Wherein Sadie Learns She Needs to Budget!

 Hola Hola! Buen dia!

Can't remember what happened on Tuesday, I think maybe I bought some avocados and it rained maybe haha

Wednesday and thursday we spent the day in La Capuera working and had some interesting experiences...

Got chased by a bunch of crazy fast dogs- i screamed and started running but my companion yelled, no corre! not sure how we lived but it took a solid half hour for my heartbeat to slow down again after that.

drank a monster in the middle of a dirt road intersection on a random Wednesday afternoon in a country across the world from home with an Ecuadorian. my comp described it like that and said i bet you never imagined youd be having this experience before. its the little moments that make life great!

Visited a family whose mom is in the hospital with a fatal diagnosis. we showed up and started talking to her husband who was an absolute wreck, understandably. He just kept crying and saying 55 years together. His wife is his everything. We tried comforting and i shared how my grandparents were together for a really long time and that its the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation/life after death, that helps and also i like to talk about the Atonemnet of Jesus Christ in these situations too because the knowledge of the Plan brings incredible hope, but we need to know too that somebody, Jesus Christ, also understands the pain we feel.  but thisbpoor guy was like so bad and kept saying estoy mal estoy muy muy mal and crying. Then after a little while his daughter in law motioned to us and said he is so drunk right now. so that was a sad situation.

Enjoyed the very nice cool weather. really does feel like fall just not so dry.

didn't buy any bizcochis this week because we are absolutely broke haha. more like we are absolutely awful at budgeting lol.

Friday we had interviews with President and that was great! He's a really great President and what really stuck out to me is before he would answer one of my questions he would pause and give himself time before answering to be led by the Spirit. I know he lets the Spirit lead so i am confident the things he said are also my answers from God. Thankful for good mission leaders. 

Also i did part of the interview in spanish so that was cool. President says im doing a good job here and that He is very proud of me. Thats nice. 

On the way home i started talking to a girl on the bus and we ended up having like a 40 minute conversation and she lives in our area and said we can visit her and maybe her mom is interested too. Haha i think theres really not a problem finding people we simply have to open our mouths!

Friday night we had the temple president and his wife visit our branch. After, I was talking with them and they shared some cool things with me from their missions and some advice. They talked about the importance of planting seeds as missionaries and maybe other missionaries will be the ones to reap the harvest, but the recompense is the same! Something else he told me is that the only thing i should never do is get discouraged! If we get up every day, study, follow the Spirit to teach, and have a good attitude, we are good missionaries. Doesnt matter what others think or if we have baptisms or not. We needed that advice and reassurance that we are doing good especially because there have been some leaders and members in our ward recently that talk to other members about how they dont think we are doing our job right and we dont understand what we're doing. Que interesante. But thats not important. 

This week we have received quite a few references from less active members, other missionaries, and even a referral from the mission facebook page! We are also going to try visit every member on the list in the next week or two and i know we'll see some miracles from that! Its a big list and about 1/10 of them are active. 

We have transfers this week and i am finishing my training! Gonna be a big girl now haha! We will find out tomorrow morning what the news is on transfers but most likely ill be staying here with a new companion! Vamos a ver what happens!

Sorry winter is sticking around extra long for yall but just remember, in whatever situation, dont get discouraged! God is good.

Love you all so much and God loves you more! 

Hermana Bailey

Spider count: no clue. por suerte, they were dead already

Pictures: 

Rainy days, my comp stole a cup from the church-ok yes this is weird they just have a few cups out and everybody uses them- ill stick to my water bottle thanks, pretty view, la capuera, avocados, flower, Franco, this is what pizza is here-literally just bread and tomato sauce, hermanas de zona maldonado

Wherein Sadie Learns that God is Greater than Everything, Even Spiders!

 March 20, 2023

Hey y'all!! How are you? Hope all is well over there and things are warming up! 

This week in Uruguay things have been cooling down a bit. The week started in the high 90s and everybody was talking about how in the 50 years they've lived here, they've never experienced such a hot year as this has been. But then things cooled down and its been cloudier and rainier and more like in the 70s or 80s. (Im living in 20 degree celcius weather meanwhile my fam is in 20 degrees farhenheit haha)

The other day it was 100 percent humidity. Idk how that works. I thought that was impossible but maybe i just dont understand what humidity is. I thought if it was 100 percent, we'd just be breathing in water hahaha. one day i changed three times cuz we were just sopping wet from the rain. But the days that are cool and cloudy without the rain are perfect. I think today or tomorrow is the first day of Fall! Also recently all the kids started school so its fun to see them all excited. Just gotta say though i am so grateful we didnt have to wear the uniforms they do...kinda not the cutest.

Thought our legs would be sore after the hike last week but strangely i felt totally fine...i give credit to the stairs at thunder ridge keeping my legs strong...although that was like forever ago.

Anyways, not really sure what all happened this week, but it went by pretty fast. Thursday it dumped rain as we were walking home from lunch and the phone got soaked and instead of drying it off or putting it in rice, we forgot about it and then later plugged it in and bam ruined. Big brains. So we went a night and morning without a phone and then the next day the zone leaders brought us a nice new phone. Other than looking at us like we're dumb, which ya we were very unintelligent, we got no punishment and im kinda still waiting here to receive one cuz i feel like ruining a phone should be a bigger deal lol. ok well actually we did get a little punished because the phone still worked but not the screen so like when the alarm went off at 10pm to go to bed, we had no way to turn it off and had to stay awake and keep snoozing it until it finally stopped. same thing in the morning. twas a good night. Then the next day we walked to and from the church 2 or 3 times for nothing cuz we kept having reasons to turn back around and also the power went out as we were waiting for the ZLs to show up so we had no AC so we sat outside but then there were ants crawling all over me. todo bien i loved that day lol.  Also the majority of our pictures were not backed up so we lost those. If you know me you know that i am ok about losing those becuase i dont care about pictures at all like really who cares about those 10 wks of memories? lol no i have all the ones that ive put in google albums and thats enough for me so all is well. really.

Yesterday I cried during a meeting we had because well idk why i just started crying. strange i know i was just as confused as everyone else. Long story short it is frustrating when people don't want to listen to you and when you want to communicate something but can't because you don't speak the language fluently enough to express it clearly. Good thing we can pray to have our hearts softened and we can calm our frustration. On a brighter note, a few of our amigos this week mentioned in lessons or after i had given a prayer, that its cool to see how much i have improved in my spanish since getting here. They said i am much more fluid. My castellano is coming along, slowly but surely.

Other than that we are just still trying to work with our friends and find new friends and also strengthen the ward members and reactivate the menos activos. Sorry not much new about our friends this week, we havent heard much from them either. All is well here in Pan de Azucar!

This week we will have interviews with president on Friday but other than that just working! Its the last full week of this transfer and my training. And today/ tomorrow is my 4 months as a missionary!! Wild!

This morning I scrubbed the shower and floors for like 2 hours. I have a blister on my knuckle, but it looks a little better now. i dont think that has ever been done in the history of missionaries in this house lol

Mosiah 4:9

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

What great hope it brings to our lives to believe in God. To believe that He has a plan for us that is greater than ours. Theres a song from veggie tales i love i think its called God is greater than the boogie man and its all about how God is greater. 

satan is powerful and he has a lot of tools to get to us, but God is always greater! Greater than the sorrow, the temptation, the worry, the loneliness, the evil, the scary, God is greater than all. I know God is our loving Heavenly Father and is with us, if we let Him, every step of our lives as we work to return to Him again! We  already know which team wins, so dont wait to join the winning team, God's team. 

This week I had moments that i just thought man, i have zero idea how to be a missionary!! and while its true, i dont know a lot yet about how to be necessarily an "effective" misionary and yes there are ways i can and should improve, i can be tranquilo and know i am doing a good job as i strive to invite others to come unto Jesus Christ and represent Him well. Just planting a bunch of semillas here in Pan de Azucar!!

I miss you guys! Chow chow, hasta lunes! Love love love yall!

Hermana Bailey

Spider Count: yall aren't ready for this..or at least I wasn't! Just gotta say that God answers prayers cuz there are apparently things like these (pic) just down the block but because I pray every night there won't be any in my bed, I have yet to even see one like this in our house.

Pictures: 

Storm clouds, beautiful sunsets, my face looking at the beautiful sunsets, lunch, st pattys day-green!, our homeless friend maria who doesnt want anymore of churches, another beautiful view, i bought a fanny pack!!

