The Lord´s Work in Uruguay: Week 1 in Nuevo Paris

This week I was chased by a horse, bit by a dog, scratched by a cat, scratched by a bunny, challenged by a chicken, and quacked at by a duck. But besides all of that, it was a great first week in my new area! I am working with Elder Wakley, from Saratoga Springs, who plays clarinet, and basically every other instrument, sings, and sets things on fire with a home-made torch. We have had an interesting, yet great week together working for the Lord!
I have met so many amazing people this week!111 It really has been such a blessing. Since I am new in this area, my comp has showed me around everywhere. Now we are teaching Patrick (a less active) who is cool, and his friend Mattias (investigator) who is also cool. We had some great lessons with them, and we gave Mattias a baptismal challenge and accepted it!!! Then we are also teaching Nestor and his mom Gladys. Nestor is already a member (less active) and his mom Gladys is a new investigator!! We taught her the Restoration and she accepted it!!! Then we planned to come back to visit her the next day, so we came and only Nestor was there because she had to go do something last minute. So Nestor just stared at us. And stared. So we told him we would come back another day to teach them together, and left. Then, later that day we were going through the ward birthday list to see all the members who had birthdays that day (August 7th). Well, it turns out it was Nestor´s birthday!!! We freaked out, bought cookies, went back to his house and sang him Happy Birthday! In Spanish. So it all worked out after that! Then there is Washington, who isnt really an investigator. Just some guy we know. Hes an older guy maybe in his 60s, who´s not all there, but smiles when he sees us, and talks to us. Although I don´t really know this guy, I love him. His smile brightens my day hahaha. Then we recently had a lesson with Rosanna who is a less active member. This was a very humbling experience for both my companion and I because she is very very poor. Her "house" was about half the size of a bedroom. She told us that she wasn´t willing to pay tithing, and that everything was expensive. The only thing that bothers me is that, even though she is super poor, she has 22 dogs. TWENTY TWO. That she takes from the streets and cares for. So yeah. She´s cool though. Then, there is the Collazo family. They are members and I love them all! We had a family home evening with them that was nice! And the 17 year old son, Luis draws very well. He specializes in cars and will be drawing me a Nissan 350Z soon! There are many other great people in this area that I will write about in the weeks to come!
I really do love being here in Nuevo Paris! There is so much crazy stuff here that goes on. For example, yesterday as we were coming back from church there was a horse attached to a pole by a rope. Well, it decided to cross a main street to eat some grass. And all the cars passing by had to stop because the rope was a good 2-3 feet off the ground. We actually ran over to bring the horse back, but the owner (a lady in her 20s, with a baby in the other hand) got there before us to pull it back on the other side of the street. Also, in this area, people throw rocks at the missionaries and my comp was hit by one the other day. Haha. I wasn´t. ALSO, we have 10 chickens in our backyard (that belong to the owner of our house). They used to love my comp and I because we fed them. Now they do not like us because we throw water at them. I LOVE my pet chickens!!!
Anyway, twas a lovely week here in Nuevo Paris and we are looking forward to an incredible one now!!! I love the Lord Jesus Christ and I love teaching and preaching about him!

To my cousin Danika (Hermana Bell): I hope and pray that everything worked out for you, healthwise, back at home! I have absolutely no doubt that you touched the lives of thousands here in Uruguay and that the people will miss you terribly. I am really happy that I got to see you here in Montevideo! You are a great missionary! Siga adelante. Sea firme!

Elder Teloma