What's Coming Will Come and We Will Meet It When It Does (June 5, 2017)

WOW. We have had I think the fastest week in my mission. Time actually flew. I feel like I was just writing home yesterday but here I am again writing. Well I am finally learning a little more english. That has been one of my biggest challenges this week is helping Hermana Hatch understand by speaking English haha but I am improving.

This week we had a miracle. We have an investigator named Julio Acosta who wants to be baptized but has a problem with drinking. He loves to drink just one cup every night with dinner and cannot give it up. Well this week we dropped cane and basically said if he was not going to stop we would have to stop coming and that it was really all about just humbling himself before God. Well he sat and thought and then lifted his glass and poured it all out on the floor hahah and then he told us to go get all the wine and whiskey bottles (14 in total) and pour them all out and so we did just that hahaha (picture below) He is going to try for a week and then if he feels good and that it is right he will get baptized June 17!!!

We also started teaching two new little girls named Fiarella and Juliana. They are orphans living in an orphanage. Their sister got baptized about 3 years ago and they want to now so we got permission from the owner of the orphanage and have began teaching. It has been one of the sweetest experiences of my mission. I feel so happy when we are with them and the spirit so strongly. This week we are going to do game night with all the kids and I am SOOOO excited!

This week we also had tons of family nights but one in particular was that our BFF Romi and her husband Esteban went and made us american style hamburgers and apple pie. I have never been so happy.

This week we worked alot with Camila and she has her baptism date now and will be baptized this saturday!!! We also threw her a birthday party this week due to her rough home life and we got a lot of ward support and she was so happy:)

We also found an incredible new investigator!!! Her name is Sandra and SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH which saved Hermana Hatchs life haha- She is from England and moved to Uruguay about 50 years ago just for the fun of it. Well last night we had tea (hahah duh shes british) and she made cake and ordered a pizza and we just talked and she committed to reading the BOM. I am so happy

Also my comp is a personal trainer. I have never excersized or eaten so healthy in my life haha  I'm coming home fit. I hope you all will recognize me:)

This week my convert Tamara shared her testimony in church and i just cried. That is why i came on a mission. I really love my mission.

Do All Things With Love (May 29, 2017)

Well friends and family my second daughter has arrived to the mission and let me just say she is the best thing that has ever happened to my mission. I think the Lord gave her too me so that she can train me haha. She has reminded me how to love missionary work and how to 100 percent give it my all. I have never been so grateful for a companion honestly. Her name is Hermana Hatch from Arizona!! MY FIRST GRINGA IN OVER 8 MONTHS!!! I am loving it. Haha its funny because I cannot remember how to speak english to save my life but we are working little by little together on that one:) She has such a desire to speak the language and talk to everyone we pass. She is such a huge blessing.

So this week Camila and Tamara continued to be the best little missionaries and introduced us to a little girl named Camila that has a baptism date for the 10th of June. She is going to turn 13 saturday. She comes from extremely hard circumstances so the ward has come together and we are going to throw her a bday `party saturday in the church and I am super super excited about that. Julio continues to fight with the cigarettes but we are getting closer. Please keep him in your prayers this week!!

This week we had a charla with a part member family that was really good. The mom is a member and the husband and son are not. He has a big drinking problem that we are working on and this week we did a really different lesson. We made a gratitude journal with them and wrote down all the things we were thankful for and wow it was a really powerful lesson. It really helped him to realize how much the lord loves him and his family and how very blessed he is. It was a really really good charla.

This week while reading in Ether 4 verse 14 I found a quote that says: Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created. I thought a lot about this and that my mission is something I know I was prepared and destined to do. Everyday I watch myself fall more in love with this gospel and with this country. Each day I trust my heavenly father more and think a little less about myself. Each day I prefer to read a little more of the Book Of Mormon and think a little less about what I wanna do when I get home. The lord is molding me to be more like him and the Hailee he wants me to be everyday and I am so grateful. I know I am where I am needed. I am so grateful to be able to know so well the little country of Uruguayans with the biggest hearts and the most love. I love this gospel and know without a doubt how true it is. I hope you all have the best week and i love you!!

Letter to Pop from Elder Packer

Jim,

Terri and I had the pleasure of visiting with your granddaughter as we toured the Uruguay Montevideo Mission Friday. She looked healthy and said she was happy and doing well.

Attached is a picture you can pass on to her Mom and Dad.

Blessings,

Allan

Elder Allan F. Packer

First Counselor Area Presidency

South America South

Kid #2

Well friends and family, tomorrow I will go pick up a new missionary for the second time and I am soooo excited! Training is honestly one of the best things that I could have had happen this change and I am so so excited to see what he Lord has in store for me these next two cambios with her.

This week was awesome!!!!! We had a multi-zone conference with Elder Packer (son of Elder packer that was in the 12). It was an awesome conference where we really talked about the best and most effective ways to find new people to teach. Well it was great, we all felt great and spiritual and then he said he had chosen 8 missionaries with whom he wanted to do private interviews with and guess what, I WAS ONE OF THEM! I was actually so nervous but man it was awesome. He really gave me some great advice concerning how I can be more patient and ways to work better so that my companions can feel less stressed it was honestly one of the coolest experiences I have had.

We also had intercambios this week which meant I got to work with my BFF Hermana Chadwick the whole day and man we had a blast. It was for sure one of my favorite days of this cambio.

Well our baptisms went through!!! This week Camila and Tamara got baptized and it was one of the best baptism attendances I have ever had. We had so many people come that we had people sitting outside in the hallway man it was awesome. After the baptism ordinance they both decided to bear their testimonies and it brought tears to my eyes. They both shared how grateful they were to have the gospel in their lives and they both shared that their goal is that they can be missionaries one day as well. This is 100 percent the reason I served a mission and it makes all the hard moments so worth it. Now we are also teaching two of their best friends who want to be baptized as well. The lord is blessing San Jose de Carrasco so much. Julio is still fighting the cigarette but we are getting closer each day. As soon as he quits he will be baptized as well.

This cambio I really learned the significance of the quote that says: Happiness depends upon ourselves. And it is so true!!!! It is not one bit important our living circumstances or our friends or our looks or anything. We choose whether we want to be grateful and happy or sad and depressed. I am so grateful to have learned that! I am in control of how I feel. Taken, it is not an easy concept but that is my goal this next cambio to apply this principle and enjoy every day of my mission. I hope you all have an amazing week. I love you. Be happy:)

1 YEAR

Well I hit my one year mark this week and that is asolutely insane. I cannot even believe how quickly time is flying. I have had more spiritual and life changing experiences shoved into this one year than the other 19 years of my life haha!!! Yesterday skyping home was so great because it was not even sad at all!! Only 6 more months. How sad right??

Well this week I got nice and sick and then my comp did also, so we spent two of the days in the house this week but I got a super sweet surprise. My ex stake president from Trinidad drove 4 hours to see me and brought my convert Teresa and also Hermana Collazos and wow! I just cried - it made me so very happy  to see them. They brought me my fav Uruguayan muffins and hung out for a bit and it gave me just the energy I needed to keep working hard. The Lord blesses us in mysterious ways.

We finally had a Family Night with the Bishop and IT WAS PERFECT. We are finally gaining his trust and he helped us out so much teaching Julio, Camila, and Tamara. We talked about keeping the sabbath day holy and played a super fun game. It was probably one of the best FHEs that I have ever had. It was so great to finally win over the bishop:)

So Julio is officially only smoking a quarter of a cigarrete everyday!! We are that close!!! This Saturday he will be being baptized as well as his nieces Camila and Tamara. We also have a little boy named Alex that plans to get baptized Saturday all we are lacking is permission from his parents so please keep him in your prayers this week that we can get the permission!

We had a super fun mothers day activity in the ward this week where we played a bunch of games and made a lot of crafts and it was so so fun! We had a great turnout and got to know the ward a ton better. It was by far one of the best Relief Society activities I have ever attended in my life.

Well this week I started reading Jesus The Christ and WOW, I absolutely love it. I will not lie it is slightly hard haha but I am learning so so much and really it is just helping me to know my savior more on a personal basis. I can see my testimony and also just my knowledge of my savior growing and I am so grateful for that. There is not a greater happiness in the world than serving him everyday. I am so grateful to be a missionary and for this amazing year I have had. I love you all and have an amazing week!!