Mission Letters

Well this is it

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:26:11 +0000

Well all,
this is it, I cannot believe that my time has come to an end ya. That is just insane, I honestly feel as if I just started my mission. ANd the thought of leave just kills me. Okay so get this, the familia Bustamante from Salinas, came to see me today in Tres Cruses that made me sooo happy, I can hardly express how I happy I am that they came.

Okay a little infor for todos. Dad, I will be realesed alla en California at 4 pm in the capilla de Highland. okay i will be realesed in Cal in the church of HIghland. ummm

KIm: I will be arriving to Oakland through American Airlines at 11:54 in the afternoon, I will look forward to seeing you both there

Bekah can you please send this email to Aunt karen, that would be great.

Dad, wait am I sharing a room or ...I just don�t understand, just to warn you I have ALOT of stuff that was just packed in the best that I could. I will try to send stuff of to spokane. We�ll see what I can do.

Well, thank you all very much for writing. Thank you for all of your love and support I am looking forward to see you soon.

with much love
hna deb yorke

stress attacks body

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 15:20:47 +0000

Okay, so no one warned me to let me know that EVERYTHING goes wrong your last cambio.
So we moved back into our house, our origanal house on Tuesday finaly thank goodness, I needed to get into my own house. Now the only thing is, is that I got sick this week too. On Monday my stomach was hurting all day, and by that night around 8 pm I just was not feeling good at all. That night I didn�t sleep at all I was awake every hour with the strong feeling that I was going to throw up. So on tuesday my poor companion packed everything into the car. i basically lifted myself out of bed to get into the car, and up the stairs to our house. Where I got into bed and stayed there for the last two days. I never did throw up and i am not sure if it is something that i ate or what but i am pretty sure that a big part of it is stress.

I today still feel really crapy and very weak. But it sucks soo badly because I only have a week left to work and here I am sick. But...I am just going to keep on going and pray that I will be back to normal soon, especaily before I get home. Yesterday the Hna Ashby called me to see how I was feeling and kind of got upset becaue I hadn�t gotten a blessing yet. So yesterday afternoon the zl came by and gave me a blessing. THe Hna Ashby said that she wanted me to get a blessing crawl back into bed and have the faith to let the blessing work. I woke up this morning almost feeling normal. But now... after actually doing stuff... Don�t feel so hot.

ANyways besides that whole drama...things are pretty good. I didn�t hear from many of you this week so I hope all is well. Don�t be embrassed to not write me ... especaily next week I WILL be checking my email. ANd you know what would be the best, is if I recieve an email from EVERYONE in the familia for the first time in my whole mission.

Anyways...we still need to find big time here in Ferroviario so... me being sick and out of working isn�t helping the work at all here. Please keep us in your prayers and the hearts of the people here so that they will open up to our message.

The friend of Esther-Juan Carlos (Cacho), well, he disapeared last week and we couldn�t find him. So we were really worried and bumbed that one of our only two invest. who are really going anywhere disappeared. Well great news... he came back this week, he had to take a trip to ROcha a different departamento to see or help his mom or something yo que s�. But he�s back now. So please keep him in your prayers.

Okay well, my energy is getting lower and lower so i am going to let you all go. my stomach hurts. But i love you all, and look forward to reading your emails next week.
love
hna deb yorke

it �s freezing in Uruguay

Hermana Yorke — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 18:00:57 +0000

Hola todos,
Okay so I am a day early I know it is because myldsmail will be down tomorrow. So...i might check my mail again on friday so that i can recieve my emails that have not yet been sent.

Well, let me think... we had the baptism on saturday and it went pretty well,there weren�t too many people there,por lomenos, everyone that was to participate in the program was there and the familia of Esther and Matias and then maybe 3 other people. But out of those 3 other people it is a friend of Esther and her husband and we are now teaching him. His name is Juan Carlos or Cacho as they call him. He is basically oro. He was listening years ago and told Esther after the baptism that he wanted to be baptized. WE taught him a first last night and it went pretty good. although it was a little crazy in thehouse last night.

I am very happy with the decision we have made, although we are now starting to pay for it. YOu see as I said the prest. of r.s. didn�t agree with it... she didn�t sustain esther in sacrament meeting. ANd now is making our livesa nightmare. Just being really mean and cruel. And it just makes me so sad because... we had a really good relationship with her and now... it is totaly different. ANd the fact that she is just blinded by her pride it is so sad. it islike sheis 15 and jealous or something. Usually the comments are made towards me... so I am hoping that she thinks that it was I who made the decision and that I just convinced my companion to go along with it so that when I am gone it won�t be too bad for my companion. SHe just makes childish comments like..."poor guy who ends up marring la hna yorke" or telling us that we�ve gained weight (which actually we have dang it, because of the family we are living with). or saying stuff about the other new converts about how they trust her more then us.

