Ariving in Los Alamos...
The welcoming committee...
The VIP taxi...
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
Coming Home!
See y'all soon!
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| Another cockroach met it's doooooom, in our pench. But only after it had me screaming a bit. :) |
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
Monday, October 27, 2014
Polar Bears and Chickens...
This week we had stake conference. The Saturday session was held in Banfield 2, just a half an hour travel. To our very very very very very great surprise, Gabriel, Martin and their father attended the priesthood session! To our even greater surprise, they all came back an hour later to the general adult session bringing with them Hna Ferreyra!! They had originally indicated they weren't coming because, a) Saturday was Gabriel's birthday, b) Friday was Emiliano's birthday and c) Sunday was Ivan's birthday. Andrea, one of our investigators, went to the Saturday night session as well.
And the best part!!! Gabriel FINALLY came in a white shirt and tie. It's a kinda funny story. During the priesthood session he was in his usual blue and white checkered shirt. When he came back he was wearing a white shirt and the tie that Elder Villegas gave him. I guess being in a roomful of men and being the only one in a colored shirt made him feel as visible as a polar bear in a room full of chickens. Now we just have to get him to tuck the dang shirt in properly... :)
Andrea also came to the Sunday morning session. When I say "Sunday morning" I do mean MORNING. The bus for Lanus left at 7:45am for the investigator and new member meeting that started at 8:30am. We got there a few minutes late. Andrea has also started dating one of the less active youth in the ward. He is now active. :)
The stake presidents here did something new. I guess. The choir for the stake conference was us missionaries. We had two sessions of practice total so I hope we sounded nice. Supposedly the only female voice anybody could really hear was mine. There are only four sister missionaries in the zone. My companion is kinda tone deaf. (I'm not being mean, she really hates singing) and the other two sister missionaries never showed to any of the practices, so they had no idea what they were doing. Well... I sure hope I sounded nice because EVERYBODY knows it was MY voice they were hearing... If not, that's embarrassing.
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
And the best part!!! Gabriel FINALLY came in a white shirt and tie. It's a kinda funny story. During the priesthood session he was in his usual blue and white checkered shirt. When he came back he was wearing a white shirt and the tie that Elder Villegas gave him. I guess being in a roomful of men and being the only one in a colored shirt made him feel as visible as a polar bear in a room full of chickens. Now we just have to get him to tuck the dang shirt in properly... :)
Andrea also came to the Sunday morning session. When I say "Sunday morning" I do mean MORNING. The bus for Lanus left at 7:45am for the investigator and new member meeting that started at 8:30am. We got there a few minutes late. Andrea has also started dating one of the less active youth in the ward. He is now active. :)
The stake presidents here did something new. I guess. The choir for the stake conference was us missionaries. We had two sessions of practice total so I hope we sounded nice. Supposedly the only female voice anybody could really hear was mine. There are only four sister missionaries in the zone. My companion is kinda tone deaf. (I'm not being mean, she really hates singing) and the other two sister missionaries never showed to any of the practices, so they had no idea what they were doing. Well... I sure hope I sounded nice because EVERYBODY knows it was MY voice they were hearing... If not, that's embarrassing.
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Monday, October 20, 2014
Lots of Really Good Things
I had the joy of taking an online class for BYU-Idaho today, so my e-mail this week is going to be a little shorter than usual because I'm out of computer time.
It's been a really long week. We've had a lot of really really good things happen and a lot of little bad things happen. For example:
Andrea, one of our investigators and sister of a recent convert is 17 years old. Because she is a minor, we have to ask her mother (or father) permission to teach her. Her mom didn't tell us that we could teach her daughter, but she didn't tell us that we couldn't either. But it turns out that later in the week, Andrea's mother told Andrea that she couldn't talk to us anymore. As such, we haven't had a single lesson with her for a while -- until her mother lifts the "no sister missionaries" ban. BUT, Andrea went to Mutual, and another youth activity and came to church all by herself this week!
Gabriel made an appointment with us without us pestering him. And he came to Sacrament meeting, too. Now we just have to convince him that he needs to come to ALL of the meetings EVERY Sunday. :)
Hope all of you are doing great --
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
It's been a really long week. We've had a lot of really really good things happen and a lot of little bad things happen. For example:
Andrea, one of our investigators and sister of a recent convert is 17 years old. Because she is a minor, we have to ask her mother (or father) permission to teach her. Her mom didn't tell us that we could teach her daughter, but she didn't tell us that we couldn't either. But it turns out that later in the week, Andrea's mother told Andrea that she couldn't talk to us anymore. As such, we haven't had a single lesson with her for a while -- until her mother lifts the "no sister missionaries" ban. BUT, Andrea went to Mutual, and another youth activity and came to church all by herself this week!
