I´m leaving on a jet plane...not quite but I´m leaving Progreso

Hola mi famila,
Como andan? Well, first thanks so much for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, Stefi, and Kim. That is so INCREDIBLE that Payson is getting a temple. That´s so awesome. I´m excited.
I´m going way north to a place called Paso de Los Torros. Hna Yeates was there before and she loved it. But everyone told me it´s SUPER hot. So I´m thrilled. But I´m with a latina, Hna Benegas, who goes home this change, and who really doesn´t speak spanish that I know of. (But I´m super scared, I´ve not heard the best things) We´ll see.
This past week has been pretty busy. We had a baptism for Gladys. The woman that is blind. It was so beautful. I was so excited and she was also. We also went to temple. What an incredible place, I sure miss going regularly. We got to do a session with the DaSilvas. But in the morning we brought 2 investigadors to the temple and the branch went for the first time in at least a year. It really excited the branch. They now are focusing on the temple and trying to plan a trip every month. I´m so excited for them. The branch president has a lot of enthusiasm too, it´s great. It was him and his wife and his counseler and his wife´s first time at the montevideo temple and they did baptisms and so they just ate it up. We printed pictures to put on the bullten board to keep them excited and they love it. That´s how the work progresses when you focus on Temples and the Savior. One of the investigadors Blanca and older woman said she recieved her answer at the temple and felt such a peace. We watched Between Heaven and Earth in the church next door with them. But the next day she was jumping off her chair for excitement, however, yesterday she told us she can´t pay tithing and she won´t commit to anything she can´t do. So I was sooo sad. But the other hermanas will work with her. We shared our testimony with her about it and then invited her to pray about it which she said she would. So I hope for the best. She was going to be baptized this week, but there is always a chance. Yesterday, you´ll be so proud of me I didn´t cry like a baby the whole day, just a little bit. The branch was super nice they had a family home evening in the church just to say good bye to me. And like 20 people came. It was so nice. I´m going to miss a lot of great people here. One family of investigadors gave me a huge ugly hat as a goodbye present because I wear a straw hat to survive the heat and it´s ugly and so I always say this is my ugly hat. Well, this familyl loved that and so they gave me another ugly hat. It was funny. Another cool experience, I gave the blind woman Gladys my card and a letter and she had her daughter read to her after I left and then she went to the family home evening and told me that her when her daughter read my first name she goes "I´m going to name my baby, Tiffani". And so Gladys said now I´ll always remember you, and then she started crying. I was so touched. There are some really neat people there. The branch president said that they want to have a barbaque at the church when you guys come and get me and some other people are excited to meet you and feed you :). That´s the highlights of the week. Thanks for encouraging me and helping me. I´m really grateful for Hna Farnsworth, she´s helped me alot. I know I´m being blessed and that this is huge privelage to be here. Have a great week. I love you all mucho.
con amor, Tiffani

Happy 21 Nicks!!!

Hey family,
Happy birthday Nikki!!! Thanks for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, and Kim. Dad, I was just kidding Dad last week because your email was so short and I like them long, this week was pretty short as well. What´s up?
Well, I´m glad all is going well with the wedding plans. Sorry you´re going crazy mom. :) Sorry about your crazy interview nicks, my mission interview was pretty crazy intense as well. And there are no boys involved there...
Well, as a heads up next week is changes, so pday will be tuesday. I´m pretty ready to leave, I hope so. Sad, my first area that I´m not going to freak out when I leave. haha. Anyways, this past week was fine. We had interviews with president. Nothing to exciting, but it was fine. I´m excited to go to the temple wednesday. We turned it into a an opportunity for the branch to go, they haven´t gone in at least a year. And so it will be great, we´re also bringing investigadors so they can see the outside of the temple, and I called the bishop down in montevideo to see if we could use the church next door to watch a movie about the temples and then have someone in his ward talk to our investigadors about the importance of temples. I hope it turns out well. We also introduced a famliy that we`re teaching to tacos, so saturday we made tacos with the seasoning you sent me and my comp and I made tortillas. It was really good, and they really enjoyed it. I gave them a bunch of taco bell packets they liked to put on their tacos. They don´t eat spicy food here so it´s really new to them. It was fun. We´re also teaching this really neat lady Gladys, right now that is practically blind but she has really neat and is going to get baptized this saturday. We really want to take her to the temple grounds, but she might have to go to the doctor with her daughter. She listens to the book of mormon every day on cd. She´s pretty amazing and has just great faith.
No more drug deals happened in sacrament and it turned out really good. The branch president is getting really behind this temple trip and wants to do more and so he had talks about the temples to excite the people and explain a little about them. And friday we watched moutain of the lord for an activity in the branch and ate fruit salad. About 10 people including Gladys who can´t see but wanted to be apart of it and another investigador Blanca that is amzing also and she loved the movie. so they came but they are really excited. Our president hasn´t been to the temple since he got sealed to his wife in the buenos aires temple. He´s never been into the montevideo temple. So that´ll be great for him and his wife.
Things are still super hot. I´d send you all a photo if I could of all the bug bites (mosquitos) on me and have you guess how many bites I have. But that´s a little awkard so just imagine I counted 55 bites JUST on my legs last tuesday or wednesday. Kind of crazy and itchy.
Thanks for everything!!! I love you all mucho. Talk to you Tuesday.
con amor, Tiffani

Feliz Cumpliaños a mi madre...Feliz cumpliaños!!!

Hola mi familia,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, I LOVE YOU!!! Muchas gracias for your emails this week Mom, Dad, Stefi, and Nikki. And thanks for the photos dad (you´re missing about half your email dad, but you can make it up next week.) That is sure a change in scenery for your engagement photos Nicks, from palm trees to snow. I like the palm trees, but the new one is cute.
Well, this past week has defintely not been dull. We had the baptism of Nancy, which was really nice. We spoke again, she wanted it the exact same as her sister. But it was really good and she was excited (in her own way, in her pictures she doesn´t smile) But we had a few investigadors come and they really enojoyed it. Also, this past week and well today, I have fleas. My comp touches every four legged creature, but I am the one with fleas. It is very uncomfortable, I have bites all over my body. It´s like the chicken pox but worse. I´ve cleaned and cleaned and then I called Hna Da Silva and she has a spray for me. But last night I didn´t get any new bites so I hope it´s working. I don´t know if I`ll make it out of here alive to be honest between the sun, mosquitos, ants and the fleas. But it´s just another summer in uruguay. Today we had pday and we went to my old zone close to La Paz and we played basketball with the elders it was fun. There was a lot of elders there from the MTC and so we all know each other well and it was really fun. Me and Hna farnsworth were the captains and my team won. (of course..haha) It was a 3 zones activity and I saw Hna Yeates (poor girl is so ready to leave). But she told me some sad news, all the people that were baptized while I was there are inactive and it´s the same with Minas too. You know that story of the water bucket and how when the hand swishes it around it does something, but then when the hand leaves the water goes back to the way it was. That´s basically how I feel. They are awesome people who now have a covenant they aren´t keeping. And it´s really sad. I don´t know if I really want to go back to my areas. Maybe we can see other stuff. We had quite the experience, I thought I have seen it all in Progreso. But not quite. Yesterday, we had fairly normal church meetings and then we go to sacrament and it was normal and then the high counciler speaks. Normal talk, but I look back and there is this kid that I´ve never seen, looked like he´s going to the beach standing just talking to one of the recent converts and she then digs through her purse and he gives her money and she sells him cigarettes. RIGHT IN SACRAMENT MEETING!!! Can you say crazy. This recent convert sell cigarettes at her home to support her grand daughter and we tried when I first got here to explain she can´t do that, but the branch president said he didn´t want us to say anything and he would look into it. Well, and so she still sells them and now in church. And then the kid took his cigaretts and leaves. Like a normal day of business. ABSOLUTELY NUTS!!! But anyways, just another week in progreso! Let´s just say we´re never not entertained. But I´m excited, because the president is letting us plan a temple trip with the recent converts in a couple of weeks. And people are getting excited for that. I don´t think this branch has gone in at least a year, and they live 40 minutes away, and so it will be a very good and necessary thing. Well, I´ll talk to you next week. Thanks so much for everything. I love you all. And happy birthday again mom!!
con amor, Tiffani

P.S. Quick explanation of the fotos. The one is of a chef that makes super good food in la paz that we visited and he´s awesome. And then another is of us with a recent convert and us eating pizza to help brighten his day. He´s great. And then one is of a car with a bottle on top, if you need to sell your car just put a bottle on top it. It´s how they advertise here. I´m serious. HAHA. Uruguay´s great!!! love ya.

Feliz Dia de Reyes!!!

Hey family,
Thanks so much for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, Stefi, Kim, and Los Crums. MUCHAS GRACIAS!! Dia de reyeys is day of the wisemen a holiday in south america on the 6th of january. Also, thanks for the photos Dad and Nikki. Wow, Nicks...you´re so thin. They are really cute photos. I really like number 8, 7, 13, and 4. They are cute. And Dad, great job on the invitation! It is still very strange seeing you with a guy but it´s slowly sinking in. I sent some photos not as lovely as nikki´s but they are of our service project, the president likes to make fun of me because I can´t understand as well as some and the fact that supposedly I cannot work hard because my dad is not in construction and farming, unlike hna farnsworth. I just shake my head and grit my teeth and told him just because my dad doesn´t do construction or farming doesn´t mean I wasnt taught to work. He is really getting on my nerves...he really likes riling me up and he´s really pushing it. Sorry side note, there is also photos of the baptism we had on january first of Pamela. She was so excited. And her non member grandparents came. Missionaries plan baptisms different way, but I like to do it how mine was where I got to pick the program and have my picture on he program. So I do that with the converts. And she chose hna farnsworth and me to give a talk. It still scares me. But it was fine. It was such a great and pretty service and she was so excited. But the president then got on my case sunday telling me missionaries should not give the talks and should include members, and everything and why the baptisms weren´t going to be on the same day. I was just like...leave me alone and get off my case about EVERYTHING...So this week with Nancy´s baptism the little sister of Pamela (she did not want to get baptized until she saw her sister do it) we are still going to let her choose everything (I told president that to, because she is 9 and these things matter to a 9 year old and a 11 year old) They just like to drama and if there is not enough, they make more. I´m sorry this email is kind of complaining, I just need to vent a little. The family gonzalez didn´t accept a baptism date sadly the mom and daughter would if the dad would and his problem is tithing. He doesn´t like it. But he came to church the following sunday for a little bit of sacrament which was great. It is so sad, they are so great they even feed us every wednesday. They are basically members. President Da Silva is letting every missionary go to the temple in january. I am so excited, we are going the 20th I have not been to the temple since may. I miss it and am excited. New years was good the fireworks are awesome, my comp fell asleep but I was determined to stay up till midnight as it was my last one in Uruguay. Well, thanks for everything and the updates. I love you all mucho.
con amor, Tiffani