Elder Braxton Shoemaker

Week 24: ¡ME VOY A TACUAREMBO!

Còmooooo andan todos! How is it going everyone??! I hope you all are loving life and living it to the fullest! I got some news this week...I am leaving my first area, Delta Del Tigre of the Cerro zone. I'm very sad to be leaving this place. It was very sad to tell everyone goodbye, especially the people we are teaching right now. I wont get to see their baptisms, but I'm just happy to be leaving the area in a good spot and with some awesome people that are going to be baptized!

My new area will be a place called Tacuarembo. I will be serving in a neighborhood called "Ferrocarril"....that translates to "Railroad tracks" HaHa! It is a department of Uruguay right in the heart of Uruguay! It is known as "the most Uruguayo place in Uruguay". Haha!! Im so excited to move onto a new chapter of my mission and see a new place of the country...and meet and teach new people! My companion will be Elder Segal (might've spelled that wrong...not sure??). He is from Chile! It's going to be an awesome time serving there. I leave early tomorrow morning to take a nice long bus ride to get there. It is a very weird feeling...as I am very excited to move onto a new area and part of my mission, but I also have to leave my first area and the people who welcomed me into my mission and have helped me so much...and have been so patient with me in the language. I really will miss these people with all my heart, but I know one day Im going to come back and visit them. That will be a glorious reunion.

I don't have too much to share right now...although I'd like to just share a thought that really dawned on me this past week. I was thinking how I am just a 19 year old kid...who left my family and life for 2 years, to come to a random strange country...to walk around all day inviting people to learn more about their savior, Jesus Christ (in a different language). I eventually ask everyone I teach to be baptized into this Church and completely change their lives. Man is that a crazy thing what Im doing right now??!!!?? But what I realized is what's even crazier than that ...s that it actually WORKS! People have changed their lives in order to be baptized, because they have felt a special Spirit when my companion and I ask them to be baptized. It really is a crazy thing, and to be honest, sometimes I've thought to myself, "Why do these people trust me?"...and then I am reminded that it is because of the Spirit that I carry as a missionary to all the people that I talk to everyday. It is a very special thing to see someone change their life in order to follow God's Commandments.

I love you all so much and miss you. I hope you all have a great week! Ill email you all in Tacuarembo next week! Ciao!!!

Enjoying one last breath taking sunset over this bridge they road their bikes across daily.

Saying goodbye to his new investigator and friend, Alicia.

FHE Activity with some members.

Saying goodbye to a great family in Delta Del Tigre.

Braxtons District~ his quote "I love these people"

Braxton has been looking for a sombrero for weeks now....the sun is so hot this time of year in Uruguay! All the missionaries were hats to shade their faces from the intense heat.