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Family and Friends,
I got a great email from John this morning. I will post it once we get home, but suffice it to say that he is healing and doing great. He will be in the mission home in Montevideo through the end of February. This would be a great time to send a letter, because he can read it right away. It takes about 10 days for a regular letter to get through the mail. Please note that his email address has changed slightly. His new email address is: john.sluder@myldsmail.net
Steve Sluder
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
All is Well
February 10, 2010
I received a phone call today around 3:40 from a man speaking Spanish. I told him I couldn't understand him and then he said, "What's the matter Dad, don't you recognize your own son?" Of course, he got me! We were able to speak for a few minutes and he sounded great! He will spend the night in the hospital and then go to the mission home while he recovers. We also spoke to the Mission President and he assured us that John would be well taken care of. It's hard not to worry about your kids.
Steve Sluder
I received a phone call today around 3:40 from a man speaking Spanish. I told him I couldn't understand him and then he said, "What's the matter Dad, don't you recognize your own son?" Of course, he got me! We were able to speak for a few minutes and he sounded great! He will spend the night in the hospital and then go to the mission home while he recovers. We also spoke to the Mission President and he assured us that John would be well taken care of. It's hard not to worry about your kids.
Steve Sluder
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
John Needs Surgery
I was notified today that John has a medical problem. He injured himself a few weeks ago and now needs surgery to repair a hernia. He will have the surgery in Montevideo. It is scheduled for Wednesday February 10 at 5:00PM Montevideo time or 12:00PM Utah time. It's expected he will spend the night in the hospital and then be released to the Mission President who will put him up for a few weeks in the mission home while he heals. He should be able to return to his assignments in about two weeks.
Steve Sluder
Steve Sluder
Monday, February 8, 2010
Short and Sweet
February 8, 2010
Dear Mother, Father, family and friends,
Well I’m going to make it short this week. It’s been a little hectic and I’ll just have to let you know more about it later. For now it was another week. I have seen more miracles this week. I feel that I have served with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I also realized this week that I do have a love for the people here in Sarandi Del Yi, Uruguay. I too bore my testimony yesterday in fast and testimony meeting. We had a very special spirit in the meeting and it was very clear to me the things of this world that are true.
We have had rain every day this week also. The rivers all rose above the banks and left hundreds without homes. On Friday, my companion and I went around looking to just serve in any way that we could. Uruguay never ceases to amaze me. One day I think this place is under control and the next thing I know, something happens and I realize that this place is wild.
We have a baptism planned for this Saturday at 7:00 pm. I’m very excited and I feel like I’m making great progress as a missionary. Well like I said, for now I’m going to keep this one short. I’ll let you know more later. I love you all so much, be careful. I’m also being careful… very, very careful… I promise! I’ll keep you all in my prayers as I know you have with me.
Love,
Elder John P. Sluder
Dear Mother, Father, family and friends,
Well I’m going to make it short this week. It’s been a little hectic and I’ll just have to let you know more about it later. For now it was another week. I have seen more miracles this week. I feel that I have served with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I also realized this week that I do have a love for the people here in Sarandi Del Yi, Uruguay. I too bore my testimony yesterday in fast and testimony meeting. We had a very special spirit in the meeting and it was very clear to me the things of this world that are true.
We have had rain every day this week also. The rivers all rose above the banks and left hundreds without homes. On Friday, my companion and I went around looking to just serve in any way that we could. Uruguay never ceases to amaze me. One day I think this place is under control and the next thing I know, something happens and I realize that this place is wild.
We have a baptism planned for this Saturday at 7:00 pm. I’m very excited and I feel like I’m making great progress as a missionary. Well like I said, for now I’m going to keep this one short. I’ll let you know more later. I love you all so much, be careful. I’m also being careful… very, very careful… I promise! I’ll keep you all in my prayers as I know you have with me.
Love,
Elder John P. Sluder
Monday, February 1, 2010
Heavenly Father Listens To and Helps Us
February 1, 2010
Dear Family,
Another week has now gone by. It’s been a tough one, but I have learned many things.
Dad, congrats on your success with the choir and good luck. That is so awesome. I’m proud of you and your persistent ways. I wish I could be there to hear it myself in person. Way freakin’ cool...
