HOLA!

Hola a todos...


Pan de Azucar is really nice and we always have a costal breeze so it`s never too hot here.  The people here are more open to talk to us and there are less old people... the only problem is that there are a lot of tourists since it is summer and we are only 15 min. from the beach.  It`s kind of hard to baptize tourist that are only going to be here for a week to a month.  We even have nice scenery with the hills and the highest peak in Uruguay.  There are still a lot of dogs but I`m just convinced that it is that way in all of Uruguay.  We are doing great and are finding some people to teach.  We are also going to start piano classes here in Pan de Azucar (even though we don`t have a piano, only a keyboard because they don`t have a chapel yet just a little house) and the whole branch and a few investigators are really excited about it -- it looks like I`ll have double the students that I had in Sarandi Grande. We get fed every day by the members and we get free fruit every Sunday from a member who has a fruit stand and wants us to eat plenty of fruit during the week, so we are eating well and healthy.

My guess for Becca´s mission call is going to be Brasilia, Brazil.  Elder Thompson learned a little bit of spanish in high school and his dad can speak spanish so he has a good start in spanish but still has much to learn before he is fluent, so I am helping him learn each day in our language study hour after lunch.  He was also studying engineering in college before he came on the mission.  He has an older brother and sister and a younger sister and all of his family are members.  He is a great elder and likes to work but is a little timid when it comes to talking with the people.

We taught Maria one more time this week but sadly she is starting to lose her interest.  She gave us back her Book of Mormon and told us she`s not sure if she`s ready or has the will to keep learning and going to church.  The thing is that her mom doesn`t support her or even believe in God for that matter and although she has friends in the church she just doesn`t want to commit to do anything right now.  We are still trying to help her and teach her but it`s been difficult to find her in these days. 

But we did see a miracle yesterday... We were inviting people to come to the piano lessons on Saturday next week and an old lady named Angelita told us that she wanted her grandson to take the lessons, both piano and the gospel.  She said that she has been desperately looking for a way to help her grandson find a good path and future and said that she herself didn`t believe in God.  We came inside and she explained that when her grandson was young her son (the father of the grandson) passed away and the mother abandoned him so she raised him.  She felt the spirit as we taught her about how she could talk personally to God through prayer and how she could find faith in Christ through the Book of Mormon.  She said that lots of things have made it hard for her to believe in God (like the recent death of her husband) but that she wants to be able to have faith like me and Elder Thompson.  We promised her that she could find that faith through the restored gospel of Christ and baptism.  She excitedly accepted a Book of Mormon and said that she was so grateful for the help that we are giving her.  Both her and her grandson are going to be baptized on the 5th of February!!!

We sadly didn`t get a chance to go to Gregorio Aznàrez this week because I had to go to a leadership meeting in the mission home that same Wednesday and then the rest of the weekend the branch presidency and their families went to the temple so we are planning on going a week from Saturday (the next day that the first counselor has off to accompany us over there).  This has been a great week in which we have learned a lot and had a lot of trials but at least we finished cleaning the house and now it is a really nice house.  We are organizing the branch and already had our first branch council meeting(something that hasn`t happened in a while) and are looking for new investigators amoung the part member families.

One anouncement... There is a mission rule that president reminded us of that I can only receive emails from immediate family (Mom, Dad, Colin and Mason). But there is another address where friends and other family members can send their emails to be printed out and sent to me like letters (kind of like a dear elder system...). For friends and extended family members please send your emails to urumontemission@gmail.com and it is very important that you put ¨Elder Jeremy Gardner¨ in the subject line, otherwise they won`t know who to send it to.  Sorry if you have emailed me in the last 3 weeks.  Can you please send again your emails to this new address because the emails that you recently sent were erased.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week.  And yes they do celebrate dia de los Reyes here, it`s like a second Christmas...

Love,
Elder Gardner