Saturday, April 13, 2013
January 14, 2013
On the Argentine news I hear that there is a horrible, freezing storm that is debilitating the western United States. Based on how they usually report happenings in the US, its probably kind of cold in a few places. I'm not jealous. I would take overwhelming heat and humidity over freezing cold any day. I'm not excited to be cold again. For everything else, yes, I am excited.
Things this week were severely normal. That does not mean that they were bad, (in fact this week was great) just that they were pretty normal. Once a month, Elder Reynolds, President Stapely, the Stake President, and I have a meeting. We usually sit and watch the two Presidents talk, but it's good nonetheless. This month, the meeting finished a little early and the President asked us if we had any investigators that we would like to visit with him. We decided to take him to The Sanchez Family. The Sanchez family is a part member and inactive family. We are teaching and planning the baptism of two of the kids in the family, Celste, and Jonny. The Mom of the family, Laura is not a member, and is friendly and cordial, but doesn't really want to hear anything. When President got to the house, the whole family was super honored and a little nervous to have the Mission President in their house. But Stapes is awesome and calmed them down with friendly, easy conversation. Then he focused totally on Laura. We have been trying to figure out what Laura's doubt is for some time. After about 8 minutes of sincere chatting in between her and President, she spitted the doubt out. I was blown away. I guess President holds a little more weight than I do. Being an old missionary, sometimes it is easy to make the mistake in thinking that you have finished progressing as a missionary. Thanks to President Stapely, I know I have lots of room to grow, even in the last four weeks. and the rest of my life....
The baptism of Celeste and Jonny will be this Saturday. They are super great and fun to teach. Should be good. I will try to send pictures next weeks.
Elder Reynolds and I are holding on and trying not to get trunky. I am searching for a good quantity of quality experiences in my last few weeks.
All is well. Life is good.
January 7, 2013
It's getting harder every week to read these emails and stay focused. It's great. When I first started my mission I carefully looked through all of my ties and choose a different one everyday, depending in how I was feeling that day. Some days I wore one tie for the first half of the day and another for the second half. It was a big deal. Now, I usually wear the same time for a week or more and when it comes time to change because someone comments on the fact that I have been wearing the same tie so many day in a row, I grab one randomly off the tie rack. I am looking pretty good with dirty ties, yellow shorts, holy pants, and moldy shoes. I guess its all part of the experience though. I welcome it.
Today was a special day. I forgot to tell you all last week, but today, all of the missionaries from the BAS mission went to the temple. It was the first time I had been to the temple in about 22 months. The missionaries can only go to the temple one time a year or if one of their converts is going to the temple to do their own work. The reasoning for the rule is that missionaries are here to do the work for the living, not the dead. I guess that's right. It looks like a family that I taught and baptized in Longchamps, the Acuña family, will be going to the temple before I go home with them. Also, all of the missionaries get to go to the temple the week before they get home, so I will be going yet another time before I come home. I might soon be translated. Naw, it will be real good. Walking away from the temple today I felt real good and ready for the next few weeks.
Everything is going pretty normally. Elder Reynolds and I are teaching a part member family right now named Familia Sanchez. They are all super well-behaved kids (hard to find in Argentina) and love when we come over. Two of them have baptismal dates for the 19th of this month. Should be b-e-a-utiful.
Remember how strange people always sneak into the church if the doors are left open? Welllll.......the other day Elder Reynolds and I were teaching English classes in the church with a few youth and the Hermana missionaries from the bordering ward. Elder Reynolds was teaching when I noticed a guy walk by the door with a big plastic bag. I recognized him right away as these cheesy, and usually drunk or high salesman who walk door to door and sell super random things from plastic bags. I went out of the classroom to talk to him and usher him out of the church, as is custom. I asked him if he needed any help. He right away started pulling electrical cords, highlighters, cd booklets, paperclips, and a punch of random stuff out of the bag to sell me. It was obvious right away that we was pretty drunk and I told him I didn't want anything. It was at that point that he pulled out a knife, pointed it at me, and asked me if I wanted to buy the knife. I think he was showing me the knife half as a solicitude and half as a threat. I said, "Sure! How much is that highlighter, I was just needing a highlighter." I gave him ten pesos and he left. Lesson: Always lock church doors.