To answer the question about mail and packages... Every Tuesday, when I go to Durazno, I receive mail and packages. The mission home gives it to the zone leaders in their weekly meeting in Montevideo with the President. So I’ll receive them whenever… Thanks
I still haven’t received my crazy phone bill, but when I do, I will probably need to use the money that’s in my account. My companion and I do have plans to split it because there is a call to Peru on the bill also. I think it’s just easier to give the money to me through my account… thanks and I’ll let ya know.
This week was technically the last week of my second cambio and today marks the first real day of my third cambio. It was a pretty plain, dry boring week. Nothing really exciting happened, but we were able to secure a good date for a baptism from one of our investigators. We have plans to baptize a 26 year old woman named Patricia on the 13th of February. We have been teaching her now for only about two weeks. We found her in the old book of records or area book (carpeta de area). Yes, I have been starting to see miracles in this aspect.
This past week something else happened and I saw another kind of miracle. My companion and I had not been getting along very well. It was really over some of the most stupid things. Everything would be alright and then it seemed out of nowhere, he would get angry at me. And in return, I, being hard headed would fire back. It would just escalate. On Friday morning we had weekly planning. Everything was going great at first and we were on the same page. Then for what ever reason, I don’t really know if it was something I said or just something he didn’t agree with, but we started to fight. It really got bad and I was able to keep my patience and it didn’t get physical. He got up from his seat and yelled some stuff at me that I didn’t really understand. So I just replied. “No se” (I don’t know). Then he stormed out of the room, telling me that I was a stupid gringo. He went outside and started his washing clothes. I was pretty upset and just figured that it was a complete day ruiner and that this last five weeks in Sarandi were going to be horrible and a real challenge. I was really confused. I really felt alone. I had feelings of hopelessness and homesickness, which to be honest, I don’t get very often. Then, I did the only thing I knew I could do. I did the same thing that I teach to all of my investigators. I turned to my Father in Heaven for his counsel and asked for a miracle.
After about an hour of sitting in my house alone and reading, my companion came in with tears in his eyes and in very broken English he said “I’m sorry Elder Sluder, I love you, please forgive me”. It was a miracle, not because he won the fight or I won the fight, but because I know that when we turn to the Lord for help, he helps. We had a really good talk and he explained a lot of things to me and I now have a little better understanding of my companion. Since then we have set new goals. We have plans and are unified in our work. These past few days have really been great. Everything happens for a reason. This was definitely one of those cases. I’m so grateful that we have a Father in Heaven who listens to us and does help us. I thank you all for your prayers and support.
I love you all.
Your son, brother, and uncle
Elder John P. Sluder
Hey Jen, I got your email. Thanks, I’ll try to reply later and I’ll just write you by hand. It’s kind of easier that way. Sorry I haven’t written. I’ll try harder.
Your long lost brother,
John
Dear Family,
Another week has now gone by. It’s been a tough one, but I have learned many things.
Dad, congrats on your success with the choir and good luck. That is so awesome. I’m proud of you and your persistent ways. I wish I could be there to hear it myself in person. Way freakin’ cool...
To answer the question about mail and packages... Every Tuesday, when I go to Durazno, I receive mail and packages. The mission home gives it to the zone leaders in their weekly meeting in Montevideo with the President. So I’ll receive them whenever… Thanks
I still haven’t received my crazy phone bill, but when I do, I will probably need to use the money that’s in my account. My companion and I do have plans to split it because there is a call to Peru on the bill also. I think it’s just easier to give the money to me through my account… thanks and I’ll let ya know.
This week was technically the last week of my second cambio and today marks the first real day of my third cambio. It was a pretty plain, dry boring week. Nothing really exciting happened, but we were able to secure a good date for a baptism from one of our investigators. We have plans to baptize a 26 year old woman named Patricia on the 13th of February. We have been teaching her now for only about two weeks. We found her in the old book of records or area book (carpeta de area). Yes, I have been starting to see miracles in this aspect.
This past week something else happened and I saw another kind of miracle. My companion and I had not been getting along very well. It was really over some of the most stupid things. Everything would be alright and then it seemed out of nowhere, he would get angry at me. And in return, I, being hard headed would fire back. It would just escalate. On Friday morning we had weekly planning. Everything was going great at first and we were on the same page. Then for what ever reason, I don’t really know if it was something I said or just something he didn’t agree with, but we started to fight. It really got bad and I was able to keep my patience and it didn’t get physical. He got up from his seat and yelled some stuff at me that I didn’t really understand. So I just replied. “No se” (I don’t know). Then he stormed out of the room, telling me that I was a stupid gringo. He went outside and started his washing clothes. I was pretty upset and just figured that it was a complete day ruiner and that this last five weeks in Sarandi were going to be horrible and a real challenge. I was really confused. I really felt alone. I had feelings of hopelessness and homesickness, which to be honest, I don’t get very often. Then, I did the only thing I knew I could do. I did the same thing that I teach to all of my investigators. I turned to my Father in Heaven for his counsel and asked for a miracle.
After about an hour of sitting in my house alone and reading, my companion came in with tears in his eyes and in very broken English he said “I’m sorry Elder Sluder, I love you, please forgive me”. It was a miracle, not because he won the fight or I won the fight, but because I know that when we turn to the Lord for help, he helps. We had a really good talk and he explained a lot of things to me and I now have a little better understanding of my companion. Since then we have set new goals. We have plans and are unified in our work. These past few days have really been great. Everything happens for a reason. This was definitely one of those cases. I’m so grateful that we have a Father in Heaven who listens to us and does help us. I thank you all for your prayers and support.
I love you all.
Your son, brother, and uncle
Elder John P. Sluder
Hey Jen, I got your email. Thanks, I’ll try to reply later and I’ll just write you by hand. It’s kind of easier that way. Sorry I haven’t written. I’ll try harder.
Your long lost brother,
John
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Losing Myself in the Service of the Lord
January 26, 2010
Dear Family,
Wow… another week down and I just can’t believe it. Time is really starting to pick up and really going fast. To be honest, I’m getting kind of scared that it’s going to continue to get faster and faster.
First, I thought I would get some business out of the way. I went to Montevideo and had a great time. I went to church distribution, bought garments and some new supplies for teaching. I bought some other stuff at a store called Tienda Inglesia. It’s pretty much a store in Montevideo that sells American stuff, so that was cool. I took some money out of my account for myself. If you want to see what I spent, go online and look, it’s all correct. I also found out that the phone call to you guys on Christmas is not fully reimbursable. I’m kind of worried about this. What should I do? I haven’t received the bill yet, but I’m expecting to receive it in the next week or so and I’m expecting it to be well over 1500 pesos (about 75 dollars). Only 400 pesos is reimbursable. If you’re confused about the whole matter, you’re more than welcome to call the mission office and ask them. When I called them about it, that is just what they told me.
Okay… so this is how my week went. We proselytized a little on Monday and Tuesday of last week, but didn’t really make any progress or have anything exciting happen. On Tuesday night, we took a bus to Durazno. We had a zone conference in the stake center and then split up to go the different missionary’s homes to get some sleep. We woke up at about 2 in the morning, got ready and at about 2:30 got on this micro bus with all 20 missionaries from the zone. It was packed, very uncomfortable and it was slow too! We finally arrived at the mission home about 6 in the morning and had breakfast with the president and his wife. The president told us that there will be only two times on our mission that we get to go to the temple, now and when we leave. Well, we went through a session and I can’t describe how amazing it was. After living in a shack in the third world countryside of Uruguay for a while, you start to forget about the luxuries that are in this world. It was so beautiful. It was so spiritually uplifting and really helped me out a lot. I definitely received much needed spiritual guidance.
After going to the temple, we had interviews with the president. In my interview, some interesting things took place and some interesting things were said. I kind of complained that I didn’t have investigators who were progressing. The president told me that I needed to step it up in my area and realize that when an investigator progresses, it’s a miracle. He said that miracles are from God and we need to be worthy of our miracles. He asked me to look at myself and my situation and decide what I needed to change so that I can have miracles! We have a saying for this kind of talk in Spanish. It’s called “baja la caña” or dropping the cane. But it was so good and I really needed it. They are really having problems in the mission with obedience. Last week, the Montevideo West mission had 80 baptisms, while we only had 16. Also, there are fewer missionaries in the West, less people and less area. When you consider this, you realize that we all need to step it up a notch. So that’s exactly what my companion and I are doing. The Mission President gave me one more change (six more weeks) in my area of Sarandi del Yi.
