Man this is one of the greatest transfers of the mission! Elder
Olivares and I have been tearin it up real good ova herr. Its crazy
how tranquilo it is out here in the campo. Theres no cars, motos, or
movement. Just two horses from the neighbors mowing our grass for us
and a bunch of missionary work!

Juan and Dolores are doing pretty good. I am a little worried about
them just cuz they are having lots of problems financial, maridal, at
work, quiting tobaco. We are praying a LOT for them. Its hard to have
spiritual lessons because his alcoholic uncle always comes over and
doesnt let us talk. The other night we were over there talking about
the sabbath day and their super cute little daughter, covered in mud
and barefoot said that they couldnt go to church with their parents
because they dont have shoes. Its sad because they both have brand new
nice cell phones and a new dvd player, but their kids are barefoot. me
da pena. :( Virginia, Dolores´ sister was in a lot of pain with a
urinary infection. Its sad because they literally use the woods as
thier bathroom. She is a incredible little girl for the family
situation she lives in. She has a lot of faith and a lot of love. She
is only 9 but is very very mature and smart. She asked us to pray for
her and we told her we could give her a blessing. Its really special
to stand around a little girl in a box house of metal sheets with a
garbage bag roof and pronounce priesthood miracles. I felt the spirit
so strong and I know she did tool. After the blessing she was crying.

Sunday we had a fun time getting all muddy. Its been raining since
saturday. So Sunday morning we left for stake conference in basketball
shorts and tshirts. We got completely soaked and muddy. We got on the
rented church bus and went with the driver to pick up a couple members
and investigators. I got off the bus and ran to knock on a family´s
door, but i didnt notice the wire fence without wood stakes and
totally clotheslined myself. It was so funny but hurt really bad haha.
I totally face planted in a pile of mud a horse poo pie. I looked
around and the only person that saw me was the bus driver. Elder
Olivares said he died laughing and said to my companion hahahha! THE
GRINGO JUST ATE IT!!

We had an awesome stake conference and Elder Bradley Foster of the 70
presided. I shook his hand, thanked him for his talk and he came and
shook our investigators hand. Daniella, a 21 yr old new mom who has a
bunch of problems in her family and with her husband came. The topic
of the conference was temples, marriage, and family. Sweet huh!

This week is gonna be crazy! I hope everything comes out as planned.
Its not gonna be easy but I know we will see some miracles.

Tuesday we had interviews with President Heaton. My favorite part was
Sister Heaton´s cinamon rolls. The stake president came and talked to
the zone and told us to have lots of patience with the members here.
That we are used to a different world of mormonism and 1/2 the members
here if you ask them cant tell you what the atonement is. He asked us
to love and help them. It was great to be with President Heaton even
though it was only for a couple minutes. Poor old guy stays so busy!

Mom, the relief society down here is a lot different. I cant tell you
how many times I have seen a sister get a huge bag of clothes together
for a family or investigator that dont have much. They dont get
together very much, or have presidency meetings. Sometimes they do
visiting teaching. They dont really do all the organized stuff but
they love and serve a lot.

I love you all so much! Cuidense mucho les quiero!

From: Daniel Kellis 
Date: Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 9:46 AM
Subject: Craziest Week of my mission life

Hey so Im alive! haha man its been quite the crazy week! Im excited to tell you all about it and all about my new area and companion.

 

So the zone leaders always call us on Monday nights of transfer week. Tuesday is P-day (mostly for packing and stuff) and Wednesday is travel day. Tuesday we said goodbye to everyone and made tacos with a family (they didnt like them at all because they were too spicy...I think they got kinda mad) haha

 

So there isnt really any direct busses from Cardona to anywhere, you have to go to Colonia first. So we left Tuesday night from Cardona, took two busses to get to Colonia. my bus to Salto was gonna leave at 5am Wednesday. The missionaries in Colonia on transfer night always have a full house because everyone from the little towns in Colonia come in to wait for their bus. Well, right when we got to Colonia the zone leaders let us know that a bus strike had just started. So we left Colonia and the Senior couple brought us to another companionships house with extra matresses. We stayed the night there (all my bags and everything were in the other house still) and I was out of money for the month. (no food) so we just cleaned their church and worked in their area for the day. It was funny, we did a joke with some recent converts that I was the new missionary coming into their ward and that I was brand new and didnt speak Spanish.

 

Wednesday night the strike ended and I was able to get on the bus to Salto at 5am Thursday. So I was on that bus alone for a while (which is super weird) until a SIster Missionary got on half way to Salto in Fray Bentos. That was even more weird. She was super flirty from Chile. My comp greated me in the Salto Terminal. He seems super cool. He is from Lima Peru. He was recently trained in this area. We took a taxi to our house and I started getting confused as we left the city for about 10 minutes into the wilderness towards artigas. We drove down a dirt road for about 5 minutes and we passed a couple houses on the way super spread out with huge citrus orchards and green houses between each house. There was a house out in the middle of nowhere that we pulled into. We`re here! 

 

So our branch is only about a year old. It has about 60 active members and they are all recent converts. The church has been in Salto for many many years but Elders opened the area im in to missionary work about a year and a half ago. We have a huge handful of investigators and they all work in the orchards and green houses. Every lesson we go to is about a 15 minute bike ride on bumpy dirt roads. Im definataly physically getting used to that! Especially with these piece of junk bikes! The pedals are broken, theres no brakes or shocks and the only gear that works is the lowest one so im always pedaling super fast to go super slow. But its all worth it because the people out here are amazing. There is a bus that picks everybody up each sunday and brings them all the the little rented house that we use as a church. I definately am used to being out in the middle of nowhere but I feel stupid for ever complaining about having to take an hour and a half bus ride to district meeting in Cardona because now its a 40 minute bike ride (8 Km-i dont know how many miles that is) to the closest bus stop with then takes us to the stake center on a 20 minute bus ride. The closest place to buy food is about a 20 minute bike ride. Which isnt too bad. Its just the dirt roads and the bike that kill me. Im gonna be super in shape though! haha The house we live in is actually only a year old so it is in decent condition.

 

There was a HUGE storm on friday. We rode our bikes through this one spot in the trails where the water was up to almost the top of my bike tires. I just got off and walked it. I was impressed with Elder Olivares. He didnt think twice about crossing it to get to that lesson. He loves our investigators so much. He is an incredible young kid. He is super obedient and super strong. Hes been a member for 3 years and has about 3 months in the mission. He could be a trainer already. I took a shower with all my clothes on because I was completely drenched in muddy water. We came into town to watch conference at the stake center, and stayed in another Elders house. Two nights on the ceramic floor with diaheria and a fever and super sore legs. The conference was incredible and just what I needed to hear. President Uchtdorf`s talk brought tears to my eyes as I felt the love of God through all the suffering. It was such an incredible conference. I love how the talked alot about missionaries and the work. I started thinking about Tyler and imagined him in a white shirt and tie with a name tag here in Uruguay out in the orchards on a bike and I just started crying. It is such an incredible experience to be here doing this work and I love it so much. I love Tyler so much and thinking of him receiving these blessings was super emotional for me.

 

I know the work we are doing is the work of God and that it may not be easy but it is so important. I cant wait to start another week in the best two years.

 

love,
Elder Daniel Kellis
La Mision Montevideo Oeste
Enrique Martinez 1167
Montevideo Uruguay CP 11.800

9-19-11

Today we are in Nueva Helvecia for P-day! This morning we played tennis again and we also played basketball with a private basketball club for teenagers. We played a group of 5 dudes and totally wasted em. poor guys haha.We have a family home evening with the Stephens here tonight, then we are gonna stay the night with the zone leaders and we have district meeting here tomorrow morning. Nueva Helvecia is so awesome. Its so hard to leave! Its crazy, Its also called Colonia Suiza because it was founded by Germans and some other Europeans. So all the people here have German descent. The town is really really nice. A lot more like America and Europe but with all the good things of Uruguay also. The branch here is very strong and the members are awesome! We went and visited a family today and all 9 of thier kids play piano or guitar or violin and stuff. We just played around with music and played uno and she gave us homemade ice cream! 

Cardona on the other hand is kinda suffering a little bit. We had a small turnout at church on Sunday. We didnt have Priesthood and Relief Society because nobody showed up. We had a small Sunday School and Sacrament meeting, but it was a beautiful meeting. Khali Stephens and Lucas love to help me lead the music. Alexia Stephens loves to bang on the keyboard while her mom is playing. Its all so fun! I wouldnt trade it for anything.  Elder Garcia conducted. That was an awesome experience for him! 

We found a couple this last week. He was about to be baptized but the branch president Lagos saw him smoking at work and let the missionaries know. So that kinda was a mess cuz the president made it more of an attack than a opportunity to help him repent. So he decided to make a covenant with God to never go to church again. haha. But he still reads the scriptures and prays!!! SAVED right? ...mmm..not quite. So we are helping him. Im starting to realize that the only people that really like to go to church or listen to us in Cardona are the drunks, the kids, and the straight up crazy people. haha...hes 30 and his girlfriend is 16. D= but we love em and are gonna help them get baptized

The family that brings all their neighbors, kids, friends, cousins, dogs, pet birds and everyone to church were without work and food for a while, they were super active, but they got blessed for their obedience and stopped coming. Its so sad. But we are gonna help them be an eternal family. 

On Saturday we had a service project...supposedly it was a world wide thing? did you guys have one too? We cleaned and landscaped a plaza. It was an awesome project and we had lunch and played ping pong after. All the young men came and got their fingernails dirtier. We had a huge turnout which really suprised me cuz it was raining! and NOBODY leaves the house in Cardona when its raining. its like life is cancelled. But I was really impressed!

We visited an Hermana yesterday who is innactive, but is endowed. She told us that she didnt ever want to be sealed because her kids arent very intersted in the church and just dont really care or want to be part of a religion. She said she loves her kids so much that she would rather be in hell with them than in the celestial kingdom alone with her husband (who has cheated on her many times) She told us a lot about her life story. Her mom aborted her when she was pregnant but somehow she lived and was born as a premature baby. Her mom left her in the hospital and she stayed there until she could walk and talk. Then she lived in the streets of Montevideo. The Firemen gave her food. She said she doesnt remember one time ever being treated badly. She slept in the streets. The people loved her. She remembers waking up one morning cuddled up with an old lady that felt bad for her and the viejita had died in the night. She was dropped off in the train station in Cardona when she was 8. She studied and now has an amazing job and is one of the better off families in Cardona. The crazy part is!!!! She is a descendant of ENZO FERRARI!!! and so she owns a huge house in Italy just chillin. I left their house last night feeling lots of different feelings. Mostly incredibly grateful for my family, my parents, my life, all that I was spoiled with. Also sad that she is missing out on so many blessings. Also thinking a lot about my future family. 

The mission is great. Uruguay is great. Cardona is great. You all are great. and, this church and our savior and the book of mormon are excellent. I am so excited for conference!!

Tell everyone hi and thanks for the prayers! 

Les quiero muchisimo!

20!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Yes. I had cake. No ice cream though. Too cold! Haha Its actually a pretty funny story. Hermana Escobedo, lives next door, came knocking on our door on thursday morning and asked me for all the ingredients to me make me a cake for my birthday. It turned out really tasty though! It looks sad but it was dang good. I taught Elder Garcia how to make chicken fingers and we ate with Juan and his mom. Then we did a LOT of laundry and President Stephens came up and we did some visits. It was a pretty normal day. We did most of the celebrating yesterday, well, as much as you can really celebrate as a missionary haha with the Villegas family and Estefania (turned 20 on the 4^th). They are struggling financially pretty bad lately. So I made a pretty delicious Sunday dinner for all of us (If I can say so myself) Milanesas and Puré de papas. Its kinda like chicken fried chicken and mashed potatoes (except I baked them instead of fry) Elder Garcia made a mean fruit salad!!

I got stage fright really bad this week during sacrament meeting when I played the piano. It was so embarrassing! I did horrible. Poor Sister Stephens trying to lead with what sounded like a kid banging on the piano. President Stephens filled me in on all the football from this weekend. Sounds like there were some exciting games!!

I had a crazy dream this week that our ward totally went off the deep end that the meetings were a joke, that the bishop and leaders all went crazy and into apostasy and people were being just ridiculous. It was such a bad dream!!!!! I was so confused when I woke up. (I think I have been in Cardona for a long time) haha Its so sad the stuff that has happened here.

During Sacrament meeting last week I had a spiritual impression that we should go visit one of the sisters in the branch to do a referal activity. It was kind of a weird strong out of nowhere thing. But I followed the impression and we went on Friday. She gave us 7 referals!! WOW! It was also cool too, she is living with a SUPER SUPER old mother in law. I guess she asked for a wheelchair from the government (they have universal free healthcare here) and they sent her one from Montevideo. Turns out it was donated from the church! She said she was just so surprised and happy. That was a cool feeling for me to see that the church is helping. I remember in Artigas one time we helped a guy push his wheelchair home from buying groceries. As we pulled up to the house I looked on the back and realized it was donated by the church! Sweet huh?

So we have been helping Jorge get his house in decent shape right? Well they don't have water cuz the line is broken. So we called a plumber. We were going to meet at Jorge´s house but he ended up going to the church (I think cuz we are missionaries he just figured) Just so happens that there were some Brothren from the church offices there working on the leaks in the bathroom. So the plumber we called for Jorge was all confused and thought we hired someone else. Funny story.

Well, I love you guys! Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

August 22

Hey Everyone!

My new companion and I had a pretty awesome week this week. We got back into a good work schedule, found lots of investigators, and went broke. haha

So Wednesday after 5 taxis, and 4 buses, Elder Garcia and I arrived into the little town of Cardona. It was quite the shock for him. He had no idea we were the branch conselors, that we were hours away from any other missionaries, and that the members dont feed us here. he was like "wait!, do we have to do interviews!? D=" hahaha it was awesome. He has come to love it here real fast though. Turns out I was wrong. he is from Honduras. He is a 22 year old convert, joined the church 3 years ago. He has quite the past! I guess its pretty dangerous where he is from, lots of drug salesman, shoot-outs stuff like that. His mom is half paralyzed from being shot in the head. His whole Dad´s side of the family is drug dealers, and his whole mom´s side are doctors. After his mom´s accident about 6 years ago, his dad starting drinking and getting into crazy stuff but was blessed by a heavely visit from two young men one day. Now he´s got a son on a mission, and one more coming up in a year. Its quite an awesome story! He is a great worker, and has a special testimony. He is straight up and not afraid to bear powerfully testimony. He´s the man.

Sadly, la Hermana Eva passed away this week. It was a sad news for the branch, since she was the pioneer of Cardona.

Jorge was put in the hospital for a couple days, just to get out of the freezing weather and to get a shower and some good food. Heath Care is universal here so a worried neighbor called in for hiim. the people here are so loving to the poor and needy. Its incredible. We visited one of Jorge´s neighboors who has a pretty huge nice house. She said she cooks him a soup everyday and brings him bread and stuff. I would say that that is just what any Uruguayo would do. Makes me think alot about what I would do if my neighbor didnt have food or clothes. We visited him on Saturday and he said to tell the branch hi, and to bring him a pair of clean clothes from his house. We took his old jacket and shirt home to wash them for him. I rinsed that bad boy like 15 times in a bucket and the water never came out clear. 30 times, yes. It did. haha.

We had pretty poca gente in sacrament meeting this week, so we just gathered in a little classroom, used the little table as the sacrament table and stayed nice and warm in that little room. It was a special experience.

We are thinking about doing an ASADO with some members for my birthday! Im excited!

We had a baptism this week! One of the kids (which make up half the congregation) who has been coming as long as I have been here has never been baptized. So that was special for thier family and Elder Garcia. He came from the center of downtown Montevideo so their wasnt much baptisms.

Well, I better get going. Ive learned so much this week. Hope you guys are all doing awesome!

Love,

Thanks for sending all your love and letters and prayers down this way!
-- Elder Daniel Kellis La Mision Montevideo Oeste
Enrique Martinez 1167
Montevideo Uruguay CP 11.800

Queridos amigos,

Si, la verdad is que esta semana fue buenisima!! y si, tuvimos cuatro bautismos! We spent the whole week getting ready for an awesome and perfect baptism. I have seen a lot of failures on the mission. (not having clothes, nobody from the bishopbric notified, incomplete paperwork, cold water, all kinds of stuff) So we planned out every little detail with our ward mission leader and he did all the planning. haha chiste. we dont have one. pero igual, it was a very happy and rewarding week. We had lots of bumps in the road but Sunday was an incredible spiritual and COLD day.

Tuesday we had our last lesson. We talked about the word of wisdom and turns out one of them (12 years old) had a tiny little drinking problem. His Dad always offers it to him during soccer games and his mom runs an "almancen" (basically a little tiny grocery store that they have on every corner) They also use them as their huge pantry since its right in their living room. So there is always free access to the alcohol. The poor kid just doesnt have the same story that nephi had haha I nephi having been born of goodly parents....its a sad thing isnt it. That was a big surprise. But we went over to his house the next day and had a talk with him and his family about it. He was ready to go for Sunday!

Wednesday we had a good day getting paperwork done, printing off invitations, and assigning talks and inviting all the inactive members to the baptism. It was great to sit down with thier families and get to know them. We are hoping to attack them next haha ok not attack but pretty much. One of my other favorite parts of wendesday was helping Jorge clean his house and get it ready to install a new roof. He lives in an old burt down house with lots of holes in the roof. I guess there is a law here that if you enter into a abondoned house and noone kicks you out in 3 months its yours. But the rainy days just destroy the poor guy.

Every thursday night we have a meeting with President Stephens and Juan. Kinda like a Branch Council, but its the night that he does interviews and we clean the chapel and stuff. We also planned the service and the luncheon for after. We tested the water heater and got the font set up. Its a portable one, like a baptismal-font-in-a-box type thing. haha

Friday we went shopping for all the food and delivered more invitations. Got safety pins in case the clothes were too big for the "gudises" Those came in handy real well! And now I look like a high school wrestler with a bunch of safety pins pinned onto the shoulder straps of my backpack haha

Saturday we visited all of our investigators and invited them, picked up our huge bakery orders, made cookies, and stopped by all thier houses to make sure they were all good for Sunday. Turns out the parents of one of them decided to go out of town. The daughter was like wait im getting baptised! so they decided maybe she could stay with her God-parents. Well her God parents are catholic and did NOT like that idea, especially of having the responsiblity of taking her to our church in the morning. They also convinced her that it would be way better to have her get baptized with them in thier church. Aghghghghg...bummer....So we are gonna see if we can get that worked out.

Sunday was awesome. We got up early to go start the water going. Church was great and everything went smoothly. It pays to plan well! We had one of the entire families come and they really liked it! So we are excited to start working with them. Brian (curly hair is solid and wants to serve a mission! He is always the first one to church on Sundays out of the whole branch! He is a neighbor of ours and has always liked talking to the missionaries and stuff. His family is the family that came...He got a haircut for his baptism and everything! haha.

It was my first time ever performing a baptism and so it was a really special experience for me. We were asked by President Heaton to do the confirmations right after the baptism, (its the 31st so I think he wanted them to count for the month of July) haha. We had a luncheon as a branch after and it was just an awesome day for Cardona. Dad, I love your example of always staying after all the ward activities and cleaning up. It was really cool to see the whole branch jump in and help get the sandwhiches and hot dogs ready and clean up afterwards. It was a long day. After getting tithing done, and doing some visits with President Stephens at the hospital we didnt get home till about 4. We went and visited Hermana Eva. She is the first member in Cardona. Such a sweet lady! It was really humbling to see president Stephens kneel down and hold her hand. The first time he has ever met her. He just talked to her with so much love. It was a really tender moment. She cant really talk but you could see the gratitute in her eyes.

Well I better get going but you guys are awesome, the church is true, and awesome, and Im loving the mission! I cant believe its august already.

Tyler you are a such a beast at life. Bringing girls to church and #1!! haha thats whats up bro!!! keep it up and be a good boy this year and take care of your sister for me! I know you will a way better bigger brother than I was when you were a freshman ;) dont throw her in the dumpster like i did to you ;)

I forgot if there was anything else cool to reply about but I love your letters so much!

