Visiting Old town Montevideo

Playing a little basketball for p-day. President Eddy's son joined in.

It has been a very interesting winter week down here in Uruguay. It was freezing just a few days ago, and then today it was really warm outside. One day I walk out with a scarf and gloves, and the next day I get a sunburn with a short sleeve shirt on! It is crazy! 

This last week I went down to Ciudad Vieja and I became a legal resident in Uruguay! That makes me wonder what I have been for the past 21 months. Haha

Elder Childs and I are doing great. We are working hard. This last week we had a few exchanges with some of the other missionaries in the zone. I went with one of my good friends Elder Manzanares and we had a great time. We found lots of promising people and the lessons we were able to have went really well. Everything seemed to work out, and it was a great opportunity to work with a good friend of mine. We have been in the same zone for like 7 months now, and that was the first time that we had worked together.

On Sunday night, we had an activity called “This is why I believe” where the recent converts got to share their testimonies and their conversion stories. It was awesome to see how the Lord was preparing those people to be baptized and helping them get where they are. One of the converts that spoke had been baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on the Sunday of the activity. He did great! Haha. Talk about hitting the ground running.

I am having a blast! I hope that you all have a great week!
-Elder Vanderlinden

MVD Uruguay

Quote of the week: “I´ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I´ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed.”-Michael Jordan

An older photo with some of my pals!

¡Perseverar hasta el fin!

This last week was very cold.... I don’t know if I can explain with words how cold a humid cold feels. The wind chills you to the soul. Haha. This last week was also rainy, which made things a little bit difficult. My companion and I couldn’t help but laugh as we walked around in the pouring rain without umbrellas. Let’s just say that the ¨Water-proof¨ jacket from Mr. Mac is NOT waterproof. In fact, I am pretty convinced that it is “water absorbent.” Haha

My companion and I are doing well and we are working hard. We had a lot of let downs this week and lesson after lesson kept falling through. I was trying to understand what  Heavenly Father was trying to teach us. We felt guided and prompted to knock doors of people that would reject us, so we were walking around kind of confused. On Sunday we were both disappointed to see that our investigators didn’t show up to church. As I was sitting in sacrament, I was trying to think about what lesson I was supposed to learn from such a challenging week and then one of our investigators sat down next to me. I was pretty stunned. I feel like the lesson I was supposed to learn this last week was patience. I am glad that our Heavenly Father is always willing to teach us, as long as we are willing to learn. The investigator loved church and wants to come back next week. 

I hope you are all doing well! Have a good week!

-Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: ¨The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.¨ -Richard B. Sheridan

Living the good life!

Re piola!

This last week flew by in the blink of an eye. It was full of ups and downs. We were able to find a few new promising people, but we had to let go a few people that weren’t progressing. We had one day in specific where almost all of our charlas fell through. We were trying to keep our hopes up and we decided to knock on one last door and make one last effort to end off the night. We found a very bitter man who didn’t want ANYTHING to do with us, and he made sure we knew it. I shared my testimony with him, politely and patiently thanked him for his time, and left. That experience made me think a lot. It made me grateful for the testimony of the gospel that I have, because I am constantly reminded of how a life without the knowledge of the gospel would be. 

Another thing that happened this last week is that we started a contact with a 19 year old kid who was really nice. He explained that his family is from Brazil and he wants to move back there to play professional soccer. We started talking with him about religion and we started to explain the Book of Mormon. I pulled out my Book of Mormon to show him a copy of the Book. I was shocked to see that I was holding a Portuguese Book of Mormon. I hadn’t even noticed that I wasn’t carrying a Spanish one. It seemed like it was meant just for him and his family. It was a very cool experience! He gratefully accepted the copy and took it home with him.

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week:

"If you’re going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now.”

-Osmond

Leadership Meeting

“Another grand week in the Uruguay Montevideo Mission” 

-Old mission Slogan

Así es la vida!

This past week was pretty eventful. On Wednesday I had to travel to Old town Montevideo to get my citizenship papers figured out. It took quite a while, so while we were waiting for everyone to finish up I was able to take a stroll around some of the most beautiful parts of the city with a few other missionaries. There are many old and historic buildings that have interesting statues or designs on the outside, and the government made it illegal to destroy the look of the outside of the buildings. The owners are allowed to make the inside brand new, but they aren’t allowed to change the outside, only restore it. That has helped preserved the old town feel of the city which is actually pretty neat.

Elder Childs and I were able to find a lot of new investigators this last week which really helped us fill up our teaching pool more. We had a multi-zone conference on Thursday and we are trying to apply what we are learning to see the results in our area. This past week I was able to teach a lot about the Book of Mormon and the importance of the Book of Mormon in my life. President Eddy asked us to think of all of the things we know thanks to the Book of Mormon, and then for a minute, forget about all of them. As I thought about everything I would not know, and everything I would lose without the Book of Mormon, I came to realize all of the blessings that I have in my life thanks to the Book of Mormon, and how much it has changed the person that I am.

I am truly grateful for the Book of Mormon and the clear and precious truths that it teaches me. I know it is true!

Have a good week everyone!

-Elder Vanderlinden

Quote of the week: 

“The past is behind, learn from it.

The future is ahead, prepare for it

The present is here, live it" 

-Thomas S. Monson