May 24, 2011

Well hello, my wonderful familia! 

Well, Elder Slaugh and myself are incredibly tired right now. This last week was intense. On a usual basis, people get on average 200 contacts a week, 6 to 7 new investigators, 30 lessons, and a bunch of other stuff. We did 317 contacts, 42 lessons, 15 new investigators, and it keeps on going! The last few days have been tough on our bodies. We take every opportunity we get to rest, which is maybe... 5 minutes. Haha. My feet are killing me, but it´s nothing inserts, or anything else will fix. It´s just walking the 10 to 15 miles a day at the rate of a slow jog. I´ve got a few pictures of my shoes. Yesterday, we were walking so fast, I have impressions on the top of the shoes where the big toe presses. Also, I already have holes in my socks... No way!! But the important thing is that we are working incredibly hard, and that´s the way it should be. 

So remember Familia Castillo? If I didn´t tell you about them before, oh well. Anyways, they were a WAY inactive family, but e. Slaugh and I went over to visit them because Alan, their son turned 8 yrs old. We taught them, and we ended up getting him baptized!! His father was... sort of a wreck. Didn´t have any work, and the first time we came over, he didn´t even talk to us. After the baptism of his son, we kept visiting with them, and now, his countenance has changed dramatically. He´s always smiling, he offers to say the prayers... The whole family is active now. It´s such a blessing. And now, the father has TWO jobs. It´s an incredible blessing and miracle, and I know it´s because they attend church, and have become so happy as a family. The pictures are of us eating a cake they made. The frosting was a little more than flour and a tiny bit of sugar. These people are so humble. But I´ve come to love Argentine´s... They´re amazing. Also, the picture with the drill... That´s what they use for a whisk! Best day of my life! He had 2 pieces of metal that he bent and shoved into the drill. That serves as their whisk. It´s such a great, happy experience to see these people happy. He ís so proud of that whisk. :) 

Iban Farfal... This kid... He´s 24 yrs. old. He´s the last one in his family that hasn´t been baptized. His sister is very successful, and every chance she gets, she´s at church. He´s the laziest kid i´ve ever seen in my entire life. Our last conversation was basically a What do you want our of Life? conversation. I am only 19 yrs old, but I feel so much older and responsible than him. He lives in the home of his parents, doesn´t do a thing all day, and takes light.. everything. It´s ridiculous. He knows the things we teach are true, but he doesn´t want to feel obligated to do ANYTHING. I asked him, does he feel obligated to life? He said yeah... I said, well if you don´t get baptized, you are condemning yourself to hell. Strong.. I know. But we don´t know what else to get this guy to realize how important this is! I asked him what he wants out of life, and he said; A wife, family, work, car... I asked, And what are you doing to achieve these things? He couldn´t answer. Frustrating. 

Haven´t been able to meet with Fernando since... Darn. We´ll get him though. It´s started to get REALLY cold here. Holy cow. It´s so hard to stop people in the streets when the wind´s blowing and you feel like you don´t have a hand to shake others hands with! 

Manuel.. This guy. He´s about 79 yrs. old. He lives alone... with about a billion cats. Every single one has an eye infection. Walking into his house is like walking into a hairball. But we´re planning on his baptism a week from Saturday. He´s so old.. It´s hard for him pay attention. He likes to talk a lot. He´s really short. On a side note, I have not seen one person taller than me since I got to Argentina. I love it.... ha. Anyways, We asked him to come to church on Sunday, and told him we´d be there to pick him up and walk with him to the chapel. He´s fallen through like a billion times, but this time as we were walking up the hill, wading through the cats, he came out the door with his pointy beenie, sunglasses, ready to go! It was so very cool! I couldn´t help but smile on the way to the church. 

E. Slaugh and I get along great. We are a really good companionship. We laugh at each other´s jokes all the time, and just click well. I have a feeling that at the end of this transfer in 3 weeks, he´s being transfered, and I´m going to be put with someone else... Not as cool as he. I will bet you anything that my new companion and I will clash. E. Slaugh is preparing me for this, I think. Good work habits, a desire to get up every morning and do your best, and in general, being a good missionary.. I have a feeling I´m going to need that after this transfer. We will see. No convert baptisms as of yet. I´m trying not to get discouraged, with the knowledge that I am working as hard as I possibly can to make it happen. It´s going to happen. I know it. Tell Jared to keep his head up. Enduring stuff like that is rough.. But he´s got to remember to do his best. There is nothing that I would regret more than coming off my mission knowing I could have done more than I have. As of now, I know I have taken every opportunity to work. And I´m going to keep it that way. 

Gave myself a haircut this morning. Just a buzz, it´s so much easier that way. Hahaha. There´s a picture with E. Slaugh and me with our buzzed heads. We have a fun time, and even though our bodies are about to fall apart, we still do it with a smile, because we KNOW this is the right work. One thing we´ve been doing to get into a lot of houses is singing hymns. We ask if they would like to listen to a hymn, and you´d be surprised at how many would like that. All in spanish of course, but we sing; Abide with me tis even tide, and I need thee every hour. The work is good. The food is great, the people are incredible. email me back if I´m forgetting anything.. Here´s the pictures, and I love you all! See talk to you next week! 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert 

New Contact Info for Elder Cuthbert

Hi everyone,

 

I just wanted to let you know the different ways to write Jordan.  He really appreciates recieving your letters!  Thank you.

 

Through the church pouch the address is:

 

Elder Jordan Evan Cuthbert

Argentina Neuquen Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, UT  84130-0150

 

When mailing pouch, only postcards and letters that are single sheet, folded into three panels, and taped at the top only (no envelopes) may be sent through the pouch.

 

You can still write him through dearelder.com, just make sure you put that he is in Neuquen, Argentina.

 

If you have any questions please let me know.

 

Love,

 

Melanie

May 17, 2011

Well hello, my wonderful family! :) I don´t have much time, so I´m going to have to cut this short... I´m so sorry.. But there´s just so many things to do. 

I love missionary work. I love it. There´s nothing more satisfying than going to bed feeling about ready to die, knowing you did all you could that day. I have blisters on my feet. We practically run to every appointment, every door, and every person. My legs are de diez! That mean´s awesome. Haha. I am so exhausted every day, and it´s not because of the time change, that´s long gone, but because we spend every waking moment working. That´s the key word. Work. There´s nothing quite like it. I´ve gained a testimony of work, and how it changes you. I have such strong desires to work now. If I don´t feel about ready to collapse after a day, it means I didn´t work hard enough, and that makes me mad. I think we don´t understand the magnitude of what we´re doing here in this life. Especially missionaries. We have the solemn duty and charge to share the most important message with the world. We should be talking to every person, knocking every door, and running to every lesson. E. Slaugh and I have firm desires to do this. It is so important to have a companion who has those same desires. It´s so much easier to do what we do when we both want to do it! Ha. 

I haven´t had an asado yet. I´m waiting... impatiently. Haha! I´ve had pollo del disco, this giant iron bowl full of nothing but chicken and vegetables over a fire. delicious. Lots of bread, dulce de leche, and crappy stuff for your body. lame. We´ve seen miracles here. One of them was we had a goal this week to find 15 new investigators. On Sunday morning we had 14. We had an hour left before we had to report our numbers for the week. We prayed to find one more investigator. After lunch with a member, we decided to go knocking. We both knew the apartment complex we wanted to knock on. The first door- nothing. second .- nothing. Third door... success. A 23 yr old named Fernando opened up and let us in. We taught him a lesson and he invited us back for Wednesday. That´s not the miracle. The miracle is that E. Slaugh, a few weeks before had knocked that same door, answered by that same man, and was completely refused. He had said he didn´t want anything to do with our church, and slammed the door in his face. We asked for a miracle in finding 15 investigators, and we got it. That day, in door contacts, we got 100% success. That´s a record. Haha. Faith is so important, but more than that - desire. If you don´t have the desire to do what we´re doing, there´s no point in doing any of it. So many missionaries fall. That´s because the mission either makes, or breaks you. I testify and know that this work is true. That my needs don´t matter any more. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. I love this work. We are going to change Esquel. I am so excited for the things that will be happening soon. We have a goal to baptize every week. It´s going to happen. The key word is Work. Today is Pday and we have to do a few things, buy food, clean apt. stuff like that, but right when it turns to 6pm, we´re out the door, talking to everyone. Sunday´s are always fun. The funnest part is getting to play the hymns every single Sunday. Especially when I´ve never played it before, and it has four flats.... Ouch... 

Anyway.. I have to go. I´m sorry this is so short. Know that I´m seeing miracles, and that this work is true. Know that I´m spending every waking moment focused on the Savior, and working to help others. I pray for you all, Hope you all are doing well. I´ll write more next week. 