We have now made a lot of changes. We are optimistic about our small population that we have to teach and are already starting to see miracles. We had 5 investigators in church on Sunday and have started teaching a woman named Patricia. Last night she asked us if she could get baptized... awesome! We also found some new investigators that we think will be ready for baptism soon. So it’s been good. (Dad, I loved the story you shared with me about Joe. That too is a miracle and I will keep him in my prayers.)
Then, the other night, we had a little chat with the Bishop. I really felt impressed to say several things to him. I told him I thought it was pathetic that we have 300 members in the ward here, but only about 50 are active. I told him that this is the fault of the ward, his ward and I could see that this was because of the lack of a home teaching program. He was confused and asked me, “What is home teaching?” I went over the whole program with him and I think he liked the idea. Afterwards my companion said that I was the craziest gringo in the whole world! He had never before seen a missionary “baja la caña” on a Bishop…especially a missionary from the United States with only five months in the field using a completely new language. He did tell me though that I spoke pretty perfect Spanish for this one, so he believes it was guidance from God.
Anyway, I think it worked because on Sunday the Bishop announced a special ward activity. He said that everyone needed to come to the church on Saturday and that he would assign them a less active family to visit and teach at least once a month. After they get their assigned family, they would immediately go teach them and give them a special invitation to attend church this next Sunday. Wow! Crazy huh? There are still several things to do that will make the plan better, but I think this is a good start. Our goal now is to help out the whole ward. We have been doing a lot of service projects this past week. I have farmed. I have cut pasture. I have built homes, moved mounds of dirt by hand and many other things. I see how the skills I acquired at home can now be used help these people. It is so awesome. I’m loving it. By the time I complete this next six weeks, I will have been gone for just over six months. Amazing huh? I expect for a while to lose myself in the service of the Lord and the joy that it has brought me so far in this life is immense.
I’m so glad to hear that all is well back at home. Keep it up dad. Mom, I love you. And everyone else, I’m grateful to have you in my life and so very grateful for your support.
Love you all,
Elder John P. Sluder
P.S. My heath has returned to normal and so don’t worry about me.
Dear Family,
Wow… another week down and I just can’t believe it. Time is really starting to pick up and really going fast. To be honest, I’m getting kind of scared that it’s going to continue to get faster and faster.
First, I thought I would get some business out of the way. I went to Montevideo and had a great time. I went to church distribution, bought garments and some new supplies for teaching. I bought some other stuff at a store called Tienda Inglesia. It’s pretty much a store in Montevideo that sells American stuff, so that was cool. I took some money out of my account for myself. If you want to see what I spent, go online and look, it’s all correct. I also found out that the phone call to you guys on Christmas is not fully reimbursable. I’m kind of worried about this. What should I do? I haven’t received the bill yet, but I’m expecting to receive it in the next week or so and I’m expecting it to be well over 1500 pesos (about 75 dollars). Only 400 pesos is reimbursable. If you’re confused about the whole matter, you’re more than welcome to call the mission office and ask them. When I called them about it, that is just what they told me.
Okay… so this is how my week went. We proselytized a little on Monday and Tuesday of last week, but didn’t really make any progress or have anything exciting happen. On Tuesday night, we took a bus to Durazno. We had a zone conference in the stake center and then split up to go the different missionary’s homes to get some sleep. We woke up at about 2 in the morning, got ready and at about 2:30 got on this micro bus with all 20 missionaries from the zone. It was packed, very uncomfortable and it was slow too! We finally arrived at the mission home about 6 in the morning and had breakfast with the president and his wife. The president told us that there will be only two times on our mission that we get to go to the temple, now and when we leave. Well, we went through a session and I can’t describe how amazing it was. After living in a shack in the third world countryside of Uruguay for a while, you start to forget about the luxuries that are in this world. It was so beautiful. It was so spiritually uplifting and really helped me out a lot. I definitely received much needed spiritual guidance.