Wherein Sadie Hikes a Mountain, Buys a Coke, and Talks of God

March 14, 2023

      Hey hey hey!! How was your week? This week in Uruguay was good but also not great as far as progress in the work. Franco was not baptized yesterday..m Don't ask, I don't wanna talk about it. Lol jk. All is well just gonna wait longer and keep teaching and see if he keeps coming to church. Earlier this week we got a 16-minute voice message from our friend Maria...all a rant about how she doesn't want any more of this church stuff. That she's done with religion until God fixes all her problems in life. Ana says the same thing, but she is still progressing now, she just has problems she feels like God should fix if this is the right path. Still trying to figure out how to turn off that mentality for them. Also, there are very few active members here in the branch, and two of them literally turned apostate, so that's an exciting situation now. And like all our other friends didn't want to talk this week. None of them came to church. It's frustrating when you're out here giving everything to share the gospel, and praying for these people to be touched by the Spirit, to understand it is true and want to change, but everyone, fortunately (although it feels unfortunate at times), has agency and has to choose. after we do all we can do, it is up to them!

       But despite all that disappointment this week... 

-My cough is almost gone!

 - I got my brown sandals back from the shoe repair store!!!! 

-We had a multizone conference and it was really good!

 -my companion and I spent a lot of time laughing together this week...yes same companion that i was really struggling with before! 

 -We had some bomb lunch the other day it was almost like a chicken pot pie thing.

 -Theres a new family that just moved here that is interested! 

 -The kids we were teaching before kept mentioning little things about the gospel to their parents and now we are teaching their parents! Such a fun family! They have 5 kids and a literal cement room as a "house." They used to have a very different life with a lot more money but she said she is grateful that things came crashing down for them because while they had everything they needed and more before, they almost never saw their dad because he was always working. Now they spend time together and can just sit and enjoy an evening as family. She is grateful for how it brought them together. How cool.

 -We had intercambios and i went to San Carlos for a day. Somebody want to explain to me how an apartment on the 9th floor of a builiding has an ant infestation? They have a friend there that i met who is getting baptized soon and we were talking with her about temples and when we said something about baptisms for the dead she got confused and thought there was a morgue in the temple. She was extremely touched to find out she could be baptized for her grandma though.

 -We were teaching someone this week and when i testified about how Jesus Christ atoned for us, she was genuinely like intrigued and like she had never known that before and she just lit up. That really touched me because i forget that some people really do not know that. What great peace and joy this knowledge and gospel brings. Today we had zone pday and we hiked the to the cross in pan de azucar. Ive been wanting to do this since we got here over 2 months ago but my interests are a little different than my companions lol. Accomplished a dream of mine though haha. It was so cool! Its not like a super cutout trail its almost like bouldering up the hill. Super fun! And the view was awesome! I forget how close we are to the ocean. 

     Anyways I talked to my fam before starting the hike and my mom said to keep my eyes open and remember we're still missionaries and she said she thought we would find someone to teach. Well, we passed by quite a few people and always had kinda small talk conversation, but nothing. The whole way down I thought man, I need to find someone. Well we finished and I went into the little store there at the bottom to buy a coke and I started talking to the worker and another guy and after a little bit of small talk and answering questions about our mission I decided to be bold and asked if they were religious. The lady said she believed in faith and God but doesn't like churches. The guy asked me who God is. I testified about our loving Heavenly Father and how we lived with Him before as Spirits and we will live with Him again. The guy said God is love, thanked me, and left. The lady though was like yes I agree with that. We have souls and we lived with Him before and we will live with Him again. She said she'd love to keep talking about our beliefs and we got her number. Mama was right! We found someone. It was the last person we talked to there but we found someone and im very happy bout it! This week we dont have anything going on really just district council, so that leaves us with the opportunity to follow the Spirit and find more people! Oh also because of daylight savings im only 3 hours different than home now. Que genial!! You should all read the conference talk "For God so loved us" by Elder Michael T Ringwood No matter what we are teaching, this is always a principle I learn is that God loves us. Because He loves us....we can fill in the blank with so many things. But the main one is that He sent His Son to die for us. What a powerful testament of love for us that He gave His only Begotten Son so that all of us can live with Him again because He wants us to live with Him again. Anyways, make it a great week!! And use your agency for good. Love you all soooo much!! Hermana Bailey Spider Count: more than i would like. Honestly confused how the spider in our window is still there and why. Its been like 6 weeks since i found it. And it is definetely alive just doesnt wanna leave our window. Pictures: out of order but.. cows! Hna vargas and hall 6 hnas sleepover at our house Comp Pretty view Charles darwin? Filled tortas fritas🤤 Braiding hair Sleeping elders

Wherein Sadie Found her Homeless Friend Again!

