Enduring Climate Changes in Uruguay

Well Uruguay is currently becoming a tropical climate according to everyone here which is why we are having three days of intense rain like where you just are soaked everywhere and then the next three are so hot you think you are going to die. I have broken two umbrellas from the winds this week and sweated through all the rest of my clothes. Yep it is a dream!

Other than the weather it was a miracle week!!!! For Halloween we bought a bunch of candy and hats and went into Centro and handed out candy and pass along cards for about 2 hours and it was extremely successful. It was one of the most fun nights in the mission for sure. Our Mikaela that is 17 is ready for her baptism in about 2 weeks which we are super excited for so we are just working hard on getting her all prepared for that!! Alfonso came to church Sunday and is currently only smoking about two cigarettes a day which is super exciting. Baptism is on its way baby!!! Delfi our 13 year old friend that speaks English is making major progression!! We watched the restoration with her this week and when we finished it she just yelled I love Joseph Smith!!! Haha it was awesome and she has plans to come to church with us this Sunday!!! Also my old investigator Mikaela that I lost contact with for 6 weeks is back and even came to church this Sunday which is HUGE. She is not currently married but we are working with this too see what we can do. She felt the spirit so strong in church she said she could not describe  it. Also the biggest miracle this week!! We got a reference from Hermana Gomez that she said were going to be two women very special for us. Well we visit them and guess what??!! They only speak English!!! They are from South Africa and have been living in China for the last 8 years and now are here to raise the daughters baby here.They are looking to find a religion here and we have got that under control haha so we have started the lessons but man it is really hard in English but we are working on it. Literally a week of miracles. Also the 17th we have a mission conference with Elder Rasband which we are super excited for!!! I had an amazing week of miracles. I know that the Lord has people prepared for us we just need to find them. There is nothing better than finding someone and watching their faith and commitment grow. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum

Week One of Cambio 5

Well it was definitely a very interesting week for sure I just do not even know what to express. This was a Little bit of a harder missionn week but we made it through!!

This week we had a noche de hogar Tuesday with the Familia Midana and with Alfonso and it went awesome!!! So we did not yet have a date for Alfnosno and his baptism yet but we were planning to bring that up soon. Well Hermano Midana asked him if he had a date yet and we said no and then he surprised us by saying that he has a date for the end of November. We were like UHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Wow I literally just started crying right then and there I was so dang happy. There are literally not words to express the happiness I felt in that moment. Well he is currently stopping smoking very quickly. In a week he has dropped from 20 a day to about 1 or 2 a day. That is huge!! However he is a lot more unhappy and mean right now due to this so he said that he does not want to think of baptism right now which made me sad but I think it is just for the problems leaving the cigarettes so we are going to drop baptism for about two weeks and then give it another try. He is ready, he just needs to stop smoking and feel happy again first!

We were in the house two days this week. One for the rain (we had a red alert so could not leave the house) We had winds 55mph and wow it was scary haha. The next day Hermana Harpole was sick so we were in again for that.

This week we also got a baptism date for an investigator names Estela for the 26 of November!!! Really stoked and hoping to see that it goes through well. Also we visited Marias Estela this week because she was back from vacations and she told us she loves the church and the message we have but right now she is trying to move to Italy and said she can not give us the commitment we want right now but she got all our info and promised us when she gets to Italy she is starting the discussions again. I know she will be baptized in the future and that makes me so so happy to know she will have the message as a part of her life forever.

I have really learned this week the power behind the words I am a child of God. My favorite spanish saying is: Yo se quien soy. This means I know who I am. When we know we are children of a God that is almighty and that loves us enough to talk to each of us individually this life becomes so much easier. Remember in the hard times God sees our past and our future. We can only see this moment. Trust in His plan and I know with todo mi corazón that we will find our way home to our Heavenly Father. I love you all and have an amazing week.

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum

Cambio Number 4 Begins

Well the big news: I am staying in Maldonado another 6 weeks and I am staying with Hermana Harople!!! We are super excited to see what is going to be happening this cambio. It is definitely going to be another cambio of miracles. 

This week was awesome. We worked really hard with members this week. We actually had a noche de hogar each night with a different family to really try and gain the trust of the members so that we can use them more with our investigators but also so that we can receive more references of people that are really ready to hear this message of the Restoration. We had a week of insane rain storms and wind; we had to come home twice a day to just change clothes because the wind is so strong here by the ocean that we could not use umbrellas so we were just soaking all day but it was great. Definitely made for lots of great pictures.

This week we did lots of cooking and you all know that is huge for me to be able to cook haha. I learned how to cook tortas fritas, alfahors, and niochi. Wow it was literally so fun. You can basically say that I am going to come home like an awesome chef haha. This week I also dyed my hair blonde again. Yes.

Alfonoso came to church for the first time this week!!! This was huge because he wants to be baptized but hasn't wanted to come to church but Fernanda talked him into it and yes he is here haha. Last night we had a charla about him needing to stop smoking. I was praying hard during the charla to know what to do and I came to the conclusion to leave him 7 cigarettes for the week and to take all the others. Well I took them to a member and now he has only 7 for the whole week so we are excited to see what will happen!! Please give some prayers that he will have the strength to overcome this addiction!!

Antonio is progressing a ton!! He has all his asistencias now in the church and is starting to gain a testimony of the book of mormon and that families can be together forever. All that is left is their marriage at the end of this year and then he will be ready to get baptized!!!

Honestly I love my mission. There is nothing better than being a missionary and watching people begin to feel the love of the Savior and to know that the only thing that can heal them is this gospel and Jesus Christ. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.

Le quiero,

Hermana Labrum

PS. Yes we are pants for the rest of the summer. Ugly.

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