20 Months!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Hey everybody.

So, as the title says, I officially hit 20 months in the mission this week! That´s crazy! That sounds like so much time and means that I´ll be home now in less than 4 months.

Yesterday was some revolution holiday here in Argentina, so that's why I´m writing today. So, this week went by crazy fast because of how many divisions we did. I was in my area with Elder Perez from Colombia on Tuesday and then Wednesday morning. He´s cool and those went well. Then, I went to Puerto Tirol (a small city about half an hour away from the city) from Thursday night to Saturday morning. I was there with Elder Delgado from Ecuador. The 4 missionaries there share a house, so I was really with all of them. On Friday we couldn't go out and work because of the festival they had going on for some saint, Santa Rita. So, we just stayed inside and played monopoly once and then risk twice. I was getting pretty sick of it towards the end. One of the missionaries there is Elder Smith from my MTC district, so that was cool.

Then, this weekend was stake conference, when a whole bunch of members get together in one church. We had a member of the area 70 come to talk to us. He´s a higher up leader that usually doesn't come. Elder Salas was his name. We had a session for just the adults on Saturday and then one for everybody on Sunday. They were awesome and I really enjoyed them. Damaris came and really liked it and everything is going well for her baptism this Saturday!! :) Also, Martin´s brother, Jonny, started listening to us and wants to come to church and learn more and get baptized. So, we are going to be working with them. The Colombians are doing well and are still progressing and learning. Also, la familia Aguirre and  la Familia Maldonado are all doing well. Yesterday, since we had divisions planned for today, I went on divisions with another Elder. I went to his area in Fontana (another small town about 20 minutes away) and I was there from Sunday night until this morning. His name is Elder Vargas and he is from Colombia and he is really cool. We get along well and he has a cool area with good people to teach. So, I was super busy and barely in my area this week, but it all went well and we had a good week.

The quote this week comes from David A. Edwards and it reads, "Time management means making sure the things you say are your priorities actually are your priorities." I love this quote. It´s so simple and so true. We can´t expect to be efficient with our time if we waste multiple hours in front of the TV or computer while we say that our priorities are fitness and our job. Just something to think about. Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from everybody soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine 

 

A field at a farm that Elder Vargas and I went to during divisions

Baptism!

(Monday, May 18, 2015)

Hey Everyone!

This week went pretty well. We had fun and got a lot of stuff done by the end of the week. So, first off, I got my haircut last Monday. It looks okay I guess, I prefer it longer, but that`s just part of being a missionary. Then, on Tuesday I went on mini divisions with Elder Ratliff. He had to go to the clinic to see why he was sick and so we went and did that, I got some ice-cream from grido because it was on sale, and then we just went back to the apartment. So, we were suppose to go to district meeting, but Elder Ratliff wasn`t feeling good, so I just stayed with him back at the apartment and rested.

Then, on Thursday we had the multi-zone conference. So, all 3 zones here in Resistencia got together and we had a good meeting. That went well and it was actually a lot of fun. On Friday, I got to do divisions with Elder Warth. I always love that and it worked out perfectly. Elder Warth`s companion is our district leader, so he had to come to our area to do the baptismal interview with martin. So, while elder White and Elder Thomas did that, I worked with Elder Warth until Saturday morning. The interview went well and Martin was all ready. Even though I started the mission with Elder Warth, we dont get to go home together. He got special permission to go back a month early to get back in time for school. So, it`s fun working with him and we`ll probably have another division or two before he leaves. Then, there are the Colombians. They had a hard week with a few things and with a few people in the church. It was hard for them, but we had some great lessons with them and they are still happy and going strong. They had to get over one of the members in the ward being dumb, and they did. Everything is good now. Then, as infered earlier, we had the baptism of Martin this week. He wanted me to baptize him and it went really well. It was a good service and he`s such a cool kid. Also, his mom and brothers came to the service and became interested in the church and now want to learn more and participate with Martin, so we will be working with them and teaching them now!! :) Also, Damaris, the cousin of la familia luque, is doing great. She wants to be baptized and is doing everything she needs to. We have her baptism planned for the 30th. So, keep praying so that can happen and that nothing gets in her way. The work is going really good here in Güiraldes. To finish the week, we had the dedication of the temple in Còrdoba yesterday. So, we didnt have normal church and we just watched the temple dedication. That went reall well and it was a good day.

