May 27, 2013: Week 84

Hi fam!

 

To start off I was going to ask you if you could resend the package that you sent first, with the PB and the chips, salt and vinegar... how ever you spell that...because it never came... the others got here though so no worries. Also when I was waiting for my glasses to come I ran out of fluid for my contacts and it was just during a holiday season so I couldn't buy more. Story short I don't have any more contacts because I had to use a pair per day. I was wondering if you could just send another pack of each eye in the package with the PB and stuff.

 

Also for some reason I have been having the thoughts of communicating with Jake Buntjer. I was wondering if you could find his email for me and send it to me. 

 

Well, this week was great! It was a miracle, record breaking week for me, not that numbers are what I'm after it just was great to see it after a week of hard work. We found 21 new people this week and were really busy with lessons. I feel so much better when we in houses all day, not because were staying too long but because we really had a lot of people to teach. The work is moving forward in Tranqueras and I'm happy to be a part of it.

 

So the baptism of Juan Pedro fell through, but he's still getting baptized on the 8th of June. We found out after his interview that he had been drinking the day before. So we talked to him and helped him realize the seriousness of what he's going to do by being baptized and he understood and together we came up with a plan and a new fecha that he can work towards. We also had success with seeing some menos activos come to church after a long time of inactivity.

 

So guess what, Elder Nephi Gomez left the CCM early and he came to Rivera! He's in my district also. Well for 1 week at least, but I've been with him all day talking about what's going on back home. It's been a little trunky...lol! 

 

I'm super proud of you guys for that! I'm glad to hear that your working together towards a good thing. I'll be praying for you and wish you luck! I don't know if I can join you on the don't drink pop for at least a little after I get home. I just can't see a Dr. Pepper after 2 years and not drink it...too hard.

 

I really wouldn't care about what we do after, if we're back on a plane or car for a trip. All I care about is seeing my family again and I think a family trip would be great to be able to spend time with just you guys.

 

I love you all and want you to know as always that this gospel is true. I love every minute I've been out here and I really am happy for the time I've had to serve. As I put in my journal a few days ago. "I don't regret or take back any of my time here." It's really been the best experience of the life.

 

I love you all and I hope your week goes well!

 

Love,

Elder Jordan Duke

May 20, 2013: Week 83

Family!

 

First off, sorry mom. I write more spanish emails, for now..;) lol! Well, I'm glad to hear that you're all doing good and that you're enjoying your time without me, lol! Just kidding I'm just glad to hear that you're all doing good. About the letters it's not really that surprising that they got missent that seems to happen too often here.. but anyway I'll get on to the week.

 

It was one of those weeks that should have disanimated (Spanglish for "depressed") us alot, but it didn't. Only because we still have to good things to think about and look forward to. It also helps to just see the blessings around you that you do have instead of searching for the ones you want. So this week as you probably already guessed didn't go so well. It started off with a lot of stuff falling through. Then we lost a couple if investigators, because their Mom doesn't want us to pass by, which is sad because she is a member of the church. But there is still a good side and we still have Juan Pedro, who will be getting baptized either Saturday or Sunday, depending on when he gets back from work.

 

There is an interesting story that happened to us yesterday that's great! So we went to the house of some investigators to pick them up for church and we clapped which is the custom here. The hijo enfermo (sick child) answered the door and just stood there for a sec. So we decided to enter in the gate and knock on the door. The Mom, whose a member, opened the door and yelled at us to go away. She was screaming "Vayanse, Vayanse! Son tan pesados!" (Go away! Go away! You're annoying me!) We tried to tell her that we just wanted to talk to find out what the problem was and she slammed to door and went inside, or so we thought.. She really went out the back and told her neighbor that we were bothering her and she told him to make us leave. So he came out yelling at us and threatening us. We of course at first didn't realize he was talking to us, but then he went back in the house and came out with a machete! He was swinging it around and yelling at us threatening to hurt us if we didn't leave. We didn't leave, so he put the machete down, luckily, and came out the gate and came up to us swearing and pushed Elder Lamb looking for a fight. We just told him that we didn't want any problems and we turned around and left. It was super scary, but at the same time I felt calm because I knew that God would protect us. That story pretty much sums up the week in a nutshell.

