MONTEVIDEO!!

Hey folks, happy summer I guess! Im glad to hear that the boys are done with the funnest part of the year;) Its funny that the first week of school is when I left... time flies eh? Today has been a really fun day though! We did a little self tour of Montevideo with a couple of the other missionaries in our zone and it was actually super fun! We went to the centenial futbol stadium that is super old and walked around it a little bit, then we went to the other (nice) side of montevideo and walked along the beach for a little bit. The only reason we can do that is because its winter here. But it was still really sweet to see the parts of the city that I have never been too. Montevideo is sooo old and I really love it. Today we saw some of the really nice areas, and I could totally live there. Just sayin.

This week was really good too! We have gotten Eloy all ready again to be baptized and he has quit smoking with the help of his nieghbor and friend Hermano Arce. He is probably close to 80 years old but a year ago he was baptized. He was a serious drinker but he quit so he could be baptized. Oh he is also basically deaf and we have to talk very loud strait into his ear. It makes charlas super fun that way. They are both just such genuinely awesome people and are very humble. I really respect them so much and genuinely love them!
Our family that we are working with are also doing great! This week they started all the paper work so they can get married. It is a bit of a system, so it is probably going to take three weeks, which is good, but we will know our changes this sunday so and either one of us could go, and it would be super hard to leave these guys. But they are reading the book of mormon and we invited them to a noche de hogar and we watched the testements and it really was a spiritual experience for them. We have got a lot to teach them still, but they are taking everything perfectly!

This is also going to be a big week for us because this thursday we have a conference with Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the presidency of the 70. It is Montevideo but in the other mission, and it is with everyone of BOTH missions! It is going to be awesome! He was the mission president of the other mission a few years ago, so it will be great to hear from him. Our stake is also having a huge activity in two weeks and the missionaries are the choir and we have practices three times a week. The stake is focusing a lot on this activity to bring new people to get to know the church, and it is going to be fantastic!

Well you guys thats about it, looking foward to another really good week ahead! I hope that you guys enjoy your time, in or out of school:)

Love you guys!

Elder Degn

ps. Me and Martinez in the stadium

 

Semana de Milagros!

 Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I cant believe that you boys are basically done with school because I left when you guys started....yeah time passes quick. Im glad to hear that you guys finished strong, a rest well deserved! (stick it out girls:)

This week has been amazing but just so you know that today we went into Montevideo again to go walk around and go bowling but the bowling was closed so we just went into the Ciudad Vieja to see some stuff and get a gift or something. It is a really nice day and we went to a couple of stores and entered into one right on Plaza Independencia and were shocked to see all the hermanas of the zone and montevideo there with Hermana Smith (mission presidents wife). They were all going to go bowling too, but went to do a little shopping since it was closed. Hermana Smith is super super super nice and let us all choose some things that we wanted and hooked us up pretty sweet. We also talked to President Smith for a little bit too which is just wierd that we ran into all of them just walking around. (Miracle one)

But really, this week was AMAZING! We had our ward temple trip on Saturday and we worked super hard to invite as many people as we could to get ready and make plans to go with us. It turned out sooo good!! We had our investigator that is getting baptized next week, Eloy, go and Jesus went but didnt go in, two other recent converts went that have really been working for it, and our family of gold went too! The four missionaries that went split up so that one of the missionaries that the investigators knew was outside with them at all times, so I was with Elder Lamb and we went in and worked in the baptistry for about an hour and a half. The missionaries cant baptize so we rotated between witness and registrator. It was still an amazing experience to help and work in the temple. I havent been in the baptistry in a long time, and it is such a beautiful thing. So yeah, the temple trip was definitely a huge success!!!

Now I have to tell you guys about our family of Gold. Iris and her partner Enrique live in the nieghborhood we cant go in but a recent convert that lives there told them to go to church so they went two weeks in a row and we taught them at the church when they came. Iris is absolutely prepared to do anything. At the temple we talked with them about marriage and everything because she strait up asked me when they can get baptized. (Mind blown...) We talked with President Smith and the Bishop and we were able to go in because Iris has offered to walk in and out with us because she has lived there for a long time and everyone respects her. So yesterday we went with the bishop and had a amazing chat with them and they are going this week to get the paper work done and get a date set for their wedding!! It is super complicated here to get married, so it will probably take three weeks to get it all set. Until then, we are just going to get them ready and all the other people that live in this neighborhood that have been waiting for the missionaries to come back! I honestly dont know what we have been doing to deserve a miracle so big. It is amazing how the Lord works in people and prepares them for his word. God is great, and his work will never be frustrated. I love what I do!

I really hope that this week you guys enjoy the sunshine and warm temps and the crisp Irish breeze;) I love you guys so much! The church is true and no tatoos!!

All my love,

Elder Degn
This is me and Elder Martinez at the temple.

 

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE!

