December 13, 2010

Hey family!
I am in Tacuarembò now :) It's super toasty and I'm loving it!
On Saturday I found out I was training here, and it's exactly what I wanted. I hoped I would train in Tbo or Rivera and I got what I hoped for haha
So much has happened!
On Tuesday I finished training Elder Crandell on all the office stuff he has to do, and met with all of the oros (greenies) I didn't know which would be mine so it was super cool to meet them all. On Wednesday we lined up in front of the temple and sand from behind them Called to Serve. They turned around and we met and it was sweet! My companion is Elder Harris from South Jordan, Utah. After lunch and all that we went straight out to work in a tough area in Montevideo just to kill some time before our bus left and we did a ton of contacts, taught a lesson, and gave out a baptismal date. Elder Harris did most of the contacts, he came pre-trained haha
We were sent to open a new area here in Tacuarembo. We are pretty close to nowhere on the outskirts of the city. Look up the street Diego Lamas in Tacuarembo and basically up and down that street with the neighborhoods on either side is our area. The hardest challenge will be getting people to church I think because it's a pretty humble area (very few have cars or motos) and church is about a 45 minute walk away. When it rains most everything turns into mud, so it's quite a challenge. But, in the last few days we found 22 people (10 are 18+ males heads of household) so we're going to be focusing hugely on families. Hopefully we'll start seeing success quick, but we've got to whip the ward into shape. There are 20 8-12 yr old kids that have been baptised in the last 6 months that have no member family, live nearly an hour from the church, and their parents don't want them in the church (basically, the missionaries went and rounded them all up 3 Sundays in a row, baptised them, and dropped them for numbers). The ward isn't too happy with missionaries that create burden, so we are going to have to do some mending.
My comp is the hardest worker I've had yet, he's going to be an incredible missionary. I am super excited!
We found the greatest ice-cream stand already right in the middle, so we stop there pretty much every time we pass it (it costs 1 peso or 5 cents american for a prety good size ice cream)
Our most promising investigators we found this last week are named Andres and Sandra. They are in their early 20`s with a daughter. Today they went to get papers for marriage and on Friday they get to take out a date for January. They will be baptised at the end of January or early February, we'll see. We've taken the area President's advice and given a baptismal date in every first lesson, so we had 20 with baptismal date until Sunday when it rained and everyone got swamped in. Just pray that it never rains on Sundays here, please! It is so hard for people to go so far in mud with no coat, poor shoes, etc... It's a trial.
You asked in the email if I ever use the piano. In every ward I've been in I've been the pianist, and as of this last SUnday I already am here too, so I've gotten really good at the hymns! I know almost all of them now. (Although the same 3-4 hymns are pretty much used every week hahaha) This last Sunday 2 of the hymns were the same: 77 Let the Holy Spirit guide I think in English hahahahaha
Also, we're trying a new tactic here to get into houses. We just walk in and sit down haha and people are so nice they sit down right with you and chat. I'm grateful to be in such a beautiful, tranquilo city. We have a nice view of rolling green hills, and there are more cows than people here, but it's nice small-town.
I love you all! Thanks for your patience in responding to letters, now I can start writing everyone back that I've neglected for the last few months :)
Oh, I started opening those CHristmas gifts one at a time (on Christmas this way I have 5) and the first 3 I opened were bandaids, floss, and q-tips, so I got made fun of quite a bit FYI. The 4th this morning was mints, so you redeemed yourselves haha. FYI, those things are attainable here hahaha I'm not THAT far from civilization hahaha it got me thinking where you imagine I am heh.
Take care and have a GREAT day! Work hard and be happy :) Tell Devin and Haley congrats on the twins, and I can't believe it that is CRAZY! Ya, Elder Steven's sister is getting married to Bryson, who is Elder Leatham's cousin. small world, huh?
Elder Magnusson