Monday, October 27, 2014

13 Months!!

Hey everyone!!! 

This week went really well. First off, la familia Gomez gave us dinner on monday and it tasted awesome and they still buy me Secco pomelo because they know it´s my favorite soda here. And, I was able to meet up with Catalina Gonzalez this week, the first mom and daughter that I baptized in the mission. That was really cool, and they introduced us to their neighbors, la familia Rodas. They´re really cool and one of their sons came to church this week with us as well. He is 11 and his name is Hernan. 

And, we found out this week that Olga is actually, most likely, going to break up with her boyfriend when the kids finish school in December and then get her own place. But, 3 of her kids have a baptismal date for the 8th and we´ll hope that everything goes well with that! :) And, Amalia and all of her kids are doing well. We helped them get the water again this week. Those things are super heavy and it took like 2 or 3 hours, but we felt good to do it for her. Like, her oldest kid is 9 and she is pregnant and there is no man in the house. So, it feels good to help her with that and we told her that we were going to help her with that once a week with that. But, they had to travel this week, so they couldn´t come to church. But, we still have a baptismal date with them towards the end of november, and I know that they are going to be able to get there. 

Also, we had passed by a less active family on Tuesday while I was on mini divisions with Elder Lastres. Another member, hermano Rojas, helped us out and gave a ton of references to us and went out to work all night with Elder Lastres and I. And so he brought us to this family. The Andreani family hasn´t come for a while, but they said they´d like us to come back. So, we went back on Friday with Elder Giles and they didn´t pay  attention at all and were laughing at Elder Giles since he couldn´t speak spanish (even the mom) and it was really bad. We could tell that they don´t want our help right now and we aren´t going to pass by for a little while until they are ready to mature and progress. 

Oh, and on friday, the other elders got some awesome asado, barbeque, from a member and shared with us,and it was some of the better beef that I have yet to have here in Argentina. Although, it was a bit fatty. But, it tasted good either way. So, it was a good week overall and I´m still really excited for the progress of the people that we are teaching and can´t wait to see them take the steps to follow Christ more in their lives.

The quote this week comes from Marcos A. Aidukaitis and it reads, "First, we can know the truth by observing its fruits...Second, we can find truth by experimenting on the word ourselves." I love this quote and how it shows us that we can know what is true and good by watching and then putting into practice the things that we see. If something is good, than it´s consequences will be good, and when we act in the same way, we will experience these consequences. Thank you to everyone that wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon.
 
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine

Monday, October 20, 2014

Skype!!

Hey everybody!!!! 

This week was super awesome! The only bad things were that it was crazy hot this week...it hit 130 degrees twice, and we only have a fan right now in the apartment, no ac. And, one of the nights a ton of bugs bit Elder Giles. We had to leave the window open because it was too hot and he got like a hundred mosquito bites. It was weird because I didn´t even get one. 

But, the work in our area is going well. We are teaching a ton of really good people and I am really excited for the success that we are having and will have here. Olga and her family are good and ready and want to be baptized now, we just have to wait until they get married. So, we will hope that that gets done soon. Some of the other really cool people that we are teaching are Amalia and her family, carlos and his family, yamila, and samanta. Amalia and her family came to church this week as well and really liked it. She is a single mom with 4 kids and one more on the way. 

Oh, and last week I forgot to mention that President Franco permanently changed the schedule. So, we now don´t have to be outside working from 1-4 like normal just cooking in the sun while everyone is asleep. We will work in the morning from now on and then do our studies during the siesta. Also, on friday night the branch had a music how. A bunch of people sang and played instruments and I even got the chance to go up and play the guitar and sing which was awesome since I haven´t done that in so long. It was a really fun night and it´s nice to be back in a big church again with a lot of active members. 

And, last but certainly not least, I got to skype home yesterday!!!! It was mothers day here in Argentina yesterday and the mission president decided that we should all get to talk to our families, and not just the argentine missionaries. That was super awesome and I loved getting to see my family yesterday! It like made my month and will make it that much easier to make it to Christmas til the next call. That´s about it though. 

The quote for this week comes from L. Tom Perry once again and it reads, "Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God´s unlimited wisdom and omnipotence." I love this quote and how clearly it puts into perspective how little we know. By following the commandments, we trust true wisdom over our conceited selves. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week and makes the constant effort to stay in contact with me and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Transfers!

October 14, 2014

Hey everybody! 


This week was kind of crazy! On Tuesday Elder Aguirre got bit by something on his lip that made it swell up really bad for the zone conference and it was giant all day until we got back and he put some ice on it and it went back to normal. 

