June 14, 2010 Treinta y Tres with Elder Erickson

Yeah, I got that package today with all the foodstuff. I made the soup stuff today for lunch. P-day is the only day we really cook. Thanks for everything. A lot of those things are available here, so i wouldn't worry about sending that kind of stuff. The swedish fish were a nice change from alfajores. (Dad, have you figured more out about that bakery and their alfajores?) I look forward to the applesauch. The ensign and new era were also really nice. I just missed the conference Liahona, but generally, we get the english Liahona, so don't worry about sending it in the future.

We found a working cd player that we're borrowing from a member, so if there's a way of sending me burned cd's. I'll work on a list as I think about it. It should all be there in iTunes, but I might have some requests soon.

Also, on emails, don't worry about sending them to the urumontemission address if you're sending it here. That's a nice way to send talks and stuff, but don't worry about sending the weekly email there. I just end up getting it again the week after.


Hey all,

Thanks for the World Cup update. haha.) Yeah, I'm getting plenty of update of it here. I'm half-hoping Uruguay does really well, and half-hoping they get out soon so we can get some more work done. All of Uruguay shuts down whenever they play. Has it been a big deal at all there? There are some commercials they play on everything here and it has a really good song that I'm gonna have to look up when i get back

Yeah, Elder Morris and I made the connection in the MTC. He came into my room and asked if my name was Bryan. Apparently, they had told him to look for me, but he had forgotten for a while. He's in the other mission though.

The weather is still treating us really nice. It's really warm during the day still. It gets cold at night, but it's not even that bad. I hear it gets really bad, but people here are wusses about the weather. If it's too cold, people don't go to church. They'll just sit in their house and huddle by the fire all day.

1. How your testimony has grown while on your mission
Explaining things in simple terms to people helps me see how well the gospel works logically. Working to have the maximum success on the Lord's Errand has helped me see how different things work when you put Him first. It pains me to see the tons of people here who are inactive because of being offended by someone 20 years ago, who wasn't even active themselves. I don't know how anyone lives without the Gospel in their lives. A lot of people have the attitude that they have ''enough'' they're saved ''enough'' and they don't need more salvation or something. There's no way this isn't the true Church. No other alternative works in the grand scheme of things.

2. Are you over the culture shock?
Yes. The kisses at church still throw me off sometimes. I don't know why, but seeing people kiss on the cheek at church weirds me out. I've been the recipient of a few besos uruguayos, but even that's not as weird as seeing it all over the place at church. Other than that, I forget I'm not in my own culture sometimes. A lot of stuff is americanized whether they know it or not. It's pretty sweet.

Love,,

Elder Bryan J. Parry