I wish Icould just sit her down and talk to her like adults, about how... well one... we have no right to judge, and she has no right to decided who she will and won�t fellowship it is her calling whether she likes the person or not. BUt more talk to her and say "look I am sorry that you don�t understand why we baptized Esther but you know what I KNOW that it was what we were supposed to do."

But oh well, what cha gonna do. So we move back home on Friday adn I am so excited. It has been really nice to live there but tambien...like i said i�ve gainned weight. And this way i can controll a couple of things better and start jogging in the mornign.

Oh my goodness it has been so cold this week, you know how i said that it wasn�t really cold well,ever since that letter i have been freezing inpresionante.

Okay well, sorry but i dont�have too much time and this keyboard really kind of sucks. I love ya all. and hope to hear from you soon.

hey sparky... como andas...algo nuevo? como te sientes...estas vomitando o algo asi? Dime no he escuchado nada por un bueno rato...manda mis saludos a Drew ta? Te quiero.

bueno I love you all
love
hna deb yorke

the lessons we learn

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 12:41:27 +0000

Hola,
HOLY COW!!! Well yesterday I cumplited 18 meses en la mision. If that isn�t weird I don�t know what else is.

Well I must say that we have had probably the strangest winter. Okay I know I have only been through one but this is nothing like the other one. We have had only about 14 days of cold in the whole winter time (well at least that is how it feels) and that was in the end of May and June. We are now in July and it is just about always humid and hot, although we are getting some rain today.

Anyways, well, we had an interesting week, I can hardly believe that it is already thursday. That is insane. The temple was really good on Saturday, Beatriz was unable to go but Agueda went. And she just loved it.

We are doing well in the house of the familia martinez although it is still strange to me. But we heard last night that our house is just about done, on Monday after the entravistas Prest. Ashby will go by and check out the house and then we should be able to move back on Tuesday. It really has been wonderful to live with the familia martinez but i will not lie I am excited to move back to our house.

Okay so we have a baptism this saturday which is good. It is a women named Ester and her 8 yr old son Matias, she has been listening to the lessons for 2 yrs now, but has been waiting for some papers to get married. It is kind of a long story, but just a briefe. Her background is not that great. She has 14 kids, only 5 live at home and 2 of those 5 are already baptized and we will baptize matias on saturday. It has been really hard with this situation.

As I explained in my letter to the prest. this week it is amazing how words can be like poison and it is being fed to us with out even noticing, like leonti in Alma 47. But since we got here some people have been telling us nothing but bad stuff about her, i tried to form my own opnion but after time it just kind of went with the flow of what they were saying. sorry no time but, we as a companionship had to make a really tough decision whether or not ester would be baptized, the prest. de sociodad del socorro said that she and her presidency would not support the baptism at all and none of them would go. she believes that she should not be baptized,and i did too.

but after talking to prest. ashby things changed a bit, he said "hna i can�t make this decision you have to but all i have to say is that if you are going to make an error make on the side of mercy just as christ would do and did do many times". That made me think alot, and it is so true. Christ said "he who is without sin let him cast the first stone". i have no right and had no right to judge... that is all there is to it. Ester will be baptized and I believe we have upset Ana ( the prest. of R. S.) quite a bit, and it hurts, hurts to disapoint her or have her not want to talk to us or trust us, but. The salvation of this women is more important. It was a hard situation, because no one could tell us what to do. Only we have the power to recieve revelacion for our area and investigadores.

It is funny how if heavenly father wants us to learn something he�ll make sure we do si o si. It is hard to express in a quick e mail exactly everything but it is a lesson that i don�t ever want to forget.

just so everyone knows today have no time so sorry, there will be no personal emails. Bekah i am glad to hear that you enjoyed your trip. Bear... sorry... and i am glad that you are okay. Rachel thanks,

Kimberly thanks, and thank you for being so great. I wrote Kim Jacobsen so if you want to call her that would be good to. I would love to see her.

I love you all so very much
love hna deb yorke

wow what a week

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:24:11 +0000

Hola,
What a week, what a week. Well actually it�s been a long couple of weeks.
So I think I should feel you all in on the house problem a little better first. So as I said our bathroom had a leak for a long time. About 2 weeks ago our due�o came up to the house ( we live above the garage of our due�os) and saw what kind of condition it is in. And let me just tell you that they have the nicest Guayan house that I have EVER seen. Well anyways there is a member (not going to lie and older lady who likes to be in everyones business) who is the cousin of our due�o. so anyways friday the 7 of Agosto they all came over and this lady tells us (she is part of the other rama so we don�t even know her)... that we are going to be movin in with her on monday or tuesday (of last week), and then the workers would come and fixed the house. She said "don�t worry we�ve already talked to the mission prest. and it�s all been approved". Yeah all this done without consulting us or our zone leaders, so we were both pretty ticked off.