 March 6, 2023

Hey, ya'll !!! Had a good week here in Uruguay! Hope ya'll had a good week!

Tuesday we had a district council here in Pan de Azucar. Then that night, WE FOUND OUR HOMELESS FRIEND MARIA INEZ again!! 

miracle been hoping and praying for that for weeks. She was with a friend we have that is evangelical and she sat there and testified of how the Book of Mormon is true to this friend.

Wednesday we had zone council in Maldonado. The missionaries in this zone are great and a lot of good work is happening! Then we had some lessons that night and visited the member that got hit by the car. We also saw him the next day dancing in the street. Haha, he's doing great! miracle

We also had really good lessons this week with members and Edinson, our friend in the hospital. He wants to go to church and be baptized and is in the process of changing his life around. miracle Please pray that he can get permission from the doctor to go to church and that he can stop smoking! 

Franco is crazy excited about his baptism!! March 12th! miracle

We are kinda stressing about working to help him be prepared. The struggle is that not many people in the rama care to support this very much and he literally relies on them to get to church. They keep doubting that he is ready but only one of them has been in a lesson with him and that person thinks he is ready. During this lesson, I invited him to pray to know for himself if it is true and he basically was like oh my gosh I've already told you I believe!! Lol. The members just say it's already a sacrifice to get themselves to church because they have to drive and that costs. Trying to be empathetic and understand their situations but also I don't think it should ever be viewed as a sacrifice to go to church. It's an opportunity to bless us more. Worried because this kid is ready to be baptized but this rama has basically a zero percent retention rate and they have no plans or desire to change that. They really do barely get themselves to church. Gonna keep working with them though. There are some great members that do help. Kinda complicated, but when it comes down to it, there's a 12 yr old boy who has a huge desire to be baptized and believes this church is true and we are not going to hold him back from that.

There was a Desfila/ parade for Carnival this weekend. We didn't watch it because it started at 9pm but that's where everybody and their 10 dogs were. Lol. 

We had a facetime call with Luzmila this week (her dad doesn't want us at their house) and she is literally an angel. She is so cute and she says the most profound things about the things she is learning. She was sooo happy to hear that the 8 yr old primary class in Idaho wrote her letters!! Just waiting till we are in person to show her and translate them for her. She was so happy to hear they did that! miracle

Yesterday was a great day at church. The testimonies were great, the Sunday school class was great, and more than 1 person showed up to the missionary correlation meeting lol. And.... ANA PEREZ CAME TO CHURCH!!! MIRACLEshe told us again this week that she didn't want a ride and that she didn't want us to walk with her so as we were approaching the church and didn't see her we were sad again but turns out....she had arrived at 8 and had just been patiently waiting there for an hour! Haha yes, she knew it started at 9...idk what she was doing. I think it's still gonna be a while to get her to baptism but we are so happy she finally came to church after like 6 yrs of talking to the missionaries. Thought we were almost going to have to leave her again.

This week we will have intercambios for a day and we are focusing on getting things ready for Franco's baptism. We also have a Multizone conference on Thursday so that will be awesome!

I have been sick this week so that's dope. Started with like crazy allergies sneezing so much then turned into a bad cough but I think ill get better haha so all is well. 

The weather has been pretty hot here this week but it cools off in the evenings!

Pan de Azucar is kinda the most legit area because it is beautiful!! Really pretty fields and also the mountain. And has the other area to visit which has one side on the beach and one side with a laguna. Very beautiful!MIRACLE

How are you doing? What's new in your lives? 

God is very good. Love you all very very much!

Hermana Bailey

Spider count: I didn't count, oops. Thank goodness no crazy big ones.

Pictures: 

Pretty View!

Sadie and Comp.

Sisters in the Zone!

Anna at Church!

Members at a lesson.