I'm getting transferred to La Paloma

October 25th, 2016 

Tuesday - had our final district meeting, today, and he had a super duper mega ultra xxl alfajor milkiada (that’s what our district leader named it) haha so we went and bought alfajores and milk and everyone in our district milked 4 alfajores each! then we had an intercambio with plaza Elder Filigrana and Elder Ramos, I went with Filigrana and we were working and got a call from another area and they came down for an intercambio with the zone leader`s so we got them, took them to the house, then went in trios with them for the night, we found a new investigator too with them. Then we all slept in the plaza house, 6 people  5 beds, yea.. it was fun.

Wednesday - so haha my comp was reading the bus times on Tuesday and read them wrong and we missed our bus, so we took the one at 1. Then we went to Alisas house for lunch and had some amazing food like always at her house. Then we did some contacts, taught a menos activo named Luismar then had a noche de hogar with hermana morena to finish off the night. 

Thursday - so I had a fear that I was going to be called as the new financier for some reason, (lucky I wasn’t) but we were getting ready in case I did because they go into the offices on the Saturday instead of Wednesday to get used to everything. But we had splits with Jaun Pablo, we just went around trying to find people that were home, but no one was home, and it was also raining so nobody wanted to talk to us. 

Friday - well it was raining again this week, I hate when it rains here. If I’m not working I love the rain but I hate it when I’m working because it’s like Uruguay just shuts off when it rains. But today was better, haha we had a lesson with Irio, and we were talking about him coming to church, and he started making excuses that he had to take care of his grandson (who was there with us) because his mom was working Sunday, and the grandson said “no she’s not, she only works today your free tomorrow”, haha he totally called his bluff, it was awesome. But then he still made an excuse to why he couldn't go, then we tried to do another noche de hogar with the Ramos Barreto family. The family we milked alfajores with before. They were all doing their own things when we were there, and they had some random dude there too, so we shared a scripture and the 1 son stopped whatever he was doing, I’m not sure what, and came and listened. It was sweet and we have some service with them next week. 

Saturday - so the miracle phone call we got last Sunday from Dhara, we set up an appointment with her Saturday because it’s her only free day from work. But we went by and her mom said work called her in. So we set up another appointment for Monday. Then we had plans to go to a little town north of Vergara with Hermana Morena, but she didn't have money so we went up there, and it’s tiny!!!!! Honestly it’s about the size of our neighbourhood, just around the beach house. There’s maybe 100 houses, and we had no idea where the old investigators lived so we just contacted a bunch of houses, found 1 old investigator and set up an appointment with him. Then contacted some dude and taught him the first lesson because he was curious what we did, he’s catholic, and he was telling us he didn't think baptism as a baby was right, it should be older. So we explained that then taught him the restoration, but he said he just joined his church and he’s not looking for another big change right now. But that’s ok, one day he’ll come around. Then we found these 2 kittens that kept following us around everywhere so we played with them for a bit then tried to ditch them so they couldn't follow us anymore, then we took the bus and went home!

Sunday - went around to people in the morning reminding them about church, but it rained in the morning so we figured not many people were gonna come, and we were right, 12 people came. But it was good, haha I was playing with all the kids the whole time though, and I prepared the class while I was giving it because I forgot about it. But then we had correlation my last one here, 😭 and I tried to visit some people in the night but no one was home. 

Monday - so apparently we were supposed to have district meetings today too, so we went down, and the other district didn't have them. So we did ours quick then came back here, walked around saying bye to people because we figured I was leaving, and our lesson with Dhara fell threw again! So hopefully next change they can go by her. Then we had my last noche de hogar with Morena, and we got the call for transfers while we were there. And I’m leaving!!!!!! but I’m going to another pueblito (all of my areas have been pueblitos (little towns)) I’m going to La Paloma in the zone rocha, and ok so there’s some hard areas like mine right now and then theres La Paloma in rocha is the number one, nothing absolutely nothing happens there. And it’s smaller then Vergara, and we get less lunches 😭😭.  We do get bikes there, so that’s good. So when Morena heard I was leaving she started crying so we said bye to her and i went home to pack

Tuesday -I finished packing all my stuff and we came to do ciber, then we’re going to go to 33 for p-day and spend the last day there, then I’m off to La Paloma; not only am I just going to La Paloma, I’m going in white wash so I’ll get there the same time as my comp, and know the same about the area as my comp, absolutely nothing.

Well I was really excited to be leaving here to get lunches mostly, and now I’ll be eating rice and beans all day, e`ery day, so this should be a fun experience. haah I just want an area that has normal roads, and isn’t all dirt, and that maybe has 5 or 6 lunches a week, and people, that more than anything, I can survive everything else, it’s the fact that there’s no one ever to talk to. Well this was a long one so I’ll wrap it up. 

Love you all bye!!!

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor at a district activity 

"Milkiada" 

Little kittens Elder Grigor found 

Riding a horse in Rincon

Elder Grigor playing with the President's daughter 

Such a great smile on that young man!!!! 

Saying goodbye to the Branch President and his family 

Saying goodbye to Morena 

We had a little miracle!!!!

October 17th, 2016 

Tuesday - we had district meeting in 33 then had lunch at Alisa’s house, haha so we forgot to text her so she had her maid cook for us quick. The maid ordered 2 burgers and we got there at around 2 and she said they would be here quick. They didn’t come for one and a half hours so we were there until 4, we went home changed and did some contacting then went to Morena’s house for the Noche de Hogar.

Wednesday - So I forgot my planner at the plaza house in 33 so I won’t get that until Saturday. Today we had an old lady in our ward who never gives lunches to the missionaries give us lunch, it was good gnocchi's with some sauce and ground beef. But then we had almost a free day today, but we visited a less active, but I cant really remember who. Oh also we went to Jesus and taught him about tithing and fast offerings, I think he’s gonna be the new counsellor within the next couple weeks. But in the night we couldn't sleep because a massive fly kept flying around our ears and annoying us, so we turned the lights on and started hunting it. We could only hear it, then we would see it for 2 seconds maybe and yell ahi esta!!!!!! (there it is!!!!!) and freak out throwing an old pair of pants around the room trying to hit it, so eventually we trapped it in the study room, a lot smaller than our room. It still took forever but I finally killed it, long story short, it took 30 minutes to kill. 

Thursday - lunch with Hermana Morena, always soo good. It was soooo hot in the morning, and a hermana in our ward wanted us to visit her, and she lives out of town about a 30-40 min walk. So we walked there in the blazing sun dying, we got to her house aaannndddd... she wasn’t home, she was working. So we did some contacts with the people we could find on that road and then went to lunch. Then we did splits with Juan Pablo, visited some members and less actives to see if they were coming to the activity on Saturday, but then it started to cool down and actually started raining. We went around to people houses but they didn’t let us in, some when we contacted them just say “no no no it’s raining!” and close the door. Like we didn’t know it was raining, standing outside soaking wet :)  Then we stopped by Alisa, the super rich lady, and she was just heading to the gym, so she gave us a big bowl of arroz con leche (I don’t know what that it is in English - rice and milk??) to take home.

Friday - so my comp was hurting today, he was walking with his legs super wide apart in the morning and he said he was chaffing super bad. Like me in Hawaii, so I felt bad for him and we went to the house and took a day off so he could rest. It actually started hurting him on Wednesday I think, it was better Thursday, then worse Friday. I knew how he felt.. also in the night we had a huge water fight, Lopez was in the shower and I was brushing my teeth, and I spit cold water on him so he opened the door and splashed water on me. Then I went to the kitchen and filled a cup and stuck it in the freezer to cool it. Then I waited until he opened the bathroom door and I splashed him with water, then he took his ALMOST empty shampoo bottle and filled it up, and I grabbed his pillow as a shield, but he still sprayed it all over the house, haha good news is, the house is a lot cleaner.

Saturday - alright, we left in the morning and it was pretty hot again so we thought lots of people would come to the activity, (the stake planned an activity at the stake center. We played games where you get beans for the games, then based on what colour of beans you got is what kingdom you go to, (celestial, terrestrial and telestial,) but it started raining, so only like 60 people came. It was fun, me and Lopez were in charge of the games, so I had the card games  called “do we bet??” that was the theme of the cards games.  So I was moving the cards around super fast and you had to follow them, everyone wanted to try it because it looked cool and fun. But I gave black beans because it was one of the bad games. So I gave a lot of black  beans to lot of people. But it was cool, then there was food and me and another missionary started handing them out on a little platter, I felt like a flight attendant haha. Then we went home and slept.

Sunday - we decided to stay in for the morning since church is at 2 and leave at 12 to go get people to come to church, but it rained in the morning. Basically no one here if it rains even Saturday night they decide they’re not going to church. But only 13 people came, and I gave a 15 minutes talk on the spot, they said “now we’ll hear from Elder Grigor, so I took a verse we read with a less active in the morning and gave a talk on that, I thought it went well. Then out of nowhere an investigator called us. This girl we went by like 6 times to see if she was there and didn’t have any luck and I didn’t think my old comp had too much luck either. We texted her about 1 week ago to see if we could come over, so she called us and we set up an appointment for Saturday this week, because she works a lot and that’s her only free day. So that was a little miracle. We went to the bus station because we have a district activity /lunch Monday, and we needed to go to 33 and then cook everything (because we left some ingredients there on Saturday), go to cyber, have the lunch then the activity, and the only bus was at 12:30 am... so we slept a bit then took that bus and went down to 33.

Monday - so we got here early in the morning and cooked chicken fried rice, then we came to cyber, then afterwards we’re gonna have a lunch then go to a museum I think for the activity. Should be fun!! 

Well this week went by quick. This change has gone by really quick actually, but we had a little miracle this week, which is awesome!! Things might actually start to happen in this area, and of course right when I’m about to leave haha oh well, at least it’s getting better thats all that matter.

LOOVE

Elder Grigor

Things got a little crazy in the plaza house 

Doing some errands for Hermana Morena - we were wearing her hats!! 

The Stake Activity 

Doing my card game 

The different kingdoms 

Careful - I'll throw you into the donkey!!

October 10th, 2016

Tuesday - we had a district meeting again, it was good. We had a taller (workshop) in the district meeting about effect contacts with the restoration, and it was awesome. We had the people doing the contacts close their eyes and all the other people made a whole bunch of noise to distract them, it was soo funny. Then we had our personal chef cook for us again, they bought us burgers and then we had some guiso too. Then we had a noche de hogar with a less active family and we milked alfa jores with them, and then played signs and every time we go over the littlest girl always wants to play! 

Wednesday - We had interviews with the president, so president stopped doing conferences so we can have more time in our area, but we had our interview at 1 and the only busses to go down are at 9 and 1, then to go back to Vergara are at 1 and 4, so we lost a lot of time just on the schedule. We did divisions with the elders in plaza, had our interviews, then I got my package from the primary, haha it was funny to see all their cards, I might try to write back some of them. Then we had another free day, where all of our appointments fell through and we only walked around trying to find people to contact, that we haven't already contacted

Thursday - not a lot happened today either, but haha my comp was making fun of me for tripping on a rock or something, and he was walking right beside a muddy ditch, and I tried to say cuidado te lanzo al barro (careful I’ll throw you into the mud) but I said cuidado te lanzo al burro (careful I’ll throw you into the donkey) haha!! So now we say that to each other. We went to Alisa, the rich lady that gives us lunch, because it was raining super hard. We were there talking for hour, then they asked if we wanted some soup, we said yea cuz we were hungry then they started making the soup. So we talked a little bit more, then she left for Zumba or something, so we talked with the husband, whose thinking about visiting Texas pretty soon. Then he left to go pick up Alisa from Zumba and we ate our soup. He forgot to put salt it and it wasn't the greatest, but then she came back, put salt in it and it was amazing. Then they gave us asado to take home, and Pepsi haha they’re awesome.

Friday - we had a lesson in the morning with Irio, the 81 year old who always say he’s 81 at every sentence, We talked about attending church, and he said he could probably come next week, he also gave us a reference, his friend that’s in a wheelchair. We passed by him but he didn't seem to interested but he said we could come back, maybe just to get rid of us. Not much else happened. Oh… we went to Jesus and taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I think he’s gonna become the new counsellor pretty soon.

Saturday- we played futbol in the morning, I’m getting a lot better. But I forgot to put sunscreen on because it was cold, and I got burnt a little bit. Then we went to go grab lunch at Edith’s house, and it wasn't ready yet. So we played soccer with her 8 year old grandson, and we kicked the ball near their dog and he bit into it and started shaking it like crazy. We just left it by him and when we tried to grab it he freaked out, it’s like he did it just to mock us, popped our ball, then didn’t even play with it after that. I was pretty choked and then we had another free day.

Sunday - haha so my comp was supposed to do the lesson today in Sunday School and forgot and tried handing it off to me again. Some people from the stake came and gave a class on self sufficiency, so I didn’t have to teach. They talked about single parents and how you can make a decent living, and people who are married too, which our branch needs because there isn't much work in Vergara. Then we cooked up our Asado and it was good. 

Monday - we came down to 33 for p-day and we are going to stay the night here and do divisions with the plaza. Oh also were gonna go play basketball and volleyball at the church too today.

This week was pretty hard, not many people accepted us. It kinda felt a little slow too, but it’s ok, I’m actually starting to enjoy it here. I will definitely like another area where there is a lot of work to be done. Other than that I’m good!! 

Looove,

Elder Grigor

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 

Neither do men light a candle, and put in under a bushel, 

but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are 

in the house. Let your light so shine before men, 

that they may see your good works, and

 glorify your Father which is in heaven." 

Matthew 5:14-16 

  

Milking Alfajores

Conference was so great!!!

October 3rd,2016

Tuesday - Had district meeting, again, haha we've used about half of our money on bus tickets these 2 weeks, and the other half on food so we don't die, mostly just rice and beans because it's cheap. But we had a super rich less active give us lunch on Tuesday, I think every Tuesday now, but she wasn't there, so she had her maid cook for us. It was like having our own personal chef. But then we went to Morena's house, and learned how to make amazing empanadas, so we made about 20 and they were huge, like the size of my hand, and I ate about 7, I was sooo full after that, it was awful, but then we just contacted all day.

Wednesday - Haha we didn't have a lot to do today, but we still somehow got 2 new investigators. 1 is the boyfriend of a less active member, and another the husband of a less active member, so we are working with these 2 families to try and get them to come to church with their families and spouses. Nothing else happened that day, just that we went exploring a little because nothing was happening with contacts lessons. We found a little beach and river thing, with a bunch of cool hiking trails I think. Other than that not much else happened.

Thursday - in the morning we helped Jesus do his family history, he's a member now, but he was a less active about 6 weeks ago. We reactivated him and are helping him do his family history to go to the temple, he had just a strong feeling that he needed to start his family history. We started with only his moms history, he had a sheet of paper I think up to his mom, and we found records up to his great grandma. We started him with a brand new family history account, and he left with about 20 people on his family tree now.

Friday - haha ok so today we were walking in the street and a drunk girl and guy walked up to us, and the girl said woah! hey a ver muestre me un poco de tu cuerpo (hey show me a little bit of your body) and  es cierto que mormones no pueden tener el amor ( hey mormons aren't allowed to (make love) right? and I said "no we can, but after we're married" then she said ahh que necesito hacer para ser tu esposa (what do i need to do to be your wife) and I was just kinda laughing the whole time, then the dude was talking to my comp and said "woah! look at the size of his shoes! I would love to have shoes like that to have something else big... man I would sell my soul to the devil to have that".  Haha I was laughing for a while after that.

