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!

New President

Hey everyone!! 

The new President officially gets here today. So, my mission President is now President Franco! 

This week was pretty good and I liked everything we got done!! We found a new family, la familia Fernandez, and they had been taught by other missionaries, but only 2 had been baptized. Anyways, they are an awesome family and I am excited to work with them and see where it goes. And, la familia Melgarejos is still doing well and now we always have dinner with them on Friday and this week we had some ham and cheese empanadas which were awesome! And, earlier in the week they made some dessert empanadas with like jelly on the inside which I really liked! And, we had to be in the apartment again for the Argentina games. every time that they play we have to be in the apartment for like 6 hours which gets pretty boring. But, I really hope that either the Us or Argentina loses their game tomorrow, because if they both win then they will play against each other and people will freak out if they win or kill me if they lose haha. 

And, la familia Gomez is still doing well, but the mom had her work changed on her. They changed her schedule and now it´s super rare for her to be able to come to church. So, she´s sad about that, but we still pass by them and they are going to come to church when they can!! The week was pretty good overall and I´m still loving Goya and we´ll see pretty soon if Elder Mauricio is going to end the mission here!! 

The quote I wanted to put in this week is from Dieter F. Uchtdorf and it reads as follows, "Improve when you see one in yourself:

1.Selfishness (seek your own pleasure)

2.Addiction

3.Competing Priorities

We cannot ask the question, What is in it for me?" I love this quote and how it focused outward. We should never be preoccupied with ourselves or how we will get gain. We will be better people if we try to constantly block out these attributes in our lives and focus on helping others. 

 

That´s it for this week and I once again got a broken computer that doesn´t have usb, but I am going to go and try to find a computer right now that isn´t broken to be able to send some pictures!!! Thanks to everyone who wrote me ad I hope to hear from everyone soon!!

 

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 

 The snacks from Vanessa Perez that we bought for $1 each

 Elder Warth and me with President Heyman

 MTC district at the mission conference

Elder Warth and I with Pringles for lunch

 Sister Heyman and me

 President Heyman and me

Making the ham and cheese empanadas

 Making pancakes for la familia Melgarejos

 The $5 pizza from pizza uno

9 Months and Mission Conference

Hey everyone!! 

 

Sorry about yesterday and not getting to email. We had a giant mission conference in Resistencia with all the missionaries to say goodbye to President Heyman since we are getting a new President next week. Our new President, the person who is in charge of all the missionaries and who they´re companions are and giving trainings and where the missionaries are, etc., etc. , is President Franco and he is from Buenos Aires, but has lived in the states for 30 years. 

 

And, I have 9 months in the mission!! Crazy how fast the time is flying! Also, this last week there was supposed to be a giant flood here in Goya, but nothing really happened. The river got really high and covered one house that was on the beach, but that´s the only thing that happened. The river was supposed to rise 25 feet and reach downtown, but it only went up like 6 feet. So, we got all ready with food and water and then nothing happened. It was kind of a let down, but better since nothing got damaged and no one got hurt. 

 

And, this last week we had dinner with la familia Melgarejos where they taught us how to make Marinera (not the spaghetti sauce) and it was super good and I can´t wait to make it back in the states. The week was really good and the conference was really cool to have one last day with President. 

 

Almost the whole day yesterday I hung out with Elder Warth which was really cool and we got subway for lunch!!! The only subway in the entire mission just opened like a month ago and President surprised us with that for lunch!!! I love stuff from the states!! Everyone should appreciate every minute they live there, since the people here can´t even imagine in their wildest dreams all the benefits that we have. 

 

The quote I wanted to put in from this week is actually from my zone leader, Elder Harris, from a meeting that we had and he asked the question, "How many times can we give a first impression?" The answer is clear and it was funny when one of the Elders answered him seriously by saying 1 haha. But, I really like thinking about this and how we have to always be living in a way that we want others to see us since we only get one chance to make that first impression of who we really are. 

 

I hope that everyone has a good week and I will have A TON of pictures next week from the last 3 weeks and the conference since the computer I´m at is once again broken.... :( Thanks to everyone who wrote me and I hope to hear from you soon!

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

Baptisms!!!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Hey everyone! 

This week was actually really good! On Tuesday I got to do divisions with the zone leader, Elder Harris(This is when we change companions for a day). It was really good and we got a lot of work done and we ended the day with a really good pizza from pizza uno. We ate it all before I could grab a picture, but I will buy another one soon and send a picture. And we had some mate celestial. Everyone here drinks mate, it´s like tea kind of, but the missionaries aren´t allowed to. But, the missionaries have invented something that we can drink where we use shredded coconut instead of the leaves and we use milk instead of hot water and it comes out really good!! And, I got to try ravioli for the first time in Argentina from a member, Hermana Belusi, and it was actually really good. I think I like it more than ravioli in the states haha. 

And, everything went perfectly and we had the 4 baptisms of la familia Melgarejos! They were super excited for it all week and they even got a cake to share with everyone after the baptism. A lot of people came to the baptism and the cake got eaten up quickly. But, we surprised them with a cake that we bought at their house. So, we were able to have a cake with just us and them and they really liked that. And, the cake that we got was chocolate!! It was the first cake that I have had in Argentina that wasn´t dulce de leche and it was awesome!! And, all four of them chose me to do their baptisms so that was really cool to be able to baptize their whole family!! 

And, once again, the quote that I wanted to share for this week comes from Randall L. Ridd and it says, “What does your heart desire? This is the key in what we will do compared with what we can do.” I´m not going to expound a whole lot, but I love how we are capable of doing many things, but our desires will decide what we really do. Thank you to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

STAYING IN GOYA!!!

Hey everyone!! 

This week was good and I got to stay here in Goya along with Elder Mauricio!! So, I´m super excited for that. This week we did a lot with la familia Melgarejos. We played a game with them with flour and cutting the flour until a coin or piece of candy falls down-for those of you that know the game. And, they made torta frita two nights for us and that was awesome!! And they were super excited for their baptism and when they saw two random missionaries in the city, not us, they went up to them to invite them to their baptism, so that was cool to hear! And, there was a tiny little problem on Friday, so we had to postpone their baptism to this coming saturday, but it was nothing bad and they are still super excited for the baptism and all should go well this week!! 

And, on the night of transfer calls, Elder Mauricio and I went and got stuff and made empanadas to celebrate another transfer done and they turned out pretty good. When I get home, I will make empanadas for everyone who doesn´t know what they are or how they taste so that everyone can know how awesome they are haha. And, on Friday I was assigned to give a talk in church. So, I spent some time on Saturday preparing for that and all seemed to go well and I actually liked doing it. 

Not a whole lot apart from that happened this week. Oh, except for Wednesday! When we found out that we were staying, we went out the next day and bought enough soda for the transfer, I´ll add in the picture haha. 

Anyways, the only other thing that I wanted to put in was a quote that comes from Randall L. Ridd again and it says, "What we consistently desire is what we will eventually become." I love this and I think that it can be taken in many different ways, but I think about it in the sense of our thoughts and our character. We won´t become great people if we always desire things for ourselves, and we won´t become terrible people is we are constantly desiring to serve others and thinking of ways that we can become better. I hope that everyone can take something personal out of the quote and I hope that everyone has a great week. Thank you to everyone who wrote me and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 Our district before transfer calls.

 Me with the soda

 Sol, the baby of la familia Melgarejos, I just thought it was a cool picture.

Transfers!!

Hey everyone!! 

Not a whole lot new happened his week, but I have a couple stories! First off, we have transfers tomorrow and I really hope that I don´t get transfered and that I stay here along with Elder Mauricio. We are having a lot of success together and I enjoy working with him, and he´s going home in two transfers, so I think it would be kind of cool to be his last companion. 

Anyways, this week went pretty well and la familia Melgarejos is still really awesome and, as long as everything goes well, we will have their baptisms this Saturday!! So, I also hope I don´t get transfered so that I can see their baptism. And, I did divisions with the zone leaders this week and I went with Elder Valdez and that was a cool and busy day and we got to teach a lot of people. Also, it was the first time I was in my area and had to find my way around without the help of Elder Mauricio. Then, we went to a baptism of the Zone leaders on Saturday with Leandro and la familia Melgarejos and they liked it and I´m excited for this area and for the branch here. 

This week we have made homemade bread and torta frita(which literally means fried cake, but it´s just like a bread thing) and that has been good everynight to end with that. Anyways, I can´t really remember anything else, but if I remember later, then I´ll just put it in the letter next week. 

And, the quote I wanted to put in this week comes from Randall L. Ridd and it reads, "Owning a smartphone doesn´t make you smart. Using it wisely does." Not really a mindblower, but I like the quote. Even though we have technology, we have to use it responsibly in order to get the most out of it! Thanks you to everyone who wrote me this week and I hope to hear from you all soon!!

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine

 Elder Andersen, me, Wright, and Kissner(From Left to Right) at the multizone conference

 Elder Morrin(left) Elder Harris(middle) and me representin´ at the conference

 Sofia and Mateo(funny kid) before the baptism

 Us with la familia Gomes before the baptism

 

Sofia and me after the baptism

 My agendas in the mission compared to Elder Mauricio