If we work to find the good out of the bad, something good will always happen.

November 28th, 2016 

Tuesday - so I had an intercambio with Elder cruz, my very first zone leader, it’s crazy he’s going home now, when I knew him he had 15 months. But it was good we went to the lighthouse again because we had another "free day" where all our appointments fall through and we just contact. Then we skipped rocks for a bit, taught english to Dennis, who then invited us over for lunch on Sunday!!! That was pretty sweet, then we had a lesson with Antonio, our second lesson and we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he was really interested. So he said he would study it and pray about it!!!! That is probably the most success we’ve had here. 

Wednesday - so we set up a service Project for a lady in our Ward who moved up from Montevideo, so we went there and she wasn't there, but her son said she would be coming soon, 1 hour later she arrived then we cut her lawn in her backyard. haha we used a weed whacker because no one flattens their yards here. And my comp kept hitting up tons of dirt, haha it looked pretty awful where he did it. Luckily my landscaping experience came in handy. I also made some pretty bad marks though because the ground was all bumpy. Then she made us burgers and we didn't realize what time it was, so it was 6:28 and we had english at 6:30 in La Paloma and we were 3-4 km away. So I booked it there on the bike, left my comp behind a bit, and I got there right when he was about to leave! 

Thursday - haha so all of our investigator lessons fell through but we taught some less actives. And we tried to go to Jorge, the old investigator with a baptismal date, but we mixed up the house and started teaching a crazy guy who would never let us talk, and when we would say something he would give us some extremely long complicated answer to show how "smart" he was in theology or something like that. He believed in an energy not a god. We left his house and found Jorge, but he was busy.

Friday - so we started handing out the little Light Up The World cards, we have 500 to give out before Christmas, and we have to do a contact out of every one, ask where they live stuff like that. Most people reject us but we did 25 contacts. Then we hosted (and planned) a branch activity, (I forgot to takes pics) but only 4 people came, so we played a game to get to know us, then charades, then we watched some Mormon messages on the tv. Then the branch presidnet showed up just in time to eat. (hot dogs chips and pop, but no junk food though !! ) * that is a family joke we have had for a long time :) 

Saturday - Probably the worst day, so we found what seemed to be a person who was actually interested, we went by today in the morning, she wasn't there, went by Jorge.. wasn't there, another person we contacted, wasn't there. So then we tried contacting, almost everyone rejected us, or just took a card and left without saying anything else. Then our lunch fell through, basically that was the whole day, then on top of that... it started raining!!! probably the worst day ever. But in the night a peruvian that we are friends with (cuz my comps peruvian) saved us, he made us chicken fried rice with papas a la huanacaina, basically potatoes with a good cream.

Sunday - so we had district conference in Rocha, (because Rocha isn’t big enough to be a stake) then we tried to go by a couple people but while we were contacting, we found a Peruvian who had been taught by the missionaries in Peru, so we invited her to church next week and she said: “yea I will do everything I can do to come”, because she takes care of an elderly person I think, but on Sunday she doesn’t work (I believe). Then Dennis had us over for dinner and made about 7 pizzas for us and his family, then they bought us ice cream! It’s was awesome, and haha his daughter, who’s not bad looking didn’t know we don’t give the beso (cheek kiss) and I went to give her a handshake and she pulled me in with it and gave me the beso, used my strategies against me!

Monday - so we went to Punta del este and we wanted to get torugones (a massive Burger) but we couldn't find them, but we saw the fingers! pretty cool. Then we bowled, haha it’s been so long since I’ve bowled, I was pretty rusty but I started cooking with some peanut oil at the end!

Well this week was a tough one, a lot of rejection from basically everyone, but 2 good things came out of it, first one was Antonio, it was amazing to see that in him, I didn’t think he was going to be anything, he just invited us over because he used to go out and preach for his church. Then just everything was falling through and right when I was about to give up for the day, we found the Peruvian lady, just goes to show that when bad times happens it’s a trial of our faith and diligence, and if we work to find the good things out of the bad, something good will always happen. You just gotta look. 

Love, 

Elder Grigor

"Haha, some dudes running away from us, they turned once they saw us" 

breaking an old TV they found 

Elder Grigor and his companion in Punta Del Este 

Los Dedos - "the fingers" 

Such a beautiful place! 

More companion selfie's

About to eat FOUR burgers. This boy loves his food 

YUM! lots of good food. 

