Week 7 - El Bolsón

Okay, soooo much happened this week! Its insane. I will do my best to include everything I can, especially pictures. 

How do you like being out in the field?

I like having real people with real thoughts to talk to and teach! Also, the freedom... with food. I can have hot chocolate and toast! 

What's your companion's name? Where is she from?

Hermana Alejandra Ovando.  She is from Bolivia.

Do you like her? 

She's great! I am learning a ton from her and she knows just enough English to help me without hindering my progress and speaking English too much. 

What's your apartment like? 

My pension is pretty big compared to all of the houses I've been in and the other apartments in other areas. 

How much walking is it?

I don't know. A lot. And all on muddy roads

Are you sore?

Yes. Very. 

Shin splints? 

How'd you know!? Do you have any quick remedies besides icing? 

How's the food outside the MTC? 

Pretty much the same, but more pasta and bread! 

How's the ward you're in? 

This is the biggest ward in the mission! Its almost as big as a small ward in America. The people are so sweet!  There were about 80 people at church and 150 are in the ward.  There is a set of elders and us sisters.

Are you homesick for anything?

My mom. Sleep. Music. Babies (Eli and Ezra) 

Is Neuquén different from the MTC? 

Yes and no. 

So far what is your favorite part about being a missionary?

The people. I love people! 

What was your favorite thing about the MTC?

The nap time Presidente gave us. 

Where are you?

Oh yeah! El Bolsón! We have mountains all around us! It's huge! And beautiful! Hermana Casariego said it's the prettiest area.  

What do you see when you look out your window?  

Mountains surrounded by clouds. 

What is the street that you live on like? 

It's a dirt road. Idk what else to say about it haha.

Are you walking a lot? 

A ton. The shin splints are for real time. We leave at 11 in the morning and don't return until 9 or later if we have a lesson. 

Is it freezing cold?  

Not freezing, but I'm using my big coat and it's not quite cold enough for big gloves, but I keep my hands in my pockets. 

Have you met members?  

Yes. We have lunch at a member's house every day except p-day. 

What are they like?

They are the nicest, most humble people ever. They all have firm faith in the gospel and help me speak Spanish. And those who don't have firm faith are more than willing to help us and have us teach them anyway. Kids are my favorite part of this place because they enjoy helping me pronounce things and I don't have to have a deep knowledge of the language to understand them or to play. 

Do they call new missionaries "greenies"  like they do here?  Do they call you verde?

I don't know haha no one has called me verde yet! They just say OHHHH she knows more Spanish than the other new Americans! Apparently its a huge huge benefit to go to Buenos Aires CCM. 

Do you share your apartment with other hermanas? 

Our apartment is just us. I'll send pictures next week. 

Have you met your district? 

No. We have an hour long bus ride to Bariloche this week to meet them! But my zone is the elders and us. 

How's your first p-day going so far? 

Its been a lot of waiting in lines to buy stuff and we haven't even tried to get food yet. 

What are you going to do today? 

Buy food. Clean. Study the language. Teach some people. 

What food do you eat? 

I only eat breakfast at my apartment so its all hot chocolate and toast so far! 

Did you buy sheets or did your apartment have leftovers (yuck)!  

Luckily my companion had some extra. 

Do they speak the language they taught you in the CCM?

Yes! But a ton faster..... and they ignore the second half of almost every word!

Also, the bus ride to my area is 9 hours long from Neuquén. I slept a lot!

 

And the view here is incredible!   

And, there is no oxygen cause we're in the mountains, but I love the people! Its just a lot of walking that I didn't do in the CCM.

I forgot to tell y'all about church! It is very laid back here! Sacrament started 20 minutes late, but ended at the appropriate time and the classes followed the same order. People are so nice and so talkative that there just isn't quite enough time for it all haha But they have wonderful lessons and great people! 

Also, we stood outside of the sacrament room and welcomed everyone. I was kissed by and kissed every single woman's cheek and shook every man's hand. I now I have a sore throat haha Hopefully it goes away! People are great here and I am learning so much! I have a ton more to learn though. The language is better, but I still don't know near enough for a normal conversation about anything but the gospel. I have been told by every member and every missionary that I know way more Spanish that the Provo missionaries, which makes sense. I proselyted 4 times before the field and the Provo MTC can't do that, not in Spanish. So, it is a definitely a huge blessing to have gone there! Oh yeah! and I had my first Argentine empenada this week! It was soooo good! I want to eat them for every meal for the rest of my life. The taco bell ones just don't do it justice haha!

