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 

August 22, 2011

THEY HAVE SCHOOL ALREADY???!!! 

Where has the time gone?? On the 2nd of September, I´ve been on my mission for 6 months... a quarter already gone... Holy cow, I need to work harder! Not enough time!!! 

This week was interesting. I failed to mention that last week when we went to the waterfalls, when we were done, we went back to the road to wait for the bus... Only to find out that it didn´t come for another 6 hours!!! So we HITCHHIKED back!! I have a picture of my with the Thumb, and it´s hilarious! It was a good Pday. I don´t have the pictures with me, because I forgot my camera!! Good job, E. Cuthbert! Anyways, thank you so much for the care pckg! When it gets here, it gets here... I´m a patient boy... Hahaha! 

Well, E. Rojas has a stress fracture, what did I tell you?? We went and got the xrays, and now he´s on medication, still working, though. With the medication, it doesn´t hurt him and he can walk. Thank you so much!!! I was dying, that day that we didn´t leave the apt... I was going to DIE of boredom. Not working... you just get this sick, guilty feeling that does not leave. I hate it, and so I work. Ha. Nicol, our newest convert, that little stud of a kid... On Wednesday, I gave him a haircut. Not a haircut with a buzzer... Ho ho, no!! I´m talkin´ full on scissor job!!! Thank you Dixie Peacock for your wonderful haircuts, and I´m so proud that I paid attention! Even Nicol was satisfied with the job, and so was his mom, Lidia! It was such a fun experience, cutting his hair. Every time I see him, I laugh at the thought that I cut that hair. I need to get a picture to you guys of the job I did. 

One of the members in our Branch had given me the reference of a lady named Greniel. He told me that she needed help, and gave me the direction to her house. I forgot about it for about a week, then we were visiting a less active family that E. Rojas and I didn´t know before, and the first thing that she said was... There´s a lady named Greniel that needs your help.......... TWO different people, telling me about the SAME person needing help  and asking the missionaries to do it. I took this to be a call from the Spirit, telling us to GO to this house and this lady. The next day, we went by that night, and after about a half hour of searching for the house, we finally found it! She was with her 12 yr. old daughter. The first thing she said was, are you guys Jehovah´s Witnesses? I held in a laugh, and said, No we´re from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We began talking, and had a very nice conversation. We set an appt. for tonight, actually. We found out later from Inés, our other convert who is just a ROCK in the church... YEAH.... That Greniel heavily drinks, and is having many financial problems. We are going to help this lady and her family out, as we had two different people reference her to us... I know this is something special. 

Lidia, gosh... Her family is so close to my heart. I´ve been with them for 3 months now... I care about all of them so much, and do not want to leave them, which will probably happen in two weeks. End of transfer 3 for E. Cuthbert is the 5 of September, and the chances of me leaving are almost 100%. But anyways, Lidia told us her life story basically, her baptism, how her father beat her as a child, her friend told her to get a bf so as to leave her father, her first bf beat her too, she found her husband that she married in the church, but then they separated themselves, then Patricio... A long conversation. We helped her out with how she can be the example in her family, and help Nicol who is just starting out in the Church, and Patricio gain a testimony so he can do the same.  

Patricio... We had a two hour lesson with him this week. It was exhaustingly incredible. The Spirit was very strong. I testified about a million times about the BoM and how I KNOW that book is true. The billionth time that I began to testify... He stopped me and said: I KNOW you know, I want to know now!!! And so we left him with 2 Nephi 29 through 33... The best chapters ever! Anyway, also in that lesson, he told us about how he thinks the Catholic church is the correct church because it´s been around the longest. E. Rojas is a stud with the Apostasy, so that wasn´t a problem. We came by the next day, and he had read!!! He said He liked it, but wanted to read more. Later, when we were alone with Lidia for a few minutes, she said that when he read it, he came over and she asked if he had liked it. He said yes. She then asked if he would like to be baptized in the future, and he said... YES!!! That fool is going to be baptized one day!!!!! I was so happy when I heard it, but we need to be careful... He wants to know everything!!! Haha. Anyway, I love that family. And want to help them in every way before I leave this wonderful area. 

Diego.... Oh Diego.... I honestly... don´t know what´s going to happen. Thank you so much for those who fasted on Sunday for him. We had a family home evening with him and his sister on Saturday night. He´s denying everything... Not very strongly, but he just doesn´t seem to think that he has a testimony, or that what we´re asking him to do is what he should do. I am at a loss with him... I´ve put 4 baptismal dates with the kid... All I´ve thought that I can really do, is testify as strongly as I can in what I know and what I know will come about for him if he does it, and see what he says. We might bave a baptism this Saturday, we might not... I need to have the faith that we will.. 

We found an inactive member yesterday. She´s been inactive with her 3 sons for 6 years. She didn´t even remember what the Book of Mormon was!! Holy cow!! We spoke with her, and she invited us to come back on Tuesday, tomorrow... Her 3 sons are studs, we need to reactivate them. We are probably going to the ski resort they have just outside Esquel on Saturday for our Pday... This is outside of the rules, but our District President called Pres. Peterson to ask special permission for us, and he said YES! I might be snowboarding on Saturday, we´ll see what happens... Hahaha! No one gets to do stuff like that! 

This morning, I studied about the importance the family has in the Gospel. When it was comp study, I asked E. Rojas to tell me why he thinks family is important. That unfolded a 45 min. confession from him about his life, before he was baptized, after, before his mission, and during his mission. His family really was... Destroyed. His mom got cancer when he had a year in the mish. He still doesn´t know what it´s like to even go to the movies with his family.... It was the only time I´ve ever seen E. Rojas cry...How important is your family to you? How much do you love your family? Do you cherish a family drive with them to your grandparents house, or a walk in the park, or a trip to the movie theaters? Or do you just take it as a whimsical... Nah, it´s not much. How many of you understand, and love your family more than any other thing? Who wants to spend time with their little brother?       I DO.  I love my family. I have come to realize of the importance of family, but more than that, the testimony that E. Rojas gave about the things that he never got to do, but I did never even thinking twice about them... We really are blessed. Jared, I love you, buddy. I love you, and want to hang out with you SO BADLY. Dad, you are everything to me. My support, my strength, my help. Mom, you´re my angel. Enough said. Melyn, you have always been such a good LIL´ sis... I love you and the support you and Jordan give for me. I love my family. When I get back, I will be in paradise, just to sit down be in the same room as my family. Look around, appreciate your family. Love them. The Gospel is nothing without the family. I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true. And because that book is true, everything else is true. I have a testimony of the healing power of the Atonement, and the wonder blessing we have to be members of the Church of God. Have a great week everybody, I love you all. 

E. Cuthbert 

August 15, 2011

I´m ALIVE!! Hahaha, don´t worry everyone... I made it through the week... Wow. 

Last week was tough.. Obviously. By what I wrote in my last email, it must have sounded like the end of the world. Well... It was very difficult. There are some times when it´s just so tough, not having those people you love around you... But, I pulled through, and I´m a happy camper, here in the Patagonia! 

That Monday was tough, obviously. We went and taught that night, and my mood started to increase. That´s one thing that I have come to realize over the past months, is that I´m happier when I´m testifying about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the healing power that He can bring into our lives. It is incredible, that power that a testimony has to life someone´s spirits... It´s truly life saving. We had been preparing for the baptism of Nicol Gomez, the son of Lidia. So Tuesday, we took some pizzas to his house and watched the Restoration with him and his friends, he loved it! We´ve been preparing him for about two weeks straight, passing by almost every day teaching little things that he can understand. He´s 11 yrs. old, LOVES fútbol, and wants to be an ´´Elder´´ someday! ;) Haha! Later that night, we went to the hospital, because Lidia had her leg operated on. From what I have understood, from fútbol, she either has a torn ACL, or something like that. So she was operated on, and E. Rojas and I went and visited her and Patricio in the hopspital later that night. They´re a family that is VERY close to my heart. Also, on Tuesday, E. Rojas was hurting... his foot´s been killing him for awhile, so I finally gave in and we went to the hospital. What they think he has is a stress fracture.... THAT rang a bell in my past... Oooooh NOOOO!!! I hate those two words... Stress fracture. What they told him is that obviously, he needs to get some x rays to know for sure, and that he would need to schedule an appt. to do it. In the meantime, they told him to stop walking on it. I spent the rest of the day in the apt..... :/ 

Wednesday... Also. Oh, how bored I was. He wouldn´t leave, taking the excuse of the broken foot to stay in the apt. I was in the middle of both views. I was DYING to work, but I also knew that if he continues to walk on it, he might break the whole foot... Difficult situation... Anyway, Wednesday morning was spent reading scriptures. I read the whole of Mosiah, I LOVE that book!!! And began Alma. I wrote a bunch of letters... Look out Hmo. Maxwell, Aub. Smith, Kimbo!!! And I thought a TON of thoughts. I have thought SO MUCH this week!!! Holy cow. Anyway, at 5pm that night, I finally got him out of bed to come with me to teach Nicol before his baptismal interview. We taught him everything else that he was having worries about, and then we took a taxi to the church for the interview. He passed with flying colors!!! WOOOOH!!

Thursday was spent inviting members and investigators to the baptism. After spending the whole morning handing out invitations, we went to Nicol´s house one more time before leaving for Bariloche... Paradise. :) In Bariloche, we had our Zone Conference. I love going to Bariloche, because we get to see other Elders from the Zone... And guess who I saw there??? E. ALLSOP!!!!! I saw him coming up the stairs, and we just started screaming, ran towards each other and crashed into each other, hugging and laughing!! It was SOOOO good to see someone else from home!!! That was something I really needed from the week before... Oh man, you guys have NO IDEA how good it felt to talk to him... He´s doing so good, we were pretty much inseparable that whole day during the conference, taking every spare minute to talk about how we´re doing, things about home, and just enjoy some time as ´´Mapletonites´´.... Haha, something like that!! At the Zone Conference, we learned so much, on how we need to testify about the Atonement more, and use it more in our lessons, and tie EVERYTHING into the power and mercy of the atonement. I have learned so much in my studies this week about the Atonement... I have found a bunch of scriptures that are incredible also. If I could make a recomondation... study the atonement... It will amaze you. MOM: I NEED A TALK ENTITLED: THE ATONEMENT BY CLEOU SKOUSEN (I think that´s how you spell it) If you can email it to me so I can print it off, it´s an incredible talk. I don´t think you can find it on the church website... It´s too doctriney for that, haha! Anyways, I had an incredible time in Bariloche with E. Allsop, and E. Wible, my MTC comp. Friday was all in Bariloche also. 

Saturday, we spent the morniing inviting people to the BAPTISM we had that night. We went to lunch, and after that began preparing for the baptism. We went and picked up Nicol and his family for the baptism... Lidia in a BUNCH of pain with her cast... But she came anyway, I was so happy and proud of her for coming to support her son! At the baptism, Nicol got some last minute nerves, and didn´t want to do it!!! He almost started crying for the fear of being in front of everybody. I pulled him aside, took a knee, and began relating to him the story of MY baptism with my Dad. And how happy and proud I was that day to have my Dad baptize me, and how even though I was shy and nervous, everything turned out to be ok!! In the end, he came... Thank the heavens!!! Hahaha! I had to give a surprise talk on the Holy Ghost for the service, and then E. Rojas baptized him. It was such a good service. I love helping people in their lives... It´s incredible. 

