March 5, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

E. Cuthbert 

February 13, 2012

HAMSTER KILLER!!! He got out of your stinking bathtub?? Hamstupendous.... Gosh. That´s terrible that he is dead... Even more terrible that it SMELLS like death. Gosh... Pobreciiiiiito... (Hehe, Melyn!! ;)) I know Dad will do a GREAT job with the selling of the contract. I remember when he would use me as the "audience" to practice for his eREP presentations... Hahaha! Dad can do anything.

 

Well, here in the mission things have been a big roller coaster of good/bad experiences, happy/sad feelings and... things like that. On Tuesday, E. Agazzani got really quiet. He wouldn´t talk to me, and I didn´t understand what was going on. I thought that maybe I had done somthing to him, offended him or did something that he didn´t like. We were still fine Tuesday night, but then Wednesday in the morning, he completley stopped talking! This 21 yr. old who has much more time than me, stopped talking to me. I was so confused and a little frustrated. I called him out on it before we left to work in the morning, he told me that everything was fine and that he was just "like that". That does not settle anything for me. I need his communication, cooperation and companionship in the mission. We´re a team. If we don´t work together, we don´t have the Spirit. We cannot teach and baptize without the Spirit. Anyways, Wednesday went by VERY slowly, because he wouldn´t talk to me. I tried to strike up conversations, but we would talk for about a minute, and he would fall back into silence. That night, I was done. I wanted him to talk to me. When we get back to the apartment from work, we get down on our knees pray to HF for help to fine-tune our plans for the next day. He got down to pray, I stayed up.  I began doing regular chores we do after the planning session. I washed a couple dishes, organized my desk, swept, things like that. My goal was that he would ASK me to come and plan. FINALLY, after 5 minutes of him kneeling there silent, He said: We going to plan?

Oh, you wanted to plan?

Only if you want to.

I would LOVE to plan, E. Agazzani, but I can´t if we aren´t talking.

I then let go of all the feelings I had felt during the day. My frustration with him not talking at all during the day. I related all the reasons I had thought of that could be causes of his silence, I began ranting and ranting and my voice began to raise until I was yelling. I had lost it. I turned around and began trying to guess why he was being so quiet, when I heard snobs and sniffs from behind me. I whipped around to find E. Agazzani crying. Crying? I was stunned for a second. I couldn´t think why he would be doing that. He then burst out: I DON¨T WANT TO GO HOME, OK!!! He began to vent, and vent and vent. About how scared he was to go home... What was going to happen to him, what he was going to do... Gosh... It was very surprising. But we began to talk more calmly, and in the end we gave each other hugs and promised to help him get to the end of his mission happy and successful. Gosh... I felt terrible for snapping at him like that. But I got it out of him... And we were good again.

 

Now, Fabiana. She didn´t baptized on Sunday. We had a lesson with her on Wednesday that was INCREDIBLE. She spoke about how it is necessary how we need to be humbled before God to be able to accept the Gospel, and that´s exactly what she had to do. She had had such a hard life, but she was now much, much happier. We put the date for the 12th, Sunday, to baptize her. She then bore her testimony to us of the happiness she felt. Before she had accepted the Gospel, she had always felt alone. So alone, with no one there to help her out in her times of need. But she then told us that when we began teaching her, when she began to give up cigarettes and her boyfriend to follow God, she felt better. She felt that she had a Daddy that was there for her. That in her darkest hours and in the times that she feels alone, she can just curl up in the arms of her Heavenly Father, and know that it´s ok. That He is always there for her, and that He won´t let her go. She was taking a great leap of faith. It was incredible and so humbling to watch her bear this testimony amongst her tears when thinking back to the first lesson we had with her. She had told us that religion was created to DESTROY families. That she would NEVER go to a church. That she believes in God, but no more. It was an incredible, and unbelievable 180 degree turn. Another miracle in San Martín de los Andes. So we had her interview set for Friday. We got there to begin waiting for her... And she didn´t show up. No......

 

We found out that her boyfriend came to her house to try and talk her out of it. She was staying strong, but she wasn´t able to get out of the house to go to the interview. I was filled with such a rage to this guy for impeding her from her interview. Such a rage... Anyway, we moved the date of the baptism to the 18th, Saturday, for sure. She came to church and cried during the whole of the Sacrament Meeting. I haven´t been able to talk to her since, so tomorrow we´ll talk about everything. I love her to death, she´s been so strong. PRAY for this woman. She needs EVERY prayer.

 

Well, We had the opportunity to speak with one of the Seventy, E. Foster and his wife. I got to shake his hand and speak with him. It was incredible. I loved the talk he gave. He spoke of the power of prayer, many things we can change as missionaries to become better, and... Other things. Hahaha! I have to go, don´t have much time, but I love you all. And I will write to you next Monday with the news that Fabiana got baptized, if I´m leaving my home, San Martín de los Andes, and if I got your package, mom. I love you.

 

E. Cuthbert 

January 30, 2012

Well, Mom... We knew it had to happen at some point... I have a big, BIG emergency. 

My camera broke. 

I had it on the table, on and the zoom was on, and it fell to the ground! Nothing like the screen or buttons broke, but the actual lens and zoom, its askew now. I can see four images on the screen, and I´m pretty sure it´s done for. I was so upset when it happened. I can still use it to look at photos and everything, but to take pictures, it´s done.

Daniza and Saira are getting baptized this Saturday! Fabiana and her child, Lautaro might get baptized next Saturday, or the next, we have a lot of new investigators ready for baptism. Planning about 10 for the next three to four weeks. :) We had SO many crazy experiences this week. I´m so sorry I can´t write them down... I miss you so much mom. I can't believe I broke my camera!!!!  You will be happy to know that I didn´t throw my fist at the wall, or kick a dog, or scream or anything... My patience has increased DEMASIADO.  

FLIPPIN´ CAMERA!!!! 

I got grandmas package finally, I love them so much!!! Waiting for the birthday package... Hopefully it gets here! Haha! Have an incredible week. I miss you all. I´m about to complete a year on the mission. Time in San Martín has FLOWN. I can´t believe I could be leaving in three weeks... It seems like  a blink in the eye compared to Esquel. I´m still searching for a glimpse of E. Michael Francis! Haha. 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

November 28, 2011

It makes me so happy to read your letters. :) I know you love me, and I love you too.

 

Well, since you`re DYING to know if E. Calvache left or not... No. He didn`t. We have 6 more weeks of baptizing to do before he leaves GORGEOUS San Martìn to somewhere else in the mission. I think I told you a couple emails ago that he`s from Columbia, but maybe not. Columbia, the oldest brother in his family. 27 yrs. old... Never knew his father, baptized when he was 19 yrs. old, Catholic before that... Really good with the scriptures... Hmm, I think that`s about it. Really good guy. We get along well, and we`ve had some major success this past week.

 

Well, on Monday after I wrote you guys, we went to Familia Larrea`s house for an Asado. They were planning on leaving San Martìn to move to Eldorado, Misiones in Argentina way up North. They have been a family that has helped us in MANY things in the missionary work here in San Martìn, and they wanted to have us over for a party to celebrate the success and the memories. So we got there and they had a HUGE Asado going. There was so much meat... It was a sight. The smell was so good, I thought I was going to die. When we began eating, the only thing I could think was that I was back at home, sitting at Tucanos having the most delicious cuts of meat in the entire world. I have some incredible pictures of the Asado... It was amazing. When we were halfway through the feast of cow... I said, Hahaha! My grandma would be SO mad at me right now! She was so happy that I was going on a mission, because she thought that I`d for sure be going to a place that only has food I don`t like! If ONLY she could see me now, with this cornacopia of beef!!! Haha, it was very funny. I laughed very hard to myself. The meat was cooked to perfection. Argentines really know how to cook their meat.

 

This week we have found many new people to teach. The most investigators I had found in a week before this week was 19. This week we smashed that with 25 new investigators. Many of them are happy and wanting to change their lives, more focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and be baptized! We have many baptismal dates, and are working hard so that every person can reach their goal. We have three couples with their children that need to get married before... I swear... The two biggest stumbling blocks of missionary work here in Argentina is 1) People not married and 2) Sleeping!!! I would be baptizing millions if people would just get married and stop sleeping! It`s a little frustrating, but what are you going to do? The agency of the person is something that I can not steal from them, however much I would like to sometimes.. hehehe. Anyway, we are working very hard here in San Martìn, and are hoping for some baptisms in the coming weeks.

 

Marta Carmona will be posponed for a little while... We found out that she has a problem worshippng the Gauchito Hill and the Virgin Guadalupe... Don`t ask me, I have NO CLUE who they are and what they did for my salvation!!! ;) But we keep praying and visiting, helping her to understand the importance of everything that her Heavenly Father asks her to do. She has made outstanding progress with cigarettes. The last week she only smoked one, and that`s incredible.

 

I will relate to you ONE experience of some of the types of people we meet here in Argentina. I have an experience like this, almost every day... But I will tell you... People here in Argentina are weird, and lost... We were knocking doors the other day, and we found a guy named Rolando. He invited us into his house and we tried to begin talking about Christ and the Gospel. He then cut us off and then began to elaborate on this story about how he had been building this temple for 30 years for the Eternal Children. I don`t know where this temple is, but he told us that he wasn`t allowed inside, only the Eternal Children were allowed inside its holy walls. Supposedly he worked on the electrical and all that fun stuff. Then, trying to reign in the lesson a little bit, I asked him why Jesus Christ was important to him. From there, he whipped out a little match box, and began to tell us... "Do you know what I`m grateful for? Fire. Because with this little stick and box... I can create civilizations..." Ah! The lesson and Spirit was lost, I was quickly falling asleep because of the drag in his voice, so as my final attempt to save the lesson I said... "The Gospel... is like Fire. It shines about in a dark world, and directs us to our Heavenly Father..." It was SOOO FUNNY!!! What a terrible attempt at trying to save the lesson... We left laughing our heads off.

 

We have two kids named Luis and Mikaela that we found this week. Luis is 14 and the son of a return missionary, although he left the church a long time ago. He loves talking to us, and wants to be baptized. Mikaela, his cousin is 16 and a little more timid. She too, wants to be baptized, and we are working with the both of them. They came to church with us yesterday, and Luis loved it! Matius Gori, our recent convert who`s 15 has really helped out with Luis to make him feel accepted. What a stud!!!

 

Thanksgiving... Familia Larrea, they know a guy. His name is Julio. He lives in the mountains. He is rich. He speaks English. He invited us over for a turkey Thanksgiving dinner... Turkey doesn`t exist here. He invited us over for a United States of America holiday... And we didn`t go. This was Thursday night. Larrea Family was leaving the next morning, and they invited us over to their house to say the last goodbyes. In the end, we chose to visit them, even though this Thanksgiving turkey dinner was a once in a mission time chance. We got to their house, and they had a very humble dinner of bread and deli meat for sanwiches. We said the prayer, but before we started eating, E. Campos and I, who are from the U.S., said STOP! We have to go around the table and everyone has to say 5 things they`re thankful for. Everyone was laughing at first, because they had never done it, and it was something strange to them. But by the end, every person at the table had tears in their eyes, and we felt a Spirit so strong... That shows those Argentines, Chileans and Columbians what an American holiday will do to your emotions!!! ;) In my testimony of what I was thankful for, I thanked them all for everything they had done, and said: Right now, I would not accept all the turkey in the world if it meannt I was away from this table, enjoying this time with you all. The material doesn`t matter. It is the relationships, the family, friendships and love that will always stay with us. Not turkey. I had a great Thanksgiving.

 

Thank you so much for the Christmas package. I do not deserve your love. I am doing fine. I am feeling better than ever before, and am taking care of myself. I wash in between my toes every morning, and take my vitamins.. ;) I love you all. I can`t wait for the call on Christmas. Write me, I love the letters.

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert 

November 21, 2011

Thanksgiving??!! Wha?! Already? HOLY COW, the time flies down here! When`s Thanksgiving, Friday? Huh, I guess we`ll have to celebrate doing something... Haha.  It`s a little cold here in San Martìn, the weather can`t decide if it wants to rain or not. Lot`s of wind. About Thanksgiving and the turkey... No. Argentines do not eat turkey. I don`t understand it. Who ARE these people?? ;) There is not one turkey gobbler in all of Argentina. Some people don`t even know what it is! And so no, I will not be having turkey. Maybe I`ll buy a chicken and do the same thing.. We`ll see. 

About Christmas, ties and more socks are the only things I`m in need of right now. So you guys can just use your wonderful imaginations and get me something that will make me smile! Haha! I need a flippin` watch. Maybe I`ll treat myself to a watch for Christmas... Grandma is going to fly down and kill me when she reads that part!! I`m sorry Grandma!! 

Pday today we are having an Asado. I`ve been having a lot of Asado lately! Haha, I love MEAT! You`re all laughing or rolling your eyebrows right now... How did Jordy get sent to a place that throws cows on a spit and throws them over a pile of coals?? HEHE! ;) Anyway, we`re doing an Asado because a good family that has helped us a lot with missionary work is leaving for Misiones, Argentina. They were key in the converting of Miguel and Ruth, and so we`re going to have an Asado with them and help them pack up the house to leave. 

Wow, things this week have been crazy. We`ve quickly baptized all of our investigators, and are left with nothing! So we`ve been spending a lot of time knocking and trying to find news through the members and our own efforts. We found one lady named Marta Carmona. She is the sister of a less active member who has recently started coming back. We`ve been teaching her for the last week and a half. She`s progressing very well with the Book of Mormon. Reads every thing we ask and understands it too! She wants to get baptized, but there`s one problem... She smokes and drinks. That`s something we found out yesterday. She has her baptismal date planned for this Saturday. We`re going to need a lot of faith for it to happen! Also, our Branch President doesn`t like it if we baptize someone that`s never been to a Sacrament meeting, so she will probably be baptized in the coming weeks. 

We have another lady named María. She is the daughter of a recent convert. She smokes a lot, has a 5 yr. old daughter, and never had an interest in the church. Until Wednesday. We had been planning to put a date with her for a baptism, and it was all based on Faith in Jesus Christ. She needed to know that through Jesus Christ, she can have a better life, and also for her daughter. Ether 12:4 says that He who believes in God might hope for a better world. She had a Broken heart and an Contrite Spirit, and said, yes, I need to be baptized. She FINALLY had the excitement to be baptized!!! We were so happy, put her date for this Saturday... And then the tragedy happened. She is looking for work, and couldn`t find anything here in San Martìn, so she had to leave her daughter and mom and go to Neuquèn to harvest cherries... She won`t be back till the first of January. Nooooo!!! She finally wanted to be baptized, and then had to leave! We have been searching for work for her so she can come back, and found something that looked promising. We`re going to found out today if she will be coming back. Because then we could help her come unto Christ. 

We went by the house of a member family and they were having the birthday party of the dad who isn`t a member. They were having a GIANT Asado with a complete sheep on a cross roasting over a fire, the haunch of a cow doing the same thing, and 3 chickens roasting on a grill. All done with the coals from the giant bonfire they had. We were going to stay to try it, but it got too late and we had to get to the apartment. They gave us some in a tupper, I had lamb for the first time! It was delicious! 

Sunday we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning and get ready for the Stake Conference in Zapala, Argentina. It was a 3 hour bus ride there, we got there and had a wonderufl conference with the president of the mission and Miguel and Ruth, and Matius our converts. They all loved it! On the way back, I was out like a light. We got back to San Martìn and went to work right away. I was starving and VERY tired. It was a hard day yesterday. 

This is the last week in the transfer, E. Calvache might be leaving, might not. We`ll see next Monday if I have a new companion! Thank you so much for all the support, for always writing me and helping me. I love you all, and hope you all have an incredible Thanksgiving. Say hi to all of the family for me. I`m doing great. Pray for my investigators!!! Send letters please!! I miss you all, and love hearing from you. Brady, Bryson and Bethers family... I wrote you guys a letter about 3 months ago, but it never got sent!!! Please don`t think that I have forgotten about you guys! I love you all, and hope you`re doing incredible. Go to church! Jared, always be a good example! Melyn, I love you and Jordan and pray for you often. Dad, I miss you more than anyone else, and am paciently waiting for the Christmas call to talk to you! I love you! 

E. Cuthbert 

November 14, 2011

I had to include these couple pics, he looks truly happy!  His companion is the guy sitting next to him on his right in the pic taken on the boat.  

The weather is HOT. Not even as hot as it´s going to be getting... It´s like 70- 80 here right now, and going to get hotter. It´s very fun in slacks and a shirt and tie! Heh, but it´s fine, I´m fine! I am very happy right now. I love the mission. Yesterday, I finally realized that I´ve adapted completely into the mission, that now, I like doing whatever it is we´re doing. I´m a missionary. :)

 

E. Calvache is a great Elder, and we get along great. He is great with the scriptures, and although is very old, is very easy to work with. He´s got a gfriend at home, and not afraid to say it. He never knew his father, His family is all converts, with his younger brother being baptized just a month ago! It´s a good companionship. 

Here are some pictures of the baptism from last week and this week! I´ll tell you what happened with this miracle story... I have seen so many miracles...

 

Ruth Vivanco is the wife of Manuel Henriquez, a recent convert for a month and completely blind. He was baptized the week before I got to San Martín. His wife never took the step to be baptized, because she has had a very difficult past, and to forgive the people who hurt her as a child was "Impossible", how she put it. We´ve been fighting and fighting to help her understand the importance of baptism, and how it will HELP her to forgive and repent, but she never seemed to understand. So things were at a stand still with her. She knows everything, just won´t get baptized. Until last Monday. Last Monday night after I emailed you guys and went about doing my Pday stuff, we got dressed and got on the bus to visit families in a different part of the city. But halfway there, I said to E. Calvache, We need to go to Miguel and Ruth. He said, I was thinking the same thing. We headed over to their house and found Miguel all calm, ready to talk. Ruth on the other hand was very busy with their 4 yr. old child Sol, getting her bathed, and then she took a shower. But neither E. Calvache or me moved. We were staying there until she came and spoke to us. at 8:45 she came in, FINALLY ready to talk. We spoke about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the miracle of forgiveness, and the help the Holy Ghost gives to those who receive him into their lives to forgive and forget. After only 10 minutes of sharing, we threw the question... "Ruth, when would you like this help?" "As soon as possible," she said. "Will you be baptized this Saturday?" "Yes!" WITH A SMILE!!! In 15 minutes, we helped a daughter of God, realize her worth, and realize that she needed the help of her big brother, Jesus Christ. She was baptized on Saturday!!

 

One more story I want to tell, just because it´s funny... Last night we were knocking doors and found this adult couple. The husband was blabbering all night about how he only believes in God and scriptures, churches and prophets don´t mean a thing. The wife snapped at him and told him to shut up! Then she said, I want to hear this... We testified about Jesus Christ, our faith and testimony in the love He has for us, and how through Him we can live with our families forever. She cut us off... "You two really FEEL what you´re saying... Don´t you?" We said: YES. She asked how old I was, I said 19. She then started flipping out how I´m so young and yet so far away doing something so big and scary as she put it. She said, You´re like my son!!! Hahahaha, it was a very interesting experience, but hey... I guess there´s nothin´ I can do about bein´ such a Cutie!!! ;) JUST KIDDING!!! HAHAHA that was my joke for the week. I love you all, I have to go, But I want you to know that I´m happy, doing well... We´re going on a hike right after this. Thank you for all the support!

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert

November 7, 2011

This week was VERY good here in San Martin. I love this place, and never stop to appreciate its beauty. This last week, we baptized Roberto and Matius Gori, Father and Son. It was such a special experience. I loved it!!! It marked 3 weeks since Matius had met us. I have been so blessed... I don´t understand why my Heavenly Father lets me have all of this success. I could be so much better. My potential is so much more... But more on that later. This week has been very interesting. Every morning is a P90X workout, so I´m always up and sweating, ready to go. Haha. Studying has been very good, too. I decided to read the BoM for the 3rd time so far on the mission, but in Spanish this time. I had tried right when I got to Esquel, but my comprehension was so little that I decided to wait till I understood more. I now understand everything, and it´s incredible!! I need to read the BoM so much more... The lessons, verses, POWER that are in its pages is incredible. I know that book comes from God. On Thursday we traveled on a 4 hour bus ride to Zapala for Zone Conference. The movie Battle: Los Angeles was playing. Our president lets us watch movies on bus trips because it would be impossible to watch us all on bus trips... So we all had a fun time watching it. But I have to admit, I felt guilty inside for watching a movie. Zone Conference was incredible. We spoke mainly on Repentance, and the wonderful gift it is. Focusing mostly on the talk D. Todd Christofferson gave during Gen. Conf., we learned a lot on how to best help our investigators repent. On the return journey Friday night, we watched a different movie, and at the end of the trip, I was sick of it. I said a prayer during Sacrament meeting, repented of watching the movies, and covenanted with my Lord and Savior that I will not watch another movie, no matter the movie, for the rest of my mission. This is not a mission rule, this is MY rule. In the MTC I learned a lot about Sacrifice from my teacher Hmo. Maxwell. Heavenly Father will bless us even more when we sacrifice even more. This is what I want. I have thought of some other things that I can take out of my missionary life that prohibit me from becoming the best I can be. During Zone Conference, E. Smoot and I were talking about it and he said, This is you... (pointing at the bottom of the floor) And this is what you, me, every missionary can be...(Pointed to the ceiling) He wasn´t saying I was dirt, or anything, But a good example of the amount of potential we have as Sons and Daughters of God is incredible... Also a little scary. Am I ready to take on the responsibility and be a real Soldier of my Heavenly Father? I´ve done well so far, but do I have what it takes to take it farther? Go all the way? Become a Dedicated, Sanctified, Consecrated servant of God? Good question... I hope so. I start now. I have been very successful as a missionary so far, but I have also lacked in many, many ways. I need to repent, I need to change. I want to be a scriptorian when I get back. I want to know that Book of Mormon backwards. So many things I want as a missionary... So little time to do them.

Anyway, we had the baptism, and it was AWESOME!!! Roberto was baptized first by E. Calvache. You´ll see in the pictures next week how big Roberto is compared to E. Calvache, he had to baptize him 4 times to get it right!!! I had to come in on the fourth and push Roberto down into the water with Calvache, HA!! Then I baptized Matius, my 15 yr. old STUD!!! I´m getting that boy on his mission!!! Roberto has a girlfriend in the branch, I´m going to get them married in the temple! (If it´s what they want)

I thought you might want to know that while you were sailing on a cruise ship... I too, was sailing on a boat!!! Ha, this Pday, we got permission from Pres. Peterson to get on a ferry on Lake Lacros and go to Quila Quina... The MOST GORGEOUS PLACE ON EARTH!!! I´ll have pictures next week, but MAN! It was incredible... The lake is beautiful, and the views from the beach were incredible. I was sent to paradise. It makes it even better to be able to preach the gospel here.

Well, I have to go. Got some work to do!!! I love you, Mom! Have a great week, and I will talk to you all next week! Oh, THANK YOU AUBREY, GMA, KATHERINE and MELYN for writing me!! It´s been awhile without a letter, Haha! Aubs, he has a Yamaha R6??!! That´s what I wanted!!

I have a testimony that this is the true church. I know it. The Book of Mormon is true, SO TRUE.

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

October 17, 2011

What a week it`s been!!! Holy cow... The mission is about the craziest thing that`s ever happened to me!!! I will just throw it out now... I`M LEAVING HOME!!! Ha, I`m being transferred. A little later on I´ll tell you where and everything. This week has been very busy. 

So this week we`ve been very busy in preparing the Colque`s and Alicia Tapia for their baptisms on Sunday. We had to plan them for Sunday because Franco Colque is the chef for the military base here in Esquel. Argentina`s Mother`s Day is on the 16th of October, so on Saturday he was cooking all day for a party for all the mother`s in the military. So we couldn`t do it on Saturday, so then we planned for Sunday. It`s been a very, very exciting but bumpy ride with these baptisms. Like I`ve always said, the temptations always come at the last week before the baptism. We went by every night to teach the kids and talk to Franco and Cecilia. They`ve been so happy and excited lately. I know that the gospel blesses the lives of everyone, because I could see the difference in their attitudes towards their children, and everything was just... Better. Ah, a missionary can`t even describe the joy and love he feels for his wonderful investigators... I can`t tell you the love I feel for that family. They are precious. Alicia, also, has been incredibly excited. We can`t go by every night, because her husband Pascual is a little stingy at times and doesn`t like a lot of visitors. Hahaha. But we taught her everything, and she was ready! Something I have learned as a missionary is that once you have put a baptismal date, you need to PROTECT IT. Hmo. Maxwell in the MTC taught me that. Where´s my letter Cliff??! ;) But that`s exactly what we`ve been doing. Everyone in the Branch was a little doubtful that we were going to get all the baptisms, because they`d never seen 5 people get baptized at the same time... We were determined to show them up!

So, I don`t even have to say that this week has been exhausting. I don`t know what happened to us, but we were so sleepy, ALL the time!!! It was frustrating at times, because if you`re not 100% awake, it`s very hard to stay motivated. But we did alright, even though every morning, it was a literal battle to get out of bed and begin the day, we did it, because our baptisms are much more important than our own sleep. Work this week was hard, other than with our baptismal date investigators... We`ve lost a lot of investigators, and it`s been very hard to find new ones. If one doesn`t have investigators, the work is very slow. So we put extra emphasis trying to find news, but still with the focus on the baptisms. 

We had lunch on Friday with a family where the mom had been gone working for about a month on the coast. She had brought back giant bags of seafood, so for lunch she cooked us a GIANT vat of seafood, rice, chicken and potatoes! It was DELICIOUS!!! Such a good family. But anyway, I have way too much to talk about, and no time to say it... 

The baptismal interviews... The night before the interviews, we went over to the Colque family and taught them the last minute details, went over the interview questions, and practiced baptizing. It was a very fun night. The kids were nervous, thinking it would be some giant, hard thing.. But we assured them that it was nothing and that everything would turn out perfect. The next day, we got to the church and waited for E. Barton our D.L. to get there and Alicia/Fma. Colque. They all showed up on time, and E.B. started with Alicia. She passed!!! Then it was Cecilia`s turn. I love Cecilia, she`s the whole reason this family was even at the church, waiting in line to have a baptismal interview... She`s an ANCHOR. She wants the best for her family, and she wasn`t letting anything get into the way of it! She had an awesome interview with E.B... He was very impressed. :) :) :)  Then Franco went. He passed with flying colors... I don`t know what HAPPENED  to him!!!! He`s such an incredible stud, who wants the best for his family. And he`s doing just that. Then came Franco, the kid... He didn`t pass. E.B. came out and asked for Franco the dad to go in and talk to him for a second. We found out later that Franco didn`t want to be baptized because to be baptized you have to follow the Law of Chastity... And this cute lil` 12 yr. old thought that that meant no kisses!!! What`s he doing kissing girls anyway?! But his dad just looked at him and said: What`s wrong with you??! He explained what it all meant, and from that moment on, Franco passed! Then went Nicolas and he passed with flying colors.. WE HAD THE BAPTISMS ALL READY!!! It was such a hilarious experience with little Franco, Haha! I loved it. 

Saturday, we went over to Alfredo`s house, our other convert from Conference weekend. I spoke with them about my testimony, we read some scriptures, and I told him to continue onward. I`m going to miss that kid... He needs to go on a mission, and I hope that he will choose to do that soon. It is the hardest thing saying goodbye to Investigators, but I didn`t have to really say goodbye until Sunday after church. (The picture with E. Sharp and me with a kid and his goatee... That`s Alfredo. He totally needs to shave that thing!! ) So... Saturday night... We bought some empanadas for delivery, and waited for the Transfer call... We got it. I found out I was finally leaving Esquel, my home for 6 months. I`m going to miss this place, for it`s mountains, the beauty... Everything. There aren`t many places like Esquel in my mission. It`s one of maybe 4 areas out of 20-30 areas that are gorgeous. So.. Where am I going? The MOST gorgeous place in the mission!!! What a lucky duck I am!!! Haha! I`m going to San Martín de los Andes... It`s supposedly the most beautiful place in all of the Patagonia. I`m SO excited. My companion, an Elder Calvache... I`m a little apprehensive about him. From my first latino companion, I`m a little... Ah, I need to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. But, I have heard he`s very hard headed... But it`s ok, he`s about to meet someone a lot harder in the head when it comes to the rules! So I leave today at 4pm for San Martin. I`ll get there tomorrow at noon... And I`m very excited... It is going to be great. 

Last thing I`m going to talk about... The baptism!! IT HAPPENED!!! They all came, and it was GOURGEOUS to see 8 people in white!!! For Alicia, we had to put a chair into the water, because she`s so old, and her husband, Pascual doesn`t have the strength to baptize her by herself. After 3 tries to get her completely submerged, I was called in to help. I went down in the water and helped him say the baptismal prayer. After he said Amen, I grabbed Alicia by the stomach and legs, and just shoved her as forcefully as I could down into the water, because she had been fighting every single time!! It was so hilarious! It was probably the most irr-reverent baptism I`ll ever have. I literally had to fight her in getting her completely under, but then we got it and she was happy. Then I baptized Franco the dad, and little Franco. E. Sharp baptized Cecilia and Nicolas. It was INCREDIBLE!!! I have to go soon, so I can`t talk more about it, but I want you all to know that the work is TRUE!!! I LOVE IT!!! I`m very anxious, sad, and happy to leave... It`s going to be very hard to leave my home, but I can`t wait to see what`s waiting for me in San Martín. I love you all, 

E. Cuthbert