August 10th to August 17th

August 10th 2009
Monday was spent preparing for the new missionaries they call “OROS” (gold) that are coming in on Tuesday morning. We worked on reimbursements and other tasks in the office.
August 11th 2009
Tuesday started really early. We awoke at 5:00AM to get ready and be at the office at 7:00 AM in order to leave for the airport at 7:15 to pick up the new missionaries “oros” that were coming in from the Mission Training Center in Buenas Aries Argentina. The oros had to get up at 3:30 AM to make their flight so I guess I should not complain. There were 12 new oros, 9 Elders and 3 Hermanas. It was a great group with 1 Latin Elder and 1 Latin Hermana and the rest from USA. We loaded them in to a large bus and sent their luggage in the Mission truck and van and took them to the Hostel which is kind of hotel that is in the complex by the Temple. It is for members that travel long distances to stay in while they attend the temple. It is very nice and the price is very reasonable. It is also used to house the missionaries as the are coming to and from the country. There are meeting rooms for presentations and big kitchens to prepare meals and dining rooms to eat in.
The missionaries arrived at the Hostel and unloaded their luggage and then we all got back on the buss and went into Montevideo to do blood test, urine test and a physical exam for immigration into Uruguay. That took about 2 hours and then we went back to the Hostel and were given presentations by the Mission President & Hermana Da Silva, Mission Secretaries, Mission Financial Secretaries. They had a lot of information to gather in and remember. Then we were given a light lunch. They were given about 4 hours to rest and do some paperwork. We all left and went back to work at the office. Later that afternoon we went back and there were more presentations from the Assistants to the President and then they had a large dinner and more meeting. Janice and I left after the Assistants presentations and went to the apartment of the Halloday's in the Hostel, they are Temple Missionaries and they let us use their phone to call our daughter Christina to discuss some bills that had came in the mail and then went home for the evening.
August 12th 2009
Wednesday we worked the office while the other missionaries went to the main bus depot where all the other missionaries and the oros met for changes. The trainers meet their new oros and the other missionaries that are being transferred and catch the bus to their new areas. It is quite a busy day for the office Elders.
August 13th 2009
Thursday we worked in the office while the office Elders took Hermana's and Elders to the airport at various times. It was late morning and President Da Silva came to the office and called all the Elder into his office for an “Office Meeting” . When they got out we asked what the meeting was about. He informed them that one of the Area Authorities would be coming to visit the mission in September and most of the meeting would take place at the Mission Office and it needed to be cleaned and organized. He also told them that our Mission was spending way to much money on medical items and they were asked to try to find ways to save money.
August 14th 2009
Friday we worked on reimbursements and other tasks in the office. Hermana Hegerhorst heard me reminding the Financial Elders about a commitment they had made to deliver a bed to some missionaries. She volunteered us to go and deliver the bed on Saturday.
August 15th 2009
Saturday is our P-Day and we got up early and quickly cleaned the house and went to the office at 9:00 AM to get the bed in the Mission truck and deliver it to San Jose to the missionaries the needed the new bed. When we arrived at the office it went from 1 bed to 2 beds. There was one bed in pretty good shape but the other had to be rebuilt and new hardware purchased to hold it together. The hardware store did not have the bolts we needed so I purchase a long section of threaded rod and made my own bolts with nuts and washers. The Mission has very few tools so I had to purchase some tools to get the job done. It is a bit frustrating trying to fix things with no tools. I was hoping to beat the traffic and get through town early but it was noon before the beds were repaired so we could get on the road. Hermana Hegerhorst navigated and I drove. We were really blessed to make it though the city and out to San Jose without an incident. The driver here think traffic rules are suggestions to be loosely followed. You have to be very defensive or you will get cut off and in an accident. It is nothing to see 4 cars going side by side on a 2 lane road. When we got to San Jose, Hermana Hegerhorst called Elder Wall from the cell phone and told him were were almost in town and could he give us directions to his house. It turned out there was one Elder (from Peru) that spoke no English and the other just arrived in the area on Wednesday during the changes. His map was not complete and he could not find the road we were on so he had us stop at a know landmark and they rode their bikes to us. We loaded their bikes on the truck and put the Elder's in the back seat of the crew cab pickup and took them back to their apartment and exchanged beds with them. They kept the best of their beds to give to a young lady that does not have a bed frame. We then headed back to Montevideo. The round trip took about 4 ½ hours. It was great to see the city, the countryside and spend some time out of the house. I hope they send us on other trips. While we had the truck we went grocery shopping and then took the truck back so the Elders could use it in the evening. Elder Sessions and Jacobson took us home when they went to their area to work for the evening.
August 16th 2009
Sunday we awoke to a thunder, lighting, wind and rain storm the temperature had dropped about 40 degrees from the day before. The Elder's picked us gave us ride to church, none of their investigators came to church with them. We met with our Young Single Adults during Sunday School time and discussed what activities they would like to do. They are supposed to bring a list of activities they would like to do next week. They also decided that it would be great to learn and English so we volunteered to give English lessons on Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM. Now all I have to do is figure out how to teach English. This is going to be interesting. Gratefully the missionaries agreed to come and be our translators.
We were invited to dinner at the Wilson's apartment next to the Temple at 3:00PM with the Wilson's and the Rice's. The Rices are from Canada. It was great to visit with them and enjoy a great meal. The Rice's are going home in November and Wilson's and 11 months before they go home. Later that evening we met with President & Sister Hopkins of the Temple. We needed to get some advise from a former mission president on what a senior couple could do to be better utilized in the office. It was great to get some advise and them they gave us a ride home.
August 17th 2009
Monday we worked at the office for 1 ½ hours and then went to President & Hermana Da Silva's house for a meeting and a lunch. After the lunch we went back to the office for 30 minutes and then took the truck into the shop to be repaired. It had been hit by a motorcycle a few months earlier. We then went home to await a representative from Antel to install our new DSL line into the house for internet. We were given a window from 2PM to 6PM to for them to arrive. It is now 5:49 and then have not arrived :-( We are making a cake for our landlady (Cristina Sosa) it is her birthday today. Cristina came but the house and called Antel to find out why they had not came to install the internet without us even asking her to do it. She is very funny and teases us about many things. At about 8PM the bell for the front gate rang and it was the guy from Antel to install the internet. There is no such thing as a schedule down here! It is really taking some getting used to and I am not sure I really have yet! He installed the modem and then handed us an instruction sheet for installation in Window Vista and left. Oh of course the instructions are all in Spanish and most of the words are not in the dictionary so we called the Missionaries, Elders Sessions and Jacobson to come over and translate. They were not a lot of help so I struggled through it and installed it by trial and error. It worked for a short time and then stopped working. It was bedtime and the frustration level was growing so I called it a night.