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
Monday, August 30, 2010
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
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