All is well. Life is good.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
December 31, 2012
My Christmas was fantastic. After talking on skype with a few of you, Elder Reynolds and I went to Juanitas house to celebrate. There we had some good food and laughed for a long time with Juanita and her equally old roommate, Regina. They are my favorite old ladies. They always tell lots of old people jokes that wouldn't make me laugh unless the jokes had come from Regina and Juanita. And I laugh soo hard when I am with them; to tears. They gave Elder Reynolds and I shaving cream (for sensitive skin, I don't know how they knew I have sensitive skin) and after shave. I have never used after shave in my life, so we will see how it goes. After shave just makes me think of Home Alone when little Macaulay Culkin slaps some burning after shave on his face and screams. I am hoping that my first time after shave experience is a little better. But, the point is that Juanita and Regina are great, and they helped make my Christmas perfect. Hopefully I helped them have a brighter Christmas too.
This week was pretty funny and different. I don't know why I always end up talking about the shower in these emails, but it always just seems to pop up. Our shower is the best I have had thus far in my mission, but the water heater has the sneaky habit of turning off if there is even a little bit of wind outside. I jumped into the shower on Friday morning without really testing the temperature of the water beforehand. The water was so freezing, but I am kind of a pro in taking cold showers lately, so I didn't turn it off. I just shouted to Elder Reynolds and asked him if he could light up the water heater again. I didn't hear an answer, so i just assumed that he had been busy with something and couldn't light the heater again. I just finished my cold shower. When I walked out of the shower, I just saw that Elder Reynolds was laid out on the bed and his face was all pink with hints of black. Apparently Elder Reynolds had gone out to light the water heater, stuck in a match to light the pilot light, and light a pocket of gas or something that caused an explosion to come out of the hole and burn his face. He was in kind of a lot of pain in his eyes, so we called the mission doctor. The mission doctor told us that he probably had a flash burn on his cornea and that we just had to buy some special eye drops and stay on bed rest. In the end, Elder Reynolds was totally fine, but we were obedient to the doctor and stayed in the apartment for the rest of the day. So, I spent another day counting bricks and drawing dragons. Sweet. Elder Reynolds is fine now. It seems like we have weird accidents every week.
In between leadership meetings, burned corneas, and holidays, we did not have as much time as we would have liked. But I did have a lot of time to think. As I was thinking, I realized that most of my thoughts were directed towards home, friends, family, school, girls, future jobs, pretty much everything that is happening outside of my missionary life. That realization made me kind of sad. My mind was more in the United States than it was in Argentina where it needed it be (with my body). I opened up a book Mom and Dad sent me with a bunch of good quotes in it. After a little bit of flipping through, I found a quote that was perfect for my situation and motivated me a lot. It was something along the lines of this, *ahem* "Every dog, when you put it behind a fence, will cry and bark and squeal to be let out. And most dogs, upon being let out or digging out of the fence will simply lay down next to the fence that had previously enclosed them. The dog was focused on getting out of the fence, but hadn't thought about what it would do once it got out." I don't share this quote to say that dogs are stupid or anything, I share it because I think we humans are exactly the same. Too many times we think, "I will be fine once I finish school", or "I will be happy once I am out of this relationship", or "Everything will be fine once I get this job". Or in my case, "Everything will be sweet once I am done with my mission, area, companion, etc." When we resort to such thinking we are making our happiness conditional and robbing ourselves from the joy that could be garnished from the moment we are in presently. If we make such thinking a habit, we will find that we have run through so many good experiences without learning the lessons or reaping the happiness. It's so very hard and so very important that we learn to be present. I feel like the happiest people, the people that everyone wants to be around, the successful people are the ones who have learned to never leave the moment, but to take it for all it is worth. There is a word in Spanish that doesn't really exist in English. it is aprovechar, or pretty much take advantage of something and use it for all it is worth. I want to do that. I want to aprovechar every moment I have left in the mission, and in broader scope, my life. I don't want to look back and see a path of missed opportunities. I promise to do my best to aprochevar the next six weeks. I invite everyone else who reads this email to do the same. Aprovechar every moment. Be Present.
All is well. Life is good.
December 24, 2012
I am running late and I have to get inside pretty soon. On Christmas eve, pretty much everyone just gets really drunk and shoots fireworks everywhere, so the streets are pretty dangerous and we have to get back to the apartment pretty early. But, I will share the few highlights of my week.
1. Confirmation of Macarena-Real good. She was shining.
2. We were helping a lady paint the inside of her house on Wednesday. First we had to clean the walls that were covered in mold. As I was cleaning the mold, it kind of turned into a dust and I breathed a lot of it in. I started to have a really intense allergic reaction and my throat closed up almost all the way and I couldn't really breathe or talk at all. Luckily Reynolds was at my side and calmed me down. We were about to go to the hospital, but we got a hold of some liquid benadryl and that fixed me up pretty well. I'm totally fine now, it was just a funny moment.
3. The Christmas party for the mission was today in the mission home. It was super good and chill. It is the hottest day this year today and everyone was sweating and dying. Pres. Stapelys face was so so red and everyone was making fun of him. I love the mission and have made a lot of good friends here.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
December 17, 2012
This week was really really good. I was working in a lot of different areas on exchanges this week, and it was really refreshing. Being on exchanges kind of makes you feel like a new missionary again because you don't know anyone, know where anyone is, etc. That feeling new again was exactly what I needed. Sometimes, it's kind of easy to fall into the routine. When one falls into the routine, all of ones relationships become emotionless and kind of empty. I believe that was happening with me in Tolosa. It was good to take a few deep breaths and get my perspective back.
We had a baptism this week. Remember the family of daughters who were kidnapped? We have been teaching one of the daughters of that family named Macarena. (It's a name here, not a dance.) We were walking past thier house the other day and saw a girl crying outside. We went to talk with her. She told us her name was Macarena and that she was 16. We had seen her a couple of times, but never really talked that much. She started telling us that her family was always doing bad stuff and she was sick of it. She said, "I want a new start." boom. In her house, almost every night, there are huge, nasty cocaine parties. Even the kids who are 7 and 12 years old are constantly walking around drunk. It's just a bad atmosphere. But, Macarena couldn't take it anymore and asked for our help. We have been teaching her in the house of a near by neighbor ever since. It has been amazing. Macarena has eaten up every word, lesson, scripture, testimony that we have given her. She read the Book of Mormon twice already. I have never seen such fierce hunger for the gospel in a person. After a few weeks of amazing lessons and days at church, she has a new shine and even looks different. So good.
The baptism was planned for this Sunday. The font takes about 4 hours to fill up, so we got to church a little early. We started filling up the font, but after about 2 minutes of filling up, the water stopped. I couldn't believe it and almost lost it. All I could think was, "When there is water, the people don't come and when the people come, the water doesn't." I was so angry and wimpy about the whole situation. Luckily, Reynolds is still rock solid and has way more faith than me. He just told me not to worry and that we would fill the font with buckets. I didn't think it would work, but followed Reynold's lead anyways. For the next three hours of church, we missed all the meetings and slowly tried to fill up the font carrying buckets from an outside spicket to the font. Eventually, we got about one foot of water in the font. Yet again, I decided it wouldn't work, but Reynolds, yet again, said it would be fine. Reynolds did the baptism and Macarena pretty much had to lie down flat in the font, but she was baptized on the second try. It was a special baptism. Macarena was beaming with new light. In the end she received her new start that she was looking for.
Do good things. All is well. Life is good.
December 10, 2012
Right now there is a huge wind and rain storm outside. There is tons of chapa (I don't know what you call it in English. Google it up y'all.) flying around in the streets and cutting peoples heads off. Only slightly kidding. The storms here are never really that bad, but the people are so dramatic. It's super funny. One drop falls and everybody runs as fast as they can and don't leave thier houses for the next week, not for church, not for anything.
Meanwhile, Elder Reynolds and I walk around soaked and loving the cool weather. I know the thermometer doesn't show it, but it has been so so hot lately. The thing is that even if it is 75% outside, it's totally uncomfortable because of the constant 98% of humidity. Lots of sweat. None of my shirts are really white anymore, more like a greying cream tone with a tint of green (of mold). I think I will be leaving pretty much all of my clothing here when I go home, just the clothes on my back will be making the journey. And Mom, there is no way I am leaving my sleeping bag here. I love 7 day a week sleeping bags. I have found a better way. You don't even need sheets!
