First of all, I can´t believe Simon is coming!!! And more than anything, I am SO jealous that I will never get to meet the kid! He sounds like such a stud, and I hope he and Jared get along great! Gosh dang it, that would be amazing to have a foreign exchange student. I bet you´ll be so happy to have more than one more kid to take care of again, Mom! Hahaha! Have you sent that care pckg. yet? I hope not... I remembered that if you could burn a couple cd´s of my piano music that I made..(It´s on iTunes) I would be so grateful! Like ten cd´s. I want to give them as gifts.
Ok. Here it goes. Monday was an incredible day. There is something called the Standard of Excellence on the mission. It´s a goal for all missionaries to try and achieve, to see how well they are doing and a way to measure their work. Things like how many new investigators you found, how many lessons with member, how many investigators you brought to church, things like that. We were planning 5 baptisms for the week, and so E. Rojas and I decided we were going to break the Standard. It´s usually very difficult to do it, and not many missionaries beat it. Anyway, starting Monday we had Pday, E. Gutierrez our old district leader left, which was pretty sad. That night it was E. Rojas, E. Barton and me. We decided to do divisions with two members, Germán (of course) and Carlitos Manz... a 16 yr. old STUD. When you guys come pick me up (PUH LEASE say you guys will come pick me up!!!) Jared, you HAVE to meet him and be his friend. It´s already decided. Aranged marria....friendship. ;) Haha! Anyway, I went with Germán, and E.B. and E.R. went with Carlitos. I learned SO much from Germán. He learned a ton on his mission, and he is the biggest stud on the planet. He helped me really analize in how I teach and how I can get better, it was such an incredible night. That night we ended up with 8 lessons with member. Check! YEAH!!! That´s the Standard for lessons with member.
Tuesday was an interesting day. Roberto´s baptism date for the 30th fell through, he´s not going to be prepared on time because he´s not doing the commitments or reading or praying or doing anything, really. Rita and Inés were both having a lot of doubts. They were saying, well we should just wait, what´s one, two or three weeks?? E. Rojas and i had a fun time saving their dates, and giving them the courage and excitement to continue on and be confident. Oh, that morning E. Menghini, E.B´s new companion was supposed to arrive. We woke up at 6am to pick him up from the bus terminal, but he never came... Fun... Hahaha. So it was E.B, E.R. and me again for the day. He finally came on Wednesday morning...
Wednesday E. Menghini arrived, and so E.B. and he left for Trevelin, and it was just me and good old Rojas again. We visited Diego, and he too was having HUGE Doubts!!! Starting at the beginning of the week... Every investigator that´s was going to be baptized began having doubts! We had a very good conversation with Diego... Saved his date for the 30th... I actually gave him my CTR Ring... Gma, don´t kill me!!! He needs it more than I do. He has stopped smoking, drinking, and going to dance parties to follow the commandments of the Lord. He has had a VERY LONG road coming to this day. That same day we visited Lidia and Patricio. Patricio is part of a music group down in the Patagonia called Guardianes del Sur... He isn´t a member, and I´m teaching him. A rock star! Haha! He´s so cool, he gave me one of his cd´s... Great guy. Lidia is 3 years inactive, but she wants to come back, marry Patricio and go to the temple. A little difficult, because she´s married with someone else, doesn´t have the money for divorcement, and her ex is still in love with her. If I want to help those two get to the temple, I need to baptize Patricio first, which means I have to get them married, which means that they need to get divorced, Lidia and her ex... She doesn´t have the money. I was thinking of something... If you could go around mom, and ask for $10 from the ward members, or friends... Lidia needs 2000 pesos, which is $500... to get divorced. But hold off on that, we need to make sure that Patricio wants to be baptized first, and everything... It´s just an idea that I have, a plan in the making... Anyway, Thursday in the afternoon, we went by Rita and Inés to teach them the last few things for the Interview the next day. Half way through, the police started flying up the road, and the boy of inés ran into the house saying that the police were there looking for something. Inés ran to her house to see what they wanted, only to find them beating her other son, and ransacking the house. She began to defend her kid, and they took her! There were TWENTY policemen at the house. TWENTY!!! They took her in one of the police cars, and we watched them drive away... well... There went one of my Investigators! We ran up to the house, to find that the police had tied the door shut, and had thrown her stove outside. Everything was broken. We were there with Reuban, her 10 yr. old son to be baptized. He started digging at the door, trying to get in. I helped him get it unlocked, and I picked up that... HEAVY... stove and fixed it. I made a fire for him, then E.R. and I left for the police station. We got there, and the police said there was nothing we could do. They wouldn´t give us an explanation for why they took Inés, and said we would have to come back the next day. That posed a problem, because the Baptismal interviews were the next day.... Uhhhhh...... NO!!! We got up early the next day, (Thursday) and ran to the police station, and waited there until 11:30. Finally, Inés was brought out. I have never seen a face more deprived of sleep and hope than hers. She was in HANDCUFFS, my investigator! We were furious! We went into the hearing and watched the whole thing. Afterwards, her Defendant helped her get out of the situation. They let her go. We walked her to the La Anonima (Equivalent of Smiths or Maceys) and I bought her a water, bread, salami and an alfajor. They didn´t give her anything to eat for 16 hrs. Her mattress was no more than an inch thick, and no blanket. We took a Taxi back to her house, helped her get settled in with her family, then left. We returned to pick them up for the interviews. We took them to the church and they had their interviews. Rita, Inés and Reuban passed! We went to pick up Diego for his interview. He was in his house, but didn´t know the interview was at the church. This got him a little angry, and he said he wasn´t going to go. We had to save his date, AGAIN!!! I can´t tell you how hard Satan works on those on the point of baptism!!!!! We scheduled his interview for Friday instead, and left. What a day that was. Every day of the week, starting Monday just got more, and more crazy. Continually spiraling out of control and more and more hectic. I said: I am going to cry of happiness when this week is over.
Friday, Diego had his interview with E.Barton. He passed... But he said he didn´t feel prepared. E.B. and him had a conversation for an hour and a half, while E.M, E.R, and I waited outside as it gradually got colder and colder. We were FREEZING by the time they got out. E. B. told us to leave, so we did and he explained it on the way home. Diego passed his interview, E.B told him he was ready, but Diego, feeling unprepared, said no to his baptism on Saturday... DIEGO!!!!! NO!!!!
We went by Saturday morning for his house, and invited him to the baptism. He said he would come, as well as to church the next day. We went to pick up Rita, Inés and Reuban for the baptism. Inés and Reuban were there, all ready to go! I was so surprised at the progress of those two... Inés in the beginning was only getting baptized because of Rita, but now she had her own testimony, and was hard like a rock! Reuban, as well. We then went down to the house of Rita to grab her.... And no one was there. Uhhh... what?? No one was in the house. Then, stumbling out of nowhere was one of her sons, Jonathan... Completely hazed from sniffing glue. He was SO out of it, not knowing what was going on. It was so strange... But Rita wasn´t there in the house! I had the feeling that Juan (the bf) had come back, and took her somewhere so she couldn´t be baptized. I was ticked. We took Inés and Reuban to the church, and we had my first baptism!!! It was so incredibly good. :) I was so happy for Inés and Reuban. That night, we had 2 hours to find a lot of new investigators and a lot of contacts to beat the Standard. We, in 1and a half hours, found 7 News and had 3 lessons!!! It was incredible! Blessings!
Sunday, we went to Patricio and Lidias house to pick them up for church. The last thing on the list was 5 people in the church. Patricio, their son Nicol, one of their friends, Diego... And... no one else... Oh no! But thank the heavens!!! Juan, the grandson of one of the members here came with his grandma... 5 in the church!!! WOOOT!!!! We beat the Standard of Excellence!!! Oh great... Now I have to do it every week! My competitive attitude will not let me go down in success... Hahaha! So... 5 baptisms shrinked to 2. But it´s two more souls for our Heavenly Father.
This week has been... exhausting... I just want to curl up in a ball, and sleep. Sleep, and sleep. But I can´t. Haha. I miss my family more than anything, but I know that in this moment in my life, the work is more important. Mom, have you gotten the surprise yet? I guess not!! Hahaha, it will be VERY surprising for you! :) I am probably missing a lot of information that I should be telling you guys... I can never remember everything that happened during the week, there´s always too much. I love each and every one of you.
I know the Lord lives. Even though the work is extremely tough, it is extremely gratifying as well. Satan works hard on all those that are doing their hardest to follow our Heavenly Father. I have a testimony of that. He is the biggest enemy. Every one of you, stay away from him... You do not understand the amount of sadness that he will bring into your life. Follow Jesus Christ. The only righteous way. I love my Father in Heaven. I love my family, and friends. thank you for the continued support. Shurian!! Thank you SO much for that letter! That gave me so much strength to carry on. Keep ém coming!!! Haha! A reminder to all... I would love your letters, I would love your thoughts... You don´t understand how much a missionary wishes for letters. Haha! Love you all, E. Cuthbert is doing alright!
E. Cuthbert
No comments:
Post a Comment