Dear Family,
Arg! I accidentally deleted my whole email that I was in the middle of. So this is going to have to be super fast and lame:
People Updates:
I asked special permission to call Hna Navarro about an old investigator because I was freaked out. She told me that he didn´t get confirmed because he had some Word of Wisdom problems over the weekend. His ex-girlfriend started pestering him again, which must have freaked him out because he got pretty upset and depressed, hence his reaction. He was with her for 2 years, so I guess that´s a lot of baggage to get over. But Hna Navarro promised that she will keep trying to help him and that she is going to get him to talk to the bishop. I hope he can get confirmed soon!
Hna Navarro also told me that Shandy, an investigator I found in a street contact in Hurlingham, has a baptismal date with her daughter, Tamara! And Pamela was supposedly going to be baptized yesterday! So Hurlingham is looking good!
Here in Ramos, César didn´t smoke all week! If he can keep it up he will get baptized on Saturday! Woohoo! And Andrés came to church again and is praying to know if the message is true. He arrived all by himself again, on time, in a collared shirt! He is golden! His daughter, Marilina, mysteriously disappeared to her sister´s house over the weekend and didn´t go to church, but we are going to try again to teach her this week. David and Maira came to church again this week. We taught a lesson about being children of God to them this week to try to help David with his jealousy issues. I felt the Spirit really strongly as we taught David about his divine potential. He has made some big mistakes in his life, but that doesn´t change his divine worth and potential and the Atonement is there to help him change!
Funny story of the week: I am learning from Hna Azcurra how to see the positive in other people. After a lesson in which an investigator told us that sometimes she watches her boyfriend sleep and feels like suffocating him with a pillow, Hna Azcurra said about our investigator, "She is so wonderful! I love how sincere she is!" Can´t argue that. More sincerity might be fatal.
Well, I love you! Thanks so much for your emails and prayers. Dad, your itinerary idea sounds good. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Forward me Ben´s email when he writes.
Love,
Ellis
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
First let me Freak Out and then I'll tell the Good News
Dear Mom and Dad,
I just read the numbers from last week in Hurlingham and it said 0 confirmations! What happened to Gaston???!!!! Why didn't he get confirmed? Why didn't I fight with the bishop to let him get confirmed during his baptismal service instead of two weeks later after Conference? What was I thinking? AAAAAAAAAGH! I'm freaked out. I hope it was a mistake. Sometimes the office elders are sloppy when they enter the data. And yes, I know it's not my fault if he didn't get confirmed. Gaston is responsible for his own addictions. But, WHYYYYYY? I am really upset. And I{m sure Hna Navarro, who is even more sensitive than me, is miserable about it. AAAAAAAGH!
OK. Deep breaths. We are now focusing on the good news.
For example, this week was better than last week. I'm slowly but surely learning my way around Ramos Mejia and learning to love the area. I've actually only seen a small part of the whole area because the monoblocks and the casitas nuevas are so full of people willing to listen to us that we spend all day there. There is so much potential in this area!
Cesar is still trying to quit smoking, so we reset his baptismal date for the 22 of October. I really hope he makes it! Fortunately, I think his awesome recent convert family is giving him good support.
On Thursday we had interviews with President Carter. I sat down on the couch in his office and one of the first things he asked me is if I would like to end my mission by training again. I said yes and he said, good, because the Spirit has been telling me for the last couple of weeks that you should train again. He said my next companion is going to be a North American sister! Yikes! So I have to teach her Spanish AND teach her the ropes of the mission. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm glad I know how my mission is going to end: I will spend my last two transfers in Ramos, training a North American. I feel good about that. President says it's a great opportunity to leave my legacy in the mission.
President also told me that I shouldn't worry about trying to judge myself and my mission, I should just focus on what I've been able to learn and accomplish. He said I'm a good missionary who loves the people and cares about the work. It was really nice to hear that. I'm going to try to follow his advice and stop trying to grade my mission.
Aaaaand I asked President Carter if it was OK (by which I mean, not a Sin) to let you come pick me up at the end of my mission. His answer was sort of that it's officially discouraged but pretty much OK with the big 3 (i.e. First Presidency) for parents to pick up missionaries. And he assured me that it is OK to have fun (albeit low key mostly spiritual fun) before being released. And then he said that if his dad had served in BA, he would jump on the chance to visit Argentina with him. And he said that visiting their kids' mission has the potential to change parent's lives. And he said it was my choice. So I thought about it and it took about 3 minutes to realize I was needlessly freaking out and that I really want you guys to see the places where I served and meet the amazing people I met and baptized. And it would make my converts feel special if I visited them with you. So if the funds are there, START PRACTICING YOUR PORTEÑO SPANISH! So here's the deal: sometime in the next two weeks you need to call the church travel office and tell them you are coming to pick me up and what the plans are so that they can buy me a flight home with you. As for your flight to Argentina, I recommend that you arrive on Monday, which I think is the 30th of Jan. We can work out the details in a couple more months, but just so you know I mostly just want to visit everyone of my areas and converts with you and go some places that dad went. President says there is some cool stuff in the capital that I'll see during the end of the mission tour that I might want to show you guys, so we can fit in a little bit of tourist stuff too if you want. OK, that's it. Back to focused-on-the-mission mode.
Funny story from Sunday: We went to pick up Maira and David, a couple from the Monserrat family who we are trying to marry and baptize, to take them to church. We clapped at the gate and shouted (nicely) at their open window for them to come out and come to church. First, David appeared at the window looking very sleepy.
David: "No, hermanas, we aren't going."
Us: "Why not? Come on!"
David: "I want to go, but Maira doesn't want too. She's tired."
Us: "Maira!!!!" Maira appeared at the window.
Maira:"I do too want to go! I got up and got ready but David didn't want to go. I was going to leave him but he told me "if you aren't going with me you aren't going anywhere.""
David again: "That's not true. I wanted to go but Maira wanted to sleep in."
Us: "Well, obviously you both want to go to church, so get moving!"
They sure gave me a lot of laughs. In the end, they both got ready and came to church with us. Sometimes being a missionary feels more like being a mom with lots of overgrown children. I sure hope Maira (20) and David (27) can figure things out and get married and baptized.
Miracle of the week: On Friday it was raining buckets and very windy and all our appointments fell through. We started knocking doors and Marilina had compassion on us and let us in. We taught her and her dad and on Sunday they came to church all by themselves! After church we introduced them to about 5 million members so that they would feel fellowshipped and then we showed them the baptismal font and invited them to be baptized on the 29th of October. They said yes! WOOHOOO! Good times in the mission.
OK, I'm out of time as usual but please pray a lot for Gaston so he can work through whatever is going on and get confirmed. And if you can, please pray for Cesar so he can stop smoking. Thank you so much for all your wonderful emails and letters. If I don't respond with more commentary to what you said it isn't because I didn't pay attention, it's because I didn't have time to write everything. I enjoyed the thoughts you send me in your emails. I'm praying for Ben that his visa gets here soon and that he loves being a missionary in California. Say hi and I love you to Emma, Eliza, and Dan for me! And tell Dan thanks for the drawing of the mirror of reflections. I loved it and pinned it to my bulletin board. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
I just read the numbers from last week in Hurlingham and it said 0 confirmations! What happened to Gaston???!!!! Why didn't he get confirmed? Why didn't I fight with the bishop to let him get confirmed during his baptismal service instead of two weeks later after Conference? What was I thinking? AAAAAAAAAGH! I'm freaked out. I hope it was a mistake. Sometimes the office elders are sloppy when they enter the data. And yes, I know it's not my fault if he didn't get confirmed. Gaston is responsible for his own addictions. But, WHYYYYYY? I am really upset. And I{m sure Hna Navarro, who is even more sensitive than me, is miserable about it. AAAAAAAGH!