The quote this week comes from, again, James E Talmage. I recently finished reading his book, "Jesus The Christ", and it was great. That`s where I`m pulling all these quotes from. So, he said, "a man possessed of any good gift...ought to use that gift to the full, that he or others may be profited thereby." We can`t just let the talents that we have waste away idly. we have to use them and better them to help both ourselves and those who surround us. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 

 My room (I'm bottom bunk)

 The desks (I'm on the left)

 The kitchen

 Elder White and me with Martin at his baptism.

 All the Colombians and elders and ward members at Martin`s baptism

A huge turtle we found in front of the apartment

Skype!

(Monday, May 11, 2015)
Hey everybody.

 

This week was pretty good. Nothing too exciting happened, but we still had some stuff go on. So, this last week we really only had 3 days to work in our area. There were transfers Monday and I was just in the bus terminal all day figuring stuff out with other missionaries. On Tuesday we had our p-day, so we only had a couple hours of work. Wednesday we had a good day of work and Elder White met all the members and investigators. Thursday, Elder White and I had leadership counsel in the mission office. So, we were there all day getting training and doing stuff with money and all those fun technicalities. Then, Friday morning we had a meeting with the district leaders to coordinate all the stuff from the leadership counsel which we followed up by a zone meeting in the afternoon. Those both went well and it was fun to see everyone.

 

From Friday evening to Saturday evening we had divisions. I worked with Elder Ratliff (one of the other elders from our ward) in my area. Those went really well and Elder Ratliff is a really cool and chill Elder. He also goes home with Elder White in 5 weeks, so that`s kind of cool. The people in our area are doing well. The Colombians are doing well and their nephew, Robert, is listening to us. He`ll change little by little, but he`s a great guy and we like teaching him. We`re still working with Martin to get the signature from his mom and then have his baptism. So, his baptism will happen as soon as we get the sign off from his mom. La familia Luque, members, and their cousin, Lamaris, are doing well. It rained a lot on Saturday, so they didn’t come to church, but they are still cool. We also started teaching Nancy, Sheila, and Franco again. They are doing well and they really have good desires to follow God and get baptized. So, I`ll keep you guys updated with that. Other than that, we had la familia Maldonado, members, that we pass by and they are also doing really well. We have a lot of cool members and cool investigators to teach. Also, the highlight of my week came yesterday. Yesterday, being mother`s day, I got to skype home. It was my last call home before I actually get home which is crazy. It was really good and I really enjoyed it! That`s pretty much it.

 

The quote this week comes from James E. Talmage. He said, “For what is man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” It`s interesting to think about how much we, as humans, lust after the things and the glory of the world, when it all dies with us. We can`t take our money or things with us when we die, so why give up our good name and our righteous deeds to do so. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week-for enduring to the end haha- and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 

 a blue painted dog we saw...I dont know if the picture came out to where you can see it.

 

a picture from the skype call. my family didnt know I took a picture so I caught them all looking funny haha (sorry family)

TRANSFERS!

(Tuesday, May 5th, 2015)

Hey everyone!

 

This week was pretty busy and really fun. It went by really fast. So, on Tuesday Elder Murphy and I had to head to Corrientes to do some of our visa stuff. They never sent me my card, like the actual ID, just the papers that say that I´m legal. So, they put that off for forever and just said, “no, we´re not gunna send it to you, you´ll be leaving by the time it gets to you and we don’t want to have to do more work.” Their laziness astounds me. But, it's okay, I just won´t have an actual ID. I´m still legal though.  Then, we went to the mall with McDonalds and that was really good. McDonalds had some sales going on and it was incredible.

 

Then, we had a family home evening with the Columbians. I made them pancakes with the maple syrup and they loved it. We also watched the best 2 years with them and just talked and it was a really good night. Then, one of the days for lunch we went to the city and got box. I got this calzone thing and it was super good! And, there´s another family of members that we had a family home evening with, la familia Maldonado. We had a good lesson with them and Elder Murphy could say goodbye. Elder Murphy had his last normal day as a missionary on Sunday and it went really well.  We passed by a lot of people and we had an awesome time with the Columbians. They said goodbye and everything to him and gave him presents and it was really cool.

