MARCH letters home:
March 5, 2012
¡Hola familia!
So yeah, I kinda forgot to tell you that my comp´s name is Elder Schreyer (shry-er). He´s from Holiday, Utah and is (gasp) a Ute fan. So yes, of course we get along! No but really, that doesn´t cause any problems, it´s just kind of funny. He´s finishing up in Agosto, he´s fairly sarcastic, and he´s funny. Just some random information :D
Today we got the chance to go to centro en Corrientes Capital (by the way Dad, the mission has the following provincias: Chaco, Formosa, Corrientes, Misiones, y una partasita de Santa Fe) to buy a bus card since it´s way easier to use. Here they only use coins for their buses but coins are so ridiculously small in values that they aren´t used very often, o sea, it´s kind of hard to find them. While we were there, we went to Walmart that happens to be in a shopping mall. And when I say shopping mall, I mean a real one! As in yes, it has McDonald´s! Ridiculously expensive, but it´s there! It feels exactly the same like a mall back home (even down to the fact that almost every store is focused at women), except that around 1 it was completely empty. So it was kinda fun to feel "at home" for about a while over there.
I´ve really enjoyed having another companionship living next door to us; we´re the only ones in the top floor of the small building that has the 4 apartments, so we see each other a lot. It gives us the ability to chat a little bit at night after planning or in the morning before studying, so it´s a HUGE change from San Martín where you almost never see other Elders. Also, in District Meetings, we see the entire Zone, so I actually feel like a part of la Zona Corrientes instead of how it was in the Zone Conference for la Zona Resistencia Sur, where us and El Colorado were almost like the after-thoughts (or so it felt at that conference). A funny tidbit is that Elder Quintana, who´s in Maipú II, was en San Martín to start off his time here.
As far as the work goes, we should have 2 baptisms this Saturday! Antonela y Luis are getting baptized, along with an investigator of Maipú II and a member baptism of an 8 yr-old from the other branch in our building. Luis is getting married el 9 and the baptism is going to be the 10th. They´re both really cool, even though the 9 yr-old Antonela is pretty shy. It makes it a little hard to teach because she doesn´t want to answer questions even when she knows the answer, but its ok, since she really is actually learning. I´ve even heard her talk at a normal sound level! (once...jaja) Orlando y María Aquirre should get baptized the 17th; they´ve accepted every commitment, though they´ve had dificulties getting to church...yesterday they got really sick and couldn´t go...they´re in their 60s, so that can be a challenge for them. Still, I´m confident that they´ll come this Sunday. If that happens, they´ll get baptized the 17th if we feel they´re ready; if we don´t feel that, it´ll be the 24th. But it´s going to happen igual!
I´m happy that Shelby and Jeff found a new place to live! It´ll be tough, but it´s good for them. Just make sure you enjoy the 8th Shelbell! I´m also happy that Samuel is feeling better...it´s no good when a little baby is feeling sick!
I hope everything continues to go well!
¡Que los cumplas feliz, Shelbell!
Élder Andrew McClellan
March 12, 2012
¡Hola Familia!
I hope that you guys are enjoying yourselves over there in Washington! It still makes me a little sad that I didn´t have the opportunity to go over there before leaving for here. It would´ve been nice, but I guess that´s the way the cookie crumbles. I´m glad that it sounds like they´re all doing well up there! Make sure they know that when people ask me where I´m from I say "From the State of Washington!" (not the capitol! since everyone assumes that). What´s kind of funny for me is
that some people have a really hard time understanding that Washington DC is not in the state...I guess that´s because here almost every provence capitol is named after the state, for example, Corrientes, Corrientes and Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires. They think it´s weird that DC is like 3000 miles from the state! I´m glad Grant seems to be doing well out there in Colorado...it´s weird to think that he only has 6 months to go...
So we did have one baptism this Saturday! Little Antonella Vallejos got baptized! She´s a little 9 year-old girl whose familia has been inactive for the last little while. Her dad died when the familiy was planning on getting sealed and so that kind of pushed them to inactivity. We´re hoping that the baptism is going to help the mom reactivate, and for the past 5 Sundays she´s come 4 times, so that´s a start! It was really special to be at the baptism for 2 reasons. 1: 3 kids 12 and younger got baptized, so it was like watching the youth step up to do the right and 2: I, my companion, and the mom (probably Antonella as well) could feel that the dad was there in spirit at that baptismal service! It was really quite powerful, and was something that was impressed upon me at the end of the service. I got to baptize her as well (since she didn´t trust the priests and didn´t know the other men well) and so I feel like there was a personal thank you in that feeling.
This Saturday Luis is going to get baptized, and hopefully by his dad who got baptized about a month ago in another branch in Corrientes! He got married on the 9th, so I got to see that too and that was really cool. We´re really looking forward to his baptism and we´re also looking forward to the opportunity to focus on the wife a little more. We always focused on him because she didn´t show a lot of interest, but we want to fix that particular oversight/mistake and try to find a way to interest her.
Orlando and María Aguirre didn´t come to Church again, which is really disappointing... They accept every single compromiso without fail, yet they just don´t come to Church... first they have a really good excuse; they had something happen since a friend broke their trust, there was a lot of problems and they were up until like 6 in the morning, so they didn´t come (I should say that they´re in their
sixties, so they need their rest, plus they have health problems). The next Sunday they were sick, and eventually they went to the hospital for it. This last Sunday we have no real idea why they didn´t come, but it´s getting to be a little worrisome...when people don´t come to Church with that much space, it´s very very worrisome! We´re hoping that they´ll be able to get baptized the 31st (like in between sessions of General Conference or something) but they can`t miss any more Sundays...we need to see a little bit more commitment to come to Church before they get baptized.
I´m sad that Samuel seems to be the sick little baby; ¡Se sano vos! (¡Decile éso por mí por favor!) At least he´ll be able to get some anitbodies, ¿no? And wow Lidia! 300 books already! She´s a little
bookworm and she´s not even 6 yet! Keep her going and she´ll be reading novels by the time she´s 7! (ok probably not THAT quickly, but she might be some kind of genius or something like that). I like that all the studiers seem to be having success and that it seems like things are going well on the homefront!
It´s weird to think that this will be the 2nd General Conference that I´ll have here...It´s also weird to think that I´m super excited for it when in High School I usually groaned since it meant that Saturday
disappeared! Priorities change a lot I guess lol. No, but en serio, GC is something awesome, something that allows us to answer a bunch of questions, if we come prepared and seeking for answers. We have that wonderful promise that in some way or form, be it an exact frase from
a talk, a thought or feeling that comes to mind while listening to a talk or a song, or something else, we will receive answers to every question that we bring to the Conference! So you should think a little about that one and ¡preparate!
¡Os quiero!
Élder Andrew McClellan
March 19, 2012
¡Hola Familia!
So sorry this is going to be a little short this week; I got an email from Grant and I haven´t heard from him in forever, so I got a little carried away in my answer lol...but that´s ok, I won´t be doing that much so you´ll still get the normal messages!
This week there´s not a whole lot to report; mostly just that Luis got baptized! His dad, a recente convert of about a month got to baptize him and Presidente Heyman was at the baptism! I´m not sure why, but he was there! He gave a short message before the welcome to the branch, so it was way cool. I´ll send some pictures of that at some point! He got confirmed on Sunday, and the next Sunday he should get the Priesthood! We´re being very prompt with this since we really need priesthood holders and he needs time to be able to use it so he can receive the Melchezidek Priesthood in the next District Conference. So far one branch has qualified to be a ward, so we just need four more to be a Stake! The next closest unit is ours, so we´re going to be working hard with the District Presidency to get this unit ready to be a ward! We´re getting a lot closer so I´m excited!
One major thing that I learned this week is that being excited and happy in this work (and world) really is a personal choice. Even when things aren´t going the way you want, when investigadores stop talking to you without even a warning or a reason, when it seems impossible, all we have to do is choose. That´s what´s importante, that we take the decision to be happy and that we do what we need to follow through. We´ve got a lot of work to do, but that´s ok. We´re going to find some people that are going to progress and we´ve already got a few who seem promising. We´re just going to do all we can and the Lord will help us with the rest.
Happy Birthday to Anita and Claire! I hope that they had lots of fun on their special day! They´re cuties, and I know they´ll keep on being that!
¡Os quiero!
Élder Andrew McClellan
March 26, 2012
¡Hola familia!
So I really hope I don´t have to use the letter d much, since this keyboard stinks and is driving me absolutely nuts.
So yeah this week was a lot better than the last one. We just were able to teach more instead of running into a brick wall every day. We found this guy named Arnaldo who´s really cool! He´s already gotten an answer and we´ve only had two charlas! It´s not a super strong one digamos, but still, it´s a good one! He´s going to progress pretty well I think. He also has a sobrino that seems pretty interested which is awesome as he turns 8 tomorrow! So I´m excited for that! We´ll see what his parents think. We´re also working with the brother of the District President; it´s kind of hard since he doesn´t have a set schedule, but his wife isn´t a member and he´s working on reactivating himself! He asks a lot of questions and they´re both really nice, we just need to help her have more interest. They´re going to get married soon since he wants to do it right, and we´re going to help them with the papers.
Asides that we don´t have a whole lot of people to teach; we´re kind of working on finding more people to teach and to improve the promise of the people we do have.
Last Tuesday I finally got the letter the Boyd family gave me! I thought it was pretty entertaining to read the thoughts of the little one´s and Michelle´s commentaries! Tell Claire that she shouldn´t be worried "about getting killed"; she´s a little young to worry about that one! And for Lydia, I want Shelby to write "ARM" in all caps! Uncle Drew needs to have his signature on that cast! If it serves to point out the obvious as well, so much the better!
It´s fun to hear the commentaries about Shayon and Samuel and Bradley. It would appear that the older one´s are turning into funny little guys. Bradley is just a typical little kid, wakin ya up all the time! I´m sure they´re awesome chiquiticos!
As far as the weather is going, it is cooling down at night a fair amount. It´s cooler in general in Corrientes than Chaco (especially San Martín) but even for here it´s cooling down bit by bit. That´s good since we don´t have air conditioning, but we don´t have a heater either and it seems to me that sometimes at night in the winter it might get pretty cold! Oh well, it´s still nicer than my first pench! I found out when I got transferred over here that if Presidente hadn´t emergency transferred Elder Laniel and his newbie to whitewash another area in January that they were going to be kicked out. It really was una pensión hecho percha! (Literally, done hanger, but it´s essentially destroyed, falling apart, piece of junk, etc). IT was pretty bad, not going to lie!
I also got a rundown from Grant how his mission has gone for him. It was nice to get a note from him since it´s been a long time! That kid is awesome!
It is kind of weird that tomorrow is my birthday...I don´t feel old enough to not be a teenager! It´s so weird...it´s still 2011 isn´t it!? Fa...it seems like time doesn´t flow normally sometimes. It´ll be a little weird, to pass my first birthday in the mission, but I guess that´s a good thing since it means that I get my yearly birthday present of GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! ¡Por fin! I can´t believe that before I treated it more like a chore than something I enjoy! As a missionary, I´ve just learned to love it and take advantage of it! It´s really quite nice. An opportunity to hear the words of God through His chosen servants and His prophet! It´s just a really cool opportunity to receive revelation from God for us, and for my investigadores! It really has something for everyone, and many times it has something for you in every talk! All in all, it´s just really cool! Make sure you take advantage of it!
I love you all and I hope that everything continues to go well!d
¡Que os vaya bien! ¡Os quiero!
Élder Andrew McClellan
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