The retractable roof!!!

July 17, 2017 

Tuesday - well, it started raining today, it’s been pretty rainy here lately. But we had a couple lessons today, 1 was with 2 less active that just at the same time started reactivating. We saw them both together and thought we would get a 2 for 1, so we went and talked to them both, and they are awesome. Both of them want to come back to church and said it hurt not being there. Then we went to a lady named Adrianna, she’s like 50 maybe but looks a lot older because she smokes. So we’re helping her to quit smoking to make it to her baptismal date. But haha she’s super funny every time we go over she orders some snack from the super market and makes us eat it, which is awesome but I dont know how she has so much money just to throw away, but I’m not complaining, free food is free food!

Wednesday - in the morning we went to an investigators house to do service, basically we just help him cut metal and measure it, he’s an iron worker, which is fairly popular here because the people always buy metal fences for their houses and stuff. But he’s cool, suuper immature though, he had a friend come over and I almost repremanded them for some of the stuff they were saying. Sometimes I would just look at them, then they would stop talking. haha then after that we tried teaching the husband of a old member, but that is an impossible task. The wife wants all the attention and doesn’t think that her husband will be interested in what we want to teach him, and then she says just let him believe what he wants to believe, then keeps talking. I try sometimes to talk over her but she just talks louder.. haha the reason her husband doesn’t progress is her basically. After that we went and yelled at an old dude (he’s 3/4 deaf) but we invited him to church, he’s gone 3 times before, once at 6 at night, 1 in the afternoon an 12:30 in the afternoon, (AND CHURCH HERE ENDS AT 12:30) haha so we’re hoping he’ll come at 9:30 this time!

Thursday - so in the morning we had to go buy food for the multi zone conference tomorrow, we went to Subway and bought 2 subs for everyone, hahah the guy we bought from wasn’t to happy, hahaha we went up and said: ok we need a big order for tomorrow, and he asked how much! and we said 108!! haha his smile dropped and he picked up his phone and said yea we need help, the mormons made an order for 108. haha then we bought some drinks and alfajores, then basically everything fell through today, right now were trying to go by some less active families and see if they have family members that aren't baptized. But we had a lesson with an old investigator who can’t come to church because he works Sunday, and his work partner is mormon and already asked for Sunday off, but we’re gonna get him converted first then get him to change jobs! 

Friday - well we had a really god zone conference, and an amazing lunch if I do say so myself, I need to thank whoever made that. But I learned a lot in this zone conference, then after that we had a sweeeeet lesson with Federico, he’s dating a less active member and he’s probably our best investigator, in his prayer he basically thanked for being on the path he is right now, basically confirming what we have taught, which is awesome because he didn't really believe in God when they first taught him. 

Saturday - we did another service project with Gerardo and he said he’s gonna come to church tomorrow!!! which is awesome, I’m glad that we had some success out of our service projects, but other than that nothing! Except a lady we helped take some groceries home told us that she dosent think Joseph Smith existed, and that the mormons just made him up, hahah we kinda started laughing and thinking how could he not have existed, where did the mormons come from then, where did Utah come from? haha funny she actually knew quite a bit about us, but yea thats a first for that one.

Sunday - Fathers day!!! ( In Uruguay ) Happy Fathers Day Dad!!!!! Today we thought it was gonna be a sweet day, we had some sweet futures set up for the day, then it just went horrible. Well Gerardo came to church which was awesome, and we picked up a less active we visited, he’s 19 and has 1 leg, he’s a stud though but he wants to come back to church. But then the rest of the day no one was home or wanted to accept us because it was Fathers Day, then the heavens open up and it started raining hard. I thought I was gonna drown because the streets here fill up like a bath tub. It’s awful, you get home and you feel like you just walked through a pool. 

Monday - well we went to Portone’s then played pool with Elder Merino and Ashman

but yea not a bad week, its definitely different here, the work and the people but I’ll get used to it!

Love you all! 

Elder Grigor

The retractable roof!!! 

2 words...Retractable roof !!!

July 10, 2017 

Tuesday - Well we didn't do much, just said goodbye to people, a couple cried but that’s just because I'm soooo awesome. But other than that I can’t remember what happened.

Wednesday - well I set the alarm for 5:30 because I had a bus at 6:30 and woke up at 5:15 and said, "I can get 15 more minutes!" then I woke up at 6:30. So I got changed quick and called a taxi and snagged a bus at 7, luckily I got there in time and I went to my new house!! Which is the coolest house in the mission, why??? 2 words... retractable roof haha. My first day in the mission I went out with Elder Brumble and he took me around the area and we went into the house and I said, if I’m ever zone leader I want to come here. and well... here I am! But we went out and visited a guy named Ariel that’s getting baptized this Saturday, he’s super cool, 77 years old and super funny, I love him! We also visited a lady who is progressing a decent amount, but the only thing is that she smokes, but not even a lot like 5 a day, which we can get her to drop in a week. Oh also we went to a guy named Federico, he’s a great man, his girlfriend is a member but went inactive about 6 months ago when she moved from the north of Uruguay to live with him, but well fix that soon. He prayed after our lesson if this is the path that he needs to take, so were gonna work with him. 

Thursday - so first full day here in the area, but we did planning in the morning because we have consejo, the big leader meeting where we talk about the goals and everything. We visited a couple investigators here and there. We visited Adriana and Ariel, and also a guy named Barco, (his last name). He was one of the first missionaries in Spain and served with President Hinkleys son, but he is paralyzed on the right side of his body. My first day here we visited him about 15 months ago. haha he is a great guy, he goes to church in a taxi every Sunday. Then we also visited a less active named Jose who got mad at the Elders Quorum president. 

Friday - yea... so it’s rained about everyday since I got here, and I forgot my umbrella in the van when we came here, so I’ve been without that, and I forgot my jacket in Durazno... so I’ve been getting soaked lately. But today we had consejo, it was really cool to see, and I figured out where my ring is!!!! One of my old companions took it... apparently he thought I gave it to him, so I asked for it back but he still didn't give me it. But one day I’ll get it. We talked about the goals for the mission, so this last change as a mission we baptized 90 people!!!!! which is awesome! when I came here we were baptizing about 25 a change. haha my last zone (Durazno) baptized 22, which is the highest any zone has had in a long time!! It’s amazing to see. Then president shared a really cool thought with us in Matthew 15. Then I did 3 interviews in Areoparque and stayed the night there.  So I visited some old families, I should’ve taken some pics but I didn’t. It was sweet to see them again! and they still remember me!

Saturday - so we had a ward activity today which was really good. There were a bunch of stations with food and drinks, and you have fake money and have to buy them. In order to get more money you have to give the missionaries a reference (to teach them) or recite a scripture, so everyone recited scriptures until they ran out and then gave us references, so we got about 10 that we’re gonna try to visit! Then we had Ariels baptism right after, then visited people and invited them to ward conference.

Sunday - Jose came to church today!!!!! Someone visited him last night and helped him out, than another less active came to church and a recent convert who stopped going came also, it was really nice to see. But no investigators came to church today, but we’ll fix that next week, also Ariel got confirmed and they gave him the priesthood too. Then after that we visited some investigators and less actives in the ward. The ward is awesome, a bunch of young families, returned missionaries who are all studying, then the other half are over 70, I don’t know if we have any in the 40-50 range. So we’re gonna try to work a lot with those returned missionaries and get them sharing the gospel again!!

Monday - well we had a zone activity today and went over the new goals that we want to set as a zone, and also!! the other missionary that came with me brought my umbrella!!!!! I was soo happy to see that. 

but yea this area is definitely different, the people seem a little harder, but then they are also some friendly people, its 1 side or the other, not in the middle. So it helps a little bit, filters out the people that really don’t want anything. Also I don’t have pictures because I put the wrong SD card in my camera. but anyways that’s it.

Love you guys!!!

Elder Grigor

I'm going to be a Zone Leader in Montevideo!!!

July 3, 2017 

Tuesday - we had a lesson with Viviana again in the church and it was really good, haha but halfway through a crazy guy named Freddy (who always comes into the church asking for blessings. I don’t know how he always knows that the church is open but he someone comes in every time) bursted in the room in the middle of the lesson and starts asking for a blessing, and before we could tell him afterwards he was sitting in a chair right next to Viviana. So we said a little prayer then he left, haha

Wednesday - fairly normal day, we went to a members house to talk to her daughter about going on a mission. Someone told us that she was thinking about leaving and we ran over there and talked to her about how great it was and she’ll  grow soo much if she goes. We think that she’s pretty serious about going, she’d be a great missionary too. Also we visited Camila. our convert who is doing really good, she inactivated for a while then started coming back a little while ago, and she wants to come to Charla’s with us, haha completely different.

Thursday - Again pretty normal day, had another charla with Viviana in the church and luckily this time no one came running into the lesson. Then the rest of the day was contacting, not a lot of people are home lately. Mostly because there are 2 weeks of vacations coming up and everyone’s leaving. 

Friday - well we did a whole lotta nothing, haha I had to do 2 interviews in Sarandi del Yi, which was about 2 hours from Durazno. So we went out to lunch, grabbed some gaucho on the way over and I ate in about 1 minute before going into the bus. I was impressed that I ate a bauru, which is the size of 2 burgers and I ate it in 1 mintue. But I also read the teachings of Joseph Smith book there and back on the bus. But the interviews were awesome!! with 2 little girls who remembered soo much, and they loved to share all their knowledge with me! Then we took the bus back and went to hospital to do 2 more interviews for someone I interviewed before and a new one. They were both amazing as well. 

Saturday - CANADA DAY!!!! wooo well basically I spent this day in a Capilla Abierta, a open house up in a different area. So we all traveled up there and me and Elder Estouco (a brazilian) went out in the street contacting people telling them to come to the church. And we got home at 8 in the night and, so I didn’t really do anything crazy for the 1st of July!! (and I also forgot about it until someone said: when is canada’s national day?? and I said oh yea it’s today... (una verguenza)

Sunday - we set up a lesson with a girl that some members have been taking to church named Antonela. So we planned for 5, and we went to the members house and she wasn’t there... so we visited them until about 5:50 and right as I was reaching to grab my scriptures she knocked on the door. So we had our charla and it was really good, she’s getting baptized on the 29th of this month. Super cool girl. Then we visited with Gustavo and he had his brother in law over and we started talking about the free masons and deep doctrine, haha I don’t know how we started on that topic but it was fun. Then I got a call from president that I’m gonna be a zone leader, he didn’t tell me where but just to tell me that.

Monday - woooooo!!!!!!!! my last district meeting that I’m gonna give!!! and it was really good, talked about teaching people and not lessons, used Alma 22 and did a really good comparison with him and the preach my gospel lessons. Then we just said goodbye to a bunch of families throughout the day because we knew I was leaving. And in the night we figured out that I’m going back to Este!! with Elder Guerra!!! the brazilian I was with in the MTC, haha he’s awesome. And I’ll be in Elder Merinos zone (my old companion) and he’s in Aeroparque, so I’ll be able to go visit people over there!!! which is awesome, I’ll have to do some intercambios there. 

well yea this week was super cool, we met some awesome people, taught a sweet family and now come and play football with us at the church, and set up a couple baptisms for the next change! Then I said goodbye to all the people here in Durazno, I hear that where I’m going is a little harder, middle of downtown Montevideo and the people are pretty hard, but I’ll go soften em up!!!

Love you guys 

Elder Grigor

                      **Saying goodbye to everyone in Durazno 

I was so sick this week :(

June 26th, 2017

Monday - well we talked to a guy today.... that actually plays basketball!!! We taught him a little lesson and talked about basketball for a while, that was good to finally talk with someone about that. He also said that I could come play on Saturdays if I wanted, I might do that and see if I can talk to some of his friends too. 

Tuesday - well we had an interesting lesson with Viviana, she’s a little too attached to me, she thinks of me like a brother. We told her I would probably be leaving and asked when we should do her baptism. She said she wouldn’t get baptized if I leave, haha we laughed a little about that because she just told us how she believes the church is true. After we went to Sandra, the lady with the busy child. He’s 3 and is nuts! He runs around all the time, yells, spits, and the mom threatens to put him in a time out or something but it doesn’t do anything. So when he spit in my face I lost my patience and took him to the back of the house and put him in a time out. I sat him in front of a big metal door, holding him asking if he would behave; he said yes, then hit me again so I put him back, about 5 minutes went by and the mom came and then stopped him from crying and then he didn’t do anything the rest of the night. It was awesome! 

Wednesday - I had an intercambio with Elder Paulson. We started in my area and found a cool old dude named Juan Carlos. He was super cool and started crying because his daughter died 4 months ago. We taught him and we’re gonna go back on Saturday, then we just contacted houses all day. We found some cool people, and a 17 year old in-active who stopped believing in God but said he’s gonna give it another shot. We were talking for about 40 minutes outside of his house. First about God and then about video games, and the funny thing is, his girlfriend was inside waiting for him haha, but he wanted to talk with us more! WOO!! Priorities!

Thursday - well I threw up like 10 times last night, once for each hour until about 6:30, then I slept a little and missed going to a baptismal interview, but I sent the zone leaders. So we stayed in until 4 and went to the church for a charla then came back home. Then I had to do 4 baptismal interviews for hospital (the area) so we called a taxi and the guy asks where to? We said the church in front of the hospital. Then he replied oh going to do a baptismal interview?? haha I was super confused on how he knew, so we asked how he knew and he said: “ because, you’re doing it to me and my family!!” haha so we got to know him and he also drove us home free of charge!!

Friday - well I did an exchange (intercambio) with Elder Bravo, and we had to go to the hospital for him, so we waited there for 3 hours, and went up to his area at like 6 just in time to do a baptismal interview, but..... he lost the keys to the chapel. So we searched then borrowed some from a member, didn't do the interview until 7. Then I did it, we played futbol for a bit and then went to give the keys back. 

Saturday - well, I woke up not being able to speak, I had always been a little sick throughout the week, and I had a sore throat, so I couldn't really speak. Then heading to a charla I (being kinda of tall, and Uruguayans being midgets) smashed my head on a metal garage door that swings straight out instead of being a normal garage door. So because of that we arrived late to both of our charlas in the morning and missed them. Then in the afternoon not too many people were home except Ana, who we had a really good charla with, and learned that she had been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, so she has a testimony of it already. She just is really shy and doesn’t want to go to church in jeans. But whatever, also that was an interesting lessons because I talked like 5 times, only to say brief things but I hate not having a voice.

Sunday - well still don’t have my voice, but in the morning we went to church with a merry band of midgets. We picked up Alejandro and Camila, then went for Daniela- a little girl we always take to church and she invited 2 of her friends, so we had 5 youngin’s walking with us to church, and haha we filled up the primary room pretty well! Then I stayed home to try to finally get some rest this week. It was a pretty straining week, and I wanted to try to get my voice back so I didn’t talk the whole day.

So yea, as far as the work it was amazing, my district had 6 baptisms this week, and I was able to 5 interviews, and we also had a decent week with our area as well. The only bad parts were physical things that happened with me, that restricted the work a little. That’s really the only reason I was upset, I just wanted to work but this week was just brutal, anyways that all for me.

Love you guys!!

Elder Grigor

"Being a goof after district meeting" 

"On the roof of the church at Sunset" 

"All 3 of my Canadian things in one picture!!!" 

It's hard work being a missionary !! 

My head...I would have smiled but my glasses fell and go scratched a little 

Our merry band of midgets going to church !! 

All it needs is some hard work and positive attitude.

June12th, 2017 

Monday - so we finally had a sweet charla with a family who owns a really nice bakery, and they give us some dope schochos. It was awesome, we watched the restoration and they all said they were gonna read the Book of Mormon that night. They are super cool, she was baptized awhile ago, but her son and husband aren’t members so that’s cool. 

Tuesday - district meeting!!!!! it was good, we talked about personal revelation and how we need it, but more importantly- how to teach it to the investigators. Then we had a decent day for the rest of the day, haha we visited Sandra and her kid is busy! He’s sooo hyper and doesn’t care about anything, he’s 3 I think and always calls me mateo. Then he runs around hits people and spits, I think he spit in my mouth one time, hahahaha.... I almost threw up.... (not really)

Wednesday -  So I was sick today, I had a little fever and I was super stuffed up and tired, but that ain’t stopping me!!! We went to Enrique and Ana, and he was also sick, but we talked about the atonement and how he can change. But they aren’t progressing at all, they’re slowly leaving all the things they need to do. It’s kinda sad but we can’t do much about them keeping commitment, just teach better I guess. Then we had a couple lessons in the night, oh haha also we talked with a lady who came to church last week, and she hasn’t been able to find work for 4 months, and now she found a job... buuutt now she has no time to talk. Haha funny how that worked. Maybe we should be a little less literal when we promise blessings so they get a job but can still talk to us. 

Thursday - We went to Gustavos house for lunch today!!! It was really good, we had milanesas and mashed potatoes, sadly I didn’t eat a lot because I was a little sick, but I was feeling lot better than before! Then we visited Camila in the night and we talked about temples and she got super excited and said she wanted to come back to church, which is awesome because it’s been awhile since she came, it’s hard because we don’t have a lot of youth so she gets bored. Also we visited the Lemos and they’re struggling a lot, having a lot of testimony problems, so were gonna be there helping.

Friday - did a whole lotta nothing! planned in the morning, and then we went to the interview for Gustavo! and he passed with flying colors! It was awesome, he looked really happy afterwards, he was super prepared for this. Then we had a charla with Viviana in the church, and Benito an old dude in our ward was walking by and we grabbed him for the lesson, so we talked a lot. She thinks that our church and the catholic are true so we explained that and how there can only be one. It was dificult for her, and she felt really confused but I think God will fix all that. Then we had correlation with out mission leader, then I did some interviews for the sisters , they’re baptizing soo much over there, and that was my day

Saturday - the baptism!!! so we were going to have a lesson with a girl that some members brought to church, but she didn't go over there, so next week. Then we had lunch with Gladys! SHE ALWAYS MAKES STEAKS AND THEY’RE GOOD. So we went with the other elders then went to fill up the font for the baptism. Then we had the baptism with the other elders and Elder holland came up to see the baptism because he worked a lot with Gustavo. It was sweet, his brother in law baptized him! There’s such a good feeling at a baptism, like God opens that door to enter his path. Then they invited us over for a little party, because it’s Gustavo’s wife’s birthday. So we ate cake, pizza then played football afterwards and a guy we contacted came too!

Sunday - pretty interesting day, again, finding people home is very hard here, I don’t know why. We will teach them once then we can’t ever find them, but Gustavo got confirmed today which was awesome! After the confirmation he looked like ¨not bad, not bad¨ nodding his head.

So yea, it was a good week with a couple of the people we’ve been working with, but I know we can do a lot more here. All it needs it some hard work and positive attitude!

Love

Elder Grigor

Sister Cameron from our Stake back home sent little packages out to a lot of missionaries. 

Gustavo's baptism !!!