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April 26,2010
Dear Family,
Well, I’m still here in Miñas Uruguay doing my thing. Mom and Dad, it’s very interesting that you guys ran into that woman who is a distant relative. I find it’s even crazier that my Mother is going to ride a horse 100 miles across the Nebraska plain at 54 years of age! Okay mom… have fun… ha-ha-ha.
Anyway, for me things have been alright. I will probably take the money out of my account today so that I can buy the things I need on p-day (which is today). I had a very good week… so far so good. We’ve had a lot of progress. By the end of this change, the plan is to be baptizing a lot and have more to come for the next change. Yesterday was Stake Conference in Maldonado and so we went and it was very enjoyable. President Da Silva, my Mission President spoke about the Book of Mormon and it was awesome. I also saw my book covers being made by Walter in Maldonado. They look great, but they’re not finished yet. He said he is going to water proof them and I should get them on Tuesday.
So many things are changing in the mission. Just so you know, the addresses and phone numbers have all changed. If you write me a letter, you must now send it to me at the new address which I will include at the end of the letter. Dad, please try your best to let everyone know. Also on Mondays, we are now having a district meeting in the morning from 10 am to 12 am. From 12 pm to 9 pm will be our p-day, so that really means a longer p-day. Woo-Hoo! We are all so excited and so happy this is going to start in two weeks.
I will call you guys on May 9th. You just need to tell me a time and a number and I will call. I have a lot more to tell you, so I’m very excited. I don’t know how big of a deal you really want to make of it. I don’t know for sure, but what I hear I will only have 30 minutes to talk to you guys. So we gotta go fast and we can’t be talking about just whatever; there are some really important things I need to talk with you guys about.
Besides all that, I’m doing great and we had an awesome week. I’m still very healthy and I feel great (cold but great).
Thanks for all. I love you all so very much and miss ya.
Love,
Elder Sluder
Note from Dad: I have changed John's mailing address on the blog here and will also post it to John's facebook account.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wow - What a Great Week I Had!!!
April 20, 2010
Dear Family,
Well another week gone by. Today I’m in Montevideo because it is time for changes again. Luckily, we aren’t making any changes. Elder Hawes and I have come down to Montevideo to see off some of his old companions who are going home.
Wow, what a great week I had!!!! We have worked so hard and finally yesterday Elder Maluff and I were able to set our first baptismal date with one of our investigators. We plan this week to invite three more of our investigators to be baptized. We are so excited and very happy that the mission president allowed us to be together for at least another six weeks. We have set a goal to baptize 11 people in these next six weeks and we honestly believe that it is very possible! So far though, our only planned baptism is with an 18 year old girl named Cynthia and it is planned for May 15th… Woo Hoo!!!!
Besides all that, no real grand adventures happened this week. But I’m very excited to just see how this next six weeks turns out!
Dad, I guess if you want to do a conference call that would be just fine. But there are several things I want to talk with you guys about first this time and I have written it down to make sure that we can have an organized conversation. I’m pretty excited for its only two weeks away. Man, time is really going fast!
Okay also, yes I know that I only have a little bit of money left in my account. Sorry, I had to take some money out last week because I needed some things to write and send letters. Also, the scripture covers are awesome I guess! The zone leaders called me and said that mine are almost done. I guess he’s finishing them early or something. I had him do something that has never been done before; he’s drawing a picture of Joseph Smith on a horse for me. It’s going to be great. I don’t know for sure, but I think later next week on Tuesday we’re going down to Maldonado. I would like to pay him then if it is possible. Let me know… sorry it’s so soon.
Anyway, besides all that I’m doing great. I have felt super blessed this past week and I know it’s because of all your prayers. Thank you so much!!!
It’s getting cold here too... really, really cold! And I really don’t have winter clothes. I am planning though on talking to you guys about this on Mother’s Day, so for now I will just keep using my companions sweater! Ha ha ha
Love you all so much!!!
Love,
Elder Sluder
Dear Family,
Well another week gone by. Today I’m in Montevideo because it is time for changes again. Luckily, we aren’t making any changes. Elder Hawes and I have come down to Montevideo to see off some of his old companions who are going home.
Wow, what a great week I had!!!! We have worked so hard and finally yesterday Elder Maluff and I were able to set our first baptismal date with one of our investigators. We plan this week to invite three more of our investigators to be baptized. We are so excited and very happy that the mission president allowed us to be together for at least another six weeks. We have set a goal to baptize 11 people in these next six weeks and we honestly believe that it is very possible! So far though, our only planned baptism is with an 18 year old girl named Cynthia and it is planned for May 15th… Woo Hoo!!!!
