May 28, 2012

That`s so cool about school getting out and watching the Avengers (NINE MORE MONTHS, NINE MORE MONTHS...) Hahaha, I`m sure you guys had a blast. Dad, I know you can do it with the workload, with an iPad... Anything is possible! ;) Hahaha! I am so proud of you.  Thank you for sending the pictures of Jareds photography. I really appreciate it! It will be great to be able to show people more about my life! My keyboard sucks, that`+s why there`s so many mistakes... Sorry! 

Well, I said goodbye to my Mission President, Pres. Peterson and his wife for the last time on Thursday. They came down to Comodoro one last time before they leave at the end of June. We had a good talk together, and we laughed about how when I get home, we`ll get together for a lunch or something, they live in Bountiful.

Me, E. Slaugh and two other Elders did a musical number... We sounded beautiful. I sang bass while E. Slaugh sang tenor, E. Jewkes with the alto and E. Marriott with the melody. Abide with me tis eventide. Great hymn. Anyways, good stuff. So I saw E. Slaugh there, again and we were able to talk. Really awesome.

Well, the 25th of this month was Independence day for Argentina, so we the missionraies threw an acivity for the entire ward. We had a delicious GIANT pot of what`s called Locro, look it up, we made enough for 120 people. Then, we had a talent show, and we four missionaries did the best skit/lip sync to Backstreet Boys EVER. I don`t have the time to explain it... I feel really bad, but suffice it to say that we will be famous forever in this ward for the show we put on. It was so funny. SO SO FUNNY!!! :) :)

We put three baptismal dates yesterday night with a new family that are really awesome! They`ll be baptized this next month, June. I`m so happy, missionary work is awesome. Mom, has Hermana Peterson emailed you back about what you have to do t come down to Argentina and pick me up? Anyway, I love you all so much. I want you o know that I have a strong testimony, and I won`t let you guys down!!! Until next week!

Amor,

E. Cuthbert 

May 21, 2013

Hey familia!!! I want you all to know that I love you so much! Maggie... you poor little girl!!! You were always such an old fart, but now it´s really happening... You´re disentigrating into thin air!!! :( I hope I see you before you die. 

Anyway, right now, I am in Trelew. 5 hours away from Comodoro doing errands to renew my Visa to stay legal in the country. I´m with an E. Johnstun from Mona, Utah (?) Where the heck is Mona?? And E. Reid from Idaho. Two AWESOME Elders. Anyway, we got all my visa stuff done this morning, so now we´re just waiting for my 5 hour bus trip back to Comodoro at 3 o´ clock. What a week it´s been! It was SOOO cold outside! The wind has been... FREEZING!!! But, I´m happy, doing good, everything is good. 

You and E. Wagstaffs mom should get together for an afternoon tea or something! At least... ahem... That´s what all Argentines would do, but seeing that we´re LDS and we don´t drink tea... Maybe you guys could drink milk? Or Sprite? Hahaha! Wagstaff has an awesome family, really crazy. I like his mom, she worries so much about her little munchkin! ;) 

Yes, people were throwing rocks but it´s no big deal. there are about 30 missionaries in Comodoro. It´s a big city, but we´re on the outskirts of everything. It´s a lot more chill where I am, and we don´t have too many problems with anybody. Carla and Gabriel, we went to them on Monday night and they really don´t want to progress. At least Gabriel is fighting with his little Bible in hand, and won´t humble himself enough to read and ask God. What a frustrating man. Anyway, Carla is a little confused about everything, but we will be going by in the next few weeks maybe to see how she´s doing and see if she´s still interested in at least learning more. She hasn´t ever wanted to go to church, just embarassed, probably. Anyway, we´re not going by them as much anymore just because nothing ever happens. They aren´t progressing. 

I have to apologize... I don´t have anything to send pictures with! I left everything in Comodoro, so I can´t send you the pictures of the awesome Sealions that almost killed me! It was such a cool experience! We had to wait till the tide was down, then we walked out to this outcropping of rock way out in the sea, the Bishop was with us, of course. Anyway, we got out there, and got around to the other side of the rocks, and there they were, like... hundreds of sea lions on the rocks! It was SOOO cool to see them so closely! We climbed up the rocks, and i was litterally 5 ft. away from them. I have a picture of one that looks about ready to kill me. It was so awesome, such a good experience... I´m so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me to such a beautiful mission. I have been so lucky to be in the Patagonia of South America... What a blessing it is. Anyway, that night I get a call from... E. Slaugh! He and E. Sharp were companions, and E. Sharp was leaving for Gaiman which is pretty close to Trelew, so he called me up and wanted to know if he could chill with me and Wagstaff for the night till his next comp came, I said... GET HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!

So I had divisions with my Dad. FUN. It was so good to talk with him. He pulled me aside on the bus that night, and said. E. Cuthbert, I want you to know how proud I am of you. I have heard about the things you´ve done on the mission, and I will never stop telling you of how proud I am of you. Mom, it felt SO. Good. to hear my Trainer say that to me. I have a lot to work on, and I have a long way to go before I ever become like him, but to hear him say that was... It was awesome. I respect him more than anyone else. He really was my half brother for that transfer... Hard to think that that was a year ago exactly. How the time flies... 

This week, the work went a lot better. We had more news, and the lessons with member went up as well. It felt good to be back on track with my usual numbers. I love this work!!! 

I didn´t write anything down before I came here, so I can´t really remember a lot of the stuff that happened, but I wanted to relate my story about the talk I gave yesterday in church. Talk about, GOOD! I had been thinking about what I wanted to say for awhile now. And one day, I was reading a very known part in D&C 18 that says the Worth of Souls is great in the sight of God. So I spoke about my own family, how much I miss and love you guys, and how our Heavenly Father feels, having all of us so far away from his presence. I told them that if we could erase all of the religion, work, sports, the things that separate us as people, wouldn´t we realize and see ourselves as how we really are? All of us, sons and daughters of God fighting for the exact same goal? Returning to Him? With that said, I began talking about the importance of sharing the Gospel with all of our Brothers and Sisters. Because that´s what they are. How can we NOT gives our OWN brothers and sisters the tools they need to make it back to their Father in Heaven? Preposterous, to those who think that this Gospel is not something to be shared with EVERYONE. 

Anyway, I love you guys so much. I know that this is the true church. I had so many people crying after my talk was done... I have that effect on people when I talk, if they cry... That means I reached their hearts... And hopefully they will change. thank you for everything you guys are doing for me. Jared, I just saw Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows on the bus ride from Comodoro to here... It was SICK! I really liked it, really funny, good action. (Just so you know, Mom... The President lets us watch movies on the buses) Anyway, I´m going to go and buy a giant pizza for myself, I´m pretty hungry! I love you so much!!! 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

May 14, 2012

Tell grandpa that I miss him... A lot. He`s been such an example in my life, tell him that I am so proud of him, his son; my father, and all that he has taught the both of us. The same goes for Grandma, Omi and Buppi and all the rest of the family.

 

I totally didn`t want to use Skype until I saw your face. :) Then I was a converted person. I was so happy that I was able to give you that present. I know you loved it, Mom. I love you so much. Once again, Happy Mothers Day. Thank you for everything that you have done for me in my life. For all the sacrifice, all the hard work. I realize now the amount of love and devotion you have dedicated into the lives of your children in such a short year and 2 months. And I know that as I get older, that appreciation will just continue to grow. Anyway, I wanted to ask Jared to send me some of his photography. From what I saw on the cam it was REALLY good! And it`s got awesome views of our view of the mountains. People here have never seen such big mountains, so Jared, send me some good pictures of our gorgeous mountains that you`ve done, and other things around the house. I would love to show more about my own life to them.

 

So the move went smoothly. We moved Monday night, and got everything organized, going to bed at 11:30, exhausted after a good Pday and lots of moving furniture. The new pench is much bigger than the old one, and in a much safer location. Just last week we had people throwing rocks at us right in front of our pench! Glad we moved!! Haha! Anyway, finding new people to teach this week was hard. I`m not understanding why it`s so hard to find people, but I know that they will come, if I Trust in the Lord, like you said, Mom, I know that we will be guided to the people looking for the truth. Wednesday night, we held a little 6 month anniversary for E. Wagstaff. I made him pizzas and chocolate chunk cookies that you sent me, Mom. If you ever send me more of the cookie mixes... I want that one... And nothin` else! Hahaha! SOOO good, and they reminded me of home. I can`t wait to try your brownie dessert pizza or whatever it was you made for dinner for Mothers day!

 

Thursday I had the coldest and most cruel wind and icicle´-like raindrops pound and rip apart my face for what seemed like an eternity. I`ve never been colder. The wind threw the rain into our faces, and it literally felt like someone throwing little daggers one by one into our flesh... Charming, but extremely fun experience! Haha! What we do for the Lord and the people here in Comodoro... We had an incredibly crazy lesson with Carla and Gabriel, the lady who forgot everything about the church. Gabriel pretty much denied himself eternal life. Saying that he was aware of the decisions he was making, and if he were to die tomorrow, he would be fine with going to hell. All I could say was... Sad. So, Sad. We begged them to read the BoM and pray about it, knowing that`s the only way he can get a testimony of everything. He is someone who dedicated himself to the Bible for 15 years, and he knows a lot. But every time he tried to counterargue something with a statement from the Bible, I whipped it back in his face with something from the Book of Mormon, or his own precious Bible. It surprised me at just how much I have learned, and the knowledge I have gained by both books. It has put the promise made by the prophets fulfilled when they said that with the Bible and Book of Mormon, you will be able to confound all men who come against you. I know that is true. And how powerful I felt to be able to testify of that fact to him. What a testimony I`ve gained... I love this church, I love this Gospel, I love my Savior.

 

It has been a while since I bore my testimony. I was thinking about what I`ve learned over the past year here in Argentina, and I know I am not the same person. Like Grandpa said to you, Mom, I know as well that the mission is changing everything about me. I sure hope that I am not like I was before the mission, and knowing that I`m not, I hope that I will never return. I know who I am now. I know what my purpose as a person is. I am so much happier, I don`t doubt about my life, and what I`m going to do. I know that as long as I trust in the Lord, He will direct my paths. I love this Gospel with all of my heart, and I know that it is a priviledge to suffer whatever it is that I suffer as a misisonary for two years if it means I can pay back even a little part of what The Savior of the World suffered for me. I know that without His example, His suffering, the giving of His life, we would not have the opportunity, the chance, or the blessing to see each other after this life, but because of it, I know that He conquered the death, and that we, as families can live together again after we have parted from this earthly life. I want everyone within the sound of my voice to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church of God. There was a true church of God when Jesus Christ was on the Earth. And it is back on the earth again because a loving Heavenly Father answered the curious prayer of one who only wanted to know which church to join. Joseph Smith really saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. Of that I bear witness and testimony. And with all the complaints, all the false theories, all the lies, the persecution, the hatred, and the excuses that people will exclaim to me and my family about how Joseph Smith is a liar and a man destined to reign in Hell with Satan himself - To them I say they are wrong. And if they will not take on the promise made by Moroni, an ancient prophet from this American continent who promised that every single soul on this earth, male or female that wanted to know the truth of the Book of Mormon and the reality of the Truth of the Church of Jesus Christ, would only have to get on their knees and pray to their Maker, asking Him if these things are true... If they will not do that, it is because they do not have faith. I admonish, beg and exhort all to read the Book of Mormon and ponder its message. I love that book, and know it is the word of God. The Church is true, it`s important, and it`s NECESSARY to receive life eternal with our families. I love my family. And will fight every day of my life, until I can say at the end of my life as Paul said of old: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course..." I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know that any person that will abide His teachings... Will be saved in the Kingdom of God. Of these things I testify, asking God Himself to seal my testimony in heaven as well as here on Earth, and I do it in the name of His Son, the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

I love you all, Happy Mother`s Day.

E. Cuthbert 

May 7, 2012

Jared, Ha! Do you mind sending me some $ since you`re making so much? Just a couple grand... Not much to ask, right? Ha! Oh, how`s Valentina? Did you get all the parts and the registry and everything done to drive her? I bet you`re just itching with the roads being nice and dry and hot from the sun... Oooh, it gives me chills to think about it... ;) Heh! 

So we`re moving out today. Saturday was a long day spent in a ton of service. I`ll hurry and tell about what happened. So the pench that we`re moving into is the pench of a less active member and her non member husband. They are moving into their new house that they have built, and were planning on being out by Saturday, didn`t happen. Haha. On Wednesday, we went over at their request to help them dig a giant hole for the big pipe to connect their water to the waterline. 3 hours later with a giant hill next to us on the side of the road... We find out that the waterline doesn`t pass by where we were digging... GREAT!!!... Ha, so we went back to the pench,  changed and went to our appointments. On Saturday, we went over after lunch to see if they had connected the water. Still, no luck. They were working on another hole a little farther away, using "logic" that that`s where the pipe would have to be. So we got clothes on, and went to help dig with the pick ax and shovels and stuff. Nothing. So we started doing the same thing, a little farther inside, on the sidewalk this time. This time, there was no way we were going to fail. We began digging and then found a pipe at the bottom. Success!!!! Ahem... Not. The owner of the house whose sidewalk we were destroying came out and told us that that wasn`t the water pipe. Great. 3 holes, and no luck. So, finally we made a temporary ditch for the pipe that passed through the street. We were digging and pick axing for a good 7 hours. We got home with sore hands and tired bodies. So, I decided to make us Empanadas Arabes. They`re probably my favorite food in all of Argentinedom. What you do is you mix hamburger meat with onion, green, red pepper and salt, pepper, and a spice. Then, you take the juice from about 6 lemons and you pour that over everything. You then let it sit in your fridge for 2 hours, and the lemon juice cooks the hamburger meat, solo! With the acids from the juice, that cooks it all, you then put it into empanada shells and throw them in the oven. So RICO!!!!!! 

So today, at 6 pm we are moving. FINALLY. We slept on our mattresses on the ground last night because we already took apart the bunk bed in the hopes that we would have already moved out. Haha.    So I will definitely send pictures next week of the move and everything.  

Alright, I am so proud of my Dad right now. What a bunch of woosies that wimped out of the job!  That`s so awesome that he kept with it, and will be doing that with Texas. I promise that I will not do anything to my body that will  cause a medical insurance difficulty. You have my word. And I just signed a random piece of paper, signing my life away to that promise. I hope you`re happy. :) 

Thanks again for the package with my journal in it! I forgot to tell you to send more of the spicy chipotle marinade packets!! Oh well, I can be patient for Christmas or something like that.   So, Mother`s Day. I`m so, so so so so so so so excited    to call you guys! It`s going to be great! I`m planning on calling at about 4:30. 1:30 your time. Be sure to write down any questions   that you want me to answer so you don`t forget. I`ve got about an hour to talk to you guys, so let`s make it a good one! I`ll call you guys, and then if you guys can call me back, that would be great. 1-801-358-0396... I`ll never forget your cell number.  I`m not going to do Skype. I`m going to make you wait till I pick you up from the airport in Neuquèn!!! ;) I`ll be talking with my President about that soon to make sure I know everything and how to help you  know what it is you have to do. 

So, yes, we have found a few new investigators... But not enough. I have realized latelty that I might be putting too much confidence in myself, and not in God to help us work. I realized through a set of really humbling hours of knocking and not getting into ANY house, that I need to ask My Heavenly Father more specifically for His help, and then I need to listen as carefully as possible to hear His whispers to me. I love missionary work, and I know I don`t want to leave. The work is a little harder here, but E. Cuthbert never backed down to a little adversity. In 2 nephi 4 it talks about how Nephi wouldn`t back down because of his afflictions. I, like him, will do the same. Work the hardest I can, and let the Lord do the work. Thank you for all of the support you guys give me. I can truly thank my Heavenly Father for giving me the most incredible family... I love you guys so much. Send me pictures of Prom, and of the family!  Don`t worry about me, I am doing so well here... I`m happy, and I`m learning more about the Plan of Salvation and the purpose of our existence here, more and more. I love this Gospel. 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

April 30, 2012

Man! I`ve been waiting to talk to you guys! So many things have happened, I don`t know where to begin!. So yes, I was bitten by a dog. I pass by it every time we go to that neighborhood, and I always throw a good rock at it with a note that says: JerkFace! Ha, naw... But really... What a stupid animal, that dumb dog. You cursed me it sounds like!! How rude! 

So on Tuesday we did what is called a Whitewash in our area. We had 8 missionaries in our area, and we all knocked ALL day. At the end of the day, at night around 6:45 it began to hail on us... We were in white shirts, with a few in sweaters.. But no one in a jacket! Haha! It was SOOO cold and windy! The hail hurt so badly! But from that Whitewash, we found a ton of investigators!!! 22! A little better than the 0 from two weeks before and the 5 from last week! I was relieved to finally see a good number. Anyway, we`ve found some pretty awesome people. There`s a guy named Nelson and his family that gave us homemade pizza, the day we contacted them! They invited us in and threw down two pizzas in front of us! We spoke about the Restoration, the mission and our lives. I bragged about you guys, of course, and yeah! It was awesome! There`s also another guy named Javier who is about 25, he`s super rich because he works in the oil down here. Oil takes up about 80% of all jobs in Comodoro. So he`s rich, single, and he likes us and our message! Awesome! We`re finally beginning to see more success. We found a girl named Vanina who knew the missionaries when she was about 8, she`s now 20 and has many questions about the purpose of life, if there is an eternal life, stuff like that. It makes me so excited!!! :) 

So this next Saturday, we`re MOVING!!! WOOOT!!!!! The pench we`re in is litrally, terrible. I`ve had a bucket shower every day for a month, the toilet is clogged and will not get unclogged, there must be a problem in the pipes or something... No sè. But anyway, we`re moving to the house of a member family who are now moving out, so it works perfectly! It will be much bigger, the shower WORKS and we`ll be a lot closer to everything. E. Wagstaff is bouncing off the walls happy about it. The sooner we get out, the better. Haha. 

I`m warm, don`t worry. The thermal garments are  coming into use Heh!! Thank you for all that you do. You need to tell me what schedule you guys have for church so I know when to call you guys. I`ll tell you guys the hour I`ll call next week. Hard to think that the time has flown by so fast... Kind of scary when you think about it. I`m really working for more success here in Comodoro. When I came down here, I promised myself it would be my best area. I was reminded of the Lion painting I have in my room that says ^"The Righteous are Bold as a Lioin" - Prov. 28:1. Good scripture. As long as we are brave, we can complete our goals. I know that. 

Make sure you guys write down any specific questions you want to ask me, so you down`t forget! :) I`m now going to go play some basketball!!! Whoo!!! 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

April 23, 2012

How are you all?? Jared, you went to Prom, huh? Way to be the gentleman! You will find that the COOL people are the ones who treat their dates and the women in their life nicely. You``ll be surprised that they treat you more nicely in return as well ;) Haha! So you went in a Lexus IS 350???? How was THAT my bud?? I bet you guys were hauling! That reminds me of my Prom to Sundance in the Audi RS6, my car... Right, Omi and Buppi? ;) It was SUCH an adventure, I``m so happy you went, send me pictures of everything, PUHLEASE!!

Wow, this week had some big ups and so giant downs! It was a very good week, overall. The Work is slowly working its way back up, and we``ll have success here pretty soon. Forgive me for the apostrophe``s, for some reason, this Argentine computer likes to do two instead of one. Don``t know why.

YAY!! I``m so happy I have money! Will you set aside, and pay my tithing on that money please? If that``s aloud, I don``t know if you can do it for me. Haha. Feliz Cumpleanos, Simon! Espero que fuera lo mejor! :) Anyways, What a week, lets get started.

First of all, we might be moving!! Our pench is REALLY small, and what``s more, I have had to take a bucket shower every day since I got here, because the pressure of the shower, literally, sucks. Bucket shower, bucket shower, bucket shower!!! And the front door is really hard to open with the key, Ha! It``s all really hilarious, really. But we might move into the house of a member, because they are moving out of that house to move into a different house, so they``re leaving the other house free, and we can have that house on the first few days of May, Me entendian?? Did you understand that Ha, yeah, so hopefully we can move, it``s a lot bigger and got a lot more space.

So... I was BITTEN BY A DOG!! We were up in a new part of the area that I hadn``t ever seen before, and while we were walking around and knocking on all the little shacks on the perimeter of the neighborhood, this big, fat dog comes walking next to us. He had his head down, giving us shifty looks every once and awhile. We thought we were good, so we kept walking. As soon as I broke eye contact with him, WHAM!!! I feel this very strange, pulling on the back of my calf muscle. I instictively kicked and whipped around, and the dog started going berserck. He had bitten me, getting his jaws firmly on my calf muscle and had PULLED. It HURT. We were already at a door when he had bitten me, so I just forgot about it, more focused on talking with someone about the Restored Gospel. So we knocked the door, and I hid the pain and my anger under my smile and we asked to come in... We didn``t get in. When the door shut, I wiped that smile off my face and whipped around ready to KILL. The dog was about 10 meters away, so I couldn``t really do anything. I just started to limp away and we continued contacting. He bit me through my pants, lucky thing is that he didn``t tear through them, there is no hole or anything whatsoever on my pants, but he still got me good. I have sent the picture so you can see. Dumb. Dog. I called Sister. Peterson and she told me if I started to feel sick or anything like that, to go to the hospital for Rabies, but we``ll see... Hahaha! I``m not too worried, there was no skin contact. So that night, I treated myself to some good ``ol Brownies with Dulce de Leche to make me feel better! Hha!

I have made French toast with syrup and whipped cream and cinnamon sugar a couple times... Oh my Gosh. There was a 14 yr. old kid that kept passing by us on a moped every one to two minutes on the road the other day for about a half hour, every time, passing screaming cuss words and flipping us off. How the younger generation is slipping farther, and farther into the flaxon cords and temptations of the devil!!!! :(

The days have been pretty tough. Hard work. We``ve been contacting a lot lately trying to find new investigators. There aren``t a lot, and I WILL NOT use the excuse that Comodoro is just ``Harder``. I refuse to make excuses. The only reason an area is open is because there is someone in that area, who will be baptized. I just have to find them. So we``ve been working to find them. IT``s tough, but we won``t give up, me or E. Wagstaff. He``s doing great, by the way. We love each other. 

We found a girl from Salta who was baptized 2 years ago and then moved here right afterwards. She is now completely inactive, she smokes, drinks, has a boyfriend and a kid and doesn``t remember ANYTHING about the Gospel, Joseph Smith, BoM, or anything. It is so sad. We found her through trying to find a different person, hopefully we can help her and her boy friend want to accept the Gospel again.

I have to say, I love Comodoro... It``s gotten surprisingly cold, it bites my face off! Being next to the ocean gives us a very.. ahem, pleasant ocean breeze that``s about a billion below zero degrees. The wind has picked up, so we``ve been bundling up a lot more too. I loved church, yesterday. the 2nd counselor from the bishopric gave me this paste used to heal horse cuts on my dog bite, it``s sealed up quite nicely! Haha... But man, oh MAN did it hurt for awhile there! I want you all to know that I am fine and happy. I love the Gospel, and am studying the BoM and the Bible more than ever before. I love studying, and learning new things. When I get home, I will HAVE to go to work and study so I can keep myself busy and not get bored... I haven``t had a boring day for more than a year! Awesome. I love you all. If you have any questions, concerns, anything, I``d love to hear them... It``s been awhile since I got a letter from anyone, Ha. I miss you all! Pray for me and my companion, that we can be guided by the Spirit to the ones who are searching for the Truth!

E.Cuthbert