Welcome to the Ward of Sister Gretz Converts

First week in URUGUAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness! soooooo much has happened, I dont even know where to begin.

 

ELDER MENDENHALL!!!!!!! This is my trainer from Georgetown in Washington DC. The guy`s a stud and we get along great. Haha, He reminds of Tyler at times. 

 

What do I think about Urugay? Its amazing. The town im in is called Montegrando (or something like that). Its one of the more wealthy areas in the mission and is pretty clean/ nonsketchy. Our apartment is falling apart, but we`re moving today to a nicer one! Guess What!!!!! WE HAVE WATER HEATERS HERE! Haha, but It only works about half the time.

 

Ok. Those are the basics of the area here, now time to talk about the title of my letter this week.

 

Sister Gretz convert 1 = Hermana Sonya. I LOVE THIS LADY. She is a convert of about a year and is sooooooooo helpful. When we need a reference. Go to Sonya. When we need a glass of water or to use the bathroom. Go to Sonya. When we need a member in a lesson. Go to Sonya. She is amazing, and loves the missionaries. She has given us some incredible references that have turned into steady investigators.

 

Sister Gretz Convert 2 = Anna. Anna and her husband Ricardo are a retired elderly couple. She was baptized about a year ago. Ricardo attended church for 16 months, read pretty much every book written by prophets (including all the deep doctrine ones written by Joseph smith and others), and Pretty much knows more of the gospel than I do. That man is a genius. He got baptized last month by Elder Mendenhall and was able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood this past sunday. Now for Anna. Anna Also loves the missionaries and has given us some pretty great references (including her niece lucia who we are teaching this week:D). On top of this, she is helping us solve a problem one of our investigators (Marcelo) has of not being able to come to church on sunday because of his work. She knows everyone. Sooooo many connections, and is helping us find him a new job. Side tangent on Marcelo = The guy is a genious. He has a super strong testimony and wants to get baptized, but can never come to church. He works as a parking attendant, but is capable of so much more. I did some mind games with him (Black magic, some card tricks, a puzzle where you have to find out how to balance 10 nails on one, ect) he solves every one almost immediately. Hes a stud to. I love that guy and hope we can help him out. 

 

Third Sister Gretz convert = Hermana Amanda. I dont know a ton about her yet (weve only visited her once), but She apparently gives a ton of references too. She is amazing. We stopped by one rainy day and she gave us references and hot chocolate. I love this ward.

OK. Last story. Really spiritual experience. WE contacted one of the references Sonya gave us the other day and set up a Charla (lesson) for Saturday night. The lesson was incredible. We taught the 3rd lesson (the gospel of Jesus christ (Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end)). I was actually able to teach some parts in spanish!!!!! I bore my testimony at the end and it was great. Then came the real lesson. He opened up to us. Every investigator has a need/doubt/fear. His was tithing. He loves his family, and had struggles believing that god would want him to pay tithing if it meant not being able to support his family. Elder Mendenhall started answering his questions. In the middle of the lesson I felt like I really needed to bear my testimony. The next time Elder Mendenhall paused, I did just that. It was so incredible. The spirit filled the room. By the end of our lesson, Danial (the investigator) was crying. It was such a great experience. Every day I am learning more and more about how the spirit works, and how It can guide me in my life. I love the mission. Spanish is hard., but It will come.

 

I love you all, The church is true,

Elder Eliason

I dont have a debit card, I found my camera so Im good for now. Someone had pulled a prank on us a while back and it was in the back of Elder Mitchells locker. We found it when we were packing to leave. It still might be a good idea though to mail the debit car in normal mail. Your package was here waiting for me in Uruguay. Mail system here is faster than in Brazil:D

Love ya mom. Youre the best

Elder Eliason in Uruguay Montevideo Mission

Dear Eliason Family,

            Tuesday we went to the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, to pick up Elder Eliason and welcome him into our mission.  He arrived full of excitement and enthusiasm to get to work.

            We have spent the day getting to know him, and we recognized that he will be a great asset to us here in the mission.  We know that he will bless the lives of many wonderful people.

            Wednesday was transfer day and after meeting with his trainer, he headed off to his first area so that he could start “[bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

            We are now sending you a photo that we took with him.  As you can see, he is extremely excited and ready to start.  We are so excited to have your son with us and hope that you receive this photo with excitement and pride in all that your son has done to prepare himself for the opportunity that he now has to serve the Lord for the next two years.

                                                                                                          Love,

                                                                                                          The Cooks

IM ALIVE!!!!!!!:D

Dont have much time, but Im leaving for Uruguay at 4 in the morning tomorrow. Super excited right now!!!!!!!!!!! I will now have P/day and emails on Mondays. My flight leaves at 6:50 and is on flight AR2380. Love yall. Dont know when Ill be able to email next. Probably monday.

Hey momma y papa bear!

Just emailing ya to tell ya that I made it to Uruguay safely. My trainer here is named Elder Medenhall! Ill tell ya more on Monday.

Oh and I found my camera. Long story, but it was gone for 4 weeks. We're good now.

Love yall

Elder Eliason

obedience brings blessings, ice cream brings miracles

So I just want yall to know that I love yall more than all the alfahors in south america (if you know what an alfahor is, you know that means a lot!!!!!!) haha, Oh my goodnesssss!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOOOO much has happened this week. It´s like I said a few weeks ago, the days pass fast but the weeks pass slow. This is because sooooo much happens each day.

First story = Prosalatismo last saturday. It was the best one yet! WE were able to contact 28 people, give away 2 Copies of the Book of Mormon, give away 3 restauraction folletos, and have some incredible discussions. At one point, some people even invited us into their house and gave us some coke (that got us pretty excited. its been forever).

Anyways here is the story of our best contact. I call it "Obedience brings blessings, but ice cream brings miracles." At one point during the long day of proselyting, Elder Mitchell and I decided to stop for some ice cream. Best decision ever. Side note = Dulce De Leche Ice cream is amazing. After purchasing the heavenly food, we left the parlor to eat. There was a man sitting alone on the only bench, and, seeing us looking for somewhere to sit, gestured to us. We sat for a few moments in silence  while enjoying our helado (the other man was eating some too). After a minute I struck up conversation with a simple "hola, como esta" (we always us Usted as missionaries). this got things rolling. I am super grateful for my companion at this point, who can understand spanish much better than I can (we make a good team, I can talk well, he can understand). Anyways, after talking about America (everyone asks us where we are from), the NBA (a surprising number of people here love it), and other trivial things, the was a moment of silence to which I broke with a "so, we´re here in Argentina for our church" to which he petitioned "what is your church?" this is a golden question which led to an incredible discussion. As it turns out, he had heard of the LDS church, but knew near to nothing about it. He was receptive to everything we told him. It was amazing. The best part? We gave him a Libro de Mormon, to which he promised to read every night. The spirit was so strong in the lesson. There were a few other amazing parts to the lesson, but I dont have a ton of time to tell them all. Anyways, Proselyting is hard. You get rejected a ton! but when you meet those one or two people, it is all worth it. There are people kept from the gospel simply because they know not where to find it.

Second Story = WE WERE ABLE TO MEET ELDER RUSSEL M NELSON TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! He came to give a devotional to the missionaries in the Buenos Aries South mission, to which we were invited to attend.  At one point we were able to go up and shake his hand. The look in his eye was one of pure love. It was such a cool experience. The talks were incredible. I loved the one his wife gave. At one point she gave a promise that I decided I need to rely more on. Here it is. Every day, take your scriptures and begin to pray. Thank God for the Scriptures. Pray to God in the name of Jesus for the spirit to be with you. Then ask him a big question you have. It can literally be anything. Then open to a random spot in the scriptures and begin reading. Your question will be answered. Wow. That takes faith. Im excited to try.

Anyways, those are my stories for the Week. This is my last week in the CCM. Its been good here, but I am SO READY for the field. I can wait for next Tuesday :D

Tons of Love,

Elder Eliason

Oh and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY FAVORITE 15 YEAR OLD BROTHER AND MY FAVORITE FATHER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. You guys are both so amazing, and have truly influenced my life. Preston, you are one of my best friends, and dad youve helped me get through some hard times. My life has truly been blessed by both of you, and I wouldnt be the same person today without you guys.

Write to me and tell me how your birthday was.  :D

Quick spiritual thought. Have a problem in your life. Are you stressed about anything. Are you upset about something. (yes little warner I realize none of that was grammatically correct;) ) Go to the Temple! There the dust of the world settles and everything is so much clearer. also, Immerse yourself in the scriptures and prayer.

We call her Drizzel River

So I thought that subject was pretty intense. Haha, one of our spanish teacher´s name (Hermana Rios) directly translates to drizzel rivers. We decided that is her rapper name (dont worry McCayla, she still doesnt have anything on McBigC). 

