Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Busy, Busy, Busy
This week was really really really really really busy. You can see how busy it really was by the fact that I took the time to type the word "really" seven times.
Monday we had a really nice family home evening with the Ferreyra family.
Tuesday we spent all stinking day in meetings. (And we were an hour late to one of them. It was the elders' fault.) Between all of the meetings Tuesday, we managed to have an appointment with Gabriel. He told us he was bored because we just keep teaching the same things. Yup. That's right. That's because they are the "new member lessons." ·sigh· Sometimes this man is just so... finicky. :)
Wednesday we had our first appointment with Tati (Andrea). She's gonna get baptized soon. She already has a date for the 18th of October.
Thursday the bishop canceled his meeting with us, so we waited in the chapel for the elders so that we could return their vacuum.
Friday we planned in less than an hour. I still can't decide if that was a good thing or not. Because our planning was really in depth, it just didn't take the usual three hours... We also had an appointment with Gabriel. We taught something new!!! :)
Saturday we had a ward service project in the morning and a capilla abierta [open house at the chapel] in the night. We did nothing alllllll day long. (That's not true, we did lots of stuff it's just that none of the stuff we did helped us have better numbers.) For the service project, we painted/cleaned a preschool. I don't ever remember my school being quite so dirty. But maybe that's the reason we were doing the service project. It was desperately needed and there wasn't anybody else to do it.
I have absolutely nooo idea what I am doing training. It doesn't help that I (still) don't have the booklet used to do the training program. I'm not even sure if we finished all of the stuff we were supposed to this week. And we sure haven't had language study even once.
What Thomas wrote about in his letter about how hard it is to let the new companion do stuff is sooooo true. I know that it would be sooo much easier and faster if I did everything. But at the same time, my companion would never learn. I'm not so sure how well I've been doing. I can't seem to let go of the cell phone. I'm pretty sure she thinks that it's my phone and not OUR phone. Yeah... I should probably work on that...
Diego got baptized the other month. The elders in Madariaga sent me photos!
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Editors note: Full-time missionaries take the lead in teaching lessons before baptism with the help of ward missionaries and other members. After baptism, new members are taught the first four lessons again. The lessons contain the essential doctrines, principles, and commandments. They are organized so that missionaries can help others clearly understand the doctrines of Christ.
The first four lessons are:
• The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The Plan of Salvation
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The Commandments
Monday we had a really nice family home evening with the Ferreyra family.
Tuesday we spent all stinking day in meetings. (And we were an hour late to one of them. It was the elders' fault.) Between all of the meetings Tuesday, we managed to have an appointment with Gabriel. He told us he was bored because we just keep teaching the same things. Yup. That's right. That's because they are the "new member lessons." ·sigh· Sometimes this man is just so... finicky. :)
Wednesday we had our first appointment with Tati (Andrea). She's gonna get baptized soon. She already has a date for the 18th of October.
Thursday the bishop canceled his meeting with us, so we waited in the chapel for the elders so that we could return their vacuum.
Friday we planned in less than an hour. I still can't decide if that was a good thing or not. Because our planning was really in depth, it just didn't take the usual three hours... We also had an appointment with Gabriel. We taught something new!!! :)
Saturday we had a ward service project in the morning and a capilla abierta [open house at the chapel] in the night. We did nothing alllllll day long. (That's not true, we did lots of stuff it's just that none of the stuff we did helped us have better numbers.) For the service project, we painted/cleaned a preschool. I don't ever remember my school being quite so dirty. But maybe that's the reason we were doing the service project. It was desperately needed and there wasn't anybody else to do it.
I have absolutely nooo idea what I am doing training. It doesn't help that I (still) don't have the booklet used to do the training program. I'm not even sure if we finished all of the stuff we were supposed to this week. And we sure haven't had language study even once.
What Thomas wrote about in his letter about how hard it is to let the new companion do stuff is sooooo true. I know that it would be sooo much easier and faster if I did everything. But at the same time, my companion would never learn. I'm not so sure how well I've been doing. I can't seem to let go of the cell phone. I'm pretty sure she thinks that it's my phone and not OUR phone. Yeah... I should probably work on that...
Diego got baptized the other month. The elders in Madariaga sent me photos!
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Editors note: Full-time missionaries take the lead in teaching lessons before baptism with the help of ward missionaries and other members. After baptism, new members are taught the first four lessons again. The lessons contain the essential doctrines, principles, and commandments. They are organized so that missionaries can help others clearly understand the doctrines of Christ.
The first four lessons are:
• The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The Plan of Salvation
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The Commandments
Monday, September 15, 2014
Perfection vs. One's Best
Well... It's been my first week training. Let's just put it this way: I don't really know what I'm doing. Tuesday morning the assistants to the mission president did all of us trainers a huge favor by sharing a hell fire and brimstone scripture, saying that if we didn't do a good job training we would destroy the mission as well as the lives of the missionaries we were going to train and several additional generations of missionaries in the mission.
Thanks Elders...
Since it seems that perfection is the only thing the assistants accept, I have failed them dramatically. Thankfully the mission president and the Lord are a little more easy-going. The only thing they want from me is that I do my best. I can do that. I'm not sure I can be completely perfect, but I can do my best.
My new companion is Hermana Sanchez. She is from Bolivia where it is really really really hot. And so no matter how hot it is HERE, the heater is on. Saturday night, I think I almost had a heat stroke while I was sleeping. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning dying. And no matter how I tried, I couldn't get back to sleep because it was soooooo hot in our room. So what did I do? I took a freezing cold shower at 3:00 in the morning and drank half a liter of cold water. (And turned off the stinking heater.) All I know is that I will be doing a whole heck of a lot less cooking this transfer because she thinks I can't cook. I made popcorn the other day and she stood and watched me do it with this doubtful face saying, "this is never going to work." (I don't use any oil and she uses a LOT. The popcorn still pops. It doesn't matter how you do it.)
