February 20, 2012

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! That made me smile and laugh SO HARD when you told me about Maggie eating the dead fawn!!! Haha! That`s normal here... Dogs eat whatever they can find. People eat a ton of grilled meats and chicken, so when they`re done with the bones, they throw them out to the dogs. Not to mention all the dead animals that they find, and begin to chow down on. The other day we were at an investigators house, and there was a dead cat outside that her puppies were eating. They had ripped the spine clean off the cats body and were having a blast while doing it! Haha. But yeah, it is nasty. I hope Maggie wasn`t licking Jared or Simon lately... Ha. 

Right after I`m done writing you, we`ll be going to the terminal to see if any packages got here. I really hope the birthday one gets here today... It`s been an awfully long time. The camera, I`m sure will be here next week. It`s only been two weeks since you sent it. Hopefully, I`ve been praying that it gets to me. Heavenly Father answers prayers, so I know that it will come. Thank you so much for helpìng me out, Mom. I`ve missed out on the pictures of three baptisms because my camera broke, and we`re going to have a lot more coming up here. :) 

E. Agazzani and I had a HUGE fight on Thursday morning. That morning is dedicated to the 3 hour weekly planning... And we spent all 3 hours... Fighting. It was Bad. Bad, Bad, BAD. I couldn`t believe it when I finally looked at the clock and it said 1:00pm. We had been fighting since 10:00. BAD. It was a huge fight about lack of communication and imperfections in the both of us. One of would throw out a criticism, then the other would throw one right back. It was BAD. The majority of the argument was about... Well, I can`t really tell you. It was about everything under the sun. In the end, we were able to cool down and come back and talk it out and come to an agreement. We said, "At least in 4 days I`ll be leaving San Martìn,"... We made up and continued working. We`re fine, now. Oh yeah, I guess that means that with Transfers... I`m not leaving!!! Ha. I will probably be here for another 3 months. I`ll complete a year in the mission in a little bit, and when May comes, it will be exactly a year in the Andes mountains... Something other missionaries only DREAM of having the opportunity to do. I`ve been lucky. :) We`re excited, we`ve got a lot of potential for these 6 weeks in the Work of the Lord. We`re going to baptize many. 

So, Fabiana.... SHE DID IT!!!!! WOOT!!! Miracles, Miracles, Miracles! The last Sunday she had come to church like I said, she liked it, and everything was good. Then, halfway through this week, her work schedule changed... And she had to work every day in the afternoon... This meant she couldn`t have her baptism at 6 on Saturday like we had planned... NO! We were frustrated, thinking of every back up plan we could do. Not only that, she was a little shaky on her testimony of Joseph Smith, she had many doubts about him being a prophet of God. We taught her, and testified with all our hearts, and int he end... Asked her to pray to her Heavenly Father and ask Him. Trying to figure everything out for the baptism, she finally came up with the thought that she could trade her hours for Saturday with someone else and work a different day when she had the day off. This was Friday when she came up with the idea. This was a day before the stinking baptism. We were biting our finger nails, Afùl!!! That morning, Saturday, we called her, waked her up from sleeping because she had left work at 2 in the morning and she said... "Yes, she changed with me, I can get baptized today." We then asked her... "Alright, who would you like to baptize you?" She said "Both of you". We laughed, told her we couldn`t do that. Then she said "E. Cuthbert". I felt very humbled. We had been trying to get her to want a member to baptize her, but in the end she wanted one of us. We got to the church when she was already in her interview with E. Campos who would tell her if she could be baptized or not. This would tell us if she had prayed to HF about Joseph Smith. She came out of the interview smiling, having cried a lot in the interview,E.Campos said" She`s good! " WWOOOT!!! She had told him ... I Believe. I believe. " That`s faith. So we had the baptism! The entire time before the baptism, she was on the balls of her feet, bouncing around because of the nerves. She kept (jokingly) acting like she wanted to escape through the windows of the church. But in the end, it was a solid, clean dunk in the font and she was baptized. Wonderful experience. We were so happy. 