Remember the family who didn't come to thier baptism? We went to thier house a few times this week, but it was all in vain. I don't know what happened with them, but it seemed like all of the good desires that we helped them to develop have dried up. We told them that we would be back in 2 or three weeks. Hopefully that will refresh thier minds and spirits. Bummer, but what are you gonna do?
As a result of dropping the Alvarez familia, we have lots of time to look for new investigators. Finding in Tolosa is a totally different experience that I have not had in my mission. Almost all of Tolosa is pretty wealthy, so doing contacts is not affective at all. In other more humble areas, 1 out of every 4 people will let you in. So Elder Reynolds and I are doing our best to work through the members as much as we can. I am starting to feel like less of a missionary and more of a personal mission work coach. We have been visiting a lot of members and helping them feel brave and calm about inviting thier friends to visit with us. We are having mild success, but surely it will pick up later on.
This week we had a little bit of a scary and in the end funny experience. Last Monday, we got a call from one of the pairs of sister missionaries in our zone at about 11:30 at night. I answered the phone and the Hermana just started screaming in the zone that something bad had happened with her companion and that we needed to go to thier apartment as fast as we could. At that point in the conversation, the phone cut out. My comp and I dressed as fast as we could, a little scared ourselves from the phone call. We called a remis(kind of like a taxi) that took us on the 40 minutes trip to the Hermanas apartment. While in the remis I called President and told him what had happened and he told us to move as fast as he could. We also got a hold of the Hermanas again, who were still freaking out and were not able to communicate to us what exactly was happening for thier hysterics. I stayed on the phone with them trying, without success to calm them down. We eventually got to thier apartment and realized that the power was out in the zone around thier apartment. The Hermanas were waiting outside, in there pajamas with a flashlight and crying. Apparently they had just talked to a schizophrenic investigator who said a lot of mumbo jumbo that the Hermanas interpreted as a voodoo spell. They left his house, went home, and got ready for bed. They were both still really scared and decided to sing hymns to calm themselves down. Right as they started to sing hymns, the power went out, and they freaked out and called us. We gave them blessings and blessed the apartment. They felt better, and thanked us, and we made the long trip home. It was just funny because they were freaking out and scared each other more than anything. Now that I write out this story, it sounds less funny and more scary, but it was funny. I promise.
Other than that, things are going well. My biggest worry right now is if my last pair of shoes is going to make it for the past two months. Other than that, I'm good. All is well. Life is good.
December 3, 2012
This week was good, but kind of rough. We have not had any luck in finding a new place to live, but that doesn't concern me that much. This week we had the baptisms of Brian and Brenda lined up for Saturday. We spent most of the week preparing things for the baptism. (ie. Baptismal Interview, organizing the bap service, calling and inviting members to the service, getting the clothes ready, getting the kids ready, filling out the paperwork and so on.) Saturday rolled around and we spent all day filling up the font. The plumbing is kind of ancient in the church, and it takes about 7 hours to fill up the font. We had arranged that the kids come to the church at three thirty to come and get ready for the service at four. The kids didn't come at three thirty. The members started coming at four and the Hermanas prepared a lot of refreshments. We called the kids about 500 times and no one answered. Finally, I called the Mom of the kids who is not a member and she answered and just started shouting telling me that the kids had been fighting, so she wouldn't take them to the baptism. I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. I hung up the phone and was totally sad and embarrassed. I went in to tell the members that there wasn't going to be a baptism and apologize. I did, and they were all kind of bothered, but they were nice about it. My face must have showed that I was really discouraged because the bishop cane up to me and hugged me for about 17 minutes. He's great. It was frustrating but oh well. I talked to the kids and they still want to be baptized. I just how to figure out things with the Mom. Luckily I have rock solid Reynolds at my side. He;s the best.
But, things are good. Like I said in the last email, I almost always am totally okay with whatever is going on, and the failed bap didn't change that. Today we had a zone activity and just had a big water balloon fight. I forgot to bring extra underwear and am now sitting in wet wet underwear under my shirt and tie. Que va a hacer. It was totally fun. All is well. Life is good.
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