Flying

Hello everyone!

I am officially in Uruguay!! Can you believe that they’ve let me loose so soon!! haha. We left the MTC Tuesday morning, the Uruguay group made a half hour plane trip crossing the river; apparently it was a really cool scenic trip with the ocean and the shore, but I was sitting in the aisle and went into automatic snooze mode as soon as the plane took off. But that’s ok, honestly naps are more valuable these days anyway. So with all the missionaries we went to the Mission President’s house, President and Sister Peterson. They are really cool! And have lived all around South America for like the last 13 years! We went to the temple, then on Wednesday we met our trainers and went to our areas. You’ll never guess where they sent me first....MONTEVIDEO!!! Yup, I stay here city side in pocitos right by the coast. Well I’ve only seen the beach a few times but it’s so pretty! My companion, Sister Allphin, and I are the only missionaries in this area so it’s all ours to knock up! Sister Allphin is really cool and from what I hear one of the best so I feel pretty privileged. She’s from Missouri and grew up on a farm!! (I thought about you, Mom.) She had cows and milking jobs and everything. Her parents and family now live in Utah I think.
But here’s some exciting small world news, her last companion who she also trained was Sister Powell, who’s from Bountiful and just happens to be the cousin of Kimberly Knighton!! Yea, so that was a cool connection to make—Knightons, Sister Powell says hi!!

Ok so Montevideo ... to tell you the truth, I was kind of expecting a city more like Madrid, but ...its not. It’s a lot smaller, powers, and not very pretty as far as architecture goes. I´m still trying to find the beauty in it though, they seem to have lots of plants around the houses so that’s cool.

My first afternoon, we started off with three appointments, so I’ve already been teaching lessons. Thank goodness I have some Spanish behind me. Everyone picks up on my ´madrileno´ accent though; it makes a good conversation topic.
I’m trying to do my best at learning from my companion. She has a knack of really talking to people and just starting up conversations while still seeming natural; it’s something I’m still working on. Sometimes my Spanish tongue just gets tied up in undecipherable sounds, but we’re working on it. There is a little girl getting baptized this Saturday, we’re making brownies!!
Ok so I gotta hurry. Basically I will share one thing I have learned this week which has strengthened my belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

From reading the scriptures, we know that the principles of Jesus Christ are eternal and true. And can be applied to every situation or life style.

It is really nice to meet people in the world who have discovered this for themselves. For example, Joanna, a young mother, married with a great husband, a young daughter, with a kind heart. She is close with her Catholic family, cares about people who are less fortunate and recognized she is blessed and is thankful to God for it. While chatting with us, she even commented that she often asks herself, “How do I come off so blessed while others have so little?”

Anyway, as a missionary I have to ask myself, “What does the message of the gospel have for her?”

It shows me that God’s principles are true and that He knows each and every child. He blesses His children according to their hearts and their acts of charity, marriage, faith, gratitude, honesty, and piety, etc. And that is the message of the gospel, to continue to live and follow those principles. But I also believe that God is a God of order, and that more than the principles, there are true ordinances that exist and that are necessary for continual progression. By that, I refer to baptism and covenants of the temples. Under the true authority of God the Eternal Father, they are important for legality reasons, but thankfully everyone will have the opportunity to perform these covenants or in other words, take these steps of progression, if not in this life then in the spirit world. For that reason, temple work is important, and the gospel still has a lot to do with those who are righteous, and happy doing in their best living within different religions and lifestyles.

Ok, well this is my first p-day!!!
Uruguayan food still has yet to offer me their best; maybe we’ll test out the ice cream today. I’m going in search of some staples next week. I’ll let you know how the oats or frozen pea supplies are here.


Sister Salis


This is the first picture Susie has sent along! Obviously the date is a bit wrong.