March 23, 2015

Hey sweet fam!!!

Okay let me just start out by saying I am so grateful for little Juan Lacaze, Uruguay!!!  Every time we´re walking around Juan Lacaze, I love looking at all the trees, buildings, and people, and thinking about how during the first nineteen years of my life, I had no idea this little corner of the world existed.  But now, this little place has become such a big part of my life.

And do you know why Juan Lacaze is just so special?  Let me give you a few reasons:

·                     The people here are honestly the friendliest.  I especially love the people who work in the fruit stand near our house.  Every day, we walk by this fruit stand and the people treat us like we´re royalty.  They take a little break from working to give us besos or handshakes, ask us how our day is going, or say sweet things.  I am so grateful for the fruit stand people!!

·                     Some of the streets are cobblestone and some of the houses have vines.  I love it because it reminds me of a fairy tale!

·                     Juan Lacaze has the most beautiful trees.  I don´t really know how to describe them...the trunks are kind of like camouflage and the branches are super short but these trees, they´re great!

·                     Dogs ALWAYS follow us.  The other day, this little white dog was just following and following us.  We had a lesson with a sweet lady in our branch named Margarita.  Out of nowhere, during the middle of the lesson, we heard something pounding really hard on her door.  We thought it was a person, but no.  This little white dog was knocking its head on the door because she wanted to come in!  We ended up finding the little white dog´s house and returning her...don´t worry!

·                     There are so many stands to buy fresh pasta and ravioli.  YUM!  Uruguay really has a huge Italian influence when it comes to food.

·                     The people in this little branch in Juan Lacaze are just awesome.  This week, I am especially grateful for a sweet eighty-four-year-old lady named Maria Viyegas.  It´s hard for her to walk, but you can bet it is not an excuse for her not to come to church.  She is so faithful and strong!  We had an activity for Relief Society this past week, and as we were cleaning up, I looked to the side of me and Maria Viyegas was totally folding up all the chairs and moving them to where they needed to be.  She is still so willing to give all of her strength to the Lord.  Oh and her prayers are my favorite.  They´re kind of like a prayer and testimony mixture.  She starts out by praying, but about halfway through, moves into her testimony.  It is the cutest.

Things are going so great here, and I feel so happy to be a missionary in Juan Lacaze, Uruguay.  You should look this place up on Google maps or something because it´s pretty awesome. 

I love you so much, and keep being the best fam ever!!!

Hermana Dixon