E. Cuthbert 

May 9, 2011

Thank you so much for the recipes!! I will put them to use right away! 

Wow... I am so tired right now... it´s 12¨30 here, and I can tell you... Getting up in the morning is difficult. I go to bed SO exhausted, and it always seems like I never have enough time to sleep. I keep dozing off during personal study, so it´s been taking me about 20 to 25 minutes to read a stinkin´ chapter of the BOM! Frustrating... Alright, well I´m going to begin from the beginning.. 

We got delayed on Monday at the airport so they carted us back to the MTC for another night. We woke up at 4am the next morning to catch our flight to Atlanta at 8am. When we got to Atlanta we had 8 hours to kill. I went to Chili´s with E. Wible and we had our first real meal in 2 months! Then we went to the terminal and I got the chance to talk to my lovely mother!!! It was so good to talk to you mom... Anyways, we then got on the plane and slept through the night and woke up to Buenos Aires. The sunrise was INCREDIBLE. The sky was painted BRIGHT orange. It was the most incredible thing I´ve ever seen in my entire life, holy cow. We got to Buenos Aires and then were carted off in a van to another airport to get a flight to Neuquen. The driving in Buenos Aires is kind of like Mexico, if you want to go, you go! It´s so funny here. Oh, and Jared and Chris!! I´ve seen my first Peugeout, Citroen, Renault... and they have some weird forms of Fords here too. I saw this Fiesta that looked so much cooler than our type. Also the Civics here are a lot nicer. They also drive a lot of motorcycles, called moto´s down here. Sometimes you´ll see a whole family of 5 on a moto! It´s hilarious! When we were in the van I saw one Argentine pop a wheelie on his moto for about a block, about 50 metres. Hahaha!!! Got to Neuquen and met our Mission President and Assistants to the President. I love them all. We went to the mission home and had a meeting with the President. Then had a small snack of empanadas... Because they don´t eat flippin´ dinner here!!! What the heck!!! They have a decent sized breakfast, then have a huge lunch, then don´t eat dinner at all! It´s the most frustrating and terrible thing for your metabolism! Haha, anyway.. we went to bed and got up the next morning at 530 to make us legal residents in Neuquen. That took awhile, afterwards we went back to the house and had another meeting before lunch. They drink a lot of soda here, too much, actually. Had more meetings with the President, had some roleplaying practices on how to invite people to be baptized, then right after that, they set us loose. Ha, we went tracting not 24 hours into Argentina! It was such a good experience. There are dogs on EVERY street and every corner, every roof, garbage can, and inside every fence. The ratio of dogs to humans is 7 to 1 in Argentina. They have a dog called a Dogo. It´s a mix between a pitbull, rottweiler, and every other mean dog known to man. It´s bigger than a Great Dane, It´s jaw is stronger than a pitbulls, and it´s made of PURE MUSCLE. Elder Slaugh showed me a picture of one, and it´s leg looked like a bulging Superman´s thigh. And here´s the best part... They´re illegal in the US because of how dangerous they are............. GREAT!!! Hahahaha! They´re the best guard dogs, I dearly want to see one. 

