Speaking in Church--Every Sunday

Jerry and I were asked by the manager of our office to speak in Sacrament Meetings in every ward and branch in Montevideo and the surrounding suburbs. When Jerry was here as a young missionary, it would have taken two weeks. Now it will take over a year, and we will not be able to visit every ward.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonarbison/2592650881/in/pool-ldschapels

Here is a link to a photo of one of the chapels we spoke at week before last. It is in a bad section of town. We were glad we didn't have to catch the bus in this area. All the chapels have these fences around them. The temple block has this type of fence around it also.

Last Sunday, we spoke in Pando. Jerry worked in this town a few times on his mission. He remembers the town as a long road with a few blocks on each side. This is an aerial view of it now. He was amazed at how much it had grown. It is the center of the manufacturing area in Uruguay.





 

 Some of the main streets in Pando

Jerry remembers this church in the main plaza in town.

Because of security and to be sure we arrive on time, the office has provided a chaufer service for us. Uh....we could get used to this.
About five or ten minutes before we need to leave, our bell rings. We tell the choufer we will be down in a minute or two. He opens the door for us and we get into a Camry or other similar size car. Jerry speaks Spanish to him and I usually try to say something along the way, which is usually bad Spanish. Jerry is disgusted. It keeps me humble.

We get to the red brick ward building and are greeted warmly. I wondered why the first few times, but now I realize it is because we are wearing the magic black and white name badge. We are suddenly someone very dear to everyone in the chapel. We shake hands and kiss people on the cheek. In the stake we are attending first, all of the wards have Sacrament Meeting last, so we are able to make quite a few friends before we speak. Around here, it makes a lot of sense because the people are often late for things. When they come in late, instead of apologizing for interrupting the lesson, they wave and kiss all the people on the way to their seats. It is so funny! I guess there is a lesson in this. Maybe someone could give me a clue...anyone...anyone....?

We have been very impressed with the quality of the teaching, the commments by the classmates, and the spirit in the wards here. Two weeks ago, I forgot to put my scriptures in the bag we carry. When I got to church, I went to the library to borrow some because ALL of the people in the Gospel Doctrine Class had their well-marked scriptures with them. The Bible I borrowed was well-marked also. I don't understand every comment, but the ones I do understand are very similar to the comments we hear every Sunday. "Trials are a part of life", "We may be having a trial that is a consequence of disobedience," "If we are faithful, we will be strengthened in our trials and we will grow from the experience." Those are some examples of the comments by these wonderful saints. I feel privileged to be in their midst.

I outlined my talk in English, then wrote it in Spanish. Our manager (and Bishop) carefully preserved my ideas and fixed the Spanish for me. He was very kind to do that. I feel confident that my talk is correct. I have the first part memorized, but if I slip and make a mistake, I don't know if it makes sense or not. So I have resigned myself to reading it at least for the time being. The nice thing is that I can use the same talk. I am adding a little or cutting something out depending on the ward and the circumstances, but mostly, it is the same talk.

Jerry, on the other hand, has a few notes, and he just stands up and gives a 15-20 minute talk in Spanish. He has the people laughing and tearing up. How does he do that? In Spanish, no less!! I just sit there trying not to gape. Keep the mouth closed--try to look intelligent, I tell myself. He is amazing!

In my talk I introduce ourselves, and tell what we do in the office everyday to help people obtain work (teach the workshop about who to find a job, help people draft a curriculum, sign them up for ldsjobs.org, etc.) I talk a little about work and that it is part of life and a blessing in our lives. Then I bear my testimony.

Jerry talks about how much the church has grown over the 40 years since he was here as a young elder. He talks about our attitude about life and that we should seek to be happy in this life, not just look for a better life when we die. We are the creators of our lives here and now. Then he tells the "parable of the bicycle" by Stephen Robinson in his book, Believing Christ. In a nutshell, a little girl saves her pennies for a bicycle. Her father takes her to the store and she falls in love with an beautiful bicycle, but realizes that her 61 cents is a far cry from the price, and she will never be able to save up enough. Her father asks her for her 61 cents, a hug, and a kiss, and makes up the difference. It is a type of the Atonement. The Savior makes up the difference for us if we will only have faith in Him, and give him all we have (our 61 cents.) We will NEVER have enough we need to be perfect or even come close to it. With His unlimited bank account, we can make the grade. We have to show our love for Him. He ties it into having hope and faith in Christ and in our abilites.

