This week I became a Mother!

Well friends - we started this morning out at the Neurologist!  We have an MRI scheduled and an equilibrium test of some type tomorrow for my companion.  I have now been to the hospital 5 times and now 2 more times this week!!  I am a pro at Montevideo hospitals.  She is in the house for at least another 15 days with one hour of work a day.  This past week I have felt like a mom.  I grocery shop for my companion, take care of her, schedule her appointments and rides since she can no longer ride buses, and get members in the ward to babysit her so I can go out and work.  I may be in the house these next 15 days; we are not sure yet.  I will be hearing from President tonight.  Please keep her in your prayers at this time. 

So this week I was in a trio with Hermana Peay and Hermana Harpole most days.  Some news about my investigators this week.  Nidia has officially dropped us, but you know I am not giving up!  Labrum girls do not give up!!!  We went to her house and her kids came to the door screaming, YAYYY HERMANA LABRUM, MOMMA.  Well after about 2 minutes they came back and said that she said no.  I will continue trying!  But as you can probably guess, that absolutely broke my heart.  But when bad things happen, something better comes to be.  I have two new investigators that actually approached me in the street and want to learn.  I taught them their first charla and they are awesome.  Super awesome!  They know the Bible left and right and have so much faith.  The problem is that they work all Sundays so we will be working on that.  The husband is making a painting for me of Christ.  It is absolutely beautiful!  I still have my crazy reinaldo in the woods and Mia and her family.

Fun things:  Ururguay is extremely humid and wet which means everything is covered in mold.  So we scrubbed the house this week (pics below).  I have eaten 9 alphahors this week.  They eat cough drops here like candy.  The skies in Uruguay are more beautiful here than anywhere else.  I also ate pig intestines this week.  I gagged!  They brought out a plate with a whole pig and they chose what part you get.  I got the intestines.  WOOHOO!!!   We had the Oro Conference this week which was super awesome.  I got to see all of my friends from the CCM.  In the pictures you will see an older man that I look very happy with.  This is my DOM and he is really my grandpa in the mission, Amelio Rodriguez.  It has been a super spiritual week!  I have felt the spirit so strong while I taught lessons about Jesus Christ and His atonement.  He is with us always!  He loves us and He wants to be with us.  I am so grateful I chose to serve.  It has been the hardest thing I have ever done but it is so rewarding when you watch someone understand a principle of the gospel or feel the Spirit.  Thank you for the prayers and support.  I am so grateful to represent Jesus Christ each day.  I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Labrum

Notes from things I emailed with her about:

Next week Pday will be Tuesday.  We will be going to the temple that day and then transfers are on Wednesday.  I hope I do not get transferred out of Pando.  The intestine was awful but I did it.  I got one piece of real meat but it still had pig hair on it.  I still can't cook anything!  The food in the boxes in the pictures are hamburgers.  They are actual ham and are so dang good!

I Survived

Wow, I actually have had the hardest week in the mission so far.  So remember how I told you that my companion was super sick?  Well she has now returned to the hospital 3 times.  She is so, so sick.  We are headed to Montevideo tomorrow to get her glasses which will help but everyone thinks the problem is so much more than that.  She just falls over and faints.  With that being said, I have been in the house the whole week.  There is nothing worse than being cooped up in a house for an entire week.  But I got to do intercambios for about 2 hours almost each day with Hermana Harpole which was awesome. 

Funny experience for ya! So everyone kisses here to say hello and well obviously as missionaries we do not kiss the boys.  Well during a contact a wonderful man, about 60 years old, grabbed me and um ya...that happened.  Hermana Harpole could not talk fast enough to stop him so yep, I got to experience that. 

So I need some advice.  My investigator Claudia (mom of Mia), told us why she won't be baptized this week.  Well she has been with this guy for about 18 years buy they are not married  because if she gets married she loses her pension which means she loses her home.  How do you tell someone that the Lord will provide for her if she follows Jesus Christ's example??  But I did survive the week.  I will not lie, it has been my most lonely week in the mission but I have been able to do a lot of personal study.  I have struggle with my companion this week.  She has been super hard on me and really hard with my Spanish but the vijantes talked to her so hopefully it gets better.  But I want you all to read 3 Nephi 12:39-44.  It is all about Christlike attributes and it has really helped me to just love my companion even when I do not want too.  I made it through though! Hoping for a really great week this week. I know without a doubt that this church is true and I am where I am supposed to be.  Life is hard but only because after it is hard you get to rise up really high.  I love you all and thank you for all the prayers and support. 

Love always,

Hermana Labrum

2 Months

Hola friends and fam bam!!  Guess what!!!  I have officially made it 2 months.  That is over 60 days!!!  I need to tell you guys that this week was great.  I was so happy!  There are still definetly hard moments but I made a goal not to cry for 7 days in a row and guess what - today is actually day 7!  I am so proud of myself!!!  I had an amazing week. 

So fun facts for you:
My favorite food is this dulce block but the flavor is sweet potato.  So weird, right!  But literally it is my favorite. 

A day in the mission:
Up at 6:30 and then me and Hermana Harpole run till 7:00.  7:00-8:00 is to shower, eat breakfast, and get ready.  8:00-9:00 is personal study and then 9:00-10:00 is companionship study.  Next we do doce semanas and then we head out at 11:00.  We have lunch with a member for one hour usually at 12:00 and then we have charlas and contacts until 8:00 that night.  At 8:00 is language study and planning at 9:00 and then in bed by 10:30.  Livin' the dream baby! 

This week we continued teaching Romelio.  This is the one with the desire to be baptized but only in a river.  Weird but OK.  We did some service for him this week and collected sticks for over an hour.  It was definently a good time.  Funny story - my menos active Mia is 10 and I went to see her and she goes, "Hermana Labrum I have to show you something!!"  She pulls out her phone and has about 10 pictures of me she found on Facebook.  Hahaha - precious!  Her mom is taking the lessons and it is going pretty well.  We are hoping to get a date for her this week.  Thursday we had interviews with President Eddy and that went really well.  He is absolutely amazing.  Friday we did intercambios!  I was in Carassco for the day with Hermana Guth who is from Brazil and goes home next week.  Please look up pics of Carassco.  It is magic!  It is like New York City but surrounded with a beach.  I got to teach and contact there all day and then stay the night and it was great.  All the people there told me my Spanish was so good and that made me so happy.  Sunday was an adventure.  My companion passed out twice so we spent the day at the hospital in Montevideo but she is doing better.  She is on medicine and taking it easy but that was a interesting time!  Right now we are in Maldanodo in Punte Del Este which ended up being 2 1/2 hours from Pando.  It is where the finger statue is.  It is gorgeous here.  We are having a great time and I got to have American ice cream and Subway. 

So this week I realized something.  Every time I teach I am teaching by the Spirit completely because I never know what I am going to say; I just do it!  It has been so amazing to notice that.  I love getting to bear my testimony so much.  I cannot put into words the love I have had grow for El Libro de Mormon.  I love reading and sharing every single day.  I have had an awesome week.  I know without a doubt that this church is true and I am so grateful for this chance to represent Jesus Christ my Savior and Redeemer each day.  Thank you for your prayers and emails.  I am so happy!  There are hard moments but the good overcomes it each time. 

With love,

Hermana Labrum 

Uruguay Week 2

Hey Guys!!!

Well I survived another week so that is definently great because to be honest I did not know if I would make it, ha ha!  It is still extremely hard but this week went so much better.  So here's some fun thing for ya!

I live with a hermana named Hermana Harpole and she has become a friend for life.  Like she is amazing!  She is from Utah and is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going in the mission.  So there are some girls in the neighborhood and they are in the picture below (the 3 little girls).  There are usually about 7 of them that ride up to me on their skates and call me gringa hermanita and they take pictures with me and they are precious and always seem to come past when I need to have an uplifting moment.

We are teaching Mia still (the one who's mom is investigating) and it is going well.  Not a ton of progress but we are hoping for a possible baptism date this week.  So I had a really bad day Thursday, like bad.  My companion fell and hurt her ankle which means we were in the house for 2 days but I got to do intercambios (exchanges) with Hermana Harpole which was awesome.  Anyways, we went to teach Nidia, which is an investigator I found alone my first day here.  We started the lesson over the plan of salvation and I felt strongly to teach about baptism and the Holy Ghost, so I did it.  And then I felt even stronger to invite for baptism.  Ummmm.....scary - I don't even know Spanish!!!  Ha ha, but I did it.  She committed and her son Matteo committed to July 23.  I cannot explain the happiness of that moment. I understood why I am here for the first time.  Amazing!!!  It is hard to keep commitment but I am hoping for the best.

We met our new mission president!!!!  He did a conference with he and his whole family and they are awesome.  I had a really hard day however.  But we went to the temple to get some things after and happened to pass him and he asked me to come talk to him.  Wow, scary!  But he asked to give me a blessing and he did not even know I was struggling.  That blessing was exactly what I needed to continue.  I have never received a more powerful blessing.  He texted me today to check up on me.  He is amazing!

It rains all the time right now.  The roads are literally flooded but it is a good time.  This is still so, so hard and there are moments I can barely keep going but I do it because I know why I am here.  Thank you for your prayers and emails.  I love you all!

People have asked what I need right now.  I would love just real letters to read at other times and pictures and always candy, ha ha, but especially letters.

