September 24, 2012: Week 49

Hey Fam!

Doing good here, and you? It's good to hear that Westlake is gonna kick some butt this year again! Just gotta watch out for Riverton. This past week has been a little stressfull because we had to drop a good amount of our investigadores, because they aren't progressing. But it's alright because I know that we're going to find more people that are more prepared because we have the faith.

 

I can't believe we only lost by .08, WOW! What is the show about anyway? You should send me a video of a part of it. I want to know what it's like. That's pretty funny that they had the parents follow the kids. I'm sure that people we're running into each other all over the place.  lol!

 

So investigadores are a little scarce for now. We took the decision to drop Gilberto for a little bit. He has stopped progressing and isn't showing much desire to quit his vices... We're still gonna stop by and let him know we love him.

 

I still cannot believe that in less then a month I'll have been gone for a year! Time goes by like the blink of an eye! CRAZY!!!

Emily, Don't get discouraged with the math. Your way better at it than I am ;) Just keep working hard and keep those grades Up! Also an E-mail would be nice ;)

That's cool that Brennan is going to Arizona. Tell him Good Luck! Also speaking of friends and missions, in October we get to go down to Deo and have a conference with Elder Oaks. It will be the 2 missions from Uruguay. So I'll see all the guys from the CCM and also Elder Brian Farnsworth. That will be sooo awesome seeing them. I've been told that Brian lost a lot of weight so far. Also Elder Viñas already came. It was soo great. He taught us alot. Also he dropped the cane on us a little for the high inactive member rate here in Uruguay. Well it's not our fault the people here are lazy, lol ;) Nah we can do better to help make sure that the people are truly converted. Good news. I found out my convert Marcos is still active and he's receiving the Priesthood soon! That made me super happy! Also one of the investigadores we were working with, Eduardo, is getting baptized on the 7th of Oct.

I told Elder Petersen about the pillow case and driving through his town, and He just laughed and said he's a fan of both BYU and Utah State. Also He says hi back for his family :)

I always knew that Josh had a way with the food. I definitely miss his culinary masterpieces.

 

Well I hope all is well there and that you all have a awesome week. I love you all. I know that this gospel is true and I'm happy that we can be an eternal family some day

 

Love, Elder Jordan Duke

September 17, 2012: Week 48

Hey how's everything going? How's work? and about Elder Petersen, we're the same height, but I have him by about a centimeter. Still counts though ;)

Please don't tell me about Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper. I miss it soooooo much. I'm just speachless when the people say they don't even know what it is.....they're so deprived. ;)

Timpview are weenies, but they still have a good percussion section. Keep me updated with scores and stuff for the competitions. I wannasee how "bad" we're whoopin' on them :)

I heard that BYU was playing like crap....I'm just glad that the game isn't as big of a deal now, since we're not in the same conference now. BTW is BYU ranked and How is the MWC without BYU and the U? I think it's funny that they come to our house now. I always knew that you'd wait till I leave to get the big TV. I'll just have to wait for a year to enjoy it too.

YA! Emily must have been too busy texting Atkinson to write me a letter this week....... I read Mom's email and she told me about the thing between Emily and "Tyler." I definitely wouldn't mind him as a brother-in-law, but I'm sure nothing is going to happen, Emily is just a big flirt anyway ;)  Also Mom told me Elder Glenn got engaged to his Girlfriend! WOW! OK not really.... I knew that it would happen. She wrote him every week the entire mission. Happy for him. Tell him good luck with the married life!

Gilberto is doing great! He's making a lot of changes. He cleans up now and he got a haircut. We are giving him a shirt and tie to wear to church and he loves it! He came to stake conference with us yesterday and we got to listen to Pres. Monson and Elder Anderson from the 12 and......Elder Gonzalez. I always tell everyone he's your mission President. :) It was great!

Carlos and Marcia and Maria we haven't had contact with them all week. It's kind of hard because Carlos is Policia and never home and Marcia has school at night. But we're not giving up on them!

We actually meet a lot of people that speak Portuguese here. I actually understand a lot. Speaking not so much though. Almost everyone here in Artigas speaks both Spanish and Portuguese. I'm sure I'll learn a good amount here.

Thanks for the stuff from Pres Packer. Really good info. I'll definitely use it when I study.

I love you and hope all is well over there. I love this work and I love my Savior.

Here are a couple of pics...one of a nice big spider we found in our apartment and one of Elder Petersen.

Love,
Elder Jordan Duke

September 10, 2012: Week 47

Hey fam!

We had a good week! We had 4 people in church and all with fecha (date for baptism) for this month! Also right before sacrament meeting I was asked to give a 10 min talk. I just got up and talked about the BoM. I then challenged them all to the promise in the intro; that if you read and ponder on it then pray to know it's true, you'll receive an answer. I think it went well.

We have Gilberto, really great humble guy! He has a fecha for the 29th. He needs help to quit smoking.

Maria, Carlos, Marcia- Maria is the mom of Carlos and marcia is his novia (girlfriend) . We found them on Saturday and they came to church! They also accepted a fecha for the 29th.

This past week was fun! I got to know a lot of people and we have a great support from the ward here. We play soccer on Tuesdays and I have some nice pics from an accident I had playing ;)

Sounds like Colts are still in trouble. I don't remember him... sorry lemen...lol.
Who is Griffin III?
I heard there are a lot of the good teams are dropping and that the bad ones are going up.
Also about sports, I heard that the Lakers picked up Howard...true? they are sooo stacked if  it is...

I'll definitely pray for them (the Westlake marching band kids). Hope they do well! I wish I could be there. Tell me how it goes! Pics also would be great!

I love you guys! I would write more but I have a really really crappy keyboard and not a lot of time.
 Love you all a ton!!! Like how I love PB! (Won't he be surprised when he gets the package sent last week with a jar of peanut butter!)

Love, Elder Jordan Duke

p.s. His name is Eli from Wellsville, UT by Logan. (new companion)
 Thought I'd forgotten... lol

September 3, 2012: Week 46, First Week of 7th Change

All right, to tell you about my comp, he is Elder Petersen. He's from Logan, UT. He played baseball in highschool. He has 16 months in the mission. Weird to think that's only 5 months more than me... This will be his 2nd change in Artigas. We are doing really good and I think we'll have a lot of success. I don't really know alot about the investigadores but when I do I'll tell you.

Wanna know something awesome?!? We went to Brazil to a buffet and there they give you endless meat that they cut with a sword! And I tried chicken heart! It was actually pretty good!  but... I forgot my camara..... ya i know dumb, but it won't be the last time we go to Brazil so don't worry I'll get pics to you guys ;)  It was weird though cuz they all speak in Portuguese. Speaking of Portuguese they have a mix of Spanish and Portuguese here called Portuñol. It's really weird. Also when the people get mad at their kids they speak in Portuguese. I don't understand them half the time but it's pretty funny.

I like it here in Artigas. It's going to be great but it's also going to be hot! They said last summer it hit 57 degrees Celsius... that's like 130 F!!!!!!! I'm going to die this summer!!! I'll just have to whip out the old water bottle I guess. I'm looking forward to it but at the same time I think about how it will be my last summer in Uruguay. The time is going by way too fast I don't know how we're already at the point of Alex coming home in 7 weeks! That's crazy!! I don't even know what to think! I'm the oldest junior comp here in Artigas, except for an Elder Miranda, because he's dying this change and to give more people chances to go up as senior comp President moved some people down. He said that it wasn't to "castigar" anyone, just giving others a chance who haven't had it in 9 or 10 changes. But Elder Miranda took it pretty hard. He was a ZL before he got bumped all the way back down to junior comp. He's better now though. We have Elder Viñas coming this Month! And Elder Oaks will be coming in Octuber. That's going to be super exciting!!

I don't really have much more to say today. I'm sure once I get to know more of the area and stuff I'll have more to say. I love you guys and hope you're all doing well. Keep close to the Lord and stay on the path to eternal life. Thank you for all the support and know that you're always in my prayers.

Tons of love,
Elder Jordan Duke

P.S. Emily tell me more about college. I need to know what it's like since I've never lived the real college experience. :)