Argentina Cordoba Mission
June 2007 - 2009
Hey everyone!
Well, well.
An old bones like me in the spotlight again heh.
Christmas here is pretty different in that its just the fourth of july with pressents. No trees, no Christmas lights, just a whole lot of explosions! Whats cool about down here is that they dont have firework restrictions, so you can go buy those professional sized ones like in the states for nothing. New years was even cooler. We live in a tower in some apartments so at midnight, we went up to the roof and we could see the entire city of cordoba. When it struck 12 the entire city went into a brilliant flash of fireworks and booms. It was waaay cool! We almost got hit a few time by incoming rockets or flares from large fireworks, it was intense! So now we are in 2009 and I can't really grasp that fact yet; its crazy! The work is going at a strong pace here and everyone is really excited for the temple anouncement. I got a ton of good stuff for christmas, including 6 Mug Rootbeers!!! I know for all ya states kids thats like "pfft" but those are worth more than gold or small children here!!! Totally reminded me of times at Max's house snatchin' a mug from the fridge o' plenty. Oh man, good times. Just so ya know Max, when you get back you will probably just find me in your basement already with like 20 cans of that stuff playin' on your comp. teehee. Well I hope you all enjoyed your New years and Christmas!! Until next month!
Christmas here is pretty different in that its just the fourth of july with pressents. No trees, no Christmas lights, just a whole lot of explosions! Whats cool about down here is that they dont have firework restrictions, so you can go buy those professional sized ones like in the states for nothing. New years was even cooler. We live in a tower in some apartments so at midnight, we went up to the roof and we could see the entire city of cordoba. When it struck 12 the entire city went into a brilliant flash of fireworks and booms. It was waaay cool! We almost got hit a few time by incoming rockets or flares from large fireworks, it was intense! So now we are in 2009 and I can't really grasp that fact yet; its crazy! The work is going at a strong pace here and everyone is really excited for the temple anouncement. I got a ton of good stuff for christmas, including 6 Mug Rootbeers!!! I know for all ya states kids thats like "pfft" but those are worth more than gold or small children here!!! Totally reminded me of times at Max's house snatchin' a mug from the fridge o' plenty. Oh man, good times. Just so ya know Max, when you get back you will probably just find me in your basement already with like 20 cans of that stuff playin' on your comp. teehee. Well I hope you all enjoyed your New years and Christmas!! Until next month!
ttyl bff Elder Kleinman
Elder Max Crandall
Hey Hey Hey Gentlemen, What’s goin’ on? Seems like forever since I last wrote. Changes abound. I had one transfer of no worries. It was kind of like a mini vacation. I didn’t have to worry about Spanish, work in other areas, other missionaries, numbers, responsibility in general or basically anything except where I stood with the Lord. It was great to have minimal responsibility and to be able to sleep well at night knowing everything was fine. My focus was just good ‘ol missionary work in my native tongue. Blink my eyes and I’m back speaking Spanish, senior comp to a greenie, and DL. Well, it keeps me humble and I learn more when I have more responsibility. Pres. sent me back to Monroe. I served here a while back so serious Déjà vu. Same apartment, same city, different companion. My new companion’s name is Elder Prudent – as in “wise and…” He’s from Idaho Falls, ID. He’s a country boy for sure. We all got to go to the temple on December 11th. We went for our Christmas conference. For last year’s Christmas conference, each zone gave another zone a gift and the zone leaders opened it in front of everyone. Our zone got Putt Putt Poop; an indoor putting green for the john. Classic. For the rest of my stay in Mt. Vernon I tried to poop at the ZL’s every time I could. This year we couldn’t meet together as a full mission like we did last year. Apparently that’s banned now. Pres. Showalter begged our area authority to let us all be together just for a mission picture but nothin’ doin’. Things are good work-wise. We are working with a lot of Hispanic families – mostly flakey investigators but that’s Spanish work for ‘ya. Needless to say, there is never a lack of entertainment. We have been teaching a couple named Sergio and Blanca. They had a baby a couple of months ago. Sergio really wants to get baptized. Only problem is he is married to a different gal down in Mexico! Sheeesh. We’re trying to work that out and after Sergio gets divorced and remarried to Blanca, things will be great and they’ll both get baptized. Wacky. The weather has been ridikalus. It rains a lot here but we were snowed in for P-day. That’s crazy for Washington. When it snows we are not allowed to drive so we’re trapped. The Monroe 2 elders came over so we were all trapped together. We realized how bored we were so we worked up enough courage to venture forth into the extremely wet, icy, wet, did I say wet, snow. It was insane. We didn’t have boots or gloves or any Stoker-like snow paraphernalia. We carried the groceries home and the gallon of milk froze to my hand. Muy loco. It was great to hear the family’s voices on Christmas. I hope you all had a great phone call too. It was the best gift ever. I know this gospel is true and it is the only way to be truly happy in this life and the next. I love tellin’ people that. Keep up the good fight. --Elder Crandall
Elder Garrett Jones
Hello everybody! Happy New Years! Its so crazy to me that we're actually already here in 2009. That number still seems very large and far away to me for some reason but I guess I just need to settle down and take it. Things are going great for me here in NY. The weather is getting cold especially since I've been transfered to work once again in the Bronx and no longer have a car to heat up in. I'm sure you Elders that aren't serving in the DR or PR can relate to the pain of trying to decide how much clothes you want to have on for the rest of the day and almost always wishing you had more or less. For those of you who can't consider yourselves blessed. Being in the Bronx again is pretty crazy for me but its been a blast, especially since I'm on the complete opposite side that I was on last time and therefore get to see a different view on things. Its crazy how many Dominicans there are here compared to my last area which was mostly Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Peruvians. Its funny though because my companion Elder Steele (who I was actually in the MTC with) came from upstate as well and so we both like to visit and to teach all the people who aren't from the DR. I love Dominicans (Don't get me wrong Gary), but its very hard to beat Peruvian food and I love how Mexicans talk. Salvadori ans are pretty sweet too.
Anyways things are great and I'm loving life here in service of our Lord and God. One quick story and then I'm out. Ok, so we went to an area recently that we normally don't go visit because its a bit farther than we like to walk. We went to this place because of a former investigator from about 4 years ago that we found in an old area book that was collecting dust in our room. We looked the guy up and met Danni, a 30 year old Dominican who loves the church and has been occasionally reading his BoM ever since the Elders gave to him 4 years ago.
He said that he loved it when the missionaries came over but that at the time he was really busy with work and just couldn't keep visiting with them during the week and coming to church on Sundays. Well now his work has calmed down and he no longer works on Sundays and so he wants to start coming back and learning again. We've met with him a couple of times since then and when we started to talk about getting baptised he told us how much he wanted to be baptised before and said he was ready to make the step. He's a really cool guy that we can totally see was prepared by the Lord and then put in our path. He'll be baptised in February after he is taught all the lessons again. I love you all a ton, keep working in this the single greatest work ever=2 0and I know the Lord will bless us with miracles.
much love,
Garrett
Anyways things are great and I'm loving life here in service of our Lord and God. One quick story and then I'm out. Ok, so we went to an area recently that we normally don't go visit because its a bit farther than we like to walk. We went to this place because of a former investigator from about 4 years ago that we found in an old area book that was collecting dust in our room. We looked the guy up and met Danni, a 30 year old Dominican who loves the church and has been occasionally reading his BoM ever since the Elders gave to him 4 years ago.
He said that he loved it when the missionaries came over but that at the time he was really busy with work and just couldn't keep visiting with them during the week and coming to church on Sundays. Well now his work has calmed down and he no longer works on Sundays and so he wants to start coming back and learning again. We've met with him a couple of times since then and when we started to talk about getting baptised he told us how much he wanted to be baptised before and said he was ready to make the step. He's a really cool guy that we can totally see was prepared by the Lord and then put in our path. He'll be baptised in February after he is taught all the lessons again. I love you all a ton, keep working in this the single greatest work ever=2 0and I know the Lord will bless us with miracles.
much love,
Garrett
Anziano Scott Ball's Mom
Hello from Anziano Ball’s Mom,
Scott has been very busy and asked me to send something in for the newsletter. We were able to talk over the Christmas holidays and it is so amazing how much he has grown. He is still in Modena and loving it. Every Wednesday Scott arrives at the library in Modena to email me. I finally figured out what time he arrives which is about 3 am in Arizona so I get up at that time early Wednesday morning and email him and sure enough he is online so we email back and forth for about one and a half hours . . . yawn. They will have to transfer him for me to get any sleep on Tuesday nights. Anyway, here is a short message I copied from one of Scott’s emails.
“This week has been going fine in regards to missionary work. We went to Zone Conference in Mestre and had a Christmas Meeting which we shared talked about the Savior and sang songs. It was a nice time. After that we had a nice Sunday with the members in the church here in Modena. There weren't that many people, it seems that many of them have gone on vacation. We are teaching a Zimbabwe family about the gospel right now. The husband has a baptismal date for January 10th and we think that it might change because we want to baptize the whole family at once. Riding around in bike is very cold! I bought gloves and a scarf because it has been soo cold. The humidity is horrible, but other than that, it is a beautiful city.”
My family is truly blessed because of the efforts of Scott. I am so grateful for the gospel and how it blesses our lives.
Ciao, Scott’s Mom
Scott has been very busy and asked me to send something in for the newsletter. We were able to talk over the Christmas holidays and it is so amazing how much he has grown. He is still in Modena and loving it. Every Wednesday Scott arrives at the library in Modena to email me. I finally figured out what time he arrives which is about 3 am in Arizona so I get up at that time early Wednesday morning and email him and sure enough he is online so we email back and forth for about one and a half hours . . . yawn. They will have to transfer him for me to get any sleep on Tuesday nights. Anyway, here is a short message I copied from one of Scott’s emails.
“This week has been going fine in regards to missionary work. We went to Zone Conference in Mestre and had a Christmas Meeting which we shared talked about the Savior and sang songs. It was a nice time. After that we had a nice Sunday with the members in the church here in Modena. There weren't that many people, it seems that many of them have gone on vacation. We are teaching a Zimbabwe family about the gospel right now. The husband has a baptismal date for January 10th and we think that it might change because we want to baptize the whole family at once. Riding around in bike is very cold! I bought gloves and a scarf because it has been soo cold. The humidity is horrible, but other than that, it is a beautiful city.”
My family is truly blessed because of the efforts of Scott. I am so grateful for the gospel and how it blesses our lives.
Ciao, Scott’s Mom
Elder Grant Huish
Hello Friends,
How are you doing in our various locations throughout the earth? I am doing just splendid here in Oregon City, OR. We have had alot of snow lately which was cool, except for the fact that it meant that we had to walk everywhere. my shoes arent made for walking in snow. i numerous times, it was not pleasant. I guess it has helped me to gain an appreciation for the automobile though. Ehh.. i probably just lazy im sure some of you have to talk everywhere, that sucks. Well it is crazy to think that almost all of us will go home this year, WEIRD. I still feel like i just got here sometimes. Missionary work is the best. Don't you just love it. So here is a wonderful story that just happened a little while ago.....we had an investigator named ezra who told us 3 weeks ago he wanted to come to church, but then church was canceled, then it was canceled again and then finally he comes to church. he brings his girlfriend along as well. we were pretty excited when we saw him and also that a member of the stake presidency and his wife were going to speak. well turns out the stake presidency member was sick so he sent his daughter to take his place. so first the youth speaker speaks and its good. then the daughter speaks and its pretty fantastic so things seem to be going well, then the wife gets up to speak and talks for like 20 mintues about her dad and how he died and how much she loves him and doesnt relate it one bit to the gospel. she told countless stories and just stood up there and cried the whole time. so afer about 18 minutes or so she says that she has another story and our investigator and his girlfriend just got up and left cause they were so sick of her. luckily they still want to meet with us but no im scared to bring them back to church just in case it sucks again. hopefully we can help him build a strong enough testimony that it won't matter. Well my dear friends i wish you all the very best. love ya elder huish
How are you doing in our various locations throughout the earth? I am doing just splendid here in Oregon City, OR. We have had alot of snow lately which was cool, except for the fact that it meant that we had to walk everywhere. my shoes arent made for walking in snow. i numerous times, it was not pleasant. I guess it has helped me to gain an appreciation for the automobile though. Ehh.. i probably just lazy im sure some of you have to talk everywhere, that sucks. Well it is crazy to think that almost all of us will go home this year, WEIRD. I still feel like i just got here sometimes. Missionary work is the best. Don't you just love it. So here is a wonderful story that just happened a little while ago.....we had an investigator named ezra who told us 3 weeks ago he wanted to come to church, but then church was canceled, then it was canceled again and then finally he comes to church. he brings his girlfriend along as well. we were pretty excited when we saw him and also that a member of the stake presidency and his wife were going to speak. well turns out the stake presidency member was sick so he sent his daughter to take his place. so first the youth speaker speaks and its good. then the daughter speaks and its pretty fantastic so things seem to be going well, then the wife gets up to speak and talks for like 20 mintues about her dad and how he died and how much she loves him and doesnt relate it one bit to the gospel. she told countless stories and just stood up there and cried the whole time. so afer about 18 minutes or so she says that she has another story and our investigator and his girlfriend just got up and left cause they were so sick of her. luckily they still want to meet with us but no im scared to bring them back to church just in case it sucks again. hopefully we can help him build a strong enough testimony that it won't matter. Well my dear friends i wish you all the very best. love ya elder huish
