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