Mother's Day was the best (this is Zach's mom)

Hey guys! What have you been up to in the last couple hours? It is so crazy that we talked yesterday. It really doesnt even feel that real. But it was fantastic! You guys all looked so awesome and it really made me miss you all a ton. I'm also really glad to hear that the other cousins round the world are doing good too. Its crazy how fast time goes by...

But this week was still pretty darn good! I went and dropped off Elder Davis in the terminal tres cruzes on tuesday and slept on the floor of the ZLs house for a couple hours then got my new comp Elder Martinez! He is from Veracruz, Mexico and has been out for a year and almost seven months. So far we are getting along super well and he is really funny and it just feels so good to be speaking spanish 100% again. We had really some awesome visits this past week and commited a bunch of people to come to curch but the mothers day beat us out. The one day of the whole year for some people that they see their family, so we didnt get quite the turnout for church that we were hoping for. But this week will be the week!
We also had been trying to meet with a woman in our area that invited us to come over almost two weeks ago but we kept missing each other when we called or went to visit, but finally got to sit down with her this week. She was very interested and actually knew quite a lot about us because her mom lives in centro montevideo and has gone to a bunch of churches and one day prayed for God to send her his servants. The next day the missionaries contacted her house. So now she is really interested and just from our first lesson she has accepted all the commitments and we are super pumped about her!! We are also helping our super humble investigator Eloy progress to his baptism. It has been awesome teaching him because he is very humble but just genuinely kind and a good person. It has been interesting teaching him the commandments because they are all things that he knows are bad for him but that he just does. He has commited to stop all the things that we teach him about, and really is moving foward really well!

It really was awesome to see you guys yesterday! I cant even tell you guys how much I miss you and love you all SO much! I loved hearing your voices, but you should all just stop growing up please. Thanks for everything you do!

Con amor,

Elder Degn

ps. I read Mateo 16:24-end of chapter and it really made me think. Its super good.

New comp...

Hey guys! Getting close eh?! That really sounds like you guys had a super crazy but awesome week, so just the normal. Shout out to EVERYONE that is doing so good in all their sports and dancing!

So this week is change week so thats why we are writing on tuesday, I hope you guys remembered.... But yeah sadly Davis is heading on his way. It has been an awesome change with him and it has flown by and we really just worked and lived like brothers. It was an awesome change that just flew by. My new comp is Elder Martinez from Mexico! He has been out for about a year and a half too, and he is already in my zone! He is just moving down to be with me over in Cerro 1. So I already know him and I like him a lot. We are going to pick him up tonight at midnight when we drop Davis off at Tres Cruces to head up to Rivera!

So anyway, this last week was awesome!! Jesus just continues to blow my mind. He was soooo prepared for everything. He had some pretty big struggles this week and we were a little worried about him but then at church the first class was about the priesthood and I was sitting with him and basically trying to catch him up on everything and then the bishop came over and took him out to have an interview and so the bishop explained everything to him and laid out the responsibilities and everything and Jesus accepted everything! He even went up and shared his testimony in sacrament meeting and it was awesome! In the second class that we teach to the investigators and menos activos we talked about priesthood too and I shared my experience of recieving the priesthood from my dad and having the line of authority that traces back to Christ. I shared that to show the importance of the true authority we have, but in his testimony Jesus said that after hearing me say that, he wants to be the dad to give his sons the priesthood. It made me cry. It was a great sunday!

The area is progressing like crazy too! We have a family night every week with as many people as we can from our area and it is turning out super good. Our area is really super small so we can invite almost everyone and tonight is going to be the biggest one yet! They are super fun and really just strenghten everyone. There really isnt anyone in our area that is there every sunday, but it is getting a lot better and it really helps everyone to get together and share a night like this. So yeah, I hope you guys are finding time for family nights still:)

It really has been a blast to be with Elder Davis and I cant wait to see how this area grows in this next month and a half! Time is flying! I almost wish it would slow down.

Well we went to Downtown Deo today to go see la Torre de Antel but it was closed so we took cool pictures outside and went into Ciudad Vieja to walk around and eat at Subway! First time in more than 8 months and it really wasnt that bad. Just more expensive;) But I love Uruguay so much! I dont know if I have said that lately but I really do. It is AMAZING!!

Love you all and cant wait to see you in five days!!!

Todo mi amor,

Elder Degn

ps. this is my last district!

 

 

Hey folks, how goes it? I'm glad that you all had a good week and that everything is still going well back home. At times it is hard to think that the world is still turning back in the states, but it sounds like everything is going pretty darn good. Just let me know if Mateo has started shaving yet.

This has been an aweome p-day! Our ZL is going home this change so he wanted to go play football at the beach. Yeah, American Football!!! It was crazy fun! We played some football, then fútbol, then Davis and I played some baseball with one of the elders that has baseball gloves. It was fantastic.

This week was fantastic!! The highlight was definitely the baptism of Jesus!!! He is seriously such a stud! When he showed up for the baptism he was dressed super nice and he just gave me a huge smile and a hug and I was just in shock. He was a completely new person, before we even baptized him. We got him all changed, and his service was combined with a little girl in the ward that was getting baptized too. He had to do the ordinance twice because his hand came out, but after the second one he looked at Davis and said ´soy bautizado?´ and Davis just smiled and nodded and then Jesus turned around to the crowd and threw up his arms with just a humongous smile. It was really one of the best days of my mission. It was amazing!! He also invited his friends and a he is giving us all of them as references!!

We also had our interviews with Pte, Smith and it was super good. He just asked me how long I have been here, and I said eight months, and we were both just like, ´fa, como tiempo pasa.´ It´s true, time is flying down here. This change has just flown right by. It was great to talk with him again and I really just feel the spirit every time we get to talk together. It was really just great to talk with him one on one for a little bit and get that re-charge he always gives us.

Well kiddos I'm super pumped to talk to you guys soon, this week is changes, so we´ll see what happens. I really dont want to leave my man Davis, but we´ll see what the Lord has got planned for us. Let me know what time works best for you guys to get the call. I could basically go at anytime.

I love you all soo much and I cant wait to see you guys soon!! Keep it up! Thanks for everything!!

Todo mi amor,

Elder Degn

ps. Thank for the cake, it was delicious and I made it for a Family night but they all gave me a hard time becaue they thought I made it from scratch, but were upset it was from a box. But it was SUPER good!!

 

Awesome Week!!