21 June 2010

Things here are really good

Yesterday was an absolutely spectacular day. It all started bright and early at 6 am. We got up earlier to go and pick up some investigators in order to travel to the district conference. We picked up 3 members of one family, one from another and another met us at the church. We were all ready to go and waiting for the bus, which never showed up. It seems that Father’s Day got to the driver and he slept in a little bit. Anyways, we ended up having to turn around centro to find another way to travel. In the end we had one car from a member, a van and two taxis, and we ended up missing the first session but the second session was wayyyyyy good. President Northcutt was there along with Elder Avila who is a seventy from Uruguay or Paraguay. It was way good and our investigators enjoyed it and so did we. That was more investigators than we have had in church for a long time in this area. Also, the names of two of my converts from Simoca were presented to be ordained elders so that was really really cool too. Things seem to be going better.

This week we also ended with better numbers than we have in a while. We met all the goals for the mission this week and it was just an all in all way good week. Elder Barraza and I are doing good and enjoying the work we are doing. We had a cool cita [appointment] with an old investigator I have probably commented to you about before. His name is Angel and he was once upon a time an altar assistant in the Catholic Church. He has read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover and says he hasn’t received an answer. He was at the conference on Sunday and I hope he will have understood something more about how he can receive an answer. We went to his house the other day and talked about completely giving into the Lord and we felt impressed to talk about all of the catholic images he has in his house. We asked if he would be willing to give all of that up to know the truth and talked about the father of King Lamoni. He said yes so we went to a nearby store to ask for a couple of boxes and loaded up all the saints and statues and such and took them from him. He said we could come back this week to see if he has received an answer. I really hope he does because if not I don’t know what else we could possibly do to help him. So all in all things are good.

We are staying in Monteros more lately, not a whole lot of travel to Simoca. Other cool experiences, in the conference President Northcutt passed us a reference for a man he had talked to while he was doing interviews in Simoca. Those converts had the opportunity to talk with Elder Avila about the Melkezidek priesthood and all that so that was cool. My comp and I also had the opportunity to give a blessing along with President Northcutt. That was a very cool experience. So things are well. I hope all is going really well for all of you. Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there, especially my dad and Mike and Shawn and Peter. I love you all a ton. Talk to you all later. :D !

Elder Jeff Rose

14 June 2010

Que Tal todos!!

Como andan! Espero q bien porque acá las cosas están de diez :) Ha-ha, how are all you all doing. I hope everything is just spectacular with you guys. Things here are going good, we had a good week. Not a whole lot to tell. We went down a different path this week and started working with a lot of less active families to try and help the branch grow a little bit to get it back to where it has been in the past. Some of the families, as can be expected, received us very warmly and others wanted nothing to do with us. We had some good experiences with a few of them and one family was in church this week and another two participated in a ward activity that we held last night. We also have found a few investigators among those families and their extended relatives. We will be working with them to see what we can do. We have one family that the children are investigating but the mom is a little bit more difficult.

The other day when Argentina played against Nigeria in the world cup we took another kid the same age more or less as the other kids and watched part of the game with them. One of those kids came to church with us yesterday so that was cool.

Everything here is moving along just nicely and we’re working hard. Elder Barraza and I have a good connection and are able to work well together. We get along well and have a lot of fun. I have a bunch of pictures that you need to see, so I’ll try and get you some of those. Well, that’s all for this week, hope you enjoyed it. I love you. Talk to you later.

Jeff Rose

07 June 2010

One More Week and Way Too Much Excitement

Everything here with me is going just spectacular :) This last week we had a baptism and on Sunday we were able to get her confirmed. That was where all the excitement came in. We went to Simoca early to be there for church and while we were starting the meeting the cell phone rang a few times. I didn’t bother to look at it until the confirmation was over because there was no way to call back or anything. After the confirmation turns out that I checked to see who it was and it was the number of the branch president’s office in Monteros. So I called back and the branch president asked us to come to Monteros to preside in the meeting because he had to go to work. That was fun. So we took a remis back to Monteros and I had my first experience with presiding over Sunday meetings. Luckily it was fast and testimony meeting so I didn’t have to wing it with talks or anything, but it all went rather smoothly. Luckily a family invited us to eat lunch with them since the lunch we would have had in Simoca was an hour away and it would have been hard to get there and back and not waste a ton of time. So anyway, it was a fun day.

There is an ex-missionary that served in the mission that was here yesterday because apparently he is getting married to a girl from the branch, haha; kind of weird right? Anyway, so yeah that was a fun day.

This past week Elder Barraza and I have been hitting it hard, working 100 percent and trying to get things going once again. My comp is a stud, he is a way better missionary than I am and I am glad to have him. I’ll try and get some pictures to you from some of our recent adventures. We have a blast together and I hope I get to be with him for at least one more transfer after this one.

Things in the branches are going well and I have been learning a ton about how the church should run and a lot of the little things like the unwritten rules and such through all the experiences that we have been having. Speaking of which, I believe that in the package I mailed home right before I left the MTC I put a talk in there that was called "the unwritten order of things". If you could find a digital copy of that and email it to me or make a photocopy and mail it or something of the sort that would be spectacular. I just would like a copy of it because it is way good.

As for the investigators that we have of the moment, they are in that first stage of seeing what happens for the most part. We have one investigator in Simoca that is doing well but his family is separated and travels a lot so it is difficult for him to go to church sometimes. We are working with a lot of less active families to get them activated since these branches really need their help, especially priesthood holders. So that’s what we are up to lately. Taking the approach from all sides and trying our dandiest to get things moving. If you all have any suggestions or comments, they are very invited. I love you all and I hope that you are doing awesome. Take care and don’t forget to try to be perfect. :)

ha-ha, dad, thanks a ton for always reminding me to smile, it really came in handy yesterday while directing the meetings. It was kind of stressful and I tried to keep smiling the whole time and it really helped out. Now I understand why there was a bit of a struggle with the smile while you were bishop and I don’t blame you at all. I was only there for a couple hours and I got a taste of it :) I love you.

Elder Rose


p.s. Could you tell Brother Heath thank you for the letters that he has been sending and I would absolutely love it if he keeps sending them. If it is too expensive to mail them tell him he can email them too me since they are already typed up.

01 June 2010

New Companion

Hey Everyone!

How are all of you guys doing? I hope you’re spectacular. I am doing well. Yesterday after church in Simoca we had a baptism of a girl named Loudres Medina. It was really cool. She’s nine years old and she was kind of freaking out a bit because she was afraid of the water. It didn’t help that there was no hot water and it was a cold winterish day, but it all turned out well. We had a lot of help from the branch and had a good time. So the baptism was way cool and the confirmation will be next week.

We lingered around a little bit so that Elder Castro could say goodbye to some people since he was the one that received his transfer this time. He is off to Salta in an area called La Loma. He will be living in the same apartment I lived in when I was in my second area. That will be cool for him. My new companion is Elder Barraza, also from Santiago de Chile with the same time in the mission as Elder Castro. He is a cool kid. He speaks super duper fast but I’ll get used to that.

So today will be a busy p-day. We have spent the whole day so far in the terminal and when we finish writing I think we will be heading back to our area. Today in the terminal I got to see some people I haven’t seen for a long time. I saw Elder Wade again and he brought me a letter from Rodrigo, our convert. I saw some old missionaries that I haven’t seen in more than a year, it was really fun.

We have found some really cool people this past week that I hope will really have the opportunity to progress. We found one single mom of three kids and then another family of four and then we have a couple of other opportunities to teach some people that we have been working with for a while. Things seem like they will all be going good. It’s a bit of a new beginning with a new comp and I hope that we can get some stuff done, get down to business and just work super hard. As for that, that is pretty much all, everything here is normal. This transfer we are planning on doing some cool activities.

I love you all a ton. Talk to you next week.

Elder Rose