Elder Vanderlinden - Uruguay Montevideo Mission

Picking up my new companion Elder Ward and seeing my trainer,
Elder Fonseca (2nd from the right)

Me and my new companion, Elder Ward

¡Encontré Oro!

I got a new companion! This last Wednesday, I had the privilege of welcoming Elder Ward from West Jordan, Utah to the Uruguay, Montevideo Mission field. I am super excited to be able to work with him. What he lacks in experience, he makes up for with his great faith. He is a very prepared missionary. Even in his first days, he was able to study for investigators and share scriptures with them and he also has had the confidence to make contacts in the street and on people`s front porches. I had to laugh, because he made a contact the other day and he introduced us and said we were missionaries. The lady wanted nothing to do with us and tried to respectfully decline. However, he didn`t understand, so he just kept explaining about the picture of the temple that was on the card. She said that she didn`t want to talk to us.....but....he continued...Haha. We have been making some hilarious contacts.

Something amazing happened this past week. A man invited us over to dinner, mainly because he wanted to talk about the United States, but he also has family members that are members of the church, so he wanted to have dinner with us. Then later in the week we were walking by his house and he called us in and sat us down. My companion didn`t really understand what was going on, so he told the whole family that he was going to share a scripture with them. They brought out some Book of Mormons. Then the man told me that the missionaries had taught their family before, but at that time they weren`t ready to recieve the gospel....but that now, they are ready! It was a great opportunity to find a complete family who is ready to progress in the gospel and receive the blessings that the Lord has in store for them. I was also surprised at the prompting that my brand new missionary companion received to share a scripture with them.....because I wasn`t even sure what I was going to share with them.

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: “The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.” 

-Vidal Sassoon