Goodbye 2014

Well, 2014 is coming to an end, and I can say without a doubt that this year has been the best of my life. There is absolutely nothing else I have done in my life that has been so fulfilling. I love serving the Lord, and the people here in Uruguay. It has been an incredible blessing for me. And honestly, this year FLEW by. I can remember January 1st like it was yesterday.
We enjoyed an incredible Christmas week. We spent it with many great members of the church, less active members and some investigators!! So on Christmas over here in Uruguay, people FEAST. Everyone barbeques buckets of meat and it is super good. On Wednesday night (Christmas eve) we went to Victor Silva´s house and he barbequed so much, and we ATE. And I woke up Christmas day with a stomach ache. And that same day we were invited to Christmas day lunch with Bishop and his whole family and they barbequed even MORE. And my stomach hurt even MORE. It was great. We stopped by a few less actives as well and it was a highly spiritual day. And I was able to talk to my family!!!
Later, we had a miracle. We were working with Hno. Varela and as we were walking down the street we passed a lady and he turned around (Brother Varela) shook her hand, introcuded himself and then just looked at me. I was taken by surprise, but immediately started talking to her. So her name is Mirtha, and she was extremely kind. She invited us in her home and we taught her the truth of the Restoration of the gospel. She loved it. She invited us to come again. So we came again the day after Christmas and shared with her even more of the beautiful gospel. At the end of that second lesson, she has a large smile on, true happiness across her face and then it abruptly stopped. She just looked at us as though she was ashamed, and with sincerity in her voice, asked us something that struck me. "What can I do to thank you?"
It was an incredible moment where the Spirit dwelled within each one of us. We invited her to church and she gladly accepted!!

I would like to repeat for the last time this year, with all the energy of my soul that I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ restored on the earth! He is our Lord, Savior and King. With the sacred calling I hold, I testify that one day, "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ."

Happy New Years!
Elder Teloma

We had a white elephant activity

big snail

Christmas! ¡Navidad!

Christmas with the Smith Family :)

My comp´s 1 year mark!

Storm. Telephone pole fell

Street flooded

Christmas Fireside!

 

Someone left a plethora of watermelons here

Rivera Week 2

This week was incredible! On Tuesday, we had a rehearsal for our Christmas fireside that we´ll be having on the 21st. After we walked over to Brazil for lunch. Then we came back for district meeting! Later that day we had the opportunity to work with Sebastian who is a young man, 16 years old. He is a convert of 3 and very active. We visited Carol, who has been investigating the church for a while, and we shared a nice Christmas message with her! We also visited Betty (an investigator) and her evangelical son, Jose, who at first showed no interest, then slowly started paying attention to the beautiful Plan of Salvation lesson that we were sharing.Great day.

Wednesday, we left to work with Brother Varela to visit some people he knew. Unfortunately we were not having too much success so we offered a prayer. Right after, we met Raquel and her daughter, Veronica and they invited us in their home and we taught the lesson of the Restoration!! It was amazing!

On Thursday, we went to Humberto who is a less active older man. Very nice man, but I will be honest. I could not teach him. So we walk into his patio and he has two small bird cages. One of them has a little parrot like bird, which was cool, and the other one had a ..........kitten. There was a tiny kitten trapped inside the tiny bird cage, and the thing was desperately trying to escape for its life. It was crying and climbing all over the place. I could not focus. Hahah. Sometimes, weird things happen here. But I´m not going to lie. I like it.
Then we met Yara who told us that she always felt something special about the missionaries and the message we present, so we taught her.
Later in the day we knocked on Rosa´s door. Rosa is a less active member of about 20 years. She answered and said "Look, I am an active member in another church, and I am not going to change." Then she stared at us and was like "Do you guys want to come in?" hahah what? So we came in. We talked,got to know her, and she made us fruit smoothies and oatmeal cookies. What a great experience! We will be passing by with another sister from relief society!

On Friday, we brought an investigator, Karen to the ward end of the year/christmas party and it was great!

Saturday, I was almost killed by a horse. So after a lesson, we crossed a large field and got to a little river. I crossed the bridge and saw a massive horse running full speed towards us. Then once it was about 20 feet away, it stopped and stared at me. I was confused and scared for my life. Then it SPRINTED right at me...... I stood completely still thinking that that was it for me. It sprinted right by me, ran over the bridge and ran to the field to eat grass...... I was in its way. Whoops. I survived.
Later we worked with Brother Varela again who is a stud. Some crazy guy was yelling at us and tried to hit me, so we got out of there (: We met many great people as well.

On Sunday, I gave a talk. I spoke about my mom´s conversion, in Spanish, and I feel the Spirit strongly. The talk brought tears to my eyes as well as the members. Sunday was just a very special day as always.

Well, we had a great week over here in Rivera,and next week will be even better. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that He lives and that He is the head of this church.

Elder Teloma

That´s our house

Uh yeah....

This is not the horse that almost killed me

Niki and Seba

Brasil

The Brazil and Uruguay Border Line

Rivera Week 1

Whoo! I have made it to Rivera!!! It is beautiful and amazing over here! Completely different from Montevideo! We do live close to the city. We live 3 blocks from Brazil, and the border is completely open. You can just cross the street and walk right into Brazil! It is super awesome!Many incredible people over here! The majority speak a language called Portunol, which is a mix of Spanish and Portugese and it is cool. I understand the majority of it, but there are some words that I do not know. So it looks like I will be learning a little Portugese here! Whoo! That nice Christmas summer heat is coming in and the sun is bright as ever! This week, I have basically been getting to know all the people and the area. We have found many great people to teach!

I will inform you all on the work with details next week!
I love the Lord´s work! It´s the best!
Elder Teloma

My new companion, Elder Morales

Goodbye Montevideo :,)

Well, after nearly 11 months of service here in the beautiful city of Montevideo, Uruguay, I am being transferred out to......... RIVERA!!!!!! I arrived here in the beginning of February and have worked in Independencia, Barrio 5 (Montevideo 5th Ward) and Barrio 16 (Montevideo 16th Ward). And now my time here is up and I am heading up north where it is beautiful, hot, and bordered to BRAZIL.
My new companion is Elder Morales from Mexico!!! He will be my 8th companion in the mission field, and my 7th Latino companion.

Thank you for all your love and support, more to come next week!

I love the Lord and His work!

Elder Teloma

uruguay

So this post will be short and sweet. We had a fun week filled with great lessons, and experiences. On Tuesday, I was bit in the face by a dog. And I bled. But that didn´t get my hopes down! We have been teaching a very special message on repentance this week. That we cannot wait, not even one day to repent. It is a continuous process that will ultimately lead us back to our Heavenly Father. We had many great experiences teaching that!
On Wednesday, we taught Margot and she said she needed a blessing, so I gave her one, just for some spiritual strength. We met Margot the next day and she said that she was sad, because of some problems within the family. Then she said "However, I have never felt so much strength before. Thank you Elders."
Later in the week we taught our investigator, Talia. As we were teaching her, her sister informed us that she wanted the missionary lessons as well. Apparently her sister Estefani had an argument with Talia the other day about what happens after we die. Estefani explained what her church had taught her. And Talia had explained to her what the missionaries (us) had taught her. In the end, Estefani said that what Talia learned from us made sense. Yeah!!
On Saturday, we visited Rosana, who we weren´t planning on visiting, but things change. Once we got there, her daughter ran out, scared telling us to call an ambulance for Rosana. We went inside and she had alot of stomach pain. We called the ambulance, gave her a blessing and waited with her. We hope and pray that she will be fine. We will see soon. Please keep "Rosana" in your prayers.
We had a great week. And changes are coming up!!! Will let you all know what happens on.... Tuesday! (of next week)
I love you all! I love the Lord and His work!!!
Elder Teloma

Pictures

The heaviest dog in Uruguay. Her name is Bear. 

The Montevideo Uruguay Temple

¡Hoy es el Día!

This week was beautiful. On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to prepare Sofia for her baptism. And this girl was definitely prepared.

On Wednesday, I went on divisions with Elder Cline from Utah! He has just two weeks here in the mission field and well, does not speak Spanish! So it was very fun being able to work with him and reflect on my first few weeks in the mission field when I was not speaking much. Over there I was able to meet Viriginia who was going to get baptized on Saturday. However, I was to teach her the lesson of tithing, which is one of the harder lessons to teach over here. But we did it. We spoke and the Spirit testified. And she listened, understood and accepted the law of tithing. With that, we finished the missionary lessons with her and I prepared her for her baptismal interview and she was definitely ready and was baptized on Saturday. She will be a great, strong member.

On Thursday, I met some great people. First we visited Alberti who is their new investigator. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. I asked Alberti: How long would you like to be with your family? And he said "Well, all my life. And I don´t know if it is possible, but all eternity as well." Then we testified that yes, he could be with his family for all eternity. 

After we visited Angelica, who is very nice and is a member of the Adventist Church. We taught her the basic gospel of Christ and she understood everything up until the point of baptism. She agreed that baptism is necessary but informed us that she had already been baptized by the Adventist Church. So we began talking about the authority to baptize and I asked her "Angelica, if you were driving on the highway and an ice cream truck pulled you over and gave you a ticket for speeding, would you pay it?" 

"Haha, of course not."

 Then I asked her: "If it were a police officer that pulled you over and gave you a ticket, would you pay it?" "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because the police officer has the authority to give me a ticket."

And then it hit her. "OOOOOHH. Now I get it."

So we were able to get her to the point where she needs to find out that our church is the true church with the authority to baptize. 

