though, has something very useful for regulating traffic control....wait for it....speed bumps. HAHAHAHAHA! They use the speed bumps to slow down the traffic so that the cross traffic can go! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Gotta love Uruguay.
You know what one of my pet peeves is....lack of punctuality. For example, Sundays we are pretty much always late for church or if we have a meeting, we`re late for the meeting. Only by like 1-5 minutes but it still bugs me. Good story.
So I play piano in sacrament meeting and people here don`t really know how to sing. Consequently, it sometimes causes problems. For instance, we sing “Because I have been given much” about once every two weeks and people don`t know how to sing that song. I spend half the time trying to figure out where they are at in the song because they just really sing willy nilly. It drives me bonkers. oh well, South Americans aren`t known for their abilities to sing. :)
So yeah, Uruguay made it to the quarter finals. People here are nuts...by nuts I mean crazy excited. Uruguay hasn`t even made it to a world cup for like 12 years and the last time they went they lost in the first round. Consequently, everybody is beserk here. Word. The other night, we were at the church cleaning when it went into the penalities (you know where they take turns shooting goals <---- I almost typed girls here. heehee) and we took a break, took one of the girls MP3 players and there were 7 of us guys huddled around on the ground outside listening to the radio coming through the two headphones. When we ended up winning in the penalties, we, as well as the entire country of Uruguay, exploded. For the next several hours, we saw and heard people shouting, honking horns, and doing whatever. They play tomorrow. Should be crazy again. I`m trying to find a jersey or souvenir of sorts because this is epic. they play against the Netherlands. and then Germany and Spain play on Wednesday. the championship game is Sunday. So by next week, you`ll know where it all went down. And yes I realize that you don`t follow it...you and the rest of America.
The emails are fine. I read fast and type fast so I have plenty of time to write.
Oh also, next week is transfers...again...so I won`t be writing until Tuesday, probably earlier in the morning. We`ll see. More than likely, I`ll be leaving the area....ugh I hate moving.
The weather here has been strangely bizarre too. Or so it seems. It`s been very humid and warm. We`ve been walking around in short sleeve shirts the past couple of days. Supposedly it`s going to get colder again here soon. Either way, it`s kind of weird. Maybe we took some of your warm weather. I don’t know.
Well, not much more to report for this week. Keep on keeping on over there in those States of yours. Thanks for everything you guys do. I appreciate it, but you already know that. Say hi to all for me. Rawr.
Love Always,
DJ
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