Eloy! I love this man...

Hey my dear family!! With a full heart I send you my love and especially to my boy Mafatu. I had a sharp feeling of deja vu...it is impossible to forget the sweetness of victory or the bitterness of defeat. I'm grateful to have experienced both. Defeat makes us work harder and be better. There will be more games to be played. #traditionofexellence 

This has been a great and very, very, very, busy week. It was the week of changes and all the ZLs of Montevideo spend the day in the bus terminal sending and receiving missionaries to and from all over the country. It was very exciting seeing all of the missionaries ending the mission arrive early in the morning and head to the mission home and then later see all the new missionaries arrive with their companions to head out to their new area, mixed with all the friends I saw in between and it was a crazy mix of emotions the whole day! Thankfully everything worked out very smoothly, and we were able to sleep all night;) 

We were running around like crazy after that trying to get to all of the people that we needed to visit. We gave Katy her first triple (Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of great price) and she was so excited and we explained it and read some together and she understands so well and wants to just keep learning! We visited the mother of Juan, he is still in the hospital taking care of his grandpa, so we have only been able to talk with him over the phone, but he was so disapointed to not be able to be baptized on the day we had set up, but he is reading the Book of Mormon still and has completely quit smoking! His mom was telling us how she can't believe that he just up and quit. She offered him the other day a cigarette and he told her that he doesn't want to smoke and doesn't feel the need to anymore. So he quit!! It was awesome for us to hear and we are really excited to see him again and help him get to his baptism! 

Speaking of victory and defeat, I recieved a call on Saturday from the missionaries in Cerro 1, my old ward, and they were with the bishop who told them to call me because my good friend Eloy that was baptized while I was there was killed in an accident while he was  riding his bike. It was very unexpected news, and I felt that sudden surge of mixed emotions thinking about my old friend, and I felt peace. Grateful for the knowledge I have and for the privilege that was mine to get to know Eloy and help him learn about the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel that allows us to find peace and comfort in this hectic world in which we live, and to have faith and hope for something more glorious than we can presently imagine, the eternal life. Eloy was one of the most simple and practical person I have ever met. He was so humble but had a large heart, always helping people without being asked. I was looking forward to seeing him again before I headed home, but now I will be waiting a little bit more to see him again. But I know that I will! I love this gospel and I know that this is the true church of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. In his name, Amen.

I love you guys tons and am so grateful to be in this family!!
Todo mi amor,

Elder Degn

ps. I sent Elder Bentley off to Brazil this week, most likely the last time I will see him in the mission. I love this guy so much! Brothers for life!!   

 My friend and awesome missionary, Hermana Dow.

Elder Bentley!!

My sweet friend, Eloy.

Cerro 8!!!

 GLad to hear that everyone is still doing well and super busy, VAM´ ARRIBA BINGHAM BASEBALL! GO get em Matt! Im pulling for you guys down here, I hope everything goes well! Today has been super crazy, it is the last pday of the change and all the Montevideo zones have permision to go to the temple. So we went!! It was amazing! I havent been in six months and it makes such a big difference! The only problem is that we are the farthest away,  litterally on the opposite extreme of Montevideo, so we got up early and rode on a city bus for a hour and a half to get there. Then we just got back a little bit ago. I don't want to ride buses again for a long time....but it was totally worth it!! 

This week has been great though, the big highlight is changes......I am going to be Elder Gonzalez´s last comp! We are staying together! We are both super excited but both feel kinda goofy thinking that he ends this change and that I'm not that far behind him. It really doesn't feel real because it goes by so fast and every change goes by faster! But we are super pumped to keep working in Cerro 8! This week was great, we had the confirmation of Graciela who is soooo happy! It has been amazing to see the change in her before and after, she is so much happier and I dont really know why! (Alright I do know why but it has been such a drastic change that it has been a shock to us too) Her dad never let us go to her house but he wanted us to come by to meet him this week and so we went kinda nervous, she lives is a pretty rough spot of the nighborhood, and we got there and there was a sketchy group of guys on the corner, and the dad came out and yelled all the rules that he was going to put for us to go, but he will let us go to there house now which is progress! (But we did get out of there at marching speed;) We had awesome visits with Juan this week, he is basically quit smoking which has been a miracle in and off istelf, and has full-heartedly accepted all the other commandments, and is progressing soo well! The only thing was that this week his grandma was hospitalized in a emergency and he had to spend the night and Sunday morning watching her so he couldn't go to church but we talked with him and everything is good, we are just going to have to push his baptism back a little bit, but it is all going to work out. I love this guy so much! Also, update on Katy, she is doing sooo good!! She reads and studies so much and everytime we go to her house she has more questions and is learning so much! She just wants more, she is progressing so well still, I love it! 

