Wow, it sounds like you are all doing great back at home! Like there, Christmas is in full swing and all the stores are full of that stuff. The last 3 days have been FREEZING, so it's actually felt like winter during the Christmas season haha
When is the groundbraking for the Phoenix Temple going to happen, it's been a long time, no? I'm glad to hear the Gilbert temples finally starting! There is going to be a boom in missionary work in Arizona! Get workin :)
Bah! Alyssa and Jonathan got married, that's weird but great! I'm glad they are happy, send me some pictures!!!! Are they going to stay in Tucson, or are they headed out?
Mary was going to get baptised today, but there's a worldwide stake leadership training thing at the same time as her baptism today!!! So...we are having lunch at her house today and next Saturday she will get baptised with Rosana.
This week we had an incredible finding experience! We felt super strong we should go down a street and God led us to a door I had never knocked before (I thought I'd knocked every door in this area 20 times haha) A woman looked out the window, smiled big, and opened the door and told us to enter and sit down. She left the room and we just looked at eachother confused for a little bit, wondering if she was a less-active member or what. She came back with chairs and we sat down and learned a bit about her. It turned out she lived up in the city of Rivera for most of her life and the missionaries found her many years ago. She was an investigators for many many years, and had always had great desires to follow Christ. She brought the gospel to her entire family: parents, brothers, sisters, EVERYONE was baptised up in Brasil, except her. Before they had access to the Portugues Book of Mormon, she had even translated the entire book from Spanish to Portugues for her family. She knows it well and had always had a testimony of it. She went to the temple open house and everything! Her husband never wanted to get married to her because he never thought it was necessary. Well... 2 years ago her husband passed away, and little by little her world has broken down since. 3 weeks ago her son was found selling drugs in her house and she sent him to Colonia to live with her brother. As her world came crashing down on her the other day, she began to pray for guidance from God in what she should do, and at that very moment the Lord led us to her door and she recognized us as representatives of him. We invited her to be baptised next week right then and there and she accepted with a LOT of excitement. When we work really hard, the Lord blesses us with tender mercies.
Carlos is not going to be able to be baptised next week now, as he's been put on bed-rest for diabetes. After working hard in a career for 61 years (he's 77 now) he feels so helpless and useless not being able to do anything. I told him a lot about Grandpa because he reminds me a lot of him. Grandma, could you send him a little letter? I think it could help, I'll translate it and everything :)
I have a special request for Christmas. One of my best friends is Elder Cardenas from Peru. He was baptised just a year before the mission, and noone else in his family is members or anything, he's never gotten a letter, email, much less a package or anything and I love the guy a ton and it would be cool if you could send him a good package too! One thing in particular I want in it is one of those Tech-Deck mini skateboards things, on P-Days in my 4th change when we lived together, we made a Tech-Deck skate park hahahaha it would be really funny.
Okay, that's all I got, I love you all and pray for you always, do everything in your power to nourish the Lord's vineyard in whichever stewardships you have, and then go the extra mile. And after that warm-up, make miracles happen. Make people see the Lord's light within you and recognize you as a representative of Him. And then let them know what, why, and how.
Con amor,
Elder Magnuson
Hey super important thing I forgot! Have all of our family, friends, ward, etc.. send to the gmail as soon as possible their testimony and a family picture! We are flooding Uruguay with thousands of Books of Mormons with testimonies in them for Christmas, so please let everyone I know to do it this week and send it to the gmail asap. Thanks!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
November 6, 2010
Hey everyone, it was a great week as always!
Right now we just bought a bunch of wood and started a fire, and have a ton of chorizo out in the back grilling Uruguayan style :) I'm stoked!
This week was a lot of fun! We organized members to accompany us every day and we saw a lot of success in finding new people and befriending the investigators that we already have. Theres this old lady we found that is HILARIOUS. She reminds me of the old Sister Peterson me and dad used to home teach. She's having trouble getting over the fact that she doesn't need to talk to God through Saints, but she's getting over it. We taught a lesson on receiving revelation through prayer last night. She's getting baptised at the beginning of December.
Mary is as strong as ever. After having testified before thousands of evangelicals of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the missionaries up there in that city are harvesting a TON of references. She was invited to speak in a few other conferences around the country, and next time she'll be a baptised member haha.
Last Saturday I talked to a lady about the church at the supermarket on the way out of buying groceries named Rosana, who is a Jew, but after the first lesson she went to church last week, went to the baptismal service and saw a baptism, and now is getting baptised on the 20th. Shes done with 1 Nephi with tons of notes in the margins everywhere and practically has everything memorized and referenced. Shes a college professor of Law. Unfortunately, it turned out she doesn't live in our area, but the other office elders are teaching her and shes progressing like crazy. Another tender mercy of the Lord.
Our couples with marriage plans are still not getting it done, it's a little frustrating at times, but we have a lesson with Gustavo and Daniela today in front of the baptismal font with a 20 yr old convert getting ready to leave on the mission. It should turn out pretty good. Marriage is the hardest thing here. It's hard to get married and nearly impossible to get divorced, and even harder if you have kids, so nobody bothers with it at all. BAH!
Carlos and his wife are progressing well too. They read together all the time, and when he gets up at night he just reads and reads.
We visited again with a man we found last week named Miguel Tabich and he surprised us with a ton of history he had read up on of the church in an old volume of church history somehow he had gotten in the past that was in his HUGE house library (we keep finding super smart, rich people to teach!). He was telling (or rather teaching us haha) stories that I had never even heard of from the Mormon Batallion, etc... random really cool little histories. He reads constantly and is now on his 2nd venture through the Book of Mormon already. Him, his wife, and his son will be baptised in about 5 weeks just before Christmas.
Well, those are our most promising investigators right now. We only work a few hours a day proselyting, but we are seeing a lot of miracles every day. Next Saturday is Mary's baptism and she asked me to baptise her. If women could be apostles, she'd be the next one haha, and she brought another man in her nightly English class to the gospel in another ward here in Montevideo called Pocitos (sister missionarys are there) and this man, Martin, is going to be baptised with her. They both lost their spouses 4 years ago, are super smart, and have strong testimonies, and talk about eachother all the time so hopefully we'll see some eternal marriage here in the next year haha
A good friend of mine went home with his parents yesterday, so when Cory Wadsworth invites me to facebook please accept and give him a few of my lady friends to look up haha He said he loved being able to go around and see everyone with his parents before going home, so I guess plan on that. It will be great!
Elder Crandell is still a stud and we're having fun and working super hard. I love this work, and I hear your prayers. It's amazing that you can knock every door 20 times, and still there's someone waiting for you the 21st time. The ward is strong, and working together finally, I just really hope things keep clicking forever like they are now.
I love you all so much! I am having the time of my life finding happiness in good things. The church is true, Christ lives.
Elder Magnusson
Right now we just bought a bunch of wood and started a fire, and have a ton of chorizo out in the back grilling Uruguayan style :) I'm stoked!
This week was a lot of fun! We organized members to accompany us every day and we saw a lot of success in finding new people and befriending the investigators that we already have. Theres this old lady we found that is HILARIOUS. She reminds me of the old Sister Peterson me and dad used to home teach. She's having trouble getting over the fact that she doesn't need to talk to God through Saints, but she's getting over it. We taught a lesson on receiving revelation through prayer last night. She's getting baptised at the beginning of December.
Mary is as strong as ever. After having testified before thousands of evangelicals of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the missionaries up there in that city are harvesting a TON of references. She was invited to speak in a few other conferences around the country, and next time she'll be a baptised member haha.
Last Saturday I talked to a lady about the church at the supermarket on the way out of buying groceries named Rosana, who is a Jew, but after the first lesson she went to church last week, went to the baptismal service and saw a baptism, and now is getting baptised on the 20th. Shes done with 1 Nephi with tons of notes in the margins everywhere and practically has everything memorized and referenced. Shes a college professor of Law. Unfortunately, it turned out she doesn't live in our area, but the other office elders are teaching her and shes progressing like crazy. Another tender mercy of the Lord.
Our couples with marriage plans are still not getting it done, it's a little frustrating at times, but we have a lesson with Gustavo and Daniela today in front of the baptismal font with a 20 yr old convert getting ready to leave on the mission. It should turn out pretty good. Marriage is the hardest thing here. It's hard to get married and nearly impossible to get divorced, and even harder if you have kids, so nobody bothers with it at all. BAH!
Carlos and his wife are progressing well too. They read together all the time, and when he gets up at night he just reads and reads.
We visited again with a man we found last week named Miguel Tabich and he surprised us with a ton of history he had read up on of the church in an old volume of church history somehow he had gotten in the past that was in his HUGE house library (we keep finding super smart, rich people to teach!). He was telling (or rather teaching us haha) stories that I had never even heard of from the Mormon Batallion, etc... random really cool little histories. He reads constantly and is now on his 2nd venture through the Book of Mormon already. Him, his wife, and his son will be baptised in about 5 weeks just before Christmas.
Well, those are our most promising investigators right now. We only work a few hours a day proselyting, but we are seeing a lot of miracles every day. Next Saturday is Mary's baptism and she asked me to baptise her. If women could be apostles, she'd be the next one haha, and she brought another man in her nightly English class to the gospel in another ward here in Montevideo called Pocitos (sister missionarys are there) and this man, Martin, is going to be baptised with her. They both lost their spouses 4 years ago, are super smart, and have strong testimonies, and talk about eachother all the time so hopefully we'll see some eternal marriage here in the next year haha
A good friend of mine went home with his parents yesterday, so when Cory Wadsworth invites me to facebook please accept and give him a few of my lady friends to look up haha He said he loved being able to go around and see everyone with his parents before going home, so I guess plan on that. It will be great!
Elder Crandell is still a stud and we're having fun and working super hard. I love this work, and I hear your prayers. It's amazing that you can knock every door 20 times, and still there's someone waiting for you the 21st time. The ward is strong, and working together finally, I just really hope things keep clicking forever like they are now.
I love you all so much! I am having the time of my life finding happiness in good things. The church is true, Christ lives.
Elder Magnusson
October 30, 2010
Hey family, sorry my emails have been getting shorter and shorter. It's just that in the offices time goes by so quickly and there is so much that happens, that I can't even remember it all, and the whole time I'm typing I'm getting phone calls with peoples problems haha
Lets see...
This week a couple good friends finished the mission and their parents are here now touring Uruguay with them. It's pretty weird seeing people go home now since I've been in the mission long enough to know lots of people pretty well. It's happy though to see a good missionary who worked hard the whole mission leave.
Also, Elder Lopez from Argentina spent the week in a trio with us because he is going home early for back and spinal cord issues. Poor guy was pretty sad to leave just a couple months early but at least he gets to go to the Cordoba temple dedication today.
Meanwhile, the week was made even crazier with Pres. and Hermana gone at a conference with Elder Anderson of the 12 in Buenos Aires. It was fun cause I got to make some executive decisions hahaha
As for missionary work, we have a baptismal service on the 13th and a number of investigators will be baptised then, and the following week on the 20th a few more will be getting baptised as well.
I receive 5-6 letters each week from converts in Salto and this week I got a ton of good news. I guess the ward had a temple trip I didn't know about and a bunch of them came and did baptisms for the dead! I wish I could've gone, but I'm so glad they are all doing well. Javier and Henry, the 18 yr-olds I baptised the day before I left, both received the Melchizedek Priesthood this last Sunday! Daniela's whole family joined the church, and the Perez Chivel's and Weisbach Chivels (2 full families, mothers are sisters) brought their other brother and sister and their families to church. I hear that ward is seeing upwards of 160 people each Sunday! I remember when we were pulling hair to get 60-70 haha so it's wonderful to hear good things from the past too.
This ward is struggling a bit still, but people have started doing things of their own will! All of our converts here now have active home teachers and such and are being visited! We are working really hard to see that things happen and little by little they are. I just wish I could carry our Mission Leader around with me for the rest of the mission.
Could you guys look up online and see if you can buy alfajors and have them shipped in the internet, or are there places to buy them there? I broke 150 different types (the wrapper collection) this last week, and don't know what I'm going to do if I can't get alfajors any more one day hahaha
Okay, well, I'm sorry I am such a bad letter writer, but I'm out of both time and things to say haha. I love you all, keep working hard and staying happy! The best solution to EVERY problem is to share the gospel! How about YOU guys go over to the family of the kid that beat up Colton, share some of his candy and have an FHE with them. If they are going through a tough time, what better solution! Be good Samaritans :)
Love you all!
P.S. What is Andrews address? PLEASE dont forget! :) Send it to gmail right away if you can!
Lets see...
This week a couple good friends finished the mission and their parents are here now touring Uruguay with them. It's pretty weird seeing people go home now since I've been in the mission long enough to know lots of people pretty well. It's happy though to see a good missionary who worked hard the whole mission leave.
Also, Elder Lopez from Argentina spent the week in a trio with us because he is going home early for back and spinal cord issues. Poor guy was pretty sad to leave just a couple months early but at least he gets to go to the Cordoba temple dedication today.
Meanwhile, the week was made even crazier with Pres. and Hermana gone at a conference with Elder Anderson of the 12 in Buenos Aires. It was fun cause I got to make some executive decisions hahaha
As for missionary work, we have a baptismal service on the 13th and a number of investigators will be baptised then, and the following week on the 20th a few more will be getting baptised as well.
I receive 5-6 letters each week from converts in Salto and this week I got a ton of good news. I guess the ward had a temple trip I didn't know about and a bunch of them came and did baptisms for the dead! I wish I could've gone, but I'm so glad they are all doing well. Javier and Henry, the 18 yr-olds I baptised the day before I left, both received the Melchizedek Priesthood this last Sunday! Daniela's whole family joined the church, and the Perez Chivel's and Weisbach Chivels (2 full families, mothers are sisters) brought their other brother and sister and their families to church. I hear that ward is seeing upwards of 160 people each Sunday! I remember when we were pulling hair to get 60-70 haha so it's wonderful to hear good things from the past too.
This ward is struggling a bit still, but people have started doing things of their own will! All of our converts here now have active home teachers and such and are being visited! We are working really hard to see that things happen and little by little they are. I just wish I could carry our Mission Leader around with me for the rest of the mission.
Could you guys look up online and see if you can buy alfajors and have them shipped in the internet, or are there places to buy them there? I broke 150 different types (the wrapper collection) this last week, and don't know what I'm going to do if I can't get alfajors any more one day hahaha
Okay, well, I'm sorry I am such a bad letter writer, but I'm out of both time and things to say haha. I love you all, keep working hard and staying happy! The best solution to EVERY problem is to share the gospel! How about YOU guys go over to the family of the kid that beat up Colton, share some of his candy and have an FHE with them. If they are going through a tough time, what better solution! Be good Samaritans :)
Love you all!
P.S. What is Andrews address? PLEASE dont forget! :) Send it to gmail right away if you can!
October 23, 2010
Hey family!
This week was changes, it was CRAZY!
We went to the airport and waited....and waited....and waited....and church offices had changed the day to a day later and they didn't come. Needless to say it was insane taking care of all the new missionaries and the missionaries going home at the same time. Very crazy and sleepless, but it was a successful change. Everyone got to their areas on time and noone missed a bus, so when I leave the offices next change, I will leave with a clean record haha
Funny thing that happened this week, a few months ago I decided it would be smart to have a Braille Book of Mormon just in case someone taught a blind guy. Well this week it came and hahahaha it's in 7 massive volumes, and weighs like 40 lbs hahahahaa it was super funny.
Elder Ashby is training now, so when he came to the mission home, I asked Mary to go to the temple to surprise him. He was pretty excited that she was there and she told him she's getting baptised and all.
Cristal finally picked up the Book of Mormon and is reading and FINALLY is progressing, so hopefully Nicolas and Cristal will get married and baptised soon together. I think going to their friend Sheila's baptism on the 30th will help them a ton. We might push it back another week though because this Sunday is Stake Conference and we wouldn't be able to announce her baptism good. We'll see :)
Gustavo and Daniela are doing as good as ever, but it's still been so tough getting them married. Theres always something that keeps them from pulling out a marriage date!
We continue to find new people to teach and see miracles!
Elder Crandell is a great comp. Elder Bradshaw got called to the offices and he is Elder Grau's other kid. E' Grau is now back in Montevideo as a Zone Leader AGAIN.
Sorry this one is short, but we got to go pick some missionaries up at Presidents now.
I love you all and excited for everything happening back there!
Congrats on your fitness test dad! When I get back we'll go running haha
Elder Magnusson
This week was changes, it was CRAZY!
We went to the airport and waited....and waited....and waited....and church offices had changed the day to a day later and they didn't come. Needless to say it was insane taking care of all the new missionaries and the missionaries going home at the same time. Very crazy and sleepless, but it was a successful change. Everyone got to their areas on time and noone missed a bus, so when I leave the offices next change, I will leave with a clean record haha
Funny thing that happened this week, a few months ago I decided it would be smart to have a Braille Book of Mormon just in case someone taught a blind guy. Well this week it came and hahahaha it's in 7 massive volumes, and weighs like 40 lbs hahahahaa it was super funny.
Elder Ashby is training now, so when he came to the mission home, I asked Mary to go to the temple to surprise him. He was pretty excited that she was there and she told him she's getting baptised and all.
Cristal finally picked up the Book of Mormon and is reading and FINALLY is progressing, so hopefully Nicolas and Cristal will get married and baptised soon together. I think going to their friend Sheila's baptism on the 30th will help them a ton. We might push it back another week though because this Sunday is Stake Conference and we wouldn't be able to announce her baptism good. We'll see :)
Gustavo and Daniela are doing as good as ever, but it's still been so tough getting them married. Theres always something that keeps them from pulling out a marriage date!
We continue to find new people to teach and see miracles!
Elder Crandell is a great comp. Elder Bradshaw got called to the offices and he is Elder Grau's other kid. E' Grau is now back in Montevideo as a Zone Leader AGAIN.
Sorry this one is short, but we got to go pick some missionaries up at Presidents now.
I love you all and excited for everything happening back there!
Congrats on your fitness test dad! When I get back we'll go running haha
Elder Magnusson
October 16, 2010
What a miracle-full week!
The biggest miracle was Mary. After teaching her for 4 months, being a person learning about the gospel since she was 11 years old when the missionaries first found her family (shes the 40 yr old rich lady), she is getting baptised on November 13th! We had a long lesson about the spirit and at the beginning she had her same attitude "No me vas a mojar!" and in the end, she knew that it was her time. It's amazing how the Lord can work through you to say the things he wants his children to know and feel. The problem is she is a little claustrophobic and afraid of the water, so she refuses to be baptised in the font. She has decided she must be baptised in the river hahaha so we're going to go to the temple to have the opening ceremony, and then all walk down to the river together for the baptism (or maybe drive down, we'll see). It will be soooo coooold but wonderful :) It'll make a fantastic memory.
Gustavo and Daniela, after fasting a ton and praying for a month, their bosses have let them leave work for a day to pull out a marriage date on the 20th, so they'll probably get married towards the end of November or beginning of December. I pray that I'm still here to see them married and then they'll be baptised the same day. A sister in the ward is making her wedding dress.
Sheila is following all the commandments and will be baptised on the 30th of October. She is progressing so well simply because she loves to read and knows it's true. That's when its easiest to get answers is when you are willing to accept God's will and listen to Him.
Nicolas is ready for baptism, but Cristal his girlfriend is still pretty iffy about marriage. In the lessons we're really concentrating on her and teaching things really simply because she doesnt feel like she understands things well. They are passing through some pretty tough trials right now, but they'll make it!
There are always lots of trials, but after we put forth our faith and carry on, we are always blessed. God has His mysteries and it's rare that we understand His ways, but I know that if we accept them and adapt to whatever circumstances come, and if we do it with patience and humility, and perhaps a bit of time on our knees, we'll be able to use our experiences for growth.
I'm glad to hear that there are so many good things happening at home. I wish I could have seen you on your first coaster, Jason haha Give Chloe the new pug a hug for me haha and Boots too. As for a job, dad, if you go back into education on any level, you're going to be getting pushed around with political battles pretty soon. Keep that in mind as you look for another career. I love you all a ton and pray that all is going well :) Keep working hard in all you do and making miracles happen around you!
This week is changes, Elder Stevens is going up to head financier, we'll see who his new comp is... :) I have one more change in the offices, so next changes will be pretty exciting ones!
Love, Elder Magnusson
The biggest miracle was Mary. After teaching her for 4 months, being a person learning about the gospel since she was 11 years old when the missionaries first found her family (shes the 40 yr old rich lady), she is getting baptised on November 13th! We had a long lesson about the spirit and at the beginning she had her same attitude "No me vas a mojar!" and in the end, she knew that it was her time. It's amazing how the Lord can work through you to say the things he wants his children to know and feel. The problem is she is a little claustrophobic and afraid of the water, so she refuses to be baptised in the font. She has decided she must be baptised in the river hahaha so we're going to go to the temple to have the opening ceremony, and then all walk down to the river together for the baptism (or maybe drive down, we'll see). It will be soooo coooold but wonderful :) It'll make a fantastic memory.
Gustavo and Daniela, after fasting a ton and praying for a month, their bosses have let them leave work for a day to pull out a marriage date on the 20th, so they'll probably get married towards the end of November or beginning of December. I pray that I'm still here to see them married and then they'll be baptised the same day. A sister in the ward is making her wedding dress.
Sheila is following all the commandments and will be baptised on the 30th of October. She is progressing so well simply because she loves to read and knows it's true. That's when its easiest to get answers is when you are willing to accept God's will and listen to Him.
Nicolas is ready for baptism, but Cristal his girlfriend is still pretty iffy about marriage. In the lessons we're really concentrating on her and teaching things really simply because she doesnt feel like she understands things well. They are passing through some pretty tough trials right now, but they'll make it!
There are always lots of trials, but after we put forth our faith and carry on, we are always blessed. God has His mysteries and it's rare that we understand His ways, but I know that if we accept them and adapt to whatever circumstances come, and if we do it with patience and humility, and perhaps a bit of time on our knees, we'll be able to use our experiences for growth.
I'm glad to hear that there are so many good things happening at home. I wish I could have seen you on your first coaster, Jason haha Give Chloe the new pug a hug for me haha and Boots too. As for a job, dad, if you go back into education on any level, you're going to be getting pushed around with political battles pretty soon. Keep that in mind as you look for another career. I love you all a ton and pray that all is going well :) Keep working hard in all you do and making miracles happen around you!
This week is changes, Elder Stevens is going up to head financier, we'll see who his new comp is... :) I have one more change in the offices, so next changes will be pretty exciting ones!
Love, Elder Magnusson
October 9, 2010
This last week was fantastic! Elder Cook and Elder Eyring gave my favorite talks probably, although its a bit tough cause a bunch of them were PERFECT for our investigators that went. We had a number of people there, and Mary even went to ALL of them!!! Heck, I didn't even do that til the mission... haha
Today being fast Sunday, we're fasting for all the people that are trying to get married, but theres always something like work or an emergency that keeps them from doing such a simple thing as going to pull out a marriage date. We taught the law of the fast to everyone this last week, and with the three couples preparing for marriage and baptism, we are all fasting together so that we can work everything out all right and soon.
I'm a little sleepy right now, I spent the night in the hospital 2 nights ago because a zone leader (Elder Lopez from Argentina) has a spinal cord injury and can't feel his hands and has a ton of neck and head pain. Today I'm spending the day with him again, so it should be pretty fun :) Poor guy got a pretty lousy room too, with the oxygen machines for the urgent care, and construction right outside it's been hard to sleep. He got to watch Harry Potter 6 and the Simpsons on a huge plasma TV though, so it made up for it hahahaha weird.
Yesterday was President's BDay so we're surprising him by taking him to this SUPER nice grill place owned by a member! It's usually like $25 a plate but he's doing it for free!! Good family! heh
Elder Crandell and I are working super hard, having tons of fun, and seeing lots of success! Constantly finding new people preparing for baptism. This area is so full of people ready to hear the gospel, I wish I could stay here forever!
I'm finally going to get caught up with all the letters I'm debted to everyone for today since I'll be chilling in the hospital alone all day, so you all that wrote me can expect a response finally haha Sorry I've been so terrible about it.
I love you all so much and am grateful for your prayers! Please keep working hard at all you do and be happy and grateful for all that you have! Even roller coasters! I expect some pics pretty soon in the mail of your trip! Good luck Jase, don't pee yourself on Apollos Chariot! hahaha Have fun watching the kids, mom!
Happy Birthday to Michelle and Anabell this last week!! Happy Birthday to Levi this coming week!!!
Loves,
Today being fast Sunday, we're fasting for all the people that are trying to get married, but theres always something like work or an emergency that keeps them from doing such a simple thing as going to pull out a marriage date. We taught the law of the fast to everyone this last week, and with the three couples preparing for marriage and baptism, we are all fasting together so that we can work everything out all right and soon.
I'm a little sleepy right now, I spent the night in the hospital 2 nights ago because a zone leader (Elder Lopez from Argentina) has a spinal cord injury and can't feel his hands and has a ton of neck and head pain. Today I'm spending the day with him again, so it should be pretty fun :) Poor guy got a pretty lousy room too, with the oxygen machines for the urgent care, and construction right outside it's been hard to sleep. He got to watch Harry Potter 6 and the Simpsons on a huge plasma TV though, so it made up for it hahahaha weird.
Yesterday was President's BDay so we're surprising him by taking him to this SUPER nice grill place owned by a member! It's usually like $25 a plate but he's doing it for free!! Good family! heh
Elder Crandell and I are working super hard, having tons of fun, and seeing lots of success! Constantly finding new people preparing for baptism. This area is so full of people ready to hear the gospel, I wish I could stay here forever!
I'm finally going to get caught up with all the letters I'm debted to everyone for today since I'll be chilling in the hospital alone all day, so you all that wrote me can expect a response finally haha Sorry I've been so terrible about it.
I love you all so much and am grateful for your prayers! Please keep working hard at all you do and be happy and grateful for all that you have! Even roller coasters! I expect some pics pretty soon in the mail of your trip! Good luck Jase, don't pee yourself on Apollos Chariot! hahaha Have fun watching the kids, mom!
Happy Birthday to Michelle and Anabell this last week!! Happy Birthday to Levi this coming week!!!
Loves,
October 2, 2010
Hey family!
You forgot me this week, so please send an email to the gmail haha
This week was fantastic! We are taking 3 couples to get a marriage date this week!!! We have super strong investigators and everyone is progressing spiritually, its just sometimes hard for people to get married and such. Some commandments are hard to follow simply because of the temporal laws that exist, but when theres a will theres a way! I sure hope we can get them all married and baptised before I'm gone, I know it's a pride thing, but I really do like seeing people progress from start to finish. It's hard for me to leave people halfway and wonder what happened, but that's the mission I guess!
TODAY IS GENERAL CONFERENCE!!
Our sessions are at 1 and at 5. At 11 we are going to Nicolas, Cristal, and Sheyla's house (Nicolas and Cristal are getting married and then baptised, Sheyla is their friend that lives their with them and will be baptised the 23rd) for a big lunch together and then walking to the conference all together. Tomorrow we are going with Gustavo and Daniela! We have been handing out invites in all our contacts, so I really hope a lot of people come to hear and see the prophet! I put myself in the shoes of someone who has never heard of a prophet before and I imagine the General Conference would be even more incredible!
Elder Crandell is a great missionary and we are seeing a ton of success in the ward. Lots of new investigators every week and the Lord is blessing all of them with the means of completing with all of the commandments.
VAMO' ARRIBA!
Thanks for the letters I've gotten and sorry I'm slow to reply. I usually am up before 6:30 and often out after 10:30 doing whatever needs to be done and have very little time even on Pdays to write anything. I'll try really hard to write a few letters today!
Love you all so much! Keep working hard and being happy!!!!
Elder Magnusson
(We did not forget him... if we write too late on Friday's, he doesn't get our emails in time... he writes very early on Saturdays)
You forgot me this week, so please send an email to the gmail haha
This week was fantastic! We are taking 3 couples to get a marriage date this week!!! We have super strong investigators and everyone is progressing spiritually, its just sometimes hard for people to get married and such. Some commandments are hard to follow simply because of the temporal laws that exist, but when theres a will theres a way! I sure hope we can get them all married and baptised before I'm gone, I know it's a pride thing, but I really do like seeing people progress from start to finish. It's hard for me to leave people halfway and wonder what happened, but that's the mission I guess!
TODAY IS GENERAL CONFERENCE!!
Our sessions are at 1 and at 5. At 11 we are going to Nicolas, Cristal, and Sheyla's house (Nicolas and Cristal are getting married and then baptised, Sheyla is their friend that lives their with them and will be baptised the 23rd) for a big lunch together and then walking to the conference all together. Tomorrow we are going with Gustavo and Daniela! We have been handing out invites in all our contacts, so I really hope a lot of people come to hear and see the prophet! I put myself in the shoes of someone who has never heard of a prophet before and I imagine the General Conference would be even more incredible!
Elder Crandell is a great missionary and we are seeing a ton of success in the ward. Lots of new investigators every week and the Lord is blessing all of them with the means of completing with all of the commandments.
VAMO' ARRIBA!
Thanks for the letters I've gotten and sorry I'm slow to reply. I usually am up before 6:30 and often out after 10:30 doing whatever needs to be done and have very little time even on Pdays to write anything. I'll try really hard to write a few letters today!
Love you all so much! Keep working hard and being happy!!!!
Elder Magnusson
(We did not forget him... if we write too late on Friday's, he doesn't get our emails in time... he writes very early on Saturdays)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
September 25, 2010
Hey family,
Sorry this is late, it's going to be a bit short too.
We just got back from going to the temple with Mary, an investigator. We had a lesson in the garden behind the temple, on the purpose of temples and such. It was wonderful!!!! A returned missionary was there with his fiance and they testified it was GREAT! Its such a blessing to have a temple only an hour away in bus here. Mary STILL isn't 100% sure on her baptism, but for now she has a baptismal date for the 16th that she's still praying for the strength to be ready for. She's been through so much in her life, losing her dad, her husband leaving her when they found out she couldn't have kids, etc... Its been rough but the Lord has been preparing her soooo muuuuuuuuuuch!!!! One of her greatest fears is going under water, so as soon as we conquer spiritual doubts, we have to conquer that. Also, she couldn't stand seeing our converts at the last baptism in the tiny baptismal font, so when she gets baptised she says it has to be bigger and more open, so we're off to the river!!! WOOT! heh
Gustavo and Daniela, and Nicolas and Sheyla are going to pull out a marriage date at the Legal Office downtown this next week, so they should get married within a month or so. They are progressing so incredibly well! We went over to their house and Gustavo had read EVERYTHING in EVER BOOK IMAGINABLE and was telling us about the church organization and what stake presidents, mission presidents, bishops, priests, teachers, deacons...EVERYTHING does. It was incredible how much they had read, studied, and understood! They said they'd never been happier and calmer as a pareja, and that coworkers were asking them what had changed in their life. I wish you could all be here to meet these people I love them soooo much!!!!!
We have a lesson with Joaquin's family tonight and HE's going to invite his parents and sisters to be baptised. I'm stoked. We have only taught them a little bit, but the spirit is always very strong in their home. They are really good parents and just want the best for their family. Just good honest humble people.
All in all the work rolls on like a snowball. The ward is growing fast, people are excited, and progression is constant. The work of the Lord is perfect despite us. I love it so much, and the year mark was no hump, it was a pump day. It's all uphill from here! I just hope it slows down!
Also, the church has sent out a letter recommending that parents don't pick up their sons and daughters in the mission. I feel like it would be best to be obedient to the suggestion and I think in a year I'll just go home on time and a few weeks later we could come back to Argentina and Uruguay? That way I can give hugs and besos and wear normal clothes in the summer and...well all in all I think it would be best. The only problem is that it will cost another here and back plane ticket which is super expensive. I guess we can worry about that later, but for now please don't plan and picking me up on my release date.
I love you all tons! Keep working hard!
Elder Magnusson
P.S. The travel office lady in Salt Lake that I email like every day, Chelsea Martin, her maiden name is Thatcher. Small world, eh? hahah
Sorry this is late, it's going to be a bit short too.
We just got back from going to the temple with Mary, an investigator. We had a lesson in the garden behind the temple, on the purpose of temples and such. It was wonderful!!!! A returned missionary was there with his fiance and they testified it was GREAT! Its such a blessing to have a temple only an hour away in bus here. Mary STILL isn't 100% sure on her baptism, but for now she has a baptismal date for the 16th that she's still praying for the strength to be ready for. She's been through so much in her life, losing her dad, her husband leaving her when they found out she couldn't have kids, etc... Its been rough but the Lord has been preparing her soooo muuuuuuuuuuch!!!! One of her greatest fears is going under water, so as soon as we conquer spiritual doubts, we have to conquer that. Also, she couldn't stand seeing our converts at the last baptism in the tiny baptismal font, so when she gets baptised she says it has to be bigger and more open, so we're off to the river!!! WOOT! heh
Gustavo and Daniela, and Nicolas and Sheyla are going to pull out a marriage date at the Legal Office downtown this next week, so they should get married within a month or so. They are progressing so incredibly well! We went over to their house and Gustavo had read EVERYTHING in EVER BOOK IMAGINABLE and was telling us about the church organization and what stake presidents, mission presidents, bishops, priests, teachers, deacons...EVERYTHING does. It was incredible how much they had read, studied, and understood! They said they'd never been happier and calmer as a pareja, and that coworkers were asking them what had changed in their life. I wish you could all be here to meet these people I love them soooo much!!!!!
We have a lesson with Joaquin's family tonight and HE's going to invite his parents and sisters to be baptised. I'm stoked. We have only taught them a little bit, but the spirit is always very strong in their home. They are really good parents and just want the best for their family. Just good honest humble people.
All in all the work rolls on like a snowball. The ward is growing fast, people are excited, and progression is constant. The work of the Lord is perfect despite us. I love it so much, and the year mark was no hump, it was a pump day. It's all uphill from here! I just hope it slows down!
Also, the church has sent out a letter recommending that parents don't pick up their sons and daughters in the mission. I feel like it would be best to be obedient to the suggestion and I think in a year I'll just go home on time and a few weeks later we could come back to Argentina and Uruguay? That way I can give hugs and besos and wear normal clothes in the summer and...well all in all I think it would be best. The only problem is that it will cost another here and back plane ticket which is super expensive. I guess we can worry about that later, but for now please don't plan and picking me up on my release date.
I love you all tons! Keep working hard!
Elder Magnusson
P.S. The travel office lady in Salt Lake that I email like every day, Chelsea Martin, her maiden name is Thatcher. Small world, eh? hahah
Saturday, September 18, 2010
September 18, 2010
This week was so wonderful!
It started out last Saturday with the baptism and confirmation of Fernando and Joaquin. Everything went perfectly smooth, and they were baptised by their best friend Kelo. Joaquin, the next day after his confirmation, was called as his Sunday School class president (calls on people to say prayers and such, and leads the class). Joaquin, Fernando, Kelo, and 2 other young men in the ward all had practised a special musical number for the baptism and even though none of them could sing it sounded wonderful still. They have strong testimonies and are already working hard to be missionaries one day!.
Mary is still progressing slowly but surely. We've been teaching her a couple times a week for over 3 months now. She's completely stopped working on Sundays, spends a lot of her time seaching talks on lds.org, has a temple as her computer background, etc... She just has doubts that she writes down every time something comes to her head and in each lesson we resolve one. Her list is getting short and she'll will be baptised soon. I know she will. And when she becomes a member of the church, she will be SO strong. Once she knows something, she acts, and that's what makes a person ready to hear the gospel is that they are willing to sacrifice their will to God. Next week on P-Day we're going to take her to the temple and walk to grounds. Take out some more doubts :)
Gustavo and Daniela we found last Friday, they came to church Sunday, and the Principles of the Gospel teacher gave Gustavo a part in the lesson to teach to the other people in the class for tomorrow. We visited Daniela while he was at work on Monday night and she said that that morning she had woken at 4 a.m. up because he wasn't in bed and went to go find him and she found him at the table with the light on studying the Principles of the Gospel book and the Book of Mormon, preparing for his class to teach the following Sunday. They are feasting on the words of Christ and putting a lot of effort into receiving their answers. I LOVE that! I wish I had learned to be more like that earlier in life. They will be a fantastic new family in the ward when they are baptised in the couple weeks.