OK. Deep breaths. We are now focusing on the good news.
For example, this week was better than last week. I'm slowly but surely learning my way around Ramos Mejia and learning to love the area. I've actually only seen a small part of the whole area because the monoblocks and the casitas nuevas are so full of people willing to listen to us that we spend all day there. There is so much potential in this area!
Cesar is still trying to quit smoking, so we reset his baptismal date for the 22 of October. I really hope he makes it! Fortunately, I think his awesome recent convert family is giving him good support.
On Thursday we had interviews with President Carter. I sat down on the couch in his office and one of the first things he asked me is if I would like to end my mission by training again. I said yes and he said, good, because the Spirit has been telling me for the last couple of weeks that you should train again. He said my next companion is going to be a North American sister! Yikes! So I have to teach her Spanish AND teach her the ropes of the mission. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm glad I know how my mission is going to end: I will spend my last two transfers in Ramos, training a North American. I feel good about that. President says it's a great opportunity to leave my legacy in the mission.
President also told me that I shouldn't worry about trying to judge myself and my mission, I should just focus on what I've been able to learn and accomplish. He said I'm a good missionary who loves the people and cares about the work. It was really nice to hear that. I'm going to try to follow his advice and stop trying to grade my mission.
Aaaaand I asked President Carter if it was OK (by which I mean, not a Sin) to let you come pick me up at the end of my mission. His answer was sort of that it's officially discouraged but pretty much OK with the big 3 (i.e. First Presidency) for parents to pick up missionaries. And he assured me that it is OK to have fun (albeit low key mostly spiritual fun) before being released. And then he said that if his dad had served in BA, he would jump on the chance to visit Argentina with him. And he said that visiting their kids' mission has the potential to change parent's lives. And he said it was my choice. So I thought about it and it took about 3 minutes to realize I was needlessly freaking out and that I really want you guys to see the places where I served and meet the amazing people I met and baptized. And it would make my converts feel special if I visited them with you. So if the funds are there, START PRACTICING YOUR PORTEÑO SPANISH! So here's the deal: sometime in the next two weeks you need to call the church travel office and tell them you are coming to pick me up and what the plans are so that they can buy me a flight home with you. As for your flight to Argentina, I recommend that you arrive on Monday, which I think is the 30th of Jan. We can work out the details in a couple more months, but just so you know I mostly just want to visit everyone of my areas and converts with you and go some places that dad went. President says there is some cool stuff in the capital that I'll see during the end of the mission tour that I might want to show you guys, so we can fit in a little bit of tourist stuff too if you want. OK, that's it. Back to focused-on-the-mission mode.
Funny story from Sunday: We went to pick up Maira and David, a couple from the Monserrat family who we are trying to marry and baptize, to take them to church. We clapped at the gate and shouted (nicely) at their open window for them to come out and come to church. First, David appeared at the window looking very sleepy.
David: "No, hermanas, we aren't going."
Us: "Why not? Come on!"
David: "I want to go, but Maira doesn't want too. She's tired."
Us: "Maira!!!!" Maira appeared at the window.
Maira:"I do too want to go! I got up and got ready but David didn't want to go. I was going to leave him but he told me "if you aren't going with me you aren't going anywhere.""
David again: "That's not true. I wanted to go but Maira wanted to sleep in."
Us: "Well, obviously you both want to go to church, so get moving!"
They sure gave me a lot of laughs. In the end, they both got ready and came to church with us. Sometimes being a missionary feels more like being a mom with lots of overgrown children. I sure hope Maira (20) and David (27) can figure things out and get married and baptized.
Miracle of the week: On Friday it was raining buckets and very windy and all our appointments fell through. We started knocking doors and Marilina had compassion on us and let us in. We taught her and her dad and on Sunday they came to church all by themselves! After church we introduced them to about 5 million members so that they would feel fellowshipped and then we showed them the baptismal font and invited them to be baptized on the 29th of October. They said yes! WOOHOOO! Good times in the mission.
OK, I'm out of time as usual but please pray a lot for Gaston so he can work through whatever is going on and get confirmed. And if you can, please pray for Cesar so he can stop smoking. Thank you so much for all your wonderful emails and letters. If I don't respond with more commentary to what you said it isn't because I didn't pay attention, it's because I didn't have time to write everything. I enjoyed the thoughts you send me in your emails. I'm praying for Ben that his visa gets here soon and that he loves being a missionary in California. Say hi and I love you to Emma, Eliza, and Dan for me! And tell Dan thanks for the drawing of the mirror of reflections. I loved it and pinned it to my bulletin board. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
First Week in Ramos Mejia
Dear Mom, Dad, Eliza, Emma, Dan, and Ben (please forward this to Elder Clark),
Thanks for the emails you sent this week and last week (I finally read them all). Reading your emails is one of the highlights of my week. Last night I read a letter Mom sent with photos of her hiking adventures and letters from Ben. Mom, you look thinner in that photo! And your hiking adventure sounds way fun! Ben, I hope you will enjoy your (hopefully) last week at the MTC. The MTC is a great place to be, but also a great place to leave! I will pray this week that your visa comes on time so you can serve those great people in Brazil who are waiting for you. I´m often surprised by how busy the rest of you are with work, callings, school and extra activities. Do you feel as busy as your letters tell? I´m glad that you are having fun, learning, and achieving so many things.
Here are the highlights/the news of my week:
* Being in a new area is HARD. I was pretty teary on Monday and Tuesday. I kept thinking about my converts in Hurlingham, especially Gastón. I visited him every day for over a month and spent a significant amount of mental time worrying if he was happy, if he was reading the BoM, if he was smoking, etc. Suddenly having a new list of first priorities was, well, disorienting. I find myself still thinking of lessons to teach to him or to Olga or Pamela or to Elvira and Celeste. I still worry about how to reactivate Evelyn´s family. Other hard things: in Hurlingham I knew where EVERYTHING was and where I was in every moment (once a guy in the street said he lived near the train station in a house with leopard print curtains and I knew EXACTLY which house he was talking about and where it was), but here I feel super disoriented and have to follow Hna Azcurra around blindly. And, yup, it´s hard to go from being a trainer and directing lots of things to having to be directed because I´m still getting to know the investigators and the area. A lesson in humility. And of course I miss Hna Navarro. But slowly things have been getting better and I feel like I´m going to be able to leave my old area behind and give full attention to my new calling in Ramos Mejía.
* Here is the good stuff: a ward mission leader who took time out of his day to make us invitations to general conference---the other WMLs I´ve had weren´t as involved in their callings. And the Monserrat family, Hna Azcurra´s HUGE miracle family of super recent converts who love us to death and give us referrals every day! There are about 16 of them, some of which haven´t been baptized. One of them is César, a 42 year old single dad who is trying to quit smoking so he can get baptized. My experience with Gastón is really helping me to help him! Good thing number three: Hna Azcurra is fearless and very goal oriented and good at managing time, so that is helping me a lot. Good thing number four: teaching in "los monoblock" and "las casitas nuevas", the housing projects in our area. The rest of the area is really well off, but in the housing projects we have a lot of really receptive investigators. More details next week.
* Other stuff: our pension is one the 3rd floor of a 14 story apartment building in front of the train tracks. This is definitely my most urban area.
* General Conference was pretty great. I listened to all four sessions in Spanish, which was cool. My favorite talks were Elder Uchtdorf´s talk adn the talk about teaching with the Spirit. I almost teared up in teh talk about the elder who wore his dad´s mission coat to the same Japanese mission his father served in. It reminded my of how Dad and I both served in Buenos Aires. I thought about how Dad was listening to that talk at exactly the same time I was and probably thinking of me like I was thinking of him. I love you Dad! We planned to have about 10 investigators in the conference, but none of them showed up. :( That was disappointing, but at least lots of the new converts in the Monserrat family came. They are a really neat family!
* A BIG highlight of the conference was that Sebastián, Gastón, and Celeste came! (we share a stake center) They were really happy to see me. Gastón seems to be doing ok. I sure hope he stays strong with not smoking so he can get confirmed next Sunday. Hna Azcurra and I walked in a couple minutes late to the Sunday morning session and when I looked around to see who from Hurlingham was there, I saw Gastón and Celeste cuddling as they watched the first talk! I THINK TWO OF MY FAVORITE CONVERTS ARE GOING TO START DATING! FUTURE ETERNAL FAMILY! It makes me really happy. Elvira missed conference because she had to go to the capital, I´m not sure why. :( I was hoping to see Olga, but Hna Navarro (who I was THRILLED to see and who was thrilled to see me!) told me she got sick! I felt really bad because Olga didn´t want to get baptized because she thought she would get sick again and has no one to take care of her because she lives alone. So like any missionary would I promised her that God wouldn´t let her get sick for being baptized. Then I promised the water would be warm, and it wasn´t! (next time I´ll have to fill the font personally). Olga swears that the water didn´t make her sick, but I still feel guilty. I hope she gets better soon.
Well, I´m out of time. I love each one of you and pray for you often. Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I´ll give you a final answer about the picking me up thing next week. Mi cabeza sigue dando vueltas.
Thanks for the emails you sent this week and last week (I finally read them all). Reading your emails is one of the highlights of my week. Last night I read a letter Mom sent with photos of her hiking adventures and letters from Ben. Mom, you look thinner in that photo! And your hiking adventure sounds way fun! Ben, I hope you will enjoy your (hopefully) last week at the MTC. The MTC is a great place to be, but also a great place to leave! I will pray this week that your visa comes on time so you can serve those great people in Brazil who are waiting for you. I´m often surprised by how busy the rest of you are with work, callings, school and extra activities. Do you feel as busy as your letters tell? I´m glad that you are having fun, learning, and achieving so many things.
Here are the highlights/the news of my week:
* Being in a new area is HARD. I was pretty teary on Monday and Tuesday. I kept thinking about my converts in Hurlingham, especially Gastón. I visited him every day for over a month and spent a significant amount of mental time worrying if he was happy, if he was reading the BoM, if he was smoking, etc. Suddenly having a new list of first priorities was, well, disorienting. I find myself still thinking of lessons to teach to him or to Olga or Pamela or to Elvira and Celeste. I still worry about how to reactivate Evelyn´s family. Other hard things: in Hurlingham I knew where EVERYTHING was and where I was in every moment (once a guy in the street said he lived near the train station in a house with leopard print curtains and I knew EXACTLY which house he was talking about and where it was), but here I feel super disoriented and have to follow Hna Azcurra around blindly. And, yup, it´s hard to go from being a trainer and directing lots of things to having to be directed because I´m still getting to know the investigators and the area. A lesson in humility. And of course I miss Hna Navarro. But slowly things have been getting better and I feel like I´m going to be able to leave my old area behind and give full attention to my new calling in Ramos Mejía.
* Here is the good stuff: a ward mission leader who took time out of his day to make us invitations to general conference---the other WMLs I´ve had weren´t as involved in their callings. And the Monserrat family, Hna Azcurra´s HUGE miracle family of super recent converts who love us to death and give us referrals every day! There are about 16 of them, some of which haven´t been baptized. One of them is César, a 42 year old single dad who is trying to quit smoking so he can get baptized. My experience with Gastón is really helping me to help him! Good thing number three: Hna Azcurra is fearless and very goal oriented and good at managing time, so that is helping me a lot. Good thing number four: teaching in "los monoblock" and "las casitas nuevas", the housing projects in our area. The rest of the area is really well off, but in the housing projects we have a lot of really receptive investigators. More details next week.
* Other stuff: our pension is one the 3rd floor of a 14 story apartment building in front of the train tracks. This is definitely my most urban area.
* General Conference was pretty great. I listened to all four sessions in Spanish, which was cool. My favorite talks were Elder Uchtdorf´s talk adn the talk about teaching with the Spirit. I almost teared up in teh talk about the elder who wore his dad´s mission coat to the same Japanese mission his father served in. It reminded my of how Dad and I both served in Buenos Aires. I thought about how Dad was listening to that talk at exactly the same time I was and probably thinking of me like I was thinking of him. I love you Dad! We planned to have about 10 investigators in the conference, but none of them showed up. :( That was disappointing, but at least lots of the new converts in the Monserrat family came. They are a really neat family!
* A BIG highlight of the conference was that Sebastián, Gastón, and Celeste came! (we share a stake center) They were really happy to see me. Gastón seems to be doing ok. I sure hope he stays strong with not smoking so he can get confirmed next Sunday. Hna Azcurra and I walked in a couple minutes late to the Sunday morning session and when I looked around to see who from Hurlingham was there, I saw Gastón and Celeste cuddling as they watched the first talk! I THINK TWO OF MY FAVORITE CONVERTS ARE GOING TO START DATING! FUTURE ETERNAL FAMILY! It makes me really happy. Elvira missed conference because she had to go to the capital, I´m not sure why. :( I was hoping to see Olga, but Hna Navarro (who I was THRILLED to see and who was thrilled to see me!) told me she got sick! I felt really bad because Olga didn´t want to get baptized because she thought she would get sick again and has no one to take care of her because she lives alone. So like any missionary would I promised her that God wouldn´t let her get sick for being baptized. Then I promised the water would be warm, and it wasn´t! (next time I´ll have to fill the font personally). Olga swears that the water didn´t make her sick, but I still feel guilty. I hope she gets better soon.
Well, I´m out of time. I love each one of you and pray for you often. Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I´ll give you a final answer about the picking me up thing next week. Mi cabeza sigue dando vueltas.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Best Weekend of My Mission!
Dear Family,
This week was amazing! Or rather, this weekend, because all the important things happened on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday Hna Navarro and I got to see Mariana, our investigator from last transfer who really lived in the Villa Tesei ward, get baptized! Elder Hernandez and Elder Kimball (who reminds me a lot of Benjamin) started teaching Mariana and her sisters Dahiana and Ramona. After a lot of work, Mariana received permission from her mother to be baptized! Her mom, Miriam, is still lukewarm because her boyfriend (who she lives with) doesn't like the church very much, but she gave Mariana permission. A saintly sister in the ward who has a daughter close to Mariana's age lives two blocks away and takes Mariana and her sisters to church. So we got to go to Villa Tesei to see Mariana get baptized! She was so cute in her baptismal dress. She seemed pretty happy to be baptized, and the ward members there really love her a lot. The elders promised us they will keep teaching Dahiana and Ramona and have plans to baptized them next transfer. And they are still teaching my other investigators Marta and Graciela! So in the end, losing half my investigators to the elders was the best thing that could have happened! Those two were the ones with the special combination of personalities and Spirit and talents to help Mariana get baptized and help the other investigators progress!
