August 5th

Hello family,

Well it’s been another exciting week in Artigas, Uruguay. I’ve been doing well just trying to do my best. The mission president called this last Thursday when we were eating lunch with the bishop. He extended a challenge to us to double the attendance in our ward from 100 to 200. Our ward has over 1000 members, but only about 100 attend. He gave us the challenge to double that number. He talked to us and the bishop and we both agreed that it was possible and that if we worked hard and had great faith we could achieve that goal by years end.  We had a few special experiences this week with less active members and helping them come back to church. One was with the husband of the 1st counselor of the relief society. We went with the bishop to his house and told him that the Lord needed him and that his family needed them…and that we needed to set goals for him so that he and his family could go to the temple. He accepted and said that our visit was what he needed. He came to church this last Sunday.

Another experience that we had was with a less active member that lives in the area that assists our Branch. It’s been about 6 weeks since she’s gone to church. Her name is Teresa, but we convinced her to come this week and she came. To our shock, we only had 3 people show up to the meeting, five in total with us. That’s the smallest number of people that I’ve seen in a sacrament meeting. In the end, Teresa gave her testimony for the first time in public, and she felt so honored to be member of the church and that she knew that it was true, and that she promised that she would work harder to bring other people to the church so that they can feel her same joy. Teresa is horrified of talking public, but she over came her fear and bore a powerful testimony.

Gabriela once again could not go to church. I feel frustrated for her and upset that her parents and other family members don’t show her more support. They are always telling her “why would you want to go to a church?” It’s frustrating, but I know with time she’ll be able to be baptized.

1. My debit card is now working. Hooray!

2. Lauren’s situation reminds me of John Bytheway’s situation when he wanted to get married. He said, “I will go and do, not sit and stew.” And that he did not get his spiritual conformation until long after the time that he made his decision to get married. He always said, “I’m going forward but stop me if I’m wrong.” I like that thought. I feel like Lauren will make the best decision.

3. I’m fine but I feel a little reckless. I feel like I don’t have enough time to do all the things that I would like to do before I end my mission.

Thanks so much for everything. Love you guys