Monday, October 27, 2014
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!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
As you can see, it was a rough week........October 6, 2014
Haha no not really! But by the photos it sure looks like it, no? Haha Wednesday was an adventure.
So guys, remember my hand that got slammed in a gate? Well, it kind of sort was really swelled up and I couldn`t bend my pinky without it killing. But, typical me....didn`t want to go to the doctor. Until like five people, including my comp, convinced me to. So on wednesday, we decided to visit the member who lives in front of us in the hospital. Which is on the other side of Rivera. So we took a taxi, but when we got there, they told us she had left in the morning. SWEET. Which, by the way, this woman is 85 years old, had an operation where they removed FOUR cysts, and she had the operation the night before and they released her the next morning. Which makes me understand now all of the rumors about the doctors in Rivera....haha pray that i never get sick here. So anyway, we were like "well crap, but at least i can get my hand checked out while we`re here." Sike, we had to go to the other hospital that´s back in our area. But we weren`t about to spend money on a taxi again, so we walked. Did we know where we were? You bet your bottom dollar that we didn`t. But between my companion who remembers landmarks and me who remembers street names, after much time, and crossing about 4 other companionship`s areas, we made it back.
So then we had to get my hand checked out. Uruguayan hospitals aren`t the most efficient places on earth, so we got directed back and forth to about five different places. And they took an x ray of my hand. And ladies and gents, I have.....nothing wrong. Haha but they gave me some pain meds and cream for the inflammation, and now I have a cool x ray of my hand, so we got something out of that.
And then the next day my comp fell down in a super hilariously embarrassing way. Not as bad as it looks, it`s just that she had nylons on. Just so everyone is aware, Hna Leiva is secretly hilarious. To everyone else she`s quiet, but once she opens up she turns into a sassy black woman, just Chilena version. We laugh all the time.
We also met a super cool investigator named Jakaline. She was a reference from the other hermanas. She had been taught for awhile by the hermanas there, then disappeared for a couple months, then last week sent them a message apologizing saying that her son had passed away, and that she had moved to our area and still wanted us to go teach her. So we went on wednesday, and that woman is rockin! She never stopped reading the Book of Mormon or praying. She immediately walked in and sat down and told us she knows this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that this is the path she needs to be on. Holy cow! Only typical Uruguayan problem is....she`s not married and living with someone. But we`ll work on that! The testimony is the foundation. So pray for Jakaline!
Remember Raul? So he`s kind of always been on the side because he really just ALWAYS forgets to go to church. It`s just his old man-ness, he forgets. So we put a big not on his wall with the hour of church last week. We were going to with a member to pick him up, but when we called, his son told us he had already left. So we waited and waited, and he didn`t show up. When we went to see him the next day, he told us he had went, and gotten almost all the way to church, but then said to himself "if there`s no power, there`s not going to be church, how silly am I!" (the power was out the last Sunday). But the progress here is that he REMEMBERED, folks. Big step. So, we`re still working on Raul! Keep him in your prayers.
WHO ELSE LOVED CONFERENCE. To answer your questions, we do get to watch it here with everyone else in the stake center. They even have an english room for all the gringo missionaries. Except we were SUPER stoked for the two speakers who gave their talks in Spanish. So we ran to the other room to hear those in Spanish instead of listening to the english translator. Also, WHO LOVED ELDER ROBBINS TALK. He is such a boss. He`s the one who came to Uruguay in June where both of the missions all went to Montevideo to hear him speak. "Which way do you face?"
There were two things that stuck out a lot to me that were really focused on: strengthening the home, and sustaining the prophet. Both things that are getting really attacked these days. All I can say is that families are forever, and I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I love him so much. All of us missionaries talked about how we`re a little sad to see how old all of the brethren are getting. We grew up with all of them. They are truly called of God to lead our church.
Also, loved Elder Bednar`s. I hope everyone is having the desire to go out and share ALL of their ointment and bandaids with EVERYBODY! And I hope that those who aren`t members are recognizing how it can heal their spiritual wounds.
Conference goes by way too fast! I love it, it`s a missionary holiday!
Monday, September 29, 2014
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
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