Monday, August 30, 2010

For P-day the Elders made weapons of war out of cardboard and they battled with them. Of course it got kind of crazy...Jaydan was playing and there were others like him. He didn't get any pictures of his battle wounds after their war but had a few.

The dog bite is healing and looking pretty good.
They had a conference in Mercedes with Elder Arnold, the area president. Elder Arnold was "dropping cane" on the missionaries since that is the job of the leaders. It was all in Spanish so Jaydan didn't understand all of what was said that day but he did thinks he got the important stuff so it wasn't that bad. After the conference they worked in that area and contacted a ton of people and had two really good talks with two ladies. They had some good references also to give to the missionaries serving in that area. (luckies!) The food was okay that day too which was nice.
Jaydan worked really hard this week and the numbers showed it. But Jaydan is still more concerned about the quality of things instead of just the quantity like so many missionaries get caught up with. Jaydan thinks his way of thinking just makes more sense. (I agree!) Jaydan likes working hard and says the days just fly by when they do. It makes him feel good about himself and that work they he was able to accomplish. They are working with some really good investigators. One, Zulli, starting trusting the Elders and telling them all of her problems and different things. Jaydan thought it was weird....but cool that she would trust them enough to tell them things her family might not even know about. They are still working with the dad of the boys they baptized but he hasn't quit smoking yet....doing better but hasn't completely stopped. The girl they were suppose to baptize started disobeying her parent and her parents got mad and won't let her get baptized if she is going to be bad. They won't even let her talk to the missionaries now so they will have to wait and see what happens.
Spanish update.....about the same-learning a little more and maybe even understanding a little more too but still is very hard and frustrating at times.
Jaydan ("freaking") got called FAT by one of the less active members. (a lady) Jaydan said that it is true though but not too bad. Jaydan is eating less now trying to control his fatness. (he said it really isn't that bad at all)
That's about all that Jaydan can remember of the week. He is doing good. He almost got hit by a car and moto (maybe motorcylce?) too. The people really "suck" at driving and Jaydan hates it.....he said they are "horrible".
Mucho Amor De
Elder Ropelato

Monday, August 23, 2010

Freakin Dog!

Jaydan thinks it's cool that Ivy is getting the same Kindergarten teacher that he had. He also knows that he must be the favorite son since Larry addressed Jared as Jaydan when giving Jared his back to school blessing. (of course I laughed)

So this was a crazy week. All the leaders in the zone had to go to a leader conference in T-bo and so that left four missionaries in P-dew. (including Jaydan) Jaydan was with a missionary who only had one more change than him (a greenie too). It was a little hard teaching but Jaydan said it was also good since these two were forced to talk. Their comps weren't there to take over the talking for them. Jaydan said it was a pretty successful day.

On Wednesday they split up to go with the other two Elders who were a lot more experienced and had more knowledge. Jaydan thought this day "sucked" since the Elder he was with was kind of lazy and all they did was contact people and barely that since the Elder wanted to keep stopping in stores and going other places. It's hard to work hard when you work like that.

The next day Jaydan went with the other Elder to his (Jaydan's) area and that made Jaydan the boss (or leader). Jaydan got to decide what went on and they had some good lessons and what not....so that was a good day. They waited back at Jaydan's house for each of their comps to get back from the meetings. (both comps are district leaders)

On Friday they went out and worked really hard and got a lot of contacts. They found some really cool people and had some great lessons. Saturday was the same way....they worked super hard and found some great people. There was one "dude" who said that he was a believer of the devil and messed with the Elders for a bit and then told them that he was just kidding. Jaydan thought that was kind of funny.

Jaydan has been studying a lot about diligence and mentioned it to the others and they did it and they had success.

Jaydan was excited for Sunday since so many people wanted them to come back and teach them more. Sunday started off with Jaydan speaking in sacrament for his first time. He said it wasn't too bad. He asked some people after if they even understood him and they said that they did understand most of it. Jaydan was like "fetch yes..what a relief". So now Jaydan was ready to go out and teach and work hard. (bust his butt) The days that they do go so much faster. The first two people they went to visit weren't home and the third house I think they got in. But, when they left "a freakin dog came up and bit me in the freakin ankle....aahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" "I freakin HATE days now. The picture is of the bite! It was bleeding really bad and wouldn't stop so Jaydan wrapped one of his handerchiefs around it and we kept going. It hurt every step he took but he didn't care. From that point on everything went downhill. All their contacts feel through but they were able to teach one good lesson. They went to a members after that so that they could clean Jaydan's ankle since their house wasn't in the area. They got it cleaned up and put stuff on it which hurt like the "beast". They put a band aid over it and then Jaydan even put his handkerchief over the top of it too. When they got home that night it had bled through the bandaid an doosed out the sides. So it is good that Jaydan had the handkerchief over it too. It had finally stopped bleeding and so Jaydan cleaned it out before he wnt to bed. He cleaned it with some alcohol and these are his words: "Holy fetch balls it stung so fartknocking bad" (he makes me laugh....quite the expression....I didn't teach him that) He put the clean part of the handkerchief back over it for the night and called it a day. (WOW~ What a day!)

Jaydan and his comp made some really good pudding stuff and even bought some cookies to dunk in it. It was "super yummy".

Jaydan bought some really soft socks and a super soft blanket and so he is set as far as comfort goes...He would like me (mom) to send him his soft slippers though when I get a "love package" together.

He found a "bedazzled" watch on the side of the road and only the glass face was broke and it still worked so he is sending it home to Kimi and if she doesn't want it then Ivy can have it. He carefully got all the broken glass out with his pocket knife.

This coming week they are having a conference in Mercedes with President Arnold of the area 70 (or something). It's about a 2 to 3 hour bus ride from P-dew. Well that's about if for this week. Except Jaydan did mention again "I HATE DOGS HERE NOW OFFICIALLY" hahaha It was a good size dog too....not no dinky one. Jaydan will hit the next dog that tries to even come close to him...so they'd better not get close.

"Love you all so much...I hope you continue to think of me and don't forget about me". (not even possible)

"freakin" oober mucho amor de
THEE Elder Ropelato

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Electric Fence???

This week was pretty crazy and a lot of things happened. Yesterday (p-day) Jaydan's district and the district above him had to got to Montevideo to sign papers to become official Uruguayos. So Jaydan is officially now an American Uruguayo. (Jaydan said it's all good!)

The Elder Jaydan was with, Elder Alberthsen, who is also in Jaydan's zone was in charge of some crutches that they needed to take to a Sister missionary who is having foot problems. Well, Elder Alberthsen lost them during the day and they spent all day looking for then. Then everything was going wrong for them in getting tickets so that they could come back from Montevideo...but things worked out and they barely got back. That took up there p-day and so Jaydan quickly went in today and wrote a little. He was headed right back out to work since that is the important thing to be doing.

He ate at the only Burger King in Uruguay yesterday in Deo and actually liked it. He didn't really care for Burger King at home but after eating cow stomach, and cow insides, and even cow utters (which are not the best things to eat in Jaydan's opinion) he thought it was pretty good.

There is now an electric fence up across the roofs by Jaydan's house. He thinks it to keep the missionaries from roaming across the roofs and also from sleeping on them. Then Jaydan said: "do they really think an electric fence will stop Americans? It only works on Mexicans and really doesn't even stop them." hahaha

Jaydan's comp fell off the roof one day and hit his butt. Then one morning after sleeping on the roof Jaydan was coming down the rope that the Elders had built and he started slipping because it was a little wet and he had a lot of weight on his back. He decided to jump out from the wall but since he had his sandals on and the floor was wet he slipped and smacked his head on the brick wall. He said he hurt really bad but he didn't bleed. He has had so many injuries to his head in his life what is one more.

Jaydan will be speaking in Sacrament Meeting for the first time this Sunday. (we should pray for him) He is nervous since he is still so new to it all but knows that is will be good practice and that the Lord will be on his side. He has to talk about not being lazy as members since the ward needs to hear it. He said he will do it in a loving way but they really do need it.

Jaydan has another baptism this next week and two if the dad of the boys that he baptized will quit smoking. Jaydan prefers to work with people that want to take the Gospel seriously in their lives and who want to be sealed for eternity. He would much rather have less baptisms of people who are serious than more baptisms just for numbers. He doesn't like seeing people fall away after they have been baptized. ("Quality is a bunch more important in my book than Quantity")

Love you all and I'm glad that things are going good at home!