 

Also, transfers were yesterday, that´s why I´m writing today, and I´m staying. That wasn´t really a surprise, but my companion was. I´m now companions with Elder White, and he is going home in 6 weeks. So, just like Elder Murphy, I know that we will only have 1 transfer together. He´s cool though. He´s from Arizona and we should have a great transfer together.  So, with the people that we´re teaching, the Columbians are doing great. The dad came in a suit and gave his testimony this last Sunday. They are all doing well. We are still teaching Martin and he should be baptized this week or next, depending on his schedule. And, the nephew of the Columbians moved in with them and he´s listening to us now. There´s another family, la familia luque, of members that just had a family member move in. Their cousin came to live with them, is listening to us, and wants to be baptized. So, I´ll be keeping you all updated on their progress. Also, la familia Aguirre is doing just fine and they are all happy. So, it was a good week overall, I´m happy to be staying here, and this transfer should be good.

 

The quote this week comes from James E. Talmage and it reads, “Misunderstanding is the prelude to offense.” I really think that 99% of problems stem from misunderstanding from at least one person. If we take a step back, or work towards understanding how others think, then many of the “problems” we have would just disappear. Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week and I really hope to hear from all of you soon.

 

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 

 Victor making pancakes

 

 A legit pancake

 

 The calzone thing I had

 

 A funny picture if you know Spanish

 

My last picture with Elder Murphy.

19 Months!

(Monday, April 27, 2015)

Hey everybody,

So this last week I officially hit 19 months in the mission. Pretty exciting if you ask me. Anyways, it was a pretty good week overall. On Tuesday, we had a goodbye party for Santo Vega. He was going to the mission in Uruguay. So, there was food and soda and everyone just talked to him and that was fun. Then, the next day we went and did service with the Colombians. We went and worked on their roof. They bought this stuff that you like heat up and then melt to the roof so that no water leaks in when it rains. So, we were doing that for awhile and that went well. Than, we cut 2 lawns the next day to do more service which is always nice. The families were really grateful and it felt good to do. We finished the one we started last week and got another one done. Then, on Friday, we had lunch at this place called San José and they had these really good mini empanadas.

Then, we had the meeting with Elder Oaks. So, Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle, and his wife were here all day on Friday. We all shook their hands, he had a great talk and message, and it was awesome to see all the missionaries. The entire mission came, so everyone of my old companions was there and other cool missionaries and it was a really good day. Also, while his wife was talking she asked if anyone had their preach my gospel in spanish. We were told that we would only need our scriprues, but I brought my preach my gospel anyways. So, I raised my hand and she had me come up and asked me to give her the baptismal interview. I was super confused, but she explained it and we only did the first part and she gave her testimony in spanish as I read and asked her the questions. So, that was really cool to be able to do. Also, we went to the mission office church yesterday for church. One of Elder Murphy´s converts was coming and we got permission from president to go there for this week. The Colombians still went to church at the main building. They are still doing really well and get better every week. Martin got grounded by his mom this last week and couldn´t leave the house, so we´re going to see when we can make his baptism happen. Also, la familia Aguirre is doing well. This week is Elder Murphy´s last week as a missionary which is weird. This is now the second time I´ve finished off a missionary. So, next week I will have a new companion and we´ll see if anything else changes.

The quote this week comes from Thomas S. Monson. He said, "To live greatly, we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility." I love this quote and how it covers many aspects of life and how we are to respond to them. thank you to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon.

 

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 

 A turtle I caught this week.

 The roof work with the Colombians.

 The mini empanadas from San Jose.

 

My Sáenz Peña companions from Centro-E´Mejia and E´Giles

Rain

(Monday, April 20, 2015)

Hey everyone!

So, this week wasn´t all that different, but there were some fun things that went on. Last Monday we had a zone activity (without the sisters because they aren´t allowed to be with us) everyone in the zone went and we rented out an indoor sand volleyball court for 4 hours. It was pretty fun and I could have played for another 4. Then, on Tuesday we had lunch in the city and we ate at this place called box. It was pretty expensive, but it was good I guess. We got pizza. They had a deal for 4 halves of different kinds. The hawaiian and salami were super good, the cheese and tomato was alright I guess, but then the last one had these disgusting leaves in it that cooked into the whole pizza and I hated it, I barely got through one piece.

Then, I went and did divisions with Elder Ulloa (from Canada) in a place called PuertoTirol. Those went well and they had this one lesson that was 6 miles away, so it took forever to go and come back haha. Then, we went to do surprise service for 2 families and just cut their lawns on thursday. We got half way done with the first lawn when it just started pouring rain...so that idea was ruined and we´ll finish the job sometime this week. And, we had breakfast one day with a really active family in the ward, la familia Maldonado. That was good and, like I´ve said before, they just eat some bread, cookies, and milk or mate for breakfast and call it good. But, the mom made american brownies and they were incredible for breakfast!!