Then, they called us for transfers and told us that both Elder Aguirre and I were leaving Piranè, another whitewash, and that we were both going to be trainers. So, we got all our bags ready and then headed to Resistencia on Wednesday where I met my new companion, Elder Giles. He`s from Heber City, Utah and he´s really cool. So, we had the new missionary training all day on Wednesday and then traveled on Wednesday night. So, I`m now training him in Sáenz Peña!!! I got to come back. But now I am in Centro, like downtown and not in Ensanche. I`m in the big church now. The only problem is that when we got here we didn´t have an apartment. We took the place of sisters and 2 companionships were living right next to each other. So, they changed it to elders, but we can´t live in the same building as sisters. So, we had to look for an apartment for 2 days and finally found one and it´s pretty good. I´ll send pictures when I can. We finished getting everything moved over yesterday. It´s been really cool here working again and being a trainer. 

And, it´s super cool because I`ve already seen Eduardo and his Mom, la Familia Mercaso, Ramirez, and Gomez!!! It´s been so cool. They were all super happy and excited to see me and it was good to see them all again. And to top it all off, it was a holiday yesterday, so everything was closed and we could´t write. Plus, today we didn´t even get a full p-day because we had interviews with President Franco and had to be with him from like noon til 5. But, it´s all been fun. We´ve had grido, icecream, empanadas, pizza, and milanesa this week to get my new companion use to stuff. And, the area has awesome people. La familia Ramirez is really cool and they´ve come to church a couple times and we are now working with her to get married to be able to get baptized. Then, there´s Amalia and her kids that
we´re working with, Carlos and his family, Yamila, and Rodrigo. They´re all the most accepting people that we are teaching and they are all really cool. I´m super excited to work with them and see the success that will come. 


The quote I wanted to add in this week comes from L. Tom Perry again. It reads, "It has been said that someone who is all wrapped up in himself or herself makes a very small package." I love this quote and it made me laugh. We can´t be so conceited that we find ourselves better than everyone else. Humility, even for those who are great, goes a long way and shows true character. Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all this week!!

Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine

(His email about sending pictures)
I promise that ´m trying to get them on here...sorry.
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine

Monday, October 6, 2014

General Conference!

Hey everybody!! 

This week was really cool! First off, we got another baptism!!! It was a complete surprise to us. We met a family last week who had recently moved here from about 2 hours away, la familia escobar. Anyways, we found out that the 11 year old daughter, Ayelen, wasn´t baptized. And, she had received a lot of the lessons from the missionaries already and was ready to get baptized since she had already been to church like 10 times. So, they just had to come to the church here one time and we had to reteach her everything in a week as like a review. Then, we had her baptism on Friday since General Conference was on saturday! The other elders of pirane also had a baptism and Ayelen wanted our district leader to baptize her, so he did both baptisms.That was really cool to have happen this week. 

And, it was awesome to see General Conference. Although, it was the first time that I had to watch it in spanish. That´s fine and all...it´s not like I don´t understand, I just didn´t like not hearing their actual voices. And, the internet was really slow here. We just watched it in the church on the computer screen and it froze like every 10 minutes haha. But, it worked out okay in the end. 

We did divisions this week which went well. I stayed in my area and worked with Elder De La Peña and it was good. At the end of Tuesday and all day Wednesday, Elder Aguirre got really sick. He felt super weak and like couldn´t walk and almost wanted to go to the hospital. But, he didn´t have to. He was feeling better on thursday after some rest. He´s still not 100%, but he´s better. Speaking of Elder Aguirre, transfers are tomorrow!! Although, I don´t think anything will change. I think that I´ll stay here and so will Elder Aguirre. But, we shall see and I´ll let you all know next week. 

La Hermana Amarilla came to conference on saturday and Sunday and she is doing really well. Her kids still haven´t gotten a big enough desire to wake up and come to church, but it´ll happen. We still have to visit with her and reteach the lessons, and her kids listen when we teach, so someday they´ll show up to church. And, La familia Aguilar, the family who had one of their children pass away, also came to conference. They seemed to really like it and we are working towards the baptism of the Dad on October 25th. So we´ll hope and pray that all can go well with that. 

The only other news is that it´s starting to get really hot here. The worst day was Friday. It was like walking around in a sauna all day. But, I´m on my last summer!! :) The quote I wanted to put in for this week comes from L. Tom Perry and it reads, "Those who rely solely on themselves and follow only their own desires and self-inclinations are so limited when compared to those who follow God and tap into His insightg, power, and gifts." I love this quote and this emphasis it puts onto how little we really know. We may have certain beliefs or opinions, but we aren´t that knowledgeable and we must learn to rely on help and guidance from God. 

Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week (you know who you are :D) and I hope to hear from you all soon.
 
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine
 
P.S. I got the computer fixed and now it´s...PICTURE TIME!!!
just kidding....I got the pics onto the computer, but can´t get them downloaded to email.....but we´re getting closer.
Les Quiero,
Elder Joshua Clarine