April 16, 2012

My computer today ha s a really crappy keyboard, so if there are weird spaces in between certain things... I`m sorry!   Anyway, I won`t be able to send pictures this week, because I forgot my camera cord... Darn it!

 

Pday last week was a stinkin` BLAST. We went to a beach in Comodoro called Rada Tilly. There, with a Rugby ball (Because they don`t have american footballs here) we played american football for a good four hours. It was such a blast. Playing right there on the beach..  It was incredible. We were so happy, our group of 10 elders that went. I  have a  ton of pictures to show, but no way t o show them... Just going to have to be patient unt il n ext week! Haha. I also bought a hair buzzer last week. Cool fact for the day. Mom, before I forget...  We `re going to have to plan you coming down here to pick me up very well. I would love t o show you some of my areas, rent a car and go to San Martìn or Esquel, but not much farther down south.. Sorry Comodoro!  This also depends o nthe time and day of when Mirta and Ramon go to the temple. I need to coordinate with them so it will all work out.  But I want to thank you again for doing this for m e. I love you so much. So keep saving up! :)

 

 This week was pretty hard. My hardest week on the mission I think. First time in over a year that I haven`t found at least one new investigator during the week. Dificilìsimo!!!! I have never gone to bed so tired from knocking houses all day, there have b een nights where I literally put my h ead on the pillow and I am out until 6am the next morning. Incredible.  T he mission really knows how to K.O. me, Haha! Ximena isn`t progressing really well, we haven`t been able to see her for a while. We started  up a free English class and we`re getting the word around. Hopefull we get lots of new investigators from the classes.

 

My  highlight of the week was on Friday when we had the Zone Conference. In Comodoro, they do it a little differently. Caleta Olivia is a zone about an hour away from Comodoro, and so the President doesn`t have to drive all the way down there, they join the two zones together to have the Conferenc e.  And guess who the Zone Leaders are of Caleta Olivia? Elder`s  Slaugh and Sharp, my Dad and other Gringo comp!!!!! We had a  flippin` BLAST.  I had never been so happy in my life. Not even kidding, I was just...  SO happy to see those two guys, t hey were incredibly happy to see me as well. E . Slaugh had missed me, his Son, since we hadn`t seen each other for a full year, the reunion was a good one... E. Sharp t old me that the Flia. Colque in Esquel is doing GREAT. The two boys are passing the  Sacrament always, and Cecilia is in the Young Womens  presidency! Franco, the dad, is the Branch cook, not with the priesthood yet, because he   can`t go to church very often. I was so happy to see them!!!!! Then I saw E. Marriot from the MTC, who was in a trio with me and E. Wiblefor a few days. What a good day... Incredbile day. I was jumping with joy. I have great pictures with all of us t ogether, and they`re coming up today to play football with us at the beach.

 

During the Conference, my district did a musical number of God be with you till we meet again, for President Peterson, because this is his last Zone Conferenc ec before he goes home in J une. Since the mission, I have learned how to sing the bass and the harmony as well as the melody, so we did a quartet during the second verse with E. Lee on the bass, me, harmony, and two others on the m elody... And we KILLED it. It was beautiful. I was very proud of us!

 

Kolt  King, I had empanadas with a family who had a son who served in your mission, and he remembers you.  His n ame is Bryan (Brian) Krebs. He says he was in the city Rosario while you were in Rafael (?) Something like  that. But yeah, great family, small world. Haha!  We`re going to make French toast tomorrow morning, with whipped cream and Maple Syrup!!! WOOT!!

 

Mother, my mission is Gigantic. It`s one of the biggest in the world. When we were on the beach, I pointed across the water and said, THERE`s AFRICA!! And then I pointed farther south and said, THERES ANTARCTICA!!! All within a few hu ndred miles. Haha! Anyways,  I have to go now.  We have a few investigators, but nothing really progressing. This area needs a lot of work.  Pray for us, Pray that we can find some investigators... THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO!!!! I love you so much, Mom. Mothers Day is coming up here pretty quickly, YAYAYAA!!!!ª!!  ;)

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert

 

E. Wagstaff is from SLC, we get along GREAT, We`re great friends, and we help each other out a lot. Really blessed to have such a great first jr. comp like him. He went  to Olympus high school, and  he was in this area for 3 months before, he started here in Comodoro. 

April 9, 2012

*There was another picture Jordan sent in this email that wouldn't upload :(*

So, I`m at the bottom of the world in Comodoro Rivadavia, and to tell you the truth, I LOVE IT! It`s SO Awesome!!! My area is right next to the beach, so I can always see a little bit of ocean. It makes me happy. The bus ride was, long. SO long! 26 hours! But whatever, it was fun because I had E. Lee from Junìn de los Andes next to me the entire time. It was a very fun experience. When we finally got to Comodoro, and I saw my comp, I was SO HAPPY!!! He graduated in 2011, he`s 19, this is his fourth month in Argentina, his Spanish is surprisingly good for only being out 3 months... But not as good as mine was... ;) Nah, Just kidding! It`s probably better! Anyway, I found out that he`s a RAPPER!!! NO WAY!! A Rapper?!! He has about three CD`s of his raps, and his Rap name is Rufio. We`ve got along perfectly. We love the companionship, and we even have the same hoodie!! ;) Hahaha!!!

 

So we found an investigator that wants to be baptized. We didn`t even invite her, we went to her house and she said, Hey, I`ve fixed a bunch of problems that I had in my life before, and I want to be baptized. That was outside of her door when she told us. I looked at E. Wagstaff, and then looked back at her and said. "Can we come in and talk?" HAHAHAHAHA! As you can tell, I perked up very nicely and my baptism senses were screaming and ringing every bell. Her name`s Ximena. She didn`t come to church yesterday, so we`re going to help her come to church, then she`ll get baptized. Probably the 21st of this month.

 

So the other elders in the district had a baptism on Saturday, so we went and sang a musical number for the service. I played the piano... And it was a good thing I did. It was Horrible. E. Lee was the only one that knew how to sing. His companion on the other hand....... From Bolivia, let`s just say that his number one hobby before the mission was not singing in the choir. Dani, if you had heard us, your ears would have been bleeding. I started laughing at the piano while playing because it sounded so bad. They sung When there`s love at home. They couldn`t even reach the high note at the last part of the song, they just... Stopped singing when they came to that part, it was TERRIBLE, but it was a very fun experience for all of us and we laughed it off.  There`s a lot of couples here that are married, but the spouse is not baptized, so we`ve got some work to do. I love this area. I love Comodoro. I`m going to love it here.

 

I missed Easter, not being with you guys. I was amazed to realize that I`ll be home in a years time. Weird, and I don`t want to do it. I`m just so excited for when you come down to pick me up! We`ll rent a car and visit San Martìn de los Andes... Then we`ll go to Buenos Aires and see Mirta and Ramòn get sealed for time and all eternity. I love you so much for doing this sacrifice for me. I will owe you and be in your debt for a long time. I love you so much. Say hi to the family for me!!!! :) :) :)

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert 

April 2, 2012

*There were several pictures Jordan sent, but they won't upload!*

Well. The unthinkeable happened. I`m being transfered. DA DA DAAAAAAAA. NOOOO!!! Wonderful, beautiful, home-away-from-home San Martìn!!! Well, it was bound to come sooner or later, just a little sooner than expected. E. Agazzani was saying goodbye to members all week, having them write in his journal and say their goodbyes, I didn`t. Haha. After Conference on Saturday night, E. Agazzani got the call for transfers. After the call, he asked me... Do you have your bags packed? A deep, sinking feeling shot down through my heart. Nooooo, I thought. I didn`t have ANYTHING prepared. Nothing. I`ve been waiting for those baptisms of Gaspar, Darìo, Miriam... So many others, but I won`t be able to see them. San Martìn, my area, is being whitewashed. It is obviously being done because the Elders coming into my area can and will do things that I could never do. At least that`s what happened with the Whitewash in Esquel with me and E. Sharp. So... Where is E. Cuthbert going? To the wonderful city of Comodoro Rivadavia!!! It`s in the provincia of Santa Cruz, much closer to the bottom of the world. It`s VERY windy there because they`re right on the coast. I heard it`s very cold too, but I don`t care! My new companion will be E. Wagstaff from S.L.C, Ut. This is his 4th month in the mission, he`s still very new. I`m his second comp in the mission. I`m SUPER PUMPED AND EXCITED. Comodoro is known for giving people some of the best life-learning experiences in the entire mission. Bring it on. 