Elder Gary Chambers
How was your Christmas? Haha that's almost my favorite question to answer... Mine was really good, mostly because I was able to have a gamers debate on how Xbox 360 is better than PS3 (that one's for you Jeffy poo)...... That member knows quite a bit about his game systems, but I totally knocked him out of the contest with statistics and facts... domination I like to call it. Anyways, enough about that, lets talk more about things more people can relate too... like how badly I had to go poop last Sunday night... it all began with the salsa....... (screen fading to strokes of a harp) Due to a companion inter change, I found myself walking around in the Zone Leaders area, my temporary companion at my side... we had just finished a contacted lesson, and it was nearly time to end the comp inter change... "I need to withdraw money from the ATM for lunch" spoke up my comp. "No" I responded... "Really?" came the confused response. "No, I was kidding, you can use the ATM" said I with a sheepish smile spreading over my face. "Oh, ok, thanks man... uh, I mean Elder" "You bet hot dog." Before too long we were in a huge "Wal-Mart-like" store called JUMBO! hahaha... anyways, as my comp finished using the ATM within, we decided to get a couple of things. As we weaved through the isles, we came by the vegetable and fruit section and something caught my eye! I immediately stopped and spun around to be sure I wasn't seeing things... But sure enough... there it was! A damaged apple amongst undamaged appples, I couldn't believe the negligence... but I allowed myself to forget it and we continued on. A few moments later, the voice of my companion came from behind... "Huh... that's a first..." "What, what happened?" "Oh nothing... I just saw a package of fresh Jalopenos back there..." "Huh... wierd........ Wait, WHAT?!?!" I darted past him retracing my steps scanning the vegetable shelves until my eyes fell upon the word "Jalopenos." I froze... then unfroze and bought that package of jalopenos for dirt cheap (yess...). With those very Jalopenos I have made several successful batches of salsa and have been spreading the flavor through the neighborhood. People find this salsa very intrigueing, and I thoroughly enjoy the looks on their face after they try it... when the impact of jalopeno hits and burns their taste buds! Muahaha, they always come back for more though, they must like the abuse... just like me :) I am slowly but surely spreading the good news of Mexican Salsa throughout the DR, but due to my pride, I changed out the word "Mexican" and put "Chambers"... :) People like it, and due to all the batches I've made, I've been eating alot of salsa myself. Well, I know the basic laws... like what goes up, must come down... what goes over, must come under (theory check?) ... and what goes in, must come out... but I love salsa so much that it was hard for me to gadge myself well, and the impact of all the salsa seemed to charge up inside me and pick one moment to hit me all at the same time... this time was Sunday night during the dedication of a couples house whom we recently baptized. Needless to say I was in dire need of a bathroom during the prayer, and refused to use their bathroom afterwards, due to the gouronteed smell that would fill the newly dedicated house. My comp seemed to notice something was wrong with me by all the strange faces I was making, trying to surpress the amazing power within. He came over and asked if I was ok, to which i rapidly responded with, "YO VOY A EXPLOTAR" as an urgent whisper in his ear. Fortuneately, that has the same meaning in spanish as it does in English, and we bolted to the house. Once the bathroom door closed behind me, I..... well, you get the idea. While sitting there, I came up with another poop song! Yay... I would write it in here, but it's not the same as if you hear it, so you'll all have to wait till I get home... :) Other then that, I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Love, Elder Chambers
Love, Elder Chambers
Elder Logan Wells
Well newsletter time again? huh well yeah this is the year boys ,that we go home, its kind of crazy to think about that our time is coming up on us so fast well yeah, Daniel I cant wait to hang when we get home seriously, well don't get married before we get back okay. Well yeah anyway all is so well here I am still here on my little 13 mile island and enjoying my nice little summer, haha yeah still got the 80s and to tell the truth I don't miss the cold weather at all and yeah I feel sorry for anyone that is in it. Well yeah its all good though i have seen so much success in the people here on this island they are definately way to nice to us and i love them way to much if that is possible. well YEah the mission is going great christmas was crazy we got fed 4 meals and definately all of the weight that I had lost is coming back don't thnk that is a good thng well I guess its time for new years resolution. Goal one loose weight, definately on the priority list haha well yeah all is going well here I do belive that Grant you owe me a letter well yeah I love you all and god speed. Peace Love and Baptize
Logan
Elder Brock Smith
Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Well I hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas and that your New Year well be good as well. Its good to hear that everything is going good with the business and all its such a miracle I cant believe how its taken off you continue to be an inspiration to me such faith and trust in the Lord I had my doubts but I trusted that you knew what you were doing I know that listening to you has yet to get me into trouble. It was good to get to talk to you on Christmas eventhough it made me way trunky but Im good though my time is almost up and Im striving to take advantage of every moment two weeks will be my last zone confrence and then the transfers always fly by from there its nuts how time is flying by I cant believe its been as long as it has cuz it really doesnt seem like when I look back on it. You must take advantage of every moment cuz what seems like forever will soon be over eventhough its pretty hard to picture yourself at home soon it will be a reality even if it does take you until the first morning that you wake up in your bed at home to realize it (cuz I think that Itll take that long for me to realize it cuz right now everything seems like Im in an alternate reality right now I cant be on my last four weeks its just not possible the fact that I have only 31 days left really seems impossible so to all of you no matter how long youve been out on a mission soon itll be over and youll wonder wha the heck happened where did your mission go and you dont want to look back and have regrets trust me I know from exp continue to serve with all your might mind and strength and most importantly ETTE that is a very hard principle a lot harder than I thought but striving to ette to the end of my mission is teaching a lot about ette to the end of life and how its not going to be easy and you cant slack off or satan we'll get to you and before you know it youll be gettin etd home like this other elder did who was supposed to go home with me but he just couldnt ette and he wnet to extreme measures well more like bizzare measures to get sent home ive been trying to think all weekend what must have been going through his head but ive no realized that it must have been nothing short of the cunning craftiness of satan. Well anyway on a lighter note I want to thank you all for your ongoing support It has really helped me get through these two years and has made the time really fly by I couldnt have done it without you all. Well I continue to ette eventhough my comp drives me bonkers sometimes dont worry two exchanges a week and with all these off days it will help the first half of the transfer go by fast and then the second half always flys by like crazy anyway so ill survive im sure well we had a good sacrament talk yest about serving and obeying without being compelled to do them it was good for me something that I need to hear cuz I fear that without the structure of mission life my life will have the potential to be crazy thats why me and barnett are going to strive to keep each other in check although we are kinda crazy but well see how it goes. Well I really cant believe that by the next time I write for the newsletter I'll have like four days until Ill be home its nuts. Hauoli Makahiki Hou Iesu Pu And May the force be with you always B Sexy B Smooth
B Smith
Elder Jeff Stoker
So anyways, Christmas this year was very different than any other christmas that i have ever had. I did alot of thinking. I am glad that i was able to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. We didnt do anything special for Christmas. We just acted as if it was any other day. it was very wierd. So about 5 mins ago i found out that we arent allowed to be outside past 5pm this wednesday and Thursday because it will be New years! I dont think anything good will happenif we were on the streets. My mission president thinks its a great time to do some "spring cleaning". I am not looking forward to this! hah. Oh well, it needs to be done. Last week Elder Slezak and I were kinda frustrated because we did not find any new investigators. This week was kinda of the same. Thursday came around, and we realized that we still didnt find an investigator. We went out that afternoon dedicated on finding a "Normal man". We also wanted to have a meeting with him that night. We ended up doing just that. We met with him, and he even came to church. This next week we are going to invite him to be baptized in Jan. Things are looking good for january here in zavodskoy. Hopefully we can see two people get baptized. I know it will take alot of work, and faith on our part though, and i am all for it. So it is already in the middle of winter now, and things are starting to cool down. It has hit -15 and the ground is now covered in snow. We set up a meeting at our church building, and while we waited, i found a snow shovel. I decided that i might as well do something productive while i waited, so i actually got a chance to shovel snow. I can understand why i always hear people crying about it. I also started up a slipping on the ice contest again. So far i am winning, my companion landed right on his butt the other day. Dont worry, i have had my fair share of falls, which i dont want to talk about. :} I forgot to mention this in past newsletters, but my mission got a referral! It was amazing. It is wierd for me to think about a russian guy wandering around SLC on temple square. We were all pretty excited. Miracles are happening, so expect one! hah. The other day, i also realized that my entire passport is full of visas, and stamps. I had to send it, and get more pages sown into it. Now my emergency pouch hanging on my belt is heavy with all the new pages. Anyways, things are going great, like normal. I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Wow time is flying. I love you all. Thanks for your examples.
Elder Jeff Stoker
Elder Jeff Stoker