Gabriel made an appointment with us without us pestering him. And he came to Sacrament meeting, too. Now we just have to convince him that he needs to come to ALL of the meetings EVERY Sunday. :)
Hope all of you are doing great --
Con amor,
Hermana Crotzer
Monday, October 6, 2014
Rain and More Missionary Work
It's been a really long week full of rain. Lots and lots of rain.
Every week we have to keep track of all of the lessons we have taught to members and investigators, and the number of people we talked to and stuff like that. This week there were a lot of zeros. We had other activities going on, but they didn't help our numbers any. And next week won't be any better as far as our numbers.
Monday we had our usual Noche de Hogar [Family Home Evening] with the Ferreyra family. The only difference this week was who was present.
Tuesday we had our district meeting and lunch (a miracle) and then we spent the rest of the day wandering around trying to find someone to talk to. It was rainy so nobody was interested.
Wednesday we ran around like lunatics from one end of our area to the other. (Our area is pretty big.) That night we had meetings. We followed up with Gabriel. We also asked the bishop to meet with him, to try and find out why he doesn't want to come to church.
Thursday was actually a productive day. We did stuff and talked to people.
Friday we locked ourselves out of the house (wasn't my fault) and so we spent the whole day locked outside. And it was raining cats and dogs. Hno Cortese [Brother Cortese] had to come, jump the neighbor's fence and dismantle the doorknob to get us our keys. Friday wasn't my best day.
Aannnd, Saturday and Sunday were General Conference. The broadcast timing is a little different here so we weren't able to do any proselyting.
Next week we have an open house in one of the chapels, and Hermana Sanchez has tramites. (No, I don't know the English word for tramites but it has a lot to do with standing in line all day and waiting. Think "frustrating like going to the DMV to renew your driver's license" but longer. Exactly like that.)
'Til next week --
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: Tramites is some kind of government procedure or process, and most likely has to do with Hermana Sanchez' passport / visa status. She is originally from Bolivia.
Every week we have to keep track of all of the lessons we have taught to members and investigators, and the number of people we talked to and stuff like that. This week there were a lot of zeros. We had other activities going on, but they didn't help our numbers any. And next week won't be any better as far as our numbers.
Monday we had our usual Noche de Hogar [Family Home Evening] with the Ferreyra family. The only difference this week was who was present.
Tuesday we had our district meeting and lunch (a miracle) and then we spent the rest of the day wandering around trying to find someone to talk to. It was rainy so nobody was interested.
Wednesday we ran around like lunatics from one end of our area to the other. (Our area is pretty big.) That night we had meetings. We followed up with Gabriel. We also asked the bishop to meet with him, to try and find out why he doesn't want to come to church.
Thursday was actually a productive day. We did stuff and talked to people.
Friday we locked ourselves out of the house (wasn't my fault) and so we spent the whole day locked outside. And it was raining cats and dogs. Hno Cortese [Brother Cortese] had to come, jump the neighbor's fence and dismantle the doorknob to get us our keys. Friday wasn't my best day.
Aannnd, Saturday and Sunday were General Conference. The broadcast timing is a little different here so we weren't able to do any proselyting.
Next week we have an open house in one of the chapels, and Hermana Sanchez has tramites. (No, I don't know the English word for tramites but it has a lot to do with standing in line all day and waiting. Think "frustrating like going to the DMV to renew your driver's license" but longer. Exactly like that.)
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| Hermanas Crotzer and Sanchez |
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: Tramites is some kind of government procedure or process, and most likely has to do with Hermana Sanchez' passport / visa status. She is originally from Bolivia.
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
Monday, August 25, 2014
Another Baptism Scheduled
Gabriel had his baptismal interview and he will be baptized this coming Saturday. Elder Herrera, our district leader, thinks he's really funny so he pulled a joke on us with Gabriel after the baptismal interview. My companion and I were in a meeting with the ward missionaries planning for our upcoming Noche de Hogar [Family Home Evening]. Elder Herrera pulled us out and started on this spiel about how Gabriel shouldn't give up hope and that we were going to keep working with him and blah blah blah. It sounded like Gabrial hadn't passed the interview and the only thing I could think was, "What did he DO?" And then Elder Herrera said, "Congratulations.
...Wait... What?
And then he and Gabriel busted up laughing.
I also had exchanges this week, where the sister training leaders come and train us and help us improve how we teach and stuff. My companion had a great experience. My exchange is something I would rather forget. During the course of 30 minutes, the sister training leader told me every single one of my faults, that I wasn't doing a good job and that Gabriel would be exactly the same as Pablo, one of our recent converts. By the time she was through with me, I honestly felt like it would have been better if I had never come on the mission and that I might as well just call the president right then and there and tell him to send me home. It was awful and I don't understand WHY she would do that to me. She is a sister training leader and is supposed to HELP me, not tear me down and then stomp on me.
Elder Herrera told her that she needs to call me and talk to me. Apparently she told him that she was "uncomfortable" in our exchange. When I started bawling right there in front of Elder Herrera and his companion, my own companion did me the favor of explaining that I was a lot more than just uncomfortable. I don't really know what to think now.
And now I don't know what to do about Gabriel. Before our exchange, I thought he was ready. Now I don't know.
Pablo is going to the Iglesia Universal now. He doesn't really want anything to do with us but doesn't actually come right out and say so. Instead, he makes appointments and then later calls us and tells us that he can't make it.
And that was my week. Hope that you all had a really nice week.
Hermana Crotzer
...Wait... What?
And then he and Gabriel busted up laughing.
I also had exchanges this week, where the sister training leaders come and train us and help us improve how we teach and stuff. My companion had a great experience. My exchange is something I would rather forget. During the course of 30 minutes, the sister training leader told me every single one of my faults, that I wasn't doing a good job and that Gabriel would be exactly the same as Pablo, one of our recent converts. By the time she was through with me, I honestly felt like it would have been better if I had never come on the mission and that I might as well just call the president right then and there and tell him to send me home. It was awful and I don't understand WHY she would do that to me. She is a sister training leader and is supposed to HELP me, not tear me down and then stomp on me.
Elder Herrera told her that she needs to call me and talk to me. Apparently she told him that she was "uncomfortable" in our exchange. When I started bawling right there in front of Elder Herrera and his companion, my own companion did me the favor of explaining that I was a lot more than just uncomfortable. I don't really know what to think now.
And now I don't know what to do about Gabriel. Before our exchange, I thought he was ready. Now I don't know.
Pablo is going to the Iglesia Universal now. He doesn't really want anything to do with us but doesn't actually come right out and say so. Instead, he makes appointments and then later calls us and tells us that he can't make it.
And that was my week. Hope that you all had a really nice week.
Hermana Crotzer
Monday, August 18, 2014
Empty Mail Boxes are Discouraging
The last month (and the four months before that) my mail box has been starving to death. And so, to conserve its energy, I have decided that I won't write anyone until they send me something. A letter is all I'm asking folks -- a good heart-felt letter.
There are about 3 to 6 weeks left of my mission for you to mail me a letter or card and have it arrive in time. If postage is too much, send me e-mails. This week I had 11 e-mails and 9 were from the mission office. (Last week I had 15 and 13 were from the mission office.)
I had a great week. If you want to hear about it, write me.
:) Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: The mission office has asked that we not send any packages. It is too costly (both in time and money) to retrieve packages from customs. But cards or letters work great.
There are about 3 to 6 weeks left of my mission for you to mail me a letter or card and have it arrive in time. If postage is too much, send me e-mails. This week I had 11 e-mails and 9 were from the mission office. (Last week I had 15 and 13 were from the mission office.)
I had a great week. If you want to hear about it, write me.
:) Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: The mission office has asked that we not send any packages. It is too costly (both in time and money) to retrieve packages from customs. But cards or letters work great.
Monday, August 4, 2014
"Mini" Hna Carrizo
My new companion is Hna Carrizo and she is 22 years old. She says she is on the mini mission because she can't decide between being a missionary or serving the "other mission" -- i.e. being a full-time mother. She loves to talk about how she doesn't know which path to take with whoever asks her about her mini mission. Not that it's a bad thing that she doesn't know yet what to do.
My brain is still trying to change back to speaking Spanish all the time and I've been having a little bit of trouble. Sometimes, mostly in the mornings, I have a really hard time understanding what Hna Carrizo is saying. She also told me that I have a really bad gringo accent. It's a little true.
It's supposed to be the middle of winter but it's really hot. Most days we don't even have to take jackets with us because it's just soooo hot.
This Monday we went to a district activity. We played a bunch of soccer and then the elders (we are the only sister missionaries in the district) changed over to basketball. I don't do basketball with a bunch of boys so I sat out on the side. It turns out there are a couple of other elders that don't like basketball either so we played some weird version of soccer were there is one goal and two teams of two. The person who scores a goal becomes the next goalie until somebody else scores a goal. It was REALLY fun.
Gabriel is still progressing like crazy. Please keep him in your prayers. AND I found out that Diego Quiroga, the son who I was teaching in Madariaga is going to be baptized the 9th! Whoooo hoooo!
Hope that all of you have a really great week.
Con amor --
Hermana Crotzer
My brain is still trying to change back to speaking Spanish all the time and I've been having a little bit of trouble. Sometimes, mostly in the mornings, I have a really hard time understanding what Hna Carrizo is saying. She also told me that I have a really bad gringo accent. It's a little true.
It's supposed to be the middle of winter but it's really hot. Most days we don't even have to take jackets with us because it's just soooo hot.
This Monday we went to a district activity. We played a bunch of soccer and then the elders (we are the only sister missionaries in the district) changed over to basketball. I don't do basketball with a bunch of boys so I sat out on the side. It turns out there are a couple of other elders that don't like basketball either so we played some weird version of soccer were there is one goal and two teams of two. The person who scores a goal becomes the next goalie until somebody else scores a goal. It was REALLY fun.
Gabriel is still progressing like crazy. Please keep him in your prayers. AND I found out that Diego Quiroga, the son who I was teaching in Madariaga is going to be baptized the 9th! Whoooo hoooo!
Hope that all of you have a really great week.
Con amor --
Hermana Crotzer
Monday, July 28, 2014
Mini-missionary Companion in Banfield
Not a whole lot has gone on this week. We had visits on Friday, Sunday and Monday. I have a new companion. She's a mini-missionary and she's from here. (She lives in the stake.) That means that Hermana Kent got transferred. She is now in Ezeiza. We have a lot of appointments this coming week. We'll see how that turns out.
Gabriel came to church on Sunday with all of his family. He's progressing soooo well. Please keep him in your prayers.
Hope you all have a nice week --
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: A "mini-missionary" is someone who is paired with a regular full-time missionary to help out for a transfer or two. (A transfer is six weeks.) It could be that the mission is short of companionships and so a local youth is helping out, or it could be that someone is wanting to experience what it is like to serve a mission before they put in their full-time papers. We'll ask Catherine for more details for next week. As a reminder: a "stake" is just a geographic area containing multiple congregations or "wards" of church members. So the new mini-missionary lives somewhere not too far from where Catherine is serving, i.e. she is a local young woman.
Gabriel came to church on Sunday with all of his family. He's progressing soooo well. Please keep him in your prayers.
Hope you all have a nice week --
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: A "mini-missionary" is someone who is paired with a regular full-time missionary to help out for a transfer or two. (A transfer is six weeks.) It could be that the mission is short of companionships and so a local youth is helping out, or it could be that someone is wanting to experience what it is like to serve a mission before they put in their full-time papers. We'll ask Catherine for more details for next week. As a reminder: a "stake" is just a geographic area containing multiple congregations or "wards" of church members. So the new mini-missionary lives somewhere not too far from where Catherine is serving, i.e. she is a local young woman.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Still Looking for People to Teach
Not much to report this week. We walked a lot and we haven't found all that many people to teach. Hna Kent and I thought it would be a good idea to go and see a bunch of the old investigators we have records for and see if they might be interested this time around. The majority of them aren't but...
One of the statistics we report is how many people we talk to and try to share the gospel with. I don't know if contacting old investigators counts towards this statistic so we haven't been counting it. But if we did, we would have really, really, really high numbers.
We have one new investigator named Gabriel. His parents are recent converts (of about a year) and we started teaching him recently. He read all of the pamphlet for lesson one in one day for our next lesson. We had only asked him to read a page!
Con amor --
Hermana Crotzer (formerly Cortez)
One of the statistics we report is how many people we talk to and try to share the gospel with. I don't know if contacting old investigators counts towards this statistic so we haven't been counting it. But if we did, we would have really, really, really high numbers.
We have one new investigator named Gabriel. His parents are recent converts (of about a year) and we started teaching him recently. He read all of the pamphlet for lesson one in one day for our next lesson. We had only asked him to read a page!
Con amor --
Hermana Crotzer (formerly Cortez)
Monday, July 14, 2014
World Cup Finally Over
My brain is complete and total mush right now. It probably has something to do with the fact that I inhaled a lot of chemicals this morning trying to kill a giant cockroach. Bleh.