Milton, and inactive man for 10 years that we found knocking on doors, is quitting smoking and he's going to bring his wife and son to church. His greatest desire is to be able to baptise them himself. Hes working on getting worthy to go to the temple. They are getting married in a few weeks and then if goes well, he'll be able to baptise them a few weeks after. I think he'll be the next Young Mens President. He always brings his son to mutual every week now. Super stud.
We found a lady named Adriana that lived in New York city when the temple in Manhattan was built, and she took a tour before its dedication. We're going to take her to the temple in Montevideo and teach a lesson on the grounds.
I can't remember if I told you about Robert last week, but I'm gonna tell you anyways, cause more has happened since. He's an architect, pretty wealthy guy, that had a moto accident and is on crutches. We felt super strong that we were supposed to knock on a door, so we did it and he opened it. I told him who we were and felt impressed to say that God had sent us to save him from losing his family, and asked if we could go in. He said "and what if I say no?" We gave him strong testimony of the Lords love for him and he slowly limped to get his keys and let us in. We sat down at his table and began to teach about how God blesses families. He began to break down and said that his wife and daughter were going to leave him that day and that he was doing the best he could to be a good father and husband and was at his last straw and was asking God for some guidance when we came. When we finished the lesson, he said the prayer, the first time he had prayed vocally, and it was serioudly like 10 minutes long. Between each thing he begged to God for, there was a stretch of silence and lots of tears. It was the most sincere prayer I had ever heard. That very same day he taught his family and they set goals together and they will all be coming to church on Sunday and pretty soon be baptised together. The gospel saves families.
Yesterday I had lunch with Elder Etchegaray of the 70. His wife makes REALLY good lamb!!!! He talked about all the marvelous things happening in the area. Its beautiful to see the Lords hand in all things.
My new companion is Elder Crandell from Mesa, AZ!!!!!!!!!!! I called it, and was right!! We are going to have a lot of fun and work extrememly hard these next two changes together. Elder Ashby is in Paysandu now working hard.
Elder Stevens turns 20 today so we're going out to a nice place to eat. YES!!!!
I love you all so much! Make an effort every day to be the angel that answered the prayer of another.
Elder Magnusson
It started out last Saturday with the baptism and confirmation of Fernando and Joaquin. Everything went perfectly smooth, and they were baptised by their best friend Kelo. Joaquin, the next day after his confirmation, was called as his Sunday School class president (calls on people to say prayers and such, and leads the class). Joaquin, Fernando, Kelo, and 2 other young men in the ward all had practised a special musical number for the baptism and even though none of them could sing it sounded wonderful still. They have strong testimonies and are already working hard to be missionaries one day!.
Mary is still progressing slowly but surely. We've been teaching her a couple times a week for over 3 months now. She's completely stopped working on Sundays, spends a lot of her time seaching talks on lds.org, has a temple as her computer background, etc... She just has doubts that she writes down every time something comes to her head and in each lesson we resolve one. Her list is getting short and she'll will be baptised soon. I know she will. And when she becomes a member of the church, she will be SO strong. Once she knows something, she acts, and that's what makes a person ready to hear the gospel is that they are willing to sacrifice their will to God. Next week on P-Day we're going to take her to the temple and walk to grounds. Take out some more doubts :)
Gustavo and Daniela we found last Friday, they came to church Sunday, and the Principles of the Gospel teacher gave Gustavo a part in the lesson to teach to the other people in the class for tomorrow. We visited Daniela while he was at work on Monday night and she said that that morning she had woken at 4 a.m. up because he wasn't in bed and went to go find him and she found him at the table with the light on studying the Principles of the Gospel book and the Book of Mormon, preparing for his class to teach the following Sunday. They are feasting on the words of Christ and putting a lot of effort into receiving their answers. I LOVE that! I wish I had learned to be more like that earlier in life. They will be a fantastic new family in the ward when they are baptised in the couple weeks.
Milton, and inactive man for 10 years that we found knocking on doors, is quitting smoking and he's going to bring his wife and son to church. His greatest desire is to be able to baptise them himself. Hes working on getting worthy to go to the temple. They are getting married in a few weeks and then if goes well, he'll be able to baptise them a few weeks after. I think he'll be the next Young Mens President. He always brings his son to mutual every week now. Super stud.
We found a lady named Adriana that lived in New York city when the temple in Manhattan was built, and she took a tour before its dedication. We're going to take her to the temple in Montevideo and teach a lesson on the grounds.
I can't remember if I told you about Robert last week, but I'm gonna tell you anyways, cause more has happened since. He's an architect, pretty wealthy guy, that had a moto accident and is on crutches. We felt super strong that we were supposed to knock on a door, so we did it and he opened it. I told him who we were and felt impressed to say that God had sent us to save him from losing his family, and asked if we could go in. He said "and what if I say no?" We gave him strong testimony of the Lords love for him and he slowly limped to get his keys and let us in. We sat down at his table and began to teach about how God blesses families. He began to break down and said that his wife and daughter were going to leave him that day and that he was doing the best he could to be a good father and husband and was at his last straw and was asking God for some guidance when we came. When we finished the lesson, he said the prayer, the first time he had prayed vocally, and it was serioudly like 10 minutes long. Between each thing he begged to God for, there was a stretch of silence and lots of tears. It was the most sincere prayer I had ever heard. That very same day he taught his family and they set goals together and they will all be coming to church on Sunday and pretty soon be baptised together. The gospel saves families.
Yesterday I had lunch with Elder Etchegaray of the 70. His wife makes REALLY good lamb!!!! He talked about all the marvelous things happening in the area. Its beautiful to see the Lords hand in all things.
My new companion is Elder Crandell from Mesa, AZ!!!!!!!!!!! I called it, and was right!! We are going to have a lot of fun and work extrememly hard these next two changes together. Elder Ashby is in Paysandu now working hard.
Elder Stevens turns 20 today so we're going out to a nice place to eat. YES!!!!
I love you all so much! Make an effort every day to be the angel that answered the prayer of another.
Elder Magnusson
September 11, 2010
Hey family, glad to hear you are all so busy and happy with everything going on over there!! I hope you enjoy your time up in Mesa with the baby blessing and all!
You said your getting Boots a friend after vacation? When are you going on vacation and to where?
No, I never saw you while you were here dad, I just kinda flew out hahaha
Holy cow Alyssa and Johnathan are getting married...that's sooooo weeeeeeeeeeiiiiiirrrrrrrdddddddd!!!!!!!!!!! But awesome!!! Give them both a HUGE hug from me!!
Ya, David got me the money right away. He's about as trustworthy as a person can be, the BEST. I'll be sure to spend it wisely :) He loved the shoes and memory card! He got the memory card the same day him and his wife went to the doctor for the first sonogram of their second kid so they got to take lots of pics and video and such.
As for weight, you really have to work hard to not gain weight cause the food is pure animal fat in EVERYTHING from pasta to sandwhiches, everything has lots and lots of fat. My clothes still fit me about the same, though, so as long as I am careful and do my exercises in the mornings I won't look hardly any different in the end I don't think. When I have about 2 months left Im gonna ask you to buy that weighted vest for me though so I can start running and getting back in shape right away.
On Tuesday, Elder Ashby leaves and I'll sit in the captain's chair :) It will be an interesting challenge, but Im extremely excited for it! Come what may and love it, right?
Thanks again for all the stuff you sent me, almost all the food is already eaten hahaha American candy is soooo good!!! The photos were wonderful to bring to investigators houses and show them the eternal family that they can also have. Yesterday we found a young couple that are coming to church with us tomorrow and are already excited to be baptised after the first lesson. A tender mercy. It doesn't happen a whole lot that people change so quickly. Tonight Fernando and Juaquin will be baptised. Juaquin's family is coming to the baptism and we'll see where it leads! I know his entire family will get baptised if they soften their hearts a little bit and listen to the message and the spirit.
Lots to do today with changes coming next week, so I gotta cut it short! I love you all so much and appreciate your prayers. Keep working hard in school, sports, parenting, etc... and the Lord will bless us all with success :) Always remember that there are miracles waiting to be done by YOU. Be ministering angels to the people around you and follow the spirit so you can be the answers to prayers.
Love,
Elder Magnusson
You said your getting Boots a friend after vacation? When are you going on vacation and to where?
No, I never saw you while you were here dad, I just kinda flew out hahaha
Holy cow Alyssa and Johnathan are getting married...that's sooooo weeeeeeeeeeiiiiiirrrrrrrdddddddd!!!!!!!!!!! But awesome!!! Give them both a HUGE hug from me!!
Ya, David got me the money right away. He's about as trustworthy as a person can be, the BEST. I'll be sure to spend it wisely :) He loved the shoes and memory card! He got the memory card the same day him and his wife went to the doctor for the first sonogram of their second kid so they got to take lots of pics and video and such.
As for weight, you really have to work hard to not gain weight cause the food is pure animal fat in EVERYTHING from pasta to sandwhiches, everything has lots and lots of fat. My clothes still fit me about the same, though, so as long as I am careful and do my exercises in the mornings I won't look hardly any different in the end I don't think. When I have about 2 months left Im gonna ask you to buy that weighted vest for me though so I can start running and getting back in shape right away.
On Tuesday, Elder Ashby leaves and I'll sit in the captain's chair :) It will be an interesting challenge, but Im extremely excited for it! Come what may and love it, right?
Thanks again for all the stuff you sent me, almost all the food is already eaten hahaha American candy is soooo good!!! The photos were wonderful to bring to investigators houses and show them the eternal family that they can also have. Yesterday we found a young couple that are coming to church with us tomorrow and are already excited to be baptised after the first lesson. A tender mercy. It doesn't happen a whole lot that people change so quickly. Tonight Fernando and Juaquin will be baptised. Juaquin's family is coming to the baptism and we'll see where it leads! I know his entire family will get baptised if they soften their hearts a little bit and listen to the message and the spirit.
Lots to do today with changes coming next week, so I gotta cut it short! I love you all so much and appreciate your prayers. Keep working hard in school, sports, parenting, etc... and the Lord will bless us all with success :) Always remember that there are miracles waiting to be done by YOU. Be ministering angels to the people around you and follow the spirit so you can be the answers to prayers.
Love,
Elder Magnusson
September 4, 2010
Thank you so much for the stuff you sent with dad!!!!!!!!!!!! I really appreciate it, and my mission leader says thanks for the stuff too haha He's a stud, I'm glad you could do something for him, he's done a lot for us missionaries here! He made us breakfast this morning, pancakes, sandwhiches, eggs, etc... Soooo good. This afternoon we're going to Presidents house for lunch for me, Elder Stevens, and Elder Maes' birthday lunch. Today I eat super good hahaha
When dad was here, I could hear his voice in the other room hahahahaha it was pretty funny and weird. Elder Ashby's coat is perfect hes stoked.
This week we got to go on divisions with members and investigators. Theres 2 young men (14, 18) that are getting baptised on Saturday and sacrificing a lot to do so. They've been going to church for almost a year now, but had to resolve some stuff, but lots of miracles have occurred for them the last few weeks, and they are preparing for a mission already. Its amazing to have investigators teach lessons with you to other investigators because it truly shows they have a testimony and have no fear of the world to share it. They will make great priesthood leaders and Fernando, the 18 yr old, has plans to go on the mission as soon as he's able time-wise and come back and baptise his mom. He has no other family, and his mom is extrememly catholic and closed off to the decision that he's made, but he's still willing to do everything possible to live in the way that he feels God has prepared him for.
We have a number of full families that we are teaching, lots of excellent future priesthood holders, and the ward is slowly growing and getting excited for all these changes. The bishop called President and asked if he could take us somewhere are 10pm and the President approved us for where we were going (we had no idea it was a surprise) and he took us out to pizza hahaha it was pretty funny, but way good.
Theres a family that we're trying so hard with Miguel and Noelia and their kids (10 and 8) and they still havent come to church but God has been preparing them so much and they recognize that. They stopped smoking a year ago together just cause they felt they ought to, on another impulse he quit his job that was making him work Sundays, and now is the most successful haircutter in the area, and doesnt work Sundays or Mondays, and makes a TON of money (they have a Wii!!!!!!!!!! First I've seen in the Guay since the console is about $1000 and the games are about $100 each) etc... Everything has been working out perfectly for them and they know it but aren't ready to make some changes so we'll see what happens.
Another family we were teaching we went over to the house for the appointment and the mom, Laura, came out and tried to hand us the Book of Mormon in tears and said her husband wanted no more of it all. We got to talk to him and he said he would allow his wife to keep learning and going to church and everything, but he wants nothing more and won't allow his kids either. So thats pretty bittersweet. He's going out of town and she's going to church so the kids will be able to go with her Sunday and hopefully their testimonies will soften his heart. Laura it getting baptised the 25th, and if all goes well, her daughter will be baptised with her! We'll see what the Lord has in store for the family. Satan tries so hard to take down families its incredible!!!
This last week was the Santa Rosa, a huge yearly storm that starts EVERY YEAR on the 30th of August haha Dad can tell you about it. It sure made proselyting interesting. A massive tropical storm at freezing temperatures will never be my favorite working conditions, but it turned out alright haha Elder Ashby was sure glad to have his coat just in time heh
Well, thanks for everything, let me know what all is going on over there! I'm here early and havent seen your emails, so I'll answer any questions next time I guess. Dad, let me know everything you got to see and do, where you ate, etc...!!!!
Love, Elder Magnusson!!!
P.S. With all my photos, please just keep them safe, please don't post them all! I have something I want to do with them. Your fine to look at them and can post like 5-10 or something if you want, but I don't have hardly any photos of baptisms, zone activities, etc...and I need the memory card as it is with all the pics in the same order so when I get back I can get all my pics from old comps and piece it all together good. So PLEASE don't post my pics on facebook or anywhere PLEASE PLEASE
When dad was here, I could hear his voice in the other room hahahahaha it was pretty funny and weird. Elder Ashby's coat is perfect hes stoked.
This week we got to go on divisions with members and investigators. Theres 2 young men (14, 18) that are getting baptised on Saturday and sacrificing a lot to do so. They've been going to church for almost a year now, but had to resolve some stuff, but lots of miracles have occurred for them the last few weeks, and they are preparing for a mission already. Its amazing to have investigators teach lessons with you to other investigators because it truly shows they have a testimony and have no fear of the world to share it. They will make great priesthood leaders and Fernando, the 18 yr old, has plans to go on the mission as soon as he's able time-wise and come back and baptise his mom. He has no other family, and his mom is extrememly catholic and closed off to the decision that he's made, but he's still willing to do everything possible to live in the way that he feels God has prepared him for.
We have a number of full families that we are teaching, lots of excellent future priesthood holders, and the ward is slowly growing and getting excited for all these changes. The bishop called President and asked if he could take us somewhere are 10pm and the President approved us for where we were going (we had no idea it was a surprise) and he took us out to pizza hahaha it was pretty funny, but way good.
Theres a family that we're trying so hard with Miguel and Noelia and their kids (10 and 8) and they still havent come to church but God has been preparing them so much and they recognize that. They stopped smoking a year ago together just cause they felt they ought to, on another impulse he quit his job that was making him work Sundays, and now is the most successful haircutter in the area, and doesnt work Sundays or Mondays, and makes a TON of money (they have a Wii!!!!!!!!!! First I've seen in the Guay since the console is about $1000 and the games are about $100 each) etc... Everything has been working out perfectly for them and they know it but aren't ready to make some changes so we'll see what happens.
Another family we were teaching we went over to the house for the appointment and the mom, Laura, came out and tried to hand us the Book of Mormon in tears and said her husband wanted no more of it all. We got to talk to him and he said he would allow his wife to keep learning and going to church and everything, but he wants nothing more and won't allow his kids either. So thats pretty bittersweet. He's going out of town and she's going to church so the kids will be able to go with her Sunday and hopefully their testimonies will soften his heart. Laura it getting baptised the 25th, and if all goes well, her daughter will be baptised with her! We'll see what the Lord has in store for the family. Satan tries so hard to take down families its incredible!!!
This last week was the Santa Rosa, a huge yearly storm that starts EVERY YEAR on the 30th of August haha Dad can tell you about it. It sure made proselyting interesting. A massive tropical storm at freezing temperatures will never be my favorite working conditions, but it turned out alright haha Elder Ashby was sure glad to have his coat just in time heh
Well, thanks for everything, let me know what all is going on over there! I'm here early and havent seen your emails, so I'll answer any questions next time I guess. Dad, let me know everything you got to see and do, where you ate, etc...!!!!
Love, Elder Magnusson!!!
P.S. With all my photos, please just keep them safe, please don't post them all! I have something I want to do with them. Your fine to look at them and can post like 5-10 or something if you want, but I don't have hardly any photos of baptisms, zone activities, etc...and I need the memory card as it is with all the pics in the same order so when I get back I can get all my pics from old comps and piece it all together good. So PLEASE don't post my pics on facebook or anywhere PLEASE PLEASE
Monday, August 30, 2010
August 28, 2010
Hey family, this week was probably the most important learning experience of my mission!!!
Sunday night Elder Arnold of the Seventy came to Uruguay and Monday morning we had a meeting with him about the challenges in the mission and things that must change. It was fantastic. That evening he began his tour and went with Pres. and the APs all over Uruguay and visited every single missionary in the conferences. A LOT of things will be changing, and not only in the mission, but worldwide. He taught us a certain way that we are to introduce the Book of Mormon and promised that if we did that and a few other things (kneeling to pray EVERY time with investigators, giving a baptismal date in EVERY lesson, etc...) that baptisms would double in the mission. He also told us that between the APs, Secretaries, and Financiers, that if we were 100% obedient and faithfully did these things, we would be the highest baptizing district in the mission, even though we half the time to proselyte and are put in the toughest areas in the mission. These last 2 days we’ve put into practice what we learned, trusting in the promise that if we did we would be able to fulfill these promises, and it has worked. In the last 2 days, we gave 10 more people a baptismal date just in September and the Lord continues to pour blessings abundantly on the investigators that do their commitments. Javier and Gimena, and Celia and Luis will be getting married in 2 weeks, and they will get baptized with the Nazer family (of 3) and with another family of 4. Another inactive man is coming back and will be able to baptize his wife and son. Tons of miracle that I couldn’t even begin to list are happening and I’m so grateful to be here. All eternal families! Fantastic!!!
Yesterday we went to Punta del Este again this time with Pres. and Sis. Heaton to get their licences. We went to a restaurant and Sis. Heaton accidently got the wrong thing and it turned out to be a seafood plate with WHOLE shrimp (antennas, legs, eyes, and all) and octopus tentacles with their little suction cups and a bunch of other unidentifiable things. She was tough though and ate most of it anyways!!
Just got mom’s email now heh, about out of time though. I’m glad the trip was fun!!! I love the announcement, be sure to send all the pics soon J As for the 11.600 or 11.800 it doesn’t matter haha you can really put what you want and it will get here. It truly makes no difference we’re registered under both addresses.
I love you all a ton and hope that you’re working hard and being happy!
Love you a ton, can’t wait to see photos and all, bye bye!!!!!
Elder Magnusson
Sunday night Elder Arnold of the Seventy came to Uruguay and Monday morning we had a meeting with him about the challenges in the mission and things that must change. It was fantastic. That evening he began his tour and went with Pres. and the APs all over Uruguay and visited every single missionary in the conferences. A LOT of things will be changing, and not only in the mission, but worldwide. He taught us a certain way that we are to introduce the Book of Mormon and promised that if we did that and a few other things (kneeling to pray EVERY time with investigators, giving a baptismal date in EVERY lesson, etc...) that baptisms would double in the mission. He also told us that between the APs, Secretaries, and Financiers, that if we were 100% obedient and faithfully did these things, we would be the highest baptizing district in the mission, even though we half the time to proselyte and are put in the toughest areas in the mission. These last 2 days we’ve put into practice what we learned, trusting in the promise that if we did we would be able to fulfill these promises, and it has worked. In the last 2 days, we gave 10 more people a baptismal date just in September and the Lord continues to pour blessings abundantly on the investigators that do their commitments. Javier and Gimena, and Celia and Luis will be getting married in 2 weeks, and they will get baptized with the Nazer family (of 3) and with another family of 4. Another inactive man is coming back and will be able to baptize his wife and son. Tons of miracle that I couldn’t even begin to list are happening and I’m so grateful to be here. All eternal families! Fantastic!!!
Yesterday we went to Punta del Este again this time with Pres. and Sis. Heaton to get their licences. We went to a restaurant and Sis. Heaton accidently got the wrong thing and it turned out to be a seafood plate with WHOLE shrimp (antennas, legs, eyes, and all) and octopus tentacles with their little suction cups and a bunch of other unidentifiable things. She was tough though and ate most of it anyways!!
Just got mom’s email now heh, about out of time though. I’m glad the trip was fun!!! I love the announcement, be sure to send all the pics soon J As for the 11.600 or 11.800 it doesn’t matter haha you can really put what you want and it will get here. It truly makes no difference we’re registered under both addresses.
I love you all a ton and hope that you’re working hard and being happy!
Love you a ton, can’t wait to see photos and all, bye bye!!!!!
Elder Magnusson
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Our last baptismal service in Salto where Daniela (34), Claudia (22), Javier (17), and Henry (17) got baptised.
This is about midnight, and some of the youth in Salto came to see me off.
A convert family that will be sealed in the temple next year.
The picture above and below are looking out the window of my apartment. Amazing huh?
This is about midnight, and some of the youth in Salto came to see me off.
A convert family that will be sealed in the temple next year.
The picture above and below are looking out the window of my apartment. Amazing huh?
August 14, 2010
Congrats on Alden!!! Im so stoked to have a nephew now too!! Thanks haha!!!
Friday the 13th though...heh thats pretty cool! Not my birthday, but the next best thing I guess ;-) Glad to hear everything went smoothly and all thats great!
I figured out how to attach fotos better, so heres a few. I guess you'll be getting all the full files pretty soon anyways on my card, but thats okay. Most of them are the ones I thought I sent before, but didn't turn out good. enjoy!
Send me lots of pics too!
My birthday was good, a couple of elders going home were staying with us and they got me a cake and all. It was a great birthday.
This last week we found 2 new GREAT families that are planning on going to church tomorrow. Theres a lady in this ward named Marlene that asks for pamphlets and Books of Mormon and then goes out and preaches just like a missionary! Shes so incredible, she spends all her spare time doing the Lords work and then on Sunday she takes us to visit the people she found and WOW. She finds a lot better than we do heh, She know EVERYONE since she's lived in the area for like 30 years taking care of everyones children. So....a ton of doors are opening, slowly but surely.
In the photos, #8 is when a bunch of the youth came to the terminal at midnight to see me off to Deo from Salto. #1 is our last baptismal service in Salto where Daniela (34), Claudia (22), Javier (17), and Henry (17) got baptised. Daniela's husband is a member, 3 kids of hers are being baptised up there this next week, Claudia's husband and mom are receiving the lessons, we had already baptised Javier's mom and sister, his dad is paying tithing but still has doubts about batism so we'll see what comes of that, and Henry (Javier's best friend), sister is getting baptized next week, and his parents are preparing as weel for 2 weeks after. Some SOLID families up there. I can't wait to tell you all the amazing stories of their conversions. So many miracles have happened... #2 is a sunrise from outside our apartment window last week. It was so pretty I had to take a pic. # 3 and #9 are Adriana and Florencia's baptism. Their dad/husband, is getting back into church activity and they are doing GREAT as a whole. She cooks REALLY good too haha She'll be a blessing for all future missionarys heh #4 is a rainbow outside our back apartment view that overlooks Montevideo International Port, Ciudad Vieja and all that. BEAUTIFUL view!!! #5 and #6 areconvert families that'll all be sealed in a years time :)
I wish I had more fotos of baptisms and well...everything but unfortunately I can't bring my camera everywhere with me or it'll get stolen, but my camera still has like 1300 fotos on it or so, lots of fun stuff :)
This week was so stressful I learned a ton about the personal responsibility each of us has for...ourselves heh. We had to deal with a lot of disobedient missionaries this week and it was sad to see people having worked hard at times (others never) throwing it all away for a little bit of fun. The President and Sister Heaton have passed through so much fire these 6 weeks or so since they came its unbelievable. Satan wants this mission to go down pretty bad. Salt Lake informed us that the Lord is sending even more missionarys here though. I believe that by the end of the year we may have over 200 missionaries in the mission!!!! That's quite a few, but the need is present. There's a number of cities in the mission where missionaries have NEVER been to EVER, so I think some new branches may be opened up over the next year. Lots of miracles will be happening soon in Uruguay.
I love you all and I'm excited to hear that so much good is happening in the family and all. Keep working hard in all you do and being obedient with exactness. Don't anyone dare ever think that the Lord asks too much, because we are in debt to him everything and very rarely does he ask for so much. Just be obedient and be happy with that. Serve your family and friends always and get some references for your missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you a TON,
Elder Magnusson
Friday the 13th though...heh thats pretty cool! Not my birthday, but the next best thing I guess ;-) Glad to hear everything went smoothly and all thats great!
I figured out how to attach fotos better, so heres a few. I guess you'll be getting all the full files pretty soon anyways on my card, but thats okay. Most of them are the ones I thought I sent before, but didn't turn out good. enjoy!
Send me lots of pics too!
My birthday was good, a couple of elders going home were staying with us and they got me a cake and all. It was a great birthday.
This last week we found 2 new GREAT families that are planning on going to church tomorrow. Theres a lady in this ward named Marlene that asks for pamphlets and Books of Mormon and then goes out and preaches just like a missionary! Shes so incredible, she spends all her spare time doing the Lords work and then on Sunday she takes us to visit the people she found and WOW. She finds a lot better than we do heh, She know EVERYONE since she's lived in the area for like 30 years taking care of everyones children. So....a ton of doors are opening, slowly but surely.
In the photos, #8 is when a bunch of the youth came to the terminal at midnight to see me off to Deo from Salto. #1 is our last baptismal service in Salto where Daniela (34), Claudia (22), Javier (17), and Henry (17) got baptised. Daniela's husband is a member, 3 kids of hers are being baptised up there this next week, Claudia's husband and mom are receiving the lessons, we had already baptised Javier's mom and sister, his dad is paying tithing but still has doubts about batism so we'll see what comes of that, and Henry (Javier's best friend), sister is getting baptized next week, and his parents are preparing as weel for 2 weeks after. Some SOLID families up there. I can't wait to tell you all the amazing stories of their conversions. So many miracles have happened... #2 is a sunrise from outside our apartment window last week. It was so pretty I had to take a pic. # 3 and #9 are Adriana and Florencia's baptism. Their dad/husband, is getting back into church activity and they are doing GREAT as a whole. She cooks REALLY good too haha She'll be a blessing for all future missionarys heh #4 is a rainbow outside our back apartment view that overlooks Montevideo International Port, Ciudad Vieja and all that. BEAUTIFUL view!!! #5 and #6 areconvert families that'll all be sealed in a years time :)
I wish I had more fotos of baptisms and well...everything but unfortunately I can't bring my camera everywhere with me or it'll get stolen, but my camera still has like 1300 fotos on it or so, lots of fun stuff :)
This week was so stressful I learned a ton about the personal responsibility each of us has for...ourselves heh. We had to deal with a lot of disobedient missionaries this week and it was sad to see people having worked hard at times (others never) throwing it all away for a little bit of fun. The President and Sister Heaton have passed through so much fire these 6 weeks or so since they came its unbelievable. Satan wants this mission to go down pretty bad. Salt Lake informed us that the Lord is sending even more missionarys here though. I believe that by the end of the year we may have over 200 missionaries in the mission!!!! That's quite a few, but the need is present. There's a number of cities in the mission where missionaries have NEVER been to EVER, so I think some new branches may be opened up over the next year. Lots of miracles will be happening soon in Uruguay.
I love you all and I'm excited to hear that so much good is happening in the family and all. Keep working hard in all you do and being obedient with exactness. Don't anyone dare ever think that the Lord asks too much, because we are in debt to him everything and very rarely does he ask for so much. Just be obedient and be happy with that. Serve your family and friends always and get some references for your missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you a TON,
Elder Magnusson
Saturday, August 7, 2010
August 7, 2010
Hey everyone, this week was another wonderful week :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!!!! (yesterday ) I'm almost in the 20s with ya!
It started off last Saturday with the baptismal service. The most INCREDIBLE baptismal service ever!!! The ward is soooo stoked for mission work its incredible! There were lots of investigators there too, so this month will be a great harvest ;-)
The next day was the confirmation and get this...with the 3 confirmations, the Stake President confirmed Elvis, a member of the Seventy confirmed Adriana, and I did Florencia´s. It was pretty sweet especially when the member of the 70 confirmed our convert, it was so powerful...fua. They are going to be great leaders in the church and HUGE support for the ward. The Bishop baught us a cake to celebrate too haha
This last week was changes and it was CRAZY busy. Lots of waking up early and going to bed late. I got to stay in the Hostal with the newbies for the night and they had lots of questions I felt so old heh. President Eyring's granddaughter is in the mission now. All of the sister missionarys came early because they speak spanish so good.
Elder Stevens from my same group is the new financier in the mission! It will be a blast to be together for our year mark! It's coming really quickly!!! Just a month and a half away!!!
Wow, I can't believe Karls back. I sent a letter to him and Stacy a couple weeks ago to the house address, so they oughtta get it around now. Time flies so quickly it's absolutely unreal. Tell him to send me a gmail asap and let me know what its like!!! It was weird seeing the old missionarys off to the airport. So sad and happy at the same time heh.
This week theres nothing too big or exciting coming up. Just the normal stuff. The conferences with President Arnold are getting near so we'll be focusing on getting that all organized. Should be pretty cool, this huge revamping of Preach My Gospel.
Please try and hold off a couple more days Melissa!!! You can do it!!! Just til Tuesday!!! haha
I can't believe Tresann had Ellie already holy cow time flies soooo ffaaaaassstttt!!! I bet the Van Drews are pretty excited to be granparents finally heh
Wow...the whole AZ immigration law mess sounds pretty crazy... I wonder if the Federal Government will take action against the state. That would be quite the mess. Sounds like another civil rights movement is preparing itself. Wait, I read that last sentence in english and it didn't sound right. Im sorry. Lets see what Benson had to say about the Civil Rights Movement...hahaha
I'm awful sorry to hear Ladybug will be put down. That makes me pretty sad, but its the natural course of life. It all has to end some time :( Give her an extra tight hug from me. You are all in my prayers, shes been in the family so long...dang.
Yep, its crazy cold here, but Im staying warm just fine :)
Dad, thats such an important calling here! Theres so many people out of work now, I dunno if its the same up there, but people are often suffering pretty bad down here. The employment office here helps hundreds EVERY DAY and opens a lot of doors to missionary work, so be sure to use your calling to progress the mission work!
Love you all, Im out of time but have a GREAT week and keep praying for and helping out your local missionarys. We need the members, or we're stuck knocking doors all day. Thats not how God intends it!!! Read the Ensign too its full of wisdom for today :)
Love, Elder Magnusson
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!!!! (yesterday ) I'm almost in the 20s with ya!
It started off last Saturday with the baptismal service. The most INCREDIBLE baptismal service ever!!! The ward is soooo stoked for mission work its incredible! There were lots of investigators there too, so this month will be a great harvest ;-)
The next day was the confirmation and get this...with the 3 confirmations, the Stake President confirmed Elvis, a member of the Seventy confirmed Adriana, and I did Florencia´s. It was pretty sweet especially when the member of the 70 confirmed our convert, it was so powerful...fua. They are going to be great leaders in the church and HUGE support for the ward. The Bishop baught us a cake to celebrate too haha
This last week was changes and it was CRAZY busy. Lots of waking up early and going to bed late. I got to stay in the Hostal with the newbies for the night and they had lots of questions I felt so old heh. President Eyring's granddaughter is in the mission now. All of the sister missionarys came early because they speak spanish so good.
Elder Stevens from my same group is the new financier in the mission! It will be a blast to be together for our year mark! It's coming really quickly!!! Just a month and a half away!!!
Wow, I can't believe Karls back. I sent a letter to him and Stacy a couple weeks ago to the house address, so they oughtta get it around now. Time flies so quickly it's absolutely unreal. Tell him to send me a gmail asap and let me know what its like!!! It was weird seeing the old missionarys off to the airport. So sad and happy at the same time heh.
This week theres nothing too big or exciting coming up. Just the normal stuff. The conferences with President Arnold are getting near so we'll be focusing on getting that all organized. Should be pretty cool, this huge revamping of Preach My Gospel.
Please try and hold off a couple more days Melissa!!! You can do it!!! Just til Tuesday!!! haha
I can't believe Tresann had Ellie already holy cow time flies soooo ffaaaaassstttt!!! I bet the Van Drews are pretty excited to be granparents finally heh
Wow...the whole AZ immigration law mess sounds pretty crazy... I wonder if the Federal Government will take action against the state. That would be quite the mess. Sounds like another civil rights movement is preparing itself. Wait, I read that last sentence in english and it didn't sound right. Im sorry. Lets see what Benson had to say about the Civil Rights Movement...hahaha
I'm awful sorry to hear Ladybug will be put down. That makes me pretty sad, but its the natural course of life. It all has to end some time :( Give her an extra tight hug from me. You are all in my prayers, shes been in the family so long...dang.
Yep, its crazy cold here, but Im staying warm just fine :)
Dad, thats such an important calling here! Theres so many people out of work now, I dunno if its the same up there, but people are often suffering pretty bad down here. The employment office here helps hundreds EVERY DAY and opens a lot of doors to missionary work, so be sure to use your calling to progress the mission work!
Love you all, Im out of time but have a GREAT week and keep praying for and helping out your local missionarys. We need the members, or we're stuck knocking doors all day. Thats not how God intends it!!! Read the Ensign too its full of wisdom for today :)
Love, Elder Magnusson
Saturday, July 24, 2010
July 24, 2010
Hey, another great week! After a very long time of little success in the ward, Adriana and Florencia are more than stoked for the 31st! They've marked up the entire conference edition of the Liahona and their Books of Mormon, they dropped anything necessary for the Word of Wisdom, are already paying their tithes, etc...STUDETTE investigators. The Assistants had their baptismal service last week, and on Sunday, the Financiers are baptizing a man named Elvis. The ward is SUPER excited to have some new solid families, and seeing success the ward is incredibly stoked for the mission work and are finally helping out a LOT! The ward is fantastic and it's getting better still. I am grateful that I still have at least 5 months here! We're finding lots more people preparing to be baptized over the next few weeks too, it will be a few months filled with miracles.
To answer your questions, some projects I'm working on is a chart with Salt Lake that shows the numbers changes over the last year by city in the mission. It will be SWEET when it's finished. Never though I'd use math in the mission, but, here we are haha.
Also, I'm programming a virtual map of our entire mission on google earth so that all the missionaries, bishops, and areas where all the wards are located is available. Most of the mission has no maps of their areas, so it'll be cool for now and I think a huge asset to the future of the mission.
Yeah, lots of missionaries are always being called to the mission. This last group was pretty good :) EVeryone in the mission starts out 100% obedient, but often in goes downhill, so I really hope the Lord is sending lots of persevering young men out here. The bar got raised, there's no excuse for giving anything but everything.
There's no elders in the mission home. Just the President and his wife. I live in an apartment with the other 3 office elders (Theres always 2 financiers and 2 secretaries at a time). And the 2 assistants are pretty often in here too, but they get to do a lot more proselyting than us usually, except when they travel with President to conferences and such.
We get enough time though. Almost every day we get our stuff done in time to leave at 4:30 til 9. So, it's not too bad at all. The Lord always provides a way to use our time effectively.
As for things I want for my birthday, I another 8BG memory card for the camera would be great, I'm going to gift one of mine to Elder Grau. One is filled and I'll need the other 2, so one to replace the one I give. Other than that....just other stuff I can gift to people. Ties are always WONDERFUL, I constantly run low. A big bag of Sour Patch Kids for my comp Elder Ashby cause those are his favorite :) Ummmm.... a pack of jerky for a returned missionary in my ward that fell in love with it on his mission, Napoleon Dynamite still for a High Councilman in my Stake that asked me for it like 7 months ago haha I want some of those Pepperidge Farm dark chocolate chip cookies. I want Annabel to send me pumpkin cookies haha that popped into mind for some reason. heh, thats a funny list, but its all I can think of. Peanut butter is always delicious, and maple extract. If cheese is transportable, a block of sharp cheddar would be great hahahaha but I don't imagine thats possible. All they have is Muzarella. Also, I found a guy that does huge leather posters like the one that dad has of Moroni, so if you guys wanted one of a church scene, or a temple picture or something like that you can bring money and the picture to have it done. He also does leather scripture binds if anyone wants their scriptures bound in decorated leather. Im thinking about getting it done, its just really expensive so I havent decided.
Hey dad, I'm giving your email to Elder Grau and he's going to pass it on to his parents in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay (just outside Asunción) to invite you to dinner, just a heads up. Please accept that would be cool! Also let me know on gmail if it changes at any moment. Those gmails get printed out daily, so I'll get it right away and can heads up Elder Grau.
Anything in particular you guys want in YOUR box? I've already got a ton of souvenirs that converts have gifted that I'm going to send with dad, including something REALLY special someone made for grandma in particular that I never sent when I heard dad was coming. I'm sending for sure my memory card with all the pics and videos Ive taken. I'm sending some other random stuff ive collected as well over time to make room in my suitcases. Also, I'm going to get a few boxes of my favorite alfajors so you can all try them.
Sorry, weird email, but thats okay. I love you all dearly and think about you often but not TOO much ;-) I'm working hard and we're seeing success and I've learned that happiness truly comes from obedience, and any lasting happiness will never come from wickedness, so PLEASE be obedient in all things and you'll understand why AFTER the trial of your faith. Keep working hard in all you do! Good luck with your wrestling/soccer decision, Levi! I think soccer will always be my favortie sport to watch, but you ought to try other things too, so either way it will be great.
Oooo, I asked my comp if he needs anything from the states, and he gave your address and phone to some of his relatives in Mesa so they can get you a coat for him so they can save the huge shipping costs and not getting robbed.
Also, I just though of something else I want, so I hope you can keep track of all the thing Ive put throughout the email haha I would like you to make another baby blanket if you can for a boy, Some converts in Salto are expecting a baby today, so I'll be getting pictures in a few days, and I'd like to send them something for him. They named him Benjamin after King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. They still havent picked a second name, but Oribe (the husband) has his vote on Tylan haha She has the final say so we'll see hahaha that would be pretty sweet though.
K, now Im done, love you all!
Elder Magnusson
To answer your questions, some projects I'm working on is a chart with Salt Lake that shows the numbers changes over the last year by city in the mission. It will be SWEET when it's finished. Never though I'd use math in the mission, but, here we are haha.
Also, I'm programming a virtual map of our entire mission on google earth so that all the missionaries, bishops, and areas where all the wards are located is available. Most of the mission has no maps of their areas, so it'll be cool for now and I think a huge asset to the future of the mission.
Yeah, lots of missionaries are always being called to the mission. This last group was pretty good :) EVeryone in the mission starts out 100% obedient, but often in goes downhill, so I really hope the Lord is sending lots of persevering young men out here. The bar got raised, there's no excuse for giving anything but everything.
There's no elders in the mission home. Just the President and his wife. I live in an apartment with the other 3 office elders (Theres always 2 financiers and 2 secretaries at a time). And the 2 assistants are pretty often in here too, but they get to do a lot more proselyting than us usually, except when they travel with President to conferences and such.
We get enough time though. Almost every day we get our stuff done in time to leave at 4:30 til 9. So, it's not too bad at all. The Lord always provides a way to use our time effectively.
As for things I want for my birthday, I another 8BG memory card for the camera would be great, I'm going to gift one of mine to Elder Grau. One is filled and I'll need the other 2, so one to replace the one I give. Other than that....just other stuff I can gift to people. Ties are always WONDERFUL, I constantly run low. A big bag of Sour Patch Kids for my comp Elder Ashby cause those are his favorite :) Ummmm.... a pack of jerky for a returned missionary in my ward that fell in love with it on his mission, Napoleon Dynamite still for a High Councilman in my Stake that asked me for it like 7 months ago haha I want some of those Pepperidge Farm dark chocolate chip cookies. I want Annabel to send me pumpkin cookies haha that popped into mind for some reason. heh, thats a funny list, but its all I can think of. Peanut butter is always delicious, and maple extract. If cheese is transportable, a block of sharp cheddar would be great hahahaha but I don't imagine thats possible. All they have is Muzarella. Also, I found a guy that does huge leather posters like the one that dad has of Moroni, so if you guys wanted one of a church scene, or a temple picture or something like that you can bring money and the picture to have it done. He also does leather scripture binds if anyone wants their scriptures bound in decorated leather. Im thinking about getting it done, its just really expensive so I havent decided.
Hey dad, I'm giving your email to Elder Grau and he's going to pass it on to his parents in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay (just outside Asunción) to invite you to dinner, just a heads up. Please accept that would be cool! Also let me know on gmail if it changes at any moment. Those gmails get printed out daily, so I'll get it right away and can heads up Elder Grau.
Anything in particular you guys want in YOUR box? I've already got a ton of souvenirs that converts have gifted that I'm going to send with dad, including something REALLY special someone made for grandma in particular that I never sent when I heard dad was coming. I'm sending for sure my memory card with all the pics and videos Ive taken. I'm sending some other random stuff ive collected as well over time to make room in my suitcases. Also, I'm going to get a few boxes of my favorite alfajors so you can all try them.
Sorry, weird email, but thats okay. I love you all dearly and think about you often but not TOO much ;-) I'm working hard and we're seeing success and I've learned that happiness truly comes from obedience, and any lasting happiness will never come from wickedness, so PLEASE be obedient in all things and you'll understand why AFTER the trial of your faith. Keep working hard in all you do! Good luck with your wrestling/soccer decision, Levi! I think soccer will always be my favortie sport to watch, but you ought to try other things too, so either way it will be great.
Oooo, I asked my comp if he needs anything from the states, and he gave your address and phone to some of his relatives in Mesa so they can get you a coat for him so they can save the huge shipping costs and not getting robbed.
Also, I just though of something else I want, so I hope you can keep track of all the thing Ive put throughout the email haha I would like you to make another baby blanket if you can for a boy, Some converts in Salto are expecting a baby today, so I'll be getting pictures in a few days, and I'd like to send them something for him. They named him Benjamin after King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. They still havent picked a second name, but Oribe (the husband) has his vote on Tylan haha She has the final say so we'll see hahaha that would be pretty sweet though.
K, now Im done, love you all!
Elder Magnusson
Sunday, July 18, 2010
July 17, 2010
Another good week in Montevideo!!! Sorry to hear your plans changed dad, but thats alright :) I'm still waiting on Presidents word if I can see you or not haha Sister Heaton wants to make you dinner with them, though, so in any case you'll meet the President :) Also, Elder Grau wants your Paraguay info because his family wants to have you for dinner sometime!! Elder Grau says you always have a home in Asunción, and his dad is a counselor in the mission presidency there, so I bet Sister Grau makes good food too (all Presidents wives cook good). As of now, you've got 2 GREAT dinner appointments set up haha. If you want, I can make appointments for you to eat with converts here every night if you want to save on money haha
If you're looking for a nice hotel and price isn't a HUGE factor, I'd definitely recommend the Radison at Plaza Independencia. The nicest places to eat are mostly off La Rambla near the port where all the cruise ships enter, but theres lots of great places everywhere. You'll have to go to Chivito de Oro at some point to get the national dish (...chivitos) prepared SUPER delicious. Carrazco is the richest part of Uruguay and theres some great restaurants, but everything is way over priced.
The temple is on Calle Bolivia I think, but I don't remember the cross streets. You can find that easy on google im sure, though.
I don't live in the mission home, I live about 20 minutes away nearer to el Palacio Legislativo by Ciudad Vieja. Its on Agraciada and Suarez in the Crystal Torre.
We drive pretty much everywhere, or take taxis, because we have an Elder with us thats waiting on his foot to heal to go back out. I havent taken a single bus since I got to Montevideo this time!!! All car or taxi (taxi is dirt cheap anyways). There is no rail system within the city. You gotta remember that although its a big city, its still third world. At every stop light people ask you for change and legless women and children sit on the sidewalks waiting for someone with a bit of mercy to drop a coin. Its definitely NOT the USA, but it's still nice. Still lots of good people, and Im sure you'll enjoy your visit. Just NEVER mention that you have any affinity towards Argentines or they will hate you haha
With only 4 hours of tracting, we still get a LOT done! We're seeing a TON of success, and have 3 with a baptismal date on the 31st. In Montevideo usually this zone has maybe 2-3 baptisms per month tops, but the assistants have a couple tonight, the financers more on the 24th, and us on the 31, so just in the offices were seeing success, and then the rest of the zone is doing GREAT! Theres no where to go but up! Lots of wonderful miracles are happening and theres a lot of great missionaries in the zone right now, so these next few weeks should be happy ones.
Yesterday the President and Sister Heaton went with Elder Ashby and I to our lesson. It was their first lesson in the mission so far and it went really well :) We taught on prophets to the family thats getting baptised the 31st, and the language barrier didn't change at all the spirit that was felt by them. Hopefully dad can meet some converts here when he comes, that would be cool!
Congrats on your school stuff mom! I'm excited and a little jealous you get to fly out to VA to see my new nephew! I'm getting stoked for him to be born on my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep working on the timing Melissa!!! I'm glad grandma is still keeping so busy with things! It's gotta stink not to be able to drive and such, but it gives others the opportunity to serve her :) Hopefully they will take it.
This morning we woke up early and went to the temple! When we got out, Sister Heaton was waiting with pancakes! It was funny to have a good american breakfast again! Temple sessions are interesting in spanish just because some of the translations makes meanings a lot clearer, and then again others more vague. Languages are pretty cool in that you can say something in one that is meaningful but really has no translation. I dunno if that makes any sense, but ya. Ya era!
After the temple, we just got back from a Chinese food buffet, WOW, It was really good, but now I'm way stuffed. It costed 240 pesos....like 12 dollars, still trying to decide if it was worth it haha I guess so as long as its a one time thing haha. Im still surprised there was a chinese place though. The owner is a Chinese lady with a FUNNY spanish accent hahaha
Sé que Dios vive y que su hijo se sacrificó por nosotros para que podamos ser redimidos en el último día. Pero a menos que nos bautizemos, no podemos lograr la vida eterna. Sean misioneros cada uno de ustedes y busquen entre sus amigos por las personas que estén listas YA. Sé que hay miles. Les amo muchisimo y espero que estén trabajando con todo su mente y fuerza para llevar a cabo la obra del Señor.
Chaucito,
Elder Magnusson :-)
Also, you can email me any moment during the week and I'll get it printed off at the urugoest@gmail.com the same day :) I won't reply until the next Pday, but you can give that address to my friends that are too lazy to write and they should all send me an email with my name in the subject bar. We're constantly printing off mail for all the missionaries in the mission like that.
Love,
Elder Magnusson
If you're looking for a nice hotel and price isn't a HUGE factor, I'd definitely recommend the Radison at Plaza Independencia. The nicest places to eat are mostly off La Rambla near the port where all the cruise ships enter, but theres lots of great places everywhere. You'll have to go to Chivito de Oro at some point to get the national dish (...chivitos) prepared SUPER delicious. Carrazco is the richest part of Uruguay and theres some great restaurants, but everything is way over priced.
The temple is on Calle Bolivia I think, but I don't remember the cross streets. You can find that easy on google im sure, though.
I don't live in the mission home, I live about 20 minutes away nearer to el Palacio Legislativo by Ciudad Vieja. Its on Agraciada and Suarez in the Crystal Torre.
We drive pretty much everywhere, or take taxis, because we have an Elder with us thats waiting on his foot to heal to go back out. I havent taken a single bus since I got to Montevideo this time!!! All car or taxi (taxi is dirt cheap anyways). There is no rail system within the city. You gotta remember that although its a big city, its still third world. At every stop light people ask you for change and legless women and children sit on the sidewalks waiting for someone with a bit of mercy to drop a coin. Its definitely NOT the USA, but it's still nice. Still lots of good people, and Im sure you'll enjoy your visit. Just NEVER mention that you have any affinity towards Argentines or they will hate you haha
With only 4 hours of tracting, we still get a LOT done! We're seeing a TON of success, and have 3 with a baptismal date on the 31st. In Montevideo usually this zone has maybe 2-3 baptisms per month tops, but the assistants have a couple tonight, the financers more on the 24th, and us on the 31, so just in the offices were seeing success, and then the rest of the zone is doing GREAT! Theres no where to go but up! Lots of wonderful miracles are happening and theres a lot of great missionaries in the zone right now, so these next few weeks should be happy ones.
Yesterday the President and Sister Heaton went with Elder Ashby and I to our lesson. It was their first lesson in the mission so far and it went really well :) We taught on prophets to the family thats getting baptised the 31st, and the language barrier didn't change at all the spirit that was felt by them. Hopefully dad can meet some converts here when he comes, that would be cool!
Congrats on your school stuff mom! I'm excited and a little jealous you get to fly out to VA to see my new nephew! I'm getting stoked for him to be born on my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep working on the timing Melissa!!! I'm glad grandma is still keeping so busy with things! It's gotta stink not to be able to drive and such, but it gives others the opportunity to serve her :) Hopefully they will take it.
This morning we woke up early and went to the temple! When we got out, Sister Heaton was waiting with pancakes! It was funny to have a good american breakfast again! Temple sessions are interesting in spanish just because some of the translations makes meanings a lot clearer, and then again others more vague. Languages are pretty cool in that you can say something in one that is meaningful but really has no translation. I dunno if that makes any sense, but ya. Ya era!
After the temple, we just got back from a Chinese food buffet, WOW, It was really good, but now I'm way stuffed. It costed 240 pesos....like 12 dollars, still trying to decide if it was worth it haha I guess so as long as its a one time thing haha. Im still surprised there was a chinese place though. The owner is a Chinese lady with a FUNNY spanish accent hahaha
Sé que Dios vive y que su hijo se sacrificó por nosotros para que podamos ser redimidos en el último día. Pero a menos que nos bautizemos, no podemos lograr la vida eterna. Sean misioneros cada uno de ustedes y busquen entre sus amigos por las personas que estén listas YA. Sé que hay miles. Les amo muchisimo y espero que estén trabajando con todo su mente y fuerza para llevar a cabo la obra del Señor.
Chaucito,
Elder Magnusson :-)
Also, you can email me any moment during the week and I'll get it printed off at the urugoest@gmail.com the same day :) I won't reply until the next Pday, but you can give that address to my friends that are too lazy to write and they should all send me an email with my name in the subject bar. We're constantly printing off mail for all the missionaries in the mission like that.
Love,
Elder Magnusson
July 10, 2010
Whew, such a good week :)
Thanks for all of the pictures Rach is growing FAST!!!! Alden too haha
I just cannot get gmail to send my pics! I have the SD card for dad though. I filled one, but I still have 2 empty ones, so don't worry about bringing me another!! I jealous for all the fun you are having in Mesa up there, but that's okay Im having fun too :)
Alright to answer all the questions,
Yep Im all settled into the offices and all. Its a blast! I'm working just a few blocks from downtown centro, but I'm pretty good in the city. Yes, Plaza Independencia is the center of the Old City, a HUGE statue of the national hero (José Artigas) with a memorial below of a vase with his ashes and guards around and all that its pretty cool. Its located where the old palace was located originally (all thats left of it is the draw bridge gate behind the statue).
When Uruguay lost to Holanda, it actually wasn't too sad. The Uruguayos didn't have 3of their main players (2 injuries and 1 red card), and Holanda played REALLY REALLY well, so they were just happy they'd made it into the final 4. Today we play Germany, so as long as we play better against them than Argentina did, Uruguay will be in massive celebration...even if we lose. (Its possible that Uruguay hates Argentina more than loves itself....FYI dad haha) Last World Cup they didn't even get to play AT ALL, and everyone had them losing their first match against France, so every game has been a miracle and people are happy whatever happens.
Yep, I have my drivers license! Best recuerdo EVER! Driving in Montevideo is a lot like pod-racing in Star Wars. Thats the best comparison I can think of. The bigger, faster, and more tactical vehicle wins right-of-way. The lanes really don't mean anything and in most places aren't marked. There are NO traffic cops. Honestly I have never seen nor met someone that had ever seen someone get pulled over. haha its so much fun actually to be flooring it weaving in and out of cars. Its wonderful chaos. When you guys come to visit, mom will have to keep a blindfold on haha.
The chapel isn't on a corner, it's about 50m towards centro from Suarez on calle Artigas. Its yellow.
The temple is located in Carrasco, in the nicest and richest neighborhood in the country! The mission home is attached (backyard is the temple!) You should go visit the President too. He and his wife would love a visit, and they're pretty cool people :) I'll ask Sister Heaton if she forgot any US spices or something haha
My local phone number for the mission office is 022042703.
My Pday this week was yesterday instead of today because Elder Jimenez, one of the APs, had a birthday, so we went to the Parliament building for a tour (not open Sat's,, but we were late and missed the tour anyways ha) and for lunch Sister Heaton invited us all over for a DELICIOUS roast, mashed potatoes, veggies, salad, rolls, etc... It was like Sunday dinner back home!!!!!!!
Thats funny one of the moms called Prez for something. Please never call unless its a HUGE emergency, and even then use good judgement... Its RIDICULOUS the things parents call for.
Yep, I had gotten everything in those packages a few weeks ago, sorry I didn't answer that!
Eesh, out of time! Have a great week all, I love you all, keep working hard and having fun!!!
Elder Magnusson
Thanks for all of the pictures Rach is growing FAST!!!! Alden too haha
I just cannot get gmail to send my pics! I have the SD card for dad though. I filled one, but I still have 2 empty ones, so don't worry about bringing me another!! I jealous for all the fun you are having in Mesa up there, but that's okay Im having fun too :)
Alright to answer all the questions,
Yep Im all settled into the offices and all. Its a blast! I'm working just a few blocks from downtown centro, but I'm pretty good in the city. Yes, Plaza Independencia is the center of the Old City, a HUGE statue of the national hero (José Artigas) with a memorial below of a vase with his ashes and guards around and all that its pretty cool. Its located where the old palace was located originally (all thats left of it is the draw bridge gate behind the statue).
