Thanks for Everything

Hey Guys!!

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who kept up with me and what i was doing over the last two years. Thanks for all of your support and i hope you have enjoyed seeing everything coming from the other land down under. I love you all a ton and thanks again!

Last of the Last!

Hey Everyone---
Well, here goes. The last of the last. The last time you will have to hear from me not in person for a while. The last time I will write you from the other side of the planet for a while... or ever. The last time I will have to miss you while I am writing you. This really is an emotional experience. Today was fun. We got up way early and hit the bus terminal at 5 a.m. We got to Salta at 9:30 a.m. and Rodrigo Copas was waiting there for me and Elder Donaldson with the other missionaries. We passed the day with Rodrigo, me, Donaldson, Fuentes and Shuman, and some other missionaries, all of which were in Perico and we all know Rodrigo. I really felt good having people around to share the day with and keep myself busy, otherwise it would probably have been a rough ride. Saying goodbye was also pretty rough, not something that I like to do by any means, but you know, what can you do. Right now I am sitting here waiting to have my last interview with President Northcuttt, get my temple recommend and all that and then we will hang out for a bit until the nighttime when we have a dinner with the president and the hermana. It was a good ride, the last two years. Good times among people I love and grew to love. That is by far the best lesson that I have learned on the mission. Love for the people and love for my Savior. As for when I get home. I don’t know what to do. I have lots of questions. For example; when will I get released, what are we doing. What are the travel plans? All that. For know I will answer your questions. First of all, what do I want to eat when I get home? Good question. Let’s start with desert. I will leave the choice up to you. Either cherry pie or striped delight. As for the food...... ooooooooooooo... so many good choices. I got it. lasagna... that would be really good. Kind of an odd combo, but call me crazy. I will also be needing some new garments pretty soon I think I only have 3 pairs left. I have a lot of stuff I wanna do and think I want to talk about but my mind is too messed up at the moment to figure that out. I’ll sleep a bit then try to put it into words. :) Love you guys a ton! Take care. See you soon. Smile.

Elder Rose
... for the last time.

Great Week!

This is probably the last email I send. I don´t know if I will be able to next week. I would imagine that I would but if I don’t I’ll call you from the airport. This last week was also spectacular. The baptism went really well. The sister of the boy who was baptized last week was baptized this week. It was a wonderful thing. We were nervous that she may not get baptized because she is a very shy girl. Everything went well though. The family looked extremely happy afterwards as the kids played with the other kids from the ward and branches and the other boy who was baptized the same day. Then on Sunday we had a cool experience. The schedule for church has been moved for our ward to the 5 to 8 in the evening block. So that means that we have the chance to go out to teach in the morning before church, an opportunity that I never had in my whole mission. It was cool, we got to pass by investigators in the morning and help the other elders get some of their investigators to church. This last week has been really fun. Our district is tearing it up. We had 5 baptisms this week. 2 last week and should have 4 or 5 this week. Things are happening in our time here that has never happened before. President Northcutt was almost in tears when he heard the weekly report. We are being so blessed lately. And I don’t want it to end so abruptly. Things with Elder Graham are good. We have been growing together and I think that the fact that he is going to be in charge of the area in a week is sinking in a bit. The birthday was also fun; a few families invited us over for cake and stuff like that. All in all things are going well. I am going to try and find something special for each and every one of you today so I hope you like it. I’ll talk to you soon.

Love you a ton !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Jeffrey Darrell Rose

I'm Alive -- Stop Worrying!

Wanted to let you know that I am alive and kicking. Yesterday was a kind of crazy day. We went on a trip as a zone, I got my haircut, I went with Elder Donaldson to get him glasses. I gave him my old frames because he didn’t have enough money to buy them, I hope you don’t mind. I got bit by another dog again, this time on the bicep, part of why I didn’t write yesterday. Last Friday and Sunday was the baptism and confirmation of Cristian Perdiguera, one of the two siblings of the family we are teaching. This Saturday we have his sister´s baptisms. Next Saturday the baptism of Susana Quiroga. Things are going super well. We had interviews with president today and Sister Northcutt. President Northcutt gave me a bag of candy and a card for my birthday. Things are super cool. I love you all and thanks so much for your birthday wishes. I Love you all a ton.

Yours always and forever
Elder Jeffrey Darrell Rose

Wassup!

How is all going back in town? It is weird thinking that there is still so much stuff going on without me. It is good to hear that you are all doing so well. Sounds like dad is having fun in sin city. It makes me laugh now to think about the name and then think about a priesthood holder walking into it and Satan probably just cringing knowing that he’s there. And mom’s back home holding down the fort. The guy that is staying with you, is he going to still be there when I get home? It would be cool to get to talk to him. And how are all the grandkids and the siblings? Everything doing good.

This last week was a pretty good one. We are doing the work well and getting things done and we should have a baptism this week and 2 more before I go. It was funny. This last Friday we did an activity together with our ward and the two branches that meet in our building and it was super cool. We made pizza for everyone and played bowling, everything with a spiritual message of course.

The other elders have a baptism that should be happening not this week but the next that he asked me to baptize him. I was super surprised, I was the first person to talk to him when he went to church with his family and I was surprised he remembered because that was like 2 months ago. It just goes to show and I learned a very important lesson from it. When new people come to church, the thing they look for most is a friend. Be that friend. The majority of the baptismal interviews I have been able to do have said the same thing. One of the questions I ask is who they want to baptize them and when they say who I ask why specifically that person, just out of curiosity, and they almost always say that it is the first person to really befriend them and stick with them for the whole time they were getting to know the church. Sometimes it is the elders, but in the best case scenario it would be a member, and that means that the members are doing their jobs.

This Sunday in church we went to ward council and they were deciding on the new schedule because our ward is moving to the afternoon. We decided on 5 -8 in the afternoon because it was the one that makes the most sense as far as the obra misional and all of the purposes of the church. Many others did not seem to be in agreement and now I believe that certain members are a little.... miffed I guess you could say. Let's try to think about things that are spiritual as spiritual please. I like the quote that mom sent me this week.

"Many blessings in life are missed because worldly judgment was applied to what was really a spiritual decision."
Gregory A. Schwitzer

That one is a winner. So this week we played basketball again for p-day. It is a good challenge, mostly as a test of patience because not everyone knows how to play and most are much more apt to play football than basketball and some of us smaller folk leave the court a little damaged. I don’t think it gets to the level of church ball, but close.

I love you all. I think about you often. Thanks for the package. I made a delicious cake with the peanut butter. Want the recipe?

100g sugar
2 eggs
vanilla
8 spoons of oil
mix
3/4 cup milk
mix
300 grams nesquik (i dunno if hershey´s cocoa would make it turn out the same)
mix
flour (about 400g it´s like a pound i think)
then you can mix in chocolate chips if you want.
grease and flour a pan and put it in the oven on medium heat for about 30 min.
then I cut it in half and put peanut butter in it.
everyone loved it. Hope you like it too!

Love Always, Elder Jeffrey Darrell Rose

Here things are really good!

I’ve gotta say that I wish that I had known what I know now about 2 years ago. I have learned a ton and have been enjoying doing the work a lot. This last week the 3 day training meeting was fun. It was interesting to see the things that the first presidency is emphasizing and the way in which they are changing Preach My Gospel, or actually adding to it since it is the same, just with more parts.

We’ve been working hard, sometimes it is a bit difficult, like all things are, but I feel confident that we are doing the best we know how. We have some way cool people that we are teaching right now. This last couple of weeks has taught me something. I think as missionaries we get caught up a lot in the glory of things. Not so much in a prideful way as wanting to be part of all the cool things that happen. The people that my companion and I are teaching may or may not get baptized while I am around, but that really is not a huge concern as far as who is there when it happens, but rather that they are taught in the correct way and that they do get baptized in the end.

I have seen so many way cool things in the mission. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, because I know that it is going to make everything so much more worth it afterwards. Let´s be honest, I would love to be home right this moment, but I want to be here more. There are still things to do and things to learn. And there are far too many to learn right now, but I have got to take advantage of the time that I have while I have it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the people that I am going to miss when I go, and the list is not short. When you are in this field of work, you not only get to know people, but you really get to know them, you understand them, you become family with them, and it is a wonderful thing. I wish that every person here in Argentina I could do something for before I go, and I am thinking constantly about what I can do. Beyond the things that you can do for a person in a physical sense, I think the most important thing will be the influence that we leave behind in this life. It is a very weird thing, life. Its ups and downs and sidesteps and unforeseen bumps. But it all serves us for our experience.

I realized something very cool while teaching a couple of younger kids recently. That is that they, notwithstanding their young age, have an understanding of who they are, what they want in life, a distinct personality. One of the things that I saw recently that most affected me was a 13 year old girl who said that she was atheist, that she didn’t believe in god for what had happened in her life. I was awestruck and my jaw dropped a little as I heard her explain it to us. But there is something more amazing. She now is starting to believe in Christ, she is praying, reading the Book of Mormon, has gone to church, and she is preparing to get baptized. Each and every one of us are children of our Father. And that is special. I love you all more than you know and I miss you probably as much as you realize. But I’d like to think I miss you alllllot. Anyways. Till next time. Thanks for everything!
CHAUUUU
Elder Jeffrey Darrell Rose
p.s. I got the package, thanks a ton. All the roommates and even President and Sister Northcutt were pretty excited about the Big Hunks. :)

Hey U:

Everything here is just fantastic. We really had a really amazing week last week. It was a killer, just one of those weeks that you wait for and work so hard for as a missionary. We had more lessons, more new investigators, more people in church than we have ever had since I have been in this area and we are really working with some extremely amazing people this time around. I and Elder Graham are doing well. After the big talk that we had last week everything has improved 100%.

So anyways about the week, we’ll start from the beginning. We are teaching the Navarro kids, a mom who is a member but way less active and her two kids that are 10 and 13. They went to conference this last week and came to church this week as well. They are going to get baptized in a few weeks. The Bajinay family; I think I told you about them. They are two sisters that live with their mom. Somehow we finally got them and they came to church. That was way cool because it was a huge step in their progression. They also brought one of their boyfriends with them. They were taken very good care of by the members and they have friends in the ward. There is a really cool old guy in our ward named Bro. Mendelek. He asked us to talk to his grandkids and we talked to one and she came to church, then we went to their house on Sunday night and talked to the mom and she said that she would like us to talk to her other 2 kids as well. Super sweet.

Things just seem to be working out now. We are also teaching a cool young couple that has 2 kids and he is in the army. They had the desire to go to church this week but right when they were planning on leaving, family showed up on their doorstep and they had to hang out with them (that may seem odd but that is very common here that family just randomly shows up on your doorstep.) On Sunday at lunch, we got a phone call from some other missionaries that said a member spoke with them about visiting a lady. They gave us her address and we went to see her at 9 last night. She is an older woman who has gone through some hard stuff lately and she was way open to what we were teaching and she is stoked to go to church.

I learned a lesson this last week. And this is it. Suck it up and work because if you think things are hard, they only get harder. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and things will work out. This week we have today and tomorrow to work and then on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I have a leadership training meeting to go to with president and so I will be there on those 3 days for the morning and then return to my area for the afternoon. It will be interesting; I hope that it all works out good. We will just try to cram a bunch of really good appointments into the afternoon and have some really really cool days with our investigators.

Today for p-day we went to the zone chapel and played soccer. It was pretty fun. Then we went to Burger King with a couple of other companionships and now I am here. So that is pretty much the whole week. Things are going really well here and I know that it is due to the blessings of the Lord and our efforts to get along better as a companionship. The rest of it is rather easy, teaching the gospel is not hard, we are lead by the spirit to do it, but in order to have the spirit, there needs to be a proper environment in which it can dwell. Always learning. You’d think we’d figure it out after a while right... hahah. Anyways, I’ll leave you for now. Talk to you next week. LOVES!

Chau y un abrazo gigante

Elder Rose

Things here are going great - Last Transfer

Things here are also going great. I am here with Elder Graham and Elder Donaldson and the new elder in our apartment Elder Wilson. I was with Elder Wilson in my last district as well and so it is fun to meet up with him and live together. Things are looking good. We had an awesome time in conference, we got 3 investigators to go, and we would have liked to have had more, but the others that we have invited didn’t come through. The 3 that went were the two kids of the less active family and a lady that we are teaching who suffered from a stroke and is somewhat paralyzed from the waist down. We did a lot of running back and forth between our area and the stake center and we definitely ran ourselves into the ground, but it was way worth it. Super fun. After priesthood session I was craving Chinese food, but there was none to be found and it ends at 11 o´clock at night here so it was pretty late. The transfer went well; we got Elder Ramos to the terminal and picked up Wilson. So now there will be four of us gringo folk in the apartment together so hopefully I don’t come home talking like a gringo.... So you asked what day I actually get home, it should be the 17th of November. That´s weird.

Things are good and set up for this last transfer. We have found a lot of really good people lately and we have a lot of investigators that are committed to baptism that we are trying to help out a lot. There is a young couple with 2 kids that we are working with. Then the 2 kids that went to conference and the lady that went to conference. Sebastian is struggling and we are struggling to hang on to him. The friend of a member, Miguel Angel. Actually really cool story about that. We saw him in church last week and he said that he had received an answer and that he knew that he was going to get baptized, his challenge or rather our challenge with him is finding him because he has a very difficult schedule and his parents don’t want us to teach him in their home, so that complicates things a little bit. Things are good though. Then there is a family of the mom and her two adult daughters, they are also right there on the edge, they have the desires to learn but they are lacking the desires to act on what they learn and will not be able to get to where they need to be if they are not willing to take the step.

So as for conference, the talks were amazing, I picked up a few main topics that were very prevalent. Apart from the general topics that are very common such as pornography, debt and all that, they focused a lot on the prophet and following him, agency, and repentance and family relations. I really enjoyed the talks by President Monson, President Uchtdorf and president... man I liked all the talks, but there is just such a thing that happens, that in the moment certain things just apply to you. You just hear them talking to you and then when you go back to review the talks you find something else, that is why it is soooooo important to take notes and to remember the stuff that you learn. "The dullest ink is better than the most vivid memory" not sure who said it but they were right. There are still a lot of things that I am working on and I love conference because it just makes you realize how much stuff that you need to do to improve.

I had a really good talk with Elder Graham last night after the conference was over and we talked about a lot of stuff. We worked some things out, were really open and understand things a little bit better now. We are growing together. I think that I have taken for granted the good companions that I have had in the past that were just automatically easy to get along with. He is an amazing missionary, and it has just been a little bit more of a struggle than in the past to find our groove with each other. We’re getting there and we will only get better. I love you all. I love you. Thank you for being so amazing. I admire you for watching conference and learning from it. It put a smile on my face to hear that you watched all the sessions. I love you so much. I will talk to you later. CHAUUU
Elder Jeffrey Darrell Rose

This week is going too fast. It is the last week of the transfer, my comp has to go to Salta, its general conference, we have district meeting, then transfers. It will just go flying by and it should be great with the investigators since it is general conference. Sebastian is hanging out, we haven’t been able to find him much lately, and the other two families are doing well. I love you a ton. You can forward this to everyone if you want so they don’t think I died since I didn’t write much. P-day with Ro was amazing, we had a blast. I’ll miss him a ton. He said he’d come see us when we leave. We’ll talk to you all later. Chau
Jeff

Really short email this week

Things are going way well here. This Sunday was cool, I spoke impromptu on how to receive spiritual knowledge. It was fun. We had 2 investigators in church that are doing really well. Things with me and my comp are doing really good. So today, actually as I speak, I am sitting here with Rodrigo Copas, one of my converts from Jujuy. He came down to visit Elder Donaldson and I and we are going to take advantage of the day we’ve got. I’ll send pictures. Well, I love you all. I will make up for the super short mail with the letters I am sending out this week. I Love you all a TON!!!! Take care.

