I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!!!
Holy cow! This week has been a great one! I'm going to speak about Argentina before anything else. Wow. We met w/ the Argentine Consul on Friday last week and Tuesday this week. He went over any questions we had about Argentina... It's definitely different. Not anything to be super worried about, he told me face to face that my mission is going to be very cold, but I have the most beautiful landscapes in all of Argentina. Yaya! Hahaha! So, anyways, our Visas have been signed, fingerprinted, and are just in the process of being issued to us. And that brings me to my biggest news: Travel Plans!!! I have all the info! I leave on May 2nd, as planned, at 1:50 pm from the SLC Airport to Atlanta, GA. I'll be at the SLC airport from probably around 11:30 to 1:50, so around there is when I'll call your cell, mom. Be ready! I think it's at the SLC airport that we call... No se.. Anyways, We get to Atlanta at 7:32pm and leave at 8:40 for Buenos Aires! Don't land in Argentina until 7:45am the next morning. Gonna be a looong flight. After that, our Mission President is supposedly picking us up... Hopefully... Hahah! NEVERMIND, WE CALL YOU GUYS WHILE WE'RE IN ATLANTA... So that time will be around 7:40pm Eastern time... Mom, send me a DearE right after this confirming that that will be ok for you to do... After our mission pres. picks us up, it's a 12 hour bus ride to Neuquen!!! WooHoo!! NOT. 12 hours in a car/bus I'm not even driving??? Gimme a break! Ha! Jk, I'm definitely excited. It's going to be a GREAT experience, no matter how exhausting. So that's it! We're flying on Delta, and... Oh! I was appointed Travel Leader over the 7 of us going to Neuquen. They'll be giving me a emergency info packet with everything I need, phone numbers... to call in case there's an emergency and we're plummeting towards the earth over Bolivia in the airplane. ;) That's when I give the Mission Pres. a call and say we'll be a lil' late. There's been a delay! Hahah! Don't worry mother, we'll all be fine! :) :) :)
Well, thank you for sending that package with the Easter stuff and clothes, and especially the memory card holders! I'm sending the shirt back because it's one of those tight, stretchy ones... I'm looking for one of those Nike Dri-fit ones that still feels like that, but it doesn't stretch and fits like a normal shirt. Sowee.. Thanks though! Let's see... in your DearE before you leave today, will you have access to email on the cruise? If I needed to contact you guys, that would be important! If there's any information I've forgotten in this email, you'll need it. I'm not so sure the call in Atlanta is going to work... You'll probably be on a plane back home, I'm guessing. ;/ Well, we'll see.
Man, so this week has been crazy. First full week as Zone Leader has been exhausting. There's been a few nights where I don't get until 11:30! I KNOW! Late!! Ha! ;) There's just so many people seeking counsel and asking questions and solving problems etc, etc, etc. We got our new zone on Wednesday. 10 Elders. They're all great. Some of them don't really know why they're here, so my Branch pres. told me to look out for them. We took them on a tour of the MTC last night, and it was hilarious. I hope I didn't look that shell-shocked when I came in here. One tentatively raised his hand and said: "Can I ask you a question?"
"Go for it."
"How old are you?"
"Ha! You tell me!"
"Umm.. I'm going to guess 22?"
"Hahaha! No, I'm 19, and probably younger than you are."
It's amazing the change the MTC has on you... I talked to H. Douglas about this last night as well. He says the amount of time you have immersed in the Gospel truly changes your countenance, and it's not that you look older, it's that you look so much more mature, smart, and other things. I can only imagine, because I felt the same way towards my first Zone Leaders. We can speak Spanish pretty fluently now. It's insane. Sometimes I'm in a lesson talking about the Plan of Salvation, and I have these strings of beautiful, unbroken Spanish - Talking at the speed of... not a native, but definitely not a Gringo. Which brings me to something else with the language..
We got to see Elder Richard G. Scott!!!! HOLY cow. I have NEVER felt the Spirit as strongly as I did when that man entered the room. It was incredible. You could just SEE the love, bursting from him to all of us, it was truly a humbling experience. He spoke a lot about the Spirit, gave us a lot of scriptures to study, and then asked how many were going to be speaking a different language. Almost EVERYONE in the room raised their hands, this is about 2200 missionaries. He then said this: "I am now speaking to you as an Apostle of the Lord, with all the blessings, power and keys with that calling. I invoke upon each of you, in the calling of my holy Apostleship, the Gift of Tongues. I promise each of you, that you will have no problem in learning the language, and that if any of you have been having problems, I think you'll find it a lot easier now." When he said those words, particularly thet Apostleship, Gift of Tongues, my entire body started buzzing with heat. It was NOT the temperature in the room. This was that blessing, coming upon me, the blessing Yo tengo ahora. Yo puedo en Espanol con mucho simplicidad, y con esto don, puedo hablar con la gente de Argentina con mas poder y con el Espiritu Santo, cual es muchisimo importante por nosotros, misioneros... Haha! It's very fun, although he did not say that it would come without studying and hard work, but I testify that I felt the Spirit that night, more powerfully than maybe ever before. I know that that was a true gift, and that through my faithful studying and pondering and praying, Heavenly Father will bless me with the power to speak w/ the Tongue of Angels to his wonderful sons and daughters of Argentina.
I have such a testimony. I want all who are reading this email to read this, then read it again. Know that Elder Jordan Evan Cuthbert has a testimony of this Gospel. I wasn't always the lovey-dovey churchy type. I went, yes, I read my scriptures every now and then, yes, I prayed when I found it convenient, yes. But now... Now I'm different. I've had experiences here that I've only shared with a few special people outside of the MTC. Experiences that have shaped me into the man I am today. I have no fear to go to Argentina. I know that what I'm teaching is true. I LOVE this Gospel. There is no where I would rather be. Christian Andrew Springer, you get those papers in as soon as you can, my bud. This mission will be the greatest thing you've ever done. Jared, my brother, I love you. I'm so sorry for not being the brother I should have been. Learn from my mistakes, and now, learn from my example. Be a strong leader, be a Captain Moroni, who you know is my hero. Read Alma. IT's the longest book, but man, it's incredible. Also Mosiah. To everyone else, I love you. I only have one more email after this one before I leave to a foreign country, foreign language, and foreign people. Before I don't understand anyone, before I'm put in situations to do things I've never done before, and many other things. But I'm ready. The Spirit changes you. It changes your life. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all, and I can't wait to see you all again, AFTER I have fulfilled my greatest calling in life - that is, a mission. A day wasted... I never want one of those. I'm a go-getter. Don't think for a second I'll ever have a second off. I promise you all that I will work every second I have. I know that through my service you are all blessed. I have already seen the blessing to those of my closest friends and family. Times up... Write me a DearE today mom, before 12, it will hit me today.
Love you all, write me.
Elder Cuthbert
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