The next morning, we went to pick up Nicol... He was waiting for us, all ready and everything!! We took him to his Primary class and he found Ruben, the kid we baptized two weeks before, and they have become quick friends... :) I confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave him the Holy Ghost during Sacrament meeting, it was so great!!! Wow... After church, we decided to go to Diego, who we hadn´t been able to find for about a week. We found him in his house, and we began to talk... Finding out that he had been drinking and smoking almost non stop for about a week. The good thing was... He regretted it so much and was so disappointed in himself. I felt like Alma, who when seeing the poor people who couldn´t worship in their synagogues be humbled to the dust in Alma 31, was SO happy, because it was in that moment that they were ready and willing to hear the wonderful messasge of the Gospel and of Repentance. We had a 2 hour conversation with him, talking to him about the miracle and power of forgiveness, and how a baptism is the only thing that is really going to fix his problems... I offered him a blessing, and he accepted. I blessed him that he would be able to stop smoking and drinking, and that he would be able to remember and be healthy in the head, so as to remember his baptismal date and do everything in his power to make it to the 27th of August. This one WILL happen!!! I will be fasting on the Sunday before, so if anyone wants to fast with me the Sunday before the 27th so as to make sure that he can make his baptism, I would greatly appreciate it!!! After the lesson with him, E. Rojas began talking to me from the heart... He was tired of the mission. Because really, the mission is DIFFICULT. We talked for the first time like real companions... It was a turning point, I think. We walked around the beautiful city of Esquel, talking and helping each other be strengthened. After, we went to another Inv. who´s named Transito who will be baptized as soon as he gets married. We have so many blessings... Really. I felt the Spirit so strongly with Diego, and I will NOT let his baptismal date fall... No. Not this time. 

Today... Was VERY Fun! We got up early in the morning and took a bus out into the middle of nowhere as a District. We got off and began the 3 mile trek to some waterfalls in the mountains for Pday. It was a very fun experience. I don´t have my cable to transfer pictures to the computer, so you´re going to have to wait until next week to see the awesome pictures of the baptism and waterfalls, but that´s ok! Haha! I want you all to know that I´m alright, and I look forward to reading all the letters of comfort and love... I can´t tell you how much I appreciate all of you and what you do. Kolt, THANK YOU!!! Hma. Riding... THANK YOU!!! Everyone else... Thank you so much. You mean everything to me. I love you all, and can´t wait to tell you about all the miracles and blessings next week. Pray for me, I love you all. 

E. Cuthbert 

August 8, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL DAD AND SISTER!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAD AND MELYN.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!! 

I have to tell you... right now, all I want is a hug. My heart and soul are so weighed down from the past week, the trials, the sufferings, the fights, everything... Sometimes I wonder to myself... How did other missionaries do it? Kolt... How did you survive your mission? Kass? Chris Shurian? Jordan Henderson? HOW?? This is so HARD. I am doing ALL I can, and sometimes I feel like none of what I do is bringing to pass anything. I came to Neuquén with the goal to become the best missionary that my mission president has... How..... ? I honestly don´t understand how people complete a mission. It is by far the most difficult thing I have ever done. I´m not even 6 months into this thing, and I´m already so exhausted, spiritually drain... I don´t know. If there´s anyone reading this email that knows what I´m going through, and would like to give me advice, I´m ALL ears. How do you do this???

Anyways, for Pday last week we climbed the mountain next to Esquel. It´s called ¨The Cruz´´ because of the big cross on top! ha, it was fun. Inés and Reuban, my first converts... Are like ROCKS!!! They´re reading the scriptures every day, they pray every day. They come to church every week, they´re so happy and content! It´s amazing the change in their lives... I could come home from my mission, knowing that I´ve helped someone.. But I want to help more. I want to help SO MUCH MORE... They´re doing great, and I´m so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all that they did, and for helping E. Rojas and myself change their lives through Christ. You might think we´re crazy, but we´re going for the Standard again. Such a difficult thing to accomplish, but I feel like I need to. We have the baptism of Nicol, the son of Lidia on Saturday. He´s such a little 11 yr. old stud!! we´ve had a very interesting time with their family this week. If Omi was a little frustrated with me getting involved with the police the week before, she´s not going to be very happy about me going and asking a lawyer to help us divorce Lidia with her first husband!!! HAHA!! You have to do what you have to do. For Patricio, the companion of Lidia to be baptized, he needs to marry Lidia. Lidia can´t because she´s married to another guy who she is never around. We went to the lawyers to see what we would need to do to help them out. At this time, we don´t know what´s going to happen, because Patricio doesn´t want to get married. I feel that through us teaching the lessons to Nicol, and baptizing him, he will see the importance, and change his mind. 

We had a family home evening with them on Friday. I made brownies, and E. Rojas made this weird flan thing... It turned out alright, haha! The brownies were delicious, and even Lidia, who isn´t much of a chocolate fan liked them! We played a bunch of games with the family, Lidia shared a spiritual thought, it was a very good night with them. They are a family very close to my heart. I want to help them in any way I can with any thing that I can. 

The Venegas family... an inactive family for a long time... We had the most interesting conversation with them the other day. They spoke of the people in the church as hypocrites, how there is no love, no service, no... Ah. It disturbed me greatly. I need to help this branch... I need to do my job as a Disciple of Christ and do all that I can to fix Esquel! We talked with them about it, and they decided finally to come to church. They didn´t. :/ 

I had a fight with E. Rojas last night. I hate it. I HATE it!!!!!!!! Why can´t we always just be good friends? We come from such different backgrounds, I just don´t know. Kolt, I need you to help me out. Kass, you too. Chris Shurian, please... Help your second, first, twice removed cousin, or whatever it is that we are family wise! I´m so sorry I keep asking for you guys to write me, but it is only because I need your help. Really. I need advice as to how I can more fully fill my responsibility I have as a missionary. 

It doesn´t help that Germán, the only source of support and help in the branch that I have, left for Chaco. Up in the top part of Argentina, he left because his grandma is about to die. I had a very hard time accepting that he was leaving, because he has helped me out, SO MUCH. It´s like saying goodbye to brothers, everywhere. I hate it. 

I apologize for this really short letter. I really don´t know what else to say. I just want to be a good servant of my Father in Heaven. That´s all I want. I don´t want to let you guys down... That is my biggest fear. You all, and my Father in Heaven, obviously. Pray for me, send me letters, help me. I´m trying to grow up, sometimes I feel like I´m not doing anything. Maybe I´m being a big baby. Maybe missionary work is easy, I don´t know, I´ve never done it. I don´t know if Kolt, Kass, Jordan, Chris... I don´t know if you guys ever felt like I feel now. Help me know what to do. I love you all. Until next week... 

Don´t worry, the end of the world hasn´t come, I just feel very alone right now. Pray for me to know what to do. Thank you for the support that you all give to me, I cannot thank you enough. 

With all the love in my heart to the people I miss most of all... 

E. Cuthbert 

August 1, 2011

Oh. My. Gosh. What. A. Week. If I could even BEGIN to explain the ups and downs of this week... I would. Ha! I will try my best to relay everything... 

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 

July 25, 2011

(A lovely, delicious long letter!  Yay!)


OH MANN!!! WHAT A WEEK!!!! WHOOOO!!!

This week has probably been the biggest emotional roller coaster ride... EVER. I can´t even begin to describe to you the ups and downs of it all... But I´m going to try... Here it goes:

The rest of Monday was... terrible. Ha, when it was time to work, E. Rojas SHUT DOWN. He began walking very slowly, and didn´t say a word the entire night. We went by Chino, a member to see if he could accompany us the next day to an appt. we had the next day, after that we walked to every single investigator we knew... And every appt we had fell through!! We didn´t teach ANYBODY on Monday, it was terrible. That night E. Rojas and I did our own thing, silently and went to bed.

Tuesday was supposed to be District Meeting, but E. Rojas was ¨sick¨.... So the Trevelin Elders and the Hermanas just sat in our pench, and we took pictures and wrote in journals. Mom... You´re going to have a surprise here pretty soon. There´s one for you, dad, Jared, Dani, Chris, Aubrey, and Kim.... HEHEHEHE!!! So, Tuesday was spent in the pension... ALL day. I did a lot of reading, writing letters, praying, making homemade brownies, stuff like that. I hated it. I hate not working. End of story. 

