Week 6 in Montevideo

This is some of the packaging we find at the stores.

Bottom left is a very tasty liquid yogurt, this flavor is peach, They come in bags apprx. 1 liter

Bottom Center is milk again in the 1 liter bag

Bottom Right is a 5 liter bottle of water

Top left is a box of tomato paste

Top left /middle is a bag of ketchup

Top middle / right is a bag of mayoniase

Top right is a bag of milk in the little pictures they use. The bag is placed into the picture and the corner is trimmed off an you pour out of that opening.

Cans and bottles are not used nearly as much as in the USA

Wednesday August 19th
We met the Halloday's that are serving at the Temple at a street market close to were we get off from the bus. The market sold vegetables like, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onions, avocados, corn, turnips, strawberries, bananas and many other that I don't know what they are. There were drivable trucks with the back ends built into meat markets and cheeses of all sorts. We bought some of the vegetables but shyed away from the meat markets. It was great to visit with the Halloday's and the Wilson's, Hopkins that arrived later to the market.
We met with President Da Silva today. He stopped by the office to see if a package had arrive for him and we asked to speak with him. We told him we were frustrated and that we needed to feel like we were contributing to the Mission. We feel that we are not being used to are full capacity and don't feel like we are contributing. We told him on things we would like to help with and asked what we could do to lighten his load. He told us that we were needed and that he would think about the problem and get back with us.
Thursday August 20th
President Da Silva & Hermana Da Silva came to the office this morning and held a brief meeting with the office staff. In the meeting he indicated to the Elders that they had high goals of the number of people they needed to baptize each week and that they should be working harder and smarter. He then told them that we have the Hegerhorst's and they are not being utilized to their full potential and that they should train us and then we could take some of the office duties off their shoulders and allow them more time to be out in their areas to spread the gospel. He then told them that we were going to be the Office Managers as of Monday. He told them that when their work was done for the day that they could go out and work! They were excited about that. The Executive secretaries immediately pulled me a side and started training me on what they do.
Later that afternoon President and Sister Hopkins (Temple President) called and said they would like to take us to the store and show us around and make sure we were comfortable buying things and knew what we were buying and where to buy things. We had figured most of the stuff out but they shared a few new insights which will be helpful.
Later that night we went to dinner with President and Hermana Da Silva and discussed ways that we might be able to help in the Mission. We enjoyed the meal and we were able to communicate better with them. Our Spanish is coming very slowly but it is coming.
Friday August 21st
We wanted to get to the office early and get started on the things we needed to do so we arrived at the bus so went to the bus stop at 9:00 AM in order to catch the 9:10 AM bus. We waited until 10:05 and our bus never came by. We hailed a taxi and made it to the office at 10:15AM. We found out later that day that a bus driver had been shot and that the other bus drivers don't got work when that happens. It sure makes it miserable for all the stranded travelers. I guess it a law that the person that dies must be buried in 24 hours so the other bus drivers will be back to work next week.
The Executive Secretaries cornered me first thing and trained me on what they were going to do that day and I took over and they went and did other things and then left the office to work in their area. I spent the day building the packets for the new “ORO” that will be coming in September 22nd. I got them and most of 30 extras done in one day. I will be able to focus on other activities Monday.
Saturday August 22nd
We awoke early to clean the house and other chores prior to Elders Sessions and Jacobson coming over to have Hermana help them bake a cake for one of their investigators. Her name is Alba and it is her birthday. While the Elders were here they got a call from some Elders serving about an hour away that their water heater was out and what the prices would be for another. They said they would try to install the water heater but they needed the money to purchase it. For some reason the system they use to transfer money around in Uruguay called “Abitab”does not work in the area (Penarol) these missionaries are assigned. We volunteered to take them the money and to help them install the water heater. It turned out to be more complicated than expected. The store they were going to buy the water heater from closed at 1:30 and we arrived at 3:00. We went to another store and purchase and different brand of water heater. It turned out the bracket on the heater was high on the old heater and lower on the new so the new heater would fit on the bracket without hitting the ceiling. We needed to install new wall bolts (in concrete) for the water heater to rest on. I did not have a drill or bits to drill into concrete. So the missionaries called several of their members and finally found one that had a drill and bits that were several sizes too small but it was better than nothing. I drilled the holes and about 3 inches into the wall I hit something hard in both hole. The bolts were about 4 inches longs so we had to cut an inch of each so they would fit correctly. Then the plug that came with the heater was different so we needed to find an adapter to convert the plug on the water heater to the plug on the wall. We went to 4 stores and finally found one. We started back to the Mission Office at 5:50 PM. The Elders at the office had appointments and needed the one car that we were driving (the other is in the shop being repaired). We called them and told them that we were going to be late and made plans to meet up with them. We made record time and got the car back to them. We had to hurry home and put icing on the cake so the missionaries could take it to Alba and surprise her. They did and we went to deliver a plate of cookies to Carolina Carrales whose birthday it was also. She is the Ward's YSA representative for the Hermana's. She is a great young lady and is taking the Mission Preparation classes to prepare for a mission in December. She really enjoyed to cookies and asked Janice to teach her how to make them. We then walked to the grocery store to get somethings we needed for tomorrow. We got home about 9:00PM and were very tired from a long day.
Sunday August 23rd
We awoke later than normal because I forgot to set the alarm clock. It still gave us 2 ½ hour to get ready for church. We were able to study the lessons to be taught in Sunday School and Priesthood Meeting. The Missionaries arrived at 9:00 AM and we went over to talk to one of their investigators to see if she was going to go to church with them. She told them that she had to go to a street market to buy leather that she uses in her work. The missionaries were frustrated that this will be an on going problem.
We went to Church and were able to understand a little bit more that we were able to understand previously. We were able to participate in the Sunday School class which as about the martyrdom of Joseph & Hyrum Smith. We had picture of the Carthage Jail and were able to show them the the class members and explain to them the feeling we had in the rooms and what occurred in them.
After Church Janice prepared a great meal and we Skyped Mitch and Cassie for a short time and then the internet kept dropping us off. It was very frustrating as it would let us on and then drop us. After the 4th time we said goodbye.
I worked on the blog and Janice worked on emails and reviewing the office manual.