"Frozen was playing while we were eating, I haven't seen those images in sooooooooo long!"

P-day fun-Bowling! 

"I don't know how I won, I played awful!"

It was nice to see something from our work here

November 21st, 2016 

Tuesday - we had an intercambio in Rocha today, so we both went over there and stayed the night. But it was a really good day, and we saw a lot more success there than in our area. But we found 2 new investigators, a 40 year old dude and his mom, it was cool because he told us that he asked this question to every religious person he knew and no one could answer him. So he said he died then went to a place, and he saw his grandma and his friend (who died) and then his grandma said his mom needed I’m to return and he came back to life, then he said is that real? is there a life after this. Me and elder cruz (my comp for the day) both looked at each other with a smile and thought him the plan of salvation and he agreed to get baptized. Then we stayed the night and left in the morning

Wednesday - so we worked in our area only for the day then we had to go sleep in Rocha again because Elder Rasband was coming tomorrow and the bus left at 4. So we had a decent day, we had a lesson with Angel, and haha he always has the tv on, so he sits in the doorway and his bed is right beside the tv, so I was right by it and just kinda held the pamphlet that we use to teach in front of the tv haha. Well he paid more attention but always says of course, of course, exactly, exactly! Then we taught a less active, I can’t remember who exactly. 

Thursday - so we didn’t sleep too much because a valiente (that what we call the people who are in their last change) was there and we were just talking about his whole mission and tons of people that he knew and that we knew. So we went to bed at … I’m not sure what time, late because the window was also open and some dude was blasting music. But we woke up at 3 then left at 4, I didn’t really sleep too much in the bus though. But we got there and Elder Rasband talked, it was amazing, haha sometimes when I was looking at him my eyes would unfocus and he would have a white ring around him, it was cool to see, like the ring around Jesus in all the catholic pictures. But we all got to shake his hand, then he spoke, he testified so strongly at the end about Jesus, it was amazing. I would like to be able to do that one day. Then the pres spoke to us a little about Christmas in the mission, then we left. We got home at around 8:30 and I didn’t sleep at all, so when the alarm went off in the morning I shut it off, and since my comp doesn’t really care we slept a little late like 8ish. 

Friday - today was interesting, we went to see angel and he ran out saying never come back, never come back, so we turned our bikes around and left. Then we went to an area called Barrio Parque which is a little town just outside of La Paloma, and we found an old investigator named Jorge who already went to church a couple times, but said he couldn't go more because of work, he’s a fisherman. So we taught him the restoration and challenged him to be baptized, and he said: “well a fisherman doesn’t really have a set schedule because I don’t have a boss, so we’ll see”. haha that was nice to see something from our work. Then we just contacted around Barrio Parque for a while, went home, and talked to the Trini’s, because they were out of town for 2 weeks, and they gave us hot chocolate and toast.

Saturday - I can’t remember at all what we did today, haha I forgot to bring my planner here, oh we went looking for some people who told us to pass by, pretty much alllll day, one we couldn't find and the other said they didn't want anything. Then we helped a member with some family problems, but haha on her tv she was playing Shania twain haha I haven’t heard that kind of music in soooo long. 

Sunday - well Jorge didn’t come to church, but we had 18 people come this week. And mostly all from our ward. Then we cooked chicken wings again! They were good but needed more salt. Then we went to Barrio Parque again to teach a less active, and my comp asked them if they had ever seen Meet the Mormons, they said no and he told them to put it on. I could tell he didn’t really want to work that day, but I told him we should leave about halfway through because we had a charla with our neighbours, how we always try to pass by but they are never home, then when they are there, there just leaving, but they weren’t there anyways, then we took the sacrament to the Trini's and went home to sleep.

Monday - so today we went to the Lagoon of Rocha, basically just a huge lake, but it took like an hour and a half to get there, and my comp rides slow, but it was cool, then we were walking back on the beach about 20 meters from the water taking a short cut, and a massive wave came and the water came and soaked my shoes, I was looking the other way and didn't hear it because of the wind, haha then we came to do ciber. 

So all in all it was a good week, even though Angel told us to never come back, haha our only "progressing" investigator, we found another, and I met an apostle. But it’s getting pretty hard here, in Vergara there was just nothing ever, and here we have some success then it all just falls apart. But we had a fun time out in the Lagoon of Rocha, found a cool cliff thing to jump from (into sand of course) but yea good week

Love, 

Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor had to cover up this statue to keep the picture modest and clean! 