Yesterday, Sunday, was one of the most beautiful days of my mission. My investigators Olga and Gaston were baptized. Olga was baptized before the meetings started because she wanted a small service with few people attending. It was the most spiritual baptismal service I've ever attended in the mission. Hna Navarro and I gave the talks. We spoke directly to her and her eyes were moist as we reminded her of the covenant she was about to make and of the blessings of the Holy Ghost. The water in the font was cold (we had promised it wouldn't be but the first counselor pressed the wrong button on the water heater! Olga wanted to kill us, but she was a trooper.), but Olga was so happy to have been baptized. When she received the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting, she was smiling and had a look of peace on her face. I couldn't stop grinning the whole time. I was so happy for her. It took her a long time to be baptized, but she was such a prepared investigator. She really understands the importance of baptism and despite her fears, she chose to be baptized because she wants to follow Jesus Christ.
After the meetings Gaston was baptized. He had finally removed his eyebrow piercing even though he had to use pliers to take it out, haha) and it was so wonderful to see him dressed in white. His road to baptism was not easy, but you could see in his face that he had transformed into a different person. Gaston gave up smoking (among other substances), overcame trials, and learned to have faith-- he came unto Christ in the fullest sense of the expression. I've imagined seeing Gaston be baptized by his brother Sebastian since I began teaching Gaston over a month and a half ago. I felt immense gratitude that the moment had finally arrived, and awe at the sacredness of what I was witnessing. Sebastian baptized Gaston and then they embraced. It was the most beautiful moment of my mission. At the end of the service, Seba shared his testimony. He said he was so happy that Gaston was baptized and that they are the first two members in their family. Then he looked at his mom, Marta, who was sitting in the front row, and said that he feels that with time she will be baptized too! Marta's eyes were wet and she was half smiling. It was a spiritually intense moment.
Yesterday was the last day of the transfer and I've been transferred to Ramos Mejia, just a half hour bus ride away from Hurlingham, where the mission office is. Of my three areas, Hurlingham was the hardest to leave. I really learned to love the members of Hurlingham and my investigators and my companion Hna Navarro. I have never loved my investigators so much as I learned to love Olga, Gaston and Pamela (who received permission from her parents to get baptized in October, even though they wouldn't let her be baptized this weekend!). And I've never loved my companion as much as I loved Hna Navarro! We became such good friends and she helped me so much. We really learned from each other and supported each other in all the difficult times, and she helped me learn to love the investigators as much as I did. Saying goodbye to Pamela and to my converts Elvira, Celeste, Evelyn, Olga and Gaston was very difficult. On Sunday night we went to Gaston's house so I could say goodbye to him and to Sebastian. Celeste, my convert from May, was there too (I really think she and Gaston have a thing going! They've become super good friends and Gaston loves Ludmila, Celeste's 3 year old daughter. Future eternal family!). We just sat and talked and I never wanted to leave. I asked the three of them to write in my notebook. They each thanked me so sincerely for helping them find the gospel (or in Sebastian's case, helping his brother to find it and for being his friend) that I was in awe. Celeste, Gaston and Seba are so wonderful and have so much potential. Those three are going places (and Seba is hopefully going on a mission!!!). Gaston says someday he wants to come visit me in the U.S someday!
Afterwards I said goodbye to Elvira and shared one last scripture with her. She told me how much she loves being a member of the church and how much peace she feels now. She says she wants to be baptized in the temple for her dead mother! She has such a strong testimony!
I'm so grateful Heavenly Father let me meet and baptized my converts in Hurlingham. Through them, he will bless generations in both directions. Celeste and Gaston will have kids someday (not necessarily together, but you never know :) ) and those children will be born in the gospel. And Celeste told me that she wants Ludmila to get baptized when she turns 8! And Elvira and Olga will be baptized for their deceased family members who are waiting for the blessings of the gospel. Olga lost her entire family one by one, including her husband who died in a car accident two years after they were married, over 40 years ago. The gospel has given her the way to be able to see her husband and her family again after this life!
Today when Hna Navarro and I came to the mission office to go to the transfer meeting, we both cried. I didn't want to switch companions or leave my converts and Pamela. I feel like I left my heart in my old area, but I'm excited to come to love the people here in Ramos Mejia like I learned to love the people in Hurlingham. I know the Lord has people prepared here who need me to bring them the gospel, together with Hna Azcurra, my new Argentine companion from Mar del Plata. (3 Argentine companions in a row = kick butt Spanish at the end of my mission! And I love the Argentine sisters!)
I love you all: Mom, Dad, Eliza, Ben, Emma and Dan! Elder Clark, keeping working to learn to share that gospel! You are a truly great missionary! And the rest of you, invite those friends to church! Sharing the gospel is so important, because nothing we can do to help someone is as life saving for them as giving them the gospel. I love you! Thanks for everything!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I hope you didn't tell me anything important, because I didn't have time to read your emails.
This week was amazing! Or rather, this weekend, because all the important things happened on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday Hna Navarro and I got to see Mariana, our investigator from last transfer who really lived in the Villa Tesei ward, get baptized! Elder Hernandez and Elder Kimball (who reminds me a lot of Benjamin) started teaching Mariana and her sisters Dahiana and Ramona. After a lot of work, Mariana received permission from her mother to be baptized! Her mom, Miriam, is still lukewarm because her boyfriend (who she lives with) doesn't like the church very much, but she gave Mariana permission. A saintly sister in the ward who has a daughter close to Mariana's age lives two blocks away and takes Mariana and her sisters to church. So we got to go to Villa Tesei to see Mariana get baptized! She was so cute in her baptismal dress. She seemed pretty happy to be baptized, and the ward members there really love her a lot. The elders promised us they will keep teaching Dahiana and Ramona and have plans to baptized them next transfer. And they are still teaching my other investigators Marta and Graciela! So in the end, losing half my investigators to the elders was the best thing that could have happened! Those two were the ones with the special combination of personalities and Spirit and talents to help Mariana get baptized and help the other investigators progress!
Yesterday, Sunday, was one of the most beautiful days of my mission. My investigators Olga and Gaston were baptized. Olga was baptized before the meetings started because she wanted a small service with few people attending. It was the most spiritual baptismal service I've ever attended in the mission. Hna Navarro and I gave the talks. We spoke directly to her and her eyes were moist as we reminded her of the covenant she was about to make and of the blessings of the Holy Ghost. The water in the font was cold (we had promised it wouldn't be but the first counselor pressed the wrong button on the water heater! Olga wanted to kill us, but she was a trooper.), but Olga was so happy to have been baptized. When she received the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting, she was smiling and had a look of peace on her face. I couldn't stop grinning the whole time. I was so happy for her. It took her a long time to be baptized, but she was such a prepared investigator. She really understands the importance of baptism and despite her fears, she chose to be baptized because she wants to follow Jesus Christ.
After the meetings Gaston was baptized. He had finally removed his eyebrow piercing even though he had to use pliers to take it out, haha) and it was so wonderful to see him dressed in white. His road to baptism was not easy, but you could see in his face that he had transformed into a different person. Gaston gave up smoking (among other substances), overcame trials, and learned to have faith-- he came unto Christ in the fullest sense of the expression. I've imagined seeing Gaston be baptized by his brother Sebastian since I began teaching Gaston over a month and a half ago. I felt immense gratitude that the moment had finally arrived, and awe at the sacredness of what I was witnessing. Sebastian baptized Gaston and then they embraced. It was the most beautiful moment of my mission. At the end of the service, Seba shared his testimony. He said he was so happy that Gaston was baptized and that they are the first two members in their family. Then he looked at his mom, Marta, who was sitting in the front row, and said that he feels that with time she will be baptized too! Marta's eyes were wet and she was half smiling. It was a spiritually intense moment.
Yesterday was the last day of the transfer and I've been transferred to Ramos Mejia, just a half hour bus ride away from Hurlingham, where the mission office is. Of my three areas, Hurlingham was the hardest to leave. I really learned to love the members of Hurlingham and my investigators and my companion Hna Navarro. I have never loved my investigators so much as I learned to love Olga, Gaston and Pamela (who received permission from her parents to get baptized in October, even though they wouldn't let her be baptized this weekend!). And I've never loved my companion as much as I loved Hna Navarro! We became such good friends and she helped me so much. We really learned from each other and supported each other in all the difficult times, and she helped me learn to love the investigators as much as I did. Saying goodbye to Pamela and to my converts Elvira, Celeste, Evelyn, Olga and Gaston was very difficult. On Sunday night we went to Gaston's house so I could say goodbye to him and to Sebastian. Celeste, my convert from May, was there too (I really think she and Gaston have a thing going! They've become super good friends and Gaston loves Ludmila, Celeste's 3 year old daughter. Future eternal family!). We just sat and talked and I never wanted to leave. I asked the three of them to write in my notebook. They each thanked me so sincerely for helping them find the gospel (or in Sebastian's case, helping his brother to find it and for being his friend) that I was in awe. Celeste, Gaston and Seba are so wonderful and have so much potential. Those three are going places (and Seba is hopefully going on a mission!!!). Gaston says someday he wants to come visit me in the U.S someday!
Afterwards I said goodbye to Elvira and shared one last scripture with her. She told me how much she loves being a member of the church and how much peace she feels now. She says she wants to be baptized in the temple for her dead mother! She has such a strong testimony!
I'm so grateful Heavenly Father let me meet and baptized my converts in Hurlingham. Through them, he will bless generations in both directions. Celeste and Gaston will have kids someday (not necessarily together, but you never know :) ) and those children will be born in the gospel. And Celeste told me that she wants Ludmila to get baptized when she turns 8! And Elvira and Olga will be baptized for their deceased family members who are waiting for the blessings of the gospel. Olga lost her entire family one by one, including her husband who died in a car accident two years after they were married, over 40 years ago. The gospel has given her the way to be able to see her husband and her family again after this life!
Today when Hna Navarro and I came to the mission office to go to the transfer meeting, we both cried. I didn't want to switch companions or leave my converts and Pamela. I feel like I left my heart in my old area, but I'm excited to come to love the people here in Ramos Mejia like I learned to love the people in Hurlingham. I know the Lord has people prepared here who need me to bring them the gospel, together with Hna Azcurra, my new Argentine companion from Mar del Plata. (3 Argentine companions in a row = kick butt Spanish at the end of my mission! And I love the Argentine sisters!)
I love you all: Mom, Dad, Eliza, Ben, Emma and Dan! Elder Clark, keeping working to learn to share that gospel! You are a truly great missionary! And the rest of you, invite those friends to church! Sharing the gospel is so important, because nothing we can do to help someone is as life saving for them as giving them the gospel. I love you! Thanks for everything!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I hope you didn't tell me anything important, because I didn't have time to read your emails.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Headlines of the Week
GREETINGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN MOSCOW AND AT BYU/ IN UTAH! I DON´T WRITE MUCH BUT I THINK OF YOU OFTEN AND HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL! THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN ME LATELY!
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your emails! Three letters from Mom, two from Grandma, and the package arrived last week. I opened the package last night and laughed a lot over the "specially packaged" pantyhose. Thanks for the laugh and for the energy bars and pens and sticky notes! I really like the stationary too.
This has been a very full week. Here are the headlines:
Gastón Sires to be baptized 9-25! One week without smoking!
The miracle of the week is that Gastón didn´t smoke even once! On Monday his exgirlfriend sent him lots of nasty text messages and he was really upset, but despite that trial he didn´t give in to smoking! He stayed strong the whole week, even when it was hard. So he´s on track to get baptized this Sunday. Gastón is so wonderful and is developing so much faith. I´m so blessed to be able to teach him!
Pamela prayed and feels more sure about her baptism, although her parents´ permission continues to be a challenge that gives her occasional doubts. Her mom says yes, but her dad says no. But on Wednesday we are going to talk more with her mom, who promised to talk to Pamela´s dad. We are praying every day that Pamela will be able to get permission and feel sure about getting baptized.
Olga is struggling with fear and faith. On Tuesday when we arrived she said she wanted to wait to be baptized until her vacation in JANUARY in order to have time for one week of spiritual purification in preparation for baptism--- completely unnecessary for someone as practically sinless as Olga. But we helped her resolve her doubts and she said she would get baptized the next Saturday- 9-24. But then on Saturday she was worried again because she thinks the cold water will make her sick--I had to pray for patience. If she makes excuses it is because she is understandably nervous about making such a big change in her life. But we talked to her (I explained the water is warm, not cold) and she felt the Spirit and was more sure about baptism this weekend. She agreed to have her baptismal interview on Tuesday, which will hopefully help her feel more ready. I love her so much and I know she needs to get baptized.
One year anniversary of Hna Clark´s arrival in Argentina-- most of the public is still unaware.
Not much more to say about that. I´m trying not to count down the months, just focus on loving the people and working as hard as I can.
Psychological wounds from Elder Aidukaitis´ guilt inducing mission tour this September have dropped 25% since his last visit in June 2010.
On the one year anniversary of my arrival in Argentina, Elder Aidukaitis (from Brazil, part of the area presidency) came to speak to the mission. He told us: "I am very happy with your work. But I am not satisfied." He has really high expectations for us and wrote down all our statistics on a white board to show us how almost none of us are meeting the goals we set because we don´t know how to plan--- MAJOR GUILT TRIP!!! (apparently when he came last year he was even tougher and made the elders cry) He taught us that during weekly planning we should plan every hour of every day of the week-- yikes! I used to just plan lessons for my investigators. I tried to think positively about it though-- if he has high expectations it is because he sees a lot of potential in us.
On Sunday we tried to plan the way Elder Aidukaitis taught us. I had a lot of doubts about it being a good way to plan, but I made an effort to have faith and be obedient and we tried it. It was hard, and we only planned all the hours until Wednesday, but I felt good about it. I think the advantage of planning that way is that during nightly planning we can plan more specifically for the lessons we need to teach to our investigators. And when we set appointments in the street, we already know exactly where we´re going to be during the week, so it´s more efficient. I´m going to keep trying this way of planning until I master it.
For the second week in a row we contacted 150 people. It didn´t really help us find new investigators, but that probably means I need to look for other methods of finding too or change how I contact people. So far the blessing for contacting is more confidence and more of the Spirit, which is pretty great. I´m sure more blessings will come as I strive to be consistent and diligent with contacting.
This week I just want to help Gastón, Pamela and Olga get baptized on Sunday, but I know we need to find new investigators ASAP or we won´t have anyone left for next month, so I´m going to do my best to find new people too. I think we can work with Gastón´s family and invite them to the baptism.
Sister missionary bitten by dog!
Yup. I finally got bit. On Friday we found a potential new investigator named Efraín and as we were leaving after setting a return appointment, I heard a loud growl and felt a sharp pain in my calf. A black and white blur streaked back behind Efraín´s house. I was kind of freaked out, but after examining the bite we concluded it wasn´t very serious. Efraín very nicely brought me soap and water to wash the bite, and assured us that the dog (belonged to his neighbor) had all it´s vaccines. Then we went to go teach Pamela and even though I said I was fine, she insisted on cleaning the bite with iodine and bandaging it. After we taught her I go to show off my wound to Gastón and his recent convert brother, Seba, which was kind of fun. Anyway, I´m recovering just fine and the only time I foam at the mouth is when I brush my teeth, so I guess I don´t have rabies. We went back to our appointment with Efraín and he wasn´t home, though we managed to teach his neighbor, Fortunata. I saw the dog again-- black with white chest and feet. It seems to recognize me and growled at me from behind the fence---aaaagh! I don´t know why it chose to bite ME of all people. I keep thinking of poor Hermana Abbot, who is mission legend for having been bit 7 times during her mission! I hope that this was a one time thing for me. Fun times in the mission.
Well, I´m super out of time. Got to go! I love you and I miss you. I hope you and the family have a great week! I´m praying for you.
Love,
Ellis
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your emails! Three letters from Mom, two from Grandma, and the package arrived last week. I opened the package last night and laughed a lot over the "specially packaged" pantyhose. Thanks for the laugh and for the energy bars and pens and sticky notes! I really like the stationary too.
This has been a very full week. Here are the headlines:
Gastón Sires to be baptized 9-25! One week without smoking!
The miracle of the week is that Gastón didn´t smoke even once! On Monday his exgirlfriend sent him lots of nasty text messages and he was really upset, but despite that trial he didn´t give in to smoking! He stayed strong the whole week, even when it was hard. So he´s on track to get baptized this Sunday. Gastón is so wonderful and is developing so much faith. I´m so blessed to be able to teach him!
Pamela prayed and feels more sure about her baptism, although her parents´ permission continues to be a challenge that gives her occasional doubts. Her mom says yes, but her dad says no. But on Wednesday we are going to talk more with her mom, who promised to talk to Pamela´s dad. We are praying every day that Pamela will be able to get permission and feel sure about getting baptized.
Olga is struggling with fear and faith. On Tuesday when we arrived she said she wanted to wait to be baptized until her vacation in JANUARY in order to have time for one week of spiritual purification in preparation for baptism--- completely unnecessary for someone as practically sinless as Olga. But we helped her resolve her doubts and she said she would get baptized the next Saturday- 9-24. But then on Saturday she was worried again because she thinks the cold water will make her sick--I had to pray for patience. If she makes excuses it is because she is understandably nervous about making such a big change in her life. But we talked to her (I explained the water is warm, not cold) and she felt the Spirit and was more sure about baptism this weekend. She agreed to have her baptismal interview on Tuesday, which will hopefully help her feel more ready. I love her so much and I know she needs to get baptized.
One year anniversary of Hna Clark´s arrival in Argentina-- most of the public is still unaware.
Not much more to say about that. I´m trying not to count down the months, just focus on loving the people and working as hard as I can.
Psychological wounds from Elder Aidukaitis´ guilt inducing mission tour this September have dropped 25% since his last visit in June 2010.
On the one year anniversary of my arrival in Argentina, Elder Aidukaitis (from Brazil, part of the area presidency) came to speak to the mission. He told us: "I am very happy with your work. But I am not satisfied." He has really high expectations for us and wrote down all our statistics on a white board to show us how almost none of us are meeting the goals we set because we don´t know how to plan--- MAJOR GUILT TRIP!!! (apparently when he came last year he was even tougher and made the elders cry) He taught us that during weekly planning we should plan every hour of every day of the week-- yikes! I used to just plan lessons for my investigators. I tried to think positively about it though-- if he has high expectations it is because he sees a lot of potential in us.
On Sunday we tried to plan the way Elder Aidukaitis taught us. I had a lot of doubts about it being a good way to plan, but I made an effort to have faith and be obedient and we tried it. It was hard, and we only planned all the hours until Wednesday, but I felt good about it. I think the advantage of planning that way is that during nightly planning we can plan more specifically for the lessons we need to teach to our investigators. And when we set appointments in the street, we already know exactly where we´re going to be during the week, so it´s more efficient. I´m going to keep trying this way of planning until I master it.
For the second week in a row we contacted 150 people. It didn´t really help us find new investigators, but that probably means I need to look for other methods of finding too or change how I contact people. So far the blessing for contacting is more confidence and more of the Spirit, which is pretty great. I´m sure more blessings will come as I strive to be consistent and diligent with contacting.
This week I just want to help Gastón, Pamela and Olga get baptized on Sunday, but I know we need to find new investigators ASAP or we won´t have anyone left for next month, so I´m going to do my best to find new people too. I think we can work with Gastón´s family and invite them to the baptism.
Sister missionary bitten by dog!
Yup. I finally got bit. On Friday we found a potential new investigator named Efraín and as we were leaving after setting a return appointment, I heard a loud growl and felt a sharp pain in my calf. A black and white blur streaked back behind Efraín´s house. I was kind of freaked out, but after examining the bite we concluded it wasn´t very serious. Efraín very nicely brought me soap and water to wash the bite, and assured us that the dog (belonged to his neighbor) had all it´s vaccines. Then we went to go teach Pamela and even though I said I was fine, she insisted on cleaning the bite with iodine and bandaging it. After we taught her I go to show off my wound to Gastón and his recent convert brother, Seba, which was kind of fun. Anyway, I´m recovering just fine and the only time I foam at the mouth is when I brush my teeth, so I guess I don´t have rabies. We went back to our appointment with Efraín and he wasn´t home, though we managed to teach his neighbor, Fortunata. I saw the dog again-- black with white chest and feet. It seems to recognize me and growled at me from behind the fence---aaaagh! I don´t know why it chose to bite ME of all people. I keep thinking of poor Hermana Abbot, who is mission legend for having been bit 7 times during her mission! I hope that this was a one time thing for me. Fun times in the mission.
Well, I´m super out of time. Got to go! I love you and I miss you. I hope you and the family have a great week! I´m praying for you.
Love,
Ellis
Monday, September 12, 2011
Making 150 Contacts in a Week
Dear Mom, Dad, Eliza, Emma, Dan and Elder Clark:
Thanks for your emails! It sounds like you had an action packed week with lots of trips and hiking. You guys don{t ever stop. I{d love to hear more about what Ben is up to. Could you maybe summarize what{s up with him and email it to me every week?
Here is what I've been up to:
Highlights/funny stuff of the week:
* Monday: we play soccer with the elders for 2 hours, then spend three days recovering from scrapes, bruises, and stiff muscles. It was worth it. We also went to a pizza libre (all you can eat pizza place) with the elders. They had an eating contest and Elder Hernandez won by eating 10 and a half slices. Typical. For the record, Hna Navarro and weren't competing, but the elders insisted on counting our slices anyway. We ate 3 each. I tried pizza cochina: pizza topped with cheese, french fries, and fried eggs. More fattening impossible, but it was tasty.
* Wednesday: In the same hour, a bird pooped on Hna Navarro and we met the world{s smelliest dog. It was one of those enormous gray sheep dogs that looks like a mop-- its hair was matted in dreadlocks and it was followed by a tidal wave of stink. The smell was indescribable. The dog followed us down a narrow passage way where an investigator lives, sniffing and panting the whole way-- eeeuhhh! (shiver of disgust) Fortunately, when I chanted "malo, malo, malo!" (bad, bad, bad!) it left without touching us. Eeeeeuh!
* Wednesday or Thursday: we prepared a lesson about the priesthood to teach to Gaston. And we had one of those WOW moments, when you realized how cool something is that you haven{t really thought that much about for a while. I try to explain to people everyday about the priesthood and why proper authority is important, but when we studied that principle for Gaston. . .WOW. The priesthood is so awesome! Gaston liked the lesson. I think he is excited to receive the priesthood after his baptism.