Besides all that, no real grand adventures happened this week. But I’m very excited to just see how this next six weeks turns out!
Dad, I guess if you want to do a conference call that would be just fine. But there are several things I want to talk with you guys about first this time and I have written it down to make sure that we can have an organized conversation. I’m pretty excited for its only two weeks away. Man, time is really going fast!
Okay also, yes I know that I only have a little bit of money left in my account. Sorry, I had to take some money out last week because I needed some things to write and send letters. Also, the scripture covers are awesome I guess! The zone leaders called me and said that mine are almost done. I guess he’s finishing them early or something. I had him do something that has never been done before; he’s drawing a picture of Joseph Smith on a horse for me. It’s going to be great. I don’t know for sure, but I think later next week on Tuesday we’re going down to Maldonado. I would like to pay him then if it is possible. Let me know… sorry it’s so soon.
Anyway, besides all that I’m doing great. I have felt super blessed this past week and I know it’s because of all your prayers. Thank you so much!!!
It’s getting cold here too... really, really cold! And I really don’t have winter clothes. I am planning though on talking to you guys about this on Mother’s Day, so for now I will just keep using my companions sweater! Ha ha ha
Love you all so much!!!
Love,
Elder Sluder
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Family Baptism and Other Adventures
April 12, 2010
Dear Family,
Wow, another week has now gone by and I have had quite the week too. It was pretty much just the typical busy week, but it’s definitely gone by super fast. There are several things I want to mention so here it goes. First of all, last P-day we went to a place called Pan de Azucar. In Pan de Azucar, there is a cerro (hill) with a huge cross on the top.
It’s about 16 stories tall and you can climb up inside of it. From there you can see the ocean and all of the Uruguayan country side. I included pictures of it. If you want to know more, just look it up on the internet; but I have now been there and done that.
Today we went up to the horse statue Artigas which like you said is the biggest horse statue in the world. I also took pictures so I hope you enjoy them also. So all of that’s been really cool.
On Friday we went on an interchange with the zone leader to Maldonado and wow that place is ghetto! Have I told you guys how much I hate dogs here in South America? While in Maldonado, we had a meeting with the Hermanas and I spoke with Hermana Walton for a while. It was pretty cool. We talked a whole lot about the people in Las Vegas that we both knew. Weird huh? We got back to Miñas on Saturday.
Mom and Dad, one other thing… Here in Uruguay, the missionaries use handmade leather cases for their scriptures called tappa. An artist usually draws an image on every side. They protect your scriptures and are kind of a cool remembrance of the mission. I’ve priced them out all over Uruguay, but everywhere I go they are all upwards of $200-$300 dollars American. I didn’t want to spend that much. When I went to Maldonado the other day, they have a recent convert there named Walter Del Puerto (look him up on the internet) who makes them. I asked how much and he quoted me at $100 dollars. (Three different cases, one for my Bible, one for my BOM and one for my hymn book, all with an image drawn in the leather of my choosing) Can I get them? It was an awesome price. I will probably receive them right around my birthday in June and it would make for an awesome birthday gift. Tomorrow he is coming to our zone conference to talk with the missionaries about what they want. I did make a plan to get them from him and I kinda placed an order. He did tell me though that because of all the work, he will not start on mine until the first week of May. If I need to cancel, it would be fine. Anyway, let me know. I will finish putting in my order and getting everything situated with him tomorrow, but let me know if that’s alright with you in your email next week.
Thanks for all you do. I love you all and I love the new horse, she looks great!
Love your son,
Elder Sluder
Dear Family,
Wow, another week has now gone by and I have had quite the week too. It was pretty much just the typical busy week, but it’s definitely gone by super fast. There are several things I want to mention so here it goes. First of all, last P-day we went to a place called Pan de Azucar. In Pan de Azucar, there is a cerro (hill) with a huge cross on the top.
Today we went up to the horse statue Artigas which like you said is the biggest horse statue in the world. I also took pictures so I hope you enjoy them also. So all of that’s been really cool.
On Friday we went on an interchange with the zone leader to Maldonado and wow that place is ghetto! Have I told you guys how much I hate dogs here in South America? While in Maldonado, we had a meeting with the Hermanas and I spoke with Hermana Walton for a while. It was pretty cool. We talked a whole lot about the people in Las Vegas that we both knew. Weird huh? We got back to Miñas on Saturday.
My companion and I have now reactivated several families in the branch here. One of our families named Incuralde has identical twin 8 year old sons who really wanted to be baptized. So on Saturday night we baptized them. It was really cool. They were not convert baptisms, but I still felt good about it. I hope that they can continue to make good choices in their lives and have success. We had a full chapel on Sunday! It was so awesome and we are seeing miracles. We hope to be able to reactivate and baptize the few good investigators that we have. Well besides that, all is been good.
Thanks for all you do. I love you all and I love the new horse, she looks great!
Love your son,
Elder Sluder
Monday, April 5, 2010
A Little Adversity and the Spirit Testifies
April 5, 2010
Dear Family,
Well, how are things? I have had quite a week! Por suerte, I’m doing just fine health wise and I feel that I’m progressing as a missionary. I don’t really know where it all started, but at the beginning of the week, we had several very normal days. We worked super hard and felt super good. We found a new investigator on Tuesday afternoon who is quite interesting. Her name is Natalia Ortega and she is 24 years old. Here in Miñas, she is a famous Latina singer. We sat down and talked a lot about music with her. I talked to her about how much music impacts our religion. Elder Maluff can sing very, very, very well and I sing okay, so we decided to sing one of our hymns for her. When we finished, she was tearing up. It was another one of those cool things that happens to me on my mission almost on a daily basis. I’m a little more excited this time though, because she was very interested. When we finished, she gave us her schedule so we can come by again. She said she had a desire for something like this in her life.
This week I dealt with one of the most difficult situations of my mission so far. On Friday, we found a young man who is a Baptist, who knows the bible through and through. He very kindly let us in and we began to teach him. All was normal and we felt good. We just started to go through the almost routine way of how we teach. In the middle of the lesson, he got up and stood on a chair with the pamphlet that we give out on the plan of salvation in hand. He declared that this is a sin. He then recited the second commandment to us and said that the picture of Jesus is bad. We explained that we don’t worship the picture. We then sat there and took heat from this guy about how Mormons are the most corrupt religion on the face of the earth. My companion was able to stay cool and he ended up teaching me so much. We did all we could to testify of the Book of Mormon and challenged him to read and pray about it. We went back the next day like we had planned and he had invited his Baptist preacher over to fight with us. Great huh? Well once again we were cool-headed. These men sat there and told us how Joseph Smith was a homosexual and how all the pioneer brethren of the church are now in hell. Way difficult… that’s MY heritage! It was very humbling and I had to really rely on my own personal testimony. We then did the only thing we could do…. we invited them to General Conference, testified of the Book of Mormon and challenged them to read it. The spirit at that moment was so strong and I can honestly say that it was by far the most strong I have felt it yet on my mission.
They showed up to General Conference and listened to the talk on Saturday night that Elder Holland gave about lust. It was perfect! They both felt the spirit. I know they did because they invited us back to their homes on Sunday morning. They told us how it made them feel and that they plan to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. This is just one more miracle I can say that I have experienced. It’s absolutely incredible. General Conference was also wonderful for me.
I love you all so much and I too can add my testimony that this work is of a divine nature and I know for myself that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. It was translated by a true prophet in these latter days. I know that my Savior Jesus Christ is real and I feel his protection, his influence and his example in my life each day.
I have been enjoying myself here in Miñas so far and I’m very satisfied with my companion and our work. Have a good week and enjoy all that we have, because in reality we have much to enjoy and to be thankful for.
Love, your Son, Brother and Uncle,
Elder John P. Sluder
Dear Family,
Well, how are things? I have had quite a week! Por suerte, I’m doing just fine health wise and I feel that I’m progressing as a missionary. I don’t really know where it all started, but at the beginning of the week, we had several very normal days. We worked super hard and felt super good. We found a new investigator on Tuesday afternoon who is quite interesting. Her name is Natalia Ortega and she is 24 years old. Here in Miñas, she is a famous Latina singer. We sat down and talked a lot about music with her. I talked to her about how much music impacts our religion. Elder Maluff can sing very, very, very well and I sing okay, so we decided to sing one of our hymns for her. When we finished, she was tearing up. It was another one of those cool things that happens to me on my mission almost on a daily basis. I’m a little more excited this time though, because she was very interested. When we finished, she gave us her schedule so we can come by again. She said she had a desire for something like this in her life.
This week I dealt with one of the most difficult situations of my mission so far. On Friday, we found a young man who is a Baptist, who knows the bible through and through. He very kindly let us in and we began to teach him. All was normal and we felt good. We just started to go through the almost routine way of how we teach. In the middle of the lesson, he got up and stood on a chair with the pamphlet that we give out on the plan of salvation in hand. He declared that this is a sin. He then recited the second commandment to us and said that the picture of Jesus is bad. We explained that we don’t worship the picture. We then sat there and took heat from this guy about how Mormons are the most corrupt religion on the face of the earth. My companion was able to stay cool and he ended up teaching me so much. We did all we could to testify of the Book of Mormon and challenged him to read and pray about it. We went back the next day like we had planned and he had invited his Baptist preacher over to fight with us. Great huh? Well once again we were cool-headed. These men sat there and told us how Joseph Smith was a homosexual and how all the pioneer brethren of the church are now in hell. Way difficult… that’s MY heritage! It was very humbling and I had to really rely on my own personal testimony. We then did the only thing we could do…. we invited them to General Conference, testified of the Book of Mormon and challenged them to read it. The spirit at that moment was so strong and I can honestly say that it was by far the most strong I have felt it yet on my mission.
They showed up to General Conference and listened to the talk on Saturday night that Elder Holland gave about lust. It was perfect! They both felt the spirit. I know they did because they invited us back to their homes on Sunday morning. They told us how it made them feel and that they plan to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. This is just one more miracle I can say that I have experienced. It’s absolutely incredible. General Conference was also wonderful for me.
I love you all so much and I too can add my testimony that this work is of a divine nature and I know for myself that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. It was translated by a true prophet in these latter days. I know that my Savior Jesus Christ is real and I feel his protection, his influence and his example in my life each day.
I have been enjoying myself here in Miñas so far and I’m very satisfied with my companion and our work. Have a good week and enjoy all that we have, because in reality we have much to enjoy and to be thankful for.
Love, your Son, Brother and Uncle,
Elder John P. Sluder
Monday, March 29, 2010
Week Three in Miñas
March 29, 2010
Dear Family,
Oh my gosh Cindy… you fell and hit your head? That picture is awesome!!!! I hope it knocked some sense into you. Ha-ha-ha! Just kidding. I’m glad the doctors didn’t find anything wrong with your brain, though I’ll be honest, I was kinda surprised. Ha-ha-ha Okay, sorry that might have crossed the line a little bit. But you know I do love you and you’re awesome!!!! At least you’re not dumb like I am. I got hurt and had to have surgery here in South America!
It’s so awesome that you tried out for Americas Got Talent. I’m really excited for you. I would love to see you advance on; it could really be a good foot in the door for you. That’s so cool. I’ll pray for you to get better and maybe even win so that by the time I come home; we can be millionaires… ha-ha-ha. In all seriousness, I’m very happy that you’re okay and that now you can heal and get better. I love you, ya know.
Well for the rest of you, I’m still doing it. I have had a very interesting week. I got really sick on Friday. I don’t know if I ate something bad or what, but I definitely sure did have my troubles. Elder Maluff and I are having a blast. We are slowly starting to have more and more success in our area every day. We have been working so hard and have been super obedient to the rules. I have never in my entire life felt better spiritually than I do now. Dad, I loved the quote you sent from President Eyring and I look so forward this next week to General Conference. It’s going to be so awesome.
This morning we put on a ward activity. We had a futbol tournament. The stake patriarch is in our ward. He is a 60 year old man who really seemed very tranquil. But this morning, he came dressed in a soccer jersey and all the gear. He played futbol and was pretty much the best player I have seen since I started my mission. It was Hilarious. We had awesome turn out and we expect the ward to give us referrals and help out a lot more (now that they like us).
Besides all this, it was a good week. I did have a tri-zone conference in Montevideo on Friday. It was great to see all the missionaries that have now become such good friends of mine. I learned a ton. The mission president has challenged us all to read the entire Book of Mormon in Spanish in six weeks. I’m going to try my best.
I’m doing great. I’ll keep you all in my prayers. I hope that you will all have a safe week. Cindy, stay away from cinder blocks. I love you all and stay safer...