Good to see that the beaches have wheelchair access ! 

     

    Elder Grigor killed a bunch of cockroaches with Raid and fire. I don't think I could stomach that !! 

On the way to the Lagoon 

The mode of transportation for the missionaries in La Paloma 

Still being his fun natured self! 

I'm here, not for me...but for the people I am serving

November 14th, 2016 

Monday - did do much just emailed, oh we found out Elder Rasband is coming down here on the 17th and not much else! There’s not too much to do here kinda like Vergara!

Tuesday - had district meeting in Rocha, it was good, we got to know everyone in the district and talked about their areas, it was good. Then we took the bus back to La Paloma! haha in all of my areas I’ve had to take the bus to district meeting, 1 hour basically every Tuesday there and back. Because I’ve only been in pueblitos, that were basically dead before I got there. 

Wednesday - So we started some english classes, had one yesterday and one today, and one tomorrow too, every week I think. We were just contacting and found a guy who asked if one of us spoke english and if I could teach him. So I’m teaching him english, it’s weird seeing how difficult it is to explain everything, I never knew english was so hard. Umm didn't do much else, just contacting all day because no one else was home.

Thursday - good day today, had 2 new investigators, 1 of them is named Shesel, she dated the bishops son in some ward for 6 years, and knew a lot about the religion itself, but had a lot of questions, she asked us if we really believe that people wont go to heaven if they aren’t baptized, and that she doesn’t like churches because she doesn’t  like to think that she needs someone to communicate with god. So we both bore our testimonies, and I told her my story of how I didn’t really leave for myself, I kinda left for everyone else, then 3 weeks in the MTC. I started praying to know a lot of questions I had, and I got the all the answers the next day and now I’m here, not for me, but for the people I’m serving. So she kinda changed after that and told us she would pray. Then we got another new investigator named Angel but he just said: “yea yea of course”, exactly to everything, then my comp challenged him to baptism, and he said yea yea of course, then we told him we would pick him up Sunday to take him to church.

Friday - umm tried to go by a lot of people today, no one was home, then at about 6 we tried to go by a members house who just got back from Montevideo, and we got lost and walked about 1 hour and a half to find his house, and he had to leave at 8:00 so we visited quickly then left. Then just did some more contacting.

Saturday - just another fun day of nothing but contacts and learning the city. But we went by an old members house, because we were talking with our branch pres and he said he thought someone was staying at her house, (she has Alzheimer's) because they found phone bills at her house, and she doesn’t have a phone, and also we contacted a man who said he lived there, so we stopped by to see if everything was alright, and we didn't see signs of anyone else. Then we went home because it was fairly late. 

Sunday - so we went to pick up angel and he said, alright I’ll come but this is the last time!! last time!! haha was just thinking, when was the first time?? but he came to church, and here we have the class first then the sacrament, so I gave the class ( I forgot to prepare it again, but luckily I gave this in Vergara) and almost at the end, Angel got up and left, so my comp followed him, and he said he got bored, and realized he needed to buy stuff for lunch... So yea that’s a summary of the work here. Then we did contacts all day, we did about 70 this week, and tried to go by some people, again no one was home, but we kept going, then we were walking near the beach like 2 blocks away, and I wanted to go by 1 more family to see if they were home. But the sunset was just happening, I really wanted to watch it, but I thought “well the sunset will always be there, I can see it later, so well go by this family and if they aren't there then we’ll watch it”. We got lost going to their house, took about 30 mins and they weren't there. So yea, missed the sunset and just walked in the streets all day. Tons of fun!!!

Monday - went to the beach for a bit in the morning to watch the waves, took a couple pics, then we came to ciber! and that’s it.

well this week was alright, got some new investigators, we’ve had 6 new ones in the past 3 weeks, which is better than before, but we’re just finding a hard time getting a second lesson with them, because we don't know their schedules too well, and for some reason just no one had been home this week. Not even the less actives we’ve been trying to find, (because we still don't know the area too well). It’s getting pretty hard to keep doing this, 2 changes in Vergara was enough, but we’re actually seeing a bit of success. I just hope next week that people will be home. 

Love Elder Grigor

We made some fried chicken for 6 dollars. 2 kilos of Chicken was 3 dollars here!!! 

I turned the fridge up and it froze my eggs! haha

So if you ever wondered what a frozen egg looks like- this it! 

Chillin at the beach on P -day 

Since he can't swim- he will be a lifeguard! 

