March 26, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

March 19, 2012

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert

January 9, 2012

I liked what you said about the WHY in doing the commandments and all of that stuff. It is absolutely necessary that the investigators know the why. If they don`t, they`d never do anything. Mirta, Ramòn and Claudia, (Flia. Rama, now.) if they didn`t know that being baptized and keeping the commandments would give them a eternal family, they would never have been baptized! But, they knew the reasons why, and that`s what gave them the faith and the courage to do what they did. They`re my miracle family. Them and Flia. Colque are... They`re something else... I love them so much. 

First of all, I got Melyn`s pckg... And already put it to good use!! The lemon poppy-seed muffins were... Oh my gosh... Buenìsimo! I`m saving the others for my birthday. Melyn, thank you so much for that pckg.! I loved it, but even more than the food... The CARD!!! I LOVED the card! It made me laugh so hard! E. Calvache didn`t understand why I was laughing about a kid in a bunny suit, but he`s never seen it, Pobrecìto! Grandma`s pckg... Still haven`t gotten it. I`m hoping it comes today. If not, I will be calling the office to see if they have it but just haven`t sent it still. I would really like the pckg. from my wonderful Grandma. The pants... I think they`re repairable. I gave them to a sister here to fix them, but she still hasn`t gotten them back to me. We will see. No, don`t worry about sending me more, haha. And no to the shirts, stop spending money on me! I can take it in these shirts, with the rolled up sleeves they`re fine. But thank you for asking. :) 

Well, we had the baptisms!! They were great! Yenifer and Karen were so excited, their mom is so happy, she wants to be baptized too, but can`t until she and Justino get married some day. No, they are not the daughters of Justino. Miriam has three daughters, and every single one has a different dad... Argentina is famous for that... :( Anyway, they all came to the baptism, Miriam was just flooded with tears, Justino came and enjoyed it. I baptized Karen, (9 yrs. old), E. Calvache baptized Yenifer (13). They`re a wonderful family. I love my converts so much... San Martìn has been very good to me, and it might be that way for another 4 and a half months. I forgot to tell you guys that we had transfers this week. And guess who`s leaving? E. Calvache. 

We got the call on Saturday night. We found out that he`s leaving and that I have another Latino coming here named Elder Agasani. He will be ending the mission here in San Martìn because he only has 3 months left. There`s two things that could happen. I could be here for just a month and a half more, and then be kicked out somewhere else. Or I could be here until he ends, then be here to help another Elder get to know the area. I could be here for 7 and a half months! Crazy! But we`ll see what happens. 

So yesterday we went by all the recent converts that we had together. Yenifer and Karen were sad to see E. Calvache go, including Miriam as well. But we had an awesome lesson together, then said goodbye. We did a lot of other stuff yesterday as well, but that night we went to Flia. Rama`s house to say goodbye to our Miracles. When we got there, they were watching the movie The Legacy from the church. They`re already watching church movies on Sunday! We watched it for a little bit with them, then we had a little chat. Mirta started crying, then Ramòn started crying, then I started crying, then E. Calvache started crying. We were all standing up in a circle in their living room, crying. E. Calvache told them that just last week he had had a dream about the pre earth life when we were all together with them, and we told them wait for us, we will find you, we PROMISE you that we will find you. Wherever you guys are on the earth down there, we will find you and we will bring you guys back. I then spoke about my feelings about how it will be when we are all up in heaven, reunited again... And we all give our Heavenly Father a huge hug... I can`t describe the feelings I have for this moment that I WILL have somewhere down the road. They were so prepared... They were always waiting for us. I could end my mission right now, and be happy until I die. But I know I can`t. I need to keep going. I want more experiences like that, and I know there are more families waiting for me and my new companion, E. Agasani. 

I am so happy. Mom, Jared, Dad, Melyn, Jordan, Dani, Aubrey, Kim, Chris, Holden, Grandma, Grandpa, Omi, Buppy, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, Loved Ones... I am Happy. For right now, I don`t want to come back. I want to stay right here. Missionary work is hard, but I don`t care about that. This mission is shaping me into something else. I`ve changed so much. And I`m going to keep letting the Refiner refine me until I come forth as gold. I`m no where near that, but I`m trying. I love you all so much. I love missionary work, and don`t want to do anything else. Sometimes missionary work is hard because you just can`t find the people that are searching for the truth, but when you find them... It is a feeling that is indescribeable. 

Keep up the good work at home. I love you all. Pray for my investigators, and that we can find more. That E. Agasani and I can be strong, excited and driven to make success. 

E. Cuthbert 

March 4, 2011

Hola mi familia!!!

WOW. I can't believe all that's been happening... These past few days have been going by SO fast. It's hard to believe that it's Saturday already. I guess I'll begin w/ Wednesday, what happened, and what my thoughts were.

I went w/ the host missionaries to my room. I dropped all of my suitcases and then went w/ them to my classroom. The classroom is where we spend around 9 hours a day. It's basically our home. There, I met my TWO companions; Elder M. and Elder W. Elder M.'s parents were mission presidents in Brazil a few years ago, so he had lived there for about three years. Obviously, he already knew Portugese, so the Spanish came very easy for him. Elder W. on the other hand is more like me. Took a few years but forgot a lot of what he had previously learned. We had a tour of the MTC or (CCM en espanol), we participated in teaching some investigators on our first night!! Before any of that happened, we had a large group meeting w/ all the new missionaries who had come to the MTC that day. The mission president and his assistants introduced themselves, we sang about cinco himnos, and listened to about seis talks. I can tell you now that I've never felt the Spirit more strongly than when we sing hymns. Every single hymn sent a new wave of overwhelming love and compassion over me.

After the first days activities, we went up to our dorm and proceeded to unpack. Elder M. was told not to unpack all of his things because they weren't sure he'd be staying w/ Elder W. and me. This was because of his experience in the language, and he wanted to be moved to the intermediate class, which teaches everything in complete spanish. No English. The first night was pretty difficult to get to sleep. But I finally did, had dreams of home, best friends and family. We are supposed to get up at 6:30 for showers and to get ready for personal study, I decided I was going to make it a goal to wake up at 6:00, to have more time to take a shower and do other things. The showers are crazy. Most of them are those really small dorm type showers with temperature handles that don't tell you anything about what temperature the water is going to be. At times it's hot, at times it's cold. It keeps you "on your toes", Haha. You learn to take quick showers this way. After that we get ready, go to the classroom, study by ourselves for a half hour then go have breakfast. The food is definitely cafeteria food. Although it's not bad, it's definitely not good. They have plenty of apples and grapes for every meal, so I've made it a goal to eat at least one every time I go into the cafeteria. After that, it's usually classroom time with our teachers, Hermano Maxwell y Hermano Douglas. They are both incredible teachers. This classroom time usually lasts up to FOUR HOURS!!! Ha, w/out the waterbreaks that they give us, it would be incredibly hard to concentrate.

If I'm not making sense, it's because we only have a certain amount of time to write emails. Exactly a half hour to be exact. I'm trying to remember everything that's happened these past few days so you all aren't mad at me when I haven't told you everything! After class it's lunch time. We've made it a goal to speak completely in Spanish during lunch, which is definitely difficult. None of us can remember nouns, or verbs, or anything in the Spanish language, ha, it can be very frustrating.

On Thursday, our Branch Presidency came and visited with us. They are great men, whom I look up to. They called me to be the District Leader. You might think this might entail some great responsibility to help my leadership skills grow... But all I get to do, so far, is get the mail. WHICH IS GREAT!!! Ha, I'm the only one allowed to go get mail, no one else can come into the mailroom, except to get packages. I got a letter from Dani on Thursday, which brightened my day immensely. And today I got a package from Aubs. I don't know what's inside it, but I think I might have an idea. Thank you Dani and Aubrey!! I will write to you both either today or tomorrow, so expect something in the mail by Monday or Tuesday!

Now, onto my companions. Elder M. was a very good kid. And, sadly, after three days of being together, he was exchanged to be in the intermediate district... It really was a very strange thing with him not being around. It felt like there was something missing. Elder W... Wow. Dani will be able to confirm this, because when I was talking to her about what my companions would be, she said the first one would get along with me great, we'd have fun and be happy! She then predicted my next companion would be a struggle. I can tell you right now that is 100% TRUE!! Elder W. complains a lot... He was "sick" the first few days, and complained about it constantly. He talks about home, how he wishes he could go off the grounds, how the classes are too long and boring, how he can't stay awake during anything, how the food is crappy BLA BLA BLA!!! As you can probably tell, this frustrates me greatly. In my opinion, I'm here for a reason. I'm going to have struggles and trials, but it's how I respond to them that will determine whether I'm HAPPY, or sad. I can tell you now that I am HAPPY!! I've had to pray every night that HF will help me have patience w/ E. W... I learned very quickly that there really is nothing to complain about. I'm here to learn, to teach the gospel, and have a fun time doing it. I'm going to have to beat that into him... Figuratively.

The gym is a great place. There's a lot of basketball hoops, volleyball nets, and places for four square. At the top there is a track and weight lifting machines... AND A PULL UP BAR!!!! The record for pull ups here is 29. I've made it a goal to beat that by the time I leave the MTC. OH! I forgot to tell you... my estimated departure date is the 2nd of May... 9 weeks... This is true for everyone, so I guess it's not so bad. It will be good to get into the habits of waking up every morning, praying constantly, and having numerous opportunities to teach investigators, etc..

I can say an entire prayer en espanol. The language is coming along nicely. For others it has come quicker, which is very frustrating. But i've told myself to just keep up with it, be OBEDIENT TO ALL THE RULES, and everything will fall into place.

I want you all to know that I have a testimony that this gospel is true. I've learned more these four days than I have in months of Sunday school and Priesthood. I hope all is well w/ you all... I love you, I miss you, I pray for you. I am so excited for this opportunity to serve a mission. The days have flown by, and I am having fun. :) Please take care of yourselves... Write to me quickly, AND TELL EVERYONE TO WRITE ME LETTERS!!! I LOVE LETTERS!!!

Love you all,

E. Cuthbert