Love your brother and son
Elder Sluder
Dear Family,
Oh my gosh Cindy… you fell and hit your head? That picture is awesome!!!! I hope it knocked some sense into you. Ha-ha-ha! Just kidding. I’m glad the doctors didn’t find anything wrong with your brain, though I’ll be honest, I was kinda surprised. Ha-ha-ha Okay, sorry that might have crossed the line a little bit. But you know I do love you and you’re awesome!!!! At least you’re not dumb like I am. I got hurt and had to have surgery here in South America!
It’s so awesome that you tried out for Americas Got Talent. I’m really excited for you. I would love to see you advance on; it could really be a good foot in the door for you. That’s so cool. I’ll pray for you to get better and maybe even win so that by the time I come home; we can be millionaires… ha-ha-ha. In all seriousness, I’m very happy that you’re okay and that now you can heal and get better. I love you, ya know.
Well for the rest of you, I’m still doing it. I have had a very interesting week. I got really sick on Friday. I don’t know if I ate something bad or what, but I definitely sure did have my troubles. Elder Maluff and I are having a blast. We are slowly starting to have more and more success in our area every day. We have been working so hard and have been super obedient to the rules. I have never in my entire life felt better spiritually than I do now. Dad, I loved the quote you sent from President Eyring and I look so forward this next week to General Conference. It’s going to be so awesome.
This morning we put on a ward activity. We had a futbol tournament. The stake patriarch is in our ward. He is a 60 year old man who really seemed very tranquil. But this morning, he came dressed in a soccer jersey and all the gear. He played futbol and was pretty much the best player I have seen since I started my mission. It was Hilarious. We had awesome turn out and we expect the ward to give us referrals and help out a lot more (now that they like us).
Besides all this, it was a good week. I did have a tri-zone conference in Montevideo on Friday. It was great to see all the missionaries that have now become such good friends of mine. I learned a ton. The mission president has challenged us all to read the entire Book of Mormon in Spanish in six weeks. I’m going to try my best.
I’m doing great. I’ll keep you all in my prayers. I hope that you will all have a safe week. Cindy, stay away from cinder blocks. I love you all and stay safer...
Love your brother and son
Elder Sluder
Monday, March 22, 2010
Week Two in Miñas - I'm Doing GREAT!
March 22, 2010
Dear Family,
Wow… another week gone by and I don’t know what happened to the time. I have had a very successful week and I’m doing great!
Yesterday at church, we had a branch conference and had great attendance once again. The stake president spoke and said that he wanted this branch to become a ward in the next year or so. So that is now our main goal. We are looking for new priesthood holders and praying for miracles.
We have seen our miracles this week and I have learned that there is no better feeling than when one of your investigators looks at you and says that they read the Book of Mormon and they felt something special.
Mom, I think it’s funny that you mentioned Alma 17 in your letter. I had just read about that this morning in studies and it really is incredible. I’m also reading the journal of Levi Jackman daily. It’s unbelievable! I’m about halfway through and I love it. He was an awesome example of a missionary.
Well, I don’t have much more time. I plan to send you guys some pictures. We had a rain storm last night and it’s starting to get cold here. Here are some pictures of us four missionaries who live together here in Miñas. Elder Maluff is my companion. He is the Latino; he says "good looking one". Elder Haws is the extremely tall Rubio (blonde). And Elder Powell is the guy that’s going bald. He looks a lot older than he really is. Ha Ha Ha They are all so great!
I’m doing really well and look forward to talking to you all in about a month for Mother’s day. Well thanks mom and dad for keeping me informed. I love you guys very much and I hope you have another wonderful week.
Love, Your Son,
Elder John P. Sluder
By the way, I wanted the photos of the family reunion that were taken in front of the house and were all wearing brown and everyone is there.
Dear Family,
Wow… another week gone by and I don’t know what happened to the time. I have had a very successful week and I’m doing great!
Life here in Miñas is definitely different than the life I had in Sarandi Del Yi. The work has been great and my companion, Elder Maluff has been awesome! My companion and I worked hard this week to find new investigators and we are now teaching some really awesome families. So that’s been great! We have been planning some awesome activities here in Miñas and have plans this Friday night to have a movie night. I got my hands on a copy of the new “Joseph Smith, prophet of the restoration” movie in Spanish and we plan to show it here in Miñas. We found a projector and plan to have a huge movie night and invite everyone in the city. The thing about it is, there aren’t any movie theaters in town because they just don’t really exist in South America. The people we have invited so far are excited and we plan to have an awesome program. We also have a branch fútbol tournament planned for this next upcoming Monday. We announced it last Sunday in church and everyone in the branch got super excited. We hope to bring excitement and spirit into this branch so that it will be ready to accept the new converts that we plan to baptize. We also want to let the members know that we do need them and we appreciate their help. So far this has been working. We had a branch activity the other night. I taught the lesson and we had about 40 people show up and afterwards we made some tortas fritas. It worked out great and we definitely could see that it helped when we went to church on Sunday.
Yesterday at church, we had a branch conference and had great attendance once again. The stake president spoke and said that he wanted this branch to become a ward in the next year or so. So that is now our main goal. We are looking for new priesthood holders and praying for miracles.
We have seen our miracles this week and I have learned that there is no better feeling than when one of your investigators looks at you and says that they read the Book of Mormon and they felt something special.
Mom, I think it’s funny that you mentioned Alma 17 in your letter. I had just read about that this morning in studies and it really is incredible. I’m also reading the journal of Levi Jackman daily. It’s unbelievable! I’m about halfway through and I love it. He was an awesome example of a missionary.
Well, I don’t have much more time. I plan to send you guys some pictures. We had a rain storm last night and it’s starting to get cold here. Here are some pictures of us four missionaries who live together here in Miñas. Elder Maluff is my companion. He is the Latino; he says "good looking one". Elder Haws is the extremely tall Rubio (blonde). And Elder Powell is the guy that’s going bald. He looks a lot older than he really is. Ha Ha Ha They are all so great!
I’m doing really well and look forward to talking to you all in about a month for Mother’s day. Well thanks mom and dad for keeping me informed. I love you guys very much and I hope you have another wonderful week.
Love, Your Son,
Elder John P. Sluder
By the way, I wanted the photos of the family reunion that were taken in front of the house and were all wearing brown and everyone is there.
Left to right: Elder Maluff, Elder Sluder, Elder Haws and Elder Powell
Left ro right: Elder Maluff, Elder Sluder, Elder Haws and Elder Powell
Left to right: Elder Sluder, Elder Maluff and Elder Powell
Monday, March 15, 2010
Week One in Miñas
March 15, 2010
Dear family,
Well… Wow!!! I’m doing great. I love my new area and I love my new companion even more!
I went to Montevideo this morning because I had to sign some paperwork with immigration. Anyways I took 500 pesos out of my account, which is like 25 dollars American. I was expecting my reimbursements this week, but because of all the changes, it’s going to be another week to get them. Today is P-day and I’m in need of a haircut and I really need to buy a bar of soap. My companion says I can use his for as long as I want, but I figure since I have been using his soap for a week, I should just buy a bar of my own. Today being P-day is the day to buy stuff like that and I really don’t want to go another week without it. I’m sorry. For now I’m about 98% sure that I won’t need to take any more money out for a while. I’m expecting reimbursement of 2500 pesos to come next week. Then the next week after, I will get paid my gyro of 3100, so I should be more than fine. I plan to put some money away into an emergency fund so I no longer need to use my account. If I can slowly build up my reimbursements, I will have plenty from here on out. Sorry for this inconvenience.
Miñas is awesome!!!! I live with three missionaries as you know. It has been the best time ever and I’m loving every minute of it. My new companion Elder Maluff is amazing and this past week we have had some success and plan to work hard and be obedient to the rules! So far so good and we are accelerating and doing wonders in only our first week together. It’s really strange, we get along really well. He speaks English perfectly, so that’s been nice. When I have a question or don’t understand a word, I can ask him what it means and he can tell me. I feel like I’m a missionary now. I had a rough month in February, but now I feel incredibly blessed and it has been wonderful.
Miñas is divided into two areas, Miñas 1 and Miñas 2. Before I came here, there were only two sets of missionaries. Sister missionaries are usually assigned to Miñas 1 area. The mission president split Miñas 2 area, so now we have 3 sets of missionaries in the branch. Now that we have more missionaries here, the mission president has set a goal to turn Miñas 2 and eventually Miñas 1 into wards. I know it’s possible and I know that we were all put here by inspiration from the Lord to get this done. I was given the half of the city to work that has the countryside and I will once again be working in the country going from farm to farm. Miñas is beautiful. It is the only place in Uruguay that has mountains. It’s awesome and it kinda reminded me of home… kinda!
Last week I did receive two packages. I got my package from you with my camera! It rocks to have a camera again; thank you so much!!!!!! And I also got a package from grandma. I loved it and I felt so blessed I can’t even tell you!!! I still have my bike. I brought it with me from Sarandi Del Yi.
Dad, you tried sending me those photos but my email won’t accept them… I would love for you to send me the photos from the family reunion that we had back in august. I need photos for lessons to share about families. I can just print them off here in the cyber cafe for like 5 pesos apiece.
Lots of things in our new home are broken, so I have been busy fixing them. My comp says I’m Mr. Fix it and he too offers my help to people who have problems on the side of the road. He tells them, “Hey, my companion is a really good mechanic; he´ll fix it for you for free”. I think I have now fixed more crappy cars on my mission than before. Unfortunately I can’t drive any of them and I’m just stuck walking for now.
It’s now starting to get cold here. It’s kinda weird; I’m not really looking forward to the cold here. It’s been over a year now since I have experienced winter. So this next one is going to be kinda interesting
Well I've got to go. I love you all and I’m alive and safe. I’ll keep you all in my prayers.
Love, Elder Sluder and ELDER MALUFF
Dear family,
Well… Wow!!! I’m doing great. I love my new area and I love my new companion even more!
I went to Montevideo this morning because I had to sign some paperwork with immigration. Anyways I took 500 pesos out of my account, which is like 25 dollars American. I was expecting my reimbursements this week, but because of all the changes, it’s going to be another week to get them. Today is P-day and I’m in need of a haircut and I really need to buy a bar of soap. My companion says I can use his for as long as I want, but I figure since I have been using his soap for a week, I should just buy a bar of my own. Today being P-day is the day to buy stuff like that and I really don’t want to go another week without it. I’m sorry. For now I’m about 98% sure that I won’t need to take any more money out for a while. I’m expecting reimbursement of 2500 pesos to come next week. Then the next week after, I will get paid my gyro of 3100, so I should be more than fine. I plan to put some money away into an emergency fund so I no longer need to use my account. If I can slowly build up my reimbursements, I will have plenty from here on out. Sorry for this inconvenience.
Miñas is awesome!!!! I live with three missionaries as you know. It has been the best time ever and I’m loving every minute of it. My new companion Elder Maluff is amazing and this past week we have had some success and plan to work hard and be obedient to the rules! So far so good and we are accelerating and doing wonders in only our first week together. It’s really strange, we get along really well. He speaks English perfectly, so that’s been nice. When I have a question or don’t understand a word, I can ask him what it means and he can tell me. I feel like I’m a missionary now. I had a rough month in February, but now I feel incredibly blessed and it has been wonderful.
Miñas is divided into two areas, Miñas 1 and Miñas 2. Before I came here, there were only two sets of missionaries. Sister missionaries are usually assigned to Miñas 1 area. The mission president split Miñas 2 area, so now we have 3 sets of missionaries in the branch. Now that we have more missionaries here, the mission president has set a goal to turn Miñas 2 and eventually Miñas 1 into wards. I know it’s possible and I know that we were all put here by inspiration from the Lord to get this done. I was given the half of the city to work that has the countryside and I will once again be working in the country going from farm to farm. Miñas is beautiful. It is the only place in Uruguay that has mountains. It’s awesome and it kinda reminded me of home… kinda!
Last week I did receive two packages. I got my package from you with my camera! It rocks to have a camera again; thank you so much!!!!!! And I also got a package from grandma. I loved it and I felt so blessed I can’t even tell you!!! I still have my bike. I brought it with me from Sarandi Del Yi.
Dad, you tried sending me those photos but my email won’t accept them… I would love for you to send me the photos from the family reunion that we had back in august. I need photos for lessons to share about families. I can just print them off here in the cyber cafe for like 5 pesos apiece.
Lots of things in our new home are broken, so I have been busy fixing them. My comp says I’m Mr. Fix it and he too offers my help to people who have problems on the side of the road. He tells them, “Hey, my companion is a really good mechanic; he´ll fix it for you for free”. I think I have now fixed more crappy cars on my mission than before. Unfortunately I can’t drive any of them and I’m just stuck walking for now.
It’s now starting to get cold here. It’s kinda weird; I’m not really looking forward to the cold here. It’s been over a year now since I have experienced winter. So this next one is going to be kinda interesting
Well I've got to go. I love you all and I’m alive and safe. I’ll keep you all in my prayers.
Love, Elder Sluder and ELDER MALUFF
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