We have a new investigator to teach: Debora's sister told us she wants us to teach her the lessons. The other day I read a scripture about fishers and hunters. I've decided that I am a fisher. Hunters have to go and knock on a bunch of doors and stuff like that to hunt down baptisms. Fishers just cast in their hook and wait until a fish bites. All of the people I have gotten to teach have just appeared. They just fall into my lap. Oh, I've knocked on a whole heck of a lot of doors, but nothing has ever come out of it. Gabriel just showed up at church one day. Andrea asked us to teach her so she can be baptized.
And so now we are teaching Debora's sister.
And that's all I've got.
Con amor --
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: For additional explanation about the reference to "fishers and hunters", see "In the Mountain of the Lord's House", a talk by LeGrand Richards reprinted in the Ensign magazine or "Friend to Friend", an interview with Gary J. Coleman that appeared in the Friend magazine.
Thanks Elders...
Since it seems that perfection is the only thing the assistants accept, I have failed them dramatically. Thankfully the mission president and the Lord are a little more easy-going. The only thing they want from me is that I do my best. I can do that. I'm not sure I can be completely perfect, but I can do my best.
My new companion is Hermana Sanchez. She is from Bolivia where it is really really really hot. And so no matter how hot it is HERE, the heater is on. Saturday night, I think I almost had a heat stroke while I was sleeping. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning dying. And no matter how I tried, I couldn't get back to sleep because it was soooooo hot in our room. So what did I do? I took a freezing cold shower at 3:00 in the morning and drank half a liter of cold water. (And turned off the stinking heater.) All I know is that I will be doing a whole heck of a lot less cooking this transfer because she thinks I can't cook. I made popcorn the other day and she stood and watched me do it with this doubtful face saying, "this is never going to work." (I don't use any oil and she uses a LOT. The popcorn still pops. It doesn't matter how you do it.)
We have a new investigator to teach: Debora's sister told us she wants us to teach her the lessons. The other day I read a scripture about fishers and hunters. I've decided that I am a fisher. Hunters have to go and knock on a bunch of doors and stuff like that to hunt down baptisms. Fishers just cast in their hook and wait until a fish bites. All of the people I have gotten to teach have just appeared. They just fall into my lap. Oh, I've knocked on a whole heck of a lot of doors, but nothing has ever come out of it. Gabriel just showed up at church one day. Andrea asked us to teach her so she can be baptized.
And so now we are teaching Debora's sister.
And that's all I've got.
Con amor --
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: For additional explanation about the reference to "fishers and hunters", see "In the Mountain of the Lord's House", a talk by LeGrand Richards reprinted in the Ensign magazine or "Friend to Friend", an interview with Gary J. Coleman that appeared in the Friend magazine.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Staying in Banfield and Training
It's a new transfer and I'm staying in Banfield 1. I'll be training. So today I have seven companions and tomorrow I'll know who my new companion will be. I have no idea how I will train somebody when I don't have any idea what I'm doing myself.
With Gabriel's baptism behind us, we have NO investigators. Finding people to teach is the most difficult for me. We've been doing a lot of walking around recently. We haven't talked to that many people but the ones we did talk to were NOT interested. The other day we talked to someone who, while waving a hatchet in our faces, told us how all of the Argentine government is a conspiracy and the Mormons are from England but that the inventor of the Mormons was really from Holland. Yup.
Thanks for your e-mails.
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: To anyone who might have sent Catherine an e-mail or card or letter, thank you for supporting her.
With Gabriel's baptism behind us, we have NO investigators. Finding people to teach is the most difficult for me. We've been doing a lot of walking around recently. We haven't talked to that many people but the ones we did talk to were NOT interested. The other day we talked to someone who, while waving a hatchet in our faces, told us how all of the Argentine government is a conspiracy and the Mormons are from England but that the inventor of the Mormons was really from Holland. Yup.
Thanks for your e-mails.
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: To anyone who might have sent Catherine an e-mail or card or letter, thank you for supporting her.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Gabriel's Baptism
Gabriel was baptized on the 30th! The baptismal service went as planned but took place an hour late. Which was fine. Long story made short: we had turned on the water pump to drain the little smidge of water that was left in the font and forgot to turn it back off when we started to fill the font. Not that it really mattered because Gabriel showed up late as well. But a whole bunch of people came. And the Noche de Hogar [Family Home Evening] that we hosted directly after the baptism was a complete success.
Yesterday we had a lesson in the Ferreyra's home. Gabriel directed the lesson and his younger brother gave the lesson. One of the other brothers who doesn't live there but was visiting also participated. Hna Ferreyra was sooooo happy. She wants to be sealed with all of her children, not just some of them. Now all we have to do is teach and baptize her three other kids. :)
Uuuummm... The rest of the week was spent in a bunch of lessons with Gabriel and a lot of walking around looking for people to teach.
-- Hermana Crotzer
Yesterday we had a lesson in the Ferreyra's home. Gabriel directed the lesson and his younger brother gave the lesson. One of the other brothers who doesn't live there but was visiting also participated. Hna Ferreyra was sooooo happy. She wants to be sealed with all of her children, not just some of them. Now all we have to do is teach and baptize her three other kids. :)
Uuuummm... The rest of the week was spent in a bunch of lessons with Gabriel and a lot of walking around looking for people to teach.
-- Hermana Crotzer
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