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 

January 16, 2012

Twenty years? NOOOOO!!! I´m not that old! I feel like I´m still 12, not a care in the world, running Hershey track and having a blast. But.. I can´t stop time. As much as I would like to stop time and stay young forever... I can´t. I´m turning twenty in a couple days... Blegh. I have to tell you the truth, I just want to stay your little Jordie. But, I know for right now, I can´t. Life has gone on, the years have past, and I am now an authorized servant of God. The time has flown...

So much has happened. E. Calvache left later on Monday, leaving E. Campos, Arenas and me here in San Martín to do whatever we wanted... So what did we do? We walked around to every chocolate store in San Martín and ate their samples... ;) And there´s LOTS of chocolate stores. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! If there´s one thing that age won´t change, it´s my love for delicious, scrumptious, smooth, luscious chocolate... HMMMMM. That night we began packing the other Elders´ stuff up. They were going to move to a different apartment in San Martín, so I helped clean and organize. That night we sat and spoke about our lives, and it was a pretty deep conversation. We spoke about things that I haven´t told many people, but we as Elders in the Gospel were strengthened by the testimonies of each other. At midnight, pouring with rain, we ran to the terminal to pick up E. Agazzani, my new companion. When he got there, we left the other two Elders for our own apartment, once there, we spoke for a little bit, then got to bed at 2am. Next morning... DEAD. We were so tired. Ever since then, I´ve been showing him around San Martín, we´ve been teaching, talking and loving life as missionaries. E. Agazzani is from Cordoba, Argentina. He´s got an accent that I´ve never heard before, a little hard to understand, he´s ending the mission in April, and he´s pretty shy around people he doesn´t know. But we´ll fix that.

The recent converts are doing very well. Mirta and Dana were sick, so Ramón and Claudia came to church by themselves! I was so proud of their effort. Yenifer and Karen came alone, without their mom. Her mom has been having a very hard time right now. She has a HUGE desire to be baptized, but she´s got a boyfriend, a daughter between the two of them, and she doesn´t want to separate the family again... HARD situation. They fasted with us on Saturday-Sunday to find a way to make the situation better. It´s brought a lot of tears on the part of Miriam, she doesn´t know what to do. I have been praying a lot for her and for her family. We have a lot of families now that are new. Everyone we had either got baptized, or said they don´t want to hear anything more. So when E. Agazzani got here, we are once again, almost starting from zero. We´ve found a lot of new people, had a lot of weird conversations, met a lot of dedicated catholics and evangelicals... What a week. We got into a pretty big bible bash the other day, and I had to repent for it on Sunday. I felt terrible for diverting from my cause as a missionary and only relying on scriptures from a half translated correctly Bible... Instead of using the power of the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon. I love the Bible, but only confusion comes from it because people interpret its sayings so differently. The Book of Mormon is NECESSARY. Without it, we are lost, in the dark. Anyway, I repented a lot for what I did, we also met a catholic yesterday that said "If you guys come to the Mass on Sunday at 10:30 this Sunday, I guarantee you I will come to you church too, but I already know you guys will never come." Hard decisions.... I don´t think we´ll be going, but it would be very interesting. He´s a hard core catholic that is SO SURE that the church that Constantine made permanent is the church of Christ. Wrong. Even by that time, the church was already in Apostasy... Ooops! I´m beginning to teach here... Sorry. Heh! I´ve been doing a lot of studying with the Apostasy and what happened... It´s a sketchy situation.

Anyway, for my birthday we´re going to Mirta and Ramóns house to have a bunch of Empanadas... I´m going to use one of the chocolate devils food cakes that you gave me and make a chocolate icecream-dulce de leche icecream cake!!!!! Hahaha! Wish me luck with that! I love this work. I love you all so much. SEND PICTURES! They make me HAPPY. Give me more HOPE. Make me work HARDER.

I love you all with all my heart. Jared, I WANT that hat. Mom, you´re la mejor mamá que hay en este mundo. Nunca te cambie. Eres mi angel. Melyn, sigues con el español. Te amo mucho. Papá. Te amo. Gracias por llevar a Jared y Simon al Show de Autos. Gracias por todo. No puedo esperar para hablar con ti.

Amor,

E. Cuthbert 

October 24, 2011

This week has been very fun and crazy... I will try and see if I can relate everything.

 

So I left Esquel a week ago... It was hard. We spent the day packing, then we got together with the other Elders and bought some icecream. Then it was off to the terminal to wait for the bus! While we were there, we began taking pictures and enjoy the last few moments together. I was JUST about to get onto the bus when the Colque family who we baptized all came RUNNING from the parking lot, trying to get there before I left. They made it! We took pictures, and said our last goodbyes... It was very hard to say goodbye to that family. They´re so special to me... I love them so much. I must return someday. I got on the bus, and Chao Esquel! It was such a strange experience... But right when I left, and was on the road out of Esquel... My entire 6 months of time there flashed before my eyes like lightning. Starting with the day I got there, nervous, not being able to understand Argentine spanish... All of the experiences, the good times with E. Slaugh, the bad times with E. Rojas, the successful times with E. Sharp... It all flashed past so quickly, I all of a sudden felt so... I don´t know how to explain it. The time I have is so short... I felt like I lived 6 months in about 6 seconds... I can just imagine getting on a plane in Buenos Aires for the U.S.A... How I will feel... Leaving home. Being a missionary is a one of a kind experience. And it´s one I will never forget.

 

Monday night, I stayed with... (Drum roll please...!!!) E. ALLSOP!!! Haha! I stayed in his apártment with his companion, it was VERY fun! In the morning, they saw me off to San Martin. I got there at 2 o´ clock and met my companion, E. Calvache. He´s very short, Columbian, 27 yrs. old (The oldest in the mission) and has the most annoying laugh, EVER!! Haha! My first day was AWESOME! San Martin is GORGEOUS!! Pres. Peterson must love me, because I thought Esquel was beautiful! San Martín is THE Spot. It´s got a lake right next to it, there´s trees EVERYWHERE, the people are very nice for the most part, and the city is incredible. I love it.

 

So the first few days were spent in me getting to know the members, the investigators, and basically everyone. Our apartment is incredibly perfect. I love it to death... I´m just a spoiled little missionary... Aren´t I? Haha! I can´t help but laugh to myself, but at the same time, I am very humbled to be this blessed. It is an incredible opportunity to be two years in the Patagonia. But that isn´t even the best part. In the first week I´ve been here, We´ve put about 7 baptismal dates with the other 4 they had before, so we´re already at my record of 11 baptismal dates. We have a kid named Gino, (12yrs) who will hopefully be baptized on the 29th. The only thing that would impede him is his dad. His dad is less active, and doesn'´t want to baptize him. But Gino wants desperately that his dad can baptize him. So they are having a little chat today, and we´ll find out tomorrow if we´re waiting a little longer for his dad to prepare himself, or baptize him anyway on the 29th with someone else doing the ordinance. We´ll see how it goes...

 

Roberto is the boyfriend of a member who was listening to the missionaries before I got here. He if a very tall Chileno, has cancer, and is as stud. He´s probably about 50, but anyway.. We had a date for him for the 19 of November, But then he told us that he has kids... I asked him if he would bring them with him to our lessons, he said ok. We had an AWESOME lesson with Roberto and his two kids, Matius (15) and Mikaela(11) We ended up asking them all to be baptized on the 5th of November. They all said yes!! It´s awesome!!! I´m so happy for them. I´m already seeing incredible blessings here in San Martin. It is an area that is completely ready to explode with baptisms.

 

On Sunday I bore my testimony and presented myself to the branch. It is a lot bigger than the Esquel branches.. About 110 members come every Sunday. We have some incredible members! They´re all very kind and willing to help us. The church building is gorgeous. It´s the only one in the Patagonia with 2 floors and an elevator! Haha. Anyway, as you can see, I´m a very happy boy.