 

Anyways, the biggest things this past week happened on Friday and Saturday. Fridays was more comical and Saturdays more spiritual. Ill start with Friday.

 

HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!:)

 

So in Argentina, they dont celebrate Halloween, but that didnt stop us in the CCM. Instead of dressing up in costumes, we all switched our name tags and tried to take on the personality of the owners. That was hilarious. The person who received mine (Elder Johnson) is an actor who does impressive voice impersonations. He nailed me (though a bit was exaggerated). Voice and everything. Haha, It started when we were eating breakfast and he walked up and said "hey guys! Thats AWESOME." we all died laughing. Apparently I use that word a lot. Haha he would also say Hola Hermana Rios (or whoever was entering the room¡). When Hermana Rios Entered, heard him, and saw our name tags, she lost it. It was a good day.

 

Saturday, aka the day of the dead (November 1st holiday in argentina).

 

We went proselyting again!!!!! This time was soooooooooo much better than the last. We ended up with 51 contacts, a miracle discussion/reference, and Argentina Fútbol jerseys (we saw a stand and got some. now all the guys in our district have a jersey. Not quite sure who Ravezzie is, but thats me). Anyways, I want to talk about the miracle discussion/reference. So we started off the day with a plan to talk to every person that we passed. And it worked. We didnt have very many discussions, but to every person we passed, we would hand a pass-along-card (a card that has a picture on the front and talks about Christs church on the back), and tell them a little bit about it. Most people would just take the card and keep walking, but we had a few really cool discussions. This was one of those. As we were walking down one street, a woman exited her house on the opposite side. She looked busy and focused on something. We didnt expect much, but we crossed the street anyways. As we approached, I stated "somos misionaros. Tenemos una tarjeta para usted" as I had done many times before. This time though, when she saw the picture of Jesus on the front, her entire countenance changed. She began talking in rapid spanish, so we didnt catch everything, but after wards Elder Mitchell and I talked about it, and this is what we think she said. She has a daughter who has many problems, and she needs guidance. She said that the picture of Christ brought great joy to her and that she knew it could help her. Then she started bearing her testimony. It was incredible. First she talked about Gods love for us, then faith, then blessings, and so on. Through out it all, the spirit was blazing. At one point, Elder Mitchell bore his testimony of faith, and how Christ can help us in our lives. As he did this he handed her a restoration pamphlet (I think thats what it is in English, in spanish its folleto)(these folletos are amazing and really help to teach gospel principles. I recommend reading over all 6 of them). She took it in stride and continued bearing her testimony. Near the end of the discussion, I bore my testimony of how God loves us and wants to help us. We got her name and number, and told her that we would send other missionaries to help her learn more. The coolest part of this happened and we were about to part ways. Just as we finished, she looked at us and said "I will read this" (speaking about the folleto. It was simple and powerful.

That was the greatest thing that happened that day. Elder Mitchell and I both walked away in silence and joy. Its amazing how that works. The Spirit is simple, powerful, and calm. That is its nature and thats what it brings. I love this gospel and know its true. 

 

Te amo,

Elder Eliason

 

P.S. This ones for you mom. Be care full of your punctuations and conjugations. I almost named this email punctuation saves investigators. In a lesson this week one of the Hermanas in my district said "Dios te amo" instead of "Dios te ama." Whats the difference? haha well instead of saying God loves you, she stated "God I love you." The investigator lost it. Conjugations are important;D

 

P.P.S. You can send mail to me and I can get it in less than a week! Its called pouch mail and I can use it both here and in Uruguay. what you do is take your letter, fold it three times, tape it closed, put a stamp on the nontaped side, and address it to the missionary P.O. box in Salt lake with my name and mission on it. ummmmmm. I cant remember the P.O. box number right now, sorry. Ill send It to y'all next week.

Our last group of latinos that roomed with us (they switch out every 2 weeks) 

I love these guys and know all of them very well

​Elder Mitchell, Elder Castro, and Me. Elder Castro is this creazy but awesome Latino. He left last Tuseday for his mission in Argentina, but before hand gave me a beanie embroidered with the word Peru. Hes the one who taught me to say "Soy un Ltino de Chinca Peru":)

I love fútbol

​THE ELDERS OF DISTRICT JOSË!!!!!!!!!!!

Left to right: Johnson, Gomez, Johnson, Eliason, Evens, Mitchell

We rocked Fútbol that day! it was great