Changed Jobs in the Office & Transfers--Busy Week!

This is the letter we got from Ben on June 7, 2014. This was another letter I did not get posted in a timely manner. Enjoy!

¡¡Hola Familia!!

This week has been fantastic... ly busy. This last week was the week of cambios or transfers (where all of the missionaries come here to go to their new areas). This week we only had 6 Oros arrive (what we call the new missionaries) and 7 Valientes head back home (what we call the missionaries in their last 6 weeks).

Ben and Elder Munoz on the day they picked up the Oros (new missionaries) 

Elder Muñoz and I also changed responsibilities in the offices. I was the Tarjetero (card manager) and mainly was in charge of all basic missionary funds like the

-Missionary Cards

-Monthly Allowance

-Reimbursements to missionaries for travel expenses (City Bus mainly)

-Cell phones

-Medical Insurance Solicitations

-Vehicle Gas and basic maintenance purchasing

-And the Cards of the adult missionaries to purchase mission related expenses

Now as the Chequero (Check Maker) and Housing Coordinator I:

-Pay the rent of all 88 missionary Apartments

-Pay the Water and Light Bills of each House

-Manage all city taxes (the houses in Montevideo all have specialized taxes to pay for various public works)

-Buy/Order Food for conferences

-Rent Bus charter companies to bring the missionaries to and from conferences/changes

-Prepare a monthly report of all spending in the mission and meet with President Cook to control the mission budget

-Make/Cash Checks for various large mission related expenses

-Control the Petty Cash fund (extra 25,000 Uruguayan Pesos used for emergency and unforeseen expenditures)

So now I'm starting to adjust to my new responsibilities. I spend a large majority of my time calling the land lords and reading the contracts to fix any kind of dispute the land lord and reality companies have with us. It's probably one of the most stressful things I've ever done, yet I find it very fulfilling. 

I thought I was a fairly patient person before the mission, but that has been tried lately. I've been praying  for patience and help with more frequency than I think I ever have. I can honestly say that my Father in Heaven is hearing my prayers. He is providing me with people to help, problems that were huge at one point are just fixing themselves. I can't be thankful enough for the help that I've received.

We were also blessed to have been able to pay all of the rents for the month of June almost 5 days earlier than the deadline, with almost 90% less problems than what we had this last month. 

And having everything done early we were able to leave the offices and work (like a real missionary) almost 3 full days (after 4 in the afternoon) this week. We have been having great lessons talking with everyone we see. So many people have been prepared by the Lord to hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After this week I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who loves me, that helps me with the seemingly small and insignificant things.

I Love You All More Than You'll Ever Know,

Élder Benjamin Taylor