April 16, 2012

My computer today ha s a really crappy keyboard, so if there are weird spaces in between certain things... I`m sorry!   Anyway, I won`t be able to send pictures this week, because I forgot my camera cord... Darn it!

 

Pday last week was a stinkin` BLAST. We went to a beach in Comodoro called Rada Tilly. There, with a Rugby ball (Because they don`t have american footballs here) we played american football for a good four hours. It was such a blast. Playing right there on the beach..  It was incredible. We were so happy, our group of 10 elders that went. I  have a  ton of pictures to show, but no way t o show them... Just going to have to be patient unt il n ext week! Haha. I also bought a hair buzzer last week. Cool fact for the day. Mom, before I forget...  We `re going to have to plan you coming down here to pick me up very well. I would love t o show you some of my areas, rent a car and go to San Martìn or Esquel, but not much farther down south.. Sorry Comodoro!  This also depends o nthe time and day of when Mirta and Ramon go to the temple. I need to coordinate with them so it will all work out.  But I want to thank you again for doing this for m e. I love you so much. So keep saving up! :)

 

 This week was pretty hard. My hardest week on the mission I think. First time in over a year that I haven`t found at least one new investigator during the week. Dificilìsimo!!!! I have never gone to bed so tired from knocking houses all day, there have b een nights where I literally put my h ead on the pillow and I am out until 6am the next morning. Incredible.  T he mission really knows how to K.O. me, Haha! Ximena isn`t progressing really well, we haven`t been able to see her for a while. We started  up a free English class and we`re getting the word around. Hopefull we get lots of new investigators from the classes.

 

My  highlight of the week was on Friday when we had the Zone Conference. In Comodoro, they do it a little differently. Caleta Olivia is a zone about an hour away from Comodoro, and so the President doesn`t have to drive all the way down there, they join the two zones together to have the Conferenc e.  And guess who the Zone Leaders are of Caleta Olivia? Elder`s  Slaugh and Sharp, my Dad and other Gringo comp!!!!! We had a  flippin` BLAST.  I had never been so happy in my life. Not even kidding, I was just...  SO happy to see those two guys, t hey were incredibly happy to see me as well. E . Slaugh had missed me, his Son, since we hadn`t seen each other for a full year, the reunion was a good one... E. Sharp t old me that the Flia. Colque in Esquel is doing GREAT. The two boys are passing the  Sacrament always, and Cecilia is in the Young Womens  presidency! Franco, the dad, is the Branch cook, not with the priesthood yet, because he   can`t go to church very often. I was so happy to see them!!!!! Then I saw E. Marriot from the MTC, who was in a trio with me and E. Wiblefor a few days. What a good day... Incredbile day. I was jumping with joy. I have great pictures with all of us t ogether, and they`re coming up today to play football with us at the beach.

 

During the Conference, my district did a musical number of God be with you till we meet again, for President Peterson, because this is his last Zone Conferenc ec before he goes home in J une. Since the mission, I have learned how to sing the bass and the harmony as well as the melody, so we did a quartet during the second verse with E. Lee on the bass, me, harmony, and two others on the m elody... And we KILLED it. It was beautiful. I was very proud of us!

 

Kolt  King, I had empanadas with a family who had a son who served in your mission, and he remembers you.  His n ame is Bryan (Brian) Krebs. He says he was in the city Rosario while you were in Rafael (?) Something like  that. But yeah, great family, small world. Haha!  We`re going to make French toast tomorrow morning, with whipped cream and Maple Syrup!!! WOOT!!

 

Mother, my mission is Gigantic. It`s one of the biggest in the world. When we were on the beach, I pointed across the water and said, THERE`s AFRICA!! And then I pointed farther south and said, THERES ANTARCTICA!!! All within a few hu ndred miles. Haha! Anyways,  I have to go now.  We have a few investigators, but nothing really progressing. This area needs a lot of work.  Pray for us, Pray that we can find some investigators... THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO!!!! I love you so much, Mom. Mothers Day is coming up here pretty quickly, YAYAYAA!!!!ª!!  ;)

 

Amor,

E. Cuthbert

 

E. Wagstaff is from SLC, we get along GREAT, We`re great friends, and we help each other out a lot. Really blessed to have such a great first jr. comp like him. He went  to Olympus high school, and  he was in this area for 3 months before, he started here in Comodoro. 

April 2, 2012

*There were several pictures Jordan sent, but they won't upload!*

Well. The unthinkeable happened. I`m being transfered. DA DA DAAAAAAAA. NOOOO!!! Wonderful, beautiful, home-away-from-home San Martìn!!! Well, it was bound to come sooner or later, just a little sooner than expected. E. Agazzani was saying goodbye to members all week, having them write in his journal and say their goodbyes, I didn`t. Haha. After Conference on Saturday night, E. Agazzani got the call for transfers. After the call, he asked me... Do you have your bags packed? A deep, sinking feeling shot down through my heart. Nooooo, I thought. I didn`t have ANYTHING prepared. Nothing. I`ve been waiting for those baptisms of Gaspar, Darìo, Miriam... So many others, but I won`t be able to see them. San Martìn, my area, is being whitewashed. It is obviously being done because the Elders coming into my area can and will do things that I could never do. At least that`s what happened with the Whitewash in Esquel with me and E. Sharp. So... Where is E. Cuthbert going? To the wonderful city of Comodoro Rivadavia!!! It`s in the provincia of Santa Cruz, much closer to the bottom of the world. It`s VERY windy there because they`re right on the coast. I heard it`s very cold too, but I don`t care! My new companion will be E. Wagstaff from S.L.C, Ut. This is his 4th month in the mission, he`s still very new. I`m his second comp in the mission. I`m SUPER PUMPED AND EXCITED. Comodoro is known for giving people some of the best life-learning experiences in the entire mission. Bring it on. 

Saturday night was spent writing people, packing and preparing everything for the new Elders. I went to bed at 3am... What a night. I had to rapidly wash all of my clothes and begin throwing everything into suitcases. What an experience! The next morning I kept packing until I had everything ready. Then we went to a final lunch with Alberto and Evelina Di Stefano. They`re my favorites. Alberto has been such a fun friend of mine, and I will miss him and his family dearly. But not as much as I will be missing the converts... 

We got to the Sunday session of Gen. Conf. and I told Ramòn and Mirta that I was leaving. Ramòn started crying. I love him with all my heart. Mom... Mother, if you only knew the happiness I have felt with these people... If you knew the joy I have to serve them... My heart is swollen with joy as I think of all the wonderful people who I have had the priviledge to help. Mirta made me promise something. Mom, I beg you to do everything possible to help me make this promise true. She wants us in her Sealing in the Buenos Aires temple in March. I promised her I would do the best I can to be there for her Sealing with Ramòn for time and all Eternity. They are waiting till March till I finish the mission. I beg you to make whatever preparations or savings possible to be able to come down and pick me up from the mission, so that we can go together to Buenos Aires and watch this GORGEOUS family be sealed together. Don`t send me ANYTHING. I don`t need it. I ask for this now... It`s something huge to ask for, I know. But there would be nothing more beautiful to see, for you and me, than to see them make those sacred covenants. She made me promise. She`ll kill me if I don`t keep my promise ;) Ha. Please. 

Darìo, when I told him that I was leaving, he said: NOO! I wanted you to baptize me! A swell of pride and love for this wonderful, faithful Son of God rushed over me as I looked him in the eye and said it didn`t matter who baptized him, just so long as he got baptized. I love that family. Two converts with another on the way after his wedding on the 13th of this month. What miracles the Lord has blessed us with... Incredible. 

I have loved the people here, with all my heart. My six months here felt like a blink in the eye. I wasn`t able to say goodbye to a lot of people because of shortness of time, but I know that I will always remember them, as I hope they will do the same with me. The mission... It`s an experience that brings tears to my eyes. This area taught me so many things. It`s wonderful. I`m coming back some day. I leave today at 1 o`clock. Me and E. Lee from Junìn are going to be on a bus for about 25 hours!!! WOOOT!!! Hahaha, it`s going to be a long trip. I`ll tell you how it all is, with pictures next Monday. I love you all, and wish the best for you all. I`m doing great. Asado means Grilled meats. I bought a little mp4 player to play music, haha. Well... Have a wonderful week. E. Cuthbert is happy, excited, and ready to bring on a whole new level of what they call: Missionary Work. 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

February 27, 2012

E. Agazzani and I have been a little better. We still need to work on a couple things. It`s like we`re both on a tight rope... With one wrong move, everything goes tumbling down... I have to be careful, patient, loving, Christlike... I can`t tell you how hard it is to really be like Christ. He was the perfect example of being...Well... PERFECT!!! No one but God could do that. It`s insane. 

Well, There was some really sad news here in the Great Mission of the Patagonia. Elder Syddall, one of my good friends from Esquel, was knifed in the neck last Sunday. He is in Roca, close to Neuquèn. A guy who always bugged the missionaries, throwing rocks at them and sometimes, rotten meat, went up to them acting like he was interested in the church. He began walking with them, they answered his questions and everything, just like a normal contact. When they were about 100 meters away from the church, the guy stopped looked at E. Syddall, then pulled out a knife from his pocket and, screaming "REPENT!" slashed him across the neck and face. He meant to kill him. He escaped and E. Syddall was carried to a members house then to the hospital where he was operated on right away. He`s alive. But he will carry a very nice memory of that encounter on his neck and face for the rest of his life. It will be a scar that goes from the middle of his neck all the way to the corner of his mouth. About 5-6 inches. Scary? A little bit. I was reminded though about a sentence in my Patriachal Blessing that says that in my mission, The Angels of the Lord will protect me. I believe that. 

I`m really excited for this transfer. It`s going to be a good one. We have the dad and big sister of Daniza and Zahida that we`re working on. They will get baptized, The dad and mom of Daniza and Zahida will be married and will complete their family... Eternally!!! Fabiana has her son Lautaro who is 10 who will hopefully get baptized this Saturday. He`s a rascal and is always running around, not making it on time for the apts, we have with him and his mom. Also his big sister has shown some interest. We met an inactive family that has three daughters that aren`t baptized. They all will enter the waters of baptism. A family that came to a baptism and wants to be baptized needs to be married, and then they can enter the waters of baptism. Mirta and Ramón and Roberto Gori and their families (All my converts, I`m SO proud of them!!!!) are sharing with families and have set up appts with us to meet them. They`re doing Missionary Work!!! So strong and faithful, they are. I love San Martìn with all my heart. It`s an incredible place. This week I`ve been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon, and I never get tired of reading. I need to work out more... Oh! That reminds me of an experience we had yesterday.. 

We had lunch yesterday with the Branch President and Flia. Calderòn. I don`t know how we got on the topic, but we started to talk about working out and stuff like that. the President, Presidente Di Stefano looks at me and says "Let`s do it.". He`s such a little guy, he`s a skinny stick of a man. He says, we`re going to do push ups. Whatever amount you do, I`ll do 5 more. I said: "Vamos, Che!!" Let`s go, Dude! We get down and start doing push ups. He was talking smack the entire time. We got to 55 and started slowing down, the both of us. I stopped for a second in the Upward dog position, and he thought I was done, I then began pumping out push ups again. We were both dying, pushing as hard as we could. In the end... He didn`t beat me. We did the same amount, about 65. Not a lot. I need to work harder. But he wasn`t finished... He then wanted to do a contest of one handed pull ups. There`s no pull up bar in a church??!! He said, Oh, yes there is. We went outside and he went to the antennae. It`s a big tower and at the top is the antennae, to get to the top is a metal ladder, but you need a step ladder to get up to it, it`s about 15 ft. above the ground. He got a ladder out and climbed up and began his one armed pull ups. He did 12. We had about 20 members, all the missionaries and the little kids watching and cheering. Then it was my turn. The missionaries, E. Campos and Arenas (Both from the U.S. ) were yelling at me, REPRESENT! REPRESENT!!! I began doing pull ups. I past 12 easily and got to 16 before asking for the ladder. I beat him fair and square!!! It was very fun. But I need to work out more... A lot more. 

Well, I just want to throw out a big thank you to everyone who continually supports me... I`m about to complete a year in the mission... And it`s gone by so fast. So incredibly fast. I have many goals and things to accomplish in this next year, and it`s so scary to already see the finish line in the distance. A year of work... Incredible. I love you all. I miss you all, but I miss the work more! Gotta go out and teach! 

Amor, 

E. Cuthbert 

February 20, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

E. Cuthbert 

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

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 

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

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 

September 12, 2011

(Sorry for dropping the ball a bit on posting Jordan's letters!  I promise to post them as soon as they're emailed. - Melyn)

Thank you mom so much for the oreo recipe! Haha, that makes me happy! Before I forget... There was a piano song at the MTC that I LOVED, that I need to learn for Sacrament meetings and things like that. It was called : Oh How Lovely Was The Morning. There´s probably a ton of songs called that, but it´s just straight piano, and it´s GORGEOUS. Wow.. It´s been such an interesting week here in Esquel!

So Tuesday morning we had to get up really early like always to meet our new companions! E. Sharp was with me in the new area, and E. Syddall with E. Rojas. I was so ready to get to the terminal to meet E. Sharp, but E. Rojas had to go the the bathroom... In the new house, there was a problem with the bathroom door, and I had told him not to close it all the way, or else he´d be locked into the bathroom and wouldn´t be able to get out. Guess what he did? ..... Yeah, he got stuck in the bathroom. Dang kid!! So after 20 minutes of helping him squeeze through a tiny little window in the back of the bathroom... We got to the terminal to see our new comps waiting for us. E. Sharp is tall, not as tall as me, but tall enough. He´s a distance runner... Blegh!... ;) And likes a lot of the same things I do. I was SO happy to see my new comp, and turn E. Rojas over to E. Syddall, because however you look at it... 3 months with him was enough. Ha. So we took all of his stuff to the new apartment where the Hermana missionaries were living, then we went to the house and grabbed all my stuff. It´s exactly like you said it, Mom... It was such a pain to pack up everything that I had just unpacked. :/ Haha. But, anyway.. We got to the apartment and had to clean it up a little bit.. I´m seriously disappointed in the sister missionaries... It was a pig sty! We were cleaning until lunch time, finding long girl-hairs in every crook and cranny, throwing away the extra tampons they had..( Oh PLEASE!!!) Stuff like that. It was terrible. But, we got it all into order and went to lunch. The problem is that the apartment is very small... I didn´t have any space to put my suit cases! So for the first few days.. They were sitting in the kitchen, on the floor. Anyway, we began to explore the new area on Tuesday. It was very, very interesting, because usually at least one of the Elders knows the area, the investigators, members, etc. E. Sharp and me? Nope! It didn´t help either that in all the information the hermanas left us, there were hardly any addresses! I´ve "Whitewashed" an area before, and I´ve been wondering why Pres. Peterson put a new missionary in a whitewash, but whatever. Cliff Maxwell, did you whitewash as a missionary at all? It´s... interesting. This first week has just been finding everything. Even when we have the address for someone, the system here is all names and neighborhoods, not numbers. So even if we found neighborhood Baden 1... Where the heck is that?! Haha! I´ve never asked so many people for directions in my life... It´s such a hit on the pride... ;) Ha! 

We decided to go meet our Branch President and let him know that we´re here to work and help him build the Branch. We had a good meeting with him. He´s very short, is 26 yrs. old, married, has a fohawk, and huge coke bottle glasses that magnifies his eyes really big. He´s such a stud! Haha, His name is Pres. Russo. We will work well together, because he went on the mission, and so he understands exactly what it is we do and how to help us do it. So he gave us a bunch of names of people to visit, and directions... After that, his brother in law took us for a tour of the area in his car. Our area is about 2 and a half times the size of my first area, it´s HUGE! I´m so happy, because there´s a lot more beautiful things in this part, more people, more houses... A lot more potential. After the tour began the fun week of walking... and walking... and walking! We both bought ourselves personal maps, and I´ll bet it was so odd for so many people to see these two men in suits on a street corner, their heads buried in big sheets of paper! Ha! 

The members are very nice, they help out a lot. We´ve got lunch every day like in the other area which is a definite bonus... E. Sharp and I on Friday were knocking doors and this guy named Leandro opened up to us. He said: I was just studying the Bible... Want to come in? We had a lesson about the BoM, prophets, and the Restoration. He took the BoM and accepted a baptismal date for the 8 of October! We put it so late because we haven´t met the wife, don´t know if they smoke or drink.. Things like that. He´s got three boys. One that´s 7 months, 1 yr. 7 months, and 7 yrs. old. Good guy. I´m excited to begin working with him and his family so he and his wife can make the date for the 8th! 

Oh! Something I forgot to say... The first night in the new apartment, we got ready for bed. E. Sharp chose the bottom part of the bunk bed, so I had the fun opportunity to have the top. Obviously, as someone like me who can jump, Oh so High... ;) I decided to jump onto the top part of the bunk bed to go to sleep! Bad Choice. I snapped the supporting beam... And slept on the floor that night, and the next three nights... Hahaha! Also, we were talking to a sister member out on the street, when a guy on a motorcycle drove by, screaming at the top of his lungs... SATAN SATAN SATAN!!!!! It was so funny!!! Haha, we laughed about it as "Mormons"... Ha.  Sunday was a tough day. Sundays are usually the worst, because people are either sleeping, or not at home, or don´t want to talk to anyone that´s not family. After lunch... We walked. That was our entire day, basically. We went to every less active, every investigator, and every person we could think of, and we didn´t get into anything. We were DEAD by the time we got to the apartment. I don´t know how far we walked, but it was far. I wish I had a pedometer to know how much I walk a day, it would be interesting to see! 

E. Sharp is a very good companion. We get along great. He´s from Arizona, was born in Alaska... He likes working out, eating... He´s got a sarcastic attitude which makes good for some fun jokes, something I couldn´t do with E. Rojas because Spanish jokes and English jokes just aren´t the same. He´s a little fidgety, and doesn´t like to get into peoples way, but that´s why he´s got me! Haha. I´ll probably only be here in Esquel 1 for one transfer... After that I´ll prob be transferred somewhere else and leave behind good ól E. Sharp. Sorry I didn´t send any pictures... I really didn´t take many this week. I´ll get betta! ;) 

Well, life as a missionary is as fun as ever. It´s exhausting, but rewarding. I began to see a lot of the good I had did in the other branch, because now whenever I see any of the wonderful members from that branch, they come up and are so happy to see me. Nicol, my stud who was baptized, he saw me in the street yesterday, and BOOKED it to me and gave me a huge hug. The same happened the day before with his little sister Emily. She ran as fast as those little legs could carry her and hugged my legs... It puts such a smile on my face to know that I´m not a burden for these wonderful people. I love the people here... I´ve fallen in love already with this country and the people. They´re incredibly kind, and always smiling. I love the mission. I´m so excited for this transfer with E. Sharp. We´re going to do good things here, I know it. Please continue to pray for me... I need every prayer I can get. I read the BoM in 3 weeks... I LOVE that book! I have such a testimony about it... I´ve started D&C, and am very excited to learn more about it. Keep sending the letters... I love you all. 

E. Cuthbert 

Pics!