Elder Rose

Time is flying by!

How is everything going back there? From the sounds of it it seems like things are just going spectacularly. I am glad that you are all doing well and that you are happy with where you are at in life. I know that there are a lot of challenges on all sides, but I also know that as we pull through those challenges, that we can come out on top and enjoy life a whole lot. That is one thing that I have learned on my mission too. There are struggles every day. Sometimes they are tiny, sometimes they are bigger, sometimes they are easy to fix, and sometimes we just can’t do a thing about it. BUT, there is always something that depends on us, our attitude. I’m happy you’ve all got a good attitude about life and I am so stoked to know that you are doing so well.

This week in Universitario has been a week of interesting outcomes. We were talking to Sebastian and while I was on divisions doing a baptismal interview for another companionship my comp and another elder taught him the law of chastity. He seemed to take it really well, what’s more his girlfriend was there, yet when we went back the other day he was a little freaked out. I wish I knew what is going on in his head, but there are definitely a lot of things that we still can do with him. He still has the desire to learn, but we are sort of walking on eggshells at the moment, I know that your prayers have helped him out. I know it depends on his own prayers.

The next best thing that happened this week was that we found two pretty cool families. The first is made up of a mom who is a member, and 5 kids that are not. They are aged 6, 10, 13, 17, and 19. Two so far are for him to leave his listening to us and the other two who are of age we hope to get to listen to us as well. They are super cool and I have noticed recently just how important it is to really get to be friends with your investigators.

My comp struggles a lot with that, he is not so much shy as just in his shell and it is difficult to move from his comfort zone, or talk about life, you know, just small talk with people. He asked me the other day why the people don’t really like him, that took me off guard. He’s struggling a bit with everything, and I am just trying to find the way to help him out.

The other family we found is a mom of about 50 and her two daughters of 23 and 26. They’re pretty cool. They listened to the missionaries for a while about 5 years ago and we have no idea about what happened that time around. They are really interested, or at least curious. And as far as the whole investigator situation is going, things are alright, people are progressing and we are trying to get them to church.

Things are really interesting this time around with training. My comp can speak fairly well, but he gets lost so easily. I feel like he is always just lost. There is just so much information to process and he is just not used to it. There are so many names and so many things to remember about them. It kind of makes me think back to my beginning of the mission experience. I wonder if I was this lost or this worried about every little thing. I am trying to help him learn little by little and overcome the challenges he has but sometimes it is hard cause he doesn’t want to talk about it or just hides. We’ll be walking down the street and he will walk a couple meters behind me. I don’t know what to do, but we will just keep on keeping on and help him out.

So it is getting rather toasty here. We went to centro today and I bought a couple of souvenirs, and then we went to the church and some members from one of the branches made lunch for us since today was Donaldson’s birthday. It was a pretty fun p-day, tonight we have a lesson with Sebastian and with the family of 3 we found. So wish us luck. And tomorrow we have a normal day and in the night we have to go to centro to get my comp’s foot checked out. Then on Wednesday we have divisions with a companionship in my district, then on Thursday it is zone conference and divisions again to do more interviews, then Friday weekly planning and a trip to do more interviews, then Saturday I am sure there will be something interesting, and then Sunday and then I will write you again. So there you have it. This week is going to FLY by. Then it is General Conference. I challenge each and every one of you to watch every session (I will :) Well, I Love you all a ton, never forget that. till next time.

Elder Jeff Rose

The countdown has begun!

Jeff's travel itinerary for his trip home has arrived!  I don't know about the rest of you, but to me, it seems like the time has gone by pretty quickly.  In celebration of Jeff's pending return home, I've added a new feature to his blog: a countdown timer!  Check back often (as I'm sure mom will be doing) to see just how much time is left!

On a more serious note, I just wanted to take a minute to say how grateful I am that Jeffrey made the decision to go on a mission.  He's been a great example to me and receiving his letters and hearing his stories has inspired me to renew some of my goals that I've slacked on a bit since I got home.

Jeff is such an amazing person. I love him, I miss him, and I'm excited to see him again soon.

Cumple Mes

So.... yesterday was me and Elder Donaldson's 22 month mark, and the day before was September 11th, that was weird to think it has been so long since that day. Elder Donaldson is an elder from my group who is living with us. We end at the same time so that should be funny when we leave. I think we are going to leave a ton of stuff that we have accumulated over these two years. I was thinking about bringing some of it back with mom and dad but since they aren’t coming (and honestly I don´t think I need half the stuff anyway), there will be some lucky elders who get some cool stuff for free:). So now I am the last one standing I guess. Everyone else is home and now you’re just waiting on me. Don’t you worry, I’ll be there soon:).

Last night I had my first trunky dream in a long time, I dreamt that I got home and we went to Costco and bought a ton of my favorite foods and then we ran into a member there and I had to go do a baptismal interview. Apparently it’s not going to be so easy to leave this place and this work. But I don’t have to think about that for a while anyway.

So this last Sunday was good. We have a really cool really really cool investigator. I think I mentioned him. His name is Sebastian and we are trying to help him stop smoking right now. Pray for him please.

The visit we received from Elder Foster of the seventy was waaaaaaay good. He talked about the problems with the church in Argentina and especially in the mission and said something very good. He said that we cannot let the culture of the place change the laws of the church. God has his laws and his way of running the church and those laws must be enforced and the things will run His way or those who impede this labor will answer for it. It was rather strong but I think he kicked things into gear here. He spoke with us. Then on Sunday he spoke with all of the stake presidents and they should, in turn, speak with bishops and all that and that will be fantastic.

Our ward had ward council meeting for the first time in years, we have a new renewed desire from some to do the work, so now we just have to be able to retain that desire and make things work. It was a cool opportunity to talk to Elder Foster with President Northcutt and just the leaders here in Tucuman. There were only about 15 of us and he asked us what we felt and asked us to ask him whatever questions we desired. What a cool opportunity, right? They are really special people. You know what I was thinking; I think we lose that eternal perspective way too easily. One day we are excited and happy and the next we are moping around about how the world is against us; but it isn’t that way. Attitude determines altitude right? It also determines your salvation. If you are happy, you will love the Lord. If you love him, you will obey him, if you do that, you will gain your salvation, and in that process you can influence many others to gain theirs as well. I love you all a ton. I realize that by writing just one email, it is difficult sometimes to know what is directed to whom, but just know this. I love you all and those things that you think are directed to you, they are:). Love ya. Oh and I think I have started saying words with weird accents, hope you like it:). haha. Till next week, love you all a ton.
Bye.
Elder Rose

Summer time is HERE, and it's all over the place.

Well, here it is feeling like the first days of summer, a nice temperate 80 degrees or so, nice and sunny and things are looking good. This week has been a pretty good one. We have found new people to teach and are having success teaching some of them. The experiences of late have taught me a lot and have reminded me of things that I knew before that I had forgotten. Today, or as soon as I finish writing my email to you guys, we have a family home evening activity with an investigator. She is struggling to get married, her boyfriend doesn’t really want to, but we are going to try and help her out with that, see if we can talk to him and get them to get hitched :). She has been investigating the church for a long time, so hopefully this is the time. We have a really cool guy we are teaching named Sebastian. He is 26. At first he didn’t really want to listen to us but thanks to a member we had with us when we found him, he listened to us and came to church. He has been once, now we need to teach him about all of the commandments and get him stoked about that stuff.

