Week 48!

hey there guys!!!

how's life going in the United States? ha I'm living it up down here in Artigas, Uruguay! hey i got your two packages that you guys sent me!!! thanks soo much for all of it, by the way i haven't opened the presents yet so i'm actually waiting for my birthday to open that part. Elders Vega, Rios, and Almeida say thanks for the air heads and the starbursts and the bouncy balls in the packages for them. funny story, we can't stop playing with the bouncy balls!!! we're always throwing them against the wall, floor, ceiling. haha and at times it gets a little bit out of control, haha like one person will open the door to the other elders studying and throw the ball as hard as they can and it flies everywhere!!! fun stuff, this week we went on divisions again but this time with our Zone Leaders. i stayed in my area with Elder Stevens (from Utah) and Elder Vega went to their area with Elder Franco (from Perù). it was lots of fun because i already knew Elder Stevens really well because he was in Paysandù for the three changes i was there. he's a complete STUD. i learned a lot about how to really listen to the investigators and respond with the spirit in every answer. it was lots of fun to do divisions. also a little bit of different news, Carlos isn't an investigator anymore, and he didn't get baptized either... he told us that he didn't want to follow listening to the lessons, that the church was fairly cold, and stuff like that. he told us that he thinks that feeling the Holy Ghost is yelling, casting out devils, and fainting in church. we tried to talk to him abouit that but it wasn't terribly successful... but oh well... i guess everyone has their agency. but on a happy note Uruguay just WON the Copa America on Sunday against Paraguay 3-0! oh man you have no idea how nutts the people of uruguay are about their soccar!!! they now have won Copa America 15 times! that is more than anyone else has ever won it. (uruguay 15, Argentina 14, brazil 8, and then a few teams with 1 or 2 wins) it was pretty insane that every single person was watching this game, and i mean EVERYONE!!!!!!! but it was sure crazy to watch all the celebrations after the game! but thanks for always all the great emials and prayers!

Love you all,

Elder Atkinson

Week 47!

hey guyz,
sounds like you're all doing FANTASTIC!!!!  just to let you know a recieved a package from granpa and grandma, and also your package that had the perfect push ups in it!  now i have to do my excercises! hahaha  Elder Rios and i are starting a workout routine together.  it'll be super good to do some stuff.  haha whelp... this week i've still been a little bit sick.  but i feel like i'm getting better, i bought some medicine and i feel that it's helping.  the weather here has been totally weird.  one day it will be freezing cold with tons of wind and rain and the next day it will bee hot clear skies and lots of humidity.  these types of changes it what kills ya...  we've been working really hard this week,  sad stuff is that we barely had anyone in church on sunday...  there were 20 peopl in church including us missionaries, 6 members of the stake, and 1 investigator (Debora a 9 year old girl that always comes)  i was super upset that none of our good progressing investogetors came....  and practically none of our members showed up....  but oh well. haha i was talking to one of the members of the stake that came, Hermano Dos Santos (he's a Brazilian), and  we were talking about what happened and he was like, "we need to keep our heads held high, the adversary is who wants us to feel terrible about the come out of church today"  after that i got animated and with a new mindset for this new week.  but it turns out that carlos didn't come because he had to go to Taecuarembò because his aunt died.  so he left and then Vanesa and her kids (the U.S. peeps) went to a bike race in Brazil that they "boyfriend" of vanesa was competing...  yup it's going to be a little interresting bringing up the law of chastity with her...  haha we just found out this week that she has this little "boyfriend" hahaha, but we'll just have to see what's going to happen with them.  also in case you didn't know the U.S. Womens soccar team just lost the world cup last night against Japan in penalty kicks...  yeah oh well.  haha Uruguay is hanging strong in the Copa America!  on saterday they BEAT Argentina in penalties 4-5!!!!  now they're going to play against Perù on tomorrow in the semi-finals!  ¡VAMO ARRIBA LA CELESTE!  it was intense on saturday, we were in a lesson during the game, we leave and go to an almecen to buy some food for sunday and the owner was watching it so we stayed for a little bit of the extra time. then we went home because it was almost 9:30 and Elder Rios is dying because he's listening to it from a borrowed member's radio.  for him this game was NUTS because he's uruguayo.  haha once uruguay won everyone in the streets was dancing, screaming, and shooting fireworks.  the whole celebration of artigas didn't end till about 3 in the morning.  it was pretty crasy, i'm not gunna lie.  haha but it's been lots of fun with all the mayhem of Copa America!  it was super funny because brazil lost last night and all of Uruguay hates brazil so when they lost you heard fireworks from Uruguay.  hey i sent a couple of pictures here, the first is ud with Carlos our investigator that lived in the us for 8 years, number two is our District from this last change, and the last is us with the Bishop and his family.  hey gotta go love you all and have a great time,

LOVE,

Elder Atkinson

Week 46!

hey there my good ol' family!

i'm livin it up down here in the Guay!  not too much has happened this week, but the few things of note i will tell you.  hahaha well the family that we found a week of two ago that lived in the US for 8 years CAME TO CHURCH!!!  not only did they come to church but they told us that they LOVED IT!!!!  the whole ward was super excited to see them in church and really welcomed them into the ward.  it was great to see how well they liked the ward.  this week we're hoping to give them a baptismal date of the 30th of July!  they really are learning a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they're loving all of it!  oh i don't know if i ever told you guys that i'm collecting little stickers of soccar players for an album of the Copa America (a cup that plays quite a few countries in the Americas)  there are 348 little stickers that you can collect to put in the album and it's fairly tough to get them all.  i've been trading with kids in the streets for like the last 3 weeks and TODAY i finally found the last piece i was looking for!!!  :) HALLELUYA!!!!  hahaha  so i'm one happy camper for noe ;) ha we also found a super nice lady this week named Silvia, she's 42 and she has 1 child and 3 grandchildren (the oldest is 8 years old) haha figure that! haha but she's really nice and is wanting to find the truth and she is willing and ready to follow it.  we gave her a Book of Mormon and we're going to pass by today to try totalk to her and teach her more.  Carlos update, he didn't come to church i called him yesterday and he told me that he had to work until 6 in the morning and he slept through his alarm to wake him up.  we're going to try with all of our creativness this week to find more people because the people we do have are fantastic! but they are few also...  so we're going to have to FIND FIND FIND this week.  i've been a little bit sick this week...  i've had a bad cough and a runny nose, but it's nothing serious and i'm 99.9999999% sure that i'll live, so it's nothing to worry about mom. ;) hahaha  but it sounds like you all had a great time in Washington for the Familty Reunion. so we're doing great and working super hard here in Artigas!

love you all and have a splendid week,

Elder Tyler Atkinson

Week 45!

hey,

well, i'm staying in Artigas with Elder Vega for another change.  it's pretty good because  we work pretty hard together.  we also have some super good investigators that we're working with.  yeah so we're both staying.  this week was super fun, we had divisions with my district leader (Elder Rios from montevideo) and his kid (Elder Almeida from Colombia).  i stayed in my area with elder rios and elder Vega left and went into the other area with elder Almeida.  Elder Rios is a true stud!  we found 5 people in a day and a half of working together.  i learned a lot about different ways on how to teach when i was with him.  he's a strong leader and a great comp as well.  oh yeah, this last sunday was soo stinking funny.  when we were walking to church it was fairly cold, not super cold but it was cold, and it was cold enough to put frost on the feilds and the grass.  Elder Vega FREAKED out, whipped out his camera, and kept taking butt loads of pictures.  i was dying i was laughing soo hard because he had never seen lots of frost before. hahaha  but this week was really good, Carlos came to church!!!!!!!  yeah and he told us that he had to work until 6 in the morning but he still came anyways!  we challenged him to fast this last fast sunday but he told us that he tried but couldn't because while he's working he has to stay awake by drinking water.  but this week he doesn't have to work friday so he promised that he would fast this friday.  he's really a great guy and will be a great leader once he is a member.  i knoe that because he is willing to to do whatever the lord wants him to do.  he's a great example for me to be that person that the Lord can count on to get work done when he needs something.  we've been working really hard with this new family we met that lived in the U.S.  this week they didn't come to church but with a little work this week i'm almost sure that they'll make it this next week.  we also need to give Carlos a new baptismal date.  but, things are definitely looking up in Artigas Barrio 4!!!  i'm super excited for this change and can't wait to see what's in store for me and Elder Vega!!!

love you all,

Elder Atkinson

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!!!!