Saturday night was spent writing people, packing and preparing everything for the new Elders. I went to bed at 3am... What a night. I had to rapidly wash all of my clothes and begin throwing everything into suitcases. What an experience! The next morning I kept packing until I had everything ready. Then we went to a final lunch with Alberto and Evelina Di Stefano. They`re my favorites. Alberto has been such a fun friend of mine, and I will miss him and his family dearly. But not as much as I will be missing the converts... 

We got to the Sunday session of Gen. Conf. and I told Ramòn and Mirta that I was leaving. Ramòn started crying. I love him with all my heart. Mom... Mother, if you only knew the happiness I have felt with these people... If you knew the joy I have to serve them... My heart is swollen with joy as I think of all the wonderful people who I have had the priviledge to help. Mirta made me promise something. Mom, I beg you to do everything possible to help me make this promise true. She wants us in her Sealing in the Buenos Aires temple in March. I promised her I would do the best I can to be there for her Sealing with Ramòn for time and all Eternity. They are waiting till March till I finish the mission. I beg you to make whatever preparations or savings possible to be able to come down and pick me up from the mission, so that we can go together to Buenos Aires and watch this GORGEOUS family be sealed together. Don`t send me ANYTHING. I don`t need it. I ask for this now... It`s something huge to ask for, I know. But there would be nothing more beautiful to see, for you and me, than to see them make those sacred covenants. She made me promise. She`ll kill me if I don`t keep my promise ;) Ha. Please. 

Darìo, when I told him that I was leaving, he said: NOO! I wanted you to baptize me! A swell of pride and love for this wonderful, faithful Son of God rushed over me as I looked him in the eye and said it didn`t matter who baptized him, just so long as he got baptized. I love that family. Two converts with another on the way after his wedding on the 13th of this month. What miracles the Lord has blessed us with... Incredible. 

I have loved the people here, with all my heart. My six months here felt like a blink in the eye. I wasn`t able to say goodbye to a lot of people because of shortness of time, but I know that I will always remember them, as I hope they will do the same with me. The mission... It`s an experience that brings tears to my eyes. This area taught me so many things. It`s wonderful. I`m coming back some day. I leave today at 1 o`clock. Me and E. Lee from Junìn are going to be on a bus for about 25 hours!!! WOOOT!!! Hahaha, it`s going to be a long trip. I`ll tell you how it all is, with pictures next Monday. I love you all, and wish the best for you all. I`m doing great. Asado means Grilled meats. I bought a little mp4 player to play music, haha. Well... Have a wonderful week. E. Cuthbert is happy, excited, and ready to bring on a whole new level of what they call: Missionary Work. 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

March 26, 2012

So I have to be quick this week, I´m in Junín de los Andes and we have to get on the bus to San Martín in about a half hour, so I have to be quick. 

My dear companion, E. Agazzani leaves for home next Monday, and I will probably be stuck in San Martín, solo again. This week was good, we have been a lot better behaved and have had a very good time. The pictures I´ve sent was my lunch... :D Today we roasted a lamb on a cross... We had our own little crucifiction (I don´t speak english, is that how you spell it?) going on!! It was so delicious! We had lamb with Asado meat and salad... I ate probably 3-4 pounds of meat... Someone needs to work out tonight! It was AWESOME! 

Darío is still waiting, but is antsy to get baptized. Lautaro got confirmed this Sunday, it was awesome. Gaspar is working on stopping smoking and drinking. I´m SUPER EXCITED for the conference. It´s hard to think that it was 6 months ago already that I was in Esquel during the Conference. Crazy to think how fast the time is flying by. 

That´s hilarious about the hamster! Pobre madre wants to help prune trees nada más!!! :) I love you, you´re so cute! Haha! 

Pasamos para hablar con ustedes means Can we come in to talk with you? I wish I could send you videos... I have a video that is hilarous that we took with the lamb, it´s to die for. I guess you have to wait till after the mish! ;) My comp is getting very nervous about leaving, I can only imagine how it will be.. I don´t want to think about it, though. My mission is still young. Thank you for always writing, Mom. Melyn and Aubs as well! Thank you guys! Gen. Conf. is going to be awesome, I´m very excited. We´re going to busier than heck this week with everything that E. Agazzani has to do. We´re going to be eating a TON of food, but I´m going to be very happy to get a new companion and begin the normal work routine. We haven´t been able to have real working days for awhile... We´re always doing something somewhere, interviews in Zapala, meetings in Centro, service on the mountain, stuff like that. It´s missionary work, but it´s not work that helps someone get baptized, and that´s what I´m all about. I just want my investigators to progress and get baptized, enter that door to eternity. I love missionary work.