Love always,

Hermana Labrum

Things she said during our email conversation - It is so humid here,  Everything melts and my bed and clothes are always wet.  My hair is now naturally curly due to the humidity.  I cannot even explain the power of the blessing given to me.  I have never experience anything like it.  My mission president is truly inspired.  I know that everything that was said came directly from Heavenly Father.  It changed my whole perspective.  I love oatmeal now!  I eat cereal, apples, and oranges now too.  The members feed us lunch and we do not get dinner.  There is no time.  I eat some crackers when I get home. 

Uruguay Week 1

Hello friends and family.  I am in Uruguay and I am in Pando.  I will not lie, I have really struggled this week.  The culture is different and I have a Latin companion which means life is just harder.  They speak another type of Spanish here with different accents and in a different form, so that is taking some time to learn.  But I am doing it!  The food is actually really good - haha.  We eat a lot of bread, chocolate pudding, meat, mashed potatoes, and pasta.  I am currently sick today which was no fun. I am on round 11 of throwing up so yeah, that's a good time.  But, the mission is great.  It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but it is also the most rewarding.  We teach a lot here.  We teach lots of less actives and a lot of converts.  There is one family in particular that I want to talk about.  Mia is 10 and was baptized a year ago but is a less active.  Her mom and sister are currently taking the lessons and I am trying to convert the father and other sister that is 18 and has a two year old son.  They are very receptive but it is hard because the dad is not on board for this.  I just bear my testimony and share what I can.  It is really rough here in Pando. There is a ton of poverty and people literally live in dirt homes and houses without doors or beds.  It is heartbreaking!  It is freezing here - haha.  I spend everyday just about frozen.  I love my companion though and we live with two other girls I have come to love.  I will be honest, I have tears just about everyday but I am happy.  I know this church is true and I am here for a reason. I miss the easiness of the CCM but I will survive.  Dad taught me the lesson I live by here and that is to just suck it up.  My Savior has become my greatest friend and I feel His presence all of the time.  How grateful I am for the opportunity to be a representative of my redeemer Jesus Christ.  My scripture of the week is Isaiah 41:10 - please read it.  I love you all!  Thank you for the prayers and thoughts.

Till we meet again,

Hermana Labrum

Notes from Mom - she is in a branch with 3 other sister missionaries.  They have no heater in her apartment and she is very cold. 

Letter to Pop from the Columbia MTC President

Dear Elder Martino,

Tonight we sent your incredible granddaughter off to her mission.  As you already know, she is an incredible woman.  I thought you might enjoy this picture of her arriving at the MTC.  Sorry I don't have a picture of her leaving!  At least as an excuse, I would rather just remember her arriving!

What an incredible blessing she was to the MTC and to our lives while she was here.  I can only imagine what an incredible missionary she will be as she blesses the lives of the people she will meet in Uruguay.

There are a million reasons I want to that you for extending the call for us to serve here in Bogota, but Hermana Labrum is certainly one of them.  Thank you for sending her to us.  It has only been a few hours since she left and we are already missing her deeply. 

Un abrazo,

President Duvall
CCM - Columbia

Letter from Uruguat Mission President regarding Hailee (6/21/2016)

Dear Labrum Family,

Tuesday we went to the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay to pick up Sister Labrum and welcome her into our mission.  She arrived full of excitement and enthusiasm to get to work. 

We have spent the day getting to know her, and we recognized that she will be a great asset to us here in the mission.  We know that she will bless the lives of many wonderful people.

Wednesday is transfer day and after meeting her trainer, she will head off to her first area so that she can start "bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

We will send you a photo that we took with her.  We are so excited to have you daughter with us and hope that you receive this email with excitement and pride in all that your daughter has done to prepare herself for the opportunity that she now has to serve the Lord for the next 18 months.

Love,

The Cooks

Uruguay I am Here!

I made it!  I am so sorry I was not able to write this week.  I only have 15 minutes but I will share what is happening.  I left the CCM on Monday night at 6:00pm and started my first plane ride at 9:30pm that night and flew until 6:00am the next morning to Sao Paulo Brazil and then I flew from there to Uruguay and landed at 12:00 in the afternoon.  My mission presidents are awesome but they leave in two weeks so I am sad about that.  I am serving in Pando, Uruguay.  It was an hour bus ride and my companion is Hermana Riverba from Bolivia.  I am in one of the poorest parts.  Homes have dirt floors and are absolutely heartbreaking.  I live in a small house and it is a little overwhelming right now.  My home is freezing.  I have a bunk bed and we have tile floors which is nice.  Not dryer or kitchen table.  Very humbling experience!  Spanish is different here but I am trying.  It will be a hard week but I am ready.  I love you all!  Remember me!  The gospel is true and I am grateful for this experience.  The Savior is always by our side.

Love, Hermana Labrum