Sunday was the real miracle, though. We got to church and waited for Sacrament meeting, when it came... She wasn`t there to be confirmed. Oh no!!! She`s not a member until she`s confirmed! The meeting started and I was flipping out. What`s happened, what`s happened?? The other Elders had three baptisms along with our one and we began confirming their baptisms. During the second confirmation, I said a prayer to HF and asked him... "HF, when I open up my eyes and look at the back of the audience, I beg you... Let Fabiana be there." We finished the confirmation and I opened my eyes. My comp whispered in my ear., "FABIANA!" I whipped around and a HUGE grin was plastered on my face. She had just walked in as Branch President got to the pulpit and announced that it was her turn to be confirmed. When she saw my grin, she spilled out in a smile, too. She got up and said, "I made it!" We were SO happy. And I will never forget that little prayer I made to my Father in Heaven. She was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A religion. She told us that religion was false and of the devil when we found her. And I, Elder Cuthbert, Believe in Miracles. 

I love you all. I`ve got a good 3 months in San Martìn to go. We`re going to baptize a lot, help many people and work HARD. I love you all. Thank you for the prayers,. Thanks to you, I have had the success that I`ve had. Pray for Lautaro, the son of Fabiana. He`s 10 yrs. old and he`s next on the list for a baptism. 

E. Cuthbert 

Melyn, I hope everything is going well! What happened to that promise about writing me? ;) 

January 2, 2012

And........... THEY DID IT!!!!!!!! This WONDERFUL family did it!!!! I am so happy and proud of them... Really... This last week has flown by, and a MILLION things have happened... I am so happy. 

Alright, I just want you guys to be aware that we have another baptism coming up for this next Saturday! Their names are Jennifer and Karen, the two daughters of a really awesome family. We found them in the same week that we found Mirta and Ramon. Miriam, the mom of the two, she too, wants to get baptized. We were in a lesson with them about a week ago, Monday, actually. They had come to church the day before and she said: I was already baptized in another church a while back but... I want to be baptized again, I´ve decided. WE WERE SO HAPPY WHEN SHE SAID THAT. But, one problem... She´s not married. Her man doesn´t really want to talk to us. We´ve tried a lot to talk to him, but he´s either really shy or doesn´t want to talk because we can´t get him to say one word! Anyway, he doesn´t want to listen in this moment, so we´re going to baptize Jennifer and Karen so they always have contact with the church and the missionaries. Blessings... :) 

Now I´m going to tell you right now. The Lord knows how to direct His work. On Tuesday morning we went with Mirta and Ramon to do all of the wedding arrangements. They needed to get their blood examined, buy seals at the bank, get the birth certificate and a bunch of other stuff. Now, mind you... To get your blood examined, we were talking to a member that had recently gotten married, and she said that the results usually come back in about a week!!! A WEEK??! We needed to schedule the wedding that same day!! Long story short, Mirta and Ramon got up really early to do all this stuff. We were praying and fasting for WEEKS for all of this stuff to happen. And by 9:00 in the morning... Everything was done. Just like that. Easy. I was shocked. I didn´t understand it. But then I realized... It was the prayers, it was the fasting, it was the diligence... It was an answer. Heavenly Father blessed us, blessed this family... And things that usually take weeks to do, they did it in 2 hours. A Miracle. The miracle of a New Years Eve!!! It was awesome! 

On Thursday, they got married. It was awesome, but it didn´t quite give me the satisfaction I thought it would. The marriage was just another step towards the ultimate goal, the baptism.  The baptism was AWESOME. The members LOVE this family, and they helped with everything. A really wonderful couple named Alberto and Evelina Di Stefano did all the decorations for the wedding reception that we had right after the baptism, and the cake, dances that they danced to and everything was... Wonderful. It was very emotional to finally watch this incredible family make it through the door... Baptism. :) I want you guys to know that the Lord loves his Children. That He KNOWS their desires, and that he answers prayers. I was so worried that Tuesday morning for the papers and everything that was going on, but I shouldn´t have... It all went more fluidly than I could even imagine. I love my Savior. 