Im pretty sure the post service is on strike again...but not too sure. The hospital had a sign on it this week saying "national strike Thursday 28th" yikes! Well..I guess we´ll all just plan on not having any emergencies! haha...ohh boy..

well

26 de Julio

Hey hey hey!

haha Mom I loved how you started out your letter screaming the church is true. I hope you know that I definately agree. The stories you shared with me about girls camp and EFY and stuff were way awesome! I love to hear all your special spiritual experiences! They are awesome! I will send the primary kids a letter for sure! I just want to get a picture with these 5 kids getting baptized all wearing them! Thank you for getting that recipe and the journal! You are the best!

So we had some complications yesterday with the bus schedule and a pday in another city so thats why im emailing today...

The packages turned out great. no nosy postmen as far as I could tell. Theres a picture, is it all there? Yes, I did get the card.

The week was pretty awesome! The most exciting parts were

1. President is letting us get bikes! we will be 1 of the 2 areas in the whole mission to be allowed bikes! Yay! haha only 4 out of 190 missionaries in our mission have bikes and I get to be one of them! Elder Huston was a professional mountain biker so hes twice as excited as I am!

2. Uruguay took home the Copa America! It was quite the party. The ENTIRE country was in the plazas, in the streets, waving flags, honking horns, shooting off fireworks, instant parades formed in every downtown. It was quite the experience! It was impossible to get any missionary work done so we just walked to the plaza and got some cool pictures and enjoyed the fiesta for a couple minutes.

3. We will have a baptism on sunday!! all 5 are good to go and they are all ready and excited!

Ok yeah thats pretty much all the exciting parts.

Its heating up a little. The Branch is doing great. It was awesome to read what president Stephens wrote. That was so nice of him and I felt really happy inside. haha no but really. that was a very kind compliment. He is an awesome branch president. He has literally saved the church in Cardona. It wouldnt exist anymore if he hadnt come and saved it. They were thinking about shutting it down. Its now a pretty strong branch! Did you know he played football for Utah State? and he met his wife Sister Stephens who played tennis there. They´re awesome!

Caity Im so proud of you and your awesomeness. I wish I could see you cheer and give talks at girls camp! Thanks for writing me! I really love it so much hearing from you! You set a great example for your older brother haha

Tyler I know your all buff, tan, popular, and good at high school life. Duh. Your my little brother. haha its in your blood. but just remember always that you could be in some tiny little town in the middle of south america and none of that will matter anymore, noone will care, but you will need a strong testimony and you will learn the things that are way more important. ironic how that works.

I love this part of Elder Ballards talk "Small and Simple Things"

“Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

“And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.” (Alma 37:6–7.)

To illustrate, let me read from a letter written by one of our faithful sister missionaries, serving in South America, to her brother who had just received his mission call. She wrote:

“It’s really interesting with the people from the country—they are so quiet, timid, shy, and embarrassed. You are never sure exactly how much they understand. They will live and die in this small town. They are so poor and so simple and so childlike. They may never see a General Authority, never attend general conference, never go to BYU. They’ll never be Boy Scouts, never play basketball in a huge Church gym, never drive a car to stake conference, regional basketball finals, or anywhere. Many of the things we think about when we think of the Church—and take for granted—they may never see. [Now, the point.] But they have faith, they repent, they are baptized, they receive the Holy Ghost, and they renew their baptismal covenants each week when they partake of the sacrament. They pray and read the scriptures daily. They know God lives and that Christ is our Savior. And, I believe, they are going to the celestial kingdom. I do all the things they never will, but I’m not so sure about my own salvation.

“At first glance, the Church here looks absolutely nothing like the Church in downtown Orem, Utah. I have to keep reminding myself it is the same church and we all follow the same prophet. We have a sacrament meeting in the country each week because the members there really can’t afford to come into town. And as I sit there outside on a wooden chair on the plain ground, with the sun setting and the six people in attendance, as we sing hymns, pray, and partake of the sacrament, I wonder if that isn’t closer to Christ’s church than at home. But I guess it is really the same. The things that matter, the true elements of the gospel as Christ taught in 3 Nephi 11, are the same here as they are in Orem, Utah.”

I love you guys lots!

Take care thanks for your letters! they are so awesome! especially yours tyler!!

Love,

Daniel