The concluding speaker is the very capable Stake Employment Specialist, Gina Pitta. She is eloquent and talks about the School of the Prophets, and how we should continue our education throughout our lives. She encourages them to use their talents to obtain work or to improve the jobs they have now. She changes her talk, depending on the group she is speaking to. In one ward, she emphaisized the Perpetual Education Fund. She is wonderful, and gives our talks credibility!

I've probably bored you, but I wanted you to know what we are doing for the next year every Sunday except Fast Sundays.

On the way home, we passed this building. They are renovating it right now. It is a hotel/casino, but the architecture is amazing!

This is the Rambla on the way home. This is not too far from where we would turn off to go to the temple. It's about 5 miles from home.

We went to a birthday party for our manager who turned 50 last Monday. There were lots of family there that we didn't know, but they were very friendly and included us in their conversations. The pictures they took of us didn't turn out, so I will only post this one of Daniel Collato with his wife and the saxaphone player that played for two hours.

We got there at 8:00, worrying that we might arrive late. Other people filtered in for the next hour. We ate hor d'ourves and little sandwiches while we talked. The area they rented was on the shore. The beautiful sunset added a wonderful feeling. The sea was calm and there was no wind! It was a beautiful evening. About 10:00, Jerry and I excused ourselves. Daniel said the dancing was just about to start. That cinched it for Jerry--we were out of there! When we saw the picutures later, we understood that the party had just begun. They danced, had birthday cake, desserts and partied until midnight. It was a Monday night, and I wouldn't have been able to get up the next morning if we'd stayed. Everyone was fine the next day. Funny.

Last week, Jerry taught the workshop again--12 hours of Spanish. I taught a little--about 45 minutes, and took the video of the practice interviews. It worked out well. Jerry noticed a big difference in his ability to express himself in Spanish. I had a hard time. I hope I can improve. I am working on it.

As usual, we wish we could do more, have more energy, and speak Spanish better. Jerry is reading novels in Spanish. I am studying whenever I can, which explains the lack of blog posts. Sorry. We have been communicating individually with our family members, so we feel we are keeping in touch. This blog will be an augmentation to my journal, so I really do want to keep it current.

We love and miss you.  The gospel is true!

Christmas Eve in the Montevideo West Mission Home

If anyone can tell me how I used to change the font without changing the HTML, let me know. I'm sorry for the very small print.



One of the Christmas Trees in the mission home. The Wildes are temple missionaries. She has a gorgeous soprano voice!



President and Sis. Heaton hosted the dinner. She cooked the roast in two crock pots, and the rice in the oven.




Was I first in line again? I hate it when they take pictures of me pigging out!





We had pulled pork roast, rice pilaf, assorted salads, watermelon, pineapple, and lots of desserts, including a pecan pie!! YUM!!










Dinner was Delicious!! These are some of the senior missionary couples that work at the temple.


The mission office elders sang "Angels We Have Heard on High." They sang acapella except for the last chorus when I played with them. What do you think that reminded me of? It did my heart good! It was so beautiful!!



We all sang Christmas carols in English. What a treat! It felt like Christmas!

Pres. and Sis. Lynn Shirtliff played a piano duet that he arranged. It was amazing! They are both wonderful pianists! What a treat. I was the page turner.

Silent Night

Moroni was in danger.



I counted 27 fireworks displays at one time.





The Senior Couples watching fireworks from the roof of the hostel near the temple We are in the background. The couple in front are Elder and Sister Goates.








Fireworks by the Montevideo Temple

This picture was taken from the roof of the hostel. There is a parking lot, a two-story brick chapel, and then the temple. The other buildings on the right are the senior missionaries apartments (not ours), the mission homes, and the church offices, including the distribution center for Uruguay. It takes up an entire city block with a tall fence around it, like the one around the Idaho Falls Temple.

Betty's Birthday

The young volunteers in our office got up early on my birthday and decorated the office. We had gone to an outdoor training the day before and everyone was really tired, so for them to get up the next day was amazing. They would have rather slept. They blew up about 30 balloons and put them up in the classroom where we teach the workshop. We were going to have a training that day in there. They made a cute sign on the whiteboard,saying "Hermana Heath, Feliz Cumpleanos." They told us to come at 10:00 and not be early that day, as we usually get to the office about 20 minutes before we need to be there.
When we got there, everyone was milling around the office as if nothing was happening. The assistant manager, Veronica, called me into her office, and had me do something. Everyone else gathered into the classroom. We were the last ones to come in. When I opened the door, they all said, Feliz Cumpleanos! (I don't have a tilde on this computer for the n.) What a fun surprise!
















They had a chocolate cake with caramel (dulce de leche) filling and decorations. It looked really delicious. Then they put a "candle" on it and lit it. This is what happened!