After going to the temple, we had interviews with the president. In my interview, some interesting things took place and some interesting things were said. I kind of complained that I didn’t have investigators who were progressing. The president told me that I needed to step it up in my area and realize that when an investigator progresses, it’s a miracle. He said that miracles are from God and we need to be worthy of our miracles. He asked me to look at myself and my situation and decide what I needed to change so that I can have miracles! We have a saying for this kind of talk in Spanish. It’s called “baja la caña” or dropping the cane. But it was so good and I really needed it. They are really having problems in the mission with obedience. Last week, the Montevideo West mission had 80 baptisms, while we only had 16. Also, there are fewer missionaries in the West, less people and less area. When you consider this, you realize that we all need to step it up a notch. So that’s exactly what my companion and I are doing. The Mission President gave me one more change (six more weeks) in my area of Sarandi del Yi.
We have now made a lot of changes. We are optimistic about our small population that we have to teach and are already starting to see miracles. We had 5 investigators in church on Sunday and have started teaching a woman named Patricia. Last night she asked us if she could get baptized... awesome! We also found some new investigators that we think will be ready for baptism soon. So it’s been good. (Dad, I loved the story you shared with me about Joe. That too is a miracle and I will keep him in my prayers.)
Then, the other night, we had a little chat with the Bishop. I really felt impressed to say several things to him. I told him I thought it was pathetic that we have 300 members in the ward here, but only about 50 are active. I told him that this is the fault of the ward, his ward and I could see that this was because of the lack of a home teaching program. He was confused and asked me, “What is home teaching?” I went over the whole program with him and I think he liked the idea. Afterwards my companion said that I was the craziest gringo in the whole world! He had never before seen a missionary “baja la caña” on a Bishop…especially a missionary from the United States with only five months in the field using a completely new language. He did tell me though that I spoke pretty perfect Spanish for this one, so he believes it was guidance from God.
Anyway, I think it worked because on Sunday the Bishop announced a special ward activity. He said that everyone needed to come to the church on Saturday and that he would assign them a less active family to visit and teach at least once a month. After they get their assigned family, they would immediately go teach them and give them a special invitation to attend church this next Sunday. Wow! Crazy huh? There are still several things to do that will make the plan better, but I think this is a good start. Our goal now is to help out the whole ward. We have been doing a lot of service projects this past week. I have farmed. I have cut pasture. I have built homes, moved mounds of dirt by hand and many other things. I see how the skills I acquired at home can now be used help these people. It is so awesome. I’m loving it. By the time I complete this next six weeks, I will have been gone for just over six months. Amazing huh? I expect for a while to lose myself in the service of the Lord and the joy that it has brought me so far in this life is immense.
I’m so glad to hear that all is well back at home. Keep it up dad. Mom, I love you. And everyone else, I’m grateful to have you in my life and so very grateful for your support.
Love you all,
Elder John P. Sluder
P.S. My heath has returned to normal and so don’t worry about me.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Some Disappointment and Some Choice Experiences
January 18, 2010
Dear Mom, Dad and family,
How is everyone doing? I hope well. I have heard a little bit about this earthquake thing, but really not too much. On Wednesday I was out working and some guy came up to us and was very upset. He told us about Aati and how it was destroyed and people were dead. I really didn’t understand too much and didn’t know where Aati was, so it didn’t really bother me too much. I just figured it was just another crazy local drunk telling us his version of some sort of a bible story. Then the other night, we had a member tell us all about Ati and then I realized it was real and that they were talking about the small island of Haiti. It’s incredibly sad and to be honest, I’m quite glad that I’m not able to watch it on the news or really see any coverage. It’s really a disaster of the signs of the times. I’m happy to hear that our church buildings are some of the only things that were really left standing and I’m also glad that no Mormon missionaries perished. I’m sure I will learn more about this disaster on Wednesday at our special zone conference and temple day in Montevideo.
Well, so yeah I’m really excited for Wednesday. It’s the first time I will go through the Montevideo temple. This week is going to be another crazy one because it’s again the last week of the cambios. I have planned two large service projects this week and I’m very excited to go out and do some real manual labor. My health is good, but I do fear that I’m going to have a relapse like you said, but hey don’t worry too much about me. I’m in good hands and I’m trying every day to live as obedient as I can. I know in the end, all will work out in my favor.
Besides all that, this past week was another week of a lot of failure. None of our investigators are progressing and I’m contacting houses looking for new investigators in a place where everyone has talked to the missionaries before. The baptisms that we had planned have now fallen through, so that was quite disappointing. But I know that even though it’s been tough, I have gained much from this all and every moment for me has been a learning experience. We did find two new investigators that are pretty good and I feel that with time they will eventually begin to progress.