We are doing great here and are sooo excited for this next change, I know that the work is being hastened and that we need to be the instruments in His hands!! I love you guys so much, thank you for everything!!
Love,

Elder Degn

Baptism!! (May 11, 2015)

Hey kids it was sooo awesome to see you all yesterday!! I love you guys so much! The truth is that I kinda felt weird thinking that it was the last time, I think my mind has accepted the fact that I will always be in Uruguay. It doesn't make sense going home, it's weird I know, but we will just see what happens I guess. This week was really amazing! Our area is really pumping super well right now, the highlight of this week was the baptism of Graciela! It was awesome to see her happy and content to be able to take this step that she has wanted to take for a long time. The program went well and it was great to have the family of Elder Toledo present as well. 

We also are super excited for Juan who is progresing soo well right now! He has been reading a ton in the Book of Mormon and has gone to everything for the past three weeks. He is excited for his baptism in two weeks and we are just working on teaching him everything that he needs to know to be baptized. We are also trying to help his mom, she is there but isn't quite convinced yet. (Its because she doesn't read the Book of Mormon) but she supports him and everything, so that helps a ton! 

Honestly, I don't really have anything more to say, we covered it all yesterday...that would be so efficiant every week right? Haha joking, just joking;) For reals though, I love you guys soooooo much and loved seeing you! I love what I do and I KNOW that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. Thank you for everything that you do for me!!
Con todo mi amor

Elder Degn

ps. Graciela!!

Bowling Champ!!!

Hey guys whats up!? Happy almost Mothers day!!! Alright jk but I am also really excited to talk to you guys too this sunday! Today we headed out again to the centro with Elder Toledo because it is his last Pday so we went around as he wanted, buying goodies and playing bowling! Im sooo excited to go and play bowling again! I had to break a little of the rust off in the beginning but I ended up coming out on top! Gonzalez surprized me by playing very well and it was really close but I came through in the clutch in the last frame. It is so weird being with Toledo in his last week, he was suposed to end last change but he extended so he ends right now. His family is coming to get him from Chile, and we are going to be having a little bit of a ward hoedown with them all on Thursday, then he leaves to go visit his other areas with his family. Im really excited to get to meet them, and then say by...haha but it will be awesome for them, everyone loves Toledo. 

This week was SOOOO awesome!!!! We are working with a a couple of really awesome families that are progressing super good, but this week we had some aweosome charlas!! Our number one investigator is Juan who I told you about last week I think, he came to all the activies last week and we visited them this week and he absolutely blew our minds. We drilled them pretty good to read the book of mormon and he said that he started, read a couple pages, felt dumb for reading a book, set it down, and then he said it happened. He said that he had the craziest feeling that he could not describe that entered in his body and told him to keep reading. He read half of first nephi that night and when we got there he explained so well the first thirteen chapters to us and we were both sitting there with our jaws hanging open...the spirit is the best teacher there is!! We invited him to be baptized and he answered ´¨ What do I need to do?" He was ready to do anything and everything! He came to church again and is helping out his mom a ton as well! I am soo excited for him!! He is such a boss! 

We also got back into contact with our other investigator Graciela that we lost contact of the other week and had a really good charla as well. She was getting all ready to be baptized before we lost her, and so we talked and she is all set, she is going to get baptized this thursday by Elder Toledo, the missionary that found her a year ago when he was in this ward for the first time. Awesome right? They are both pretty excited! Us too, she understands the gospel and commandments so well for someone that is getting to know the church. Her life is really tough, but she does a really big effort to be obedient to all of the commandments and to read the book of mormon, which she has almost finished. Above everything she is a big example to me for the effort she makes to do what she does. Thursday is going to be a awesome day!

There are a lot of people that we are working with to help them progress and that in this moment have a lot of potential and we are so excited to see where this next week takes them!! I love where I am and I love what I do! I know the Book of Mormon is the WORD OF GOD and that it was written for our day. IT IS THE KEY!!! 

