Hey everyone!
How are you guys? I loved the pictures of Carrie! The most adorable Buzz Lightyear! I can´t believe it was Halloween, I totally forgot. They don´t do anything here, just Nov. 2, which is like a Memorial Day when everyone goes to the cemetary...I think I explained last year? But yeah, no dressing up and Trick-or-Treating, sadly! But I´m glad to hear you´re all doing well.
Here was an eventful week! But let me start from the beginning. The awesome thing about this week was the new chapel! The church is exploding in Uruguaiana - a few weeks ago the ward a little ways away from us split in two, making the 7th ward here. Then this week the new chapel was finally ready. It´s a good ways away from downtown where we work, out where the city is expanding, and is huge and totally beautiful. Since we got here, a lot of times when we introduce ourselves people say, "Oh, is that church they´re building out on the edge of the city you guys´s? Man, that´s going to be a beautiful church." So it was finally ready this week, and there was stuff going on there all week. Tuesday and Wednesday there was an open house, and all of us missionaries went out to help. In the afternoon school groups came through to look, and at night it was open to families and whoever wanted to come in.
It was great - everyone was super impressed with it. A lot of people from the neighborhood came in just out of curiosity, from having watched it since the start of construction. People got really interested, and were touched by the Spirit that was there. We had a "missionary room" where we showed the baptismal font and watched a 3 minute video on missionary work, and had a table showing all kinds of church materials. We let people look and then had them write their names and addresses so we could deliver whatever materials they wanted and explain a little more for them. So everyone loved that.
Then Thursday was pretty much our only normal work day, Friday being the dedication of the chapel. President Ribeiro was in town for the dedication on Friday and Stake Conference on Sunday, so he had interviews with us Friday morning. My interview with him was great, and we tried to get my exit date figured out. I asked if it was possible for me to stay a little more, just because leaving a whole month early seems so long, but he decided it´s too hard to send me home alone, and I´d better just go home with the earlier group on Dec. 1. But then he said he´d talk to me about it in Santa Maria....what? "That´s right, in Santa Maria, because Sister Cantuara´s being transfered Monday."
Bam! He waited two weeks after the normal transfer day, when we thought it was all safe and she´d be staying with me til the end. I was sad! I guess I haven´t talked about her much, as Mom was asking about her, but I got really attached to Sister Cantuara. She´s just so easy to get along with - we´re really similar, easygoing and kind of quiet, and we made a really great team. And we were together longer than I´d ever been with another companion, about 5 months! So I was sad to hear I wouldn´t be finishing up with her after all, but happy too when he said Sister da Silva would be coming in her place, who I already lived with in Santa Maria and is also great. But after he told us, we had to spent most of friday and saturday getting everything ready for her to go. It was really hard for her to say goodbye to everyone, and for everyone to say goodbye to her! A good bit of tears were shed, especially with Marco and Lorena (used to be bishop) and Luciano and Alba. But we got everything ready, and drove to Santa Maria with Presidente and Sister Ribeiro. (I at first wrote "drove home" - do I feel like Santa Maria is my home now?:P) We left about 2:00, right after Stake Conference, and got here at 5:30....SO, so much better than getting on the bus there at 10:00 at night and getting in at 4:00 in the morning. Buses are so slow!
Also driving home with them was Elder Prieto, an area seventy who spoke at the Conference. He´s very cool, and we got to talk to him all afternoon! It was great to meet him. So we got home, stayed all afternoon at the president´s house, where their daughter, son in law and grandson are also staying with them, and all had dinner together. Then President drove us to a hotel since there was no room for us at their house and the "big house of the sisters" doesn´t exist anymore - now it´s 4 elders living there!:( So I stayed the night in a hotel for the first time in a year and a half, and then early this morning we got up to get my visa all taken care of once and for all. We went to the mission office, met Elder Hanks and Elder Witt, the other two Americans who arrived with me, and went over to the police station to finally get everything taken care of (remember the fiasco last time when we made the trip for nothing because there was missing paperwork?) So we turn the corner to the police station......and see it closed. Yesterday being elections and tomorrow being a holiday, they made it a long weekend......and yet again, a visa fiasco. But I already had to be here to get Sister da Silva, so it´s ok:P
But now we´re all four of us together for P-Day, me, S. Cantuara, S. da Silva and S. Hawkins. S. Cantuara and S. Hawkins will leave in a little bit for Santiago, and it looks like S. da Silva and I will be staying tonight and Tuesday night in Camobi! With Sister Draut!:) So that will be awesome. Then we´ll finally get back to Uruguaiana on Wednesday....yeesh. With all the stuff with the chapel, the transfer and now being stuck here, it feels like we haven´t worked for too long, so it will be good to get back. I´m glad to get a chance to work with S. da Silva, and I know we´ll make a great team. I know the Lord always has something to teach us in every situation, especially on the mission. I´m so grateful for all He´s taught me so far and I know He´ll continue to teach me all the rest of my life. I´m so grateful to be here serving as a missionary, and I can´t believe my time´s so close to being up. I´m just grateful for the last month I have, and will continue to give it my all til the end. Thank you all for everything you do for me! I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week!
Til next time!
Sister Madsen :D
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment