Last Week

Hey everyone! 

This last week went pretty well. First off, we´re getting kind of excited because it is the last week of the transfer. So, Elder Mauricio only has 7 days left in the mission which is exciting.  And, tomorrow we have to go to Resistencia to go to a multi zone meeting, so that should be pretty fun. 

But, this last week went okay with the people we visited. We visited la familia Perez and they are doing well. Her husband works at sea for 45 days at a time, so she is super busy since he is gone. And, la familia Melgarejos is still going strong and Lidia goes out teaching with us when she can, so that´s pretty cool. And, their neighbors are coming along well. They weren´t able to come to church this week, but they are really accepting what we are teaching and moving along well. And sister Cuevas is okay, but she just doesn´t feel ready for baptism, so we can´t really do a whole lot more with her to help her decide. So, we´ll just hope that something happens to change her mind. 

And, I got my haircut this week. I don´t have pictures yet, and the computer is broken anyways, so I´ll send some next week! That was pretty much it this week, nothing too exciting.  The quote I wanted to put in this week comes from M. Russell Ballard. It reads, “Without the completed action, the commitment is hollow.” I love this and how it applies to everything we do.  We can´t commit to something and not follow through with it!! Thanks to everyone who wrote me and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

Baby Blessing

Monday,  August 11, 2014

Hey Everyone. 

This week went pretty well. I forgot to mention last week that I got to do the baby blessing for sol! Lidia asked me to do the blessing, so we did it in church and that was pretty cool to do, even though sol was squirming around the whole time. And, this last week we had a little moving to do. We use to rent 2 apartments in the building, but we are now down to 1 since no new missionaries came and the contract ended. So, Elder Mauricio and I had to take all of the furniture, appliances, books, shelves, etc. from the lower apartment and move them into our apartment. So we took a couple hours out on Tuesday and Wednesday to get all that done. 

Our 2 convert families are both doing well. This week we found out that la familia Gomez is moving a couple of streets down, but those couple streets make them not in our area anymore and the other missionaries will have to go by their house instead of us. So, that was kind of sad, but it´s a better house for less money, so it makes sense. And la familia Melgarejos is also doing well. They actually fed us dinner like 3 times this week which was really cool and we even had a Family Home Evening with them and their neighbors and watched a movie on the restoration of the gospel and it turned out to be a really cool night. Their neighbors are doing well, but can´t seem to wake up on time to get to church, but we´ll work with them on it. And la hermana Cuevas is coming along well and starting to get answers, but this week she was unable to come to church. She has diabetes and started feeling really sick on Friday and hasn´t left her house since then. So, we´ll hope she gets better. And, since it is prohibited to play any sport other than volleyball and ping pong, I gave my old cleats to la familia Vera. I brought them thinking that I would use them, but I can´t. So, I decided to give them to the family as a gift and they can use them for soccer. 

Anyways, that´s about it for this week and the quote comes, once again, from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It reads, "We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the raIinbow before thanking God that there is rain?" I love this quote and how clearly it shows us that we should be thankful before, and not only after. Thank you to everyone who wrote me and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

A cute picture of Sol.

Every one of those dots is a good sized spider...
we found a hive...my fear of spiders has basically disappeared

10 Months Forgotten...

Hey Everyone.

 

I just wanted to start out by letting everyone know that I forgot something last week. I forgot to mention that I hit the 10 month mark in my mission!!! :) So that´s cool. This week was pretty good I guess. Even though we are technically in the middle of winter, this week was super hot. For 3 days in a row it was crazy hot and really humid. This just means that this coming summer is going to be killer... 

 

Anyways, this week we had some good things happen and one sad thing. We found out this week that the boyfriend of natalia refuses to get married and doesn´t want to learn about the church, so we can´t really do a whole lot anymore with her or her kids which is sad. But, we have some good news with la hermana Cuevas. This week she came to church again, the 4th time, and she really likes everything we teach. The only problem is that she doesn´t feel ready for baptism and can´t receive an answer, yes or no, from God. So we are really just hoping that she can receive an answer to be able to take that step. And, this week she showed us how to make canasta. I don´t really know what that would be in english, but it´s like homemade wooden baskets. So that was cool. And we had a good week with la familia Melgarejos. We had a family home evening with them and their neighbors and that went well. We had a good lesson about the restoration of the gospel and then had a good dinner. 

 

And, I don´t know if I´ve already said this, but I will anyways. Elder Mauricio doesn´t know how to ride a bike, a motorcycle, or a car. He just knows how to walk haha Because, no one has a car in his country, not that many people have a motorcycle, and his mom never let him ride a bike. So, this week we tried to teach him how to ride a bike at the house of la familia melgarejos before we ate dinner. And, it went okay I think. He can now at least go in a straight line, he just falls when he has to turn. So, I´m hoping to have fully taught him by the time he goes home!! :) 

 

That´s pretty much all that happened this week, and the quote I want to include this week comes from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He said, "There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious. We can be grateful!" I love this quote and it´s one of the principles I feel most strongly about. Being constantly grateful not only shows humility, but also a true appreciation of the efforts of others. Showing gratitude doesn´t take much, a verbal thank you, a written letter, an email, etc. are simple things that we can do in our everyday life to show gratitude towards others, even if it is an action that may have been expected. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week, I hope summer is going well, and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 The snake we found while walking.

 Me and the snake

Branch Activity

Hey everyone! 

This week was pretty good! I started off the week early on by doing divisions on Tuesday. I went with Elder Valdez and we went and worked in his area for the day. It went pretty well and I liked getting to meet the people in his area. Elder Valdez is okay. He´s not my favorite to work with and it´s always weird teaching the lessons in a way that you´re not used to, but he´s a really good guy and we shared some cool stories. Then, I felt kind of weird/sick for part of the day on Tuesday and most of Wednesday. I think it was probably something I ate. But, it wasn´t that bad and I´m all better now. 

And, this week was really cool because of the branch activity that we had on Saturday. A ton of people met up at the church and there were different activities going on, lke soccer, cards, musicians, and football. Yes, real football. I brought my football to the activity and everyone seemed to love it, especially all the white missionaries. So, I loved playing catch for the first time in a year with someone that could actually throw a football. And, I did some magic tricks with the cards, played the guitar, played the piano, and even played a little soccer. And there was a giant lunch at the end with pizza, sandwiches, chicken, etc. etc. And they even had hot dogs (even though they were uncooked and they only use mayo as a condiment...at least they tried. 

And this week we found two cool families to teach. One is the neighbor of la familia Melgarejos and they came to they activity and really enjoyed it and they are already really good friends with Lidia, so I´m excited for them. The girl is 28 and the guy is 22 and there are 4 kids, ages 9, 7, 2, and a baby. But, the baby is the only biological child of the guy that she´s living with. And the other family had listened to missionaries before but now want to learn more and the mom´s name is Natalia and they have two kids 8 and 6. So, we will see what happens with them. And la familia Melgarejos made me happy since they were they ones who originally shared the gospel with their neighbors to get them interested! :) 

And the quote I wanted to share is from two people. The first part is from Charles Swindoll and the second part is from President Thomas S. Monson and he reflects on what was said by Swindoll. Swindoll said, "Courage is not limited to the battlefield...or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are inner tests, like remaining faithful when no one´s looking,...like standing alone when you´re misunderstood." And President Monson stated, "He who stands steadfastly for that which is right must risk becoming at times disapproved and unpopular." I love both of these and how clear they are on what real courage is. That real courage sometimes requires losing something; that it´s not always winning. Thank you to everyone that wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 The mold that started to grow in the apartment from the humidity(Don´t worry, it´s gone now.)

A cat on top of a car in a car dealership...ghetto

 The field where we played and threw the football.

The lunch at the activity.

Staying in Goya!!!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Hey everyone!! 

I have the news! I stayed in Goya with Elder Mauricio, so I will be the last companion that he has in the mission!! :D I get to be the person who gets to kill him, as us missionaries say if you´re the last companion of someone! I´m super excited for that and to see how it is!!  

This week was actually pretty good overall! La Hermana Cuevas came to church with us for the 3rd time and she is praying to know if she should be baptized into the church. So, I´ll keep you all updated as that goes.  We had a pretty cool week with la familia Melgarejos and they fed us lunch twice this week and gave us dessert twice, as well. And they shared their feelings about the church with their neighbors and it turns out that the new baby of the neighbors is sick. So, they told the neighbors that we could give her a blessing to help her get better since we did that with Sol, the baby of Lidia, and she was perfectly fine the next day. So, we did the blessing and from what we´ve heard, she is doing much better! :) So that was pretty cool! But, the only bad part about this week is that we had to stop teaching a lot of the people that we were teaching, because they weren´t coming to church or progressing in order to receive an answer. But, I have faith that we will find some awesome people with the time that we now have instead of teaching the old people. 

And, today we had interviews with the new mission President, President Franco, and it went super well. He is a really nice guy and really cares about the people and making sure that we are happy and really helping people! So, I´m super excited to have him as my new President for the next 13 months and to get to know him better! 

I really like the quote this week and it comes from Henry B. Eyring. It reads, "There is happiness rather than fatigue in the faces of those who unselfishly serve." I love this quote and I don´t think that it could be more true. I have felt this before and during the mission and I know that serving others ALWAYS brings happiness, even if it is a hard thing for us to do. So, I hope that everyone can find happiness in serving others and putting yourself last. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon! And, The computer is jacked, so we shall hope for pictures next week!!
 

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

Transfers Tomorrow!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Hey everyone! 

This week was pretty okay I guess. This week I´ve really learned why they said that Corrientes is the roughest part of the mission. I love the place here in Goya and I love the city and the weather, but once again no one came to church. The work is harder here because everyone is so entrenched in saints and statue worshipping and no one wants to wake up to go to church at 9am. I didn´t really get that when I first got here because we were having a ton of success. But, now I see it a little bit more, but I have faith that we´ll find some awesome people soon!! But, this week was still pretty cool. We still had a lot of lessons, it´s just that no one came to church. And, we made pancakes for la familia Vera this week!! I actually just showed them how and then they made the pancakes. So, it didn´t turn out super pretty, but they still tasted good. And they liked the maple syrup that I made, since it doesn´t exist here but I brought some maple extract. 

And Argentina won the semifinals of the World Cup and everyone was going crazy...and then we lost yesterday, so now everyone is sad and some people get mad at me because they think I´m German since I´m tall and blonde haha. 

So, las familias Perez, Fernandez, and Cuevas are all doing well and we had some good lessons with them, the only bad thing this week is that they were all lazy and just slept in on sunday and didn´t some to church. :( But, I´m enjoying the work and I know that we´ll have success soon. Transfers are tomorrow and I would like to stay here, and it would be cool if Elder Mauricio stayed too so that I could be his last companion before he goes home!! But, we shall see what happens. 

Anyways, the quote I wanted to share this week comes from Dieter F. Uchtdorf and it says, "Addictions are so much easier to prevent than they are to cure." It´s short and simple, but I love the message. It applies to all things: tv, coffee, drugs, sports, work, the computer, etc., etc. But the message is the same. If we want to avoid having something control our lives, then we should never let it in our lives in the first place. The things that start out harmless quickly turn into our vices and our mind changes and believes that we can´t live without these things. So, it is, therefore, much easier to not start than to start and then try to quit. Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope that everyone is doing well and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 pictures of me washing my clothes by hand since a few of you asked for the pictures. (I haven´t seen a washing machine in I don´t even know how long-be grateful you have one... haha)

 

 pictures of the pancakes with la familia Vera and how beautiful they turned out.

Transfers coming up!

Hey everybody. 

 

This week was pretty good. Not too much happened this week, nothing too exciting anyways.  The US lost in the world cup, but Argentina is still going storng, so I will keep hoping for them to win!! Because, if they win then the people are happy and more accepting!! haha And La familia Fernandez, La familia Melgarejos, and La familia Cuevas are all doing really good! They are all progressing well and the only problem is that it´s hard for them to come to church. And this week didn´t make it any easier since there was a giant storm from friday night until saturday night so the streets were just destroyed! And, since no one really has  car and they have to walk it made it really hard to go to church. But, it was still a good day! And, I celebrated the 4th of july here (even though it doesn´t exist) by buying 2 pizzas and a pound of ice cream which was pretty awesome :D haha The pizzas aren´t like buying from dominoes, but they´re worth what I pay. And, we had to be in the apartment again for the Argentina game, so I was able to enjoy the food and take my time haha. The quote this week isn´t as famous, but I thought about it a few times this week. 

 

The quote comes from my uncle Pete Clarine (I believe) and it says, "Spoiling begins when gratitude ends." It´s short, sweet, and to the point and I like it because it focuses not on the things that we receive or what we give to people, but how we receive things is what is important. It´s not wrong to give or to receive, but we have to be constantly grateful for the actions and sacrifices of others. Thanks to everyone who wrote me and I hope to hear from everyone soon!

 

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

P.S. The computer is garbage once again so we shall hope for pictures next week!