I love you all so much and am so grateful for all that you do for me!! 

Love you guys! See you on Sunday!!!
Elder Degn

April 27, 2015

Hey guys whats up!? Two things, first off, that is the biggest trophy I have ever seen Bella!! Its bigger than you guys!! Congrats Bells! Also Congrats to Mafatu, the big 16! Super crazy that he is already 16! Everyone is growing up way to fast! Just keep his hands off the car keys is my only advice for now:) Today was super fun because we went to Downtown Montevideo to go walk around, and it was awesome but really nastalgic all at the same time. I was like ´ooh this place, and oh I remember that and this..´   yeah it was really fun. Downtown is such a crazy place, first time in the big city for almost a year, and it really is so much diferent than all the other places in the country. It was awesome to go look around again though. 

But this week was absolutely awesome!!! The conference with Elder Oaks was SOO GOOD!! We all got to go shake his hand which was so cool! It was funny because I was sitting next to Elder Toledo (my old comp whom I live with) waiting for the conference to start and we were talking about the mission and life, and how he has super mixed emotions about going home and what to do and all that fun stuff, and then when Elder Oaks started talking he started right off the bat talking about the importance of life after the mission especially marriage! HAHAHAHA it was so funny to give Elder Toledo a little shoulder shrug and we both laughed, ah it was awesome though. He also focused on being a instrument in the lords hands. He used a example of a pen, that does nothing for itselft, only the work of whose hands it is in. Also that the pen doesn't decide when to write and when not to write, the writer expects the pen to be ready 24/7, hence, full-time missionaries. We are here to do His work when He wants, not our work when we want. (Even Pday;) Really a awesome conference and a awesome lesson. I was decently close to the stand, and Elder Oaks voice is just like conference, funny, but still awesome for me to see and hear in person!!!

This week we also had a huge ward activity where we showed the movie ´Meet the Mormons´ We invited a ton of people and we had a really good turnout, and everyone loved the movie! It is so good and a great way to get to know the church.  I was sitting by a couple where he is member and she isn't, and after the movie (especially the part about the missionary mom) she was teary eyed and looked at me and said, ´now I understand so much, thank you for doing what you do.´ Fa that hit me like a wall. I love what I do and as much as I miss my family there is nothing that I would give to be anywhere else in the world. Also we are teaching a awesome family right now, named Juan his mom Reina, and his daughter milagros. The came to the church for the activity, the baptism, and the sunday services!! They are soo boss and so excited! They are such great people and have been progressing so fast, I am so pumped to see where this week goes for us!
And the best for last, we had the baptism of Katy!!! She is so awesome and is a huge example for me because she has been working so hard to learn as much as she can. She studies a full and has learned so much! She was baptized by the son of her friend that introduced her to the gospel. He is 20 but is slightly challenged mentally, but has the priesthood and was autorized to do it, but wanted someone to help him, so I suited up and helped him in the font. It was really fun to be a part of, helping him get the prayer right and getting her whole body in the water. Took a couple of tries{7}, but worked out great in the end! She brought a bunch of family and friends to her baptism, and it was really just a great day. I love what I do and where I am. There is nothing better!! 

I love you guys so much and am so grateful to be a part of this great family!! Keep on keeping on!!
Con todo mi amor,

Elder Degn

 Sweet baptism of Katy!

 How to cut down trees...

April 20, 2015

hey guys whats real? Glad to hear that everyone is still keeping busy;) just the usual right? Honestly I'm just slightly alarmed at how old everyone looks ( apart from hannah of course:) but just tell everyone to slow down please!! 

So I'm sorry that I didn't say anything before because I forgot, but the highlight of the week is that tomorrow we are having a big day. In the morning we are having a all-mission conference in the one and only stake center here in Cerro, so we spent all morning setting everything up, but its a big deal because it has been almost a year since the last one. Its pretty tough to get 220 missionaries to the same place. But after the mission conference we are all going to the other side of Montevideo for a conference with the other mission featuring Elder Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! Crazy Right!? I'm super pumped because I have never been to a small conference like this and seen a member of the 12 like this before!! Everyone is going kinda crazy getting ready for it but it is going to be amazing! Im so excited to hear from him and get some revelatoin!! So yeah its going to be a big tomorrow and I cant wait!!

Apart from all of that fun jazz this past week was awesome! We are really focusing and helping the members of the ward get excited and feel the spirit about being active themselves and then spreading the good word, and what we have been taught to use is the doctrine of the gathering of Israel. It is a subject that many people do not know very much about, so it is something that opens their minds and they feel the spirit of the reality of the work and feel the urgency to do it, and then they start feeling about the people that they know that are in a position where they could accept the gospel. It is really amazing how the spirit works like that, but it has been increadible to see the desires that peolpe have to share the gospel when they feel the need for it in their own lives and in the lives of those they love. It also strengthens their own testimony, and the result is awesome! This week was one of the few times in my mission where probably 90% of the people we tought that needed the visit went to church. It was increadible!! Katy, our investigator, went again even though she came strait from work and had barely slept in the past two days! She is super excited for her baptism that is going to be on this saterday!! Her friend that passed the reference is also very excited, I think their family is coming from the other part of Montevideo for the baptism too. We aren't sure what happened with Graciela because we had a good charla with her and everything was going good, but she didnt come to church, and are phone doesnt have money so we werent able to call her to find out. she has a very dificult family life, and I really just hope she is alright. 

Elder Gonzales is a boss and I love being with him because we get along great and teach really well together. Our area is AMAZING and we have sooo much to do! We have been finding and teaching members like crazy and we also have a good group of investigators right now as well. There is so much potential and we are already seeing the lives of many people change. What I have re-learned this week is that the greatest happiness you can find in life is in the gospel. And that no sacrifice is too great. He knows us, He loves us, and He wants us to FOLLOW HIM. And so I will follow. For the rest of my life. I know the church is true. I know that we are involved in a great and marvelous work, much greater than we can imagine. I love you all, thank you for everything!!! 

Love,

Elder Degn

ps. This morning we got up super early and ran to the beach on the other side of the cerro, and we ran and chilled at the beach and then studied down there. So pumped to go back to cali and see the beach again. Sooooo beautiful in the morning!!!

April 13, 2015--El Cerro!!

Hey guys sounds like everyone had a pretty good week apart from joshy boy #cararota jaja sorry buddy, glad to hear that it was all for a good cause though:) I also loved the foto of my man parker!! Thank you guys so much for inviting him over and treating him good. He definitely deserves it and I hope that you were able to tell him how much I love him too. It was tough leaving Elder Silva and Paysandu, but they are all in good hands. This past week in el cerro has been awesome!! My comp Elder Gonzalez is a boss and we get along really well and work really well together as well. The area is pumping right now as well as the whole zone, this place is a animal in and of itself! Our ward has had a good amount of baptisms recently and so we have plenty of work to do helping them stay on the path, and we have two investigators lined up right now to be baptized in two weeks! One is named Graciela and is a really big example for me. She is 24 and comes from a very very difficult family situation but comes to church without fail and has been reading the book of mormon for the past couple of months, and is really excited to be able to be baptized now. She is so funny because she likes chatting with us about everything and then when she is kinda by herself for a minute she starts writing in a little journal. I dont really know what she writes about, but she just smiles the whole time so I think they are jokes about us:) But apart from her there is an older woman that is coming to church as well named Katy that was introduced to the church by her lawyer and loves learning and talking as well! She lives really far away  but takes the bus with the other members that live out there. Our ward is awesome and huge!! It is one of the biggest and oldest wards in Uruguay. President Smith started his mission in this area when he served here, and so he comes every now and then to visit his converts and go to church. It is really weird to have a area where everyone knows him basically, but it is really sweet at the same time. Also we share a ward with two other missionaries, and one is Elder Toldeo! He served in this ward a year ago and now has come back here to finish his mission. It is crazy being with him again and living together again, well kinda, he lives upstairs and we live downstairs and they arent connected so there isnt a ton of interaction, but its still fun! Our house is super nice as well, literally next to the forteleza. On the first street down. Really sweet just kind of a killer to hike to every time we go home. Im soo excited to work in this area and be able to see the miracles that will happen! 

I love you guys so much and hope you all have a good week!
Con amor,

Elder Degn

ps. My comps sister is in Utah right now visiting friends from her mission, Im going to pass him our address and see if she wants to pass by to visit. (if she wants that is) She is in west valley, so really close. Just a heads up, thanks!!
pss. Me and Gonzalez at the forteleza!!

 Oh...Montevideo!

 At Forteleza