10.27.14

Ok, so I'm here in Tacuarembo. I have a bunch to write you but I'm not sure if I'll remember everything. My area is pretty good. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or anything because after all, I did spend 8 months in Rivera, but the organization here (the leadership) is not as strong. Our bishop is new (called two weeks ago), E' Marín is telling me that none of the missionaries are having correlation meetings with their ward mission leaders, they're not invited to their ward counsels (which I don't get how the bishops and other leaders know what the heck is going on with the missionary work in their wards if the ward mission leaders aren't meeting with them), if they do get invited to a ward council, they blabber about nothing, and not a single ward in this stake has a ward mission plan.  I think I know exactly why I received the transfer that I received. Rivera was so easy when we had the help of the bishop, leaders, and members and I know that we can change this here. 

      Elder Marín is awesome. He's finishing his mission with me and has been Zone Leader for more than half of his mission so he knows what he's doing. I told him that I have no idea what I'm supposed to do and he said he'll for sure be helping me. I didn't sleep during changes (like always) and so when I arrived in T Bo, I was exhausted. We had our first district meeting on Friday and E' Marín discussed what we should talk to the zone about before we started the meetings. We came to the conclusion that the entire mission has created negative beliefs about the mission goals. Everyone has made excuses like, ''oh, in this area it's impossible to find new people to teach, so let’s not work for that goal.'' or, ''the members here work more than other areas (meaning they have a higher employment rate), so we don't have to feel bad if we don't get so many hours with members.'' These misconceptions stop the new missionaries coming into the area from giving their 100% and they don’t work how to their capacity. We talked a little bit about the goals and it was clear that no one knew what the normas de excelencia (i have no idea what it is in English... their our goals that president puts for our mission) are. On the 13 of November, we're going to Montevideo for a huge meeting with Elder Christenson and so we won't have the council with President Smith until then.  So President called us and talked to us about what we should start to do with the Zone. He said exactly what we talked about and it is now evident that the Lord directs this work here in Uruguay. 

It is so hot here...I'm cooking. Our house here is gross and I got thrown back into reality. Our house in Rivera is a palace compared to any other house in the mission, so I'm sad for that. But whatever. The first couple of days here, I almost died on the bike.  I don't think I've ridden a bike since I was 12. My glutes hurt like crazy and I look like an idiot when I have to squeeze through small areas. E' Marin is sort of a chubby kid, but he has huge legs and is used to the bikes, so he leaves me in the dust when we're in a hurry. We'll be getting new bikes soon too. I love the bikes though. Biking around everywhere is making my legs hurt every day. I'm really hoping to lose some fat. I've done my workouts in the morning but it is nowhere close to how I used to work out when I was home! It kind of makes me discouraged and I lose the desire to work out if my workouts are just garbage.  But, I'll see if I can get E' Marín to leave the house so we can go to a big field in the morning or something. I'm still adapting to everything, but I'm looking forward to this change.

     We played soccer yesterday, and immediately gained the trust of the youth and youth leaders in this area. I bought a ball too. I'm super tired though and need to catch up on some sleep today. love you!