Gloris get's baptized!

Not sure if Enrique even wanted to
get married! Haha

Enrique and Ester

Noche Blanca!

This week was awesome! First off, Gloris got baptized! It was such a great experience. Our zone decided to do the baptisms together and have a “White Night.” There were a couple of complications...the first being that the water wasn´t warm. As we filled up the font, the water filling it up seemed super hot, but I guess that all of the hot water stayed on the top, and the rest got cold. As the investigators stepped into the water, the first step was warm and I guess the rest were pretty freezing...Haha. Oops! Gloris loved her baptism and she told us that she felt like a new person, and that she felt loved. She told us that everything was perfect, and beautiful. She even shared her testimony with everyone after and said that she wants to go around telling everyone about her baptism, because she wants the whole world to be baptized!

Also this week, we went to the government building to help Enrique and Ester get married. It was quite the adventure to bring them to the government building, considering that they rarely leave their house. My companion and I went to get some change to pay for the cost and when we ran back, Ester was alone, and yelled, ¨He escaped!  Brothers! Enrique escaped!” Enrique was a decent distance away...walking in the middle of the train tracks. Why you ask? Because he was looking for a bathroom. Haha.....I never want to get old. 

Anyways, this week was great! I am working hard, and I am loving the work. I am learning and changing a lot. I hope everyone had a good 24th of July.
I love you all,

-Elder Vanderlinden

Food of the week: Boar! Slightly stinky taste. I wouldn´t recommend it. Haha

Quote of the week:- “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too. ----My man,- Will Smith

With my companion at the conference.

This p-day we went to the horse track. My horse didn't make me any money.  Haha

Todos los borachos me buscan!

Hello everyone, 

I hope that you all had a great week. This week was great down here in Uruguay. However, it was super rainy. The rain here is super cold. It isn`t the kind of rain that you want to run and splash around in, it is the kind of rain that makes you want to die! Haha...just kidding.

This week we had the opportunity to have interviews with President Eddy. It was a great opportunity to get to know him a little more personally. He is an extremely wise and focused person. I think that he is going to be good at helping the mission. He talked a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon. It has caused me to do a lot of reflecting on how I use the Book of Mormon in my life. The Book of Mormon is the key to our religion. We constantly hear that it contains all of the answers to our questions...but we need to open it up and read it to find them. We need to "act" in order to receive the guidance we seek. I hope that you are all making time to read the Book of Mormon everyday!! I have tried to apply my knowledge of the Book of Mormon this week, and looked to use it more when teaching. It has payed off! Our investigators are progressing rather well, and we are helping Gloris get ready for her Baptism this Saturday.

Also..I don`t know why...but this week...a ton of drunk people tried to talk to me. I must have been an easy target or something, because all of them were looking for someone to rant to.

Other than that, the time is flying by! I am having fun!

Have a great week everyone,

-Elder Vanderlinden

P.S.- In case you were wondering…. cow tongue taste like ham, but with a creamy....slightly gritty texture!

Quote of the week: “The Lord loves each of us too much to merely let us go on being what we now are, for he knows what we have the possibility to become.”

Our Zone with my new Mission President and his family. See if you can find me.
I am in a grey suit!

Teaching about Baptism!

Adelante si tiene guantes!

Another week down in Uruguay. This week my companion and I worked really hard to find more people to teach and to help our investigators progress. It payed off! We were able to re-fill our teaching pool and we had 6 investigators at church yesterday.

On Saturday night, we organized a huge event in the church called an “Open Church.” We opened up all the doors and set up presentations in each room of what goes on inside the church, and a brief summary about what we believe. My companion and I had the amazing opportunity to teach about the importance of Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was incredible, because with group after group, we were able to share our testimonies and to teach about the blessings these important steps can bring. I felt completely calm and comfortable and to my surprise, I was able to confidently answer every question that was asked of me. Over the space of 3 hours, I was able to share my testimony to small groups of 2-5 people. Overall, we taught 54 people who aren`t members of the church. One of our investigators entered the room, and said she was startled, because she said she thought we were angels when she came in. Haha. I guess it payed off to wear our white baptismal clothes.

A funny experience this week, is that we are helping a really old couple get married. The boyfriend`s name is Enrique, and his girlfriend`s name is Ester. We went to the Town Hall and took out a paper for his deceased wife. We went to tell him the good news. He asked to see the paper, but we only had the receipt, because we were keeping the document safe in our house. He looked at the receipt for a few minutes in silence and then yelled, “This doesn`t even have her name on it!!!” We explained to him again that it was just a receipt, and that we had the document in our house. Contentedly, he went back to looking at the receipt...Then after another minute of silence he yelled “This doesn`t even have her name on it!”…We giggled a little thinking that he was joking repeating the same thing, but he wasn`t...We explained it was just a receipt again, and then he went back to staring at it ....and he did the same thing a minute later! My companion and I busted out laughing....and he just kept staring at it....and every minute, he would realize that it didn`t have her name on it, and get all frustrated...My companion and I died laughing! I don`t know if we should marry someone who forgets after 1 minute.....Haha. Hopefully he will remember he is married for more than one minute.

What a solid week!

-Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: “Life must be understood backward but...it must be lived forward.” -Soren Kierkegaard

My attempt at being patriotic! 

Happy 4th of July!

I hope that everyone enjoys the fireworks. I am sure I will see a few tonight, but normally its just exploding trash from people lighting fires in the street. Haha.

This week was great! First off, our new mission President arrived with his family. They are super amazing people. President Eddy is like 6 6, completely bald, and super ripped. When I welcomed him to the mission he grabbed my shoulders and made me feel like a small child. Haha. His Spanish is super good, and he is a really good public speaker. He already established some rules and cleaned up the mission a little bit, and he listened to our ideas of how we wanted him to be as a President. It was a great conference. 

This week we focused a lot on contacting. We were blessed with a lot of good futures, and I am excited for the upcoming week. We put a baptismal date on the 23rd with our investigator named Gloris. She is gold. I am really excited to help her prepare for her baptism.

That about sums up my week...Oh, and an old man threatened to call the cops on us for knocking on his door at 8:30 at night.....so that was a little strange. Haha.

Anyways, I am doing great. I love Uruguay…..but I love America more.

Murica!

Que tengan una buena semana. Chau

-Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: “Those who live in the past, don`t have much of a future.”

Quote from last week: “If you are not willing to risk the unusual you will have to settle for the ordinary.”