The 100 -300 Club

I noticed that this is the 100th blog.  I also passed 300 straight days of duo lingo this week.  Probably the most important thing you have to do to reach this milestone is just show up.  So here we are.  Apart from that we had a pretty busy and interesting week.  We spent Monday working in the office helping   get things adjusted.  For lunch we invited Humberto and Cristina to our house.  It is now warmer and Cristina is feeling better.  We had a fun time at lunch.  We met them right after we arrived in Uruguay and have become especially good friends.   One thing I really believe is that we are sent on missions to meet and help certain people.  Humberto and Cristina are the ones for us.  We have become very good friends and are going to have a terrible time saying good bye.  On Monday night we went to the Family Home Evening group with the Temple Missionaries.  We have become good friends, and we will miss them.

On Monday afternoon we went to the phone company, Antel, to work on getting our phone and wifi turned off.  We ended up going to the Antel office three different times and still have another visit to hopefully get it turned off.  It is quite a challenge.

On Tuesday, we headed up to Minas to do inspections.  We managed to get there just about lunch time so we could go do the Minas Pizza.  We don’t seem to have much trouble getting the missionaries to go with us.  The Minas 1 Elders also have a “monument” on the wall celebrating all the Alfajores they have eaten.  There are over 100.  That represents quite a time and financial commitment.  We also had an interesting experience with the Elders in Piriapolis.  After we inspected their clean house, they asked us if we would take them to the Chapel to get a box of Book of Mormons.  That seemed like a good idea.  On the way, Elder Ucañan asked if we had been to El Faro.  Well a faro is a lighthouse so I said we had been to several.  Then he said that “El Faro” was an ice cream joint in Piriapolis.  He stated that is was the Eddy family’s favorite.  About that time he said, “Hey look, there it is!”  So guess what, we went to get ice cream.  It was good to share the time with the missionaries.

On Wednesday we did inspection in the Maldonado zone.  First we did the apartments in San Carlos.  They were both clean and tidy.  We then headed to Maldonado with two of the Elders to help them with the exchanges they were doing.  When we go to the Zone Leader house no one was home so we headed to lunch to get a “tortugon”.  This is a large milanesa with everything on it.  When I say large, I mean over a foot in diameter and everything means everything.  Renee and I had a quarter each and the elders finished it off.  We will certainly miss the days we spend with the missionaries.

Thursday was kind of a rest day as we went to the Temple with Elder and Sister Wall.  It was good to attend a session with them and we did lunch afterward.  We finished off the day with another trip to Antel.

Friday was Oro conference or the conference for the new missionaries and their companions after being here for a month.  It was a little different as I had to stay in our apartment to wait for the plumber to come and fix a leak in the toilet.  So while Renee left to cook I stayed behind.  When the plumber came they had to pound a hole in the concrete wall and find the leak and fix it.  It is quite complicated.  Afterward I went to lunch at the conference.  It was fun seeing the new missionaries and their companions.  Lunch was especially good.  Oh, and afterward we went to Antel with a bunch of letters etc. to try and get our phone shut off. 

Friday night was one of our favorite activities.  We went to dinner at the Francis restaurant with Dr. Bregante and her husband, Alejandro, and the Duffins.  We had a great time.  The food was excellent and the conversation was great.  We have become such good friends with Dr. Bregante and her family.  We hope that they can someday come and visit us in Blackfoot.

Saturday was our P-day so we took the morning to clean the house and iron shirts.  At noon we took off for Minas to do our final Capilla Abierta.  We took the long way there to pick up the Sisters from Pan de Azucar.  The road from Pan de Azucar to Minas is one of my favorite.  It is a pretty good road through rolling green hills.  It kind of reminds us of home except it is about 500 feet above sea level instead of 5,000 feet.

The Capilla Abierta was a huge success.  There were 27 new people that came.  The majority were friends and family of the members.  They really did a good job inviting people to come.  We only had two companionships of Sisters so Renee and I also had the chance to do some of the presentations.  The presentation is more or less an abbreviated version of the first two discussions or charlas.  It was fun to teach them again and feel the Spirit.  We returned through Pan de Azucar which is a few more kilometers but takes about the same amount of time as the traffic is so much better than going up Route 8.  I don’t think I'm going to miss that road at all.

Finally we included some scenery shots of Punta Del Este.  This is a very upscale resort about 150 kilometers from Montevideo.  I would say it is very much like Miami Beach.  The hotels etc. are very upscale.  I also included a shot of a gas tank in the back of a car.  It looks like the guy took a 6 liter water jug and made a gas tank.   I can’t figure out how he keeps it from spilling.  We also like shots of the dog walkers.  Maybe I can get a job like that when we get home.

So number 100 is in the books.  We are still having a wonderful time.  We have learned so much and continue to learn more each week.  We are grateful for all our friends and family.

Love, Gordon and Renee