This Week

well another week at the speed of light gone, every six weeks we have changes, some times you stay in the area you re in, sometimes you move on to the next city to do some good there. this time im staying in Tacuarembo with my companion
Elder silveira, hes got 5 weeks left before his two years are up so ill be his last comp, and then he ll head home to see his family before christmas. Hes a super good guy, his dad, has a major surgery this coming week, which is very complicated and we re not sure if his dad is going to make it through, so we ve been doing alot of praying for him, and ive been trying to be a good friend to him and help him out. This change though my good friend elder mella is moving on to a town called dolores, so he wont be here with me anymore which has got me bummed, but another missionary that came to uruguay the same time as me named elder duerksen is coming to tbo so im excited to see him. this week THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED pwah, it was intense working with them, but it was such huge turn around to see them on the point of getting divorced, to seeing them in white, in the water, and then in church every sunday so happy, its been amazing. Summer has hit us, so now im getting my tan on, and sweating off all the oil and pasta they feed me here. these coming six weeks will be packed, next week we re traveling to montevideo the capital for training with the mission president, week after we re traveling to rivera for training withthe area president( argentina, chile, paraguay and uruguay is one area of the chruch) so hes the head dog in charge of the affairs of the church down here, week after that, we have interviews with the mission president, week after that my comp goes home for christmas and week after that we have changes again. These next 6 weeks are going to fly, in the down time we ll just be trying to make visits and keep finding and teaching the people, the work is going great, ive never been so happy working for nothing excpet to help people every day has a life changing effect, and i can feel it happening.

i was thinking the other day about self discipline, and theres a scripture in the Book of Mormon" behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." and something i learned is that self discipline and strength is not the ability to withstand tempation, but the daily and constant effort to do everything we can to avoid it. i feel like i have made the mistake in thinking that my spiritual strength and self dicipline were defined by my ability to be strong in a hard moment, when in reality is working to distance ourselves completely from the things in our lives that cause us to fall and temp us to do wrong.

i love all of you guys. keep the faith, and never be afraid to just believe.