* Wednesday: We went to visit Evelyn, my absolutely perfect in every way convert. I was worried because she{s missed a lot of Sundays, but when she said the opening prayer she said "Please help me be able to go to church every Sunday, because I know it{s important and I want to go to church." Precious. We read a scripture with her about prayer and she said she prays every night with her little brother and reads the Book of Mormon every day too. Then she painted my nails with sparkly nail polish. I love Evelyn!
* Gaston went Monday to Wednesday without smoking, but smoked 2 cigarettes on Thursday-- that seems to be a rough day for him. Then he didn't smoke again until Sunday, when he smoked 2 again. Only four in the whole week! That{s really good! We reset his baptismal date one more time, and now he is going to get baptized on September 25. I know that this time he can do it!
* Other news: Olga is having some doubts, (baptism is a big change to make so late in life and she is already baptized in the Orthodox Catholic church) but she talked to the bishop on Sunday and I think he helped her a lot. We are planning a lesson just to answer her questions and doubts. Pamela's parents keep telling her the family is Catholic and that she should wait or that for now she can{t get baptized, which is giving her doubts. But she knows that she wants to and that it will bless her life. Her testimony is small, but growing. This week we have plans to speak to her parents and explain to them the blessings of baptism for Pamela. I feel like Pamela, Olga, and Gaston are teaching me a new level of love for my investigators. I think of them all the time, every day, and I worry about them and pray for them and plan for them. I really really want them to be able to receive the blessings of baptism.
* The highlight of the week was Sunday. We arrived late and discouraged at the chapel, because we went to pick up investigators that didn't end up coming. But then we saw that Olga and Gaston had arrived by themselves early! Then we saw Hermana Maidana, who came to church with her unbaptized 10 year old daughter, Joana, after 2 months of not going. I was really happy to see her. But the happiest moment was when I saw that Daniel and Graciela Rosales had arrived at church. They have been inactive for my whole time in Hurlingham. They want to go to church, but they are really poor and have large debts that they are struggling to pay off by selling tupperware in a fair on Saturdays and Sundays. I{ve visited them a lot and cried more than once testifying to them to help them have faith to go to church again. They finally came! And they came with two of their grown daughters who are also inactive. When I saw Daniel and Graciela my eyes almost overflowed. Daniel told me " I will go and do what the Lord commands because he always provides a way to do what he asks. Today he provided a way."
* But things just kept getting better. After the meetings Sebastian, a little boy in the primary, was baptized by his dad. Olga and Gaston stayed after the meetings and watched the baptism! The spirit was really strong and Sebastian and his family were glowing with the happiness that only the Gospel brings. Gaston told us later that he imagined himself someday having a son and baptizing him! (I have the best investigator ever!) I'm sure Olga felt the Spirit too. It was great!
* The perfect ending to a great Sunday was when we finished our 150 contacts for the first time. President Carter has been putting a big emphasis on doing all our contacts every week, and we finally did it. Sometimes it's hard for me to want to speak to people in the street, but it helps me to be happy and it leads to really neat experiences. For instance,in the train I decided I had to speak to a young man with headphones. He turned out to be an inactive 22 year old from a nearby ward. His name was Dario. He told us he never went on his mission and asked us if the time goes by fast. He knows he should go, but 2 years sounds like forever to him. We assured him the mission flies by and that the blessings are amazing. I could tell we left him thinking. I really hope he goes on his mission!
I hope each of you has an amazing week filled with triumphs and good laughs. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I know my emails have been getting kind of preachy/sentimental/serious, heavy on ambiguous expressions of enthusiasm and phrases like "the spirit was really strong" and short on visual details. Unfortunate side effect of the mission. I'll try to write with more details next week. I{m sure I'll return to normal when I get home.
Thanks for your emails! It sounds like you had an action packed week with lots of trips and hiking. You guys don{t ever stop. I{d love to hear more about what Ben is up to. Could you maybe summarize what{s up with him and email it to me every week?
Here is what I've been up to:
Highlights/funny stuff of the week:
* Monday: we play soccer with the elders for 2 hours, then spend three days recovering from scrapes, bruises, and stiff muscles. It was worth it. We also went to a pizza libre (all you can eat pizza place) with the elders. They had an eating contest and Elder Hernandez won by eating 10 and a half slices. Typical. For the record, Hna Navarro and weren't competing, but the elders insisted on counting our slices anyway. We ate 3 each. I tried pizza cochina: pizza topped with cheese, french fries, and fried eggs. More fattening impossible, but it was tasty.
* Wednesday: In the same hour, a bird pooped on Hna Navarro and we met the world{s smelliest dog. It was one of those enormous gray sheep dogs that looks like a mop-- its hair was matted in dreadlocks and it was followed by a tidal wave of stink. The smell was indescribable. The dog followed us down a narrow passage way where an investigator lives, sniffing and panting the whole way-- eeeuhhh! (shiver of disgust) Fortunately, when I chanted "malo, malo, malo!" (bad, bad, bad!) it left without touching us. Eeeeeuh!
* Wednesday or Thursday: we prepared a lesson about the priesthood to teach to Gaston. And we had one of those WOW moments, when you realized how cool something is that you haven{t really thought that much about for a while. I try to explain to people everyday about the priesthood and why proper authority is important, but when we studied that principle for Gaston. . .WOW. The priesthood is so awesome! Gaston liked the lesson. I think he is excited to receive the priesthood after his baptism.
* Wednesday: We went to visit Evelyn, my absolutely perfect in every way convert. I was worried because she{s missed a lot of Sundays, but when she said the opening prayer she said "Please help me be able to go to church every Sunday, because I know it{s important and I want to go to church." Precious. We read a scripture with her about prayer and she said she prays every night with her little brother and reads the Book of Mormon every day too. Then she painted my nails with sparkly nail polish. I love Evelyn!
* Gaston went Monday to Wednesday without smoking, but smoked 2 cigarettes on Thursday-- that seems to be a rough day for him. Then he didn't smoke again until Sunday, when he smoked 2 again. Only four in the whole week! That{s really good! We reset his baptismal date one more time, and now he is going to get baptized on September 25. I know that this time he can do it!
* Other news: Olga is having some doubts, (baptism is a big change to make so late in life and she is already baptized in the Orthodox Catholic church) but she talked to the bishop on Sunday and I think he helped her a lot. We are planning a lesson just to answer her questions and doubts. Pamela's parents keep telling her the family is Catholic and that she should wait or that for now she can{t get baptized, which is giving her doubts. But she knows that she wants to and that it will bless her life. Her testimony is small, but growing. This week we have plans to speak to her parents and explain to them the blessings of baptism for Pamela. I feel like Pamela, Olga, and Gaston are teaching me a new level of love for my investigators. I think of them all the time, every day, and I worry about them and pray for them and plan for them. I really really want them to be able to receive the blessings of baptism.
* The highlight of the week was Sunday. We arrived late and discouraged at the chapel, because we went to pick up investigators that didn't end up coming. But then we saw that Olga and Gaston had arrived by themselves early! Then we saw Hermana Maidana, who came to church with her unbaptized 10 year old daughter, Joana, after 2 months of not going. I was really happy to see her. But the happiest moment was when I saw that Daniel and Graciela Rosales had arrived at church. They have been inactive for my whole time in Hurlingham. They want to go to church, but they are really poor and have large debts that they are struggling to pay off by selling tupperware in a fair on Saturdays and Sundays. I{ve visited them a lot and cried more than once testifying to them to help them have faith to go to church again. They finally came! And they came with two of their grown daughters who are also inactive. When I saw Daniel and Graciela my eyes almost overflowed. Daniel told me " I will go and do what the Lord commands because he always provides a way to do what he asks. Today he provided a way."
* But things just kept getting better. After the meetings Sebastian, a little boy in the primary, was baptized by his dad. Olga and Gaston stayed after the meetings and watched the baptism! The spirit was really strong and Sebastian and his family were glowing with the happiness that only the Gospel brings. Gaston told us later that he imagined himself someday having a son and baptizing him! (I have the best investigator ever!) I'm sure Olga felt the Spirit too. It was great!
* The perfect ending to a great Sunday was when we finished our 150 contacts for the first time. President Carter has been putting a big emphasis on doing all our contacts every week, and we finally did it. Sometimes it's hard for me to want to speak to people in the street, but it helps me to be happy and it leads to really neat experiences. For instance,in the train I decided I had to speak to a young man with headphones. He turned out to be an inactive 22 year old from a nearby ward. His name was Dario. He told us he never went on his mission and asked us if the time goes by fast. He knows he should go, but 2 years sounds like forever to him. We assured him the mission flies by and that the blessings are amazing. I could tell we left him thinking. I really hope he goes on his mission!
I hope each of you has an amazing week filled with triumphs and good laughs. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I know my emails have been getting kind of preachy/sentimental/serious, heavy on ambiguous expressions of enthusiasm and phrases like "the spirit was really strong" and short on visual details. Unfortunate side effect of the mission. I'll try to write with more details next week. I{m sure I'll return to normal when I get home.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Gaston, Olga, and Pamela are going to get baptized!
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for all your emails. You sure sent a lot this week! Grandma Clark sent me one too, which was fun. It sounds like the reunion was fun, though low key. I´m surprised you gustonians, as Uncle Adam would say, didn´t play sand volleyball until you developed calluses on your inner arms or something equally extreme. You have to remember your mantra: I am a well oiled machine, made to go for the gusto. . .
We were really blessed this week because we were able to help two more investigators set baptismal dates: Pamela and Olga. Pamela is 16 and has a really rough family situation. On top of everything, Pamela´s boyfriend just broke up with her. So she´s really unhappy. But we explained to her that after baptism the gift of the Holy Ghost will be able to help her feel safe and know what to do and she accepted the baptismal date. We pray for her a lot and we are going to do everything we can to help her get baptized.
We were also able to set a date with Olga, who we´ve been teaching since last transfer. Before she was afraid of changing and told us she didn´t want us to pressure her, but she spent this week reading the Gospel Principles manual someone in the ward gave her and felt the Spirit really strongly. When we went to visit her she started asking questions about the baptismal service and we set a date with no problems. She knocked us flat. We were really surprised, because we expected a lot more work to get her to accept baptism.
We are still working at full speed with Gaston. He went three days without smoking (we were SO HAPPY the first night that he told us he hadn´t smoked all day. We almost burst into happy tears.), then relapsed on Thursday (low point of the week, especially because that was the same day Pamela told us about all her family problems. Gaston felt terrible about smoking again and we almost cried.) but we are trying again this week and we reset his baptismal date for the 18th. Teaching Gaston has really taught me a lot about helping addicts. We have to recommit him and verify his commitments every day, and call him two or three times a day. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he´s addicted, so he needs constant support and reminders to keep the commitments he makes. If we don´t stay on top of him, the addiction becomes stronger than his desire to keep the commitment. And that´s not because he doesn´t want to change-- he really does-- it´s just that he is, well, addicted. It´s also really important to manage his stress level and happiness, because if he gets nervous and worried he starts smoking again. We basically have to keep him in mind all day long-- it´s a lot of work, but it´s really really rewarding. Yesterday we had a really neat lesson with him. When we arrived, we could tell he was happier than we´ve ever seen him. He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon extra that day (he is a super investigator who reads every day and prays at least three times a day). He read about 15 pages in one go, and we could tell he had felt the Spirit. We shared with him how the gospel can bless his future family, and he is really excited to be able to be a father someday and teach his children the gospel. I feel so lucky to be able to teach him. It´s been amazing to see his change of heart. I can´t wait to see him get baptized! We are going to be very busy the next two weeks-- if Gaston smokes even once we will probably have to postpone his baptism again. Please pray for him!
I feel really happy to be a missionary here in Hurlingham. It´s been the most difficult of my three areas, but the area that will most cost me to leave. I´ve learned so much here, and I´ve come to love more deeply the ward and my converts and investigators. I don´t know how much time I have left here, but I want to use that time the best I can to be able to leave this area better than I found it.
Thanks for all that you to help me out. I love you and hope you all have excellent, successful weeks and that you keep learning lots! I love you all!
Love,Ellis
Thanks for all your emails. You sure sent a lot this week! Grandma Clark sent me one too, which was fun. It sounds like the reunion was fun, though low key. I´m surprised you gustonians, as Uncle Adam would say, didn´t play sand volleyball until you developed calluses on your inner arms or something equally extreme. You have to remember your mantra: I am a well oiled machine, made to go for the gusto. . .
We were really blessed this week because we were able to help two more investigators set baptismal dates: Pamela and Olga. Pamela is 16 and has a really rough family situation. On top of everything, Pamela´s boyfriend just broke up with her. So she´s really unhappy. But we explained to her that after baptism the gift of the Holy Ghost will be able to help her feel safe and know what to do and she accepted the baptismal date. We pray for her a lot and we are going to do everything we can to help her get baptized.
We were also able to set a date with Olga, who we´ve been teaching since last transfer. Before she was afraid of changing and told us she didn´t want us to pressure her, but she spent this week reading the Gospel Principles manual someone in the ward gave her and felt the Spirit really strongly. When we went to visit her she started asking questions about the baptismal service and we set a date with no problems. She knocked us flat. We were really surprised, because we expected a lot more work to get her to accept baptism.
We are still working at full speed with Gaston. He went three days without smoking (we were SO HAPPY the first night that he told us he hadn´t smoked all day. We almost burst into happy tears.), then relapsed on Thursday (low point of the week, especially because that was the same day Pamela told us about all her family problems. Gaston felt terrible about smoking again and we almost cried.) but we are trying again this week and we reset his baptismal date for the 18th. Teaching Gaston has really taught me a lot about helping addicts. We have to recommit him and verify his commitments every day, and call him two or three times a day. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he´s addicted, so he needs constant support and reminders to keep the commitments he makes. If we don´t stay on top of him, the addiction becomes stronger than his desire to keep the commitment. And that´s not because he doesn´t want to change-- he really does-- it´s just that he is, well, addicted. It´s also really important to manage his stress level and happiness, because if he gets nervous and worried he starts smoking again. We basically have to keep him in mind all day long-- it´s a lot of work, but it´s really really rewarding. Yesterday we had a really neat lesson with him. When we arrived, we could tell he was happier than we´ve ever seen him. He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon extra that day (he is a super investigator who reads every day and prays at least three times a day). He read about 15 pages in one go, and we could tell he had felt the Spirit. We shared with him how the gospel can bless his future family, and he is really excited to be able to be a father someday and teach his children the gospel. I feel so lucky to be able to teach him. It´s been amazing to see his change of heart. I can´t wait to see him get baptized! We are going to be very busy the next two weeks-- if Gaston smokes even once we will probably have to postpone his baptism again. Please pray for him!
I feel really happy to be a missionary here in Hurlingham. It´s been the most difficult of my three areas, but the area that will most cost me to leave. I´ve learned so much here, and I´ve come to love more deeply the ward and my converts and investigators. I don´t know how much time I have left here, but I want to use that time the best I can to be able to leave this area better than I found it.
Thanks for all that you to help me out. I love you and hope you all have excellent, successful weeks and that you keep learning lots! I love you all!
Love,Ellis
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