You can call me Dan Jones.

Entera cansado!

This week has been...tiring. My companion and I did a little bit of traveling. He had to go to the doctor, so we had to travel to the big city to the hospital. When we were returning, we saw a Burger King....and we couldn`t pass up the opportunity to eat some American fast food....BIG mistake! We were bed ridden for a chunk of the next day.  

Other than that, this week has been work, work, work. On Saturday, my comp, some other Elders and I set up a stand in the street market. My comp and another missionary played guitar and sang christmas songs, meanwhile my job was to call everyone to repentance. Haha just kidding. It was a great opportunity to talk with everyone and try to share the gospel. I tried to not fear anyone, and talk with them regardless of what they looked like. I mostly just got sunburned.

Then, on Sunday, my companion and I were super tired at church and honestly, we were really disappointed, because none of the new investigators showed up to church. I was a little confused, because I felt that I had worked so hard...and I wasn`t seeing my work pay off. However, one of our investigators pulled us aside. Her name is Rosario. We have been working with her for about a month and a week now. We invited her to be baptized like a month ago, but she rejected us, and every since....we have just been kind of waiting to see what happens. Anyways...she pulled us aside, and was like..."I have been thinking about why I should get baptized, and I received my answer, so I want to be baptized.”..Wow! Our Ward mission leader nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard the news! It made me realize that the Lord was preparing blessings for the hard work that we were putting in. However, I want to make it clear, that blessings, most of the time, aren`t baptisms. A lot of the time the blessings are the things that I can learn from the hard moments, or the things I can get better at.

I hope that you all have a great week! I am doing great!

Quote of the week "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.” -Will Rogers

Love you all,

-Elder Vanderlinden

Elder Molina and I at Zone Conference 

Missionaries! Haha.

¡Hola!

This week I had the incredible opportunity to shake the hand of Elder Rasband, from the Quorum of the twelve . We had a multi-mission conference, and it was amazing! I feel like he really lifted the spirits of every missionary. You can really feel the power that he has as a servant of the Lord by hearing his testimony, shaking his had, and looking in his eyes. He had a warm glow to him. He expressed the love that he and the other members of the twelve have for the missionary work. Among the many things that I was able to learn from him, is that he said that missionaries come on missions for many different reasons. Some for good reasons, other for....different reasons. He expressed that it doesn`t matter why we came....what is important is that we are here, and by the time we go home, we will know that we were here to serve the Lord.

My companion and I are doing great, and working really hard. The Lord is blessing us in lots of ways! Not baptisms.....but....I mean Blessing are blessings! Haha

Here is a funny experience that happened.

This week in church, during the sacrament meeting, it was super silent and peaceful, but there was a small electronic buzz quietly playing on all of the speakers, from the microphone. One of the Bishops counselors stood up to fix the microphone and everyone was watching him. (The first counselor to the Bishop reminds me of Goofy....just to give you an idea. He kinda looks like Goofy too...Haha). Anyways, he went to adjust it and when he did, the quiet buzz turned into a loud...LOUD static playing on all of the speakers. He quickly tried to wiggle the microphone into place...but it took him like 20 seconds. Everyone was staring at him and laughing, while he tried to fix it. I think everyone completely forgot about the sacrament.

I thought it was funny.

Have a great week everyone! I love you all!

Quote of the week-- "Don`t be a whiner…..Its actually a mockery of God if you are"-Elder Rasband

Whoa!

-Elder Vanderlinden

Splits with the assistants.

FHE with a really rich family. haha

¡Uruguay no mas!

Hey everyone!

Phew! This last week was a busy one. On Thursday, we had a multi-zone conference with our Mission President. It was in our church building, so we had to find lunch for 37 people….which was a lot of work. Everything went super smoothly though. Then after the conference, we went with the Assistants to do splits with them for the day. It was tons of fun! I left with Elder Ford, from Payson, Utah. We found a man named Eduardo while we were walking around talking with people in the street. He was really friendly and we set up an appointment with him later in the day. We found his house, just as it was getting dark outside. He invited us in and introduced us to his mother and sister. Eduardo and his Sister are both around 45 years old, and their mother is a nice elderly woman. We started to teach them about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. As they participated in the lesson, they accepted everything. We were like.....wait...what?....this is too easy. So, we invited them to be baptized…..Haha. It looks like the Assistants have three more baptisms planned for December. What a miracle! 

Elder Molina and I are finding a lot of new investigators. We are going to work hard with them to get them to go to church. We found a younger dad named Matias. He is really awesome! Well....I mean...he couldn`t make it to church yesterday...so he is kind of awesome....Haha

I have heard that Donald Trump is President, mainly because people yell, "Donald Trump” when they drive past me….Haha. They also yell "Harry Potter" though.....I don`t know why they yell that....but for some odd reason they yell that at me a lot. Haha.

Anyways, Have a great week everyone!

Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: “ We are all in this together. With fellow ward members and missionaries, we plan and pray and help one another. Please keep the full-time missionaries in your thoughts and prayers. Trust them with your family and friends. The Lord trusts them and has called them to teach and bless those who seek Him.” -  Elder Neil L. Andersen

My new zone 

Helga and Gheronimo get baptized

Me, Helga, Elder Ward, and Elder Cole

¡Hola!

Wow! What a hot week. So apparently I don`t tan very well....I just burn. Haha. Anyways, this past week we had the opportunity to meet with President and listen to his plans for the mission. It was awesome to be able to hear his inspired vision and put down some goals to be able to accomplish it. Then, later in the week, Elder Molina and I had the opportunity to train the zone based off of the vision that President had conveyed to us. It was super fun. Other than that, this week has been pretty difficult. Elder Molina and I have been walking a lot. We had our days full of futures, and lesson after lesson kept falling through. However, we just kept walking and trying. On Sunday, we were dragging our feet a little bit and we tried to make one last push to end off the week. We knocked on a futures door and the husband said "You can come in if you want, but I am already telling you....you are wasting your time.” We entered and just started testifying and sharing about the importance of family. We asked if we could say a prayer with them and when we ended, the mother of the family was in tears. It was a great experience, because after a harrrd week, we had finally found some people ready to receive the gospel. 

I also had the opportunity to travel to my old area to see my Oro Elder Ward and his new comp, Elder Cole. Two of the investigators that I had the opportunity to teach were baptized this last Saturday! It was an amazing baptism and I’m grateful I could be there.

Also this week...

I got eaten alive by mosquitos during a lesson. My comp and I were trying to slap them away as much as we could, but they killed me.....we also looked like fools because like every ten seconds we were slapping ourselves….Haha. Also, a drunk man stopped us in the street and explained to us that he had just had surgery and lifted up his shirt to show us his scars. There was a bag connected to a hole in his stomach...and the bag had like his organs in it or something. It was super messy....it almost made my comp and I sick.....I am pretty sure he did home surgery…..YUCK! Haha. 

Have a great week everyone!

Cuidensenlon,

-Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: “The Lord will shape the back to bear the burden that is placed on it.” - President Thomas S. Monson