Baptism, Talk, Heat - All in One Week

WOW!!! That is the only word to explain this week. I am literally emotionally and physically drained from this rollercoaster of a week haha. So here is what happened this week.

Well I put my trust in a Uruguayan this week and it was the worst decision of my life. She asked to do my hair to put in a little blonde for summer so I of course said yes!!! Well as you can see in the picture she turned my hair ORANGE. AND SHE LOVED IT! I left literally bawling, so I hurried and called one of our investigators and she fixed it the best she could for my baptism but the orange will probably come back to showing in the near future so that should be fun haha but what I learned: Never get your hair done in Uruguay.

Well it is extremely hot now. I have heat rash everyday and close to 30 mosquito bites and it is not even summer yet. It is so so hot but it does make the people super friendly during the heat so this is definitely a plus.

We had our first baptism!!! It was absolutely perfect. I played an arrangment of Nearer My god to Thee and we had a strong testimony meeting after the baptism and honestly everything went perfectly. She bore an extremely powerful testimony and got confirmed Sunday. I cannot explain my happiness in these moments. I do not think I have really ever been as happy or emotional as I was in this moment. I will now have my friend Fernanda living with me in the Celestial kingdom after this life and nothing is greater than that.

I gave my first talk this Sunday about coming to the rescue and it went super awesome! I was really emotional during it but I really actually like giving talks more in Spanish than English so that is definitely a positive.

We have two new investigators -  Delfi and Monica and they are awesome. They came to the baptism and everything and are really progressing. I am so so happy!

This is our last week of this cambio and I am not gonna lie; I am super nervous that I am going to have to leave but I am putting my trust in the Lord and hoping that it will be a cambio that I need.

This week for pday we climbed the cross in Pan De Azucar and it was the best pday ever!!!! We are extremely sore but wow it was a beautiful view!

I love you and have an amazing week

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum

5 Months

Well today marks 5 months in the mission!!!!! Pretty crazy that I am close to only having a year left. Wow that is crazy! I cannot even let myself think about that haha. We have yet again a week of miracles and seeing the Lords hand in our lives each and everyday. Shout out to Addison Jean today for turning 9 years old!!!! I am so proud of you Addi and will see you in a year!!!

So this week was just wow! We have been getting prepared for our baptism this Saturday for Fernanda and all is working out smoothly and we should have no problems. We are so excited for her to make this first covenant with Heavenly Father. I cannot even explain the joy I feel to be able to watch her be baptized this week. There is nothing better than seeing the fruits of our labors.

Well we have our sweet Micaela who is 17 years old and actually lives in Maldonado 1. She is 17 years old and got permission from her parents this week to be baptized!!!! We also have gotten permission to teach her and have her baptized in our ward so we are going to be teaching her about 4 times a week for the next two weeks and are going to try to have her baptism not this Saturday but the next right before cambios. Wow the Lords hand truely is here in Maldonado with us. I am so grateful!

Anotonio and Carla are planning to get married this December and then he will be being baptized despues este. We are just working through all the charlas with him right now and so far everything is running super smoothly and his testimony is growing more and more each day.

This week was just a really successful week of hard work. We had a day where we had 6 new investigators in one day!!!! The Lord is really working and leading us to the people who are prepared to hear this message.

Fun things you all need to know:

1. I will be giving my first talk this Sunday. Wow scary.

2. All houses here have names not numbers. It is pretty sweet.

3. No we do not have AC, Heaters, or dryers for our clothes.

I would love to invite you all to read a talk by Elder Vinson called Drawing Closer to God. I read it this week and it really changed my aspect on what a relationship with our Father in Heaven should really be like. I love you all so much and I hope you all remember that you are children of a loving Heavenly Father who loves you always and is always looking out for you. Have an amazing week of miracles.

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum

JUST ANOTHER WEEK IN PARADISE

Hello friends and family!!!!! What another week of miracles here in the mission. This was a little bit harder of a week I will not lie but we made it and we saw some great things happen this week.

This week we had a baptism for a couple in our ward (they are the elders investigators) but it was a great opportunity to get some of our investigators to see a baptism. Well this week we had a charla just with Alfonoso and it went so good he actually showed us that he has genuine interest; he is just a little stubborn haha. Well we invited him to the baptism but really did not think he would come. We went to his house the night of to invite Fernanda also and he had already told her and they were ready to go!!! It was so awesome to have them there. I really think they felt something and they made lots of friends. They stayed longer at the baptism than we did.

Sunday Fernanda came to church!!!!! This was HUGE progression for us and she stayed all 3 hours. Alfonoso did not go but I was okay with that. It is gonna be poco a poco with him. We also had another investigator Mikaela in the chuch this week. She is 17 and absolutely amazing. I have really enjoyed getting to know her and work with her and feel her progression and love for the church.

We had a service Saturday this week so we spent all day painting and cleaning a school and it was so so fun!!!! We also threw a bridal shower for one of the elders investigators and that was a super fun experience too. I found a ice cream place this week and I have been buying ice cream everyday haha and wow it makes me so happy.

This week I had the opportunity to watch the Restoration with two investigators and I realized how strong my testimony is of Joseph Smith. I know he was a prophet and that he translated the Book Of Mormon. I know that because of the things he suffered I have the ability to have this amazing church in my life but also every blessing I really has came from him. I have temples so I can have my family forever, I have a Book that brings me greater peace and joy than anything, and I have a understanding of My Heavenly Fathers love for me. I invite you all to pray again to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and receive another witness of this truth.

I love and miss you all so much. Have an amazing week!!!!

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum

WEEK OF MIRACLES

Hello friends and family!!! Wow what a week it has been!!! We have seen so many miracles and tender mercies this week. Today was actually the best Pday ever!!! Today we went to Piriapolis which is one of the prettiest and most touristy parts of Uruguay, We rode a ski lift up a mountain and hung out at the beach and just had the best day. We met a few Americans because there were lots of cruise ships docked here today!!! We literally had the best time. Definitely relieved a lot of stress and we are ready for this week!!!

Best news from the week is that my invesitgator Fernanda has a baptism date!!!! She will be getting baptized the 15 of October. I ca not explain the happiness I am feeling. I cried (actually bawled) when she committed to being baptized. Since we planned her date she has been inviting everyone to her baptism, haha she is super excited and I am so so happy for her. My first convert is on the way!!!!!! The other best part. We had a couple of charlas with just her husband Alfonoso this week and he came with us to a noche de hogar(family home evening) and he is really starting to love the church and what it has to offer. We are planning on a baptism there in the next cambio and then they are planning to work on getting to the temple. I love my mission!

This week we have a new investigator! His name is Antonio and his girlfriend and mother in law are members. They just moved here so we are getting them accustomed to Maldonado. He has never had an interest in the church before but all of a sudden he wants to give it a try so we are starting the discussions and doing lots of noche de hogars with him.

This week with Marcela was really rough. We found her one day with a new broken arm and just super messed up because she fell drunk in the street again. Well we stayed with her for a while and then she said she was leaving to buy alcohol and we left and then found her down in the street again bleeding. We took her home and stayed with her on and off for about 4 hours just trying to make her stay in because she just runs through the streets if we leave her. Well we finally could not do anything else so we had to leave and I just cried. It was the worst feeling to know I could not do anything to help. But good news. She is probably heading for a facility this week for three months to help her quit drinking and so we are hoping for the best with that.

Conference was awesome!!!!!!! We had to watch them all in Spanish but it was great. Fernanda came to a session and also Antonio. The theme of this conference really was just about how important it is to have a good relationship with our savior and to use the Atonement in our lives. I am so grateful to have a prophet on the earth today and for the opportunity to watch conference. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week. Thank you for the prayers and support. I can feel them.

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum