kicked in the chest, hand in the gate, bit in the ankle....................September 29, 2014 Rivera, Uruguay

Heyyy you guys! I hope everybody has had a great week! 

In case you are wondering about my caption, haha what a week it has been folks.

So there`s this little boy named Gael who`s 3. I`ve gotta say he`s probably the closest thing to a little brother I`ve got here. Haha he reminds me a lot of Jackson. He just says the funniest things. Well, Gael cries over alllmost everything. So we were playing soccer with the little kids, and I wasn`t on Gael`s team, but he was telling me to pass him the ball. So when I didn`t, he came over and hit me. So I very gently grabbed him and told him not to do that. And he hit me again. So I told him one more time, and he just gave me a good kick in the chest. Haha ANOTHER mission first. So funny though, I took him to his dad to tell him, and Daniel jokingly goes "Gael, violence is not the answer! Now wait until we go home and I can wrap you up in duct tape." Haha what? People kill me. 

I got bit in the ankle by the dog of a house we contacted. That`s pretty typical missionary life here in Uruguay. 

Annnnd last but not least, I was trying to help open the big iron gate in front of our church that slides open. A member was on the other side, and she slid the gate without noticing that my hand was RIGHT smack dab in between the big iron gate and the brick wall. Yeah man. She felt SUPER bad. But calm down you guys (mom), I got to finally use the skills I learned at Girl`s Camp and I put myself a beautiful ace bandage. And that`s the Lord`s work. Pictures to come. 

Soooo we had a really good lesson with Norma last week, where she accepted a baptismal date. But then when we went back Norma wasn`t there, but Maribel was, and said that Norma says she needs more time and feels like she needs to learn more. Well, my sister-in-law who just went through the temple and got sealed to my brother is my living proof of never giving up on anybody, and not pressuring them either. So we`ll be right here to keep guiding Norma and helping her to make the decision that will lead her to eternal happiness with her daughter. So keep her in your prayers! 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! My first time in Spanish. It`s so cool how the Gospel is so 100% true in every language. Read the Book of Mormon every day! I`ll be honest, I didn`t before my mission. But it is here where I have gained a living testimony of this amazing miraculous book that brings so much joy and peace and counsel and truly changes lives. And I am never going back! 

Honestly, other than that, not a super eventful week! Good things in every day, as always. It`s a week that before might have gotten me down, but I`ve learned that as long as we`re being obedient, seeking the Lord, and loving the people, we`re doing our job. I intend on going home with for sure one convert and that`ll be me. And I`ve still got loads of time--the rest of my mission and the rest of my life--to keep the conversion rolling. 

I love you, I love you, I love you all! Have a great week! 

Hermana Dolan 

August 2013, Megan's brother and his recently baptized new wife at their wedding. Mackenzie was on her mission in Japan, and was the stand up photo. Fast forward one year, and Megan is the stand up photo in Justin and Amanda's sealing pictures., September 26, 2014

Meet Jorge This is Jorge, he`s been a member for about 2 years now. He only has one leg. He is awesome.

Service project on Saturday! I forgot to mention that my two favorite companions are now COMPANIONS! Yeah, divisions are gonna be rad. Hna Zumeta, Paris, and Leiva! Sept. 20, 2014

Service project on Saturday at Elementary School September 20, 2014 Rivera, Uruguay

¨Eternity is too long!¨ September 22, 2014

Hey everybody! I hope everybody had a great week! I know I sure did! 

So the first really great part was on Tuesday. President Smith has made a HUGE emphasis on us always making sure we are working with members. Our mission even has it`s own Key Indicator in addition to all the rest, which are "Hours with Members." He`s not just interested in how many lessons with have with investigators with a member. He also wants to know how much time we`re actually with them contacting, visiting less active members, etc. So anyway, the week before in district meeting we talked about also making sure that we`re working with the leaders in our ward. The bishop, the ward mission leader, heads of the organizations, and the ward missionaries. So we decided we were going to do better with that last week. 

We started out going out with one of the ward missionaries who we had never gone out with before, Mirta Cal. She first went with us to Vovo, which was really good because Mirta is also an older lady who has been a member for a long time. Vovo spilled a lot of really deep questions about the eternities and things like that that she had never talked about before because she didn`t want to "scare our young minds" haha, but she told all of them with Mirta there. One of the best parts was when the subject came around to temples. Mirta told her "you need to go to the temple and seal yourself with your husband!¨ (Vovo´s husband passed away awhile ago). And so Vovo goes "Yeah, here`s the thing. I don`t want to.¨ And Mirta said ¨why is that¨and Vovo yells ¨Because eternity is TOOO long to be with a man!¨ Hahaha we all seriously died laughing. Haha I know it`s kind of sad what she said, but so hilarious. I love that crazy old woman. 

We invited both Mirta and Carmen Cascallares, the other ward missionary, to a lesson with Norma, Maribel`s mom. We started teaching about the Book of Mormon. It ended up being a longer lesson because both Carmen and Mirta like to talk haha, but it was I N C R E D I B L E. The Spirit was so strong, and we just knew that Norma felt it. Carmen and Mirta testified over and over again about the Book of Mormon. I heard Carmen say at least 3 times ¨this is a book that changes lives.¨And it is SO true. I can`t imagine that lesson without the two of them there. They were perfectly comprehending but also direct with Norma. Norma`s husband passed away a long time ago, when he was only 29, and she never got remarried. Mirta brought up the opportunity to be an eternal family, and how she needed to be able to go to the temple to be with her husband and with Maribel. Maribel was relatively quiet during the lesson, but then towards the end said "I just wanted to thank the four of you for saying to my mom what I`ve felt the past two weeks I`ve needed to come and be direct and say to her--that I need her. I need her with me at church, and I need her and dad with me in the eternities.¨ Carmen also siad ¨You know i have always tried to fulfill my calling and I pray every day for the Lord to help me find missionary opportunities. And I never understood until today why the past few weeks, I kept seeing Maribel`s face.¨  She cried. We cried. Norma cried. And she said she would pray about a date for baptism. I seriously love them so much. I feel the truth and power of the Book of Mormon, and I especially have a testimony of the importance of the members and missionaries working together. The members have SO much power, because they see things that us missionaries just can`t see. These Uruguayos have so much faith. More faith than I ever saw in my whole life. And the ones here in Rivera have such a fire and desire to share the Gospel. 

Also, so we live in a pension behind a member`s house. She rents out 4 or 5 little places there in the back and we live in one of them. The other day as we were leaving, she stopped us and told us she had talked to one of the people who lives back there, and that she wants to listen to us. So we set up an appointment for last night, and it was amazing! We taught the Restoration of the Gospel, and she was just so open and receptive and hungry to learn. She said she had always seen us talking to Luz Cal (the member) and we looked friendly and that`s why she had been given the desire to listen to us. She really seems so prepared. Her name is Annie. And the best part? I saw in the directory last night that her name is Annie R. Yeah, shout out to my best friend who gets home from her mish next week! Your mission lives on here in Uruguay haha. So please pray for Annie! 

The Lord is teaching me so much every day. It`s amazing what a rollercoaster even every day in the mission is. I constantly feel more and more how much more I am learning from the people here than what I am teaching them. And how much the Lord is teaching me. About the people, about the Gospel, about the Spirit, and about myself. I love this Gospel, I love the Savior, and I know He lives. This is HIS Gospel, it is HIS work, and I know that it is true. and I am so glad I still have more precious time to learn even more about Him in this special little corner of the universe. I am more and more determined to use every day to do so. I`ve still got a heck of a lot to learn! 

I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermana Dolan 

Single Mom.............September 15, 2014

Hey hey hey, kiddos! 

So since I`m a "mom" now, in the mission we say that the companion that came right before the trainee is the dad. (in the case of elderes, the trainer is the dad and the previous companion is the mom.) In other words....Hermana Barrios is the dad. And she went to Cerro in Montevideo, leaving me alone to raise this child all by my lonesome. Unbelievable. Haha we had some good last few days together though! Her last night, we did a ward talent show. It was super last minute and Thursday or Friday the Elders told us about it and told us we had to do an act. But we were like "haaaa we have no talents." But then we thought about it, and thought about it, and said "Heck yes we do: we`re freaking funny." So in the end, we were the "presenters" of the talent show. We dressed up as the ugliest nerds you will ever set your eyes on, the kind that would probably make our families SUPER proud, and in between all the other acts, we told jokes. In the voice of nerds. We were a hit! One little girl in the ward now just starts laughing every time she sees me because she remembers me as the crazy nerd....or at least we can pretend that`s why she laughs. 

Haha okay so I know you`re all wondering. 

My daughter is...... Hermana Leiva! From..... Chile! 

I so called it that it would be a Chilena. I got to go to Montevideo to pick her up. I love the way we do it here: all of us go to Montevideo. The trainers have breakfast and a little bit of training and scripture study with President Smith. Then, they put all the newbies in a line in front of the temple with their backs to the temple, and tell them to close their eyes. Us trainers walk up behind them, sing the first verse of "Called to Serve", and then the APs yell for them to turn around and meet their trainers! Maybe I already explained that when I met Hermana Goode....which by the way, seems like forever ago. 

Hermana Leiva is really great! She is more quiet, but she`s opening up more every day and I know she will as she meets more people and starts to get the hand of things. She is really sweet and has a got a lot of desire to be obedient and work hard. We`re going to have fun and learn a lot together! 

This time around at the temple was one of the best! At the end of the session in the Celestial Room, I took advantage of having President Smith right there and asked him a bunch of questions. So many things are so much clearer now! All I have to say is I L O V E the temple and I know my Savior lives. I seriously want with all my heart for everyone everyone EVERYONE to be able to go to the temple. It`s the purest peace we will find in this life, and the surest way to eternal happiness in the life to come! 

So we`ve got some good potential investigators. The surest one is Norma, the mom of Maribel the one who cut my hair when I first got here. Norma has come the past 4 Sundays and went to the ward talent show last week! She is progressing super well. It`s amazing. The Lord really does prepare the hearts of his children in His time; Maribel has been a member for a LONG time and her mom has always lived with her, and yet Norma never really listened to the missionaries before! Please please please pray for Norma, we are planning for the next few weeks for her baptism. 

There`s also Bruno and Nancy. Like most young couples in Uruguay....they`re not married. But unlike most young couples.....they want to get married. Bruno is the son of a family here in our ward and he has been struggling with some things. But Nancy is a rock and they both made it to church on Sunday. 

We`ve got some good potentials and during weekly planning we made plans to visit a bunch of people who we found in the area book....we could use your prayers :)

I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermana Dolan