Wednesday morning was interesting. In the morning, my attitude from the day before carried over and I was very down and gloomy. E. Rojas, after sleeping in for quite awhile, said he would try working. I took the advantage, jumped up, and off we went! I was feeling very sad and depressed, up until we reached our first appt. of the day... Diego! Do you guys remember Diego? He was my bread and butter in the beginning of the mission... He was my first lesson I ever taught, and he was also the first person to reject E. Slaugh and me and say, ´´I never want you guys in my house again´´. But, if I haven´t told you, we went by him again one day... Something told me to go to his house, even though he had said that to us. And we ended up putting another baptismal date... but a little bit shaky. We went by his house on Wednesday and had an incredible lesson on his desires to stop smoking and better his life. It was a lot of getting him excited to do what is right, and complimenting him on his efforts so far. Incredible lesson. At the end, he said: ´´I´m going to read the Book of Mormon... ¨´. WOOH!!! That made me SO happy. In that moment, all the depressed feelings from the day before vanished, I was happy. After that, we went to Patricio and Lidia. Lidia is a lady we found about 4 weeks ago that is 3 years inactive. No body knew she even existed! But we found her, and we began teaching her bfriend, Patricio. He is a member of a rock band down here in the Patagonia, drinks and smokes a lot... But... Idk, I love the guy. He´s such a stud, and he´s reading the BoM... SLOWLY, Haha! He doesn´t understand a lot, but he´s trying. Lidia was married in the church to another guy, but they separated themselves, without divorcing. She called us looking for help as to what she should do in this situation. She wants to marry Patricio, but she doesn´t have the money to divorce, and she doesn´t know if Patricio wants to be a member of the church. We´ll change that! ;) De Diez this family! That night, I decided to REALLY suck up all my pride, and be a companion with E. Rojas. At the end of the transfer. After SIX grueling weeks of torture. Hahaha, my pride does terrible things to me. But I did it. :) 

Thursday we met a girl named Ailin. We had the first lesson with her, and the Spìrit was so strong, I asked her right then to be baptized for the 6th of August. She said, YES! She said she hasn´t felt like this in a long time. Never had anyone tried to talk to her about God, or about how families can be happy forever... It was an amazing experience. We need to pass by her almost every day to help her get ready. We´ve got our next appt. tomorrow. That night was soccer at the church. The Elders quorumn always plays on Thursday nights, and we got permission to play with them from our D.L.... They KILLED us. Argentines are INCREDIBLE. We picked up Diego before, and also Nicol, the son of Lidia. They played on our team, Diego is pretty good, but these other Argentines that play every week... Destroyed us. When we had to walk Nicol and Diego home, Nicol (He´s 11 yrs. old) Asked me to jump and touch every roof, or any high thing possible. Every time I did, he couldn´t believe it! It was such a fun night. Friday was a day of... Miracles. In the morning we had District Meeting and had a testimony meeting, because some of our District was leaving for other places. The spirit was so strong... E. Barton, who has quickly become my favorite person in the entire mission... He gave the testimony of how his dad has began his own church, and has broken the heart of E.B. He told us why he was here. I bore my testimony about many things... And at the end, everyone was crying, after all the testimonies. We vowed to do our very best to work as hard as possible. We had a very successful day, we put two more baptismal dates, found a bunch of investigators, reactivated an inactive family, and... DIEGO SAID, I¨M GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!!! 

The real miracle of Friday... We have 5 people we´re going to baptize on Saturday, the 30th. Diego, YES!!!!! Rita, (bfriend is Juan) Inés (best friend of Rita) Ruben (10yr. old son of Inés) and Roberto. The cousin of one of the members. 5 people in one week!! Do you notice how all the blessings and happy lessons came AFTER I decided to shape up and become a good companion with E. Rojas??? What-do-ya-know??? This is the biggest miracle... I can´t even tell you. That night, after everything... I find a sign on the side of a business that´s called: ´´Milagros´´´. This means Miracles in English. I took a picture underneath it, and you can tell how happy I am. Wow... The mission. The inactive family that we had a family home evening with, Familia Carmona... We went there and had a very good spiritual thought about eternal families, and played a game that E. Rojas had. I made the family homemade brownies... The most heavenly, incredible form of deliciousness that is known in this world. I put chocolate chunks in the batter, I put chocolate frosting on top of it, and whipped cream on top of that. The inside was so rich and moist and dense and... Ok, I´m going to stop bragging about my Brownie-making skills... Hahaha!! ;) My pictures aren´t uploading, and I have a ton to show you guys.... This is frustrating, Ha! I´ll have to show you the Milagros picture next week, the family home evening with the... Brownies... and also, a picture of me with a bunch of wild parrots!!! I have my tooth brush in my mouth, because I was brushing my teeth while looking out the window, saw them and screamed at E. Rojas, spitting toothpaste eVERYWHERE!!! I got the camera, and got a picture with them!!! Hahaha! 

Saturday was a very stressful day. That night I was to find out if I was to be staying in Esquel for another transfer or not. After all our hard work, and finally having a fun, successfull time with E. Rojas... After finding out that I was about to help 5 people enter the waters of baptism the next week, I said... I can´t go. Because if I go, I cannot see these baptisms. I prayed so hard that day... that night... I was told that I¨M STAYING!!! I was so... shell-shocked, actually! Haha! I´m so happy... I can´t even tell you guys. 

Sunday was incredible. We went and picked up Diego in the morning for church, (HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!) And he loved it. IMAGINE THAT!!! During Sacrament meeting, two of the members got up and gave talks on temples. Diego wasn´t understanding a thing. I was freaking out. Germán, that stud... He got up to give his talk as the last person with a talk. The first words out of his mouth were...: ´´Diego, I can tell you don´t understand everything... So I´m going to explain it.´´ He then used all the time in his talk to explain to Diego personally, very simply, what is a temple and things like that. He gave his testimony, relating to his own life... I owe so much to Germán... He has helped us so much. Diego loved church... Ah, wow. 

I don´t have much time left, but I have one more story. Omar, a guy we´ve been teaching for the last week. We hadn´t found him for about a week before, and we finally found him on Saturday night... We were there with Juan Manz, a member who served his mission in Rosario Argentina... KOLT?? Are you LISTENING TO THIS?? DO YOU KNOW AN ELDER MANZ??!! He served 5 years ago.. Don´t know if the time is right. But anyway, we asked Omar how he was doing... And this was his answer: ´´Seriously? .... I´m just hungry...´´ I could not believe it. In that moment, I wanted to give him all the money in my wallet, go to the store, buy him every thing in sight and give him everything in my fridge. Juan Manz, being the stud that he is, ran out to his car and came back with a bag of bread and Mayonnaise. He gave it all to Omar... And we put a baptismal date for the 13 of August with him. I was so humbled that night... He had walked all day the day before, looking for work. His search lead into the night, and he didn´t arrive at home until early the next morning... He hadn´t eaten anything for 2 days. HOW CAN WE LIVE LIKE WE DO KNOWING THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE OMAR WHO WALK AROUND ALL NIGHT LONG, LOOKING FOR A JOB JUST SO HE CAN FLIPPING EAT???' I could not.... cannot... I am so humbled right now... I can´t even tell you. 

The church is true, and it blesses lives. I am so happy right now. This week, E. Rojas and I are going to break the standard of excellence. It´s the ´´bar´´ for outstanding missionaries. I´m working my hardest to get these 5 baptisms on Saturday. If all of you at home could pray for my investigators, every one of them, with all the faith that you have... I know they will enter the waters of baptism. They all have very tough situations, but this will help them. 

I love you all, E. Cuthbert is doing fine and loving live here in Esquel. I love this work, and it is work!!! En mis oraciónes... E. Cuthbert