Love....THEE Elder Ropelato

Monday, August 9, 2010

A week of Change

This week was changes and so Jaydan said it was both "chill and hectic". They had the Elders from Young stay at their house so that they would be closer to the terminal. They also had another companionship staying with them since one of those Elders were leaving and you can't have an Elder alone. This way the single Elder would still be with a group and not alone. Since there were so many of them they decided to stay at the Church. Jaydan didn't really want to stay at the Church and didn't really feel good about it but he was out voted and so he went. He couldn't really sleep and only slept about an hour. They got up at 4:00 to take the first Elder to the terminal then came back and got another one to take at 5:00. After that drop Jaydan and the Zone leader and two other Elders went back to the Church because the other Zone Leader left their area and he had the keys to the Elders house. They wouldn't have a way to get back in until like 9:00 that night when he got back so now it was a good thing that they had all stayed at the Church. They were able to sleep until 7:00 and then they had to go pick an Elder up from the Airport. No one would go with the Zone Leader so Jaydan went with him. (not very much sleep on changes)

They went to lunch in their area around 1:00 when everything was done. They worked after that and Jaydan said it was hard since it was hot and he was so tired from not getting much sleep. (he got about 3 hrs) His comp however got lots of sleep and was ready to work. It was a hard day and having the other Elders stay with them until they could get back in to their house wasn't too bad except that they ate all the madarines. ("gosh darnit")

They had their District Meeting on Thursday instead of Tuesday because of the changes and it went longer since they had new missionaries they needed to get to know.

Jaydan is having a good day understanding things and then the next can be terrible again. He loves when he gets it!

They are teaching a girl named Suli and they love it because her and her mom always have tons of questions and are "fetching legit". I guess one night that they were talking with them Jaydan was in a bad mood because he wasn't understanding things and was taking a lot of crap from people and was messing up when he did try to talk. His comp wasn't giving him any opportunities to talk to Suli anyway. It was getting late and Jaydan knew that they should be leaving to catch the bus and his comp kept talking. He wasn't acting like he cared at all. Jaydan kept saying that they needed to leave and by the time they finally did the bus was coming. Jaydan was running to the bus and waved to the driver and so it was waiting for them. Then Jaydan looked back and his comp was just walking and so he waved the bus on. He asked his comp why he wasn't running to catch it and why he wasn't hurrying to leave. His comp just replied that it was fine. Jaydan didn't say anything after that since he didn't want to cause more contention but he was frustrated.

The boys that Jaydan got to baptize last week want to be sealed now. They just hope that the dad will get baptized on the 28th if he can quit smoking. They do everything good, like reading and praying and they are just really strong and really have the desire to be baptized. So, Jaydan feels like he is going to be fine.

Mucho amor de
Thee Elder Ropelato

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

First Blister!

(Jaydan got his first blister this week!)Jaydan had the last divisions of this change and when the other Elder came Jaydan was the one that had to get them around. He was a little nervous since he hasn't been there that long either. He got them around great though so he was thrilled about that. All the appointments had fallen through though and so they had to do a lot of "finding" which is the worst part. (Jaydan said that with "I'm not going to lie"...he doesn't enjoy finding people) He knows that the mission isn't all about fun and so that is a part of it he will just do because it's important. The language is coming little by little (really little) and Jaydan is still having a really hard time understanding people. He will recognize some words but they won't click in meaning or they sound so close to another word that has a totally different meaning. It's frustrating for him but he isn't any different from others learning a new language. He said he needs better "hears". I think he might of meant ears.


Jaydan was happy to say that he hasn't had anyone expose their bodies (boobies) to him lately and no dogs have gotten friendly with his legs. He hopes by saying that he doesn't jinx himself. (funny kid)


The divisions were okay but after Jaydan and his comp found a lady that was so happy to have them teach her. She was another religion and after the missionaries talked to her she was crying and when the missionaries left she was yelling to them down the street to not forget her and to please come back again. So Jaydan thought that was cool and they are going back to visit with her again today or tomorrow.


They had a baptism on Saturday that was really cool. Three little boys got baptized and Jaydan was able to baptize them. It was Jaydan's first time baptizing in Spanish and everything went really good. (he didn't mess up....those are his words) The little boys hated to pray before they were baptized but now they are fighting over who gets to pray....so that is cool for Jaydan to see. Their dad wants to get baptized too and is always reading and studying but he hasn't been able to quit smoking. They have another baptism on Saturday for the girl that had found the Book of Mormon and was reading it on her own. Jaydan said "she is way good".


After teaching another lady this week Jaydan was the one to say the prayer and the spirit was really strong and touched their hearts. (the lady was crying) He didn't slaughter it and his words were correct.


The mission is flying by....Jaydan can't quite believe how fast it is passing. Jaydan and his comp are both staying where they are at. His comp has been there for four changes and is now the new District Leader. Jaydan said they will get to know each other really good. Jaydan is pretty sure there will be a lot of divisions with this change.....he's thinking every week.


HOORAH FOR ISRAEL!
Thee Elder Ropelato