Excuse my white face in the picture with my comp! 

Also, that mountainscape is what I see every day and I walk that road every day too. 

Also, look up Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by Gene R Cook. I hope you can find it! Its about my mission president when he was a missionary! ***

Also, I just realized, Hamburgers aren't actually ham at all. They're beef....

Also, my comp made a welcome sign and blew up balloons for me! 

Also, good thing I spent all that money on dyeing my hair cause lice is a huge thing down here! 

Also, one member knows English. She reads full on books and watches conference in English but doesn't like speaking it. She is so sweet! She fed us yesterday and made lasagna with spinach and for desert we had peaches and cream that she made herself by hand! It was AMAZING! 

Also, I really hope you and dad can come pick me up when I finish my mission. Its beautiful here! 

*** Link to the talk here.  The part about Presidente Casariego: 

Let me tell you of a young man I knew when I was a mission president. He was a missionary full of faith. He was Uruguayan. He had been in the mission about three or four months when I arrived, and I noticed that wherever he served, people were being baptized. In the beginning I thought it was because of his senior companion, because he seemed too young, too new, to be the cause—that was my mistake. He knew how to make things happen.

He was called as a senior companion and a district leader. I sent him into a city that had gained a reputation of being a tough, “no results” city. Missionaries had not baptized anyone there for nearly a year—not one person! The members were discouraged. Only ten to twelve members were attending the branch. I didn’t tell him anything—I just notified him of the transfer. Three weeks later, he and his companion began baptizing. He served there about ten weeks. All of his district started baptizing.

It is great to have a missionary who can baptize, but if he can teach others how to do it, his leadership can bless the lives of many.

This missionary never wrote me much in his weekly reports. He would only write, “Dear President, I sure love you. Things are going great. Sincerely,” or “President, the Lord is blessing us greatly. I love the work. Your brother.”

He was called later to serve as a zone leader and sent to supervise the whole upper area of the mission where there were some very challenging cities. His new challenge was to teach the missionaries to do what he was doing. He served there two or three months and was responsible for scores of baptisms, and he literally changed the spirit of the whole zone, member leaders as well as missionaries. Together they wrought a spiritual miracle.

Then came a spiritual struggle for me, a restless feeling about him. I felt impressed that he should be sent to Paraguay. At that time the work was very slow in Paraguay. We averaged only 20 to 25 baptisms a month in the whole country. I wrestled with that and thought to myself, “He has really proved himself here, but to put him in that situation might drag him down in discouragement as it has so many others. He may have a hard time sustaining his faith there.” I had to struggle with my faith to convince myself that he really ought to go, but I obeyed the promptings.

I sent him a telegram transferring him to Asunción, Paraguay, as a zone leader and told him that he should leave the very next day. When he came into Montevideo, he didn’t even come to see me. He was modest and always a little embarrassed to see “the president.”

He departed from the mission home, but he left a letter, which was the first one that I had ever received from him. It said, in effect, “Dear President Cook, I received a telegram today telling me to go to Paraguay, and I thought you ought to know a few things: (1) You can’t baptize in Paraguay. I have had at least ten to fifteen elders tell me of their experiences there. (2) The members are not helping at all. (3) There are some real morality problems among the nonmembers there. (4) Many people live together unmarried. (5), (6), (7), (8) …” And he went through and listed ten to twelve of some of the most negative things that I have ever heard in my life.

I thought to myself, Oh, no, unbelieving people have gotten to him.

But as he finished the list, he said, “I just wanted you to know, President, that I don’t believe any of those things.” Talk about faith! Then he committed himself, after expressing his faith, saying, “I want you to know, President Cook, that on Christmas Day (and the date of the letter was December 1), we are going to baptize 25 people.”

When I read that, I prayed for him and thought, The Lord bless you, elder. You have a tremendous amount of faith, and the Lord will sustain you. You don’t know the country; you haven’t ever been there. You don’t know where you are going to live. You don’t know your companion, the leaders, the members. You don’t know anything, and yet you, in faith, believe that you are going to baptize 25 people in 25 days.

Well, this young man was full of faith and was a real example of a great Latin leader. On December 25, he and his companion baptized 18 people. They hadn’t reached the 25, but 18 was just about all that the whole country baptized in a normal month. It was a great privilege two weeks later to participate in a baptismal service where he and his companion baptized 11 more. His district baptized about 30 that day. Can you see how one righteous man can turn around a whole set of circumstances? He believed, he committed, and he and the Lord did it.