Monday, April 28, 2014

7 months and Goya!!

Hey everyone!!! 

I had a great week this week. First I want to start off that I hit 7 months in the mission, crazy that I have already been gone for 7 months!!! The time is flying!! Also, I got transfered to GOYA!!! It´s an awesome city that´s in the south of the mission, south of Resistencia, and I LOVE it!! It is a lot nicer here and nice and cool outside because it is more south. Things are cheaper, it´s the first time I´ve seen a two story house in who knows how long, and the people here are really nice! But, they act overly anxious to accept things and then don´t do anything. It´s really weird how they are so excited and then don´t do anything. 

Anyways, it was kind of hard to leave Sáenz Peña, only because I was wish la familia Gomez when we got the call and they all started crying except for Jorge, and he got pretty close, and then they all gave me a present to remember them and some of them gave me stuff that means a lot to them. So, I left some stuff for them and some pictures and I gave them my rugby ball so that they can remember me. 

Anyways, my new companion is Elder Mauricio and he is from Peru and he´s really cool and it´s weird now NEVER being able to speak in English, but I kind of like it! The church here is bigger, but I still have to play they piano and they have the same number of people at church, just a bigger building and more men than the last area. 

And, la familia pereyra did a dinner for me before I left. Sorry the letter is all over the place this week, but I don´t have a lot of time and I´m remembering stuff as I´m writing. The apartment is cool, but we didn´t have hot water, so we had to boil water and take a "shower" with a bucket, but we are moving to an apartment one floor above us that is a little bigger and has hot water so I´m excited for that, And, we found a family that has been less active in the church, but a few of their kids want to learn and want to be baptized, so I am super excited for that!! 

The quote I wanted to add for this week is from Russell M. Nelson and it says, "Keeping...commandments brings blessings every time;not keeping...commandments loses blessings every time." So, if we are ever down or don´t know why we have a blessing, we just have to obey the commandment and we will receive the blessing, EVERY TIME.

So, if there was anything that you wanted to know about transfers or Goya or something that I didn´t put in here just let me know and I will tell you next week, and the thing to send pictures is broken on this computer, but I will have a ton of pics with my new comp. and Goya next week!!
 
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine

Monday, April 21, 2014

Transfers Tomorrow!

Hey Everyone! 

This week was pretty cool and much more laid back than the last couple weeks. On Monday night (tuesday morning) the eclipse with the red moon happened and that was cool to see and I got a couple cool pictures of that. 

Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday I went on divisions with Elder Warth and that was really fun and we talked a lot about our futures and it´s always cool to do divisions with him and he´ll for sure be a good friend after the mission. Also, we both think that we are getting transfered, so this will probably be our last divisions, if not forever then for a little while. Then, Elder Cannon was sick for a little while this week, so we were stuck up in the apartment for a little while. But, he´s doing better now. And, our branch, Ensanche Sur, had 3 more baptisms this last saturday from the other missionaries in the branch and that was cool to see. 

Anyways, la familia Gomez is doing really well and this week we watched the Joseph Smith movie with them and we did service with them one night where we cut their “lawn” with machetes and that was pretty fun. And, the most exciting news...transfers are tomorrow!! I really like Ensanche Sur, but I´m ready to get transfered. I´m excited to go to a new area and see some new things. But, we´ll see what happens and we´ll see where I end up. Although, la familia Gomez doesn´t want me to ever get transfered haha They keep telling me that they aren´t going to let me go on Tuesday. 

Anyways, that´s pretty much it for this week, but the last thing I wanted to add was a quote from General Conference when Henry B Eyring said, “Good decisions don´t have immediate blessings many times, because then they would not require faith to do them and sin would have no temptation if they instantly and always made us feel bad or want to change.” I like this quote a lot. Many times we don´t see the blessings, or the bad consequences, instantly, because then we wouldn´t develop any faith or self control. We would just do, or not do, actions to instantly receive rewards or avoid punishment. So, we should do what is right and trust that, in due time, we will receive the blessings. Thanks to everyone who always elmails me and makes the effort to stay in contact! I appreciate the support hope to hear from you all soon!
 
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine

Family of Rosa

 The missionaries with Rosa.


 Elder Cannon and I looking too cool.

 a funny picture of elder Cannon and I teaching

A picture with Carlita and I with the present I gave her that my Aunt sent me! :)
 
 Red Moon Eclipse



Thursday, April 17, 2014

Baptized the Gomez Family!!

April 14, 2014 - Monday
Hey everyone!! 

This week was really good and really busy. This week we spent a lot of time in the church. One day, since we are counselors to the Presidente, we had to come in and do a trimester report for the church and what has been going on and who all has been coming and all that jazz so that took awhile. And then on Friday we had to come to the church and we spent most of the day cleaning the whole church and setting up chairs and filling the font for the baptism. 