 

Now, I´m pretty tired, this morning we got up and with the first counselor of the Bishopric and another member who is a mountain guide, we went on a hike to the top of the Volcano Colorado. It was a very fun hike, the only problem was the ash... The ash from the volcano that erupted back in June in Chile is still in the air here in San Martin. Sometimes it´s very clear... But days like today, it was terrible. We got to the top, and couldn´t even see the base of the mountain because of all the ash, but it´s all good. It was a fun hike, and at the top, we cooked hamburgers with a little propane burner and skillet! Haha! E. Calvache likes to kid and joke around a lot, it´s a little annoying, but the patience I learned from E. Rojas has helped me to be much more calm about things. It doesn´t bother me like it would have before... Anyway, that´s me for this week! I´m extremely happy, the work is AMAZING, I feel extremely blessed, and I know that my Heavenly Father lives. I have no doubt in my mind that He is always watching out over me. . . Thank you all for the kind and loving support you give me, I will see you next week! 

 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert

September 12, 2011

(Sorry for dropping the ball a bit on posting Jordan's letters!  I promise to post them as soon as they're emailed. - Melyn)

Thank you mom so much for the oreo recipe! Haha, that makes me happy! Before I forget... There was a piano song at the MTC that I LOVED, that I need to learn for Sacrament meetings and things like that. It was called : Oh How Lovely Was The Morning. There´s probably a ton of songs called that, but it´s just straight piano, and it´s GORGEOUS. Wow.. It´s been such an interesting week here in Esquel!

So Tuesday morning we had to get up really early like always to meet our new companions! E. Sharp was with me in the new area, and E. Syddall with E. Rojas. I was so ready to get to the terminal to meet E. Sharp, but E. Rojas had to go the the bathroom... In the new house, there was a problem with the bathroom door, and I had told him not to close it all the way, or else he´d be locked into the bathroom and wouldn´t be able to get out. Guess what he did? ..... Yeah, he got stuck in the bathroom. Dang kid!! So after 20 minutes of helping him squeeze through a tiny little window in the back of the bathroom... We got to the terminal to see our new comps waiting for us. E. Sharp is tall, not as tall as me, but tall enough. He´s a distance runner... Blegh!... ;) And likes a lot of the same things I do. I was SO happy to see my new comp, and turn E. Rojas over to E. Syddall, because however you look at it... 3 months with him was enough. Ha. So we took all of his stuff to the new apartment where the Hermana missionaries were living, then we went to the house and grabbed all my stuff. It´s exactly like you said it, Mom... It was such a pain to pack up everything that I had just unpacked. :/ Haha. But, anyway.. We got to the apartment and had to clean it up a little bit.. I´m seriously disappointed in the sister missionaries... It was a pig sty! We were cleaning until lunch time, finding long girl-hairs in every crook and cranny, throwing away the extra tampons they had..( Oh PLEASE!!!) Stuff like that. It was terrible. But, we got it all into order and went to lunch. The problem is that the apartment is very small... I didn´t have any space to put my suit cases! So for the first few days.. They were sitting in the kitchen, on the floor. Anyway, we began to explore the new area on Tuesday. It was very, very interesting, because usually at least one of the Elders knows the area, the investigators, members, etc. E. Sharp and me? Nope! It didn´t help either that in all the information the hermanas left us, there were hardly any addresses! I´ve "Whitewashed" an area before, and I´ve been wondering why Pres. Peterson put a new missionary in a whitewash, but whatever. Cliff Maxwell, did you whitewash as a missionary at all? It´s... interesting. This first week has just been finding everything. Even when we have the address for someone, the system here is all names and neighborhoods, not numbers. So even if we found neighborhood Baden 1... Where the heck is that?! Haha! I´ve never asked so many people for directions in my life... It´s such a hit on the pride... ;) Ha! 

We decided to go meet our Branch President and let him know that we´re here to work and help him build the Branch. We had a good meeting with him. He´s very short, is 26 yrs. old, married, has a fohawk, and huge coke bottle glasses that magnifies his eyes really big. He´s such a stud! Haha, His name is Pres. Russo. We will work well together, because he went on the mission, and so he understands exactly what it is we do and how to help us do it. So he gave us a bunch of names of people to visit, and directions... After that, his brother in law took us for a tour of the area in his car. Our area is about 2 and a half times the size of my first area, it´s HUGE! I´m so happy, because there´s a lot more beautiful things in this part, more people, more houses... A lot more potential. After the tour began the fun week of walking... and walking... and walking! We both bought ourselves personal maps, and I´ll bet it was so odd for so many people to see these two men in suits on a street corner, their heads buried in big sheets of paper! Ha! 

The members are very nice, they help out a lot. We´ve got lunch every day like in the other area which is a definite bonus... E. Sharp and I on Friday were knocking doors and this guy named Leandro opened up to us. He said: I was just studying the Bible... Want to come in? We had a lesson about the BoM, prophets, and the Restoration. He took the BoM and accepted a baptismal date for the 8 of October! We put it so late because we haven´t met the wife, don´t know if they smoke or drink.. Things like that. He´s got three boys. One that´s 7 months, 1 yr. 7 months, and 7 yrs. old. Good guy. I´m excited to begin working with him and his family so he and his wife can make the date for the 8th! 

Oh! Something I forgot to say... The first night in the new apartment, we got ready for bed. E. Sharp chose the bottom part of the bunk bed, so I had the fun opportunity to have the top. Obviously, as someone like me who can jump, Oh so High... ;) I decided to jump onto the top part of the bunk bed to go to sleep! Bad Choice. I snapped the supporting beam... And slept on the floor that night, and the next three nights... Hahaha! Also, we were talking to a sister member out on the street, when a guy on a motorcycle drove by, screaming at the top of his lungs... SATAN SATAN SATAN!!!!! It was so funny!!! Haha, we laughed about it as "Mormons"... Ha.  Sunday was a tough day. Sundays are usually the worst, because people are either sleeping, or not at home, or don´t want to talk to anyone that´s not family. After lunch... We walked. That was our entire day, basically. We went to every less active, every investigator, and every person we could think of, and we didn´t get into anything. We were DEAD by the time we got to the apartment. I don´t know how far we walked, but it was far. I wish I had a pedometer to know how much I walk a day, it would be interesting to see! 

E. Sharp is a very good companion. We get along great. He´s from Arizona, was born in Alaska... He likes working out, eating... He´s got a sarcastic attitude which makes good for some fun jokes, something I couldn´t do with E. Rojas because Spanish jokes and English jokes just aren´t the same. He´s a little fidgety, and doesn´t like to get into peoples way, but that´s why he´s got me! Haha. I´ll probably only be here in Esquel 1 for one transfer... After that I´ll prob be transferred somewhere else and leave behind good ól E. Sharp. Sorry I didn´t send any pictures... I really didn´t take many this week. I´ll get betta! ;) 

Well, life as a missionary is as fun as ever. It´s exhausting, but rewarding. I began to see a lot of the good I had did in the other branch, because now whenever I see any of the wonderful members from that branch, they come up and are so happy to see me. Nicol, my stud who was baptized, he saw me in the street yesterday, and BOOKED it to me and gave me a huge hug. The same happened the day before with his little sister Emily. She ran as fast as those little legs could carry her and hugged my legs... It puts such a smile on my face to know that I´m not a burden for these wonderful people. I love the people here... I´ve fallen in love already with this country and the people. They´re incredibly kind, and always smiling. I love the mission. I´m so excited for this transfer with E. Sharp. We´re going to do good things here, I know it. Please continue to pray for me... I need every prayer I can get. I read the BoM in 3 weeks... I LOVE that book! I have such a testimony about it... I´ve started D&C, and am very excited to learn more about it. Keep sending the letters... I love you all. 

E. Cuthbert 

September 5, 2011

WOW.... WHAT A WEEK!!! I can´t even BEGIN to tell you guys the amount of stress, events, and just all around craziness we´ve had here in Esquel... Here it goes... 

I´ll just get it out of the way... Diego? No. He disappeared for a little while, and with some very interesting events that happened over the week, we didn´t have the opportunity to go find him. And so, regrettably... No, he was not baptized. Probably won´t for awhile now, but more on that later. 

Now, last Monday, after writing you guys, E. Rojas got VERY quiet. He put a big amount of distance between us, and ignored me whenever I spoke. We went back to the pension and I began writing some letters. He was still very quiet. We usually leave at 6pm on Pday to go teach, but I could tell he was angry with me, and so I told him that when he was ready to talk to me, then we could leave. He wouldn´t say a word until 7:00. He then began explaining to me that his feelings were hurt, because I apparently said that he didn´t have the faith or love necessary for investigators or members. I had only told him that he needed to work on his faith/love with Diego... But he took it a little bit to the extreme. Because of this, he had been crying in his bed when I was writing letters. I hadn´t even known what was wrong, and I was SO happy that I said I wasn´t leaving the pension until he opened up and told me what was wrong. We sorted it out, and then at 8:00 went and taught a lesson. 