Then, Hector got confirmed on Sunday and all of the males in the Colombian family got the priesthood and Johnny, the boyfriend of Jackie, had me give him the priesthood which was really cool! Their family is awesome and they are like the equivalent of la familia Gomez for me here in Resistencia. Nancy, Sheila, and Franco made some excuse to not come to church, so we´re going to let them be for a week or two and see if they take things alittle more seriously. Santo Vega, a member of the ward, came with us a few night to go teaching and he´s really cool. He leaves on the mission this Thursday to Uruguay!! He´s really cool. The Colombians also have a friend named Martin who has come to church with them like 5 times and listens to us when we teach. he wants to be baptized, we just need permission from his mom. So, we´re going to see if she´ll give us permission this week and he might get baptized this saturday. So just pray that his mom can see that it´s a good thing for him. So, it was a really good and busy week overall and we had a lot of lessons and a ton of people to teach. The time is flying by and it´ll be May before we know it.

The quote for this week comes from Russell M. Nelson. He said, "The home is the basis of a righteous life." When we, as a family, are strong at home and do the things that we should while in our home, we are strengthened in the rest of our lives whenever we may not be at home with the safety that is there. Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week, I love hearing from home and hearing how things are going, and I´ll talk to you all next week.

 

Les quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 

 The trees at the place 6 miles away on divisions.

 

 Cooking arepas with the Columbians.

 

Fun hat stuff with Martin and Cristian

Baptisms!!

Hey everybody!

This week was super busy and really good. So, I´m going to start out with something that is weird about the church here that I have forgotten to mention. So, they do it backwards here. They do the priesthood hour (for the guys) first, the second hour for the other class, and the last hour from 11-12 is the sacrament meeting, which is the exact opposite of how it normally is. I don't know why we do it that way. There´s not really a reason, haha. 

Anyways, on Tuesday we had leadership counsel, so we were just at the office all day and listened to president and heard all the new stuff for the mission. So, we officially can no longer eat lunches with the members. We can accept sealed food and like cake and sugary stuff, but no real meals and no meat. So, it kind of sucks, just because we had lunch every day here, but there are some good sides. The members can buy us food, other than the meat, we just have to cook it at the apartment. So, a lot more people are just giving us stuff. and, we can cook and eat quicker than normal so we have a little time to rest which is nice. 

Then, we had out zone meeting on Thursday. We just had a meeting as a zone and talked about what we are doing well and the things we need to change and it went well. then, I went on divisions with Elder Warth after the meeting. That was super cool and fun and I love every time I get to do divisions with him out here and it´s crazy how many times we´ve had the opportunity to do so. On Friday my back hurt for no reason which was weird. It wasn´t the bones or the muscles...it was just there. So, I rested for a little and got some Icy Hot on it and it was all basically back to normal on Saturday...just super weird. 

Then, we had our baptism on Saturday along with the other elders. We had 4 baptisms for the ward and Jackie, the daughter of the Colombians, was our baptism. That was awesome and she gave her testimony afterwards and it was awesome. Their whole family is really cool. Then, on Sunday we had record numbers at church. We had 111 people at church. The previous record in Güiraldes, the ward, was 104 and my previous record in the mission in my other areas was 92 (or 96 I cant remember). So, it is awesome to see the growth of the church and the faith of all the people that go. And, we also had the baptism of Hector Aguirre on Sunday. He works every day, so he couldn´t on Saturday. So, he was baptized after church and he´ll be confirmed this next Sunday. So, now everyone in the family is a member of the church and they are unified which was awesome to see. 

Elder Murphy and I are working with a ton of people, investigators, less active members, and recent converts, but that was the most exciting news of the week. The Colombians are my favorite family here and they are really progressing and making a change and have all gotten better since their baptism. 

The quote this weeks comes from David A. Bednar. He said, "Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints... Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness." Our difficulties in life are what shape and create us. Life would have no purpose if it was all easy and we just floated through and didn´t have to make any real decisions. So, our trials really help us to become these better people that we can be. Anyways, thanks to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 The Zone after Zone Conference

 before Jackies baptism

 At church with Jackie and Johnny after her confirmation 

(I forgot to say that I did her confirmation which was cool!)

 La familia Aguirre before the baptism.

 Hector Aguirre and Brother Perez after Hector´s baptism-Hector is on the left

Johnny and I. Jackie´s boyfriend. (He´s also colombian)