Had to Say GoodBye to a Nurturing Friend

It was a sad day to say good-bye to this friend today.

I fed and nurtured her for two years
and she in return has fed many.

My sourdough yeast :(

Friday November 27, 2015

Concilio was canceled due to another bus strike. The temple group has been on vacation for 2 weeks while the temple was closed. It was a great opportunity to go see the "red cathedral" that we have always wanted to see.  Unfortunately, the inside was not open. We also went to the Uruguay Legislation Palace.  What great architecture.  They don't make things like the used to!

Red Cathedral

Elder Hokanson served here in Deseret, so we brought him to visit the chapel.

This is a document signed by everyone who attended
the dedication of this first chapel in Uruguay.

David O McKay's signature is the first signature at the very top.

Video: Day Trip into Montevideo

Semana de cambio  Change Week

Tuesday - Thursday December 1-3, 2015

Our last change week. We are the Valientes, but we are not going home with the others. We will go home after the Christmas devotional.  My feelings are so jumbled.
We had very small groups coming and going.  Mary, our head cook was not available this week to help, but it worked out fine because we only had 6 new elders come in.  Only 4 elders were leaving, so President Cook made it easy on us and instead of cooking our own valiente dinner, he took us out to a restaurant.  No cooking!  No dishes! Muy facil!  Also, becaause we are bringing all the missionaries in by bus for the the Christmas devotional, they decided not to hire the private buses for change week.  The missionaries just took a bus to Tres Cruces (the main bus terminal) and took another bus out to their new area.  That made for a pretty quiet change week and less photos.  And of course as we have been saying, this was our last change week.

YouTube: Valientes December 2015

Elder Xavier is our new financer. (middle)

L to R: Elders Oliveira, Martinez, Cruz, Xavier, Lawson, Briceño, Cuessy

L to R: Elders Espinoza, Marcelo, Martinez, Quezada

Yummy shrimp and salmon.

Chencho from Argentina Visits for the Weekend

Surprise visit from Chencho!

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!  Sweet Hermana Cook just couldn't resist not having a Thanksgiving feast in her home.  The original plan was to just go out and eat some where.  So, she bought a turkey and the rest of us married couples helped with the trimmings.  I did the mashed potatoes and 2 pumpkin pies. I surprised myself with the crust I made.  Usually my daughter, Laura, does the pies.
My post from facebook that day: Happy Thanksgiving to my family! We have been so blessed and are very thankful for every one of them. We are thankful for the blessings of the gospel and the blessings of the temple that keeps us together forever! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and although I cannot comprehend all that has been provided for us, I am grateful.

We got "gobbled" on our front door.

Friday - Monday November 27-30, 2015

What an unexpected surprise this weekend. Chencho and Monika from Cordoba, Argentina made us a surprise visit. They were going to stay in the hostel at the temple, but the temple has been closed for 2 weeks and so has the hostel. Chencho's brother and his wife also came.  So, we had guests in our apartment and it was so fun.  We had no capilla abiertas scheduled and were able to play tour guide for them.  They had never been to Punta del Este. They went to church with us and seemed to know people from Malvin. Monika served her mission in Malvin.  

Saturday, November 28, 2015

We had the opportunity to invite the Sequiera family over for a dinner with us.  What awesome friends they have been. They were menos activos that we searched out when we first arrived. We could always feel their good spirits and we had hoped they would find their way back to church activity because they have so much good they could share with others.  They have been coming to church now for 8 weeks! We have asked them to let us know when they will be sealed in the temple.