Tuesday, in the morning we had District Meeting. Halfway through the meeting, we received a text from Lidia saying: Elders, I need your help. I have nothing to give my kids to eat, and they went to school hungry. I was so angry... We finished out the meeting, and then E. Rojas and I ran to the pension and ransacked our own fridge with all the food we had for Lidia and her kids. We had been talking with the Branch Pres. to get her a box of food for 3 weeks, and they went twice, only asking if she needed anything. Very vaguely offering help. Lidia, being very shy and not trusting them just yet, had said no both times, but then we received the text from her saying that she needed food. We went with our own food, and called the Pres. on the way there asking him to do something about this Now. He got angry at E. Rojas, and hung up the phone, saying he was going to call the Mission president... Bla bla bla. Anyway, after we dropped the food off, I went to Trevelin with E. Menghini, E. Barton´s companion for divisions. We got there and had a lesson with a guy named Gustavo. I was there a month and a half ago when they found him. He´s a heavy smoker, and loves gringos! We had a good lesson on the importance of not smoking, and he promised to stop. Also in Trevelin, we had a meeting with the ward mission leader in Trevelin. He´s LDS... but acts and speaks and pretty much is an Evangelical. Gosh dang it, he tried to teach me about the fact that we as people, because we know right from wrong.... Don´t have agency. Uh huh, right. I was counter_arguing him, backing up my side with scriptures and everything, but he kept ranting off about the fact that I was completely mistaken and didn´t know anything as a missionary. I almost exploded. But, we cut the meeting there, and left and taught some great families. Got back to Esquel on Wednesday and visited Vanesa Greniel, this lady with her two daughters. She is very open with us about her situation, which is a toughy. They have a hard time making ends meet, and I know exactly why! Vanesa drinks a lot on the weekends. A LOT. A TON. HUGE AMOUNTS OF BEVERAGES. Have you ever seen a pitcher? Yeah... a pitcher comes into the story in a little bit. Anyway, we had a good lesson about the BoM, and the importance of Baptism. She finally accepted a baptismal date for the 24 of September. We are going to help this family!!! 

Thursday morning was very slow. We had gathered all the addresses people had given us in the streets in a particular part of the city, and went to visit every single one. Turns out that every single direction that people gave us... Was fake. Hahahahahahaha, Oh, the life of a missionary. It´s ok though... I saw the most hilarious experience of my life... Walking down the street, we came upon a man staggering up the middle of the road. COMPLETELY DRUNK. This guy was just drowned in beer. He was staggering the whole width of the street, laughing, yelling, waving his arms... It was pathetic. He came to the sidewalk, and then began the real battle... The attempt of climbing the flippin´ CURB to keep walking down the road. He was swaying back and forth as he made many attempts to climb the curb, when finally.... He CRASHED to the ground, in a great, pathetic, drunken stupor. I almost DIED of laughter, only because he was so drunk, and even when he fell, his mouth wouldn´t stop yelling and shouting. It was hilarious. But also extremely sad... THAT is what I have to protect people from. Alcohol. It is vile, it is cruel, it is evil. I´ve seen children scared of their fathers because of it, I´ve been ridiculed in the streets because of it, and I´ve lost a baptism because of it. Alcohol is evil. Period. 

