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| Another cockroach met it's doooooom, in our pench. But only after it had me screaming a bit. :) |
Monday, November 24, 2014
Coming Home!
See y'all soon!
Monday, November 10, 2014
A Week with Sorrows and Letdowns
Today I got ten e-mails. Seven of them were from the mission and four of those seven were about activities for the missionaries who are going home. I'm dying. (In a missionary manner.) I have not been counting my days till I go home. Some of the other missionaries are. But if any of you were wondering, I've got three weeks left.
This week has been really... I won't lie: It hasn't been very good. It's had high points and low points. Actually, it's had the same number of high and low points as any other week, it's just that the low points were really really low this week.
As I think I told you all in my letter last week, Hermana Pastrana's brother died. Unfortunately we haven't been able to see her since Monday.
On Tuesday we had zone meeting. And the elder in charge did NOT tell us.
The way the mission checks on our work has changed again. Now we only have to report how many confirmations we have had that week, how many people were in church that Sunday, and how many less-active members who were in church had assignments. I really don't care that the metrics have changed again but I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that two of the three metrics have very little to do with what we as missionaries can do. (There are active members who don't come to church every Sunday. And missionaries can't give assignments to the less-active members who actually do show.) But I'm sure there is a reason these particular metrics are now being tracked.
On Friday we finally went back to Domingo's house. In his prayer he asked God to send us by more often. He missed us. :) Oh, and Friday morning was spent chipping paint off of walls so that the Cruz family can re-paint their house. Usually people here just paint on top of the cruddy old peeling paint. Needless to say, the new paint job doesn't last very long when they do that, because the paint underneath just keeps chipping off and peeling away and the newer paint peels away with it. I never thought I would see somebody do a point job even mostly right in Argentina, but now I have. :)
Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday we had appointments with Emiliano. We've finished up all of the missionary lessons with him. He had his baptismal interview Saturday in the morning.
And he didn't pass.
Turns out he had smoked two days beforehand and had never told us. What's more disappointing is that the person who offered him the cigarette was his brother, a recent convert, who shouldn't be smoking either.
Saturday after the interview, we had our last capilla abierta [open house at the chapel] in Banfield 2. While speaking with one of the members there, I was told that Emi's mother is also smoking in secret. Supposedly. And she is also a recent convert.
Sunday we went over to the house and found Emi's mom all alone. I don't even know how the topic came up but she told us that, yes, she did smoke a cigarette the other day. She knew she shouldn't but sometimes she has moments of very high stress and she falls into temptation. We still need to meet up with Emi's brother and find out what HIS story is, if he is smoking all the time or what.
Doing missionary work and seeing someone accept the gospel and make the necessary changes to his or her life is joyful, but this week had its share of sorrows and let downs.
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: As every smoker knows, it can be very difficult to quit. The following article might be helpful for those trying to overcome a smoking habit as well as those trying to be supportive of someone trying to quit:
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2002/02/tobacco-quitting-for-good?lang=eng
This week has been really... I won't lie: It hasn't been very good. It's had high points and low points. Actually, it's had the same number of high and low points as any other week, it's just that the low points were really really low this week.
As I think I told you all in my letter last week, Hermana Pastrana's brother died. Unfortunately we haven't been able to see her since Monday.
On Tuesday we had zone meeting. And the elder in charge did NOT tell us.
The way the mission checks on our work has changed again. Now we only have to report how many confirmations we have had that week, how many people were in church that Sunday, and how many less-active members who were in church had assignments. I really don't care that the metrics have changed again but I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that two of the three metrics have very little to do with what we as missionaries can do. (There are active members who don't come to church every Sunday. And missionaries can't give assignments to the less-active members who actually do show.) But I'm sure there is a reason these particular metrics are now being tracked.
On Friday we finally went back to Domingo's house. In his prayer he asked God to send us by more often. He missed us. :) Oh, and Friday morning was spent chipping paint off of walls so that the Cruz family can re-paint their house. Usually people here just paint on top of the cruddy old peeling paint. Needless to say, the new paint job doesn't last very long when they do that, because the paint underneath just keeps chipping off and peeling away and the newer paint peels away with it. I never thought I would see somebody do a point job even mostly right in Argentina, but now I have. :)
Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday we had appointments with Emiliano. We've finished up all of the missionary lessons with him. He had his baptismal interview Saturday in the morning.
And he didn't pass.
Turns out he had smoked two days beforehand and had never told us. What's more disappointing is that the person who offered him the cigarette was his brother, a recent convert, who shouldn't be smoking either.
Saturday after the interview, we had our last capilla abierta [open house at the chapel] in Banfield 2. While speaking with one of the members there, I was told that Emi's mother is also smoking in secret. Supposedly. And she is also a recent convert.
Sunday we went over to the house and found Emi's mom all alone. I don't even know how the topic came up but she told us that, yes, she did smoke a cigarette the other day. She knew she shouldn't but sometimes she has moments of very high stress and she falls into temptation. We still need to meet up with Emi's brother and find out what HIS story is, if he is smoking all the time or what.
Doing missionary work and seeing someone accept the gospel and make the necessary changes to his or her life is joyful, but this week had its share of sorrows and let downs.
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: As every smoker knows, it can be very difficult to quit. The following article might be helpful for those trying to overcome a smoking habit as well as those trying to be supportive of someone trying to quit:
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2002/02/tobacco-quitting-for-good?lang=eng
Monday, November 3, 2014
Emi es un Capo!!!
I'm writing this e-mail late because we had a really really pleasant p-day right up to 4:00pm when one of our less active members called us. Her brother had died and she needed us RIGHT THEN! We were in ChangoMas (aka Wal-mart) when she called. We told her we were coming as fast as we could, finished up our purchases, took a bus to our house, dropped off the groceries, and then took another bus to her house. The truth is that any other day and any other situation, we would have walked. It's really not all that far. But seeing as she needed us NOW-- we took the bus.
Funnily enough, our normal appointment for Monday nights was canceled. :( And that is how we were able to do all of this. Go and comfort a lady very very very upset about the loss of her brother AND still write our e-mail home.
We might be having a baptism the 15th!! His name is Emiliano and he is the brother of Gabriel and one of the sons of the Ferreyra family. Like all of the other people I have ever been blessed to teach, he came to us. He told us he was finally ready to listen to the lessons. We can barely keep up with him. He starts keeping commandments before we have even taught them. I guess it comes from listening to alllll of the lessons the sister missionaries gave to his parents and his brother.
He and Gabriel came to church this Sunday. Both of them in white shirts. (No ties, but whatever.) Like they say here, Emi es un capo!!! -- He's a boss! We just need to finish teaching all of the lessons before the 8th. Pray for the Ferreyra family. They need it.
Things are a little less cheery with Andrea and Debora. Unfortunately their mother has decided that she does not want Andrea to be baptized. Participating is fine, but she doesn't want us to teach her daughter. She never told us anything, but when we had our appointment with Andrea and pulled out our scriptures, she told us that she won't go behind her mother's back. Her mother had told her that she couldn't take the lessons. But Andrea also said that she knows that the church is something good and that she wants to be a part of it. She is willing to wait a year to be baptized when she turns 18. And during all that time, she has plans to be fully active. She'll be what we call a dry Mormon -- completely active but never baptized.
Tuesday night there was a really bad storm. The members on our side of the area made it through pretty well, but a lot of the roofs of the houses on the elder's side of the area blew off. The power went out in the Ferreyra's house for three days. The house of the family Cruz flooded. The roof of the Canerelli's caved in. Etc, etc. It was really bad. The last couple of days have been spent helping clean up the mess. Debora's roof folded in half. And the worst part is that it just keeps raining and raining and raining. There's no time to FIX the roofs.
Annnd... Thats all I've got for now.
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Funnily enough, our normal appointment for Monday nights was canceled. :( And that is how we were able to do all of this. Go and comfort a lady very very very upset about the loss of her brother AND still write our e-mail home.
We might be having a baptism the 15th!! His name is Emiliano and he is the brother of Gabriel and one of the sons of the Ferreyra family. Like all of the other people I have ever been blessed to teach, he came to us. He told us he was finally ready to listen to the lessons. We can barely keep up with him. He starts keeping commandments before we have even taught them. I guess it comes from listening to alllll of the lessons the sister missionaries gave to his parents and his brother.
He and Gabriel came to church this Sunday. Both of them in white shirts. (No ties, but whatever.) Like they say here, Emi es un capo!!! -- He's a boss! We just need to finish teaching all of the lessons before the 8th. Pray for the Ferreyra family. They need it.
Things are a little less cheery with Andrea and Debora. Unfortunately their mother has decided that she does not want Andrea to be baptized. Participating is fine, but she doesn't want us to teach her daughter. She never told us anything, but when we had our appointment with Andrea and pulled out our scriptures, she told us that she won't go behind her mother's back. Her mother had told her that she couldn't take the lessons. But Andrea also said that she knows that the church is something good and that she wants to be a part of it. She is willing to wait a year to be baptized when she turns 18. And during all that time, she has plans to be fully active. She'll be what we call a dry Mormon -- completely active but never baptized.
Tuesday night there was a really bad storm. The members on our side of the area made it through pretty well, but a lot of the roofs of the houses on the elder's side of the area blew off. The power went out in the Ferreyra's house for three days. The house of the family Cruz flooded. The roof of the Canerelli's caved in. Etc, etc. It was really bad. The last couple of days have been spent helping clean up the mess. Debora's roof folded in half. And the worst part is that it just keeps raining and raining and raining. There's no time to FIX the roofs.
Annnd... Thats all I've got for now.
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
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