Elder Vanderlinden - Uruguay Montevideo Mission

This is my district. From left to right. Elder Wells, Elder Yolkum, Elder Bowyer, Me, Elder Bess, Elder Taylor, Elder Neff, Elder Sarkayde, Elder Hayden, and Elder Call.

Hello everyone!!

This week has been full of crazy experiences. The older missionaries in the MTC left on Tuesday, so in the entire MTC, there were only like 20 people, when there is usually closer to 90. I was disappointed to see the older missionaries leave because I was really good friends with a few of them. On their last day in the MTC, they hid a bunch of alarm clocks in our room to go off at different times. They thought they were super clever, so we decided to prank them back. Our district ripped up a bunch of paper and put it in a bucket, and taped it to a clock. We hid the clock in their ceiling, so when it went off, they thought we were pulling the same prank on them...So one of the elders jumped up and yanked the clock out, pulling the bucket full of paper shreds over, and sending small papers all over their room. Haha...After that had happened, we thought we had won. Later that night, they came into the kitchen while we were writing in our journals, with ties wrapped around their heads...They passed down a holy scepter....*Which I think was a piece they broke off one of their room's blinds.. to a new missionary. They then made us all write down a number between 1-100. My companion wrote down the closest number to the one they had thought of, so his punishment, was getting bideted in the face. A bidet is a spray toilet....used to clean yourself after you go to the bathroom. My companion gets on my nerves sometimes, so it was nice to see toilet water sprayed in his face...hahaha. 

This week has been full of spiritual experiences. The classes are going great. I think I am starting to pick up the language pretty well...Although I probably have the vocabulary of a 8 year old..haha. What is a day like at the MTC?  Wake up at 6:30 every morning....clean the kitchen, and then get dressed in our church clothes for breakfast at 7. Next, we have 1 hour of language study, 3 hours of classes. We eat lunch at noon, and then have another hour of class. At 1 we have physical activity. At 3:30 we have more classes until dinner. Then after dinner we have classes until we go to sleep at 10:30…..It is a super exhausting schedule. 

We went to the temple today in Spanish for a second time, and that is an amazing experience...Other than that...we have just been teaching practice lessons like every single day. Anyways, this Saturday we have the unique opportunity to practice our Spanish by driving to a area and proselyting for the day. They must have a lot of faith in my companion and I, because our zone is right next to the danger zone. The danger zone is marked off, because people have been known to get mugged and robbed there...so pray for me! haha. I hope everything is going well in Utah! I love you all!

Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week

Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. -Spencer W. Kimball