September 5, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

E. Cuthbert 

August 29, 2011

This is probably my last week in Esquel. The transfer ends on Sunday, and it´s very rare that companions stay together for more than 2 transfers. I need to buy some souvenirs of this beautiful place! 

The connection with the camera and the computer I´m using isn´t working, so once again, I don´t have pictures.... Gosh dang it, I have so much to SHOW you guys! The mission is an incredible experience, and I have many pictures of wonderful families, The ones at the top of the list are of course, Lidia and Nicol. I´ll tell you about them first... 

We´ve been talking to Lidia a lot lately about life, what she wants as a mother, for her kids, for herself, for her life, things like that. On many occasions, she´s told us very incredible things that she wouldn´t otherwise say unless she trusted us. I know about most of her life and the difficulties and trials that she´s had. Patricio... We couldn't find the guy for about a week, but then two days ago, we found them again. We found out from Lidia that their relationship as bf/gf has been going downhill pretty fast. Whenever we try to teach him, he calls a taxi to come pick him up with the excuse that he has to go somewhere. He leaves, and we have time to talk to Lidia about what´s really going on. She does not want to be with him anymore. Her experiences with us, and her desire to change and fix her life for the Savior are such that she doesn´t want to be with someone who´s getting in the way of her doing that. Patricio isn´t willing to leave. She has tried to talk to him calmly several times about how she does not want him in her life anymore, but he refuses to listen to her, saying that she´s just angry and doesn´t know what she´s talking about. We had a conversation with her on Saturday, in the which she told us of her firm desire to return for good to church with her kids. She knows that that´s what´s going to give her kids the examples they need, and the blessings she so desperately wants in this life. We were so happy, and excited for Sunday to come, to watch her come through that door. In the morning, I received a text message from her saying that she couldn´t come. She said she would tell us when we came by after church. When we came by, she sat with us and told us how Patricio had not let her go to sleep that night. He kept yelling, and talking throughout the entire night, probably drunk, and she didn´t get a wink of sleep. She was so tired, that she couldn´t physically go to church. I was so angry with Patricio... Lidia needs help with her kids... Sometimes her 6 yr. old daughter, Emily, goes to school hungry in the morning, because there isn´t any food in the house. It´s heartbreaking. I love that family to death. 

Inés, our convert... IS A ROCK!! She is now coming to lessons with us, and she´s helping us put commitments for baptism! She shares her testimony, and helps people understand that it is possible! She´s incredible. She´s also giving us information with almost every person that lives in her neighborhood! Haha, She truly was a blessing. In one lesson with her accompanying us, we went to the cousin of Lidia. Her name is Lorena... Argentine customs are very different down here. Halfway through our lesson on how the Gospel will bless her life, and why the BoM is important, she just LIFTED up her shirt and began breastfeeding her baby. Not a care in the world, still listening to us teach, but breastfeeding her baby. It wouldn´t have been so bad if she had had a blanked or something covering herself, but no, she had her baby on one, and the other was clear out in the open. I´ve never concentrated so hard on someones forehead.... Wow. Argentina... 

Mornings are getting so difficult to get up! I work so hard during the day, and never take a break. I do very hard work outs in the morning, and at night, I´m usually reading the BoM or studying something until about 11pm... Mornings really are a battle. If I get up, and start working out, I´m good. But in between getting up and beginning working out... It´s a test between body and spirit, every morning. And it won´t last for another year and a half! Hahaha! 

There´s a less active family named Familia Carmona. They´re a very kind, nice family. If you remember, there´s a picture that I sent you guys a while back of a family that we had a family home evening with... Laura, the mom is short with red, short hair. They´ve got two boys. They´re an incredible family. Laura was baptized about a year ago. She had returned to smoking about 2 months ago, and we´ve been working with them ever since. Yesterday we had an incredibly strong lesson with them as to what our life here is for, HOW we can use the Savior and his Atonement, and the blessings that await every one of us who are strong and pull through to the end. Laura began crying, and they committed to flipping their lives around and becoming strong in the church once more. I love so many families here in Esquel, it will be hard to leave if I do leave on Monday. 

Now, the last thing I´m going to talk about is Diego. This kid... We had a two hour lesson with him a couple days ago on why were were there. I asked him if he knew why were taught people. We spoke about the BoM, baptism, and his desires. He didn´t think the Book of Mormon was true, and so at the end of the conversation, I committed him to begin reading the Book of Mormon. I went home that night, just deep in thought as to what I can do to get this kid into the waters of baptism. He has said it several times... : I know I need to be baptized, I just don´t know!!!  The next morning, I prayed harder than I´ve ever prayed in my life to know exactly what it is that he needed to read to believe in the BoM, and believe that he needs to be baptized in our church. To gain a testimony... At the end of my prayer, DIRECTLY after... Alma 7 shot into my head. I immediately found it in the scriptures, and read the chapter 3 times. I knew that was what I needed to share with him. Last night, we went to his house, with the goal to read the chapter with him, feel the spirit, and put a baptismal date for the 3rd of September with him, the Saturday before I leave. We got there and began talking. Then, we began reading. Whenever he didn´t understand a verse, or sentence, we stopped and helped him understand exactly what it was that Amulek was saying. At the end of the chapter, I directed his attention to vs. 17. The question: Do you believe these things? I asked him the same question. He said: Yes. I said, Do you believe this chapter is true? He said, yes. I said, knowing this chapter is true, do you believe that the BoM to be the word of God? He said... Yes. I then directed him to vs. 14 and 15. We read them, then I asked him to be baptized. He asked when? I said, the 3rd. Then, he began laying down all his doubts, why he thinks he can´t do it. It´s been such a battle with him. I told him that if he does this, it will bless him more than anything. I testified with everything I´ve got. I layed down every scripture that I had, I have faith that he can be baptized. E. Rojas on the other hand... He doesn´t believe he has what it takes. Diego has a hard time committing. E. rojas saw that, and didn´t believe in him, and it began to show... Diego asked him why he was acting the way he was, or why he had the face that he had on... I was losing it all... The Spirit fell... The date was falling out of my grasp. He asked for a day to think it over. To pray more. OH, that´s another thing. After we read Alma 7, I directed him to Moroni 10, and we did EXACTLY what it says there. After the prayer, he told me: I felt something. Nothing big, or extraordinary, but I felt something. I am SO close with Diego. He KNOWS he needs to do it. With Faith, ALL is possible! Hebrews 11, and Ether 12... Incredible chapters on faith. I don´t know if Diego is denying everything, and will never be baptized, or if it´s because of the lack of faith of E. Rojas. I do know that until I leave Esquel, I will fight for his baptism, because I know he knows it.... Pray for Diego, each and every one of you. My prayer was answered through Alma 7, and he knows the BoM is true. I now ask all of you to pray that he can have the courage to recognize what he´s felt as the answer he needs, and that he may act on it. I pray that my faith, along with the faith of each and every one of you will bring about a miracle to Esquel. If we can do this... You will see a 22 yr. old named Diego dressed in white, this Saturday. I have faith in my Heavenly Father, that He answers prayers. I know that Diego CAN be baptized, he just needs to have the confidence to do it. I will not give up. 

Thank you for all you guys do for me, I love each and every one of you. Keep the letters coming. I haven´t gotten an actual, physical, letter in all my time in Argentina. Pick it up, people!!! Haha! I try to write each and every one of you letters, but they´re very expensive to send down here, and I´ve been out of money for awhile... I apologize! 

Love you all. Mom, has that package been sent? Watch my account, if it gets low, fill it... I never know when I´m going to have an emergency. 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert