March 9, 2015 Happy Birthday Week Zach!!

Hey guys thanks for all the good wishes, I hope that you all enjoy this last week of me being 19! Im sure it will be just like all the others...haha but do enjoy some good Texas sheetcake in my honor on saturday! The birthday is really such a funny thing in the mission because everyday seems the same and the only difference is that there might be a cake or something. Im really just excited to be able to say that I will be 20 so that people stop giving me a hard time for looking so darn old. But really I just feel the same, working on keeping the old man body in shape is all;) But really, thanks guys, I love you all tons!!
But anyways this past week was absolutely awesome! We did divisions with our boys Elder Woodcock and Elder Nielson and we had a great day working with them, and then apart from that we just found sooo many new people to teach!! It is funny because there are so many people that live in our area that are baptized but inactive, that almost every contact we do there seems to be someone that is already a member of the church, which either helps a lot, or doesn't help at all. But it was just awesome to see how we were able to find such solid people that were really right under our noses the whole time. I'm pretty sure I mentioned the family of Yaquelin before, she was baptized a couple of months ago, and we are working with her daughter now that she is going to church really good again, and now she is getting to be baptized at the end of this month! Also, one of the biggest miracles we saw was with a woman that was a reference from a member that has a lot of problems with her family and other things, and Silva went on divisions and met her then the we went twice together taught her about the restauration and the gospel and prayer and the atonement, and we saw a huge change in her! In a very short time she recieved a huge desire to go to church and wanted to bring her two grandkids that are 11 and 8. We were so pumped because we also invited her to get baptized and she accepted in a heartbeat! It was just amazing! She was so enthusiastic to read what we left her and go to church with the member that she knows, but then was unable to go because of family problems. {her kids sold her nice shoes to buy drugs, so she felt embarassed to go in flip flops. We didnt get there till later to be able to explain to her that it would have been just fine..} But we have big hopes for her! We also found a super solid young couple, and when we contacted them we were thinking a bunch of new investigators, then in the next few minutes find out that he was a member, his sister and father as well, but that his girlfriend wasn't. But it was great because she was the most interested and enthusiastic! We also had a girl contact us in the street asking us about our church and as we struck up conversation it turned out that she was a long-lost relative of the member that was working with us. Such a crazy little family reunion that went down right there, it was nuts. She was really young, like 20 maybe, but with loads of problems, very catholic, but at the moment very lost espiritually. We taught her a little bit right there and invited her to church, but she didnt make it either. Honestly the day everyone we find and teach goes to church we will need a much bigger chapel. It will be glorious! But until then we will continue working to followup and get back in contact with everyone we found and already had! I know this work is real and that the Lord is above it all. I love what I do, and there is nowhere else I would rather be!!
Thank you for everything you do and for who you are!! I love you all!!!
Besitos,

Elder Degn

March 2, 2015

Hey guys happy march!! Yeah I cant believe that it is here either, its going by sooo fast. And no, I dont feel like I should be 20 yet either. I feel kinda the same that I was when I was nineteen....I honestly am just glad to be able to stop saying 19, absolutely NO ONE believes me. Don't know if thats good or bad, but I will take it. That is awesome that Dio made it to you guys, I'm so glad you were able to meet him. I love that guy a ton and it was crazy to see him in our house, I was with him a month ago! For Dads information, we will have changes now in 6 weeks, I think in the first week of April, right after General Conference.

But this was a super crazy week for the changes, there were about fifteen missionaries that came and left through Paysandu, and we ran that place like kings! Got about three hours of sleep, but apart from that there weren't any problems. One of the companionships that we live with got taken out, so now our house is just four. But it is soo big!! We got a better bathroom now, so that is really nice. The truth is that it has been a bit tricky up to now to get our investigators to progress but we are seeing some really good movement from a couple of people. We are teaching a family that the mom was baptized three months ago then went inactive shortly thereafter, but she is coming back good now and we are teaching her daughter as well to be able to be baptized as well, and she is coming along really good too! She is just needing her time to be able to understand everything well. We also had an awesome experience with a family that is all members that we are working with to get active again and that are progressing. We went to do a family night with them and the girlfriend/partner of one of the sons was with us and she starting asking a ton of questions and sharing experiences about her believes and we answered her questions and taught her about the restauracion and the spirit was super strong and she just wants to follow God and do things right. She said that she wants to get married to set things strait, and we were both like, ´sorry what???´ miracles!!! We really hope that she is able to progress too, this week was complicated for them, but we have some really big hopes for her! 