Friday, we had a family home evening with the Smith family! (Our mission president´s family) All 8 of his children were there. (5 of whom are married, with their spouses as well) It was incredible. One of President Smith´s sons served in the Washington D.C. mission in sign language. And he showed us the first vision in sign language. It was powerful, and moving. 

Saturday, we had a great lesson with Talia and before extending the baptismal challenge, she told us and her mom that she wanted to get baptized. So now we will be preparing her for that step in her life. Then, we got a surprise call from our stake president, President Guarteche, that he wanted to work with us that day! So we left with him and visited a sister (Sister Placeres) who was once a very strong member but has now been less active for many years. We had an incredible lesson on the Doctrine of Christ and our stake president bore an incredibly powerful testimony and the Spirit was felt by every single person in the room. He asked Beatriz if she would return to church and she said yes. She said without hesitation that she would go the next day.

On Sunday, Beatriz came, after more than a decade of being inactive. It was a miracle, and we have given her the commitement to partake of the sacrament, ALWAYS. We had Sofia´s baptism and it was a beautiful service. Here is to another hermosa semana!

I love you all! I love Jesus Christ and this work!

Elder Teloma

Photo of the Week

A drug store. Quite literally.

The inside

The outside

A basketball hoop in Uruguay

BBQ, Uruguayan Style

Sofia´s Baptism!

A Week Well Done

I had some incredibly spiritual experiences this week that I will never forget.

On Tuesday, we taught Sofia. We taught Luis. And they are both progressing well towards their baptism and new life! We visited Sister Liliana Santana and we helped her with some family history research and it is now coming along very well! She has now reached her 4th generation! And, well, it stormed. Hard.

Wednesday, we visited a family that just recently moved into the ward, the Alonso family! And it turns out on Tuesday, they were robbed. The mom was home with her newborn baby, when two adults came in with a gun, and took the tv and computer. Fortunately, neither her nor her baby were harmed. So we came the next day and they told us everything. The mom was taking it rather well, and her husband, Brother Alonso was very angry. We just listened to them and I felt the Spirit strongly and asked if we could share a story with them. I wasn´t 100% sure, in that moment, where the story was in the Book of Mormon. And it certainly was not a coincidence that the first page I turned to was exactly what I was looking for. We read about Alma and Amulek, missionary and prophetic companions who were witnessing innocent families being killed for being believers. And when Amulek wanted to stop the wicked people from killing, Alma told him that he could do nothing, because he knew that these innocent believers would go straight to the Paradise of God, while the wicked would be harshly judged. So we related this story to what had happened to the Alonso family. They cried, listened, thanked us and bore their testimonies. It was a powerful experience.

Thursday, we found a new investigator, Talia. She is the 18 year old daughter of Grisel, who is a member of 20 years, 19 of which she has been inactive. Grisel, told us that she believes in everything, but once she got married, she stopped going because her husband doesn´t believe in God or churches. Anyway, we shared the wonderful true message of the Restoration with them, and they invited us to come back!!

On Friday we left with Margot and had a great lesson with Stefani, and she broke out crying, and completely opening up to us. It was hard, but we helped her. Then, at 7pm, we made special visits with our Stake President, Presidente Guarteche! It was awesome!! We visited the Horjes family, that is less active. Then we visited Margot, who´s expression was priceless when she saw the stake president approaching hahaha. That visit made her day, and that´s why we went.

On Saturday, my comp and I did splits, and I worked with Brother Delucchi, who is a convert of a year. I had one of the best lessons of my whole mission. We taught Grisel (the less active member) and Talia (her nonmember daughter). We taught them the Book of Mormon. We preached. We testified, but with power. Grisel explained to us that she too knew the Book of Mormon was true, but that her husband is against all religion and God. She told us that her husband had a 4 year old son that died, and after that he stopped believing in God. I told them that the Book of Mormon has answers to every single question that we may have. I asked them "Do you want to know why God lets bad things happen?" They all quickly responded "YES". And I said, then we´ll find the answer here. I opened the Book of Mormon and found the answer in Alma 60:13 that explains that all innocent people who die will go to directly to God. After Grisel read the verse, their expressions were priceless. Shock, happiness and gratitute. They said they would share the scripture with the dad once he got home. Talia offered a prayer, and thus ended a lesson that I will never forget. We teach. The Holy Ghost testifies.

Sunday was beautiful. Beautiful testimony meeting. Brother Delucchi went up and told the congregation about the splits he did with me and the incredible lesson we had. He was grateful that he got to be a missionary for 3 hours. He said that that experience strengthened his testimony.
Sister Alonso also went up and talked about her experience being robbed, but that God had sent his angels to share a message with her the next day. That the scripture we shared completely comforted her and her family.

Brothers and Sisters, I know this church is true. I am more than 100% sure and am incredible grateful to be here as a missionary!

Elder Teloma

A frog

Shirley Porley! Baptism!!

Ward Family Home Evening

The Alvez Family