This time around as district leader has been a really cool opportunity so far. We have a really great district of really hard workers and we have been hitting almost all the goals and the baptisms are coming, slowly but surely they are coming. We have some cool opportunities here soon. Elder Bradley Foster of the seventy is coming to do a conference on Thursday. Those are always really cool meetings. Kind of nerve bending too cause I have a meeting with him and president and the other leaders of the mission beforehand. The theme I believe is going to be working with the members since they asked us to read chapter 13 of Preach My Gospel beforehand. So yeah... then we have the zone conference in a few weeks, general conference, and assorted divisions with the elders of my district, a leadership conference with president and other assorted funness. ha-ha. So things are just going to go slipping by pretty fast.

It was great to hear from all of you this week and hear about how things are going. Thanks for the pictures :). Mike, you’ll have to start training up so we can see if you can finally out climb me when I get home :) ha-ha. Just kidding. And Diane definitely is rather pregnant. Thanks for that pic too. A couple of questions. Are there any cool things that you would like me to start looking for for you guys so that I can get to buying cool souvenirs? Anything you can think of or just a general idea. I want suggestions from all of you. Also I was wondering how much time we are going to have between the 18 of November and the vacation in December. I was thinking about trying to go back to In-n-Out for a couple weeks if they’d take me back. But anyway, just thoughts. Oh, and Drew Wilde should be home this week. Have him send me an e-mail about what his thoughts are for school. I love you guys a ton. You all made my day today! Talk to you next week!
CHAU
ELDER ROSE

Certified Argentine Citizen!

Things out here are going well. So the new news for this transfer is that I am still in my area (Universitario) and I am training a new elder (Picture attached) named Elder Graham. I am also district leader again with a district of 5 areas. So this transfer just has fun written all over it. Things will be cool getting to go to the trainings and doing all of the interviews and all of that.

My comp is from Kansas (I already told him that he is not in Kansas anymore) he’s a good kid. He has a bit of trouble listening (in English and Spanish) but he understands the language pretty well and speaks a bit so that makes things nice because he can participate in the lessons and it becomes a team effort.


Elder Graham

Things in the area are good. We are still working with the people that we have found and we found a really cool guy on Saturday. He went to church on Sunday and he seems pretty excited about learning more.

Oh!! Other bit of exciting news. I had my first taste of a small part of Argentine culture on Saturday afternoon after lunch. My companion and I were walking back from lunch and a guy runs up behind me and shoves his hand in my pocket and makes off with 10 pesos. He didn’t get away that easily though. I think while he put his hand in my pocket and I went to grab his wrist, my comp grabbed him and one of us threw a well-placed elbow and got him in the nose. Another guy who saw what happened came up and asked what he took and offered to chase him down on his moto. In the end, all he got was 10 pesos and a sweaty handkerchief, so I think he was a little disappointed with how it all turned out. Nothing happened to either of us though and it all lasted less than 30 seconds probably. So don’t worry about me, I am now a certified Argentine citizen. Things here all in all are good. We are trying to work as hard as we can. I love you all a ton. Thanks for all your prayers on my behalf. I love you all a ton. Keep looking out. Till next time.
Elder Rose

New Companion

Hey everybody back home... how are things going today? Well, here we are starting to feel a little bit of the summer weather. Technically it is still winter, not even spring, but it is about 30 outside (Celsius). Today was transfers. We had some changes today. Elder Carter has left me, he is now in Jujuy near where I was at about 6 months ago and has gone up to senior companion and is a district leader. I will be training again so for now I am hanging out with the other two elders I live with. One of them changed as well. I now am living with one of the other elders that goes home with me so that will make things interesting. I don’t know him too well but we have two areas in common so that will make for some interesting conversation.

So here starts the countdown for the second to last transfer. I hope you aren’t counting down the days yet because I am not. I like it here in this area. We have found more cool people recently so we will continue the battle with them of reading, praying, going to church and all that good important stuff. And now is the chance to put in your bets. Will my new child in the mission be Latino or gringo and where will he be from?? ooooo. .. The suspense. I don’t think I will find out until Wednesday or Thursday. Oh yeah, and I am going to be district leader again this transfer. That´s another fun responsibility. Plenty of chance to learn a lot of new things.

There isn’t a whole lot to tell, but I’ll see what I can fill you all in on. This last week we did a training session for the priesthood holders of our ward. It was fun. Elder carter and I taught the lesson and then they went out and tried to get a kick start on their home teaching for the month and we went to visit some folks and say goodbye to some people for Carter. I hear it turned out really good. We are planning an activity for the 3rd of September to boost up the ward mission effort and get some references from some members.

This morning at 4 a.m. I had to get up and drop off an elder at the terminal because he is headed home. That was fun so needless to say I am a bit tired right now. Then we bounced back and forth between the terminal several times picking people up and dropping them off. Luckily we had a lot of help from our ward mission leader who is a taxi driver. He did several of the trips for us. The work is going well. Pushing forward, trying to try new things and see what works, and trying to make things work. I have been realizing lately that there are some really really cool members in our ward; you just have to know how to use them. I learned a ton from Elder Carter and I was sad to see him go. So my hope of getting to finish up with him was cut rather short, but it is all for the best because I know that the president seeks revelation for us to know what will make things go the best. I hope you all understand that I love this work and that you know that I am doing well and I love you all a ton. Take care.
ELDER ROSE

Hey Everyone!

How’s it going for all of you out there? I hope everything is going spectacularly. Things here are going well. We are still working hard and getting worked on pretty hard as well. I think Carter and I are finally getting over our colds and will try not to get each other sick again.

We had interviews with President Northcutt this week and that went really well. Transfers are coming up again really quickly, can you believe it? One more week and then we will be in the second to last transfer. I am super excited and I hope I stay with Carter one more transfer. In fact, I would love to finish my mission with him. He is such a way cool kid.

Anyway, things are going well in the area. We are still going along with some of our investigators, others we have let go, and we are finding new ones. We are actually teaching a pretty cool lady right now who just got separated from her boyfriend. Kind of a weird story, but she is now trying to make her life alone with her and her two girls and her family members are trying to help her out a bit. We are going to go over to her house and help her actually build part of her house or cut up some trees or something like that on Wednesday so that will be cool. Slow progress, sometimes it is frustrating but we have seen and are seeing the fruits of our work so we are happy. I wouldn’t say satisfied, because I don’t think I will ever be satisfied while there is still more work to be done, but it is a good feeling knowing that you’ve put a good dent in it.

As for me I am doing well. I’m getting over my cold. I don’t have any injuries, I think my shoes will hold out till the end and I am surviving the members and investigators hospitality (which always includes hot chocolate during cold weather). I got a little sick last night from that, but things are good considering. Oh, if there is anything that you want me to figure out before you guys get here, let me know. Any little thing just let me know. I’ve still got the schedule working itself out as far as when to travel and all that. Also, I heard that you can fly straight from Salta to Iguazu, so I don’t know if that would be an option you would look at, but who knows. And what was the plan when we fly back? We´d get to Cali, be there a few weeks, then to So Cal and then off to BYU? Also, I was wondering if you can pull an application for the MTC or if I have to do that in person? And what do you know about my classes? Have you picked them yet or any of that? Just checking up on that. Grandma and Grandpa Scott and Rose doing? I haven´t heard much from them for a while. I wish you all the best of luck and I love you a ton. If you have any recent pictures from cool trips or family pics or anything like that, let me know. I would love to see them. Well, I guess that is all for now. Here are some pics that I thought I’d send over to you guys. Love you all. Take care. I’m thinkin aboutcha :)
Elder Jeff Rose

Hey Everyone!

So time really does seem to be getting short. Everyone is coming off of their missions and I am getting there close. But, I am trying to keep myself going and Elder Carter and I are working way hard. We have been pushing through all of the problems and keeping going forward. We have had some really good experiences this week.

Yesterday we had a really cool investigator come to church. That was a victory since recently we have had some problems with certain members driving some of our investigators away by bad commentary. We are working to try and improve some of those things. We had a really good meeting, well sort of an impromptu meeting, but we talked about some really good things. He is going through hard times with his wife, she is pregnant and almost lost the baby and he is sick so they are kind of out of commission for a bit. We’re going to help them out a lot though. I think we have the support of the majority of the ward now but there is still work to be done. As for our investigators, we have some very good people we are teaching, but they are still letting their problems keep them away from church.

I've been loving my time here so far; perhaps more than any other area. I have learned a ton and I have made improvements here that I have been working to make for a long time, some coming from even long before the mission. Elder Carter and I are getting along fantastically and I would like to think that the other elders are seeing our example. We actually talk with the junior comp a lot and he comments to us how he wants to change and we help him out and all that, it is a hard thing to do when it stems from the both of you. I imagine it is kind of like a marriage, that is if both of you don’t want to make it work, it just probably won’t work. It kind of strikes me as odd the things that I have learned and keep learning in the mission, but I am so grateful for them. I promise to all of you that as you strive more and more every day to do things correctly and strive to have the spirit with you that you will not only have more guidance and all that, but you will just downright feel a heck of a lot better. Ha-ha. It seems so simple, but at the same time, why can’t we realize these things earlier. I am sure I will go through the same process of learning again and again the same things but I hope I have learned it a little better this time.

I was reading a talk this morning and it was talking about the father of one of the general authorities who would always have them sing the same hymn in their family home evenings. This person would always complain and question why. And the father would simply respond that there was a message in the song to be learned and would always say sternly, "I will teach you lesson 2 once you have learned lesson 1! I thought that was cool. We are limited in our gospel progression only to our own diligence. So we should be diligent and gain our salvation long before the due date.

I’m scared about coming back, but I know it has an end. I am doing all I can to be satisfied with the work I have done here and I will continue working hard. Don’t worry about getting me distracted. I won’t let you :) Just take care and don’t forget to keep writing. Now more than ever I appreciate the strength you give me. I love you all. And I will love hearing from you as soon as the mission permits, which is next week :) Enjoy your vacations.

CHAUUUUUUU

Elder Jeff Rose

Hey Everyone.

So time really does seem to be getting short. Everyone is coming off of their missions and I am getting there close. But, I am trying to keep myself going and Elder Carter and I are working way hard. We have been pushing through all of the problems and keeping going forward. We have had some really good experiences this week. Yesterday we had a really cool investigator come to church. That was a victory since recently we have had some problems with certain members driving some of our investigators away by bad commentary. We are working to try and improve some of those things. We had a really good meeting, well sort of an impromptu meeting, but we talked about some really good things. He is going through hard times with his wife, she is pregnant and almost lost the baby and he is sick so they are kind of out of commission for a bit. We’re going to help them out a lot though. I think we have the support of the majority of the ward now but there is still work to be done. As for our investigators, we have some very good people we are teaching, but they are still letting their problems keep them away from church. I've been loving my time here so far; perhaps more than any other area. I have learned a ton and I have made improvements here that I have been working to make for a long time, some coming from even long before the mission. Elder Carter and I are getting along fantastically and I would like to think that the other elders are seeing our example. We actually talk with the junior comp a lot and he comments to us how he wants to change and we help him out and all that, it is a hard thing to do when it stems from the both of you. I imagine it is kind of like a marriage, that is if both of you don’t want to make it work, it just probably won’t work. It kind of strikes me as odd the things that I have learned and keep learning in the mission, but I am so grateful for them. I promise to all of you that as you strive more and more every day to do things correctly and strive to have the spirit with you that you will not only have more guidance and all that, but you will just downright feel a heck of a lot better. Ha-ha. It seems so simple, but at the same time, why can’t we realize these things earlier. I am sure I will go through the same process of learning again and again the same things but I hope I have learned it a little better this time. I was reading a talk this morning and it was talking about the father of one of the general authorities who would always have them sing the same hymn in their family home evenings. This person would always complain and question why. And the father would simply respond that there was a message in the song to be learned and would always say sternly, "I will teach you lesson 2 once you have learned lesson 1! I thought that was cool. We are limited in our gospel progression only to our own diligence. So we should be diligent and gain our salvation long before the due date. I’m scared about coming back, but I know it has an end. I am doing all I can to be satisfied with the work I have done here and I will continue working hard. Don’t worry about getting me distracted. I won’t let you :) just take care and don’t forget to keep writing. Now more than ever I appreciate the strength you give me. I love you all. And I will love hearing from you as soon as the mission permits, which is next week :) enjoy your vacations.

CHAUUUUUUU

Elder Jeff Rose

Don't you love p-days!

I’m back and now I can write you a nice normal length letter! Because now I have money. I was waiting on a reimbursement from the mission for things I bought for the mission and I finally got it so now I am good :) no worries. First, of all for the parents. A couple questions. Is there anything that you would like to see while you are here? For example, there is huahuaca, then you are close to Bolivia, there are waterfalls, scenic routes, statues, plazas, churches, and all that stuff of the like. If you want to see anything like that, let me know. Other than that I am still trying to figure out where and when. It is rather brain wracking.... ha-ha.

Things are going good here. We had a super fun p-day today. We and another companionship of elders went to a big Christ statue with our ward mission leader and did a cool tour with him. He is a taxi driver so he led us around. Way cool. I have some cool photos. I took time to write letters to some of the people that I can't write emails and sent them so they should be getting letters soon. I sent them in the pouch so I think that they should be there in about 2 or three weeks.

Things in the area are going well. We are sorting through the difficulties, finding the gems and holding on to the good stuff, or at least trying to. We have been having some way good experiences and are pleased with the work that we are doing. I take comfort in the fact that we can still feel the spirit and that we are guided by the spirit in what we do. I was sick on Saturday so I spent some time meditating the backs of my eyelids and when I wasn’t doing that I read some talks with Elder Carter and then put myself to studying my patriarchal blessing. I realized once again how much of a blessing that this has been for me in my life. I also talked with Elder Carter for a bit about old memories of family and friends and such and I want to tell each and every one of you personally (or as personal as an email can get) how much I love and appreciate you. :) I love you so much, it really means a ton to me that you are in my life and I appreciate you in so many ways. Thanks for everything :) you’re super special.

So anyway, things with me are going good. I have been working hard and I am happy about the things that we have gotten done here in just 3 weeks. It has been a way good experience. I would love to stay here and finish out in this area with Elder Carter, but you know how that works, just when you think you like something the carpet gets pulled out from under you. But better things follow so I take comfort in that. As for investigators, we have some good ones. One way good one in particular. Her name is Paola. She was a reference from a member of another ward. Her husband was really abusive and she has separated from him. Recently she was operated on for a cyst. She told us that before she went in for the operation she prayed and she felt so good. She also told us how her family has been anything but supportive but that she has pretty much told them that she feels the spirit when we talk to her and that she wants to be part of the church. It would be spectacular if she were to be baptized. The one thing that lacks is just a little more initiative on the part of the ward. But those things we have gotten over before and we can get over them again. We are progressing, our investigators are getting there. We are helping the other elders we live with and the members seem to be gaining confidence little by little. We have had some really cool experiences with some of the members lately so that is helpful. I love you all a ton. Know that I love you. Take care and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. :)
Chau

July 26, 2010

Hey everybody!!

This is going to be a short one, money is a little tight right now at the end of the month and I don’t want to spend too much on the computer :) I’m learning to be frugal ha-ha. Anyway, things here in the area are going well. The ward is a little bit stronger than the last by just a bit. There are about 60 that attend and there are people with callings so that is spectacular. The ward works rather well; at least there are programs and things for the different organizations. The area in and of itself is rather tiny. It is about 20 blocks by 15 blocks. It is in the capital but right on the edge so it isn’t quite a big city. We have everything close though. It is nice being not so far away from everyone else for a change. It has been really really cold lately, it snowed, but it is starting to warm up now. We are fixing this area again. The last elder that left messed some stuff up, but it seems like with the change we are gaining a bit of confidence back from the stake. In the building we meet in there is our ward and two branches. This last week was a bit slow because my comp was sick so I was hanging out with him and taking care of him. The work is going pretty well, sorting through the people that were being taught to see who is going to keep going and finding fresh meat. We have found a couple of really cool people through knocking doors, visiting less active members and references. I really enjoy working with Elder Carter. He speaks Spanish which is fantastic, I really don’t have to correct him much, and he is a good teacher. We get along fantastic. Today was a fun p-day, we went and played soccer and ate lunch with the zone. Well, that is pretty much all. I am doing well. Kind of scared that the time is getting short, but it is still a ways off. Well... talk to you all later, love you

Elder Rose

It's Cold and Snowy!

Thanks for all of your letters this week. They meant a lot for me. This week has been really good and it just got better when I read your letters. This has been a good area so far. I have been getting to know it and I am getting along spectacularly with my companion. He is a great kid. He’s from Blackfoot, Idaho; or close thereabouts. I’ve attached a picture of him. He reminds me a little bit of Michael. Ha-ha. But yeah, we get along good.


Elder Carter

Church yesterday also went well. We had a visit from the stake president here in Tucumán and he did a little chat after church with the ward council and us. Apparently that was a result of something that the last elder that was here did. So we are recovering from some lack of confidence issues and such on the part of the members towards the missionaries. But things are going well. It is just a matter of working like crazy so that they can see that we are different. I really like the ward. It is smaller, but it has good members and they actually have callings unlike the last area so the load is just a little bit lighter.

We have found some way cool people in the last week. Given, they are newbie’s, but they seem really promising. We also received a really cool reference from a member of another ward here in Tucumán, so we have really good people to teach and I am really excited. We are working hard and have good numbers, good people, and I am happy. Really that is all I can say, the only way to explain it. There are still things that I am working on but I am progressing. I have dropped some bad habits and am now working on others. But all in all I am extremely well.

Sorry if there are a lot of typos in this email, the keyboard isn’t great and my fingers are extremely cold. [Mom cleaned up the email!] That is the other thing. The weather took a cold turn last week. It has been snowing for a couple of days and it is still really cold. Seems like I have all the luck, it is the first time in 90 years that it has snowed here. Ha-ha... and about the travel plans. They sound good; I’ll work on filling out the schedule and all that. On Tuesday morning I am free to go whenever you want to pick me up. If you want to see me on Monday night I think that you can as well. What day are you planning on getting here? I would suggest Monday so you can get over the jet lag and whatnot from the trip. But yeah, I will be thinking about all of that and I will let you know. Thanks for all your good advice guys and for your love. I love you all. Take care. CHAUUUU!!

ELDER ROSE

Transfer to Tucuman

Things here are great. The first question that I am sure you are all wondering is what happened for transfers. It hit me this time, breaking the 6 months in an area tradition. I left Monteros today for Tucuman Capital. I am now in an area in the big city :) called Universitario. It is right next to the university in central Tucumán. My comp’s name is Elder Carter. He’s a stud. We met up this morning and took my stuff to the apartment (it was an easy transfer and we had a member take us up there and then bring the new missionary back.) He seems really cool. We also live with two other elders from another area who according to my comp aren’t the most obedient elders so that will be a fun experience trying to help them to work things out.

This last transfer ended really well. We weren’t able to have the baptisms we had planned for this last week, but I am close to my old area and they said they were going to invite me if I could get permission to travel down there. But apart from that we worked way hard and have had better numbers and better results than ever in my mission. It seems like just as soon as you’ve got things figured out it is time for you to go. But it’s going to be great being here.

I like being in the city a lot and I am back in a ward and a stake so that will be a good experience hopefully to have more support from the members. I’ll miss them though. Last night the members invited me over to one of their homes and they did a little farewell for me. It was way special. They all took turns saying some things about me and expressing their feeling and all that mushy stuff. One of my comps filmed it so I have a really cool memory from that area. Oh yeah, that was the other thing. When I say one of my comps it is because we were in a trio for the last couple of weeks. That was a blast. The other elder is Elder Fuentes who is soo cool. Such a stud. He is also from Chile, from Concepcion where the earthquake hit the hardest; his family is all good though.

Today when we were in the terminal doing transfers I got to see both of the elders I trained (they are both in Tucumán now) and some other elders I haven’t seen in a long time. One is off to home now so it was way cool to get to say goodbye to him. In the future I might have to send you some emails to send on to some people since I cannot write them directly.

I was thinking about the trip today since now I am probably in my last area and here’s my thoughts; you´ll fly into Salta. We can drive to Jujuy (3 hour trip) and visit, then return to Salta, then south to Tucumán (4 hours) and then fly out of Tucumán for bs as. Or we can visit in Tucumán first, then to Salta then to Jujuy and fly out of Jujuy. There are airports in all three provinces, I don’t know what kind of flights they have, but you can check that all out with the mission and such. My area in the north of Salta would be cool to visit but it is such a long trip that I don’t think it would be worth it unless you also wanted to visit Bolivia while you’re here and then we can change the plans. welp... just wanted to let you know that I am happy and I am in good health, I’m in my new area and I will send you pictures of me and my comp soon. Talk to you all later. I love you a ton, take care.

Elder Jeff Rose

Words of Wisdom

I hope all is going well for all of you. I am so excited to hear the news about Emmaline, which is so cool. I look forward to getting to see all of the family, especially the newbies, really soon.

I got my truny papers the other day, so you will probably be getting a call from the new secretary one of these days if you haven’t already. They just changed, now it is elder Papenfuss, a friend of mine. So this past week we have been in a trio with Elders Papenfuss´ companion since he was in our district. It´s been pretty fun.

Everything here is going well, I’m liking life. We have a lot to do this week to try and meet all of the goals, we have been doing really well lately and we just have to keep it up. This is the last week before transfers so the pressure is on. We have found so many cool investigators lately; I would be bummed out to leave this area, but sometimes that is how things work out.

This last week was good. I learned a lot about things that I still need to improve. I was able to feel good in the lessons that we have been teaching in a way that I haven’t felt recently. I have seen things that have really given me a better perspective on life. I am so grateful for what I have been blessed with, my loved ones, my family, my friends, and everyone who once upon a time taught me something that I needed to know. Take care of yourselves. Be careful. I want you all to be around when I get back. Don´t make bad decisions, they only lead to sadness, and I guarantee it. Make sure you’re in good health, take things seriously, but not too seriously, there has to be a good balance of work and play in our lives. That doesn’t mean an equal amount of work and play, but a good ratio.

If there is one thing that i have learned it is that if we are working hard, the Lord will bless us. But if we aren’t enjoying it, it is because we have turned our sight away and we are not looking at the blessings we receive on a day to day basis. Sometimes I get down on myself being here. Sometimes things don’t work out as I had hoped. But I count myself among the privileged because whenever that happens, the Lord seems to smack me upside the head and make me recognize what he is giving me. This Sunday we had more people in church than we have ever had in my time here. We have super cool investigators, I’m healthy, I know I am going to see you all soon :) and all in all life is good. But that is only because I know where to look for the good part. Life´s a tricky thing right? The more we try to figure it out it seems that it had us figured out a long time ago. But that’s the point. We live and we learn as the saying goes. If it weren’t that way, what would be the purpose? So I say that we take what life gives us, we learn from it and we use it to help us be happier instead of getting us down. I love you all and I love the gospel. That is perhaps the most important thing that I can say helps me every day. Bad stuff happens. We deal with it. And how do we do that? Through the gospel. We are so blessed to know God’s plan. We have so much to be thankful for. We should show our Savior that we appreciate what he has done for us by living the way he wants us to, obeying ALL the commandments (we could make a list: go to church every Sunday and keep the Sabbath day holy, fulfill and magnify your calling, read your scriptures every day, pray always.... it’s a long list but if you’re not doing it you need to repent and do it) taking care of ourselves spiritually and physically, and taking care of others. Sometimes we feel bad in life, but 99.9% of the time that is our decision. We choose to feel good and be happy when we do God´s will. That is my wish for all of you. I love you. Take care until next week. Same time, same place...? maybe :)

Elder Jeff Rose

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

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

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.

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

Things here are going well

The areas are progressing. The baptisms that we have for the future are still progressing as well. We are not sure if they will be able to be baptized this transfer because of issues with permission from the parents, but they will be baptized nonetheless.

These past couple of weeks have been good for my own progress as well since they have been somewhat difficult. Elder Castro and I had a good talk last night about what we can be doing better. We came to some good conclusions and we will be working on those things. We are growing together and the worries that I had at the beginning of my time with him are dispersing. I feel that we are progressing. There is still a ton more that we should be doing though. But all in all with where I am at I have been making some major progress. I know that it is thanks to your prayers and I ask you to continue praying for us that I can meet my goals and that we can have success. Any encouraging words and tidbits of wisdom are also helpful.

This week we were going to have zone conference but the president's wife is sick so they have canceled it. That is a bit of a bummer because conference is one of the things that we always look forward to the most. We'll get over it though :) haha. This p-day was pretty cool. We played soccer in one of the other areas with some of their members and a couple of investigators. It was super fun. I love you all a ton and I have you in my prayers and I wish you all luck in whatever you are taking on at the moment. Talk to you next week.

Elder Rose

Brrrr....It's getting cold!

Well as for the things here, yesterday they hit a little bit of a roadblock. They are still in motion but yesterday, it was raining in the morning and it had been raining all night long and when we got up for church on Sunday, the city was just dead. We left the apartment early to go pick up investigators for church and we didn’t have any luck. And the investigator who was supposed to get baptized this Saturday didn’t go either. So that was a bummer.

As for church though, it went well. Sacrament meeting was one of the better ones we have had. We had a couple visitors from the district and there was also a missionary who came back and gave her report in sacrament meeting. She is the sister of the branch president and a way good friend of one of the families that he has a problem with so maybe with her being back things will settle down just a little bit.

We ate lunch with the familia Orellana and afterwards we used their oven to make some stuff for the activity. I made banana bread and my comp made a white cake. They turned out rather well if I do say so myself. Ha-ha. The activity turned out good too. There were probably about 15 to 20 people there and we taught the lesson again and had refreshments and sat around and mingled for a little while. The home we did the activity in is of a member with a son who has a child with a girl who is not a member. They want us to work with them to get them married and see if she is willing to get baptized. So we will see how that turns out.

This last week was one of challenges, but it was good, cuz I learn a lot more from challenges than I do from the good times. As for me personally, I think I am improving in good ways. Still a lot of work to do and I still have the whole rest of my life ahead of me, but things are going well. I was reading a part of the book, "infinite atonement" today and there is a chapter called the blessing of repentance. It is super good. I encourage you all to read it if you would like to. One of the things that it says is that the principle of repentance isn’t just for sinners, but for the good and the great people in the world that want to be better. It is for all those who have not yet reached the point of perfection. So I think that includes all of us. That is what I have been thinking a lot about lately and wanted to share that with you. I love you all a ton and I look forward to hearing from you. Transfers are coming up in two weeks, so it’s time to put the bets in on where I’m going or if I’m staying. Talk to you all later. And take care.

Love
Jeff

Still learning and growing

Hey Family!

It has been good to hear from you. It actually didn’t even faze me that this next Sunday is Mother’s Day until the other elders started calling me and asking me about phone cards and phone numbers and all that good stuff. I’m excited to talk to you. It will be weird though since it is the last time that I will talk to you until I actually see you again. Weird, right? I don’t like thinking about it. I almost feel afraid to finish the mission because I know that I still have so much to do.

Things in the areas are looking up. We had one of our investigators that we have been working with for a long while finally go to church this Sunday. We also pulled off a pretty sweet activity with some members and investigators in the home of a family in Monteros. The familia Orellana is so cool, they help us out in every way possible, not just with the work but they look after our health, make sure that we are eating good, and all in all just help raise the animo. The activity we did with their help was a lesson from the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith manual. We talked about supporting leaders, both general and local, and for the investigators we spoke about the importance of the power of the priesthood in our lives and the effect that it has on us as we pay attention to the prophet and heed his words. I think that it turned out really well actually. Then afterwards we played a little game and did caramel corn for refreshments. I successfully burned my figure with boiling sugar, but luckily one of the daughters in the family is a nurse so she fixed it up. Don’t worry, it’s nothing. They also have a son/brother that is serving a mission in Chile.

As for Elder Castro and I, we are doing well. We have realized that we are running out of things to talk about a bit when we are in the street, so sometimes we walk in silence. That gives me some time to reflect and think about what I am doing and things that I need to improve on. I feel like I have learned a lot in the mission, but it is still my problem that I forget about things easily in the moment and don’t realize or remember until later. For example, every time I do something that I should do, in the moment I say to myself, “no, don’t worry about it” and then later I think about it again and say to myself “why did I do that if every time I do that I feel bad afterwards.” We are like that sometimes as humans, no? We are a bit slow on the learning curve. Things are good though, there are still things that I am working on improving and I have the goal to have dropped certain bad habits or developed certain attributes before the end of the mission. I guess that is why the thought of ending the mission scares me when I think to myself that maybe I won’t be able to meet those goals in the time I have. Six months really is nothing when it comes to life goals. I took a lot of the lessons that Mom and Dad taught me as a kid for granted and am coming back to learn them now only this time it is a little harder. I like that scripture though and I think that Mom and Dad did a spectacular job, the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 that says “Train up a child in that way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I think about the future and say that I hope such and such a thing doesn’t happen or I hope I can do a certain thing in my future, but it all depends on now really.

There is no better time than the mission to improve your character as President Northcutt told me last conference. I want to take advantage of all the time that I have. I ask for your prayers on my behalf in being able to meet the goal that I have set for myself because I feel that it really will be the turning point in my life. I know that in the end it depends on me and my desire to fulfill my objective, but I know that your prayers have worked miracles in my missionary service and I know that they still will.

The talk that was given in conference about priesthood blessings was way good and I think the principle applies in this case; that the ordinance (let it be a priesthood blessing or a prayer on behalf of a person) may be performed with all the faith possessed by a person, but if the one on the receiving end of that ordinance does not have reciprocal faith or it is not the will of the Lord, the thing won’t be fulfilled. I know that the goal I have set is the will of the Lord for me because I have asked him and I want to do it. I ask for your help.

As for everything else going on here, things are just chipper! They are tearing down the place we live wall by wall and building it up again :) so that is fun and I am trying to keep the smile on. Every time I see that written in one of your emails I smile, it brings back memories from when Alyssa Dickson told dad that she would stop using flip flops in church if he would smile and many other fun memories. I Love you all. I miss you. I am doing well so don’t worry about me too much. Keep on praying and reading the scriptures. I never heard dad’s update to see if you ever finished the Book of Mormon. I’m sure you did. Well. Talk to you later.
Ciao
Elder Rose

Not much new

As for the work here, we are keeping on with the daily grind and trying to keep our investigators going strong. The biggest challenge is getting them all to church when we cannot be in both sets of meetings. And this week it seems like the branch president threw in the towel for sacrament meeting. When I called up a member to see if there were any investigators in church she said that there were a couple but that sacrament meeting only lasted about 25 minutes. The branch president spoke for a minute after the sacrament and then ended the meeting. I’m not sure what the reason behind that is, but I hope the investigators had a good experience. We had a good sacrament meeting in Simoca and we had a couple of good visits. The district president invited a couple of his friends to church and we were able to talk with one of them that came, but we won´t be able to teach her for a while. She has a lot of problems, mostly with her husband, and she is afraid that it will cause even more problems if she starts to take the discussions.

As for the rest of the week, it has been pretty good. Our apartment is kind of falling apart and since we have a contract and cannot find somewhere else to live, we have to live in a construction zone for the next couple of weeks. That will be interesting. It’s kind of creepy having people in your house while you’re not there, but I’m going to take all of my valuable stuff and put it in a suitcase and give it to one of the other elders to hang on to it.

As for everything else here, things are good. We had a super good zone conference and I feel better than ever after having a good chat with the mission president, he really is super awesome and gives really good counsel. There isn’t a whole lot to tell, just a peaceful week here in the mission. I wish you all the best in everything that you do and I will keep on praying for ya all.

Elder Jeff Rose

Sound Advice!

How is it all going? Wow, what news! Thanks for letting me know about the baptisms of Sean’s parents. That is so cool. I was hoping that that would happen sometime. And all the moves in the family; everything is going to be completely different when I am back huh?

Well, things here are going good. Transfers came and went peacefully. Nothing really happened. A couple of things changed but everything in our district is almost exactly the same. There was only one elder who left because he finished his mission and so he was replaced, that´s all. As for that everything is going fairly well. Monteros and Simoca are still there and still moving along at their own pace. We are looking for new people and having success here and there; trying to get the members involved in order to get more fellowshipping and references. It is the key no matter how big or small the area you are in. Even in a place like Gilroy you could have so much more success if the members would just do a little bit of missionary work. All it takes is a few minutes and a couple questions and a listening ear to be able to share the gospel and, who knows, perhaps change the course of someone´s life. I hope that all of you are willing and actively engaged in doing the Lord´s work. If not, there is improvement to be done.

One of the quotes that mom sent me about how if we are judging people, we don´t have the time to love them is so true. That hit deep after some things that have happened this past week. In the area Elder Castro and I are in there are quite a few issues between members and leaders and all sorts of stuff between the members. Sometimes, I don’t know why, but we let other people´s issues become our issues when they really shouldn’t get that far. I am not talking on a level of helping other people out and resolve those issues but rather on the level of allowing the reason for their problem to give us the same problem. I hope I am getting this off clearly. I’ll try to explain. I was doing some pondering after church on Monday and realized something. There is a family who is super good with the missionaries in the branch, they have their own son on a mission, they are all ex missionaries... you get the picture. Well anyway, for some reason, some misunderstanding, some offense, something personal with the current branch president, none of them have callings in the branch. It doesn't make sense, but that is that. Now this is where the lesson comes in. I started letting that bother me on a personal level because of the friendship I have formed with that family and before I realized it, I started to have a somewhat standoffish disposition with the branch president. We are all imperfect, but instead of looking for the good, it became so easy to find his character flaws. And it began to have an effect, not necessarily a bad one, but nonetheless it had an effect on the things in the branch. It never became a topic of conversation, nor something that either of us commented, but nonetheless, it was there. Now I realize that it was exactly what President Hinckley (I think it was Hinckley spoke of when he related the story of the wedge left between the tree branches that eventually weakened the tree to the point of splitting it into pieces. Those are the things that we have to self reflect on and get out of our lives before they even start to have an effect, before others even notice that they are there. Perhaps a small rock in our shoe doesn't cause a need to amputate at the knee, but the nagging blisters and calluses will eventually cause discomfort and lead to a growing pain if we do nothing to remove the root of the problem. And when that day comes that we have let things go too far and it I necessary to amputate, what are we going to say to ourselves? "I wish I had taken just one moment to stop, examine the problem and take out the small pebble."

It is so much easier to take care of things earlier than to wait and wait. Take care of the stuff in your lives on your own with the help of the Lord before you have to get another one of his servants involved. Because once we let things go too far, the doctors keep charging and there are lasting scars. The best form of repentance is a solemn, personal private repentance between us and the Lord. And why do I say that? Because if we can carry out such a repentance, we are being humble and submissive to the will of the Lord and we understand his gospel. "Greater the joy of he who repenteth of his own accord, than that of him who is admonished by the servant of the Lord."

That was the lesson I learned and had to teach myself through prayer and meditation this week. Though it may have come late and I would have avoided many problems if I had stopped the problem at the source, I have learned a life lesson and for that I am grateful. I love you all. I hope you keep on progressing in the gospel, I hope to be with someone someday who´s testimony makes me want to grow mine own, someone whose spirituality exceeds mine own, someone who love´s the Lord as much as I do, someone who is worthy of entering the temple, someone who has learned this same lesson and applied it not only to those difficulties with other people, but to every sin or transgression in their life and can stand before a representative of the Lord and witness for their worthiness to enter the Lord´s temple. And I strive to be that same person, so that when someone else says that same thing, I know that I am not expressing impossible wishes. I always hope for someone far better than I am to bring me up and I constantly strive to be that same person who excels in spirituality and love of the Lord. Take care. Till next week love you all chau.
Jeff

I'm loving my mission!

Hey everyone, how are things going in the world? First of all to the questions about my safety, all is well. the mission president and his wife tend to pay very close attention to the circumstances of the sister missionaries and don´t take chances in situations like that, it is not the first time something like that has happened. But I believe they are all safe. They are now in San Pedro, Jujuy, close to where I was last serving.

This last week has gone well. We are trying to keep some investigators on track for their baptismal dates that are coming up. We are teaching several people, one who was a monaguillo (don´t know how to say that in English) for the catholic church, one who is the daughter of a less active family, an old lady who has lost a lot of family members recently and a friend of a member who is studying in the university. Things with them are going well. We had a really good experience this Sunday to fast for them and we hope that they will really have a growing desire to do those things that we invite them to do because we know that it is the best thing for them.
As for the area and all that, we have had little rain so things are drying out, but we have been having problems with the apartment and it looks as if we will be moving to a new place somewhere once we find it. So that is what we are looking for right now is a new place to live. This Wednesday (in 2 days) we will have the zone conference. This time around it will be very interesting because not only are all the missionaries invited, but also the ward, branch stake and district leaders from our respective areas and all the youth who are preparing for missions. It will be a little more pressure to make a good impression on the leaders since there have been major problems recently in these areas with leaders falling off and lots of issues between the leadership and missionaries and members and all that. We are, little by little, trying to resolve all of those issues, but like President Northcutt told me in an email he sent me, “as missionaries for the most part we are just not in a position and not equipped to handle all the problems that are thrown at us and it really is not our calling to solve those problems, mostly it all comes down to patience and hope that all the stuff, the roots of the problems, will work themselves out to allow the work to go forward.”

I’m loving the time that I am spending here. I just realized something a little creepy, the sister missionaries that started their missions with me are finishing up this next transfer. That was super odd. We´re cracking down and trying to get to work on all the stuff we need to do and always are trying to improve. There definitely is no shortage of spiritual experiences in the mission; too many to tell, but just know that the Lord definitely blesses his missionaries and watches out for them. I thank you all for your prayers and Elder Castro asked me to thank you for praying for him as well. He is a great kid and he is learning a lot. Together we are having a lot of good experiences. I can tell that I have definitely been growing in the mission and I deal with things better than I did before. I’m definitely not a pro, but things are coming into place. I love you guys and I pray for you always. Take care.
Elder Rose





Zone Conference

Stick Bug







Tropic of Capricorn

Bee experience and harvesting honey