This week we had a great experience leaving with a 23 year old guy that got baptized a month ago and is set on going on the mission. His name is Alfredo, and he is such a stud! He is from a different ward in the stake, but wants to leave to work with all the missionaries, so we took him out and we found a woman that has been suffering on the inside about the unexpected death of her husband a few months ago, and Alfredo was just ready with his testimony of going through the same thing with his mom six months ago as well. It was increadible to see someone without training or practice just give it all from the heart, thats really how it should be. Really impacted him, us, and the woman, she is very very catholic, but we made a big impression on her and are very excited for what will come.

Our ward is growing and we are seeing little miracles every day! I love you guys so much and I know this gospel is true!! Thanks for everything you do for me!
Cuídense y que pasen bien. 

Les quiero,

Elder Degn

ps. Elder Silva in the elevator with a bunch of stuff we were moving to other houses during changes...we may or may not have walked around the city carrying beds on our backs...the things we do for hermanas;) 

February 24, 2015

Hey guys glad to hear that you all had another great week with the wonderful ex-hermana Degn and that the sports are all going well still with everyone, really sounds like quite the schedule. Im also excited to drive around in the new Fun-vee as well when I get back! It would be nice to get a foto or two of our cars, I still havent seen either one...But yeah, glad that you are all doing good! That is also awesome that you got a letter from Elder Bentley! He told me about that, haha it is funny becasue we still talk quite a lot because now he is the senior financer in the mission and so we always have to talk to him when we have got problems with stuff in the zone. My little boys´ all grown up and off to war! #proudfather
This week for us has been strait up crazy and this one is also going to be super nuts as well, but Im pumped for it! This past week we inverted a lot of time in a stake activity, (we are part of the stake board of activities) and a ward activity. We also did a zone activity which was super fun, but lets just say that we did a whole ton lot of planning and working for all of them and that I dont really want to have that calling, too much stress. Just leave me alone as scout master and call it good. It was a ton of work and planning and last minute crunching, but in the end it all came through, and the stake activity was a huge hit! We did the activity of Lehi´s Dream. It started outside but then there was a chord that ran throught the outside and then inside through many rooms of the chapel and it was basically like a haunghted house idea. Everyone had to walk blindfolded and then be ´tempted´ by all the distractions of the world until they arrived at the sacrament room and it was closed off with peace ful music and a tree with the fruit on it, it was awesome and really impacted a lot of people. We also left on Saturday at 230 in the morning for a conference in Tacuarembo with Elder Viñas of the seventy, which was awesome! I learned soooo much! Everytime I feel like I am smart we have a conference and I just get my knowledge destroyed. So much more to learn, but I love it! He is Uruguayo and talked a lot about stuff that we need to do to establish the church here and help the members grow spiritually to make the church more solid. Really a awesome day and I saw a bunch of friends! It is freaking me out though because I dont want to admit that I am old in the mission but I now dont even recognize half of the missionaries that I see when we go to conferences. Super crazy. So anyways, apart from all of that, yes we were able to get some work done which was great, and it came through because one of the families we visit came to church again! She is awesome and got baptized in November, then went inactive for awhile but now she is coming back and she brought her whole family to church on Sunday and we are talking with her daughter to get her ready to be baptized! Right now we are in a spot where I feel like there is so much potential and that in the moment that we get to everyone in the week that they will get moving! We have some super solid investigators and one is the family that we met the first week here, and we gave her the book of mormon and she just thanked us and said that she was really needing it. I love those moments so much. Makes everything worth it. 

This week was also changes, I hope you realize that now when I dont write on Mondays that is what it means. Thankfully Elder Silva and I are staying together here in Pdú!! I cant believe how fast this change went by and I cant believe how little time there is left. This change is going to be awesome because there are a lot of great missionaries coming to our zone. The only down side is that this week we are basically going to be travel agents/real estate agents/jedi knights. Apart from that last one it is all real. We have already started sending off missionaries, and all day tomorrow we have people coming and going to and from and pasing through Paysandú. And guess who has all the tickets? Thats right, this guy. So it is going to be a crazy couple of days here, but it is going to be a great start to a awesome change! 

Well guys thank you so much  for who you are and all that you do for me here in Uruguay! Les quiero con todo mi corazón!
Elder Degn

ps. Elder Sanchez goes home tonight!! I have been living with him this last change. Really fun to remanice with him before he left. 

February 16, 2015

Alright.....so first off, Im real freaked out seeing Hannah back in the homeland with the whole crew. I cannot believe that the moment has come and gone. I love you Hannah, just hit me up with some packages and cartas while you can cuz yall know, six more months and Im up too...jaja alright honestly Im happy for Hannah but Im glad we can all stop being so trunky so that my pdays arent so darn hard anymore. Moving on...

So this past week was honestly super crazy complicated and this one is going to be crazy as well! We spent one and a half days working in our area, just the joys of being the ZLs...We had a day were we spent the whole afternoon shopping for the Hermanas that moved into a new house and taking care of some of that stuff,  the next day we had stuff go down in the other hermanas house, and then in the afternoon the missionary couple that works in the offices came to paysandu to fix a bunch of problems we have with the houses that the mission is renting here, so we had to show them around, and then there were emergency changes in Argentina, so we had to recieve the new guy here, and send the guy from argentina to Salto. It is super complicated for missionaries to cross into argentina, the just cause problems for the missionaries no mas. We have learned with the ZLs over there that the only way to make it work without getting anyone thrown out of the country or slammed with a huge fine is traveling undercover. They travel in pday clothes, and then take off their placas when the get to the bridge, and pass without problems, even the Americans. Crazy right?? But we definitely felt like we were doing a human smugling deal just because everyone thinks the missionaries are perfect little angels...ya something like that:) So that was a crazy day, and then we went to Montevideo for the next day which was great! It was a awesome conference with the leaders and President, where we basically just repased all of the changes that are going on in the mission this year, but to make sure that we follow the plan that we have recieved from the area presidency, it is a very inspired plan for this part of the world, and we are starting to see the results of it, it just takes a lot of effort and a change of mindset, and that is what we are working on, but the work is going on!!!

So we got home and started running around to all of our people to get them all fired up for church and everything, but just about everyone is out on vacation because right now it is holidays for carnaval. south america is crazy about carnaval, and Elder Silva my brazuca keeps going wild randomly. (he is super excited to go back to carnaval;) But we did have some great charlas with some less active members we are working with and they went to church for the first time in five years!! Super pumped about that!! We also found a woman that knows a lot about the church but that had her daughter pass away in a moto accident two months ago, and we had a great first experience with her, and are super excited to go back to visit her again. The work is definitely going good, and we are making some really good progress, and we have some big hopes for this week as well! We are working with so much potential, and I know that it will soon pay off!! Im so grateful for the plan of salvation and for my eternal family!
This week we have a bunch of activities in the ward and stake because everyone is taking advantage of the vacations, and then on saturday we are going to Tacuarembo for a conference with half the mission and Elder Viñas of the 70, a uruguayo!! I am super pumped!! so we are in for another great week as well!! I love you guys soo much!!! Take care!
Con amor,

Elder Degn

ps, turning into the uruguayo doing the bbq for the zone today at our zone activity at the beach, super boss!

The lone wolf...Feb. 9, 2015

Hey guys this week has been great! Full of some ups and downs, but thats how it goes some times! We tried really hard getting back to everyone we had been working with these past couple of weeks, and trying to help them get going on the road. The hardest step really is the first here. It takes so much time it seems like getting someone to read, or to go to church, or to do them constantly, and with that comes a lot of diligence and patience. We taught another lesson to our young friends this week and there are actually a couple that show genuine interest, and we are trying to teach them more, but this weekend they went on a little fishing outing and werent able to go to church. Its hard with the river so darn close, actually wish that they had invited us, sounds pretty nice to be honest:) They are coming along well, we are just going to need to teach them more and asnwer their questions and they will be all set. Our other top investigators werent feeling well this weekend, so that also put a hole in our plans, but they are coming along. It also amazes me how every person you teach has a different level of understanding and can take a different pace of teaching. Really interesting actually. We are also teaching a whole ton of menos activos and that is probably the hardest part for me. So many people that have been faithful members for so long and then drop off for some reason or another. It is something that I have learned a lot about, and there are a lot of families that we are really trying to help right now and hopefully we can help them. We also went on divisions this week and I went with a Peruano named Elder Durrand that ends the mission in two weeks, and lets just say that I never want to end the mission. Between talking to him and thinking about Hannah, I had enough about the end of the mission for awhile. Also makes you realize how much you love your own comp after divisions, no matter how good of friends you are with other missionaries, you are meant to be with your comp. This week we also are going to Montevideo on Thursday for consilio with Pres. and the ZLs of the mission. I am really excited for it and the direction we are going to get from our leaders. Going to be fun to see a lot of friends again as well. Also, it has been super hot this week. Nice and crispy, just like I like it. I also got the package with protien, it got wrecked on the way here, but I was able to salvage most of it, and it is awesome having it! Thanks a ton! I love you guys so much and hope you have a good week with Hannah! Give her a big hug for me!!!

 I cant believe either that the time has come so quickly that the faithful Hermana Degn has come to the end of her days in the mission field...She really has fought the good fight and given her all to the Lord in these 18 months. It is a honor for me to wear the same name as her on my placa and represent our family here in Uruguay. Something that I have thought about is how interesting it is that when a missionary ends the mission it seems like the constant battle between good and evil that they have been fighting doesnt end. They leave but the fight continues, almost without anybody even knowing that you served or that you made a difference. No matter how much you did or did not do, the battle will always wage on. And so it will wage in Peru, and so it wages in Uruguay, and so it wages in Utah, but the Lord send his soldiers where He needs them. The hope lies in knowing that we are doing our part, not allowing the darkness to win OUR battle, letting the Adversary know that where we are there will be light also, and that he shall not win. We cannot change all the world at once, but we will change the world one person at a time. One child of God at a time. Luckily, I am not alone in the army of God. I have brothers and sisters at my left and at my right, In Scotland, Korea, The Philipeans and in the four corners of the earth I have brothers that fight for the light. The enemy is stronger than ever before, but the Lord was ready, too ready. For that reason He sounded the call to all the world that Today is the Day to defend your belief, wherever you may be. The Lord calls deciples, and he calls them FOREVER. For that reason I am here, for that reason I will fight; here, at home, and wherever I might go. The battle might not end today, or tomorrow, but one day it will end, and He will say the work is done. Until then, we will go on, and His work will continue, it cannot be contained. I am so proud and humbled to be a part of His modern day army, and to shine the light He has given me to the world, and whether it be big or small the difference that I make, I will do my best. Because the only person that knows everything is God; and I do not fear man more than God. He knows what I have done and what everyone has done, and will continue to put his soldiers where he needs them. Keep on fighting Hermana Degn! 

All my love, 

Elder Degn

See it. Own it. Solve it!