The people in the background are: Florencia, Veronica, Daniel Collato (Our Manager/ Bishop.) My expression pretty much says it all. It was amazing! I thought we might get in trouble for lighting fireworks in the building, but there are no codes here like in the States. YIPPEE!!! FIREWORKS ON THE BIRTHDAY CAKE!


We all took a picture together in front of the birthday sign. There are better pictures but this is the only one I could get so far. Hopefully, I can get another one this week. It was an amazing birthday. Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and Facebook wishes. They all came true!!

Relief Society Christmas in Uruguay

We had a Relief Society Christmas Luncheon one Saturday (Nov. 20.) Here are some pictures from that day. We all drew names ahead of time, and had a gift exchange from our Secret Sister. After everyone opened their anonymous gift, they went one by one, showed the gift they had received, and the secret giver revealed herself. It was fun. We had a spirit of sisterhood and anticipation for the Christmas season.


The tables were set with the food when we got there. We had a broccoli torta, which is a thick quiche. We also had empanadas which are round pastries with meat filling folded in half and sealed. Yum! There was a roll of some sort, kind of like an egg roll with meat and vegetables inside.


After we had eaten most of the delicious food on our plates, Julia Bengochea, a new convert, came around with pizza with a yummy, thick crust, and a large rolled sandwich with tuna salad in it. The bread was slightly sweet, so the sweet, salty thing kept me wanting more. Yum! The problem was, we were full by then. Everyone ate anyway. Then, of course, we had a big cake (postre) for dessert. I thought I would pop from eating so much!

I got these pictures from the sister missionaries that live in our ward. They took pictures of our investigators. Actually, their investigators, but we have been visiting them and fellowshipping them.

This is Grizelda. She is the mother of a 16-year-old who got baptized the third week we were here. She is SO nice! She works as a server at the Spanish Embassy. The sisters are Sister Casebolt from Farmington, UT, and Sister Gardner from Taylorsville, UT. They are hard workers who have 3 people getting ready to be baptized.

This is Alicia Torres, who was less-active, but came to church once to try our ward out. Everyone is so friendly, she kept coming back.










Yolanda was playing the piano for two of the sisters singing around the piano. I don't know the name of the gal on the left, but Blanca is in the middle. She is outgoing, friendly , and loves music. She tells me all about what she is thinking and what's happening in her life. I catch about 30% of what she is saying, but that is enough to know how to respond. She is a good friend.







This is a better picture of Yolanda. She lives close to us, and she is the one who plays the piano for Sac. Mtg. and Relief Society every week. Her hands are arthritic, but she plays just fine. She is always complementary to me.



We had a special musical number. The sisters sang "Angels we Have Heard on High."

















The bishop came a little later and he took a group picture. The man is the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. He was putting his tie back on.

Thanksgiving in Uruguay

Jerry and I have much to be grateful for. We have each other for one thing. I have often thought about how hard it would be to be here without him. I feel for the young missionaries. Because we are together, life seems much more normal. We have 37 years of common memories and life experiences to keep us from getting too homesick.

The church here is also very similar. The talks are about gospel subjects and the lessons are well prepared. I am always impressed with the members here. Our ward has about 60 people who attend every week, but the bishop has a goal of 90. Actually, we have that many active members, but their attendance isn´t consistent. It´s the same everywhere.

We have been having missionaries to dinner, and for Thanksgiving, we had the Hermanas from our ward to dinner at 8:15. After I invited them, I realized I had never made any of the food we eat at Thanksgiving here in Uruguay. We didn´t have a potato peeler, potato masher, wire whip, or a pie plate. Turkeys here are very small (9 lbs. or so) and the one I saw in the freezer case was $50 US! We decided that chicken was going to work just fine. But I hadn´t roasted a chicken either. They don´t have Stovetop stuffing mix, canned pumpkin or canned yams. SO, I started figuring out how to make Thanksgiving dinner here.

I checked at several supermarkets and sundry stores looking for the utensils and pans I would need. There are no stores like Walmart where you can get everything you need in one place, which isn´t all bad. I kind of like that, but it does make it more complicated when trying to find different things. I found everything I needed between three stores.

I checked the internet for the recipes I needed. At the supermarket, I found fresh potatoes, sweet potatoes, short skinny celery with lots of leaves, sage, flour, sugar, but not shortening or lard, brown sugar, cloves, ground ginger, or poultry seasoning. I didn´t want to try cooking one of the fresh pumpkins I saw there. It was half green and I wasn´t sure if it was orange inside or not, so I decided to make a carrot pie instead, like my mom does. Thank you, Mom, and also for teaching me how to make stuffing from scratch.

The night before (after work, and going shopping for the ingredients)I cooked and blended the carrots (there is a blender in our apartment), baked the sweet potatoes and cut them up, and toasted and diced the bread for the stuffing. On Thanksgiving Day, we went to work as usual. We could have taken the whole day, but we were short volunteers, and it would have left the office short-handed. I left work an hour early, and went to the local store and got a fresh chicken (5 lb. or more), whipping cream, pie plate, etc. I rode the bus home and started on dinner.

I put the chicken in the oven with the carrot pie (I used butter instead of shortening for the crust.) Next I put the potatoes on to boil, and started to sautee the celery, onions, and garlic in butter for the stuffing. I made the glaze for the sweet potatoes out of white sugar and butter, hoping it would carmelize. I poured it over the sweet potatoes and baked them in a hot oven (200 C.) after the chicken was done. The sauce caramelized in the oven and the yellow yams turned more orange. Yes!


The chicken turned out just like a small turkey. It was beautiful! The potatoes and gravy were delicious! Jerry said the stuffing was the best he´d ever had. The pie turned out and I served it with whipped cream that was whipped with a wire whisk in a coffee mug.



Jerry is holding the fork with his left hand while he carves with his right. The Hermanas are happy to celebrate their productive day with American food!


Hermana Casebolt and Hermana Gardner were so exited when they came. They had found 6 new investigators that day! They had looked up former contacts to give them one last chance. One the way to the last contact, they had talked to a woman sweeping the sidewalk in front of her store. The lady was very receptive about the Joseph Smith story, the Priesthood being restored, and everything! What a wonderful thing to eat dinner together and hear about the amazing work they were doing! We have been truly blessed!

As for me, I felt very blessed to be able to serve a dinner to guests where EVERYTHING I had made was an experiment. That was a little scary, but it worked out. I think someone was praying extra hard for the Hermanas to have a good Thanksgiving and I was an instrument in the Lord´s hands to make it happen. Your prayers in our behalf were felt because I truly felt guided. (Don´t laugh--it was hard.)

My Spanish is getting better. Today was a good day. I explained in fairly good Spanish (with conjugated verbs) to one of the darling young women volunteers, how to make a list of the people who have resumes here. I showed her how to cut and paste with the keyboard, and how to evaluate the resumes to see if any important information was missing. She understood me and was excited to do something that the whole office was working on. I prayed for the gift of tongues this morning, and was happy when I realized that the Lord was answering my prayer. He is truly there for us and for everyone who asks. I know we are being especially blessed because of our calling, however, the Lord will bless you in your righteous efforts also. No task is too small for the Lord. He is there for us.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was making telephone calls to check on job placements, I came across an unusual name. Everyone here uses two last names, one of them being the mother´s maiden name, and one of the names for this young woman was Pacharoti. I had baptized two girls, teenagers, in the city of Rivera in 1970, and had always wondered whether they managed to stay active. When I asked this young woman whether they could possibly be relatives, she told me that they were her aunts. She also told me that they had married good LDS men, and had been sealed in the temple. They had raised righteous families, 8 children between the two, had sent out 5 missionaries, and that every one of the children had been married in the temple. I am reminded that we are not always aware of the results of our work in the church. The words of a hymn came to my mind. "My voice shall echo the message sweet, I´ll say what you want me to say.¨ Our voices do echo, down the long years, and who can predict what can happen if we say what he wants us to say.

Our work goes well, but as soon as we master one set of skills, it seems we have to begin learning another. We did complete the teaching of the 12 hour career workshop for the first time this week. We survived it, but we do need to improve, and I think that the, (mostly self-inflicted), pressure to improve at our jobs is one of the most difficult parts of the mission for us. It is also, perhaps, the most rewarding part of the mission.

We have had significant luck with encouraging inactive people and then having them show up at church. Whether the changes are permanent we can´t know, but it is surprising how important a little bit of attention can be. Often all we have offered is a phone call or a kind word.

The only unusual thing that happened this week, was that I had the chance, on Saturday evening, to run in a 10 kilometer race in Montevideo.

There were 7000 runners, cheering crowds, lovely weather, and a beautiful course.
It is almost impossible to describe just how many runners there were, but if you go to werunmontevideo.com they have some amazing pictures, which

This is my Bishop, (also my boss), and his son. I know it is a bad idea to beat your boss, but I beat them both, running it in 61 minutes, my best 10k ever.
After the race, Betty and I walked home on one of the prettiest spring nights of the year.
The two buildings with bright lights in back of us are, believe it or not, the towers of the World Trade Center of Montevideo