Week 21 in La Paloma

Sunday, November 29, 2009.
Today's election day in Uruguay, they're selecting a new president today! In Uruguay they must vote or they get fined. Because of this we have only the sacrament meeting of the full three hour block of meetings. Elder Espinola give a talk on sustaining your leaders and not murmuring or gossiping. Marta Huton gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. After sacrament meeting we had lunch with the missionaries and Ruben.

Monday November 30, 2009
Today is preparation day and Elder Walbeck has requested another Asado (BBQ) so he can learn how to cook the chicken that we had for thanksgiving. We marinate it in a sauce of oil, soy sauce and 7-up. Then soak to meat overnight and it really turns out well. We also made teriyaki sauce and rice and stir fried vegetables. It was a great meal that everyone enjoyed although Elder Espinola does not like teriyaki sauce.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
This evening we went to the home of Leonardo and Leticia. Tonight I gave the temple recommended interview to Leticia. I explained what would happen throughout the day that we go to the temple. Answered her questions and gave her some counsel. Leonardo at this time has some things he is working on and will not be able to join her in the temple trip. After the interview they shared some chocolate drink and bread and some bakery treats. It was fun to get to know them better and enjoy some time with them.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Today is a busy day. We have district conference in Rocha, following district conference we have zone conference and President and Sister Da Silva will be at zone conference. We will also be interviewed by President De Silva after the zone conference. Janice and I met with President Da Silva after the Zone conference for our interviews. I asked him to communicate directly with us in the future instead of going through the missionaries. This would allow us to communicate better with him and to understand his desires and the big picture. It would also allow us to communicate our concerns and frustrations to him. I told them that in the future that when we're transferred that we needed time to organize ourselves and to plan and to be able to go find a home that my wife would be comfortable and secure in. He indicated that he would do these things in the future.
After zone conference we went to the church in La Paloma for the interviews of the five people going to the temple. The interviews went well and everyone passed!
After the interviews President and Hermana Da Silva came to our home for dinner. Janice had made a delicious meal of Chicken Alfredo with a Caesar salad and bread. For dessert she had made a lemon meringue pie which turned out wonderfully.
While she was preparing the meal I took the President and Hermana Da Silva to their hotel, which is located right on the beach. Their hotel room was on the top floor overlooking the beach. It was an awesome view, specially with the sunset going on!
Janice did not sleep well tonight, she was up thinking that she should have spoken to Pres. Da Silva and told him her frustrations and concerns. She had fought the feeling but finally had the Lord tell her to speak with Pres. Da Silva.

Thursday, December 3, 2009
We texted Pres. Da SIlva and asked him to call us before he left town. He stopped by the house at about 10AM and Janice talked with him for about an hour and after she felt much better about things that had been bothering her.
I baked cookies to share with others today.

Friday, December 4, 2009
We went to two weddings today and two receptions. They were getting married so they could be baptized into the Church. The first wedding was for Alvaro & Jenny at 3:00PM. When we arrived at the justice of peace they were already there waiting. The wedding was pretty low key, they signed a bunch of papers and stood in front of the Justice of Peace and she said a few thing and they said "yes" and it was over. We took some photos of the family and that was about it. The other wedding was Adriana and Velo at 5:00PM. When we arrived at 5:00PM none of the participants were there. A few friends were there, Velo showed a few minutes later and about 5:20 the bride showed up. It all worked out fine and they were married the same way.
The reception for Adriana and Velo was at their house right after the wedding. We went home to get a plate of cookies to take to the receptions. When we got to Adriana and Velo's with Elder Walbeck and Espinola there was only one other person there. They had set up a table outside of the house and prepared some snacks for eating. A few more people showed up and we all sat around and talked and looked at each other. After about and hour and a half we left to go to the reception for Alvaro and Jenny. It was at their house (they are living with his family). There was loud music going and about 10 friends and family in the yard. Jenny and Alvaro were busy preparing food for everyone to really enjoy the party. We stayed until 9:00PM and left with Elder Walbeck and Espinola. It was dark when we got home. They next day was the baptism for Adriana (Velo is not interested in getting baptized at this time) Jenny and Alvaro.

Saturday December 5 2009
Today is the baptism in Rocha for Adriana, Jenny and Alvaro. All those that were going needed to be at the Bus Station to take the 5:25PM bus to Rocha. We were walking to the Bus Station and walked by a vacant lot where there was a party going on and we saw Jenny and Alvaro. Jenny waved at us as we walked by. Elder Walbeck had told me earlier that they were in Rocha and would meet us at the Church. I tried calling Elder Walbeck but he did not answer the phone. When we arrived at the Bus Station I told Walbeck what I had seen and he called them and they said that they were trying to make the bus but if they did not they would take a taxi to the Church. Alvaro is a singer and he had a singing engagement at the party. It turned out they were having all sorts of technical difficulties with the microphone and other equipment that was delaying him singing. The bus came and left without them on it! Walbeck was stressed out!! We delayed the meeting in Rocha for about 15 minutes but still no Jenny and Alvaro! Finally we started the meeting at 6:45 so we could have a chance to make the 7:30PM bus back to La Paloma. The meeting went well and Adriana was baptized. We were all back in the Chapel ready to end the meeting and Jenny and Alvaro arrived they went directly into the locker rooms and changed into the baptism clothes and we proceeded to baptism them. It was really quick but they were baptized. We all made the bus and made it back to La Paloma.
When we arrived I decided to try to help Ruben get off the bus. He climbs on my back and I give him a piggy back ride out of the bus. He got on and we headed down the aisle and everything was going fine until we reached the door that separates the driver from the passengers. It is really narrow and once you get through it there are steep stairs to get to the outer bus door. The problem was that my shoulders were to wide to fit through the door and with Ruben on my back I could not turn sideways to get through the door. I am not sure how we did it but some way we wiggled through the door but I was facing the wrong direction to go down the stairs, so I had to back down the stairs to get out of the bus. We finally made it out and to his wheelchair where I sat him down into it. We walked (rolled) Ruben back to his home where we got to inspect his work. He is a painter and does mostly seascapes. We had asked him to paint the Uruguay Temple for us. We had taken a few good photos and asked if he could recreate them. He was well under way with the painting and it looked good.