 

Shout out to my man--Tyler John!!!

Hey there, I have to start out with a shout out to my man Tyler John, that is soooo awesome!!! I cant believe he is heading out east! or west....far away! That is going to be soo good! Im glad to hear that you all had a good week too and that everything ended well even though Bingham did not pull through for another championship. That is crazy to think that was all a year ago, time is flying for sure. Haha I dont really remember ever sleep talking before the mission but I guess that it is something that I have picked up down here. My comp keeps telling me that I sleep talk in English to him, apologize, and then translate it to spanish. Thats how we do language study;) Oh and also this week I have officially become a south american missionary. I got bit by a dog. Not terribly, but it drew blood. It was super random and I was not expecting it at all. We were in the house of Jesus and his dog just jumped out from under the car and bit my leg super hard then went away. Im just hoping I dont turn into a werewolf or something.

We have had a super awesome week though, and this week is going to be even better!! Our investigator Eloy is struggling a little bit still so we werent able to baptize him this week, but we are going to be working with him a lot to get him ready for two weeks from now. I just feel for him because he only smokes to take the nervous edge off his mind, and he still is looking for a job, so he has been pretty stressed recently. He is such a good guy and I want to help him out so bad,now we just have to help him shake this little vice.

Yesterday was probably the biggest miracle I have ever seen. We first of all had a HUGE attendance, 155! I dont really know how it happened, but it was amazing. The best part is that a woman came with her husband and daughter that was told by a menos activo member to come to church. She came for all three hours and we had a good lesson with her and the other investigators and new members, and when we talked to her to find out where she lived it turns out she lives in Riveros. The neighborhood we cant enter. We told her this and she was obviously disappointed. She quickly just said that there was no problem and that she would come to the church for us to teach her. I just kind of stood there in shock and said alright. This Saturday we also have our ward temple trip and we have invited everyone! We mentioned it to Iris, our new investigator, and she said without even blinking that her and her husband would go. It was just too good to be true!! We teach her tomorrow and we are gonig to see what we can do about going into this area to go to all the members and everyone else in there. We´ll see what happens.

But yeah, we have been working super hard with a bunch of members to get them pumped up or the temple this week, and it is really going to be a great day! Im so excited to go and help in the baptistry and to just be with these guys as many of them are going for their first time. Its going to be awesome!

Well kiddos, I cant tell you how glad I am to hear that you are all doing well, and I cant believe that school is almost out! Finish strong eh? I love you guys so much! Thank you for everything!!!

Todo mi amor,

Elder Degn

 

 

May 19, 2014

Hey kiddos! It really sounds like everyone is doing really well and that the life still hasent slowed down one bit back there. Good luck to everyone with all the activities this week! Today we are just having a super chill p-day mostly because Im a little sick, but nothing too bad. Ive just got a pretty bad cold mixed with some flu stuff, but Im going to go home to rest soon, so no worries:) Also that is awesome for Tyler! I cant believe he is already all grown up! My guess will be Mexico. That is the promised land. After Uruguay of course.

This past week has been super good! We had a capacitation with Elder Zeballos of the 70, and it was here in Cerro with the three zones of montevideo and Colonia and Mercedes, so I got to see all my friends from Colonia which was awesome! The meeting was actually really good and I learned a lot from Pte. Smith too. He talked about prayer and the importance and the power and the promises of prayer. It was really something that I have needed to improve and make more sincere. When you pray 15 times a day its difficult to not get repetitive sometimes and to make every prayer special and sincere. Elder Zeballos taughts us the importance of having an eternal perspective and seeing these people as people that need to go to the temple to recieve ALL the saving ordinances. He also talked about pushing ourselves to find our true potential. It really was a great meeting.

We are getting ready for a baptism this saturday too! Our investigator Eloy is going to be baptized! He is such a good guy that is really humble nd just willing to follow the Lord and accept what he needs to do to follow him and recieve the blessings that he is looking for. Im super pumped for him!
This Sunday we had two investigators come to church from my area that we have never seen before, and they were just super awesome and really wanted us to come to their house but when they were telling me thier address I realized that they live in the nieghborhood we can't go into. So bummer. But I am going to talk this week with Pte. Smith to see how we can get to them and what will be the best way to teach them, so our hopes are still high!

I also did divisions this week with Elder Merril from Lone peak that just started and it was litterally one of the funnest days of my mission. He is a total social network bug and we talked about twitter and stuff I've never heard about and music I have never heard about but it was just super fun. I had to keep telling him to keep his voice down in English because we were really getting some iffy looks from some guys, but it all turned out well!

Well kids I hope that you guys have a good week and that you enjoy the spring/summer weather! It is very, very cold. And winter hasn't officially started. Giddee up.

Love you all!!

Elder Degn

ps, this is the Rosario family now, everyone that has been there since we showed up.

 

 

 

 

 

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!!