Well, monday comes around and we start packing and we call her to see if we can come move in and she says no, that she�s not ready and until some man from Montevideo comes that we were not to go anywhere. then on Tuesday a different member the one that is going to repaint the whole house comes, expecting us to not be there. Says that we need to be out by tomorrow (wed) so that he can start. We call our leaders talk to them, call up this member and she says that no we can�t move in... she basically likes to be in charge of everything. Mean while I am not to thrilled to have to move during my last cambio especailly not to live with someone I DON�T KNOW. Who doesn�t understand the life of a missionary how we come and go we study we don�t hang out and chat. The Uruguayans love to chat.

Anyways so finally we decide to drop the subject and I decided "I don�t care, I am not going to let this run my life... the work must go on."
So Monday 17 Julio we have zone conf. and afterwards the Prest and his wife and the asst. all come over to our house ( thank goodness it was basically clean because we were not expecting that they didn�t tell us until we got to the conf.) Anyways prest wasn�t too happy with what has happened to the house and really doesn�t want to have problems. He said that work was to be started asap. The zone leaders asked me how quickly we could move and I told him I would call the member. I call her and she says that she hasn�t heared anything and that we can�t move in yet. I asked her serveral times "when is the soonest we can move in" She said "I am going to call Hno. Blanco (the man that will be painting the house) and I will find out this this and this ." I put my foot down and in a nice way told her that she isn�t allowed to do that. That the leaders are the ones in charge and I would be calling them to find out. I don�t think she was too happy about that.
Sorry really long story
So anyways that night at about 9 pm the zone leaders called me and said that si o si we had to be out of the house by ma�ana (tuesday). I tried to call the hna ALL night and there was no one home. Tuesday morning we got up and got to work I finally got a hold of her at about 9 am and told her that we had to move in that day and that i tried to let her no sooner and pidi disculpas. Well she said that we couldn�t move in, that she couldn�t do it tuesday or wed. I told her "hna we have no choice we have to move si o si today" and she said "well who told you that" "our leaders" I told her.

I then called the zone leaders and let them know how frustrated i was and how much I DIDNOT want to move in with her. They said to try to talk to her one more time and that if we really couldn�t we would figure something out. Well i finally got ahold of her again and talked with her she said okay to 4:00 o�clock to move in. The zone leaders would be ther to help and so would a member with a van (one of the few members with cars that we have).

Well she came by at 2 and asked if we were ready I said no. That I had said 4 and that we have a lot of stuff. As much as I told her she would not listen she was convinced that we only had clothes.

Well 4 o�clock comes around, we get most of it loaded up not all, ( we had to bring our mattresses because she didn�t have some for us) anyways, my companion and i go by to ask her a question... it�s only about a block and a half away, and she for the first time (because she kept saying no we couldn�t see the room) for the first time showed us the room.

Oh my goodness this room was sooo tiny, there was not enough room for anything, maybe for eather my stuff or my companions but not even, no room at all. We went back to the leaders and told them.

To make this super long story a little bit shorter, we are now living with the family that has the van. They live afuera, en el campo... yup I now know how it feels to live aboutt a mile from your neighbor. We are living with a GUAYAN family. It�s the familia that we passed pday with last week. It is definantly weird.

I�ve decided that it is the lord telling me "whether you are ready or not you little mission bubble is going to pop." Yup, there is the mom, dad two daughters one that has 27 yrs and the other 17 yrs, the 27 yr old is not active and has a 3 yr old boy, so I thiknk that is to help me to get ready to live with wyatt. :)

It�s weird, the tv is always going the radio they move about doing their thing... the tv ALWAYS ON. I am not so sure that I like that.

Okay so ... a little bit of a break from the crazy life that i am in right now... oh yeah they said that it should only take about 2 weeks to fix the house. I hope so, I love it here but i just want to be in my house... plus i feel bad that they have to take us into town and pick us up EVERYDAY.

okay so ... on saturday... i rolled my ankle. It is still pretty swollen and definantly different colors. We couldn�t work on Sat. sunday we took it slowly ... it still hurts a bit and i can�t walk at full speed.

Let�s see, on monday we had my last zone conf. Man was that weird, and i had to give my sabio testimony that is deffinantly something that i never thought and never wanted to happen.

This saturday we will be going to the temple with Beatriz and Agueda and the sociodad del Secorro and I am so excited, they are just the cutest. and they are friends now.

Okay well ... I think that I am going to let you all go now, it�s been kind of a long crazy letter.

I love you all much and konw that you are all in my prayers
love hna deb yorke

what a week

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:30:05 +0000

Hola todos,
Well, I can�t believe that yet another week has gone by that is absolutly insane to me, but at the same time I am glad that finally this week is finally over. It was such a long week and it all started last monday on teh 3 of July. Pero por suerte the baptisms went very well and the both of them are doing very good.

The only thing is that it rained and rained and rained that night. There was such a storm that it shock the capilla and there was a tone of lightening and thounder.

Well, I can�t believe that I have entered into this tapa de mi mision. I have to have my pdays planned out very very well to make sure that I get everything done that I want to do. Today we decided to make it a girls day and so we are here at the house of a member just kind of hanging out. We made pancakes and they are making luch the classic �iokis which I will be sure to make for you all when I get home. We are also just going to enjoy this time together. WE are with the two missioneras de rama Paul and Patricia they are 17 and 16 and they are just wonderful.

Well, next week is the time that is coming which I never thought would come and to tell you the truth which I never wanted to come. WE are having our zone conf next week which means it will be the time for me to give my sabio testimoni. YIKES!!!!! That is not supposed to happen.

A ver, still trying to find, haven�t had too much luck this week, and the problem with our house isn�t helping. Oh that�s right I didn�t tell you. our house is messed up. It was really really dirty when we got there we cleaned alot and have just kind of gotten used to living there. Well our bathroom has had a leak this whole time and now it is dripping down to the house of our due�os.

Well, I will cut this drama short because the truth of the matter is that I am sick of dealing with it and it is just getting annoying. But the gist of it is that the mission has to pay to fix up the house and everything and we have to move out while they work, there is a lady we don�t know who without telling us planned everything talk to the district prest. because this is a district not a stake who talked to the mission prest. well more like the asstents and it has been decided we would live with her. I explained to the asst. that she is not even in our Rama and that we don�t konw her, and that it is weird and going to be hard. If it is for two weeks like they say then that is fine. We don�t know no one is telling us anything.

Well I am just all together sick of it. So I am not going to talk about it anymore. Okay well, I am going to let you all go. I love you all very much and hope that all is well.

love
hna deb yorke

holy stinking cow...

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 20:14:50 +0000

Hola,
Holy Cow!!!!! I cannot believe how fast this cambio has gone by, it is absolutly insane. I almost feel as if I am sufficating at the thought of lacking so much time.
So today we got to go to Montevideo even though we did not have cambios. Yup I am still with the Hna Stanfield which means that I have a total of two companions that I will be with for more then 6 weeks. But anyways, we went to Montevideo because we had a special mission conference. The first time ever in my whole mission that I was together with the whole entire mission. We had a special conference to meet the new mission Prest and his wife. Prest. Ashby. They seem really really nice and that it they are just going to be wonderful. I am really sad that I will not be around for longer to get to know them better.

The Hna Ashby doesn�t speak spanish but Prest. does... his spanish is a little rusty but I guess that is what happens when you pass 30 yrs. without using it a whole lot. I dont�know if I told you all but he served his mission here in Uruguay back when it was the Uruguay Paraguay mission. And then his son is here in this mission too. So that is also interesting.

It is weird to have such a young prest but cool at the same time. They have 8 kids but only two that are here with them a boy who is 16 and a little girl who is 10 I believe. They are cute, the little girl Anni sang Soy un hijo de Dios. It was so cute to see her trying to pronounce the words. It�s strange, but I like it at the same time.

Well, I got a chance to see hna Christianson and the two elders from my mtc district Elders Peterson y Chandler and we took a pic together one last time. I cannot believe that Hna Christianson is going home. And I got to see the Hna Neighbor too, that made me soo happy I just love her soo much. She really is the companion that turn out to be more of a sister then anythone else.

Anyways, So this week... well, I got the oportunidad to talk to the new prest. before most people. See we will be having two baptisms on Saturday, Agueda y Beatriz... yup that�s right Beatriz quite smoking. And I am sooo happy... I knew that she could do it. And then there is Agueda who is just amazing... I feel like she is my golden convert... 5 weeks she is getting baptized after 5 weeks... no more 4 weeks because we didn�t meet her until about the 2nd week here. But she was being taught by the elders before and just wasn�t going anywhere. Anyways, on Monday night we found out something, and found out that Agueda would need to be interviewed by the mission prest. The sad thing is that he wasn�t going to be able to come over here until next week and so we were going to have to change her fecha which I really didn�t want to do, and neather did he. Well, we worked it all out and she will be interviewed by the zone leaders and be able to be baptized on Saturday... I am so very excited. Now I just hope that the rama comes out to support us.

Anyways, so right now the world cup is goign on and really you can�t go anywhere with out hearing about it or seeing parts of it. I was rutting for Paraguay but they lost a long time ago. Yesterday, France beat Portugaul which means that on sunday will be the big game France against Italia. We will see who will win.

Anyways, I hope that everyone is doing well. Remember that you are all in my prayers and please keep my investigadores in your prayers too, and that we will be able to find people to teach becasue we really don�t have that many.

bueno
les quiero
hna deb yorke

all is well, and back out to work

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:48:30 +0000

Hola familia,
Bueno, all is well with my companion but that is after the 6 days that we had in the house. I thought a couple of times that I might go insane... from being in the house so much. But she is now back to normal and it feels good to be out in the streets again. Although I was able to cumplir with my meta to finish the book of Mormon in spanish before the end of this cambio. And finished yesterday. I now have six weeks to cumplir with my other meta which is to read the book of Mormon, well no study it one more time in english before I go home. We�ll see what happens.

Well, this cambio sure has gone by fast... it amazes me and I can hardly believe that it is almost July. We got to see the Prest. one last time last friday as he and the assitants and the lideres de Zona came to our house to check it out and make sure it was clean and kind of take an inventory. I believe that they did all this... because of the fact that the new prest. is coming in this saturday. Wow... that is insane I can hardly believe that in just two days Pte. Betancourth will no longer be here. I wonder what entravistas will be like... I assume that they will be in english seeing how he is from Arizona but that will be strange not doing them in spanish.

Anywho, We had to change the fecha bautismal of Beatriz for next saturday on the 8 because she was still smoking. I know she can stop. She has such a desire to be baptized... we did a good lesson with her on Tuesday and we took all of her ash trays, and she ripped up her cigarillos and we made her a new caja of cigarillos with scriptures and pictures of christ and jose smith on each one and then we covered her caja with pictures of christ. I was so excited and was praying that this would work. Yesterday I called to check on her around 3 right before we left for the afternoon and she had gone out and bougt another box. My heart just sunk at that thought. We talked a bit and I bajared the ca�a sobre ella, and told her that she had to throw that box away right then. She is amazing never lies to us. And so she did.

We had a reliefe society actividad last night and both she and Agueda went... agueda is another story which i will tell in just a minute...but anyways... Beatriz came and really enjoyed her self I was so happy to see her there and making friends but even more to know that she was in the capilla and could feel the spirit and would not be tempted to smoke.

This morning I called her and she is doing good and has not smoked since I bajared la ca�a. YEAH!!!!

Then there is Agueda... just wonderful and changing every day. She is amazing. I know that the lord sent us here to help her. She really wasn�t goign anywhere with the Elders. But anyways. On friday she said she would go to church if it wasn�t rainning... because it is pretty far away... then we found a member with a car who said they would pick her up... we said they would be there at 8:30 and it was pooring on saturday. We didn�t know that the members were going to pick us up first so we just went to chruch. The members then got there without Agueda... and we figured out the confusion. We got in the car and went straight to the house of Agueda... she said that she was just about to leave to walk to church... alone... I love it when the investigadores are just soo firm that you don�t even have to worry.

She came to the actividad on her own last night and looked liek she really enjoyed it. We went to her house before for a lesson and then were going to walk together, she wasnt�there and then was at the capilla before we got there.

But the cutest thing of alll would have to be on Monday when we had a lesson with her, I asked her if she believed that the book of MOrmon was true and her response was "Well of course... if not I would not be goign to church". I love it! She then gave the cuttest closing prayer. and prayed "and please bless the Hna that she doesnt�leave... I know that she only has a little bit of time left but I dont�want her to leave becasue i have taken much cari�o with her"....I just wanted to cry... she is so wonderful. She has a fecha for the 8 of July too.

She met Beatriz for the first time on Sunday... and it was interesting... I had never thought about the fact that they think that they are the only ones that we are teaching... they dont�know. And she was surprised to find out that there was someone else. We explained that they would be baptized together and they both looked pretty content.

Well...We will be getting the cambio call this sunday night... I can hardly believe that...the truth is that it kind of makes me sick to my stomache at the thought of it. But I can�t believe how fast it came... I feel like it was just barly cambio sunday... I was hoping to train one more time and have a good experience with it... but there are no hna�s coming in ... but oh welll the lord knows what he is doing. I don�t really expect any cambios with us... I am almost positive that we will stay together... although I wouldn�t be surprised if the Hna Stanfield left and went up to co compa�era mayor and if I got some one and we were co comps... that happens quite often. But what ever happens happens... and it is done because it is what the Lord wants...

Eather way we will be going to 3 cruses igual... I want to go see hna Christianson one more time, as she will be going home next week and the Hna diaz tambien. Then it will give me a chance to get a foto with the two elders that were in my mtc district and hna christianson one last time the four of us. And of course time to see my friends like elder Rodriguez. I am so excited.

Well, I believe that i have made this email long enough... and my hands are just freezing. Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. I lvoe you all very much. Que sigan adelante, y recuerden el permio en el fin... una familia eterana!

Keep it up and remember the reward in the end an eternal familia
Love
hna Deb Yorke

In Deo

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 13:54:22 +0000

Hello all,
Well, this week went by pretty fast, all except for tuesday. I got a little sick this weekend and we had to stay in for part of the day on saturday. Well, anyways, my companion woke up around 3 am on tuesday morning throwing up... it was like clock work, she through up every half hour on the half hour. Needless to say we were in house all day on Tuesday. We went out to work yesterday morning and then had to come back in I found someone to do divisiones and went out for about two hours. It felt good to get out of the house. But then the members had to go home...which was okay i guess especially since we had nothing fijado...which means i probably would have been just walking around anyways...

Bueno, so I have been calling the Hna Betancourth about my companion quite a bit and yesterday night when I called again ( because she is having weird stomach pains) She said that was it and we had to call the hospital and set up an appointment right then for today. Well...our phone wasn�t working yesterday we could recieve calls but not call anyone except for la casa de la mision and the officinas because the are 800 numbers. Anyways so we had to try and find a neighbor that is home so that we could use their phone and call the cell phone of this doctor. And it is very expensive to call cell phones here. Well to make a long story short... we are in Montevideo ahora... We were going to come and pasiar...but I always wanted to see what the Hospital Britanico looked like...and my goal is still going go (I put the goal to never have to go there for myself).

My companion is okay the doct said last night that it might have been her apendix but thank goodness it wasn�t she has what is called Gastrocuterocolitis Viral... which is basically a fancy way of saying... she has a weird virus in her digestiv system.

Anyways... so not much more is going on here. Being in the house so much...well it�s not too bad... but there are times that i feel s if i am going to go insane. But don�t worry I will be fine... LUckly this happend now insidce of the cambio que viene.

Okay well, I was glad to hear from all of you and hear that all is going well. I can�t believe how quickly time flies...Sometimes I feel like I just barly got to Florida and then I look at my agenda and see that we are moving quickly into week five and to me that is just insane. The good news is that...we are not lost all of the time anymore and we don�t have to have a member showing us everywhere to go.

Well, I think I will let you all go... Sorry this letter isn�t all that interesting. I will try to have more interesting things next week for you all.

I love you all very much
love
hna Deb Yorke

sorry about last week

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:35:41 +0000

Hello all,
I would first like to start off by appoligizing to everyone because i wasn�t the nicest at the beginning of my e mail. I had a hard week last week and not hearing anything did kind of put me down, and I took it out on my email when I shouldn�t have so... I am very sorry.

Okay well, this week has been a very good week. Although Ithink that I am coming down with a cold again. But other then that the Lord is really blessing us here in Ferroviario. The mission prest. sets normas for every week, for every zone of what we should accomplish, our goals. And in every zone the goal is to have at least 10 lessons with member present. The first presidency says we should have at least 15 but it changes with each mission and area. Anyways, so every zone has that goal except for the zone of Florida because well the truth is that the zone really isn�t doing that great. So our goal is to have at least 8 lessons with member present every week. Well, like I said the lord is really blessing us here right now. We have our 8 lessons already and that is with not working too much yesterday because of Zone Conference and if things keep going as we have planned out... we could have alot more this week.

We are working hard and trying to find... so far we have found 2 new invest. this week, meanwhile we are working with the invest. that the elders left and trying to get them progressing. The area is good. It is really very big. It kind of reminds me of Toledo but ... with alot more campo... alot more. THere is soo much campo here. In our actual area there are maybe two or three roads that are paved... well in one part in the other part, just about all are paved. The area is broken up into sections mas o menos, but it is good.

Right now we have a women named Beatriz who will be getting baptized soon, I am so very excited for her. Then there is another women named Agueda whom the elderes were teaching. She came to church this week on her own. and it was a really really cold day too. I was soo happy. She describes what she feels while reading the book of mormon as if she were floating on air. She is starting to learn more and more that it is the holy ghost testifing to her. She is now praying about a fecha bautismal. I am soo excited for her. She is just a wonderful women.

So yesterday we had our last zone conference with Presidente Betancourth and the Hna Betancourth. It deffinantly was the sadest zone confe. that I have ever had. In the end we all got to say good bye seperatly. And we all got a hug from Prest. The first time in my whole mission. I have always watched the elders as the prest. comes in and gives them a hug. Watched in awe wondering when I would get to do that. And the truth is that it felt as if I was huging my grandpa good bye. The grandpa I didn�t really ever have. I am going to miss them soo much. i really love them alot. I konw taht the new prest. and his wife are goign to be really good. His name is prest. Ashby and he is from Az. He is actually the bishop of my oro. So she is very happy.

The hna Betancourth is soo very funny. she has no verguenza when telling someone if they have ganned or lost weight. As she was saying goodbye to me she said..."keep losing weight you look beautiful, and let me know when you are getting married". I couldn�t help but laugh, quite a bit.

Well I am trying to think of anything else i could tellyou all. I am trying to work hard, aside from be tired alot... but whatcha gonna do? Well, I love you all very much. You are all in my prayers.

Love
hna Deb Yorke

greetings

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 14:17:29 +0000

Hola,
Hey thanks so much you guys for all of the emails that you have been sending me. Oh wait what emails... incase you have the address wrong it is disneydebsinuruguay@myldsmail.net. Now none of you have any excuses for not emailing me.

Anyways, so let me let you guys in on a little bit about Uruguay. During winter time there are two extreems, really really cold, and then really really humid where all you want is for it to rain. Then it finally does rain and it is a very humid rain. Well, yesterday was the very very humid day, but the problem is that the houses are all very tricky and it is like 10 times colder in the house then out of the house. So we always leave the house all bundled up and then find out that is a whole lot warmer then we thought. Yesterday I had tights on all day and it was soo hot. Today it feels a whole lot more humid then yesterday. But what�cha gonna do?

Okay, so as I explained we... don�t have a whole lot of investigadores right now, so we are once again in the process of trying to find, not only that but contact all of the investigadores that the elders left behind that weren�t going anywhere and try to see if they are interested or not... and then at the same time... the stupid leaders are telling us to go visit menos activos, but oh wait, then all they talk about is how important it is for us to �visit all the active members with in the first two weeks or else we are just two normal missionaries� direct quote from my district leader. Oh an don�t forget that we have to make our twenty contacts a day.

But we are trying to do all that we can. One thing that it is hard for them to understand is that our area is humungus. It is soo big and we are trying to do it all, and focus on the most important things at the same time which is ... our investigadores that are progresando. ahhhhh
they just drive me nuts.

Melo, was a very good united zone that i miss alot, but now i am here in Florida and I really like it, I like the area alot, but... the zone... well let�s just say that they are not as united and not to mention the fact that I am in a zone with a bunch of Elders that are Hermana haters. Or in other words that don�t like to hang out or even talk to us because we are hermanas. Yo que se. But they annoy me.

Okay now that I got that off of my chest. We really did have a very good week. Meeting Elder Perry was very cool. And I thought that that was going to be our zone conference for this cambio which made me sad... because it is the last cambio of Pres. Betancourth, but good news is that it is not our zone conference... we still will be having one next week. I am wondering how this is all going to be with the new pres. coming in and everything.

Anyways, so right now we are teaching a women named Beatriz and she is soo very cute. She has gone from smoking two packs of cigarillos a day which is about 40 to 10 in one week. We talked about fasting and prayinig last week and we all fasted last weekend and she has just had such a turn around. I love the power of a good fast. I had the oportunidad to fast quite a bit while i was in Salinas for the familia Bustamante, and I really did see the blessing from that as I am now here with Beatriz. She is jsut so wonderful and has opened up so much with in these two weeks that we have been here. And we started to teach her husband Hector on Sunday he is only there on the weekends but I really think that he is gong to move along real well too.

Okay well, not much here in Guay... trying to do all that I can ... and disfrutar de cada dia que tengo...aprovechar... un amigo me dijo un d�a mas es un d�a menos... y escribio esto en mi almuada asi que lo veo cada d�a. ONE DAY MORE IS ONE DAY LESS.... silly silly have to do all Ican while I am here.

Well I hope and pray that everyone is doing welll.... I have to be going but I love you all very much
love
hna deb yorke

made it through the week

Hermana Yorke — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 14:56:43 +0000

Hola to all,
Well, we made it through this first week. It was a bit hard and my body was just plane exhausted. As you have all figured out, today is not thursday. Actually it is Saturday, they changed our pday this week which just wore me out seeing how i didn�t exactly get one last week. The thing is that, there is this holiday like thing today the 3 of Junio called San Cono and it is only here in the departamento de Florida. I don�t know exactly what it is, i have heard different stories but aparently it has something to do with a boy who was in a fire don�t konw how, but he wsa in one and he didn�t die. And this was a long long time ago in Italy, and then someone brought this statue to Florida Uruguay and now every year this is this big giant feria every 3 of Junio. So anyways they changed our pday. Man was my body just beat.

We got here, to our house last week and... well, let�s just say that i was ready to cry. I was already a bit nervous. But the house was so disgusting. I don�t know how elderes can live like this. We had to spend the whole weekend cleaning. I spent two hours on the bathroom which by the way has no toilet seat... still trying to get a round to buying that ... and my companion spent three hours on the Kitchen. The rest of the house we cleaned together and we were finally able to unpack and move in on Sunday. We are in a little tiny rama. How fun I haven�t been in a rama since Toledo. It is called Ferroviario. That first thursday night was an adventure. They left a map, that isn�t very good. We have basically no investigadores, and alot of the registros don�t have addresses. We have last names and phone numbers. But when we got here, we didn�t konw who our lider misional was or tampoco our prest. de la rama. It was an interesting experience.