It´s been extremely hot this week. In the 90´s and 100´s. I have realized that I really don´t like the heat in a shirt and tie... Not even going to talk about the pants... Oh! By the way, I went on divisions with another Elder, and I decided to take us on a "shortcut" to a neighborhood. We had to climb a fence, and I... Ripped the butt seam of my favorite slacks. a HUGE hole. It was terrible. I had to work for the rest of the day with a very big breeze going through my pants. Haha! Anyways, for New Years Eve, we spent it with the Flia. De la Torre, a really good member family that has been having some very hard trials lately. But we spent it with them, had a ton of Asado and deliciousness... Then went to bed at 11:30 and slept through the New Year. Yes, mom, I have lots of goals. :) I want this new year to be incredible. And it WILL be incredible. I´m just getting warmed up as a missionary. There´s still the curve and the straight-away to run. :) I want you all to know that I love you. I want you to know that the house is GORGEOUS!!! BIEN HECHO!! Props there, Mom and Dad! I miss you guys so much. Seeing those wonderful pictures and reading about the Christmas stuff you did... Aw man. I love you guys. Have a wonderful week, I´ll be back next week with pictures of the next baptism!! 

Love, 

E. Cuthbert 

August 15, 2011

I´m ALIVE!! Hahaha, don´t worry everyone... I made it through the week... Wow. 

Last week was tough.. Obviously. By what I wrote in my last email, it must have sounded like the end of the world. Well... It was very difficult. There are some times when it´s just so tough, not having those people you love around you... But, I pulled through, and I´m a happy camper, here in the Patagonia! 

That Monday was tough, obviously. We went and taught that night, and my mood started to increase. That´s one thing that I have come to realize over the past months, is that I´m happier when I´m testifying about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the healing power that He can bring into our lives. It is incredible, that power that a testimony has to life someone´s spirits... It´s truly life saving. We had been preparing for the baptism of Nicol Gomez, the son of Lidia. So Tuesday, we took some pizzas to his house and watched the Restoration with him and his friends, he loved it! We´ve been preparing him for about two weeks straight, passing by almost every day teaching little things that he can understand. He´s 11 yrs. old, LOVES fútbol, and wants to be an ´´Elder´´ someday! ;) Haha! Later that night, we went to the hospital, because Lidia had her leg operated on. From what I have understood, from fútbol, she either has a torn ACL, or something like that. So she was operated on, and E. Rojas and I went and visited her and Patricio in the hopspital later that night. They´re a family that is VERY close to my heart. Also, on Tuesday, E. Rojas was hurting... his foot´s been killing him for awhile, so I finally gave in and we went to the hospital. What they think he has is a stress fracture.... THAT rang a bell in my past... Oooooh NOOOO!!! I hate those two words... Stress fracture. What they told him is that obviously, he needs to get some x rays to know for sure, and that he would need to schedule an appt. to do it. In the meantime, they told him to stop walking on it. I spent the rest of the day in the apt..... :/ 

Wednesday... Also. Oh, how bored I was. He wouldn´t leave, taking the excuse of the broken foot to stay in the apt. I was in the middle of both views. I was DYING to work, but I also knew that if he continues to walk on it, he might break the whole foot... Difficult situation... Anyway, Wednesday morning was spent reading scriptures. I read the whole of Mosiah, I LOVE that book!!! And began Alma. I wrote a bunch of letters... Look out Hmo. Maxwell, Aub. Smith, Kimbo!!! And I thought a TON of thoughts. I have thought SO MUCH this week!!! Holy cow. Anyway, at 5pm that night, I finally got him out of bed to come with me to teach Nicol before his baptismal interview. We taught him everything else that he was having worries about, and then we took a taxi to the church for the interview. He passed with flying colors!!! WOOOOH!!

Thursday was spent inviting members and investigators to the baptism. After spending the whole morning handing out invitations, we went to Nicol´s house one more time before leaving for Bariloche... Paradise. :) In Bariloche, we had our Zone Conference. I love going to Bariloche, because we get to see other Elders from the Zone... And guess who I saw there??? E. ALLSOP!!!!! I saw him coming up the stairs, and we just started screaming, ran towards each other and crashed into each other, hugging and laughing!! It was SOOOO good to see someone else from home!!! That was something I really needed from the week before... Oh man, you guys have NO IDEA how good it felt to talk to him... He´s doing so good, we were pretty much inseparable that whole day during the conference, taking every spare minute to talk about how we´re doing, things about home, and just enjoy some time as ´´Mapletonites´´.... Haha, something like that!! At the Zone Conference, we learned so much, on how we need to testify about the Atonement more, and use it more in our lessons, and tie EVERYTHING into the power and mercy of the atonement. I have learned so much in my studies this week about the Atonement... I have found a bunch of scriptures that are incredible also. If I could make a recomondation... study the atonement... It will amaze you. MOM: I NEED A TALK ENTITLED: THE ATONEMENT BY CLEOU SKOUSEN (I think that´s how you spell it) If you can email it to me so I can print it off, it´s an incredible talk. I don´t think you can find it on the church website... It´s too doctriney for that, haha! Anyways, I had an incredible time in Bariloche with E. Allsop, and E. Wible, my MTC comp. Friday was all in Bariloche also. 

Saturday, we spent the morniing inviting people to the BAPTISM we had that night. We went to lunch, and after that began preparing for the baptism. We went and picked up Nicol and his family for the baptism... Lidia in a BUNCH of pain with her cast... But she came anyway, I was so happy and proud of her for coming to support her son! At the baptism, Nicol got some last minute nerves, and didn´t want to do it!!! He almost started crying for the fear of being in front of everybody. I pulled him aside, took a knee, and began relating to him the story of MY baptism with my Dad. And how happy and proud I was that day to have my Dad baptize me, and how even though I was shy and nervous, everything turned out to be ok!! In the end, he came... Thank the heavens!!! Hahaha! I had to give a surprise talk on the Holy Ghost for the service, and then E. Rojas baptized him. It was such a good service. I love helping people in their lives... It´s incredible. 

The next morning, we went to pick up Nicol... He was waiting for us, all ready and everything!! We took him to his Primary class and he found Ruben, the kid we baptized two weeks before, and they have become quick friends... :) I confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave him the Holy Ghost during Sacrament meeting, it was so great!!! Wow... After church, we decided to go to Diego, who we hadn´t been able to find for about a week. We found him in his house, and we began to talk... Finding out that he had been drinking and smoking almost non stop for about a week. The good thing was... He regretted it so much and was so disappointed in himself. I felt like Alma, who when seeing the poor people who couldn´t worship in their synagogues be humbled to the dust in Alma 31, was SO happy, because it was in that moment that they were ready and willing to hear the wonderful messasge of the Gospel and of Repentance. We had a 2 hour conversation with him, talking to him about the miracle and power of forgiveness, and how a baptism is the only thing that is really going to fix his problems... I offered him a blessing, and he accepted. I blessed him that he would be able to stop smoking and drinking, and that he would be able to remember and be healthy in the head, so as to remember his baptismal date and do everything in his power to make it to the 27th of August. This one WILL happen!!! I will be fasting on the Sunday before, so if anyone wants to fast with me the Sunday before the 27th so as to make sure that he can make his baptism, I would greatly appreciate it!!! After the lesson with him, E. Rojas began talking to me from the heart... He was tired of the mission. Because really, the mission is DIFFICULT. We talked for the first time like real companions... It was a turning point, I think. We walked around the beautiful city of Esquel, talking and helping each other be strengthened. After, we went to another Inv. who´s named Transito who will be baptized as soon as he gets married. We have so many blessings... Really. I felt the Spirit so strongly with Diego, and I will NOT let his baptismal date fall... No. Not this time. 

Today... Was VERY Fun! We got up early in the morning and took a bus out into the middle of nowhere as a District. We got off and began the 3 mile trek to some waterfalls in the mountains for Pday. It was a very fun experience. I don´t have my cable to transfer pictures to the computer, so you´re going to have to wait until next week to see the awesome pictures of the baptism and waterfalls, but that´s ok! Haha! I want you all to know that I´m alright, and I look forward to reading all the letters of comfort and love... I can´t tell you how much I appreciate all of you and what you do. Kolt, THANK YOU!!! Hma. Riding... THANK YOU!!! Everyone else... Thank you so much. You mean everything to me. I love you all, and can´t wait to tell you about all the miracles and blessings next week. Pray for me, I love you all. 

E. Cuthbert