the mission is full of surprises.........................October 20, 2014

Hey folks! How is everybody? i hope everybody had a great week! 

So I`ll just get to the point, which are changes! So as you know, I`m training Hermana Leiva. So that obviously means that we are staying another change together. Right? Right? WRONG. President called and said "Hermana Dolan, I really hope you can feel the Spirit in this, but I have just really felt like Hermana Leiva is needed somewhere else right now." So, my hija is leaving me!!!!! We were seriously so shocked! She`s going to Salto. Ah, man, what! This change FLEW with her. I learned so much from her and we seriously had such a good time and really grew together. I am going to miss her, but I have definitely learned that the Lord knows what He`s doing, so if President says that he feels like she`s needed someone else, it`s because the Lord needs her in Salto. 

So you won`t believe the name of my next companion....Hermana Barrios. Haha there are only TWO Hermana Barrios in the whole mission and both of them will be my companions. Except this one is from Guatemala! She just finished her training, so I`m comp number 2 for the third time! Rock and roll. I haven`t met her, but her trainer is Hermana Baca, so that automatically means she must be awesome. 

On Wednesday we did Divisions! Which means, we did divisions with Zumeta and Paris! Which means I got to be comps with each of them for a few hours. It was awesome. Even though pretty much all of the lessons planned fell through, it was still a blast. Hermana Paris and I were together all afternoon and the one on one time was really great. 

On Saturday we had another ward talent show. I sang "The Scientist" by Coldplay with Valentina while the bishop`s daughter played the piano. They asked me SUPER last minute so it was just mas o menos, but it`s alright. Haha and for those of you who speak Spanish, the Elders made up their own version of "Bailando" by Enrique Iglesias, called "Predicando." We had to help them with it with throwing props and things like that. It was legit, and I died laughing. Sunday was Hermana Leiva`s last Sunday, and also Elder McRae`s. Elder McRae was here in Rivera for 8 months. It was definitely an emotional sacrament meeting for everybody. They are both REALLY great missionaries. I loved being able to be Hermana Leiva`s first mom, and I really enjoyed sharing a ward with Elder McRae and Neilson, and I learned a lot from them. I love the friends made in the mission, it`s one of my favorite parts. 

So anyway....that`s about it for this week. NORMA CAME TO CHURCH. First time we had seen her in a while because her daughter was in Montevideo. Perfect timing for Hermana Leiva! Keep her in your prayers. 

So anywho, I hope everybody has a great week. I`ll let you know all about how things go with my new comp! 

I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermana Dolan 

English room at conference!

slumber party in the living room.................

slumber parties, family history, and tender mercies................October 13, 2014

Hey folks! I hope everybody had a great week! This week flew. Seriously, the weeks just fly and fly. For example, last Wednesday was the one year anniversary of two things: the day my sister got home from her mission, and the day I arrived in Uruguay. WHAT THE HECK. I feel like I blink and it`s Monday again. Next week is already changes again! i can`t believe it. 

So this was a good week! They`re all good weeks, let`s be honest. With super bipolar Uruguayan spring weather, but it`s alright. So on Tuesday, the uncle of the bishop got baptized, who the elders were teaching. It was SUCH a beautiful baptism! I love love love baptisms because I love seeing the change in countenances. The bishop`s uncle, for example, was atheist before. And now he`s completely changed. He was so excited and happy. Now a year from now he and his wife, who was inactive for a long time, will be able to become an eternal family. And you know how it started? A couple of months ago, the bishop`s father died. He talked to the two of them about a plan that God has for us. And then? He just invited them to church. THAT`S IT. They went to church that first time, cried when we sang "families can be together forever" and never missed a Sunday after. All because he invited them, that`s all it took to change their life. So, invite everybody to church! Or think of one of those talks in conference that made you think of a friend or loved one, and invite him over to watch it. You won`t be sorry and neither will they! 

Remember Annie? She moved last week to Montevideo :( But we just happened to be home when she was about to live, so we wrote our testimonies in a Book of Mormon and gave it to her, promising her that it will bring peace to her life. She thanked us and hugged us and said she would look for the church in Montevideo. Obviously it`s said that as missionaries we "plant" a lot of seeds, but Annie is one that I just really FELT, and I am grateful that the Lord put her in our path, even though it was for such a short time. 

Now to explain the subject line:

Slumber parties:

We are getting new furniture in our apartment (holla!) and when the family that took our old furniture came to take it on saturday, our landlady decided to take advantage of there being no furniture, and had her son repaint. So we slept on our mattresses with ALL of our other stuff in the other room two nights in a row. So we ate popcorn and probably drank too much Coke. But it was fun. Pics to come!

Family history:

President Smith is making a HUGE new focus on family history. In fact, in a couple of months we are all going to go to the temple in Montevideo to do all of the temple work for one of our ancestors! It is going to be awesome. We also had an activity for family history in our ward on Saturday, which was our ward mission leader`s idea. To help everyone gather names before the next temple trip in December. I wish I had gotten more into family history before! But I am definitely going to take advantage of getting more into it these last 6 months before going home. It`s a big promise in my patriarchal blessing that I`ll experience the Spirit of Elijah in my life. It`s a pretty rockin`blessing that i should definitely take more advantage of. 

Tender mercies! 

Two things:

Brian and Angela are going to the temple for the very first time this month and they are going to do baptisms for Brian`s grandparents! Gahhh. Please keep them in your prayers to be able to get sealed in March! They`re amazing. 

Anybody remember Andres? I wrote about him last change. He was a guy who a member had called us saying "I want you to come teach somebody right now in my house." And we went and taught one of the most powerful lessons on the Restoration I`ve ever experienced. But then....he went back to Brazil, where he lived. But he had said that he wanted to move back here. Well I`ve been thinking about him lately, so just yesterday i asked Daniel "hey, do you know how Andres is doing?" And he said "he`s moving back today or tomorrow!" And five minutes later, Andres showed up! And we`ll see him today to mark a day to visit him. Just when we`ve really been in need of investigators. Keep Andres in your prayers. He has a big desire to change, and with the Lord he totally can! 

The Lord is always full of such great tender mercies. They`re in every single day, we just have to keep our eyes open and look for them. 

Yo sè que esta es la iglesia verdadera. Sè que Jesucristo vive. Èl es mi Salvador y mi Redentor. Sè que las familias pueden ser eternas. ¡Que bendecida que soy por tener a la mia para siempre! Sè que el Libro de Mormòn ES la palabra y el poder de Dios. Es un libro que realmente cambia vidas tal como ha cambiado la mia. Mi misiòn me ha cambiado de adentro por afuera. No puedo creer la person que yo era, pero màs estoy tan agradacida por la gracia del Señor y por la person que ahora yo SOY. Amo este Evangelio, amo esta obra, amo a mi Salvador. Sè sin ninguna duda que Èl vive y nos ama. En el nombre de Jesucristo, si, el Hijo de Dios, Amen. 

I love you, I love you, I love you! 

Hermanita Dolan 

P.S. Wanna hear something stinking cool? Part of the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission is now one city in Brazil (now part of the stake in Artigas), and a part of ARGENTINA!!! (now a part of the stake in Paysandu.) The Lord is truly hastening His work in my favorite little part of the universe! 

Belen and Valentina, the loves of my life...Vale (left, 15) and Belen (right, 14) are my best friends! We went to the plaza in between the two sessions of conference on Saturday for some churros. I love them.

Save it for a Rainy Day

X-Ray of Megan's hand