Saturday - alright on a holier note, conference!!!!! Today was sweet we went to the plaza house, dropped our stuff off and watched conference. But the tv wasn't working for the gringos so we watched it in the tiny secretaries office, all 6 of us, But is was good, except sometimes people would be playing music super loud outside and we couldn't hear, but I loved it. Then we went to grido in between sessions (an ice cream shop down here) and after all the sessions we went home, and I made 4 pizzas for everyone because there were 6 people in the house again, haha for some reason it's always a big party when we go down there, 

Sunday - Well we all woke up, I made another 2 pizzas for everyone, which was just making the dough and putting cheese on it, because we're poor. Everyone was starving that day because there was no food in the house. But then we watched conference again!! It was awesome to see it in English this time, and to see all of it, since last time we were stuck in the house because I forgot the keys in the lock in the front door. Then we took a bus at 8:40 to Vergará....


Monday - well in the morning we played soccer in our backyard for 2 hours, then we came to ciber!!!

Well this week was good, still slow but better than the other weeks!

Love,
Elder Grigor

These Empanadas were so good!!!! 

Elder Grigor "just posing" 

"The river we found" 

Elder Grigor being his goofy self!!! 

The trail leading up to the river. Maybe he was praying for food!!!!

An answer to my prayers

September 26th, 2016 

Tuesday - we went down to 33 for district meeting, it’s a nice hour nap, or reading the scriptures. Then we just did contacts all day because no one was home, we still only managed to get about 10 because there’s no one ever in the streets. Then we had a noche de hogar with a viejita (little old lady) name maria. 

Wednesday - was a normal day. Then we went to a recent converts house to teach her, but there wasn’t a guy home so we couldn’t go inside. So we played soccer with her 8 year old grandson, it was me and him vs my comp, and we won!!!! Then we got a call from the Wankiers the senior couple in the mission. They said they were coming to check our house in 45 minutes and they had my packages. So we ran home and cleaned the house nice and good. They were actually impressed with how clean it was, then I got my PACKAGES!!!!!!! Woohoo!!  Sooo much candy and goodies, and food. That was an answer to my prayers because we were running out of food, because we have had to go down to 33 so much, so yea that was sweet. 

Thursday - we had divisions with our president and the first counsellor juan pablo (juan po) who are 27 and 22, juan is actually preparing to go on a mission. So me and president walked around all of Vergara looking for less actives to go teach but no one was home. Or if we found someone we just stood outside talking for 20 minutes because they didn’t want to talk about anything religious. HAHA then we were walking back to the chapel and these 2 girls walked by and as soon as they passed they both kinda looked at me and giggled and president said.. “aay estas un jugador” which means “you are a player”, and I didn’t know what he was talking about and I said “de mujeres?” (of women) and he just laughed and said no. So I’m assuming the mission, I’m a player of the mission.

Friday - I don’t remember what we did this day. I’m assuming we just walked around trying to find people to talk to in this barren town. But I think we did actually find someone that day who said we could come back and talk. So that’s a plus!

Saturday - we played soccer in the morning with a less active kid and juan po, and I realized I suck. So me and my comp practiced a lot after we played. And I’m a lot better, but he told me I’m really good at defence and passing. I just need to work on my attacking. But not too much else happened today, oh we made smore’s that night. First we just burned all of the boxes in the house, then our garbage, then when that ran out we used the oven top. Haha it’s actually really hard to use the burners on the oven because all the heat concentrates in one spot. I burnt a lot, I’m ashamed of myself, haha!! 

Sunday - we went around in the morning reminding people about church, we actually had ward conference today and 39 people came!!!! We usually get 19, but I think it was because about 20 people from 33 came. Haha but my comp was supposed to teach the lesson and forgot. So I prepared it 10 minutes before and everyone from the stake presidency was thanking me for my awesome lesson, haha!  Then we were walking out and right after church Hermana Morena went to the almecen at the corner and bought a cake for some reason. Then asked us to pick it up and bring it to her house. So we did that, and she gave us a bowl of soup! Dinner for once in my time in Vergara! including in our home, because we don’t have much money. Oh also we got a reference from a less actives members daughter who lives in 33 but came up for branch conference. She said her friend is sad and needs some helps, so could be a nice opportunity. The thing is, it’s the missionaries from before that went over and she never let them in, but who knows!

Monday - me and my comp went and bought some stuff, then just sat in the house and talked for a while then came to do ciber, but he was trunky because he just hit 1 year, but then thought “but I still have 1 whole year left 😱”. I helped him forget about that. Things got really slow around here and I was starting to feel bad, because we’ve been trying and nothing has been happening. But thinks are slowly starting to pick up again, so best thing to do is blame the city your in and not yourself. Haha, no I’m kidding! The best thing to do is try, if you do maybe the work wont move forward, but you will. 

LOOOVE

ELDER GRIGOR

Elder Grigor hurt his foot playing soccer. P-days are rough on him! 

"Because he loves you, He will place you upon His shoulders, rejoicing. And when He brings you home , He will say to one and all " Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost" - 

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

" I got my PACKAGES!!!!! Thanks mom & dad,  and the Curtis Family!!!! 

Reading letters from home. One of his favourite things (besides food!!!) 

An answer to prayers - food!!!! 

The bare streets of Vergara- except for the dogs!! 

Walking through the streets of Vergara 

Finding beauty in a sunset

Making s'mores in our fireplace 

......and then resorting to the stovetop when we ran out of things to burn!!! 

All we can do is to just keep going strong

September 19th, 2016

Tuesday - ok today was our real p-day, so we went to 33 and played volleyball with all the other missionaries, then played soccer a bit too. Then an elder who’s leaving asked me and andersen to go and buy him some random things from Uruguay because he is going home tomorrow. So we just went around looking for random things to buy. Also I got a bunch of random things from Paskett too, because he’s leaving, then that night we had 6 missionaries in the plaza house again.

Wednesday - Transfers; so my comp and the other 2 missionaries from the area plaza left, so it was me and 2 others left in the house. We couldn’t find where the keys were, and thought the other missionaries that were coming to that house, (because they white washed plaza). But they didn’t show up until 10:30 at night, so we just chilled in the house waiting for them basically all day. Then we picked up our companions. My comp didn’t want to travel more up to Vergara from 33, so we stayed another night in the plaza house, this time with 7 missionaries.... and only 5 mattresses, it was nice to finally go home.

Thursday - HAHA ok so we left to go to the pharmacy quick which was right around the corner from the house, and when we came back there was a car parked outside. So my comp didn’t notice that there was a person in it, with the window rolled down, and he turned and farted right in the dudes face, then I told him what he just did, and we died laughing when we got inside. Then we finally got home, and I showered which I hadn’t done for 3 days, then we went out with president silva visiting less actives, (because that’s all we do here) and my comp got to know some of them. Oh also we had a nice big lunch with Morena like always! Yea not much else happened.

Friday - just another normal day, my comp is super funny. I didn’t think that I would like my latino comps more than my american comps, but I do. I don’t know why but I just have more fun and don’t get as annoyed, and we work harder too. But yea just a normal day, but I bought a cake and some alfajores for my comp because it’s his birthday on Saturday

Saturday- my comps bday, haha I surprised him with the cake and he thought that I left alone and bought it, I was glad he didn’t see it last night because I thought he did for sure. But then we had a zone meeting, and a ton of new things are changing in the mission, like verifying, we don’t verify every night now, only Sunday night, and we do weekly planning on Sunday night too. So we don’t get the night off basically anymore. But yea then we went to some members and had little parties, it was good.

Sunday - we were at the church all day like always.We did some contacts in the morning. haha we asked one guy if he talked to the missionaries before and he interrupted us saying yes yes, yes, yes, so I asked to clarify “so you’ve talked with the missionaries before, and he stopped, then said “look I’m watching tv right now”, and left. Haha then another lady who told us we can come back and visit, saw us and ran inside, and had her little kid stand in the door with a broomstick saying we couldn’t enter and that she wasn’t home. Haha people do the weirdest things here just for no reason. I don’t get it, but oh well all we can do is just keep going strong!

This week was good and fast, basically had 3 days of p-day at the start of the week. My new comp is awesome, haha we joke around so much, it’s sweet

Love

Elder Grigor

My new set up 

My new companion 

Ty! 

My companions birthday cake 

YUMMY!! 

Lunch with Morena 

Elder Grigor and his new companion 

Just chilling in Uruguay