Today, Jerry and I were scheduled to speak in Montevideo 12th Ward in our stake. It was 35-minute trip by car. When we arrived, no one was playing the piano. They just had a CD playing prelude music. I offered to play the piano, and the bishopric was overjoyed. After the sacrament hymn, I sat with Jerry on the stand.

A few minutes before the sacrament was over, I reached in our bag to get my talk (4 pages.) Much to my dimay, it was not in the bag. I remembered taking it out last night to practice it and I put it on the table to practice it this morning. There it sat, and the bishop was announcing that I would be speaking first. Jerry told me he knew I could do it, and I went up to the pulpit. Gulp. So, I told them I had a great talk prepared, but it was at home, so they needed to be patient with my poor Spanish. Of the 35-40 people in the congregation, several were smiling (in a supportive way.)

I introduced us, and said that we were happy to be in Uruguay. I told them the members in here are strong and many are pioneers in their families. I told about our mission in the Career Office and what we do there. Then I got to the part of the talk that is about how important work is and that it is a blessing. I used the example of the members of the Spanish Branch in Blackfoot who often included in their prayers, "We are grateful for our jobs." That was so humbling to hear. I often complained to myself that I had to work. Jerry had given me a quote from Pres. Hinkley about how we need to help people who are out of work. Many times, it is like their Gethsemane. So I went from being grateful for our jobs to helping people who were out of work. One thing led to the other, and I was amazed that it flowed so well. I bore my testimony and was done. Looking back, I stumbled over words in the quote. I used present tense instead of past tense a few times. I said WE were impressive instead of saying that we were impressed with the members in Uruugay, and I made other mistakes that Jerry was too kind to explain to me, but I gave a 10-minute talk in Spanish without notes!! Jerry was proud of me, and that meant a lot. He is the master speaker in our family. He gave a great talk about how the church has grown in Uruguay. He also brought in the Atonement and how we need to depend on the Lord to be our Savior, and not try to do it ourselves, which we can't. We do our best, and let the Lord make up the difference. He uses Stephen R. Robinson's book, Believing Christ. It was a wonderful talk, in good Spanish, without notes. I am always amazed!!

After the meeting, the next ward, Las Aracias, came in for their Sacrament Meeting. Jerry had called the bishop numerous times but had never been able to reach him to schedule a time to speak. Jerry found him and asked what week would be good for us to speak. He said, "Today would be great!" Jerry hesitated, but told him yes. Then he carefully explained to me that I would need to give my talk again without notes. This time, I had a few minutes to jot down a few things, but I essentially had to give it without notes again. I am learning to rely on the Lord.

My neighbor, Mirta, is making progress. Thank you for your prayers in her behalf. She can use more spiritual support. She was supposed to come to church today, but she didn't. She wouldn't answer the door when I knocked. She also smokes, and will need to quit before she is baptized. If you would like to, we can combine our fasting and prayers for her this Sunday. I hope she can continue to progress.

We are looking forward to coming home with mixed emotions. We love the people here and we will miss them. We love living with a beautiful view of the water. We will love seeing our family. Our grandchildren need fair warning that they will be hugged a lot. We have 3 months left to make a difference. We are helping people and we know we are in the right mission for us.

Wednesday, Nibia will be 78-years old. She was 34 when Jerry baptized her. We are going to take her out to dinner (merienda - tea between 4 and 6 p.m.) It is a blessing to be here to do that, even though we are missing our family's birthdays.

This is the castle that is two doors down from our apartment. It is called Castle Pittamiglio. It is similar to the Winchester Mystery House in that Pittamiglio built stairways to a little cubby room, etc. It is very interesting.

Sis. Barney (from Eugene, OR) is the nurse who is in charge of all the missionaries in Uruguay. She is on a mission here without a companion, so she and I do things together when we have some time. We went on a tour of the castle on the free museum day in Montevideo. All the museums are open for free that day.

A close-up of the front of the castle.

We see the spire out our kitchen door.

This is a night shot of a museum that we pass on our way home from the temple. We have always been curious about it, and we finally got to go.

What type of museum do you think it is????

If you said animals, you are right. It starts with insects, and goes through mammals. Then it has a wing of birds. It has a skeleton of a whale, which is very impressive.

We are having fun and working hard too. Sister Gardner, a sister missionary who finished her mission and returned home, recently wrote to us and included the quote: Be not weary in well-doing (D & C 64:33.) At this point of our mission, that is great advice.

The sister missionaries and I just had the second discussion with my neighbors, Mirta and Pelusa.  Mirta is reading the Book of Mormon I gave her.  She has read the pamphlets on the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and the Joseph Smith Story.  She not only read them, she studied the vocabulary, and answered the questions at the back of each one.  She is a sponge for spiritual truth.  She has said the closing prayer twice in the discussions now, and they are sincere.  She asked Heavenly Father to bless me.  That made me feel so humble that she would think of me.   I have been praying a lot for the two of them, and now she is praying for me.  How wonderful is that?  The last few days, I have been so happy, and now I know why.  

Jerry and I went to the temple and saw another of our volunteers get sealed to her husband.  Florencia Galli and Lawrence are champion hip-hop dancers.  We haven't seen them dance, but we saw a video of her dancing in a competition, and she was amazing!!  She used to have piercings and blue hair.  She went to church and said to herself, "If anyone says anything about the way I look, I will never go back."  No one did.  They welcomed her with open arms.  She felt at home.  Little by little, the piercings disappeared.  The hair went from blue to blond, then to brown.  She dresses stylish but modestly and is very professional when she works with people who come into our office.  She is so kind and not judgemental.  What a wonderful example of the pure love of Christ!  

She met and married Lawrence.  He was later baptized, and as a new member, worked on his testimony.  We saw him in the Investigator's Class in Sunday School when we visited their ward, and he had his scriptures, aked questions, made comments, and was a great example of a new convert gaining understanding line upon line.   She led the music in Sacrament Meeting, and is the Young Women's President in their ward.  They are dedicated and strong in the gospel.


 In the temple, Lawrence was emotional, which surprised Florencia.   It touched all of us to see them together in the Celestial Room, surrounded by the beauty of the room and their friends.  We were very humbled to be included in that group.  The spirit was strong, and we basked in the joy and love we felt.


I hope to have some pictures from others.  I dropped my new camera and it fell on the lens.  (That was a sad day.)  So I will wait to post pictures. 


We got together for lunch with a senior couple who is serving in the Montevideo Temple, Garth and Kim Goates from West Valley, Salt Lake City.  We had a great time. They came to our apartment and were so impressed with the view and the wood floors, etc. It was fun to have someone come to see us. We walked to the mall and had lunch and then looked around for a little bit. It was a fun afternoon. I have some pictures of that day that they emailed me.

Garth and Jerry are about the same height.  Kim is a little
taller than me. We look very American when we are together.

This is in our apartment.

We walked on the Rambla to get to the mall.  On the way we stopped to take pictures.  Garth really looked like Mohamad Gandhi in the second one.


At the market, I found an 8 x 10 of the Plaza Independencia
that included our building in it.  I was so excited, so I bought it.                                                                l       
This is a snapshot of the picture.                        I

If you follow the line down from the two I's, that is our building.   I can't label or put markers on this picture, but it gives you an idea anyway.  We are in the center of Montevideo.

We are so blessed to be here and to have wonderful people around us.  We work with the cream of the crop young people in this area.  They are the future leaders of the church here.  We can see the effect of recent and past missionary efforts all around us and now we are becoming part of it.  What an amazing opportunity this is!   Thank you for your prayers.  We can feel them.  We love you and pray for you.  May the Lord bless you.