Anyway, we´ve been looking for a new apartment for a long time now, because the owners of our apartment have just jumped the price from $1,150 pesos every month to $1,500 every month. It´s ridiculous!!! So we´ve been looking for the last 2 weeks for a new place, but it´s so difficult, because we want to teach, and the search for a new apartment draws away from our time to teach! On Friday morning, E. Rojas says to me: Gosh, Elder!!! I can´t even study... We NEED to find a new apartment! Not 3 seconds later, we get a call from a member saying they had one for us! We went that morning to look at it. It was HUGE. It´s owned by a member, but she´s living down in Comodoro right now, and wanted to rent it out. It´s pretty much a house, E. Rojas and I were sold. The best part is that we´re only paying $1,300 for it, and it´s almost 3 times the size of our old one!!! We ran back to our apartment and began packing everything, cleaning... stuff like that. It reminded me of when we moved from Mapleton to ... Mapleton, Ha. Later on that day, we stopped packing and went to an appt. we had with Greniel and family to make the filling for Empanadas... We got there, knocked... And no one answered. We said we would wait for 5 minutes. About 2 minutes later, Greniel answers the door... half drunk. Oh no. She invited us in, and we... very cautiously, entered. She began saying she was so happy that we were there to help her make empanadas, but first she needed a blessing. She was feeling terrible, obviously because of the PITCHER of beer on the table that she had been drinking out of. Gosh flippin´ dang it! I gave her a blessing, then she told us of her experience with praying to HF to know if the message we had brought was true. She told us that after that prayer, she had seen only us in her head, and she said: I know HF answered my prayer... And that he sent you two here, to help me and my family.¨ YES, she was half drunk, but it wasn´t to where she would say just any random thing. She still had her wits about her and could relate things and communicate well. And so yes, she has had her answer and is anxiously waiting for the 24th... We made empanadas with a drunk woman... cutting onions, crying while doing it... Yeah... It was a very... Interesting day. I didn´t know what to do. I realized that although I feel ready to take on much more responsibility as a missionary, there are still experiences that I look to E. Rojas for.. because of his experience. But yeah. 

Saturday morning, the Elders from Trevelin came to help us clean up everything and move to the new house. We didn´t have a moving truck... And we were going to be moving in 4 hours!!! I said to E. Rojas... Che! Tenemos que flippin´ encontrar un flete!!! Dude! We need to flippin´ find a moving truck! Not 2 seconds after I said that, a Flete or Moving truck rounded the corner. I waved it down, and we scheduled the guy to come help us move. How LUCKY IS THAT?? Anyway, we got everything into the truck, and took it all to the house. The Trevelin Elders are so jealous of it. We got everything in, and then began to unpack and organize. It was too late to teach anyone that night, so we ran to a store and bought a bunch of beef and had an asado as our last night as companions... (supposedly)... ;) That night we got the call... No one was leaving Esquel. That never happens! Every single person in Esquel and Trevelin was staying where they were. How weird! I was happy, because it meant I would have time to enjoy the new house! An hour later, we get a call from the sister missionaries... An emergency transfer had happened, and the two of them were leaving Esquel. We were thinking that night, how weird!! Who´s going to replace them in their area, not knowing the members, investigators, or anything?? We found out the next morning who was going to replace them... 

Sunday morning, I got my shower interrupted with a call from E. rojas saying: District leader has called... you need to hear this! I listened through the bathroom door to hear that I, ME, ELDER CUTHBERT, was being transfered to the other half of Esquel as my next area... WHAT??!! I was in shock. My new companion, E. Sharp, gets here on Tuesday morning. I´m have very ... mixed emotions about everything. I´m very excited to get a new companion, and from what I´ve heard, E. Sharp and I will get along great. But we are both like aliens in the area. We don´t know ANYTHING about what´s been going on. Our first week will just be finding the Investigators, members, and getting to know the area. It´s a very interesting situation... But I´m excited, also. So yeah... I´m being transfered!! But not out of Esquel... Hahaha! This has NEVER happened before. It´s called a Whitewash... When the missionaries from an area leave, and it´s replaced with two that don´t know anything. It´s going to very strange for the next few days. So yeah. 

I´m in love with the Book of Mormon, I love teaching, mornings are as hard as ever, I love working out, missionary work is awesome, I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I want you all to know that I´m doing great. Jordan, My bro in law... Thank you for the letter! It was a lot of help. Jared... If you´re going to get that ´81 Camaro... You have to promise me that you´ll ONLY race on Saturdays... ;) Simon! Kill it in football, Man! Mom, I love you more than ever. Melyn... I was thinking about before the mish when you and I drove back from the Temple and had that long talk... I miss my Sis. Ha. Dad... I love you so much. I hope you´re doing incredibly well, and that work is treating you well. Good luck on the house!! 

Send the letters... I´m letter hungry! Haha! Love you all... 

E. Cuthbert