Hey folks, don't worry, I'm almost home too!!! Haha just kidding but enserio, it will be a lot nicer to get my personalized letter from everyone again, no offense to Hannah, just I'm tired of feeling like I'm going home in a week. It honestly is hard for me to believe that we have reached this point in time, and I cannot believe that Hannah will be home in a week and a half!! Honestly blows my mind! I am SO, SO grateful that the mission for me is two years, but I think that the Lord had it planned that way. I cannot imagine going home right now, I'm in my prime!!! We have got work to do!! Speaking of which, our area is exploding!!! We saw so many milagros this week that it wasn't even funny! We first off found an awesome young family that has little kids and that has had a couple of people pass away recently in the family and that really opens the door to a lot of really good questions that we just so happen to have the answers for. We basically taught the plan of salvation right there and set something up to come back and teach some more which they accepted!! On top of all of that, they are already married!! Vamo arriba!! That was honestly an awesome find! The next day we were working in a part of the area that we haven't worked very much before and a group of teenage boys playing soccer in the street yelled something quite charming about missionaries, *cough* and so we went over and started talking to them and it started out a little rough with about five of them, and then a few of them went and called their friends over and before long we were sitting there on the ground on the jimmy rigged futbol field talking about God and such with about 17 kids, it was awesome!! There were a couple that were very geniunely interested and on Saturday we went back and taught a little smaller group, but the ones that were interested were still there. Especially a 19 year old kid named Lucas had a bunch of questions and genuine concerns, and we had a great lesson with him there and taught him how to be forgiven for everything bad he has done, invited him to church and to be baptized and he accepted both, and went to church with us yesterday!! It was amazing! We were a little worried at first because the atmosphere in the chapel was a little bit cold for a new person, but slowly it got better and better and we ended with a super spiritual sacrament meeting that  just put the bow on it all. He loved it and is going to help us invite his other friends too!! Love it so much!! The work here in Paysandú is really starting to take off after a long time being super tranquilo. That is what we are here for, elevate your vision and get it done!! See it. Own it. Solve it. Do it! PAYSANDÚ ES NUESTRA! 

Paysandu! Semana 2--January 26, 2015

Hey guys sounds like you are all doing really well, enjoying the winter blues:) Just kidding, but enjoy it while you've got it. It is getting pretty hot here still, but at least the nights are cooling down a little bit. I also got our family Christmas card this week, and dang, we look good. Just saying, even though I miss not having mom and dad in there. I also get a little sad looking at Disneyland every day, but oh well, over it. 

This week was awesome though! I love opening area so much! This week we went the both of us to do a special divisions with a companionship that is opening an area in Young, (pronounced shune) about an hour away. We went to give them just a full day working with two companionships in their area to find a bunch of new people. It was honestly an awesome experience because we found a bunch of sweet people for them to teach and really fortified our own testimonies about finding more people. It was really probably the first day that I did not sit down for a long time. A whole bunch of contacting. Definitely worth the effort though. Our own area is doing great as well! It honestly has so much potential! We have two families of investigators that we are really working really hard with, one is very new that we found last week, and the other has talked with the missionaries for three years, but never really took any desicions. With the new family they are very excited to talk to us and are great people and live super close to the church! They are religious but don't go to any church(miracles!) and are really open to learn more. With the other family it is a little more complicated, it is a woman and her granddaughters, and they all seem like members already. It is nuts I swear. They have been to church once in these three years with missionary visits but we had a great lesson with them where we really just were very clear with them saying right now is the time to act! Hoy es el dia!! And they took it super well and committed to going to church this next week! Really got our fingers crossed for both of them. That is just the top two of a big group, we have been finding a bunch people, and going through for the second time really to the promising ones. 

Then come the menos activos....probably half of the people in our area are baptized, it is ridiculous. Almost every house has someone that is a member it feels like. They just all stay home. But we have found a bunch of them and there are three big families that have shown a bunch of potential and desire to come back to church! They are really such good people and just need more help and motivation to help them stay steady for awhile and get their own firm testimony. It was just sad because none of them made it to church because they couldn't get up in time. Darn old habits... But they will get there! We are super excited for these guys! Half of our area is made up of two pretty sketchy neighborhoods, sketchy to everyone here, but not that bad really, just crazy teenagers. It doesn't bother us that much because we were both in Cerro, I'm bigger than all of them, and my comp is from the favelas in Brazil. Lets just say he knows how to handle the situation...no one has messed with us yet. Ha but the other day I had my wallet on me because we had to travel(usually never have it), and I just had it in my pocket still, and we were on our way out of the area to catch the bus, and two kids both probably younger than twelve passed by on a motorcycle and the one on the back grabbed my wallet in on the outside of my pants and let go just as the drove by, just trying to send the message. Message accepted:) So yeah, we are loving our area and loving the work! We just talk to everyone and it is awesome!! 

Thank you guys for everything you do, I love you tons!!!

Lo melhor,

Elder Degn
ps, this is the front balcony of our house overlooking the main street, 18 de julio. Yes, we do have a 20 ft TV...

 Cooking in our cute kitchen

 Bridge to Argentina!!!