But the good news is that the rama is very cute and very good to us. We are the first hermanas ever to be here. They have wanted them for a while and the truth is that they want us only to help with the relief society, but ... we are going to work hard igual. They didn�t liek the last elders that were here, so we right now are trying to win the hearts of the members. The area is huge, and mostly campo. Every day I think we walk by at least fifty cows and horses. it is funny, it is different then any other area that I have had. we live in the area of the other elders and then walk to our area every day. Alot of dirt roads and fields. It is alot of fun.

We have spent this week just trying to get used to the area and trying to get to know it a bit. this next week should be good as we work on trying to get ot know all the members and where they live.

So my companion is the Hna Stanfield, she if from phenox Arizona. She has six months in the mission and came in with my hija la hna mortensen. She is very cool and we get along. And craziest thing is that her brother was in my branch in the mtc. So nuts and small this world no.

Anyways so time for the big news..... you ready for this on monday.... I will .... for the first time in my life... have the oportunidad... to meet an apostle of the Lord. Yup that�s right an apostle is coming here to the little country of Uruguay. El Elder L. Tom Perry, is coming acutally tomorrow and doing a special fireside for the young single adults. and then a Zone conf. for us, for half of my mission and half of the other. Just like Elder Bednar did, the good news is that... this time I am close enough to go.

I am sooo excited. okay well I am trying to forward my flight information ... hopefully it will get to you all.

I really have to be going now. i love you all very much. Thank you for all of your emails, love and support.

love much
hna deb yorke

off to the railroad tracks

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 25 May 2006 13:22:11 +0000

hello everyone,
well another change has come and gone. This one has been one of those long but short changes. But what I can�t believe is that I have so few left. I just love the fact that everyone here in 3 cruses keeps reminding me how much time I have left.

Well, yup right now I am in 3 cruses and I did get changed. I am headed off to the departemento de Florida. An area named Ferroviario. But the thing is that I am doing a White Wash. Don�t know if you guys remember what that is but that is where they but two new missionaries in that don�t know the area. I have always kind of wanted to do a white wash but have also been so very nervous at the same time. My new companion is the Hna Stanfield and I believe she is from Utah, but I a m not sure. We will see, right now I am still hanging out with hna Neighbor.

Anywho, Viriginia one of our few investigadores has a fecha bautismal and will be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. I am so happy for her. She is so much more happy now that she has the gospel and you can really note that. She is squizo. So we have had some harder times. She was actually suicidal last week, but recieved a blessing which helped tremendously.

Well, I don�t know much of what to tell you guys I am acutally here with my Corto Plazo Veronica Dos Santos, so that is really nice. That is one of the great things about cambios is see the people that you love.

i hope that all is well with you guys, and ihope to hear from you soon
love ya much
love hna deb yorke

p.s. tell the lungernes I say hi

not much has changed

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 18 May 2006 16:54:08 +0000

HOLA,
Bueno, it was really good to talk to everyone. I couldn�t believe how long we talked for. I was pretty tired on Monday but that has now passed. It was so good to hear everyones voice and hear how they are all doing. I cannot believe that Wyatt is soo big and is talking soo much, that is amazing to me. How the time flies without even noticing. You really do feel like you are just in another world while on the mission.

Well, things are going okay here in Col�n. They are getting a little bit better. Every wed night we do an actividad para la obra misional, we have a movie night, and last night we had a pretty good turn out, which made me very happy. The obispo is getting a bit better which makes me happy too. Then this saturday we are having a choque de fuerza, which is when all the missionaries get together in one area to work it for a while and try and help find more investigadores. We will be having that this saturday afternoon, which is very good. I just hope that we will see some good results.

Well, this is the last p day of this cambio, which is kind of crazy. It has certainaly been a crazy emotional roller coaster cambio. And then Sunday night we will find out about cambios, if I stay or if I will be going. I honestly just have no idea. So we will see. I did write my letter to the Pres. Rebekah, but I have no idea when he is going to get it and read it.

Anyways, so I am trying to see if there is anything new to tell you all. really not much has changed. It�s been a hard long week too. I think that every week in Col�n is a long hard week. But anyways it�s the obra del Se�or.

Oh yeah, so for today the Zone Leaders put my companion and I incharge of the acitividad de zona, because we always do an actividad as a zona every thursday and we did a pretty good job, everyone seemed to enjoy it. We ate pancakes, played sardins and watched a movie. I haven�t played sardins in sooo long. But it certainly was a lot of fun.

Well anyways I think that I am going to let you all go now, I pray that all is well. Thank you soo much for all that you do for me.

love youall very much
love hna deb yorke

not much has changed

Hermana Yorke — Thu, 18 May 2006 16:54:07 +0000

Well anyways I think that I am going to let you all go now, I pray that all is well. Thank you soo much for all that you do for me.

love youall very much
love hna deb yorke