Last night, I had a very strange experience. My comp and I were quite discouraged and he wanted to head back home for the night about an hour early. I was somewhat in agreement, because all of our appointments fell through and we had met all of the goals we had set for the week. But then I had this strange feeling that we should get on our bikes and circle around the block just one more time. I suggested it to my companion and he said okay, why not. We went all the way around the block and then started to head for home. All of a sudden, this white car pulled in front of us and stopped. A man jumped out and said, “Hey please, do any of you guys speak English?” I said, “I do a little bit”. This guy said, “Hi I’m David. I’m really lost and I need you to help me”. I was shocked! He was the first guy I had ever heard speak English in Sarandi. I said, “Where are you from?” He said, “Virginia” “What? Virginia! Yeah buddy; you’re a long way from home.” He said, “Wow! You speak English a lot”. Well anyway, it turns out that this guys a divorced millionaire and owns a medical supply company. He just thought it would be fun to get away for a while, rent a car in Montevideo and go for a 36 hour drive through Uruguay. I guess that’s what you can do when you run out of good things to spend your money on. I helped him find the best hotel in town and then took him on a tour of Sarandi Del Yi. He loved it and he ended up teaching me. We talked about life and a lot of interesting things. It was probably one of the most interesting experiences of my life. My poor companion was just along for the ride. He couldn’t understand any of it and he told me when we finished that he was really confused and very scared, ha ha ha. This guy was very neat. As we were driving, he stopped the car to go over to a group of teenage kids and started doing magic tricks. They were good tricks and at first the people thought he was crazy. I thought he was crazy. Now my companion thinks people from America are all really crazy. But soon people flocked to him and after about 15 minutes of him doing magic tricks, we got back in the car with him and continued on our tour. He explained that he too is on a mission of service and whenever he has the opportunity to make someone happy or forget about the stresses of the world for a moment, he feels good and this is what brings him happiness. Strange I know! Everywhere I went, I translated Spanish for him and I really came to a realization of how far I have come in four and a half months. He asked me how many years I have been speaking Spanish. I told him four and a half months. He laughed and called me a liar. Anyway, I explained to him a little about the gift of tongues. I shared Mosiah 2:17 with him and we talked about service. I helped him find his way and then because of time we called it a night. Strange, huh? You just never know what’s going to happen or who you are going to come across next in this life. I guess that’s what’s so beautiful about all this. It’s about our experiences.
Thank you family and friends for all your support. I pray that you will all have a safe and wonderful week. Love you all.
Elder John P. Sluder
Dad, I will be leaving for Montevideo Tuesday night because of the bus schedule and staying in Durazno over night like I usually do. While I’m there I need to buy some supplies at the distribution center at the temple. I need garments and maybe, if I can, also buy some of the church videos. My bike is fixed 100% and financially I’m doing just fine. I don’t want to use my church money for these extra things; I need it to pay bills. I have about 30 dollars American in my account right now. Maybe if you could add a little more, that would be great. I don’t get too many opportunities to go to Montevideo and the church distribution center. I really do need some new garments, so please if ya would help me out. If you can, just send me an email and let me know what you think. I kinda need it before Tuesday at 7:00 pm my time. (Last chance I’ll have to use an ATM) Also, the camera from the U.S. is definitely better. Everything here is $250 plus and isn’t nearly as good as what my camera was. Love ya thanks.
Dear Mom, Dad and family,
How is everyone doing? I hope well. I have heard a little bit about this earthquake thing, but really not too much. On Wednesday I was out working and some guy came up to us and was very upset. He told us about Aati and how it was destroyed and people were dead. I really didn’t understand too much and didn’t know where Aati was, so it didn’t really bother me too much. I just figured it was just another crazy local drunk telling us his version of some sort of a bible story. Then the other night, we had a member tell us all about Ati and then I realized it was real and that they were talking about the small island of Haiti. It’s incredibly sad and to be honest, I’m quite glad that I’m not able to watch it on the news or really see any coverage. It’s really a disaster of the signs of the times. I’m happy to hear that our church buildings are some of the only things that were really left standing and I’m also glad that no Mormon missionaries perished. I’m sure I will learn more about this disaster on Wednesday at our special zone conference and temple day in Montevideo.
Well, so yeah I’m really excited for Wednesday. It’s the first time I will go through the Montevideo temple. This week is going to be another crazy one because it’s again the last week of the cambios. I have planned two large service projects this week and I’m very excited to go out and do some real manual labor. My health is good, but I do fear that I’m going to have a relapse like you said, but hey don’t worry too much about me. I’m in good hands and I’m trying every day to live as obedient as I can. I know in the end, all will work out in my favor.
Besides all that, this past week was another week of a lot of failure. None of our investigators are progressing and I’m contacting houses looking for new investigators in a place where everyone has talked to the missionaries before. The baptisms that we had planned have now fallen through, so that was quite disappointing. But I know that even though it’s been tough, I have gained much from this all and every moment for me has been a learning experience. We did find two new investigators that are pretty good and I feel that with time they will eventually begin to progress.
Last night, I had a very strange experience. My comp and I were quite discouraged and he wanted to head back home for the night about an hour early. I was somewhat in agreement, because all of our appointments fell through and we had met all of the goals we had set for the week. But then I had this strange feeling that we should get on our bikes and circle around the block just one more time. I suggested it to my companion and he said okay, why not. We went all the way around the block and then started to head for home. All of a sudden, this white car pulled in front of us and stopped. A man jumped out and said, “Hey please, do any of you guys speak English?” I said, “I do a little bit”. This guy said, “Hi I’m David. I’m really lost and I need you to help me”. I was shocked! He was the first guy I had ever heard speak English in Sarandi. I said, “Where are you from?” He said, “Virginia” “What? Virginia! Yeah buddy; you’re a long way from home.” He said, “Wow! You speak English a lot”. Well anyway, it turns out that this guys a divorced millionaire and owns a medical supply company. He just thought it would be fun to get away for a while, rent a car in Montevideo and go for a 36 hour drive through Uruguay. I guess that’s what you can do when you run out of good things to spend your money on. I helped him find the best hotel in town and then took him on a tour of Sarandi Del Yi. He loved it and he ended up teaching me. We talked about life and a lot of interesting things. It was probably one of the most interesting experiences of my life. My poor companion was just along for the ride. He couldn’t understand any of it and he told me when we finished that he was really confused and very scared, ha ha ha. This guy was very neat. As we were driving, he stopped the car to go over to a group of teenage kids and started doing magic tricks. They were good tricks and at first the people thought he was crazy. I thought he was crazy. Now my companion thinks people from America are all really crazy. But soon people flocked to him and after about 15 minutes of him doing magic tricks, we got back in the car with him and continued on our tour. He explained that he too is on a mission of service and whenever he has the opportunity to make someone happy or forget about the stresses of the world for a moment, he feels good and this is what brings him happiness. Strange I know! Everywhere I went, I translated Spanish for him and I really came to a realization of how far I have come in four and a half months. He asked me how many years I have been speaking Spanish. I told him four and a half months. He laughed and called me a liar. Anyway, I explained to him a little about the gift of tongues. I shared Mosiah 2:17 with him and we talked about service. I helped him find his way and then because of time we called it a night. Strange, huh? You just never know what’s going to happen or who you are going to come across next in this life. I guess that’s what’s so beautiful about all this. It’s about our experiences.
Thank you family and friends for all your support. I pray that you will all have a safe and wonderful week. Love you all.
Elder John P. Sluder
Dad, I will be leaving for Montevideo Tuesday night because of the bus schedule and staying in Durazno over night like I usually do. While I’m there I need to buy some supplies at the distribution center at the temple. I need garments and maybe, if I can, also buy some of the church videos. My bike is fixed 100% and financially I’m doing just fine. I don’t want to use my church money for these extra things; I need it to pay bills. I have about 30 dollars American in my account right now. Maybe if you could add a little more, that would be great. I don’t get too many opportunities to go to Montevideo and the church distribution center. I really do need some new garments, so please if ya would help me out. If you can, just send me an email and let me know what you think. I kinda need it before Tuesday at 7:00 pm my time. (Last chance I’ll have to use an ATM) Also, the camera from the U.S. is definitely better. Everything here is $250 plus and isn’t nearly as good as what my camera was. Love ya thanks.
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