Week 16 in La Paloma

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Today is the preliminary election day in Uruguay. We were told by District President to only have Sacrament meeting today. After Sacrament meeting we had Ruben and the missionaries over for lunch.

After lunch I wrote a 10 page letter to President Da Silva explaining the advantages of having sister missionaries in La Paloma. I sent this to him via e-mail.

Monday October 26, 2009

Today's preparation day. After clean around the house in the morning we went with the missionaries to visit the Faro lighthouse which is just a few blocks away from our home. Just before we left to go visit the lighthouse I checked our e-mail and we had a response back from President Da Silva. He had written a response in Spanish so I could not read it. I took it with us to the lighthouse and had Elder Walbeck translated for us. President Da Silva told us that he was not going to send sister missionaries to La Paloma and that we should seek help from the district level. This response was very discouraging. We had prayed about it and the missionaries had prayed about it and everyone had thought and it was a great idea. The assistants to the president were requesting help for housing sister missionaries and we had housing available, everything was falling into place like it was supposed to happen and and the President tells us no. We felt like we were all alone and that we were not a part of the mission. That we were out here with no support!

That evening we went to Elizabeth's for a discussion. The missionaries were reviewing the questions that she would be asked in her baptism interview. When they came to the question about tithing she proposed a solution to her tithing problem. She offered the missionaries a certain amount of money and asked them to accept it as her tithing. The missionaries asked if it was 10% of her income. She indicated that it wasn't and they told her then it was not a full tithe. They tried to teach that tithing is the Lord's way of finding out if we're willing to sacrifice for him. She got really upset and decided that she wanted to be alone so we all left and she went for a walk on the beach.

Not a really good day!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Elizabeth will not respond to the missionaries phone calls or text messages.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

We got this morning and went for early morning bicycle ride. It was good to get up and get loosened up from the night's sleep.

Still no response from Elizabeth!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Today we are invited to President Picardo's for lunch. He made us an Asado (BBQ). I don't know why but the meat that they want to grill is mostly fat, gristle, bone and very little meat. Once you make it to the meat it is pretty good. We had ridden our bicycles to his house and while we were eating lunch a thunderstorm came in so while we were riding home we got wet!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Today we had been invited to Leonardo and Leticia for lunch. We took the desert. While we were there I taught them a temple preparation class that they had missed on Sunday. Leonardo needs to be interviewed to receive the Priesthood. I was not sure what questions I needed asking during the interview so I called back home to speak to Bishop Bigelow but there was no answer at his number so I called President Taggart who was home and gave me the answers that I needed along with some scriptures that I could use to help teach Leonardo the importance of the priesthood. It was great to talk with him. Janice spoke with him as well and he helped her understand some of the questions that she has. We both appreciate his strength and advise.

Elizabeth finally answered the missionaries they were able to come back and visit with her. While they're visiting with her Janice and I realize that they were there so we knelt down and prayed that her heart would be softened and she would have the Spirit teach her the truth. The missionaries told us later that at about the same time that we were praying her heart softened and she became more interested in listening to them. Another testimony that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers.