Three Baptisms!

I hope everything is going good for you all in your respective parts of the country. I was super excited to hear the new news of baby number 2 that will be joining the family while I am gone. It is weird thinking that I will have two people to get to know when I get home. I hope that I have the chance to get to know them soon after I arrive so that they aren´t too old and think that I am a stranger the first time that they meet me.

Things out here are going well. This last week was good. It was a busy one trying to get the baptismal services organized. It was a great thing that we had help from people in the branch in Simoca. Since they are the ones that live the farthest away, it would have been really hard and really time consuming to get things going without their help. But luckily there are some really cool members there. We actually have a ward mission leader in that branch, something that lacks in Monteros. And it is kind of like you said mom, we spend a good part of our time putting out fires and trying to get the work done at the same time.

There is a big problem with pride and damaged pride in the church everywhere and it stands out a lot here, I don't know whether it is because of our calling as missionaries that I am more aware of it or because we have a good rapport with the members and they confide their problems in us or what, but there have definitely been some one of a kind experiences that I have had in this area. One of a kind in the sense that they are the first time learning experiences during my mission. And I am glad in a way because I am learning things that I am sure that many missionaries and surely many members of the church don´t get the chance to be exposed to. But anyway, that´s that. I don´t want to go telling you all a bunch of the people´s issues. It has also been an interesting experience for my companion. He is definitely not used to having that level of contact with people and doesn´t like having that close of a relationship with people to the point where they are willing to tell you their deep dark secrets. I don´t try to form that sort of relationship, but I guess I just have a way of doing it without trying. Hopefully it´ll be good for me in the future in some way shape or form.

But anyway, back on topic. The baptisms! The baptisms went really well. On Friday we had two baptisms in Simoca, for Rodrigo Lazarte and Ramon Campero. That went really well. They are friends of a member family in Simoca and they were a reference from that family. Rodrigo decided he wanted his friend, Rodrigo Romano, to baptize him and Ramón chose the dad, Pocho. It was super cool seeing those four all in white and having them participate in that special moment together. It is something that reminded me of when Sean Fisher got baptized and he asked Ryan Grow to do it. Good memories. Then we weren´t there on Sunday for their confirmations, but they said that it went well. We had to go over to Simoca on Sunday night to get the papers signed. Then on Saturday we had the baptism of Gisel Alí. She has been dating a member for a while and he is on a mission currently. She made the decision to get baptized a long time ago but was waiting to turn 18 so that she could make the decision on her own since her family did not want to support her in the decision. But she has the support of the family of her boyfriend, so that is really good. Then on Sunday she was confirmed along with the boys in Simoca. We had to stay in Monteros because other than the branch president there is no other worthy priesthood. That makes things interesting sometimes.

Today while we were doing our shopping for the week I got a phone call from the zone leader saying that my companion had to travel to Salta and had to be there at 4 o clock. So that changed our plans for the day a little bit. So for the next day or so I will be doing divisions with the district leader and his companion in a city called Concepcion. It´s named after "la immaculada concepcion de jesus" (the immaculate conception of Jesus Christ) and it is a little bit bigger than where I am at :). It is the second biggest city in Tucuman and there are only 2 missionaries here. They definitely have their work cut out for them. I heard from a couple of converts today that are passing through some difficult times. Rodrigo, the last baptism in Perico, has been getting a lot of problems from his family and is kind of frustrated with everything. On top of that they have been giving him anti-Mormon doctrine. He is a really good guy but his testimony is still growing. I would really appreciate it if you could pray for him, his name is Rodrigo Copas.

As of now we are working with a few people, trying to help them take the steps necessary to follow the gospel. There is a girl that is a member of a less active family that is super smart that we are working with. She is only 9 but she is way intelligent and she is super small too, she´s probably just more than a meter tall. She´s super funny. We were supposed to pass by the other day but we couldn´t because of the baptismal interviews and when we went last night she was angry that we didn´t come. We called, but they didn´t pick up. She was kind of throwing a fit and then we started to teach a little bit and we got her and her little sisters involved and then she really got into it and it turned out good. I’ve been sharing the Starbursts with the little kids. They really love them, and they were so excited when I told them that if they all behaved and kept still and quiet during the lesson that I would give them each a couple of Starbursts. Now my only dilemma is what do I do when they run out :)? Ha-ha.

Things are going good overall. I did get the package as you have probably already caught on. Thanks a ton; I’ve been sharing most of it. My comp thinks that the marshmallows in the cereal are the weirdest thing ever. He loved the Girl Scout cookies though. Ha-ha. When I explained the Girl Scout program to him he thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever, then he thought about it for a second and said "but if they keep making these cookies, I don´t care how weird it is." I love you guys a ton. I am looking forward to hearing from you all next week. Until then; I Love you all.

Elder Jeff Rose

Things are good!

As for things here, they are good. I think I am getting a cold from constantly being wet from all the rain and humidity but I am actually enjoying every minute of it. Today has been a pretty good day so far. We cleaned the apartment, went shopping, I went to check out shoes but still haven´t found anything. I did however get my shoes resoled, so we´ll see how they work out. The problem with resoling shoes is that they always fit differently when they are done. We´ll see. Oh, I think the package got here, at least A package got here, I assume it is the one that you guys sent. I will know on Thursday. Things in the area have been going pretty good; really good in some ways and struggling in others. This coming weekend we will be having 3 baptisms; 1 in Monteros and 2 in Simoca. This Sunday was the first Sunday I went to spend in Simoca. It is a very small, lazy little town in respect to the amount of people that are in the streets during the siesta. So we went to lunch after church with a member and then went to the plaza and found a bench to study on for a couple of hours while everyone else was sleeping. Like dad says, having two little branches is a little bit of a challenge with all the logistics and all the little problems that have to be worked out. It is like the experience that mom and dad are having living outside of the area of the branch, when you aren't close by and things happen they are a little bit more difficult to deal with, but we´re working hard to try and get the support of the people. Apart from those 3 who will be baptized, we have a few other investigators that we are trying to work with. Once we get them coming to church they will be golden, but that is the age-old struggle. As for the area, I am getting to know it better and better each time we head out. It is kind of confusing having two cities, two area books, two of practically everything to keep straight. But it is a test that I am enjoying; I just hope that I am doing well. And I figure at this point who knows how long I could be in this area. I could leave in a transfer or I could finish the mission here, so I figure I should be even more careful about taking advantage of all the time I have here whether it is a small jaunt or a long haul. Elder Castro´s family wasn't affected by the earthquake, at least not badly. Some stuff broke in the house, but nobody was hurt and they´re all fine. They live about 400km or 600km or something like that away from the epicenter so they were a little more protected. And as for us, we are getting along good. He gets frustrated a lot because he doesn't understand everything about the mission yet and I am slowly realizing that his trainer didn't really teach him much. He also spent a while away from the church and in that time he lost the opportunity to learn a lot of things about the gospel. So we are working on that. A lot of times as we are teaching he will make a comment after-wards about something that he didn't know or didn't completely understand about the gospel. He´s a way good kid though. Not really a kid though; he´s 26 years old. So that is an interesting experience. But yeah, things are just going well. Can´t really complain about anything, not that I would if there was something to complain about. But yeah, so the challenge of the moment is organizing all the interviews and two separate baptismal services. We are working on organizing the baptisms and on doing divisions and such. It is all so much fun. Ha-ha. Well. I love you a ton family, and I miss you. I’ll be talking to you later. And happy birthday wishes again to Kim. I’ll sing Feliz cumpleaños to you all twice when I get home.
Take Care
Chau
-Elder Jeff Rose

Transfer!

March 8, 2010

Well, I don't have time to write right now, but I wanted to let you know that I was transferred to Simoca Monteros, Tucuman today. I don't know who my companion is yet, but I will be there later today. The bus got a little delayed due to a corte de ruta again so I'm taking advantage of this chunk of time to write. I will write more later, but I also wanted to let you know that the baptismal service for Rodrigo went through and it was awesome. I was sad to leave Elder Wade behind, but that’s the will of the Lord I guess. As for my new companion I think he is a native and I will be his step dad. All the missionaries that are coming into the zone that I am leaving are from my group so I won't get to see them once again, but it's all good. So, I will be writing you a little bit later. Know that I love you all. Take Care

Elder Rose

March 15, 2010

Monteros de Tucuman: Small town
Branch: 20-30 active members

Simoca de Tucuman: Even smaller town
Branch: 30-40 active members

Hey Everybody.

How are things going? Hope they're good. So yeah, I am in my new area with my new comp. The area is called Simoca Monteros because it actually covers two small towns and all the space in between. My companion's name is Elder Castro and he is from Chile. He has the same amount of time in the mission as Elder Wade. His trainer was actually from my group as well. So far it is a pretty cool place. I still don't know my way around very well, but I am catching on. I can get us unlost when my comp gets us lost :) ha-ha. But yeah, the cities are tiny but they are cool. We live in Monteros and on the days that we go to work in Simoca we take a twenty minute bus ride to the other city. Simoca is a super cool place. It is smaller than Monteros but there are more active members and it seems like there are more prospects. It's kind of funny though. Simoca is in the Guinness book of world records for the city with the highest percentage of alcohol consumption per capita in the world. So you would think that we would be teaching a lot of word of wisdom lessons and such right? Ha-ha. I have only been to Simoca once so far, but we are planning to go two or three times a week and then we switch off Sundays, one here one there one here one there. We are going to have a baptism at the end of the third week here. Two actually, if all goes well. We are really trying to find these people and help them out. We are also really trying to strengthen the branches in both areas. They need a little bit of help. On Sunday I spoke, blessed the sacrament, taught priesthood and helped out the branch president with the records of members and stuff like that, and I gave two blessings and tried to chase down some investigators and get them to church. The majority of the branch here is related. It would be as if you were to go to church on Sunday in Gilroy and it was just the Jensen and Eves families there with two missionaries. But things are well. I took out money today to buy new shoes. I will go look for them this next week or the week following when we head into the city :) ha-ha, that sounds funny, doesn't it?

Para los que reciben esto que no van a entender la mayoria de lo que esta escrito arriba, les digo algunas cosas. El area donde yo estoy ahora es lindo, dos pueblos chicquititos per bastante buenos. la iglesia aca es mas pequeña en el sentido del numero de personas que van al la iglesia y tambien es nada mas que una casita en llos does lugares donde hacemos las reuniones. nos debe hacer pensar en las grades bendiciones que tenemos por haber estado en un lugar dodnde la iglesia tenga todos los recursos, todos los lideres, actividades y bastante gente. nunca desprecien el impacto que pueda tener en la vida de uno por medio de compartir el evangelio, les quiero un monton y les extraño much. que esten bien y que sigan adelante que firmeza. les quiero ver un dia y poder contarles todo. hasta ese entonces. su amigo y hermano

Elder Jeffrey Darrell Rose

Earthquake!

Hey Everybody! How's it going?!

Things down here are going really well. We didn't get too shaken up by the earthquakes. In Salta it was Rather Strong, but up in Jujuy it was just an aftershock that I would doubt even reached 1.0 on the scale. It was one of those that you would feel in California and wonder if it really was an earthquake or if you were just imagining things :) haha. But yeah, everything is peaceful here. I’m sure some of the other missionaries felt it stronger though.

As for the stuff going on in Chile and all that I don't know a whole lot. I started thinking a bit about some college friends and roommates that are in Chile right now though. I also heard something about a tsunami or something like that that was headed towards Hawaii. But other than feeling the little quake, nothing has happened here. I hear Chile is out of communication though, like the cell towers and phone systems are down. That´s got to make things tough though. It really makes me feel blessed to have been born in a place that when things like that happen they aren’t nearly as grave because the people of the church are prepared at least and the country is in better conditions to handle the disasters. I think about all the hurricanes and tornadoes and that 7.0 quake in Gilroy a couple years ago and how nothing really happened. Pretty amazing!

So anyway, the stuff down here is going good. We have a baptism that is planned for this weekend right before the transfer that I hope goes through. The only thing that may stop it is that there was a little problem in church yesterday. We had specifically asked the bishop not to announce the baptism because the investigator wasn't 100% sure and asked us not to tell anyone yet, but the bishop went ahead and announced it anyway and then the guy looked at me and said something about how he had thought he told us not to say anything and then when he left church he seemed kind of annoyed, but we will see. Hopefully something like that won't stop him from making the decision. So we are working a lot with him. He is gone for the first part of this week because he has to go do some paperwork and some studies for his eyes so he can get closer to getting the operation that he needs. But we are praying hard for the baptism. Praying that he will gain that last little bit of testimony that he needs.

We have also found a couple cool new people. One is missing a leg because he got run over by a train about 7 years ago while he was taking the discussions from other missionaries. Another is a tricky one because he is a super good guy, but he committed a murder about 10 years ago. And then we have a family that is so-so. They are kind of flaky and the mom and dad fight a lot, but we are trying to help them. I used to think that the families that would get baptized were those who were already ready, but I have realized more and more that the families who get baptized are usually the ones that need the most help and may seem in the beginning some of the least likely people.

Transfers are this week. I think I am probably gone from here, but you never really can predict what is going through the mission president´s head.

I love you all.
Take Care and don't do anything I wouldn't do :)
Chau
Elder Jeff Rose