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

March 19, 2012

So, I´ve got a lot of stuff to say, I apologize again for the short letter last week. I promise that this week will be much better.

 

So... WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!! It wasn´t of Darío, so I´ll hurry and explain the baptism, and then talk about Darío.

It was Lautaro! The little 10 yr. old stud did it. It was such an incredible experience for me. I wasn´t able to visit him almost the entire week, I´ve been so busy with... I don´t even know what. I can´t even remember what happened during this week, it flew by... But don´t worry, I wrote everything down that I wanted to say. So Lautaro got baptized on Sunday. We got there in the morning, and saw him with his mom, Fabiana come into the church with Flia. Calderón, who has been the supportive family for all of this. He went and did what 10 yr. olds do... Play. Haha, Fabiana had an incredible time at church, she bore her testimony during our Gospel Principles class, about how before we arrived at her house, she thought that religion was the best way to kill the faith in God. Her words. And then she explained how what we had taught her and Lautaro about God, the Plan of Salvation, that there is hope... It gave her hope to keep going on and fighting for the family. I almost had tears in my eyes. But then after the Sacrament meeting, we got everything ready, then took pictures with Lautaro and Martín Calderon in Baptism White, Babay!!! The first time he was baptized, he didn´t go all the way under, so they did it again. Right when he surfaced the second time, he exclaimed: "Can I do it again??!" Hahaha! Everyone started laughing, we took a couple more pictures then went upstairs to wait for them to change. We asked Fabiana to bear her testimony... And she did it. While she was talking... I realized how happy I felt. I was watching a single mother who had decided to follow Christ, bear testimony and witness to the entire branch that what her son did was true. The CHANGE... The absolute, CHANGE in their lives was unbelievable. She began to cry, and then during the final hymn, she cried as well. I thought to myself... Think about how happy you are now, and then think about how happy you will be when you´re taken up into the presence of God, and  every single person you helped will run up to you and embrace you for helping them follow Christ and form their Eternal Family... Eternal Bliss as it is called in Alma 37... I thought of that and was almost brought to tears for the amount of happiness I felt was almost un bearable. I know that I am HAPPY. I LOVE my life here in Argentina. I LOVE serving the people. These experiences are unlike any other. Jared, Brady, Bryson, Tate, Mitchel, Scott, EVERYONE that has not served a mission and will have the chance someday... DO IT.

 

So on Tuesday I was on divisions with one of our Zone Leaders, E. Herbert (Lloyd Chase Herbert for Kass who might know him, he went to Alta as well, played football.) He was sharing with me how E. Aidukitis (from the Seventy) had told them about a challenge they had had to see who could get into a house with the least amount of words. He had done it in one - Pasamos? So I said, I want to try! The next house we knocked, I said, Pasamos para hablar con Ustedes? It wasn´t one, it was five, but it was still almost nothing... An 18 yr. old named Gaspar answered us and... LET US IN! E. Herbert had to muffle his laughter at seeing me do it on the first one I tried, it was hilarious. Gaspar is VERY curious about the church, and wants to know if it´s true. He´s an awesome investigator. Flia. Alogostine, another family that we found recently, the story behind them was this:  We were walking to an investigators house, and I saw the family outside their house sharing Máte. I had the biggest urge to go and talk to them, but I didn´t listen to that prompting... FIRST MISTAKE. After finding out that the investigator wasn´t home, we returned down the road and when we were walking past the house, I got the urge again, at the last second, I turned around and said: Hola!! The wife, Jorgelina, said: Pasen!! It was then that I got into a house on 1 word. :) They are a family of five, with 3 boys, all above the age of 8. They have a lot of questions, and are an incredible family.

 

E. Herbert that night during planning told me thank you for helping him out, I had helped him find his "Inner Osadoness". Which means his Inner Boldness, but in Spanglish. Hahaha! I have realized that I am very bold with people... Haha.

 

So on Friday, I was doing divisions in Junín de los Andes with E. Davis, an awesome Elder from Gunnison, Utah with 6 months in the mission. We were having a hard time finding someone to teach in the morning, so as we started on the way to another investigators house, I said: Alright, if you receive any kind of prompting to talk to a person, or knock a house... Listen to it, I´ll do the same."  We kept walking, 10 seconds later, I saw a brick house on the right side of the road. "Have you ever knocked this house?" I said. I walked up to the house and knocked. A girl named María came out and I introduced ourselves, and then she let us in! I looked at E. Davis as she led us in, and winked. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! He had a hard time holding in the laughter and amazement. It was a very cool experience. The Lord really does guide us, even when we don´t realize it. We are his servants, He knows where we need to go, and in one way or another, we always end up where He needs us to be.

 

We´ve been working on a 200 meter ditch for a member who needs to throw in a water pipe. He and his family always give us Asado for lunch afterwards... This Saturday was She-Deer.... MMMMMMMMMMM. SO GOOD.!!! Anyway, Darío is fighting to receive a paper from the province that states that he´s divorced. He told us that the date for the wedding should be in the first week of April, so he will be baptized then. I love him, he´s so awesome, and has so much faith.

 

Well, I am officially in love with San Martín. Don´t make me leave!!! We´ve got transfers coming up on the 2nd of April, E. Agazzani is going home, he´s fine btw, happy, working, the ring fits perfectly. :) He says thank you. GRACIAS! I loved that quote btw.

 

Anyways, until next Monday, We´re fighting for a baptism on Conference weekend, pray for us that we find someone prepared!

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert

March 12, 2012

My week went very well. It went kind of slow Monday to Thursday, because Elder Agazzani, Elder Arenas and I were together. I honestly don´t have much time to write today, I feel VERY bad for that. Darío and Viviana are going to be married this week, probably on Thurs. or Friday, then on Sunday after Sacrament meeting, he will be baptized! We´ve had some incredible experiences and spiritual moments with him and his family. They´re a wonderful family. We´re busy finding more families to dunk in water... A little more spiritual than that, but... Well, you know what I mean. Lautaro and Yesica, the son and daughter of Fabiana are preparing to be baptized! Lautaro might get baptized this sunday with Darío, then Yesica on the 31st. It is so weird to think that Gen. Conf. is just around the corner! I know there are many more experiences that I´ve had this week that are worthy of this letter... I learned how to lasso! My jeans ripped down the butt while doing service (I´m not fat, it was a hole that was ripped from barbed wire... ;)) Waking up at 6am i hard, but I do it anyway. E. Agazzani and I are happy together again. 3 weeks left and then he goes home, I get someone else...

I need pictures from you guys!!! We don´t have daylights savings here. Last night? I got home from knocking in the rain without a jacket on... I was soaked. Hahaha! Then I got in my Air Jordan sweats and mocassins and read for a little bit, we planned for tonight´s work. We´re going to have three lessons with a member, put a couple baptism
dates and then go home. Good luck with hamster... No idea what to tell you. I´m starting to think of things I need to buy as my Argentine stuff. I´m going to buy an Asado kit, some cowboy pants, a giant Asado knife, and stuff like that. We had a lot of investigators in church yesterday. I love the work, I love my life here in San Martín. I was telling Melyn that my heart will be staying here in San Martín until the day I die. I love it here. It´s my little Celestial Kingdom.

I need to go, we need to get to our appts!!! I love you so much, SEND ME PICTURES! I want to see the fam.

Amor,
E. Cuthbert

March 5, 2012

*I can't believe Jordan's irreverent behavior!  I apologize!! - Melanie*

First of all, Monday night we got a call from the Mish pres. and he told us that E. Campos is being emergency transfered to Allen, Roca (Where E. Syddall was slashed) and E. Syddall was coming here. Hahahaha! I was really sad, actually. E. Campos is someone that I will be hanging out with when I get back. He has been such a good friend, just like E. Barton was back in Esquel, but anyway, he left on Wednesday. So I`ll be able to see E. Syddall again and get the full story from him. He was awesome in Esquel, poor kid. He`s now having studies done on his face because one of his neck muscles was severed and his saliva gland was also destroyed. I love this mission. :) COOL things happen. (You can totally tell that I`m still a boy at heart... ;)) 

Dad, we don`t carry out Passports hardly at all. The majority of the time, they`re stuck in a safe in the mission home in Neuquèn. We have to become Argentine citizens, or at least have an Argentine license, and that`s what we use to be legal. I was given my passport because I need to renew my Visa to be in the country, that means trips to Bariloche!!! 