 

So I'm glad to hear again that your week was better. Josh looks super cool playing the drumset! You rock man! Emily, good luck with work, sounds like it would be rough.

 

The Zone Conference was great! Pte and his wife gave their "dying" testimonies, which was a little trunky and emotional. We talked alot about the obedience and the scripture in 3 Nephi 27:27 "What kind of men ought ye to be?...Even as I am." I also learned a great lesson from an Elder that President put in his weekly letter that I'd like to share.

 

"En las conferencias de zona un elder dijo algo en su testimonio que me impactó. En su testimonio dijo que estaba poniendo excusas por su desanimo y razones por falta de éxito. Un Elder presente le dijo, ¨Deje de ser victima, no ponga excusas¨. Dios no nos da el espíritu de esperanza y fe. El es todopoderoso y si pedimos con fe el nos dará los deseos justos de nuestro corazon.... Nosotros no debemos ser victimas pero creyentes del amor y del poder de Dios; que El ama a nosotros y sabe lo que esta pasando en nuestra vida. Si somos obedientes por lo largo plazo todo saldrá bien. Tal cómo paso con José cuando sus hermanos lo vendió para Egipto, debemos someternos a la voluntad de Dios, siempre guardando los mandamientos y en el fin recibiremos las bendiciones de Dios."

In English:

"In the zone conference an elder in his testimony said something that struck me. In his testimony he said he was making excuses for his discouragement and reasons for lack of success. An Elder had told him, ¨ Stop being a victim, do not make excuses ¨. God gives us the spirit of hope and faith. He is all powerful and if we ask in faith he will give us the desires of our heart .... we should not be victims but believe in the love and power of God, that He loves us and knows what is happening in our lives. If we are obedient long term it will all work out. Such as what happened to Joseph when his brothers sold him to Egypt, we must submit to the will of God, always keeping the commandments to receive the blessings of God. "

I love you guys and I know that this church is true. There is nothing better in this life and Nothing that will bless us more. No where else can we find the blessings of an eternal family and hope for eternal life with God.

 

I love you all tons!

 

Elder Jordan Duke

May 13, 2013: Week 82

Familia,

 

Este email va a ser corto, entonces voy a hacerlo en Español. Fue muy bueno poder hablarles por teléfono ayer. Estoy feliz que están todos bien y que están a full como siempre. :) Espero que tengan una buena semana y que puedan encontrar las bendiciones que Dios tiene por ustedes en esta semana.

 

 (This email will be short, so I'm going to do it in Spanish. It was good to be able to speak to you on teh phone yesterday. I'm happy that all of you are well and that you are busy as usual. I hope you have a good week and that you can find the blessings that Heavenly Father has for you this week.)

 

También, Papa si puede mandarme unas fotos de mis bautismos de Oscar en Carmelo y de Carlos y Carla de Tranqueras, porque vamos a hacer un regalo para Presidente y su esposa para despedirnos, y un miembro borró todas las fotos de mi cámara.... Gracias.

 

(Also, Dad if you could send me the pictures of the baptisms of Oscar in Carmelo and Carlos and Carla of Tranqueras, because we are making a gift for President and his wife for their going away and a member erased all my pictures from my camera.... Thanks.)

¡Les amo a todos!

Con Cariño y amor,

(I love you all!

With affection and love,)

Elder Jordan Duke

 

 What an outfit!

 Mate....drink of caffeinated Uruguayan champions!

 Elders Duncan, Brown, Moffat, Calderon & Honorato

 Amardillo!

Happy Mother's Day!

Elders Lamb & Duke

 

May 6, 2013: Week 81

Hey fam!

 

So to start off, we'll be skyping! woot! I don't know the hour difference, but my comp told his family at 7 so I'll probably do it at 6. That puts it at 1 or 2 there, no? When do you have church, cuz if you have it during that time I can move it to 8.

 

Still haven't received like any of your letters or anything, but I'm sure it'll all be here soon. I'm glad to hear that you're all doing good. I can't wait to eat some homemade salsa from Grandma's garden, man I miss that stuff!

 

Well here in Tranqueras we've been doing good. We had a couple of trials and some hard stuff happen but we are still going strong and I feel that the Lord is blesing us for our efforts. Sara dropped us to start off. She sent us a text during studies that said she didn't want compromiso (any commitments) and that for now she wanted to just stop with everything and take some time to think. We went by and had a little mini-lesson and tried to help her see how this would help her more than anything in her life, but she wouldn't accept it. It was hard to see someone so great and ready turn away, but it helped me realize how powerful satan really is and how hard he works to keep people from accepting. I also learned a good lesson on taking better care of the investigators. It's not that we neglected Sara, we were just a little too laid back with her and as Elder Lamb put it very well, we tried to let her convert herself instead of helping her with the Spirit. I hope that some day she'll come back and accept the gospel because I've really grown to love her as we've been teaching her.

 

Also Juan Pedro went to jail right after church, because they found illegal drugs in his room at home and for now he's locked up. We don't know if he'll stay there or be released, but for now he's on hold.

 

But don't worry, good things happened too. To start off we lost 2 investigators, but 4 others came to church and we found 12 new investigators this week. Also we had a lot of success with menos activos coming to church as well. Camila, Jaun Pedro, Leandro and Talia are who came to church. They are part of imcomplete families and we're working hard to help them enter the waters of baptism so that their familes can be complete in the gospel. Also we've been working hard on helping the Sacerdocio (Priesthood) here grow and so far we've seen results. We had 2 hermanos menos activos (less active brethren) come back to church for the first time in years and we found a lot more that we're now working with through the list of members and other means.

 

This week really was an up and down week, but when I look back I'm thankful for all of it, because  I learned a lot and really grew in my testimony of this work. I know that this work is true and that it's lead by God. I know that we represent the only true church on the earth and that that puts a great responsibility on us. I love my Savior and the people here of Uruguay. I really have come to understand and love the Gospel more here and I just can't imagine a day without feasting upon the words of Christ. I love you all and hope that you have a good week full of the Savior's love.

 

With tons of love,

Elder Jordan Duke

April 29, 2013: Week 80

Hello everybody,

I don't know why I started the email like that I just felt like it I guess.

 

So how's everyone doing? I'm doing really good. I still haven't recieved any of your letters or the packages so we'll see when it gets here. To answer your questions about my comp. Yes it's the Elder Lamb from Canada...Kamloops or whatever its called. He is really great and he actually is teaching me a lot. He's been out a little under 6 months so he's pretty new and I have to help him sometimes with his Spanish. We get along really well and he's a really great missionary!

 

So with Mothers day it's most likely that we'll be skyping so get ready for that. I'm not sure if I remember my skype address.... but I'll remember. The details will come later when it's gets closer.

 

Elder Petersen has a facebook but I'm not sure of any of his info. It might help if you type it in Petersen, because his dosn't have an o and his first name is Eli.

 

Noooo! Not a Minivan!! Lol! Well if it's what she wants.....but a minivan........oh well.

 

No I did not get my "trunky papers" yet, probably tomorrow. ya..

 

So this week was really great! We had some miracles in church and in the week. Sara is progressing soo good it is blowing my mind! She is really one of those Golden Investigators. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for the chance I've had to know her. She came to church again....early....and loved it. We are teaching her with the hermana (Sister) who gave us the referral and the lessons are great. I always feel really uplifted after the lessons with her and it just feels great! She's has a fecha bautismal (baptism date) for the 18th of May.

 

Pablo is doing good, He's a little fallen, but we're picking him up. We're taking him to a lesson with us today to talk to an investigator with some of the same problems. We're hoping it can help the two be more commited to doing good.

 

We also had Camila come to church and Juan Pedro. They both are doing great, but aren't progressing a ton. Camila needs more support from home and until we can get her parents to came to church with her she isn't going to progress much. Also Juan Pedro was just picked back up as an investigator yesterday when he showed up to church. We talked with him after church with Pte de Rama (Branch President) and asked him if he really wanted to follow this or not. He said yes so we gave him fecha for the 25th of may and we set up another lesson for today.

 

I still think about how surprising it was to get the change and knowing that I'd be staying for a 4th change in Tranqueras, but after seeing the miracles we've seen in just this last week. I am glad I stayed and I know that it was revelation from Pt. Heaton that I should stay. I'm glad for all that I've learned here in this great town and for the great people I've gotten to know. I really think that when I leave Tranqueras will be the place I miss the most.

 

I'm glad to hear that you're all doing great and that your week was good. I hope this next one is just as good if not better!

 

I love you all tons and I can't wait to talk to you again in 2 weeks!

 

Love,

Elder Jordan Duke

 

 The missionary "gang?"

 Distrito Rivera

 Elders Hermosilla & Duke

 Elders Lamb & Duke

 Put down the machete, Elder...and I'll stop correcting your Spanish... ;)

 

April 23, 2013: Week 79

Hey family,

 

Interesting news, I'm staying in Tranqueras for a 4th change. Clearly there is something I still need to do here and I'm determined to do all I can to accomplish it. Yep, Elder Hermosilla is going to Cerro, Mdeo. It's the most dangerous area in the mission. There they don't allow the elders to carry backpacks or a lot of money, stuff like that. Also luckily for me skinny white elders don't go there, lol!

 

My new comp is Elder Lamb from.........Canada! What part I don't know, but he's coming from where I started, Tacuarembó.

 

About the word on my release date, I should be getting it next week in the bolsa.....I can't believe that I'm this far already...I also realized that I now have 0 of my former senior comps in the mission, the last 3, Elders Ruiz, Woolston, and Petersen left this change.

 

For my birthday I would actually like first face wash, because the climate here does not help with the

skin. Also if you could some crest whitening paste and strips, because the toothpaste here doesn't really help much... I brush my teeth 3 times sometimes 4 a day and well...let's just say I'd like them a little whiter. Oh, and if you can there is a card game called BANG! that I would love to have. My last 2 comps have had it and it's really fun and great to use for Family Home evenings for the activities.

 

Well, since I'm staying in Tranqueras, I'll tell you about the investigators and stuff. Pablo had a little fall and we caught him with alcohol. He is a really great guy and it hurts to see him falla little, but we're helping him get back up. As for investigators, we receuved a miracle this week. As we were walking down the road to a members house to pick up our clothes they had washed, the Hermanas (sister missionaries) called us with a referal for us. They gave us the address and it was close to where we were gonna go after, so we decided to go and we contacted the lady named Sara. She was really receptive and accepted everything we said. She accepted baptism as well. Funny thing is as we were walking away, I told Elder Hermosilla "I feel something special about her. I don't know why but I feel like she is going to be one of those golden investigators that reads like 5 extra chapters besides the one we left." We went back for the second visit and guess what? She had read not just the chapter we left her, but read all of 1st Nephi, plus the pamphlet we left her on the Restoration. When she showed us where she left off on her reading I couldn't believe it! We asked her how she felt reading it and she told us that she felt good and believed that it was true. That was such a great moment for me. And to make it even better this Sunday was stake conference so we had to go to Rivera which is an hour away in bus. We invited her to come and she wasn't sure because her husband was going to leave or something like that she said. We prayed that she could come and as we were walking to the church to catch the bus who appears at our side? Sara! She was there earlier than all the members! She is really a great person and I can see that she is already so prepared for this.

 

Soooo great to hear about everyone getting married..... ;) Shocks me though to see some that should have gone on a mission, but didn't.  Little dissapointed, but happy for them. Hopefully the marriages will be in the Temple.

 

Sorry to hear about Bishop Baillargeon. Hope he's well. I'm sure I spelled his name wrong.

 

The letters I haven't recieved any nor the package, but I'm sure they'll be here soon. Lately I've been studying in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel.  I've learned a lot about how important it is to work as a companionship and listen as well. I realize that listening is just as important if not more than speaking. If we don't listen to the investigator or member and really understand where they're coming from, we'll never be able to give them that portion that they need to hear.

 

Well hope all is well back home and that you can see the blessings that come this week.

I know this gospel is true and I love serving the Lord as a missionary. I love you guys!

 

Love,

Elder Jordan Duke

April 15, 2013: Week 78

Hi family,

Well this week was good. And the way it ended made it even better. I'll tell you about that later in this email. Anyway, to answer some questions. Elder Hermosilla has 1 year and a couple weeks in the mission. He is a really great missionary and I'm sure He'll go up to senior comp next change. Also something interesting for the next 3 changes 30 new missionaries are coming in to the mission. and the 4th change 60! I'll be leaving when the 60 come in, but wow! I don't know where there going to put 150 extra missionaries in this little País (country)! Also as a side note thingy, I'll most likely be leaving Rivera this change, changes are the 23rd of April, and I wanted to buy a few recuerdos (souvenirs) to bring back home to you guys. Would it be possible to shoot me a little $, like 25 no more to buy them. I would just buy them, but I'm trying to save my money in case I am transfered and I'll need it for some reason.

 

Well, to tell you about why the week was even better at the end. Pablo, the guy we've been working with to reactivate came to church again, but this time it was something a little more special. It was testimony meeting and to my surprise he got up to give his. It almost brought tears to my eyes as he shared his experience of coming back to church. He talked about how sometimes we feel alone, but it's not because God abandoned us, but becauses we abandon him. He said that he's learned that God was always there lovingly and patiently waiting for him to return with arms open. He also thanked us (Elder Hermosilla and I) for not giving up on him and sticking with him. It was one of the testimonies that has impacted me the most in the mission.

 

Interesting story. We were walking down the street and a man, easily recognized as Jehovah's Witness by the way he was dressed and by his briefcase of church material, stopped us and without hesistating told us, "You guys teach doctrine from the devil." We asked him how he knew and he started to tell us about polygamy and baptisms for the dead, etc. I asked him why he thought that it was of the devil and he said that neither polygamy nor baptisms of the dead were in the Bible. Not trying to be rude I asked if he had actually read the Bible and then procided to show him in Corinthians where the apostle Paul talks about baptism for the dead, and the story of Jacob, who later became Isreal, who had 4 wifes. He, of course, didn't have anything to respond and we explained that we don't practice polygamy and that it was a law that was used before, but later had been abolished by leaders of the church. He was astonished to realize that 2 jovens (young people) knew more about the Bible than he thought and we asked him simply if he'd like to listen to our message. He said no, because it was still "of the devil" what we taught. I was happy that I could nicely put my hand on his shoulder look him in the eye and say, "No, what we teach is of God, and I know that's true, I know that the messsage we have to share can bless your life and the life of your family, if you choose to accept it." After I bore my testimony to him he simply said, "Ok, but I still don't want to hear you message." We said that was fine and we wished him luck in his day. It was a very interesting experience, but it helped me realize the confidence that I've adquired here in the mission and I was proud to defend the faith.

 

Emily, I'm so proud of you! You may not have won, but you definitely did amazing if they chose you for the directors award. And for the rest of the bunch I love you and always have you in my prayers.

 

I love you guys and I want you to know that I know this church is true. I love my Savior and I know He loves me. Hope you all have a good week!

 

Love,

Elder Jordan Duke