Monday, April 28, 2014

April 28th, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,
This last week was pretty relaxed and crazy. We got our house renovated so lot´s of bugs and moving stuff and whatever but now we have a clean house and a new fridge that actually works and a microwave that won´t give you Tetnis! Everything is rusting and sharp and whatever so we are getting stuff replaced. 
They replaced our water heater and forgot to hook up the hot water to the shower or something else is wrong. Either way, I have been taking my showers in a bucket filled with hot water from the sink. I took a glass and transfered water from the sink to the bucket and then washed. It sucks but is way funny. New experiences I guess. Keep in mind when we wake up, it is so cold we can see our breath and then think about my showers in a bucket. New perspective? 
We had the workers who are members make lunch with us so now I know a few Uruguayan recipes for Gizo, Arroz con Leche, and I forgot the other. They are way good though. One is a desert and weird but good. It is basically warm rice with sugar, milk, and cream. Trust me, it´s weird. But still very good.
One rich guy in our ward went to Brazil and brought us back these Brazilian chocolates that are phenonamal. The kindness of these members is outstanding. I love this ward so much. You guys have no idea how kind and caring and funny they are. Just great great people.
Another funny experience was we were at a bus stop trying to go to a zone meeting and the Jehovahs witnesses started preaching to us. It was just one that came up to us. She was nervous so she just said like three lines, handed us pamphlets and left quickly. She didn´t give us any opportunity to correct her or bible bash or anything! Just kidding. We wouldn´t do that. But one guy yesterday tried to preach to us and said a bunch of weird stuff so my companion corrected him a lot. He even said Nicodemus wrong so my companion corrected him making him feel like he knew nothing. Afterwards my companion said he felt good. Way too funny. He was like, I won. Hahahaha. We just laughed and left. Other than that not too much happened this week. Or I just forgot. Either way it was a good week. Hope all is well back home! Love you guys! Until next week!
Enjoy the picture of how Uruguayans fix their potholes, and our house under construction!
Love,
Elder Moss

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

April 22, 2014

Dear Friends and Family,
So first cambios are done and I am still alive and doing well. Still with my trainer and in this sweet area of Prosperidad(Prosperity). Not too much happened this week in regards of weird things but we are working hard!
I hate that I am allergic to every bug here. I apply bug bite cream daily. No joke. The bugs won´t die! It´s freezing at night and they just won´t die! It is going to be a loooooong two years with these stupid bugs. 
We ran into my first German this last week as a matter of fact and then I see a lot of Germany soccer jerseys which I try to always compliment. I also saw a shirt today in German so that was cool too. I only spoke to one who was visiting friends here for Easter and he had a sweet German accent on his Spanish. I told him my mother is from Karlsruhe which he thought was cool!
This last Sunday was Easter as you know and I had to awesome terrible opportunity to give a talk. I had to talk about the atonement for 10 minutes and I actually took too long which was cool! I had only a tiny bit of help from my companion and people said they understood and appreciated the message so I was content.
We could be the dumb bad missionaries who just baptize children and then they go inactive for their whole lives but we aren´t doing that. Those missionaries are made fun of here. The people are great and receptive but lazy and never home. to bring five people to the waters of baptism. They struggle to even come to church so not too much progress but we are working with them.On Easter we went to 14 homes and not one would either let us in or were home. They were either empty or busy. Very frustrating but whatever. Needless to say I have gained leg muscle mass. I estimate we walk 5-10 kms a day which actually isn´t too bad compared to some areas.
What was hard to look away from was some members were watching one of my favorite movies Happy Gilmore and didn´t turn it off when we came in. So I stared at the floor for like 30 minutes and ocassionally peeked. I felt bad but it was too much of a temptation. Such a fun movie!
We also went to a recent converts house and killed snails by stepping on them which was really funny. The 10 year old got way into it. 
Getting used to sheep, horses, cows, ducks, chickens, roosters, dogs, cats etc EVERYWHERE is still weird. But way cool. We mess with them a lot. We tried to feed some ducks with nuts but it didn´t work. Oh well.
Since everything is really expensive we make our own peanut butter, tortas fritas, and weird other stuff. Peanut butter is way fun to make and really easy and better than store bought anyways. We are going to make a kg worth of peanut butter today, wish us luck! 
Love you guys!
Elder Moss

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

April 14th, 2014

Hey Family and Friends!
We are starting to move into Winter and it is going to get very very cold. The humidity is REAL. 
I look forward to Easter but not for normal reasons. Maybe we can change the paths for some of the bi annual mass goers! Not too many catholics here like I guessed. A lot of everything actually. Evangelists are big here, Catholics, Jehovah witnesses, little churches etc. 
Thiefs are fun to deal with because they make the day interesting. We have to go different ways, turn around and run around which is always fun. We always hide our valubles and watch others watch us closely.
This week we saw a huge tarantula just chilling in front of a member´s home which was terrifying. I hate spiders enough but when they are that big...I feel like Satan made those things himself.
We have a member in the ward who makes everything himself so I had some incredible homemade peanut butter that me and my companion are going to attempt to make today! We will also attempt to make Tortas Fritas which are awesome! So good, basic and cheap. We have tried to cook more and not just eat chips and bread. My meals mostly consist of bread. See photo. I was eating breakfast and studying when my companion took a picture and said. Look, missionary breakfast! We also had no power for a little while so we made mac and cheese in the dark and it was just fun.
The legal week is also way funny because we see people regularly rolling blunts and chilling. Cops here don´t bust people for anything. It´s way funny.
Today we took a more expensive bus and apparently people hop on and play music and sing and then ask for money. It was cool and I pretended to be asleep. It was awesome.
Getting up in the morning is always tough. My companion had a bit of a hard time one morning. See photo.
We also had the great opportunity to kill slugs this week when they crawled out of our sink! Three came out so we killed them with salt and then burned them while taking video. We also burned a few spiders. You would be surprised what becomes extremely entertaining out here. Way funny stuff. We also kill flies with bugs which is not only fun but even funnier to watch your companion do. 
We had the greenie conference this week and I was relieved to see my Spanish isn´t the only awful Spanish out here. Nevertheless I need to try harder. 
Love you guys! Let me know if you want to hear about anything specific!
Elder Moss

Monday, April 7, 2014

April 7th, 2014

Dear family and friends,
Every week is ridiculously crazy and is never the same it seems. 
Conference was incredible and I took 23 pages of notes and didn´t miss a second of any talk. Things have kind of changed for me huh? No more sleeping or groaning about conference, rather we all were really excited. They thankfully had an English room for all the missionaries in our zone and it was great. Only thing is most are almost done so it´s hard to listen to them say this was my last conference and I am just starting. Sometimes I feel as if I have learned what I need and am ready to go home but I only have 2.5 months! I have a ways to go huh! That is awesome to hear about the German sister except I have no German left. Just a weird mix of Spanish and English. I forgot to tell you but my trainer knows a lot more english than I expected so we always resolve to speak in Spanish but end up talking in English. Kind of frustrating during lessons but whatever. I have two years to learn this language. I know enough to get around and teach but I have a long ways to go. We have a blast but I really need to resolve to talk in Spanish with him more. That´s great to hear about Brandon and his time off. I finally have a little time to write letters today so maybe within the next month I will send a envelope filled with letters I would love for you to send to differnet people. It would be greatly appreciated.
The address I gave will not work. Just send everything to the mission home and I will get it for sure, just a little slower. We have too many changes and addresses are wack here. I did get your first package which was awesome! You know what candy I like and the deodorant and the face lotion are awesome. I just hope the lotion will stay on. In the summer it will get up to 38 ish degrees celsius with 80 percent humidity some days. I will truly die. I probably won´t fast with water those months because we have to wear suits on sundays with that heat. Humidity is truly a thing of the devil and I have a lot of stress regarding summer in October. It will truly be Hell. I already have the most ridiculous farmers tan which is hilarious.
Every week we email the president and last week I asked him for advice about the mission and he gave some great advice which I will try to apply.
Everyone can mail me and email. I just have such little time to reply. Every p day is just as busy or more busy than normal days with shopping, cleaning, zone activities, emailing, etc. 
Last Saturday after Priesthood which started at 9 at night, we were on our way home and almost got robbed. We were close to the house when a very quiet car started following us, the door opened and so we walked super fast and then we got just close enough to other people that they turned back. Quite terrifying. Once I realized what was happening my adrenaline started pumping and I said a prayer and nothing happened. Getting robbed here is a regular thing apparently. Sometimes they grab and run, other times a group of teenagers comes up and holds a gun to your chest. No joke. Just grateful it hasnt happened yet to me. One elder from my group got robbed in the first week.
It would be greatly appreciated if you send liahonas, conference talks etc. No joke. I was actually going to ask you for those.
One group of teenagers thought I was a spy from the US because of the suit which was really funny. Me and my comp laughed because why would a 18 year old white teen, go to Uruguay of all places, preach religiously in a suit with a nametag while not knowing Spanish. Most kids here apparently don´t finish high school and it is very evident. Groups of teenage boys are truly a scourge to missionaries here.
Another funny thing was my comp fell asleep early and woke up at 12 30 and realized he didnt pray, pee, etc and so when he got up, exhaustedly, I started to pray. I fell asleep and he came out of the bathroom with me asleep, woke up and told me it was 12 30 so I rolled back in bed and passed out again. It was way funnier here than expaining it. We are always beyond tired at the end of our days. I don´t know how I even have strength during the days. Especially after the last conference when we didnt get to bed till 1 30 because it started at nine at the stake center. 5 hours of sleep killed me sunday.
We also have inter changes and I went to another area where they have a pet chicken in the backyard named Shakira which was hilarious. It was only for a day but it was awesome. We also burned spiders and ants in the house because of the garbage. Way fun time.
We started to try to talk to a couple people this week but they dismissed us by saying they were sinners and the guy talking said. No no, We´re sinners and... uh.., I´m gay and ran off. Super funny expereicnes every week.
Hope you guys like to hear about this crazy place and the insane life of a missionary. Love you guys dearly. Have a great week. Can´t wait to hear from you next week!
Love,
Elder Moss