Lautaro was not baptized with all that happened this week. I was in my area for a good... Three days, nada màs. He will be, soon. He`s a ten year old with a lot of energy that doesn`t like to be cooped up in the house listening to the boring, old misioneros... ;) I`m so jealous that you`re all going down to Moab and Jordan`s running the marathon there and then you`re going to the Fiery Furnace! SEND ME PICTURES OF MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY. I WANT TO SEE you guys!!!! I miss that stuff, ha, but I only have one more year so... It`s already coming to a close. :( NOOOOOO!!!!!

We are going to be doing something HUGE for my year anniversary, and E. Agazzani`s end of the mission. HUGE. We`re talking roasting a stinkin` lamb on a big cross over a bed of stinkin` coals!!! THAT`s WHAT I`M talking about!! That`s Argentina. :)I`ll send you pictures with my NEW CAMERA! It got here!! WOOT!! So happy about it. Well, I don`t really know, I haven`t turned it on or anything, but I will be playing with it tonight. Thank you so much, Mom. 

My Eccos are holding up FINE. They`re full of magic, I think. Seriously. I have walked, probably... GAJILLIONS of miles, and they`re still goin. They`re starting to pull away in a couple places but I can take them to be repaired really quickly, don`t worry about that. You`ve sent me too much stuff anyway. Are you sure Jared turns 18 this year? Doesn`t he turn 15 or something? There`s NO WAY he`s turning that age. No. Way. My little brother isn`t so little anymore! I love you Jared. 

Now, we were in Zapala for 3 days, well me and another Elder. Like I said, we needed to renew our Visas, and we had to do the first step in Zapala in the police station doing thumb prints and going to the bank and paying a lot of money and crap like that. So we weren`t in San Martìn for awhile. But last Monday, I went on Divisions in my area with E. Davis, an Elder with 6 months, NO Spanish and from Gunnison, Utah. He can`t speak at all, but it was with him that we had a lesson so spiritual... It was like it was from the movies. Darìo is the dad of Daniza and Zahida who got baptized. We went to their house, and I wanted him to accept a date to be baptized, and to get married, because they`re not married. So in the beginning I began talking about Eternal Families. They want it. I asked him what he would need to do to be able to have that Eternal Family. I was hoping he would say baptism... He didn`t. He said Marriage. EVEN BETTER!!! The majority of the time, marriage is harder to get people to do than baptism, so I was so happy that he recognized the need to be baptized. So we spoke about marriage for awhile, then I wanted him to accept a baptismal date, so we spoke about that and he said: "You know, I`ve been thinking a lot about what you guys have been telling me these last few days, and.. I want to get baptized." BING! SCORE! GOAL!! Then, I said: "Darío, y Viviana (the name of the mom) Heavenly Father wants you to keep all the commandments before you get baptized. One of those commandments is marriage. Viviana, do you want to get married to Darìo?" She said: "I`ve ALWAYS wanted to!!" And she burst into tears. Darìo held out his hand (They were in separate couches) And she reached out and latched onto his. Then I asked Darìo the same question. He said, "Yes, I do." At that point, they were both crying, the Spirit was so strong... Viviana launched herself into the arms of Darìo and they began crying together, just holding on to each other. It was a beautiful moment, and I am a LUCKY man to be apart of that moment. We set everything up, and they will be married and baptized in the coming weeks. I am so happy, Mom, I am happy. I see miracles every day. I love the mission. I love this work. I love my Lord and Savior. I love my life. 

Just the other day, we did service, then had the whole rack of ribs of a goat and a giant rump from a cow. Fresh. I love Argentina. I LOVE this people. Kolt knows exactly what I`m talking about. The people here are so loving and incredible. The culture is amazing... The land is beautiful. I`m in love, and I`m already halfway through... :( 

I want you to know that I love you. I`ll be taking more pictures of beautiful San Martìn, baptisms and everything else. When E. Agazzani leaves, I`ll be receiving much more responsibility, from what the President told me in our interview in Zapala. He looked me in the eye and said, E. Cuthbert... You`re good. Baptizing almost every single week. I know you`re anxious to not be junior comp. And that time is coming much sooner than you know it. Your mission is still young. 

The mission... It`s a once in a life time experience. I`m working on more love, patience and humility than ever before. I love you all. So Much. 

E. Cuthbert 

February 27, 2012

E. Agazzani and I have been a little better. We still need to work on a couple things. It`s like we`re both on a tight rope... With one wrong move, everything goes tumbling down... I have to be careful, patient, loving, Christlike... I can`t tell you how hard it is to really be like Christ. He was the perfect example of being...Well... PERFECT!!! No one but God could do that. It`s insane. 

Well, There was some really sad news here in the Great Mission of the Patagonia. Elder Syddall, one of my good friends from Esquel, was knifed in the neck last Sunday. He is in Roca, close to Neuquèn. A guy who always bugged the missionaries, throwing rocks at them and sometimes, rotten meat, went up to them acting like he was interested in the church. He began walking with them, they answered his questions and everything, just like a normal contact. When they were about 100 meters away from the church, the guy stopped looked at E. Syddall, then pulled out a knife from his pocket and, screaming "REPENT!" slashed him across the neck and face. He meant to kill him. He escaped and E. Syddall was carried to a members house then to the hospital where he was operated on right away. He`s alive. But he will carry a very nice memory of that encounter on his neck and face for the rest of his life. It will be a scar that goes from the middle of his neck all the way to the corner of his mouth. About 5-6 inches. Scary? A little bit. I was reminded though about a sentence in my Patriachal Blessing that says that in my mission, The Angels of the Lord will protect me. I believe that. 

I`m really excited for this transfer. It`s going to be a good one. We have the dad and big sister of Daniza and Zahida that we`re working on. They will get baptized, The dad and mom of Daniza and Zahida will be married and will complete their family... Eternally!!! Fabiana has her son Lautaro who is 10 who will hopefully get baptized this Saturday. He`s a rascal and is always running around, not making it on time for the apts, we have with him and his mom. Also his big sister has shown some interest. We met an inactive family that has three daughters that aren`t baptized. They all will enter the waters of baptism. A family that came to a baptism and wants to be baptized needs to be married, and then they can enter the waters of baptism. Mirta and Ramón and Roberto Gori and their families (All my converts, I`m SO proud of them!!!!) are sharing with families and have set up appts with us to meet them. They`re doing Missionary Work!!! So strong and faithful, they are. I love San Martìn with all my heart. It`s an incredible place. This week I`ve been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon, and I never get tired of reading. I need to work out more... Oh! That reminds me of an experience we had yesterday.. 

We had lunch yesterday with the Branch President and Flia. Calderòn. I don`t know how we got on the topic, but we started to talk about working out and stuff like that. the President, Presidente Di Stefano looks at me and says "Let`s do it.". He`s such a little guy, he`s a skinny stick of a man. He says, we`re going to do push ups. Whatever amount you do, I`ll do 5 more. I said: "Vamos, Che!!" Let`s go, Dude! We get down and start doing push ups. He was talking smack the entire time. We got to 55 and started slowing down, the both of us. I stopped for a second in the Upward dog position, and he thought I was done, I then began pumping out push ups again. We were both dying, pushing as hard as we could. In the end... He didn`t beat me. We did the same amount, about 65. Not a lot. I need to work harder. But he wasn`t finished... He then wanted to do a contest of one handed pull ups. There`s no pull up bar in a church??!! He said, Oh, yes there is. We went outside and he went to the antennae. It`s a big tower and at the top is the antennae, to get to the top is a metal ladder, but you need a step ladder to get up to it, it`s about 15 ft. above the ground. He got a ladder out and climbed up and began his one armed pull ups. He did 12. We had about 20 members, all the missionaries and the little kids watching and cheering. Then it was my turn. The missionaries, E. Campos and Arenas (Both from the U.S. ) were yelling at me, REPRESENT! REPRESENT!!! I began doing pull ups. I past 12 easily and got to 16 before asking for the ladder. I beat him fair and square!!! It was very fun. But I need to work out more... A lot more. 

Well, I just want to throw out a big thank you to everyone who continually supports me... I`m about to complete a year in the mission... And it`s gone by so fast. So incredibly fast. I have many goals and things to accomplish in this next year, and it`s so scary to already see the finish line in the distance. A year of work... Incredible. I love you all. I miss you all, but I miss the work more! Gotta go out and teach! 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

February 20, 2012

*Sorry I'm posting these SOO late!  Enjoy!*