When Uruguay lost to Holanda, it actually wasn't too sad. The Uruguayos didn't have 3of their main players (2 injuries and 1 red card), and Holanda played REALLY REALLY well, so they were just happy they'd made it into the final 4. Today we play Germany, so as long as we play better against them than Argentina did, Uruguay will be in massive celebration...even if we lose. (Its possible that Uruguay hates Argentina more than loves itself....FYI dad haha) Last World Cup they didn't even get to play AT ALL, and everyone had them losing their first match against France, so every game has been a miracle and people are happy whatever happens.
Yep, I have my drivers license! Best recuerdo EVER! Driving in Montevideo is a lot like pod-racing in Star Wars. Thats the best comparison I can think of. The bigger, faster, and more tactical vehicle wins right-of-way. The lanes really don't mean anything and in most places aren't marked. There are NO traffic cops. Honestly I have never seen nor met someone that had ever seen someone get pulled over. haha its so much fun actually to be flooring it weaving in and out of cars. Its wonderful chaos. When you guys come to visit, mom will have to keep a blindfold on haha.
The chapel isn't on a corner, it's about 50m towards centro from Suarez on calle Artigas. Its yellow.
The temple is located in Carrasco, in the nicest and richest neighborhood in the country! The mission home is attached (backyard is the temple!) You should go visit the President too. He and his wife would love a visit, and they're pretty cool people :) I'll ask Sister Heaton if she forgot any US spices or something haha
My local phone number for the mission office is 022042703.
My Pday this week was yesterday instead of today because Elder Jimenez, one of the APs, had a birthday, so we went to the Parliament building for a tour (not open Sat's,, but we were late and missed the tour anyways ha) and for lunch Sister Heaton invited us all over for a DELICIOUS roast, mashed potatoes, veggies, salad, rolls, etc... It was like Sunday dinner back home!!!!!!!
Thats funny one of the moms called Prez for something. Please never call unless its a HUGE emergency, and even then use good judgement... Its RIDICULOUS the things parents call for.
Yep, I had gotten everything in those packages a few weeks ago, sorry I didn't answer that!
Eesh, out of time! Have a great week all, I love you all, keep working hard and having fun!!!
Elder Magnusson
Saturday, July 3, 2010
July 3, 2010
Whew, this was a CRAAAAZZZZYYYY week!!!
Changes were crazy enough, but this week we had to say bye to Pres. Peterson and his family (the temple President and wife took them to the airport) and we got to pick up the new President and his wife. Next week me and Elder Bell, the Financial Secretary are taking the President and his wife to Punta del Este to get all 3 of our licenses (and maybe convince the Pres. to splurge for lunch at a nice place) ;-) hehe It'll be a blast going on a mini roadtrip.
President Heaton is GREAT and so is his wife. She's such a sweet lady! He's very very quiet, humble, thoughtful man from southern Utah. There are already some HUGE changes happening in the mission (and in the area as a whole as the area presidency also changed) so we'll see how things turn out in the next few months. It'll be interesting for sure. Maybe I'll get to tour the country with some general authorities!!!!!!! That would be a SWEET roadtrip hahaha
The first day the President was here we spent half the day showing how to work all the systems and everything since when the President of a mission changes, they only see eachother for about 1.5 hrs and cannot talk about problems or give hints or anything. They start with a blank sheet of paper. It was a sad day because missionay after missionary kept calling with problem after problem while they were just trying to settle in. I guess God truly qualifies the called!!
Last night was the most exciting of my life I think. Uruguay beat Ghana in the World Cup and now we're in the top 4!! It's a position not reached in like 40 years. The President gave us permission to watch the games if it helps in some way to missionary work, since it's impossible to talk to anyone during a game, and proselyting is a waste of time, SO...we got to see the second half at an inactive members home. It was incredible!!! Ghana took out the US last game, and this one they were playing SUPER dirty. It was tied in the end so it went into an extra 30 mintues and since they were still tied, it went into penalty kicks. Uruguay has some of the best hard hitters in the world, and THE best goalie in the world, so we beat them and we're going to the semi-finals. We play Holland next game.
Afterwards, it was REALLY unsafe to be outside, so we sprinted back to the house early and worked on our map of the area. The entire population of Montevideo was throwing confetti, fireworks, screaming in the streets, running around crazy, screaming... it was the most exciting night in the history of my life. Crazy crazy crazy... I wish I'd had my camera on me. We were dodging fireworks blowing up constantly everywhere, people dancing on top of cars, taxis filled with 10 people hanging out the windows and on top flying by holding their horns, etc... It was just absolutely insane. Look up on youtube a video from Plaza Independencia when Uruguay won and you'll understand where I was, I'm sure there'd be one up now.
My comp is great, we're having a blast working on a number of projects for the mission. It will be a fun 6 months, although really tough maybe. We'll see :)
COngrats on swimming and all!!!
FYI, I'm in Barrio 5 at Bulevar Artigas y Suarez. The church is called Deseret because it's the oldest church building in all of uruguay, and some say the oldest in South America, although I don't know if that one is true. That could just be Uruguayo pride speaking. The mission office is now connected to the church building behind it.
We found a lady that will be baptized in 2.5 weeks if all works out, and another family that is progressing. We should see lots of success here if only we can get enough proselyting time in (last week we got about 4 hours the entire week, this week about 10). Things are just crazy busy, and this part is all European, so the whole zone usually has single digits baptisms each year. It's WAAAAY different than inside the country.
Yep it's been pretty cold here, except for this last week its been strangely warm :( I havent worn a coat in 4 days, but once the heat wave passes it will be freezing again. All say that the end of July and August are the coldest part of the year, so we'll see how it is.
Keep up the good behavior Colton!!!! Sorry I don't send more letters home to you guys, I really never have time to write letters, so when I do I write to grandma or people that don't get this email :( I'll try to get better at that for sure!
Love you all! Build your testimonies day by day, the best way to do it is to share it!! Work on getting Elder Cypers lots of references. Prepare your friends and co-workers this week to receive the missionaries!
Elder Magnusson
Changes were crazy enough, but this week we had to say bye to Pres. Peterson and his family (the temple President and wife took them to the airport) and we got to pick up the new President and his wife. Next week me and Elder Bell, the Financial Secretary are taking the President and his wife to Punta del Este to get all 3 of our licenses (and maybe convince the Pres. to splurge for lunch at a nice place) ;-) hehe It'll be a blast going on a mini roadtrip.
President Heaton is GREAT and so is his wife. She's such a sweet lady! He's very very quiet, humble, thoughtful man from southern Utah. There are already some HUGE changes happening in the mission (and in the area as a whole as the area presidency also changed) so we'll see how things turn out in the next few months. It'll be interesting for sure. Maybe I'll get to tour the country with some general authorities!!!!!!! That would be a SWEET roadtrip hahaha
The first day the President was here we spent half the day showing how to work all the systems and everything since when the President of a mission changes, they only see eachother for about 1.5 hrs and cannot talk about problems or give hints or anything. They start with a blank sheet of paper. It was a sad day because missionay after missionary kept calling with problem after problem while they were just trying to settle in. I guess God truly qualifies the called!!
Last night was the most exciting of my life I think. Uruguay beat Ghana in the World Cup and now we're in the top 4!! It's a position not reached in like 40 years. The President gave us permission to watch the games if it helps in some way to missionary work, since it's impossible to talk to anyone during a game, and proselyting is a waste of time, SO...we got to see the second half at an inactive members home. It was incredible!!! Ghana took out the US last game, and this one they were playing SUPER dirty. It was tied in the end so it went into an extra 30 mintues and since they were still tied, it went into penalty kicks. Uruguay has some of the best hard hitters in the world, and THE best goalie in the world, so we beat them and we're going to the semi-finals. We play Holland next game.
Afterwards, it was REALLY unsafe to be outside, so we sprinted back to the house early and worked on our map of the area. The entire population of Montevideo was throwing confetti, fireworks, screaming in the streets, running around crazy, screaming... it was the most exciting night in the history of my life. Crazy crazy crazy... I wish I'd had my camera on me. We were dodging fireworks blowing up constantly everywhere, people dancing on top of cars, taxis filled with 10 people hanging out the windows and on top flying by holding their horns, etc... It was just absolutely insane. Look up on youtube a video from Plaza Independencia when Uruguay won and you'll understand where I was, I'm sure there'd be one up now.
My comp is great, we're having a blast working on a number of projects for the mission. It will be a fun 6 months, although really tough maybe. We'll see :)
COngrats on swimming and all!!!
FYI, I'm in Barrio 5 at Bulevar Artigas y Suarez. The church is called Deseret because it's the oldest church building in all of uruguay, and some say the oldest in South America, although I don't know if that one is true. That could just be Uruguayo pride speaking. The mission office is now connected to the church building behind it.
We found a lady that will be baptized in 2.5 weeks if all works out, and another family that is progressing. We should see lots of success here if only we can get enough proselyting time in (last week we got about 4 hours the entire week, this week about 10). Things are just crazy busy, and this part is all European, so the whole zone usually has single digits baptisms each year. It's WAAAAY different than inside the country.
Yep it's been pretty cold here, except for this last week its been strangely warm :( I havent worn a coat in 4 days, but once the heat wave passes it will be freezing again. All say that the end of July and August are the coldest part of the year, so we'll see how it is.
Keep up the good behavior Colton!!!! Sorry I don't send more letters home to you guys, I really never have time to write letters, so when I do I write to grandma or people that don't get this email :( I'll try to get better at that for sure!
Love you all! Build your testimonies day by day, the best way to do it is to share it!! Work on getting Elder Cypers lots of references. Prepare your friends and co-workers this week to receive the missionaries!
Elder Magnusson
June 26, 2010
Hey, my Pday is now Saturday, so email me before then.
I have my own desk, computer, and everything its pretty fun being a secretary :)
Tuesday we're picking up the new President from the airport. I'm pretty stoked to meet them, it'll be fun to get to know them really well. That afternoon, President and Sister Peterson go home, leaving nothing for the new President to pick up on. Its pretty cool that each new President starts with a blank sheet again every time. Then, in October or next April, we're waiting to see Pres. Peterson called as a General Authority. That would be tight.
I got a couple pictures attached now :) My computer is way faster than the cyber ones haha
One is of youth converts, members, and an investigator that came to the bus terminal at midnight to see me off, and the other is of our last baptismal service there in Obelisco, Jennifer and Juan ended up not getting baptized cause Jennifer was really sick, but this Sunday they will be. I was very very sad I got to see them change everything and be a witness at there marriage and then miss their baptism, but I guess we can't see all the fruits of our labors :(
Well, haha I really don't have anything to say, this will be a crazy busy week with a new President, but a lot of fun, too. The area is pretty rough since there hasnt been baptisms in 3 years, and we only have 4 hours every other day to proselyte, but we'll see how things go. We're still shooting for 5 converts this change :)
It is nice to be in Montevideo again though, its such a beautiful city. Next Saturday, me and one of the ap's are going to go visit Sayago since we were both there. Im excited to see how converts are doing.
Have a wonderful week! I love you all!!!
Elder Magnusson
I have my own desk, computer, and everything its pretty fun being a secretary :)
Tuesday we're picking up the new President from the airport. I'm pretty stoked to meet them, it'll be fun to get to know them really well. That afternoon, President and Sister Peterson go home, leaving nothing for the new President to pick up on. Its pretty cool that each new President starts with a blank sheet again every time. Then, in October or next April, we're waiting to see Pres. Peterson called as a General Authority. That would be tight.
I got a couple pictures attached now :) My computer is way faster than the cyber ones haha
One is of youth converts, members, and an investigator that came to the bus terminal at midnight to see me off, and the other is of our last baptismal service there in Obelisco, Jennifer and Juan ended up not getting baptized cause Jennifer was really sick, but this Sunday they will be. I was very very sad I got to see them change everything and be a witness at there marriage and then miss their baptism, but I guess we can't see all the fruits of our labors :(
Well, haha I really don't have anything to say, this will be a crazy busy week with a new President, but a lot of fun, too. The area is pretty rough since there hasnt been baptisms in 3 years, and we only have 4 hours every other day to proselyte, but we'll see how things go. We're still shooting for 5 converts this change :)
It is nice to be in Montevideo again though, its such a beautiful city. Next Saturday, me and one of the ap's are going to go visit Sayago since we were both there. Im excited to see how converts are doing.
Have a wonderful week! I love you all!!!
Elder Magnusson
June 22, 2010
Hey everyone! First of all, Happy Birthdays to Ladybug and Colton, and a Happy Fathers Day to Dad!!! This week was insane but wonderful!
We had a huge baptismal service on Sunday after church and a TON of people came. Members, investigators, etc... just TONS. It was the best baptismal service I'd ever seen. I've had the opportunity to see the ward grow a ton. Now, the work is rolling on, we had 14 new people in church this last week, whereas the first weeks I started there we were pushing for 1 or 2. It is wonderful to now have 4 missionaries here, but unfortunately, the Lord had other plans for me than to keep seeing the fruits :(
I have been assigned as the Mission Executive Secretary for the next 6 months, so I'm going back to my Zone where I started. haha when I have a total of 15 months and leave the office I'll have only been in 2 zones! heh
I'll get to spend the next week in Montevideo with the President before he leaves and then usher in the new President next week, so it will be pretty cool.
It also means I'll be in Montevideo when dad comes! It's a rule that you cannot receive visits from parents, so for sure we couldn't go on divisions or anything, but maybe I can ask President if dad can drop something off in the offices and I can at least say a quick hello :) Or maybe you can go to church in my ward or something haha
I hope you get to go visit Colonia at some point here too, dad! Thats the prettiest part of Uruguay! Durazno isnt in our mission, so I don't know anything about there. Our mission includes Montevideo, Colonia, Rio Negro, Paysandù, Salto, Artigas, Rivera, and Tacuarmbò (a lot of different cities within those departments).
Also, I'll be getting a car next week!!! Which also means I get to go to Punta Del Este to get a license woot!!! haha it will be fun.
Today at 2 the wards throwing me a going away party, so hopefully a bunch of people will come and I won't have to spend the rest of the day visiting people at their houses or anything. I gotta pack eesh! The worst part of the mission is packing haha
Well, I don't know what else to say hahaha, I've been humbled quite a bit, please pray a lot for me, this will certainly be interesting! I'm going to be able to visit all my converts from my first 2 changes so that will be fun. Deo is always a blast anyways, so I'm absolutely excited.
My new comp is named Elder Ashby, but I don't know where he's from or anything. All I've heard is he's amazing, so I'm looking forward to the next 2 changes with him. It should be great.
I'm happy to hear that your business is succeeding and everything, keep working hard!
Have a good week!
Elder Magnusson
P.S. I broke 100 different alfajors this week in my wrapper collection. Quite a feat. WOOT!!
We had a huge baptismal service on Sunday after church and a TON of people came. Members, investigators, etc... just TONS. It was the best baptismal service I'd ever seen. I've had the opportunity to see the ward grow a ton. Now, the work is rolling on, we had 14 new people in church this last week, whereas the first weeks I started there we were pushing for 1 or 2. It is wonderful to now have 4 missionaries here, but unfortunately, the Lord had other plans for me than to keep seeing the fruits :(
I have been assigned as the Mission Executive Secretary for the next 6 months, so I'm going back to my Zone where I started. haha when I have a total of 15 months and leave the office I'll have only been in 2 zones! heh
I'll get to spend the next week in Montevideo with the President before he leaves and then usher in the new President next week, so it will be pretty cool.
It also means I'll be in Montevideo when dad comes! It's a rule that you cannot receive visits from parents, so for sure we couldn't go on divisions or anything, but maybe I can ask President if dad can drop something off in the offices and I can at least say a quick hello :) Or maybe you can go to church in my ward or something haha
I hope you get to go visit Colonia at some point here too, dad! Thats the prettiest part of Uruguay! Durazno isnt in our mission, so I don't know anything about there. Our mission includes Montevideo, Colonia, Rio Negro, Paysandù, Salto, Artigas, Rivera, and Tacuarmbò (a lot of different cities within those departments).
Also, I'll be getting a car next week!!! Which also means I get to go to Punta Del Este to get a license woot!!! haha it will be fun.
Today at 2 the wards throwing me a going away party, so hopefully a bunch of people will come and I won't have to spend the rest of the day visiting people at their houses or anything. I gotta pack eesh! The worst part of the mission is packing haha
Well, I don't know what else to say hahaha, I've been humbled quite a bit, please pray a lot for me, this will certainly be interesting! I'm going to be able to visit all my converts from my first 2 changes so that will be fun. Deo is always a blast anyways, so I'm absolutely excited.
My new comp is named Elder Ashby, but I don't know where he's from or anything. All I've heard is he's amazing, so I'm looking forward to the next 2 changes with him. It should be great.
I'm happy to hear that your business is succeeding and everything, keep working hard!
Have a good week!
Elder Magnusson
P.S. I broke 100 different alfajors this week in my wrapper collection. Quite a feat. WOOT!!
June 14, 2010
Hey family!
Another great week!
Another great baptismal service last Saturday, and another one coming up this Sunday :) Friday we're spending the day in Constitution again getting some people married and Sunday is the grand baptismal service.
For 3 changes I've stayed while the other 3 people always changed, so I'm thinking next Tuesday it's pretty likely that I leave, we'll see! Hopefully I'll stay and kill Elder Lundgren. If I do, maybe I'll stay a 5th change so they don't have to close the area!!!
I'm sooooo excited that dad is coming to Uruguay!! I'm going to ask the President if that will be alright for sure! It'll depend on his word, but since I've never had any obedience problems or anything I doubt he would say no unless he'd had bad experiences with that before. Probably you couldn't take us to lunch if it was going to take a long time, but I bet you could accompany us to lessons. Maybe we could go on divisions for a Pday and I can take you to all the cool touristy places in Deo. I'll have to be in Montevideo at that time unless you want to travel to where I am for a day (but you'd spend up to 14 hours in a bus there and back if I was in a far place, up to you!!). I'll just hope I go to Montevideo next change haha. That's cool that you'll get to learn a bit about the country and it's psycho politics right now and stuff. Will you get to meet with President Pepe Mujica here? hahahahaha he's so ridiculous.
This morning we went to seminary for comp study just like every Pday and this time we taught Alma 5. It also counted as a lesson with member, cause we have 2 investigators (both 17 yr old young men) going to seminary every morning now too haha TOmorrow we're going to invite them to be baptized as well THIS Sunday haha it will be GREAT!!!!
