FRENCH FRY CLUB!!

HEYOOO!! Y'all. This week was a blast. Also it was the longest week of my life. But it was a blast. If any of yall missed it last week, I'm in Uruguay, and this week was my first full week here. I'm literally obsessed with it. I have no idea what's going on literally at all times and I constantly have a Spanish headache and I'm sunburnt and also I've never been happier. It's so fun. God is pretty cool. So, yeah I guess we can get right into it. 

THINGS THAT MADE ME LAUGH:

• okay so Spanish is so comedic in so many ways. There are 4 hermanas in our ward and we're all gringas so imagine how well our lunch conversations go. Everyone is confused. My favorite one this week was someone asking us if we had a mug (taza) and one of the Hermanas saying "no we don't have your pasta" so adamantly. In her defense, we did not have her pasta.

• Every single day, the members feed us lunch. Lunch is the big meal here. We literally just show up at a different house every day and they have food prepared for us. It's literally the nicest thing in the whole entire world and we don't deserve them. And the food is actually insanely good most of the time. Last week when I said it wasn't good, apparently my first two meals were some of the worse ones cause it's literally only gone up from there. Uruguayos know how to cook. Geez it's unreal. Even if they feed us mayo with everything, we forgive them. But yeah this also leads to some chaotic conversations. So far I've learned how last names work here, how the Uruguayan law system is different than the United States and Nicaragua, SO many old mission stories, why missionaries aren't allowed to wear backpacks, how to cook some BOMB meat, and last but not least, a full 20 minute conversation about what our fingers were called in our respective languages. Like, pinky finger, pointer finger, thumb, and so on. I only remember two of them. Middle finger is mayor, and the thumb is dedo gordo (literally, the fat finger). That one had me dead. Catch all of us at a table counting and naming our fingers for a lot of minutes in a row.

• Okay so for all yall missionaries, we literally have 3 dots in our whole area book, since we're opening an area. Only 3 friends, no interested people, no formers, no nothing. Good times. BUT one of them is named Ruben and we found him on the street this week, and he's so funny. So he's got this thing where he's super hard to understand, which is something I dealt with a lot in Maryland, except this dude speaks Spanish. And I'm over here struggling to understand what the members who talk perfectly normal are saying. Anyway so we love Ruben and Hermana Gilbert can understand him pretty well, she's incredible. So anyway we found this dude and he said he wanted us to come back, and we go to his house and he's not home, so we go to the store to buy toilet paper cause we're out, and on our way back someone starts yelling at us "HOLA HOLA HOLA DJXIDNSKAK" and we look over and Ruben is just chilling on the roof. Which is comedic. But the best part is it's not his roof. He's literally just vibing on someone else's roof and he tells us to give him five minutes and so we run home and drop off our toilet paper, and then walk back over and he's still on the roof so we wait for him to get down and then he does and we teach him a lesson. I say we but I mean Hermana Gilbert teaches him. Halfway through the lesson he turns to me and goes "you don't talk much huh" (or the Spanish equivalent of that) and I just said "yup" lol I usually try to participate except I had not even a clue what this man was saying and he was just talking and talking and talking so there was no way I would have said anything to do with anything he was saying. But I understood his "you don't talk much" and also his "do you have boyfriends" question. That's all I understood. Anyway yeah so pray for Ruben that he will stop going to bed at 6am so that he can come to church at 9am and also for me that I can understand whatever the heck he's saying. 

MILAGRITOS:

• my goodness, there have been so many miracles this week. First and foremost, the gift of tongues is real yall. From the beginning of this week, where I sat through a whole lunch conversation, not having a clue what anyone was saying, to the end of this week, where I was following a conversation about the law systems and how they convict felons, I'd say Heavenly Father is pretty nice to me. Or maybe something deep down in me just knew the words for crime and murder and lawyer. One of the two. 

• We went to lunch at this one family's house, and they were SO sweet. The son came downstairs and he had a nose ring and purple hair and I just immediately wanted to be his best friend. Eventually he started talking to us and then his parents came to church practically bouncing and told us that he couldn't come this week, but he wanted to come to church next week, and he hasn't been in 5 years. So YAY for him!! I don't remember his name. I literally don't know anyone's name here. But YAY for him and honestly is really crazy to watch missionaries just show up and Heavenly Father softens hearts. It's not us at all, it's literally all Heavenly Father and we just have to show up, and he takes care of the rest. Kinda awesome. KEEP ON SHOWING UP!! (even if it takes an hour to walk to their house)

• I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!! In this mission, we get to go about every six months, which makes me so so happy. I love the temple. And I love it even more in Spanish. If you can, TAKE A LIL TRIP TO THE TEMPLE ITS SO AMAZING!! 

• Okay so there's a restaurant here and I'd call it a milagro in and of itself. It's called La Club de las Papas Fritas (the French fry club) which is funny and also, their food is SO good. I've never had ice cream like it in my life. And the pizza? Unreal. Also literally EVERYWHERE here they have this food called alfajores and they are like tiny cakes except just STUFFED with dulce de leche in the middle (there's dulce in everything here) and ugh. I cry. They're so amazing. And the meat that the members cook is to die for they bring out like 16 different kinds of meat and make us try them all. I love my life. 

Anyway so SPIRITUAL THOUGHT!! 

 

I was reading in preach my gospel, and this quote stuck out to me so much. I think it's also in the letter when you get your mission call too, but I could be wrong. It says "more happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children". Literally how cool is that. If we serve His kids, we literally get GUARANTEED HAPPINESS!! Whattttt that's so cool. What would so many people give for guaranteed happiness? Like, a lot. Yeah well all you gotta do is serve His kids and it's there. Bam. Happiness. Forever. Anyway so for all my missionary friends, make sure you're looking for that happiness, cause you've been promised it, and for my not missionary friends, make sure you're serving people and then looking for that happiness, cause you've also been promised it. Cause "preach my gospel isn't just for missionaries" (if I had a nickel for how many times I've heard that). Okay now go out there and SERVE PEOPLE AND LOVE THEM LIKE CHRIST DOES. ITS REALLY FUN I SWEAR!! 

- Hermana Allen