We have an inside family joke about using our hands for binoculars - 

so he is using his "binoculars" to see better!!! haha

Elder Grigor being his fun, goofy self!!! 

Elder Grigor trying to do splits on the beach 

The view from the church- so pretty! 

I just felt like coming home :( but I know it's just another test for me.

November 7th, 2016 

Monday - on the way back from Chuy, this guy was trying to sell empanadas in the bus, and no one was buying them, they were like 35 pesos each one, so I felt a little bad, so I bought 4, 2 for me 2 for my comp, and they were good, then like 10 other people bought some right afterwards. It felt good to help him out a little.

Tuesday - we went to the Aguada a little pueblito, and visited a member that moved up from Montevideo, then we just rode around the coast a bit, did some contacting.

Wednesday - so my comp is a new district leader, and we went to Montevideo for a meeting for the new district leaders.  So we woke up at 4:30 because we had a bus at 5:05, so my comp woke up, (and I can’t hear my alarm from the top bunk) so he woke me up at 4:50 just enough to get ready and leave...... but then we had a 3:30 hour ride down. It was cool, I saw Elder Lockhart there, he’s in his 5th change and he’s a district leader. That’s pretty quick. But I saw Elder Lopez there too. It was cool to talk to him, then we had a bus at 4:00 and we just walked around Tres Cruces for a while and I started talking to some people from New Jersey that were visiting. Then we left at 4:00 and got back home at 8:30ish and then went to bed. 

Thursday - so we started riding out almost to La Pedrera because we had an appointment with someone out there, then my bike broke, the back gear popped off, so that’ll be 1000 pesos to fix... woooo!!! So it was about 5:00 and I walked it home because I couldn’t ride it, that took about 2 hours. So we didn't do too much today. I was dead when we got home though.

Friday - we got 2 new investigators today, 1 atheist and 1 catholic I think, or some christian church, but we taught them. Umm then we just walked around all day getting to know La Paloma, then the Wankiers came up to check out the bikes, and then we figured out that I would need to pay for a new one, but I can reimburse it. Then I tried to send my package, but we missed it by 9 minutes, so we just left it in the church and went and did some contacting. We were talking with just about everyone here, and we actually have a lot of people lined up for the coming weeks, but there’s probably a lot who just said it to be nice to us. 

Saturday - I finally sent the package, hopefully it gets there in time, it should. But also we went to the lighthouse here, it was super cool, and on the top we met a Swiss girl, visiting here because her brother lives in Montevideo. So we started talking, and she speaks 4 languages, german, english, spanish and french. So we started talking in english, because she speaks better english, and we invited her to church. We said we could walk with her and show her where it is. She said yes! so we walked by the church with her. Then in the night I got a little sick, my throat was killing me and I got all stuffed up, and also...... my comp said I snore NNNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t want to snore!!!

Sunday - well the Swiss girl came to church! ( I forgot it was Fast Sunday though, so I’m fasting next Sunday) but it was good, haha at one point she ran out with her backpack, I thought awesome! good first impression! but she was just saying hi to one of her friends I think, then she came back, haha it scared me a little, but unfortunately she is only here 2 more days then she goes back home, but good thing there are missionaries over there too! Then we had some appointments set up but they all fell through. But we found a man that wants to learn english so we are gonna start an english class, then we tried to find some less actives, none were home, then this old couple who the missionaries always give the sacrament to on Sunday weren't there. I was just kinda done with that day, I really just wanted to go home, like Canada home. I had no energy, no one was home, and it was just a horrible day for me, also.. I’m having a tough time teaching with my comp, he just finished training and still thinks he’s training. So he talks the whole time, and barely lets me talk, then sometimes he will cover like 7 topics all at once, then look at me for me to say something. I always just think, “you can’t do that dude, you just covered every single thought I had and expect me to say something.”

It was a good week, we found new people to help them and teach them but I’m just having a tough time with my companion, haha we don’t really talk too much in the street, and we’re basically always in the streets, then teaching with him is difficult, but its just another test for me, and to help me with my patience and learning how to teach a little better. He just always answers questions insanely fast just to talk sometimes then while he’s talking, he finds the answer, then relates it to 10 different things. But the area is amazing, on Monday we went to the beach for a couple hours in the morning, skipping rocks, living the good ol missionary life! 

Love 

Elder Grigor 

Elder Grigor got bit by a dog- another scar to come home with! 

Checking out the lighthouse 

The view from the lighthouse in La Paloma 

A seal on the beach in La Paloma 

Enjoying the empanadas on the bus 

I love my new area!

October 31st, 2016 

Tuesday - we went down to 33 and stayed in the house so we could catch our bus. 

Wednesday - change day!!! So I met my new comp, his name is Elder Zacarias, from Peru, my 3rd latino comp and my 3rd Peruvian. It took a 4 hour bus ride in the morning to go to tres cruces, (the big bus station) then we took a 3 hour bus to Rocha, then a 30 minute bus ride to La Paloma, right on the coast. We got to our home and we are here in white wash so we don’t know the area. We went to buy food because I think the other missionaries took or ate everything. We unpacked, but we got a ride from the 1st counsellor who never comes to church because his wife has a lot of health problems and he takes care of her, but he tries to do what he can for the missionaries.

Thursday - so a huge storm came through, it actually knocked down a tree and it hit a house fairly close to our house, so we were told to stay inside all day. We didn't have a lot of food to make because it’s the end of the month and we don't have money because of traveling, so the president said he would get us food, but he never came because it was pretty bad, so he told us to grab food and he would pay us. We went out on our bikes and I almost got knocked over a couple times. But we survived, then slept all day, but we checked our area book and phoned all the "investigators" in the phone and we don’t have anyone to teach.

Friday - so we went out in the morning getting to know the area, just close by though. We did a couple contacts, then rode our bike to the branch presidents house, which took us 30 minutes because we got lost soooo many times. Then he told us about an area that we have called La Pedrera and he told us to not go there because if we did we would get sent home (figuratively).  We rode around a couple areas just outside of the city called La Aguada and Costa Azul, and explored the beach for a while, riding around in the sand. It’s beautiful here, just a little windy and cold right now, but also there are soo many cool things to buy for pretty cheap. 

Saturday - we decided to go check out La Pedrera, which was 12 kms away from La Paloma, and we did some contacting along the way. We found a lot of nice people that invited us back, but while we were going I saw a sign that said Pueblo Barranca restaurante or something like that. I said “let’s go check this out, so we biked down this forrest trail for bout 1 minute and then found a wooden bridge that led to this exclusive resort, so we checked it out, and there was nobody there, not even the owner. So we checked it out but I forgot my camera on the way so we didn’t get pics. Then we went to La Pedrera and it’s beautiful. It’s a little old style town, on the beach, and apparently whales breach there too, but we didn’t see any. Then we headed home and it took forever because my bike was broken from before and I have to tighten the bolt every minute or the pedal falls off. But we got home then went to bed

Sunday - so I planned the lesson for today (because there’s only 8 people that come... if were lucky) but I planned the wrong one, but good thing I gave the right one already in Vergara, so I didn’t have to plan. But church was cool, president couldn't come so we conducted, presided, blessed and passed, then gave talks. It was interesting, makes you think more about what your really doing. Then we decided to head back to the resort to take pics, so we rode out there, and again every minute I was fixing my bike, and I would try to catch up to my comp and tell him, but he would just pedal faster and smile while doing it, I actually got pretty mad, because I was dying only using my right leg to pedal and trying to catch up to him, then I pulled over to fix my bike, rinse and repeat. But we made it took some pics, then contacted a drunk dude in the street, and he told us his life story and we put a baptismal date for him, hopefully he remembers though. Then we went to familia trinidad, the 1st counsellor to give them the sacrament.

Monday - woke up at 5:30 today to go up to Chuy, one of the other areas that’s on the border with brazil and everything is cheap up there. So I bought a couple gifts for everyone. 

Well in spite of what everyone was telling me I actually love my area. We get 2 lunches a week from the president, and there’s actually a lot of people, and I heard the assistants wrong. They called me to talk about La Paloma and they said Vergara is a lot smaller than La Paloma, because this area is actually huge. The only thing is, with people- it’s like Hawaii here, a vacation destination, and I’m sure not too many people want to talk to missionaries on their vacation, but this is my favourite area so far. 

Love Elder Grigor

Elder Grigor's new place in La Paloma 

Love the Star Wars sheets !!! 

A beautiful little coastal town 

Elder Grigor with his broken bike :( 

Exploring the coast of La Paloma 

Gorgeous countryside 

Elder Grigor living it up in Uruguay 

Just chilling ! 

Elder Grigor is so happy to have a bike- even if it is partly broken