So, we ended up having all of the baptisms!!! Jorge, Patricia, Cintya, and Celeste all got baptized and now the entire Gomez family is baptized and looking forward to going to the temple!!! It was awesome and I got to baptize Jorge and Cintya and got to do the confirmation of Patricia and Celeste!!! It was all really awesome and it went great this whole week preparing with them and helping them come to follow Christ! And, they didn´t want any cold water, but the church doesn´t have hot water, so we literally filled this giant pot and put it over all 4 burners of a stove at the church and filled it 3 times and added in the boiling water and it turned out okay, it still wasn´t warm, but it was better than it was going to be! 

It rained a couple of days, but for the most part it has been really nice out and yesterday and today were perfect, but everyone here thinks it´s freezing and people are going around in their winter jackets and it´s really funny to see them, and then their reaction to us not having any jacket. 

Also, I did divisions with our zone leader, Elder Mojica, and those went really well and it was cool to be with him for a day and a half, and he bought us hamburgers haha. 

Anyways, I hit day number 200 on the mission this last saturday when we had the baptism which is kind of cool and now there is only one week until transfers! I love Sáenz Peña, but, after 6 months, I´m ready to get a change of area and to go see and experience something new, so I´m hoping that I get transfered, but we´ll see what happens. 

Wilson also keeps coming to church and wants to be baptized, but his dad still won´t give him permission so we can´t really do anything right now, but we´ll wait and hope that he changes his mind. Also, la familia Gomez has been feeding us like crazy! They love us and tell us that they now consider us part of the family and we eat with them like 2 or 3 times a week, it´s pretty awesome!!! haha 

Anyways, the last thing I wanted to put in here was a quote from Neil L Andersen that reads, “Everyone deserves our kindness and appreciation including, and many times especially, those whose ideas, beliefs, and morals are different.” I love this because it focuses on those whose ideas differ from ours. We don´t always have to agree with others, or even support the things that they do, but we do need to show them kindness and understand that they are doing what they think is best for them and the best way that we can help is to be kind and loving. So, I hope that we can all keep this in mind this week and try to go out of our way to be kind to others with whom we don´t always agree. I appreciate everyone who always writes me and keeps me up to date on what´s going on at home and I hope to hear from all of you soon!!
 
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine


  Us with the Gomez family at their baptism


 Celeste and Elder Cannon

 Patricia and Elder Cannon

 Jorge and me

Cintya and I

Monday, April 7, 2014

General Conference Week

Hey Everyone!

This week was pretty good overall, but really busy. Both Raul and Eduardo, the little kids we baptized, had their birthday´s this week on the 31st of March and the 4th of April. And, I gave them some stickers with my name on them and some gum and chapstick from the states and they thought that was pretty cool and then we cut Raul´s hair as well. 

And, this last Wednesday we went and made tacos with la familia Gomez with some taco seasoning that we got from Elder Cannon´s parents and they really loved them and are sad that now they know how to make them but can´t because they don´t have the seasoning. 

Anyways, on friday we found this girl named Miliam and she is a student at the college and she is really cool and has some friends that are members and wants to learn more and she actually came to general conference on Sunday!! General conference, where the prophets and apostles speak, was really good this year and we had Miliam and la familia Gomez that came and they said that all their questions were answered and they really liked it. There are 5 different 2 hour sessions and Jorge ended up coming to three of them!! 

But, on Saturday I kind of felt sick and some of the elders from Quitilipi had to sleep over so I slept on the ground and most of Sunday I didn´t feel that good and I didn´t eat all day until like 9pm, but now I´m feeling okay so it wasn´t too bad. Also, on Sunday night we went over to la familia gomez after the conferences and brought a little trophy necklace thing and started a weekly award with them where everyone says who helped them the most that week and whoever wins gets to keep the prize until the next week when they do it again and that was pretty fun. Also, we talked to them about their baptism, and they all said they wanted to, so as long as everything goes as planned and without any unexpected problems, we will have the baptism of Jorge, Patricia, Cintya, and Celeste this coming Saturday so I´m really excited for that!!! 

Anyways, the last thing I wanted to put in here was a quote from Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the 12 apostles, when he spoke on Saturday morning and said, “The popular bumper sticker saying “What Would Jesus Do” doesn´t bring a popular response. “Be strong and live the gospel faithfully even if others don´t live it all.”” I really like this saying and how it emphasizes the importance of doing what is right, even if we are the only ones that will do so. Thanks to everyone for your support and for the emails and I hope to hear from everyone soon!

Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine