Absolute power move

 Greetings to all buckle up please thank you.

So this week there was a huge hole in someone's yard and then a child was in it just chilling but he was okay no worries. During a lesson in a plaza under a tree a very overly friendly dog attacked us in a very cute way but also semi aggressive so that was fun but the Spirit always prevails and it turned out great. Also I spent like 3 weeks trying to remember what a nectarine was and I'm still not sure I'm pretty sure it's that fake peach thing. 

We had interviews with the Mission President, a very inspired man. We had a successful lesson with Dave the 10 year old, he paid attention. Went to church too, with a youth that picked him up who is now his top choice for baptizer. We gave him a new Book of Mormon which he dropped like 3 times in 2 minutes and then had me hold it cause he was sleepy. I saw a hummingbird! 

I enjoyed relating the First Vision this week to 2 people we're teaching. When the creator of the universe Himself has a chance to speak to us his invitation is the same with slightly different words even 2000 years apart. (3 Nephi 11:7, JSH 1:17). Of all things He could tell us He tells us to hear His Son. 

We had in person zone conference and exchanges. They surprised my companion with a nice thing which touched my heart. We ate pizza after the conference and then had exchanges. I was with Elder Gracia. We are from the same group at the beginning of the mission so that was cool. Everybody he met wouldn't let him hear the end of the fact he's Mexican. 

Cool to see the difference between Alma 36:15 and 22. Good to ask yourself which one you relate more to and how to change it.

I love you all.

The zone, it's been fun being a zone leader for these missionaries.

Epic dog barrier which isn't too effective because the dog is an athlete.

Elder Gracia and I

The gentlemen met up for pday today.

Happy birthday Ames how dare you honestly

 Hey good week did I ever mention my pinky toenail randomly fell off again poor guy. 

This week we have still been battling against nature. The neighbors dog and rain. We have to hang and enter the clothes on and off so they have a chance of drying but it's not easy, we're doing our best to smell good here. And yes today, after all week going number 1 on our house, the dog hit a number 2 at our door and I stepped in it and walked inside on the floor we just cleaned and it was definitely one of the top 10 most unepic moments of my life. We took an old ironing board and some rope and a piece of glass and with the help and permission of the neighbor we barricaded the low cement barrier. 

I have a question for everybody watching, when a watermelon goes bad does it taste like onion or did something else wacky happen to the big boy we brought home last week. Also great news we bought a mirror and fun fact this will be my first time living in Uruguay with a mirror that is not a hand held shard.

So anyways this week we had a great family home evening with our recent converts. Very wholesome. On the way home we got completely soaked. It was insane the amount of water coming from the sky and it was cold too. Soon the mission might get bikes so we're praying 2 of them are for us haha. We continue teaching Dave and now his lil 8 year old cousin who we will call Female name #2. She's a bit better at reading and paying attention and understanding in general. Sometimes Dave just gets up and leaves but Female name #2 is a homie. Our other friend Female name #1 continues to progress, but sadly we will have to refer her soon to other missionaries because she only vacations in our area but doesn't live here.

We had a very peaceful evening with a less active member in his beach house, having a tour temple and he played us some hymns on the guitar. 

A miracle we saw this week was finding a man who had lost contact with the missionaries. He met the church 20 years ago and all of his children are baptized and less active but he never got baptized because he wasn't married, but now he's able to be baptized and is ready.

A man who got excommunicated a while back got baptized again this past Sunday, a very neat experience.

Today I made my companion some good ol american pancakes because the poor man is finishing his mission soon.

Anyways so apparently my little sister turned 17 yesterday, happy birthday I hope you enjoyed it but what in the world honestly 17 let's calm down a little back home folks.

Here are some photos of some people and a nice cloud.

Big strong man vs dog and rain

 Hello first of all shoutout to my grandparents I love you.

Also shoutout to my missionary friends I met in Georgia God bless you all.

Monday night we had a very fun virtual family home evening with several families from the ward where we played kahoot, somehow the oldest couple in the ward dominated. This whole week we've been getting pranked by the rain because every time we hang our clothes to dry the rain rains. There was a frog in our bedroom one night, a very polite fella. This week I hit my 7 month mark on the mission congratulations. A member asked us to do service so we accepted and instead we got pranked waiting at his house for 3 hours. We taught a man under a tree where we all got attacked by ants. We went to the neighboring city again which is basically a tourist city, very nice. We visited a less active in his beach house. My companion carried home a watermelon from the store that was bigger than my hand it was wild folks. PSA: Watermelon contains lots of water and eating it as a bedtime snack makes things complicated. Had a great testimony meeting this week, our friends are coming to church now :) There's a toddler on our street who shuns us like children when we walk past in the morning so we always start off our day humble. The neighbors dog is power hungry and makes a point to jump the wall and pee at our doorstep every chance she gets. 

Highlights of epic people with fake names I gave them

Dave: A 10 year old kid who used to get taught by the missionaries stopped us in the street and invited us over. He has great faith in Jesus Christ and knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. We celebrated his birthday with him and his mom makes good cake.

Female name: Female name is 15, we teach her English. She loves learning about the Gospel, she listens and understands. Reminds me of my baby sister Amy because they're similar in age and both have admirable faith.

Some pretty pictures

and our shower out back

 

Yo at least there are napkins

Greetings to all. So we've been freezing and eating watermelon because it's healthy ice cream. I've been translating the Ricciardi Letter which has been fun. We bought some hot dogs and it made our fridge smell like hot dogs so that was the worst moment of my life. Shoutout Emma Smith for being an incredible woman. We ate the saltiest mashed potatoes of all time and they absolutely decommissioned my mouth to be honest I don't know what that word means but let's move on. We made the mistake of asking our friend to read a scripture and he absolutely screamed it back at us with all the power of a pastor. Our English classes are going very well, it helps us find people to teach, and we have a couple people with real potential. The members are trying to fatten me up. I don't know what they have planned but I am not capable of eating such amounts of food. We helped a family move and we piled up an absolute mountain in the back of that poor truck. A woman I met in San José many months ago moved into our zone and we are starting to teach her English. Somebody rode past us on a bike saying "Utah rules man". One day we epicly walked almost 5 hours. We went to a neighboring city which was very nice and pretty called Atlántida. 

I wanted to quickly tell you about 3 people.

A brother and sister - Our friends who got baptized. They are in a very humble situation, however what they care about is following Jesus Christ, paying their tithing, and serving their neighbor in any way possible. Despite their situation they do as Christ did and look outward. 

A member - We have visited a member (farm pictured below) a few times. She has been trying to help us teach a woman she met. She recently has passed through some very challenging things in her life, but refuses to pity herself. She instead acknowledges that Christ, and people like Joseph Smith and other Saints suffered more than her. Her example of perseverance and faith is one of the most impactful I've ever seen.

Love, 

Élder Jerman

Pictures of an epic recent convert/new ward missionary 

my leg hot,

and an epic farm part 2