This change went by so incredibly fast I can't believe it's almost over. It was about twice as fast as the others, so I hope it doesn't keep accelerating like this!!!
We're going to see lots of miracles still this month in Salto. Theres a TON of people with dates and TONS of other possibles, so hopefully the other zones are the same and we'll finally reach the monumental goal of 210 baptisms in June to celebrate with the President in his last month.We often have between a fourth and a 3rd of the total baptisms in the mission in Salto alone, so if everyone is on track with that, and all goes well here in Salto, we should get the goal!!!!!!!
Im learning so much in the scriptures right now in Spanish, different things stand out to me in Spanish than in English and it's wonderful studying for a specific purpose and always finding exactly what you needed and then some. The scriptures are probably the 3rd most important thing in the world after 2, a prophet and 1, a testimony. Please use them every day, but not just to read and check off the day. Study with questions and concerns and things have a way of answering themselves. I love the scriptures so much and have found when a lesson is entirely based on scriptures, people understand so much better.
TIme is short, the APs asked us to print off our testimony on the Book of Mormon to send to the President for something, so I gotta go. Let me know whats up with everything up in North America!
Vamo' arriba Uruguay Mundial 2010!!!! We play South Africa Wednesday and we're gonna win. Grats on your win vs. England!
Yep I got the 2 boxes thank you so much!!!! They are fun ones :)
Keep working hard and being happy, good luck in all you do!
Elder Magnusson
Another great week!
Another great baptismal service last Saturday, and another one coming up this Sunday :) Friday we're spending the day in Constitution again getting some people married and Sunday is the grand baptismal service.
For 3 changes I've stayed while the other 3 people always changed, so I'm thinking next Tuesday it's pretty likely that I leave, we'll see! Hopefully I'll stay and kill Elder Lundgren. If I do, maybe I'll stay a 5th change so they don't have to close the area!!!
I'm sooooo excited that dad is coming to Uruguay!! I'm going to ask the President if that will be alright for sure! It'll depend on his word, but since I've never had any obedience problems or anything I doubt he would say no unless he'd had bad experiences with that before. Probably you couldn't take us to lunch if it was going to take a long time, but I bet you could accompany us to lessons. Maybe we could go on divisions for a Pday and I can take you to all the cool touristy places in Deo. I'll have to be in Montevideo at that time unless you want to travel to where I am for a day (but you'd spend up to 14 hours in a bus there and back if I was in a far place, up to you!!). I'll just hope I go to Montevideo next change haha. That's cool that you'll get to learn a bit about the country and it's psycho politics right now and stuff. Will you get to meet with President Pepe Mujica here? hahahahaha he's so ridiculous.
This morning we went to seminary for comp study just like every Pday and this time we taught Alma 5. It also counted as a lesson with member, cause we have 2 investigators (both 17 yr old young men) going to seminary every morning now too haha TOmorrow we're going to invite them to be baptized as well THIS Sunday haha it will be GREAT!!!!
This change went by so incredibly fast I can't believe it's almost over. It was about twice as fast as the others, so I hope it doesn't keep accelerating like this!!!
We're going to see lots of miracles still this month in Salto. Theres a TON of people with dates and TONS of other possibles, so hopefully the other zones are the same and we'll finally reach the monumental goal of 210 baptisms in June to celebrate with the President in his last month.We often have between a fourth and a 3rd of the total baptisms in the mission in Salto alone, so if everyone is on track with that, and all goes well here in Salto, we should get the goal!!!!!!!
Im learning so much in the scriptures right now in Spanish, different things stand out to me in Spanish than in English and it's wonderful studying for a specific purpose and always finding exactly what you needed and then some. The scriptures are probably the 3rd most important thing in the world after 2, a prophet and 1, a testimony. Please use them every day, but not just to read and check off the day. Study with questions and concerns and things have a way of answering themselves. I love the scriptures so much and have found when a lesson is entirely based on scriptures, people understand so much better.
TIme is short, the APs asked us to print off our testimony on the Book of Mormon to send to the President for something, so I gotta go. Let me know whats up with everything up in North America!
Vamo' arriba Uruguay Mundial 2010!!!! We play South Africa Wednesday and we're gonna win. Grats on your win vs. England!
Yep I got the 2 boxes thank you so much!!!! They are fun ones :)
Keep working hard and being happy, good luck in all you do!
Elder Magnusson
June 7, 2010
Hey family!!!
This was a great week again!
All week everything was falling through and with all the problems in the ward and all we spent most of the week in service rather than in lessons. So, we were really worried we wouldn't see many in church on Sunday, but a TON came, it was fantastic! We have baptismal services planned every week this month with a lot of people preparing.
This morning we went to seminary, and 2 youth investigators came! Half the class was either my converts or investigators, and now this ward has the biggest youth program in the stake! I REALLY hope I can stay here longer to see it keep growing, all my mission if possible!!!
We're still teaching the Landlord of the castle here in Salto, and he invited all the youth to play soccer in his walled off field behind on Thursday, and once the word got spread that we were playing there, almost 40 kids came to play and a bunch of them are now going to church too. Hopefully by the time I leave we'll have more than doubled the population of this ward, and we'll have lots of new active leaders and such hahah
I found out everything about whats going on with the Stake right now, why our Bishops relieved, etc... and its pretty bad, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully things will stay somewhat chill!!!
I'm so happy for your business mom, thats so cool!!! I hope it owns and you make bank :) It will be fun to see where it goes!!
I'm jealous you went to the Draper temple, its so beautiful!!! You gotta go inside while you are there. Ya, those big houses up top are way nice. You remember Abby Gifford that came up the cabin? She lives in one of those! Its a BEAUTIFUL house with marble floors and stuff. Maybe when you get rich off your business you can move up there haha
Tomorrow I'll be in a different city all day long. We're taking a couple to be married. They're winning at quitting smoking and getting married the 18th (tomorrow we have to bring witnesses to pull a date) and the 20th will be baptised. Theyre Juan and Jennifer, aged 22 and 24, and have a 7 yr old daughter together. (yeah, he was 15 when he got his 17yr old GF pregnant!!! fua!). Theres no missionaries in this other city and hasn't been for ages, so we're going to look for apartments for rent in our spare time up there and check it out and maybe let the President know it's available heh
All in all, we're seeing lots of success and having lots of fun :)
Have fun at camp, Kayli!! Keep working hard everyone!!!
Love, Elder Magnusson
This was a great week again!
All week everything was falling through and with all the problems in the ward and all we spent most of the week in service rather than in lessons. So, we were really worried we wouldn't see many in church on Sunday, but a TON came, it was fantastic! We have baptismal services planned every week this month with a lot of people preparing.
This morning we went to seminary, and 2 youth investigators came! Half the class was either my converts or investigators, and now this ward has the biggest youth program in the stake! I REALLY hope I can stay here longer to see it keep growing, all my mission if possible!!!
We're still teaching the Landlord of the castle here in Salto, and he invited all the youth to play soccer in his walled off field behind on Thursday, and once the word got spread that we were playing there, almost 40 kids came to play and a bunch of them are now going to church too. Hopefully by the time I leave we'll have more than doubled the population of this ward, and we'll have lots of new active leaders and such hahah
I found out everything about whats going on with the Stake right now, why our Bishops relieved, etc... and its pretty bad, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully things will stay somewhat chill!!!
I'm so happy for your business mom, thats so cool!!! I hope it owns and you make bank :) It will be fun to see where it goes!!
I'm jealous you went to the Draper temple, its so beautiful!!! You gotta go inside while you are there. Ya, those big houses up top are way nice. You remember Abby Gifford that came up the cabin? She lives in one of those! Its a BEAUTIFUL house with marble floors and stuff. Maybe when you get rich off your business you can move up there haha
Tomorrow I'll be in a different city all day long. We're taking a couple to be married. They're winning at quitting smoking and getting married the 18th (tomorrow we have to bring witnesses to pull a date) and the 20th will be baptised. Theyre Juan and Jennifer, aged 22 and 24, and have a 7 yr old daughter together. (yeah, he was 15 when he got his 17yr old GF pregnant!!! fua!). Theres no missionaries in this other city and hasn't been for ages, so we're going to look for apartments for rent in our spare time up there and check it out and maybe let the President know it's available heh
All in all, we're seeing lots of success and having lots of fun :)
Have fun at camp, Kayli!! Keep working hard everyone!!!
Love, Elder Magnusson
Monday, May 31, 2010
May 31, 2010
ooo, you hit 100 degrees, thats unfortunate. I think we hit 40! :) Its REALLY cold right now!!!!! This winter will be crazy Im so excited!!!!!!!
Congrats that dads coming home! Finally the miracle happened, thank goodness you'll have a bit of a break mom.
Yesterday was a baptism of a 90 yr old lady. I got to do it and when she came up out of the water she busted out laughing she was so happy! 25 investigators came to the baptismal service (and 7 members... blech sad)! Needless to say, the June harvest of souls will be sweet. It would be nice if the members did more though.
What did you have to do to get a business license? Will your store be all online? Are you buying and selling stuff, or only selling stuff you make, or how does it work? Sell artisan stuff from other people and you get a % profit...?
I have tons of people in Utah to look up, but I don't know when they'd be home or anything, so just be sure to visit all the family and say hi from me :)
The oil spill I bet has caused gas prices to spike! eesh! not to mention thats a lot of precious oil gone to waste to kill all the life in the gulf. Not that theres hardly anything left alive there anyways. Maybe this is a sign we need to invest in alternate fuels.
My address (por las dudas) is definitely
Elder Magnusson
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
1167 Enrìque Martìnez
Montevideo, Uruguay
C.P. 11.600
I've gotten plenty of letters to that address already its all good. Definitely 11.600 NOT 11.800
Im glad you learned a lot from the Fall of Adam, theres a lot of simple gospel truths that noone thinks about because they've heard it a thousand times and don't bother to think about it. Even the prophet learns something new in the scriptures every day.
Sorry to hear about problems with Mexico, too! Holy cow, I guess we'll have to start entering Mexico illegally to go on vacation hahaha how funny would that be!
Also sorry to hear Obama is a bad Prez. Oh well, whats the worst that could happen, get destroyed in nuclear war? Pffh the second coming will happen first. Just make sure you don't complain about him openly, it's better if people are positive in EVERY situation for sure. Anarchy is still worse than tyranny.
Well, I know this gospel is true, I'm seeing it change hundreds of lives, including my own. I pray that I'll stay here in Salto the rest of my mission! I've been here 3 months longer than the other 3 elders here in Obelisco, so chances are Ill be the first to leave, but theres still hope :) We'll see what happens in a few weeks!
Love you all, keep smiling, working hard, and far out of your comfort zone. We're in the time where the world will never again settle. Just leave the people around you a little better off each day and all will turn out wonderful :)
Chaucito familia Magnusson (o como dicen los Uruguayos Magomsom). Les quiero mas que puedo expresar a todos. Sean fieles. Sean fuertes.
Elder Magnusson
Congrats that dads coming home! Finally the miracle happened, thank goodness you'll have a bit of a break mom.
Yesterday was a baptism of a 90 yr old lady. I got to do it and when she came up out of the water she busted out laughing she was so happy! 25 investigators came to the baptismal service (and 7 members... blech sad)! Needless to say, the June harvest of souls will be sweet. It would be nice if the members did more though.
What did you have to do to get a business license? Will your store be all online? Are you buying and selling stuff, or only selling stuff you make, or how does it work? Sell artisan stuff from other people and you get a % profit...?
I have tons of people in Utah to look up, but I don't know when they'd be home or anything, so just be sure to visit all the family and say hi from me :)
The oil spill I bet has caused gas prices to spike! eesh! not to mention thats a lot of precious oil gone to waste to kill all the life in the gulf. Not that theres hardly anything left alive there anyways. Maybe this is a sign we need to invest in alternate fuels.
My address (por las dudas) is definitely
Elder Magnusson
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
1167 Enrìque Martìnez
Montevideo, Uruguay
C.P. 11.600
I've gotten plenty of letters to that address already its all good. Definitely 11.600 NOT 11.800
Im glad you learned a lot from the Fall of Adam, theres a lot of simple gospel truths that noone thinks about because they've heard it a thousand times and don't bother to think about it. Even the prophet learns something new in the scriptures every day.
Sorry to hear about problems with Mexico, too! Holy cow, I guess we'll have to start entering Mexico illegally to go on vacation hahaha how funny would that be!
Also sorry to hear Obama is a bad Prez. Oh well, whats the worst that could happen, get destroyed in nuclear war? Pffh the second coming will happen first. Just make sure you don't complain about him openly, it's better if people are positive in EVERY situation for sure. Anarchy is still worse than tyranny.
Well, I know this gospel is true, I'm seeing it change hundreds of lives, including my own. I pray that I'll stay here in Salto the rest of my mission! I've been here 3 months longer than the other 3 elders here in Obelisco, so chances are Ill be the first to leave, but theres still hope :) We'll see what happens in a few weeks!
Love you all, keep smiling, working hard, and far out of your comfort zone. We're in the time where the world will never again settle. Just leave the people around you a little better off each day and all will turn out wonderful :)
Chaucito familia Magnusson (o como dicen los Uruguayos Magomsom). Les quiero mas que puedo expresar a todos. Sean fieles. Sean fuertes.
Elder Magnusson
May 24, 2010
First of all, holy crap Levi looks OLD! Dang, I can't believe how much he's changed these last few months!!!!!
Hahaha that's cool the Ellsworths are going to Mesa. Bro. Ellsworth's dad and grandpa knew eachother, grandpa told me stories about his ostrich farm :) I'll have to go visit them sometime :)
I can't believe dad hasn't heard anything. Things will work out, though! God has His own time for everything!
Maybe you should write a letter as a worried wife and mom to Mrs. Obama. I bet she could do something haha. Youd probably end up on Oprah or something though hahahaha
Sorry to hear about the heat. Here, it's been pretty solid rainy days for nearly a week, with nice and cool temperatures. Its wonderful, except that most of my area is thick mud right now thats NOT fun to walk in, and makes it so that pretty much noone goes to church. The other day us missionaries and the young mens had an activity in the church and after it was downpouring so we stayed and made tortas fritas together. It was a blast! Another convert received the priesthood this week too. When converts get callings its even funner for me than baptisms. I dunno why, I just feel REALLY good when people are keeping on fightin.
Congrats on finishing the Book of Mormon. This week I began it for the first time in Spanish from beginning to end. I always study it in spanish, but had never read it straight through yet. It will be cool, Im excited.
COngrats also on your new business! Thats way tight! What kind of things will you be selling and how will you do it? THings you make? Is it a local thing to sell to stores or people direct online?
This morning we woke up 45 minutes early to go to seminary haha It was cool to see youth converts especially at the church at 6am in the morning studying the Book of Mormon. The teacher is FANTASTIC, she brings sweet breads and hot chocolate every morning haha, the Stake puts a TON of money into the seminary programs here.
In other news, this week were getting marriage dates set up for 3 different couples that have finally decided to get married so they can be baptised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means in a year, I'll be able to go to the temple with a bunch of families its gonna be sooooo cooolll!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I complete 8 months today, it's pretty weird. Im not a baby in the mission any more!
Well, the next changes in a month will be the last my President makes before he finished the mission 5 days later, I'm praying hardcore for a new president as awesome, I've learned a TON from Prez. Peterson and his wife. Very good people. He'll probably be a general authority pretty soon, since he's now finishing his 4th time as President I think. Maybe just 3rd. SO much time in his life spent in the work of the Lord, it would be wonderful to be able to serve your entire life. I've been reflecting a lot on what I want to do with the rest of my life, and I truly think I would be happiest serving in some way, we'll see what happens haha
Well, Thats all folks, until next week, CHAU
Elder Magnusson
May 17, 2010
Hey family!
Another good and crazy week here in Salto, my first week this change with my new companion Elder Lundgren. He's the shiest comp I've ever had and doesn't talk too much, but he's extremely obedient and in general a really really good example for me. I'm extremely excited to see what this change brings.
I had said last week that because of all the success in this ward, the Lord sent double the missionaries. Just so happens that Satan is doubling his efforts as well. On Saturday, the Bishop, Elders Quorum President and First counsellor were all relieved of all keys. Rumors are flying why, but since the ex-Bishop couldn't take the sacrament, the stake presidency came in for sacrament meeting. The First Counsellor in the Bishopric, Manuel Caballero, is in charge now and asked me to go with him to visit the whole ward this week, so my comp will be on divisions with members do the missionary work while I'll be with him reorganizing everything every evening this week. Wish me luck, this is a huge mess that probably has to do with money-stealing that goes all the way up in the stake level. Satan works through every means possible to screw up good things.
On brighter news, between us 2 companionships in Obelisco, over 50 new investigators were found this week. It's incredible all the work going on here, I'm so grateful for being a part of it. I really hope I stay here quite a bit longer, but we'll see what happens!!! In 2 or 3 weeks, the ward should be reorganized, we'll be spending a TON of time with less actives and everything so hopefully we'll find some good new leaders.
Thanks for sending packages, Im so excited!!!! I can't believe you forgot Napoleon hahahaha that's too funny!
The address for the offices changed again. Its almost the same, but the numbers wrong is all. The number is 1167 Enrìque Martìnez. Anything sent to the other they say will get there all right, though, so no worries :)
RIGHT NOW BEFORE CONTINUING IN THE EMAIL, look up the Mundial song, it has an African dude and Daddy Yankee singing. Its amazing, I hear it everywhere I go, its in both spanish and english, switches every verse.
I'm glad to hear the temple was so awesome. I think the chandelliere thing is something theyre doing with all the new small temples. Up in Draper there was the most incredible one too. Awwww I just wanted to stare at it forever it was so beautiful.
I'm glad Levis sure stepped it up, I'm really proud of you little man! Your gonna be a fierce missionary!
Well, the news is a little short this week, but thats all going on!
Stay faithful, grateful, and cheerful. Even with all the problems that are going on at home, I PROMISE you that I meet at least one person every day who is in a much worse situation.
I love you all!, I KNOW that the church is true. I'm the last person in the world that would waste his time on something he didn't have 100% of his heart in. I know it. I know that if we follow the Prophets counsel, we'll be much more ready physically, spiritually, and mentally, to confront the trials that are presented. Take care all, until next week....
Elder Tylan Magnusson
Another good and crazy week here in Salto, my first week this change with my new companion Elder Lundgren. He's the shiest comp I've ever had and doesn't talk too much, but he's extremely obedient and in general a really really good example for me. I'm extremely excited to see what this change brings.
I had said last week that because of all the success in this ward, the Lord sent double the missionaries. Just so happens that Satan is doubling his efforts as well. On Saturday, the Bishop, Elders Quorum President and First counsellor were all relieved of all keys. Rumors are flying why, but since the ex-Bishop couldn't take the sacrament, the stake presidency came in for sacrament meeting. The First Counsellor in the Bishopric, Manuel Caballero, is in charge now and asked me to go with him to visit the whole ward this week, so my comp will be on divisions with members do the missionary work while I'll be with him reorganizing everything every evening this week. Wish me luck, this is a huge mess that probably has to do with money-stealing that goes all the way up in the stake level. Satan works through every means possible to screw up good things.
On brighter news, between us 2 companionships in Obelisco, over 50 new investigators were found this week. It's incredible all the work going on here, I'm so grateful for being a part of it. I really hope I stay here quite a bit longer, but we'll see what happens!!! In 2 or 3 weeks, the ward should be reorganized, we'll be spending a TON of time with less actives and everything so hopefully we'll find some good new leaders.
Thanks for sending packages, Im so excited!!!! I can't believe you forgot Napoleon hahahaha that's too funny!
The address for the offices changed again. Its almost the same, but the numbers wrong is all. The number is 1167 Enrìque Martìnez. Anything sent to the other they say will get there all right, though, so no worries :)
RIGHT NOW BEFORE CONTINUING IN THE EMAIL, look up the Mundial song, it has an African dude and Daddy Yankee singing. Its amazing, I hear it everywhere I go, its in both spanish and english, switches every verse.
I'm glad to hear the temple was so awesome. I think the chandelliere thing is something theyre doing with all the new small temples. Up in Draper there was the most incredible one too. Awwww I just wanted to stare at it forever it was so beautiful.
I'm glad Levis sure stepped it up, I'm really proud of you little man! Your gonna be a fierce missionary!
Well, the news is a little short this week, but thats all going on!
Stay faithful, grateful, and cheerful. Even with all the problems that are going on at home, I PROMISE you that I meet at least one person every day who is in a much worse situation.
I love you all!, I KNOW that the church is true. I'm the last person in the world that would waste his time on something he didn't have 100% of his heart in. I know it. I know that if we follow the Prophets counsel, we'll be much more ready physically, spiritually, and mentally, to confront the trials that are presented. Take care all, until next week....
Elder Tylan Magnusson
Sunday, May 16, 2010
May 11, 2010
Happy Mothers Day again to Mom, Melis, Grandma, and all my aunts and cousins and such.
Just some cool things that happened this week, since I'm going to spend most of my time putting photos on disc to send home with my comp for you all...
An investigator is breeding a miracle cancer-curing bug called Gorgoja Alemàn. You should look it up, you eat it alive and take more and more each day and it gets rid of cancer, diabetes, and every other disease you could imagine. I tried one, it wiggled as it went down haha I feel disease free, so it must work hahaha just kidding. It got me curious though, you should look it up maybe eating bugs will cure lupus!
I also found my favorite chocolate bar in the world. Its from the Brazilian brand Lacta and its called Black Diamond Chocolate. Its super good.
We had interviews, they were way cool as always, Presidents an amazing man, Ill be sad to see him off.
A number of baptisms fell through and a number of miracle baptisms took place. Wish I had hours to tell each story, but I don't. Great things are happening here in Obelisco, Salto and as of Wednesday, we'll have double the missionaries to fill the work load, so my comp and I won't be so crazy running everywhere. I let the members know today and everyone is super excited to fill double lunch needs and laundry and everything. It will be wonderful to have more, the only bad part is to have 6 missionaries living in a little apartment until the new housing arrangements are done.
A funny quote this week was when a little 4 yr old girl named Melina saw some stickers I had and said ``Es feo pedir, pero yo quiero!``
Meaning basically ``Its rude to ask, but I want those!`` I busted out laughing at the way she said it hahaha Its funnier how she said it in spanish so sorry if you dont laugh.
On the sad side, Yesterday (Monday) we went to go eat lunch at the only restaurant in our area where we eat all the time and after we'd been sitting a while waiting for the waiter come back (3 people work there, the waiter/managaer, cook, and delivery boy) the cook lady started screaming crying and the waiter came over and told us that we had to leave cause they were closing since the delivery boy committed suicide. We felt super sick all day cause it was someone we saw a lot, but had never really talked to more than a Hey, Hows it going? type of thing :( Poor kid, poor family, keep them all in your prayers! Later that night a convert told us his brothers been beating him and his mom and at night hes been seeing evil faces above him in the air, so we went over with another recent convert to let him use the priesthood he has and it was super powerful experience for all involved. If the older brother doesnt chill out... dang, dunno what Ill do, I was so furious at him for what hes inviting in that house. He was one that lost his baptismal date the day before being baptised for some stuff he was involved in. It just goes to see how much Satan wants to bring down good people.
Today we got the tour of the haunted house! It was SUPER tight, we are DEFINITELY going to sleep there when you come!!!!!
If you didn't get it yet, I forgot to say that yep, Im staying in Salto haha for at least 6 more weeks!!! My new comp is Elder Lundgren (I think, thats how it sounded) he has 3 months left in the mission, so maybe Ill kill him too if I stay here with him 2 changes. All I've heard about him is that he's really quiet, chill, and a good guy, so it should be pretty cool.
Well, thats all folks, have a good week, I love you, send me letters!!! Make sure its to the new address I sent last week!!!
Elder Magnusson
Hebrews 12:5-9
I forgot something super important!
Marselo, the man that hasnt gone without being completely wasted drunk all day every day in 20 years (hes 37, but looks 55ish), is now well over a week sober. His baptism Saturday was INCREDIBLE!! Sunday he went to Stake Conference where the Pres. and wife of mission and temple spoke, along with a ton of investigators and converts. He bore his testimony just saying thank you thank you thank you tears rolling, it was so beautiful. His new grandson just moved in :) (Hes been married 22 years haha at 15!!!) Everything has changed and this Sunday, him and the others baptised will be confirmed.
Another quick touching quote this week was when Pedro, an 8 yr old that got baptised (his 3 older brothers as well, parents are going to church and all, just have to be married first) after being baptised said Now your my brother forever!! It was super sweet and made me feel super great.
Okay now Im out chau!
Just some cool things that happened this week, since I'm going to spend most of my time putting photos on disc to send home with my comp for you all...
An investigator is breeding a miracle cancer-curing bug called Gorgoja Alemàn. You should look it up, you eat it alive and take more and more each day and it gets rid of cancer, diabetes, and every other disease you could imagine. I tried one, it wiggled as it went down haha I feel disease free, so it must work hahaha just kidding. It got me curious though, you should look it up maybe eating bugs will cure lupus!
I also found my favorite chocolate bar in the world. Its from the Brazilian brand Lacta and its called Black Diamond Chocolate. Its super good.
We had interviews, they were way cool as always, Presidents an amazing man, Ill be sad to see him off.
A number of baptisms fell through and a number of miracle baptisms took place. Wish I had hours to tell each story, but I don't. Great things are happening here in Obelisco, Salto and as of Wednesday, we'll have double the missionaries to fill the work load, so my comp and I won't be so crazy running everywhere. I let the members know today and everyone is super excited to fill double lunch needs and laundry and everything. It will be wonderful to have more, the only bad part is to have 6 missionaries living in a little apartment until the new housing arrangements are done.
A funny quote this week was when a little 4 yr old girl named Melina saw some stickers I had and said ``Es feo pedir, pero yo quiero!``
Meaning basically ``Its rude to ask, but I want those!`` I busted out laughing at the way she said it hahaha Its funnier how she said it in spanish so sorry if you dont laugh.
On the sad side, Yesterday (Monday) we went to go eat lunch at the only restaurant in our area where we eat all the time and after we'd been sitting a while waiting for the waiter come back (3 people work there, the waiter/managaer, cook, and delivery boy) the cook lady started screaming crying and the waiter came over and told us that we had to leave cause they were closing since the delivery boy committed suicide. We felt super sick all day cause it was someone we saw a lot, but had never really talked to more than a Hey, Hows it going? type of thing :( Poor kid, poor family, keep them all in your prayers! Later that night a convert told us his brothers been beating him and his mom and at night hes been seeing evil faces above him in the air, so we went over with another recent convert to let him use the priesthood he has and it was super powerful experience for all involved. If the older brother doesnt chill out... dang, dunno what Ill do, I was so furious at him for what hes inviting in that house. He was one that lost his baptismal date the day before being baptised for some stuff he was involved in. It just goes to see how much Satan wants to bring down good people.
Today we got the tour of the haunted house! It was SUPER tight, we are DEFINITELY going to sleep there when you come!!!!!
If you didn't get it yet, I forgot to say that yep, Im staying in Salto haha for at least 6 more weeks!!! My new comp is Elder Lundgren (I think, thats how it sounded) he has 3 months left in the mission, so maybe Ill kill him too if I stay here with him 2 changes. All I've heard about him is that he's really quiet, chill, and a good guy, so it should be pretty cool.
Well, thats all folks, have a good week, I love you, send me letters!!! Make sure its to the new address I sent last week!!!
Elder Magnusson
Hebrews 12:5-9
I forgot something super important!
Marselo, the man that hasnt gone without being completely wasted drunk all day every day in 20 years (hes 37, but looks 55ish), is now well over a week sober. His baptism Saturday was INCREDIBLE!! Sunday he went to Stake Conference where the Pres. and wife of mission and temple spoke, along with a ton of investigators and converts. He bore his testimony just saying thank you thank you thank you tears rolling, it was so beautiful. His new grandson just moved in :) (Hes been married 22 years haha at 15!!!) Everything has changed and this Sunday, him and the others baptised will be confirmed.
Another quick touching quote this week was when Pedro, an 8 yr old that got baptised (his 3 older brothers as well, parents are going to church and all, just have to be married first) after being baptised said Now your my brother forever!! It was super sweet and made me feel super great.
Okay now Im out chau!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
May 3, 2010
Hey family, this was a fantastic week :) Angel got baptized on Friday, and we have 3 more for this weekend (1 Saturday Pedro-8) (2 Sunday Juan-18 and Marselo-37) Marselo made the most incredible improvement this week! I can't remember if I told you he was a drunk on the street when he called us over and told us he wanted to change, so we went over and taught him how to get over his drunkenness and he followed the plan perfect and the other day when we went over he had completely cleaned his whole house, he was making juice, and he said his wife and kids were beginning to talk to him again! He is a completely different man and he just cries and cries saying thank you, thank you thank you!! Its sooooo incredible to see the difference!!!!!
Juan is only 18, but as soon as he's baptized I think its likely he'll get a pretty high calling at least into Elders Quorum prez., pretty soon into the Bishopric I imagine. He is the most spiritually powerful person I know thats not like a general authority. I get chills when he bears his testimony. He's spent a long time preparing for baptism, and now we're finally hoping everything goes well. He's going to be baptized (if he can, its a long story why he may not, Pres. Peterson is talking to Salt Lake right now) on Sunday after Stake Conference, and then the following Sunday he'll be confirmed, and then the bishop wants to give him the Melchizedek Priesthood right away.
Obelisco has turned around a TON! There were always a buttload of baptisms, but all of them were poor women and children, mostly who wanted handouts, and almost all are now inactive. This change we've been working hard with heads of families, and we have a number of whole families and Melch priesthood holders. The Stake Prez. is super stoked too, he came to sacrament meeting for this last testimony meeting, and ward membership was at a record, Sacrament room was COMPLETELY filled. The whole stake presidency and bishopric bore testimony of mission work and every testimony was directed towards our converts and investigators. It was so so so so wonderful. Next week are changes and I'm sure I'll stay another change. As long as we're constantly seeing progress, I think the Lord and President will keep me here for a bit longer, at least until I can train someone in this area (we don't have a map or anything).
The mission offices changed, so now the direction is:
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
1175 Enrìque Martìnez
Montevideo, Uruguay
C.P. 11.600
Anything you've sent they'll still get for a couple months since they've registered the new direction with the postal service, but I guarantee stuff will be lost, so from now on for sure send stuff to the new one!
On Sunday, the hour you guys can call me will be at 5pm my time. I have mission correlation with the ward at 4, so if I'm a minute late, calm down hahaha my phone number in Salto is xxxxxxxx. Like last time, I really have no idea exactly that time where you are, nor how to call Uruguay, so I pray you can figure it all out haha.
Last pday we went to a museum and it was closed but we got the guy to open it and give us a private tour! He even let me play the 1855 full grand they had, with original ivory keys. It was worth many many millions of dollars and sounded so beautiful, especially in the huge echoy room!
Today we are going to the oldest mansion in Salto. Its in our area and we pass by it every day, so this last week we walked up to it and asked the dude if we could see his house. He said it is now a hostel, which is sorta like a hotel and its only 250 pesos a night which is a ton here, but in US dollars thats only like $12.50 per room per night like less than a 1-star hotel in the US haha so if you guys can pick me up were totally staying there! I guess it was once a whore house until there were a bunch of murders and stuff, so we're really hoping its super haunted. It looks so freaky I can't wait to go inside and get the full tour in a couple hours!
Well, that's all the exciting news over here! My convert Nico turns 12 on Wednesday and is going to receive the priesthood and pass the sacrament in 2 Sundays since this one is stake conference. Those things are even better than baptisms, is when they get the priesthood and get callings and such cause they are still going strong. Everyone in Sayago I hear is still going super strong with all their callings and still all have FHE together every Wednesday :) Here, they are doing amazing too, some super strong members and future leaders!
Thats all folks, can't wait to chat it up on Sunday! Have a fantastic week and work hard and HAVE FUN!
Kayli, have fun at prom, and behave!
Grats Levi!
Colton, dont steal!
Grats Aunt Liz, with great power comes great responsibility ;-)
Zachary is little Charles :) haha GRATS!!!!
Melis, I'm praying for August 10, you WILL disappoint me if its a minute sooner or later. haha just kidding, sorta...
Yep dad, the mission is flying by too quick, but nope my comp isn't trunky at all, he's doing REALLY good :) The young ladies always try to give besos. The kids are way cute sometimes, won't go away until you give em one. Its alright to give besos to the kids though. Just not the women haha
LOVE YOU ALL, BE SAFE AND HEALTHY:)
Elder Magnusson
Juan is only 18, but as soon as he's baptized I think its likely he'll get a pretty high calling at least into Elders Quorum prez., pretty soon into the Bishopric I imagine. He is the most spiritually powerful person I know thats not like a general authority. I get chills when he bears his testimony. He's spent a long time preparing for baptism, and now we're finally hoping everything goes well. He's going to be baptized (if he can, its a long story why he may not, Pres. Peterson is talking to Salt Lake right now) on Sunday after Stake Conference, and then the following Sunday he'll be confirmed, and then the bishop wants to give him the Melchizedek Priesthood right away.
Obelisco has turned around a TON! There were always a buttload of baptisms, but all of them were poor women and children, mostly who wanted handouts, and almost all are now inactive. This change we've been working hard with heads of families, and we have a number of whole families and Melch priesthood holders. The Stake Prez. is super stoked too, he came to sacrament meeting for this last testimony meeting, and ward membership was at a record, Sacrament room was COMPLETELY filled. The whole stake presidency and bishopric bore testimony of mission work and every testimony was directed towards our converts and investigators. It was so so so so wonderful. Next week are changes and I'm sure I'll stay another change. As long as we're constantly seeing progress, I think the Lord and President will keep me here for a bit longer, at least until I can train someone in this area (we don't have a map or anything).
The mission offices changed, so now the direction is:
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
1175 Enrìque Martìnez
Montevideo, Uruguay
C.P. 11.600
Anything you've sent they'll still get for a couple months since they've registered the new direction with the postal service, but I guarantee stuff will be lost, so from now on for sure send stuff to the new one!
On Sunday, the hour you guys can call me will be at 5pm my time. I have mission correlation with the ward at 4, so if I'm a minute late, calm down hahaha my phone number in Salto is xxxxxxxx. Like last time, I really have no idea exactly that time where you are, nor how to call Uruguay, so I pray you can figure it all out haha.
Last pday we went to a museum and it was closed but we got the guy to open it and give us a private tour! He even let me play the 1855 full grand they had, with original ivory keys. It was worth many many millions of dollars and sounded so beautiful, especially in the huge echoy room!
Today we are going to the oldest mansion in Salto. Its in our area and we pass by it every day, so this last week we walked up to it and asked the dude if we could see his house. He said it is now a hostel, which is sorta like a hotel and its only 250 pesos a night which is a ton here, but in US dollars thats only like $12.50 per room per night like less than a 1-star hotel in the US haha so if you guys can pick me up were totally staying there! I guess it was once a whore house until there were a bunch of murders and stuff, so we're really hoping its super haunted. It looks so freaky I can't wait to go inside and get the full tour in a couple hours!
Well, that's all the exciting news over here! My convert Nico turns 12 on Wednesday and is going to receive the priesthood and pass the sacrament in 2 Sundays since this one is stake conference. Those things are even better than baptisms, is when they get the priesthood and get callings and such cause they are still going strong. Everyone in Sayago I hear is still going super strong with all their callings and still all have FHE together every Wednesday :) Here, they are doing amazing too, some super strong members and future leaders!
Thats all folks, can't wait to chat it up on Sunday! Have a fantastic week and work hard and HAVE FUN!
Kayli, have fun at prom, and behave!
Grats Levi!
Colton, dont steal!
Grats Aunt Liz, with great power comes great responsibility ;-)
Zachary is little Charles :) haha GRATS!!!!
Melis, I'm praying for August 10, you WILL disappoint me if its a minute sooner or later. haha just kidding, sorta...
Yep dad, the mission is flying by too quick, but nope my comp isn't trunky at all, he's doing REALLY good :) The young ladies always try to give besos. The kids are way cute sometimes, won't go away until you give em one. Its alright to give besos to the kids though. Just not the women haha
LOVE YOU ALL, BE SAFE AND HEALTHY:)
Elder Magnusson
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