I forgot to tell you all last week about the cockroach family I found under the sink. Mommy cockroach, Daddy, two kids, and Grandpa cockroach. They are very dead now. Raid for flys and mosquitos also kills cockroaches. Maybe it's because these are the huge flying cockroaches.
This morning, the other grandpa cockroach invaded our apartment. Probably to get revenge for killing his daughter and grandkids. (I doubt he cares very much that we killed his son-in-law, but who knows. Maybe they had a good relationship.) After a lot of screaming and spraying of chemicals, Hna Kent finally succeeded in killing it with the mop. The person who lives next door asked us if we were all right. And we need to buy more Raid.
In other news, we walked around a lot. A LOT. And that's all I've got for the week. I don't think we had any lessons.
Germany won the World Cup and I might change my last name to something less German. I have a feeling there are a lot of anti-German feelings in Argentina right now. Cortez sounds like a nice new last name. ;)
Until next week --
Hermana Cortez
I forgot to tell you all last week about the cockroach family I found under the sink. Mommy cockroach, Daddy, two kids, and Grandpa cockroach. They are very dead now. Raid for flys and mosquitos also kills cockroaches. Maybe it's because these are the huge flying cockroaches.
This morning, the other grandpa cockroach invaded our apartment. Probably to get revenge for killing his daughter and grandkids. (I doubt he cares very much that we killed his son-in-law, but who knows. Maybe they had a good relationship.) After a lot of screaming and spraying of chemicals, Hna Kent finally succeeded in killing it with the mop. The person who lives next door asked us if we were all right. And we need to buy more Raid.
In other news, we walked around a lot. A LOT. And that's all I've got for the week. I don't think we had any lessons.
 |
| Hermanas Crotzer and Kent (and a third companion???) |
Until next week --
Hermana Cortez
Monday, July 7, 2014
Weird Week in Banfield
It's been a really weird week. That's pretty much all I've got to say.
We had a nice lesson with Hector and Claudia which means that they are progressing.
We had to plan three times on Wednesday because people kept canceling things on us.
Friday was the fourth of July and we had "exchanges" that day. Both the sister training leaders came to our area.
Saturday I turned 13 months old in the mission.
Sunday was Hna Newman's birthday. We fibbed to her and her companion and set up a fake appointment in their area with somebody named Sabrina. Sabrina was really Debora -- a recent convert of about four weeks. Debora got baptized the Saturday before Hna Newman left. Debora got a video from Hna Newman's mom and a bunch of other people singing "Happy Birthday" and she also made a cake and the whole nine yards.
Pablo didn't go to church this week because he wanted to watch a tennis match. I'm worried he's going to go inactive soon. He knows all the "right" answers but he doesn't know how to apply the Gospel to himself. That's just a little important. And of course I ignored that little voice inside my head because everybody else thought things were going great.
Today somebody sent me an envelope. Just an envelope with my name on it. There wasn't anything inside. And only my mom sent me an e-mail this week. So when I finish typing this I'll probably spend the rest of my hour and a half of time watching Mormon messages without sound. I might even have time to watch the Joseph Smith movie.
Hope all of you had a nice week --
Hermana Crotzer
We had a nice lesson with Hector and Claudia which means that they are progressing.
We had to plan three times on Wednesday because people kept canceling things on us.
Friday was the fourth of July and we had "exchanges" that day. Both the sister training leaders came to our area.
Saturday I turned 13 months old in the mission.
Sunday was Hna Newman's birthday. We fibbed to her and her companion and set up a fake appointment in their area with somebody named Sabrina. Sabrina was really Debora -- a recent convert of about four weeks. Debora got baptized the Saturday before Hna Newman left. Debora got a video from Hna Newman's mom and a bunch of other people singing "Happy Birthday" and she also made a cake and the whole nine yards.
Pablo didn't go to church this week because he wanted to watch a tennis match. I'm worried he's going to go inactive soon. He knows all the "right" answers but he doesn't know how to apply the Gospel to himself. That's just a little important. And of course I ignored that little voice inside my head because everybody else thought things were going great.
Today somebody sent me an envelope. Just an envelope with my name on it. There wasn't anything inside. And only my mom sent me an e-mail this week. So when I finish typing this I'll probably spend the rest of my hour and a half of time watching Mormon messages without sound. I might even have time to watch the Joseph Smith movie.
Hope all of you had a nice week --
Hermana Crotzer
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