That night I got on a bus for 10 hours to Esquel, my first area! It´s this little town about the size of Mapleton and Springville combined, tucked away in the mountains. It´s such an awesome place, I love it here. I met my companion, Elder Slaugh, he´s from Pennsylvania. Our Pension, or apartment is pretty small, and we´re actually going to be asking if we can move somewhere else. But today, this morning, we spent the beginning of our Pday cleaning up... I probably had a pound of dust from sweeping... Disgusting. Anyways, when we got to the Pension I dropped my stuff and was given 200 pesos to buy food. We went to the store, and I bought some milk, which comes in bags... It´s very strange. And a bunch of other stuff. Went back, unpacked a little bit for lunch and then went to work! First day was good. I met many members and had a few lessons with some Investigators. Went to bed that night pretty tired. Woke up the next morning and we worked out, E.S. has a pull up bar, which is incredibly amazing, so I did pull ups and push ups while he lifted weights. Then we went for a jog around the city. First full day of walking like a missionary, which is actually my normal pace of walking.. shin splints like crazy! Taught a lot of people and had lunch with the Gonzalez family. Big chicken leg and about a mountain of rice. They all drink a lot of juice down here as well. Oh... and I didn´t mention that I can´t understand the language at all. AT ALL. What I thought I knew at the MTC... I know nothing! I remember Kolt telling me that the first week he got down here, he didn´t understand anything either because of the way they speak, they drop a lot of the last syllables of words and don´t pronounce their s´s. We walk everywhere, and it´s the funnest thing ever. I will admit, this is probably the hardest I´ve worked in a long time. Ever in my life, probably. It´s constant stopping people in the street and stumbling across the language, trying to get my message across. Sunday was very fun. Went to church and got to play all the hymns in Sacrament meeting, Priesthood, a special musical number for my welcome during Sacrament meeting as well. The church is very nice, actually. The funniest thing about Argentina is this... I haven´t seen one single soul that is taller than me. In church, I am the tallest by at least 4 to 5 inches. I love it. Obviously. Hahaha! I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting in broken up Castellano. It was good, and I think the members have really taken to me. One of the Hermanas came up to me afterwards and said, I´m your mother now. Haha, But never will she be able to replace my incredible mom... Never. I love you mom... I know now at just how well you prepared me for this mission. I can´t stand the uncleannliness of the Pension, so I´m cleaning it up whenever I get the chance. Shopping is easy, I can cook, I can basically just... take care of myself in a foreign place, even though I don´t know the language. It´s all thanks to you. If I´ve never said just how much I love you... I´m telling you now. You´ve done more, and I will never be able to thank you for the things you´ve done. 

I wish I could talk more, but we´ve got only 40 minutes.. mission rules. And I´ve come to find out that when you´re obedient, blessings come. These first few days have been HARD... you don´t know how frustrating it is to not understand a word that´s said around me, but I´m trying, and as I pray, I know it will come. I just want you all to know that I love you. I love each and every one of you so much. Missionary work is so difficult, but also rewarding. We will have a baptism this Saturday with a 21 yr old named Diego, what a capo! Stud in english... Well, I have to go, we´re going to have lunch with a member and have pollo de disco. Some kind of delicious chicken... Anyways, I will be working hard, and until next week, I say unto all of you, who I pray for every night, Ciao!!!! 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

He Made It!

Hi everyone!

I am happy to report that Jordan made it to Neuquen last night safe and sound.  His mission pres. wife, Sis. Peterson called me today to let me know.  His area is a little town 4 hrs south of Neuquen by the Andes mtns.!  She said it is COLD there.  

I asked her about the best way to write him.  She said the Dearelders take about a week and a half to get to him.  I will be emailing him every week so if you want to email me your ltr, I can forward it to him.  She warned me about sending pkgs because it is not only expensive for us to send them but the elders have to pay 50% of the customs costs to get their pkg., which can be VERY expensive.  She said I will be receiving more info any day, so I will let you know.  

Thank you so much for your support, I really appreciate you all!

Love,

Melanie   

April 30, 2011

So this is it!

I leave on Monday!! It's so crazy to think about that it's finally here. I've been here for TWO months! That means there's only 22 months left on my mission, which isn't that long, now that I think about it. The realization of that hit me a few weeks ago, and I've come to realize at just how short this mission really is. When you think about it, I really will be home not too long from now. But anyways, I'm not focused on that, I don't even have coming home on my mind. I think about coming home and I don't like the thought, just because I know that if I were to come home, I would feel like I'm missing something very important. I know this is where I'm supposed to be, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to be here at the MTC to prepare for my mission.

We had our last temple day today... Sad, because I probably won't get a chance to go back for two years. It was a good experience, although I picked a nasty piece of quiche that had cranberries and mushrooms and other stuff in it... So I just stuck w/ the waffle, omelet, bacon, chocolate milk, and hashbrowns. :) Hahaha!

This week has been tough, because the MTC is implementing a new curriculum, and because of that the schedule has changed. This means that the teachers we've had for 8 weeks can no longer teach us because of the strictness and rigidity of the hours... I'm TICKED! Haha, only because I've grown so close to H's Douglas and Maxwell. They're my heroes, and I look up to them and trust them. In the last week, we've had 4 different teachers, and it's terrible. They don't know us, or try to get to know us. I feel bad, I was being a real rebel the other day w/ one of them in particular. Ha, all I want is to see H's Douglas and Maxwell before I leave. They've been there the whole time, taught us everything we know, I've had some very, very intense interviews with the both of them where we've both grown together tremendously. If I don't see them, I will be incredibly disappointed.

We had the opportunity to listen to Elder Dallin H. Oaks on Tuesday. TWO Apostles in a row!!! It's been the best way possible to end our time here at the MTC with two Apostles. Their advice and counsel has been so helpful. I know Heavenly Father answers our prayers, because I've been asking for particular blessings and knowledge over the last week, and then Elder Oaks came and spoke specifically on every single point I had been wondering about. When we pray, our Father answers. Always remember that.

Being a Zone Leader has been the funnest experience ever. I get to interact with everyone in the Zone and be their servant, leader and friend. I've grown close to all of them, and we had the chance to welcome in another District of 12 Elders this past Wednesday! They're such a good group of Elders, I'm incredibly sad I won't be able to see them grow here at the MTC. But from what I've seen so far of them, they will all be incredibly strong missionaries. Being a Z.L. also presents some challenges... There's a Zone on the bottom floor of our Residence Hall, Zone 3. They are TERRIBLE. (We're on the top floor.) Anyway, this zone has some of the worst Elders I've ever seen. Some I would even question whether or not they should be here. Everything I'm about to list off is rule disobeyed:

Cutting hair in the Residence Hall

Shoving bananas into the toilets

Swearing

ARRANGING MEETINGS WITH GFRIENDS AND PARENTS AT THE TEMPLE

Running around on all the floors and turning off the power

Breaking into peoples rooms and either trying to scare or steal

Sleeping in

Walking around stark naked

Walking around the halls, showing their garments

And many other incredibly terrible things. This is SO frustrating for me. I've had to ask HF for patience so many times, because there were a couple of times where I literally thought I was going to punch one of them in particular. They try provoking you, making fun of the Elders who are being obedient, but no one does anything about it!! I've decided I'm going to let it be known, and talk to someone who will tell Pres. Brown, the MTC Mission President. If they don't do it, I'll go talk to him myself. This should not be tolerated, and the things they're doing are completely inappropriate as servants of God. Sorry about the venting... I know what I'm here for and what I am. They do not.. It's a tough situation, but I feel it's necessary for it to be brought up.

Elder Wible and I have really been focusing on our teaching over the past few days. on Tuesday, we had the opportunity to teach an investigator who had lost their mom when they were 9 years old. Their mom had been a member of the church. The Spirit was so strong during that time, and at the end of the first lesson, we invited Fernando to be baptized, and he said YES!! Accepted baptism after the first lesson, that is something we've never done before! I was so proud of us and what we were doing, and what we continue to do. I'm so excited to get out in the field. It's going to be insane, w/ real life investigators w/ real problems, people who really want my help and people who want to change. I can do that. I'm a Servant of God, who has been called to bring back His children. This is something I WILL do. I want you all to know that I will never waste a week, day, hour, SECOND of the Lord's time. I'm here to give everything I've got. I want to become the best missionary. I want Argentina Neuquen to be the best mission. I want to lead the mission in everything. I won't do this by focusing on numbers, or anything like that. It's not a selfish thing to want to be the best. It's selfish not giving the credit to the one who makes me the best, DESPITE my mistakes. HF will help me become the best because he wants me to, despite the mistakes I continue to make. I'm so thankful for Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. I've gained such a testimony of that while being here. I never know quite how to explain how I feel through an email... It's very difficult. Know that your friend, brother, cousin, nephew, son - Elder Jordan Evan Cuthbert - has a testimony. And if you ever are struggling, if you ever have doubts, if you ever need someone... You write me. I'll help you. I'll be there for you. How could I not? Knowing that the Savior is here for me 24/7.

Well, I guess this is it. I won't be sending another email until I'm 6000 miles away. I can't tell you how excited I am. I probably have a 20 hour bus ride to look forward to when we reach Buenos Aires, but I can't wait. Whatever the next few days hold, I'm going to hit it head on. I'm so ready to work, and I feel prepared. My Spanish isn't fluent, but I am doing great. Much better than I ever thought possible. Yo se que vive Mi Senor. Yo se que esta iglesia, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los Ultimos Dias es verdadera. Les amo much. I don't know when I'll be able to write next. I don't remember my address for letters to Argentina, but my mom has the address, so get with her. I would love letters from anyone who will write them. :) Gosh, I love you all. Remember that I'm always thinking about you, I'm always praying specifically for each and every one of you. Know that I have a testimony. Know that I don't care about my safety. I'm going to preach the Gospel.

Times up.

Elder Cuthbert. Amor