Sunday, July 4, 2010
Jordan's June 28, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there guys! Thanks for the great pictures you sent me with your phones, and also for all the great letters that I received from you all - I´m glad to hear that things are going good and that you were able to prepare yourselves well for the awesome trip to New York City. That place rocks! You´ll have to tell me what you think of it when you get home again :)
I´m in Merlo right now - yeah! It rocks! It´s been a while since I´ve been in Merlo, so I´m happy. There´s lots of cool stuff here that wasn´t available in Luján, so I´m happy to be back where I started.
I got some money back from the offices, so I´ve been looking at buying a better coat and maybe a new bag to haul my books around in...what do you guys think? I also found a way sweet dictionary that´s enormous and has lots of words, and I´ve thought about buying that guy too. Let me know what you guys think :).
This week was really great! Elder Bush is an awesome Elder. I´ve really enjoyed my time with him, because we have lots of things in common and we´ve talked a lot and gotten to know each other over this past week. It sounds like he´s had similar experiences like what I have had from the mission, and we relate on a lot of stuff. Man, he´s got a way hot girlfriend! I told him I´m jealous, and he told me not to be because it´s better to head out without a girlfriend. I told him he´s right. He´s way cool! He told me about his family, his high school life, etc., and we´ve really talked a lot and have gotten to know each other better. From what I´m seeing right now, he´s the best companion I´ve had yet! He works hard but is a very cool guy, so I´m really enjoying my time with him.
Some other good news...we have permission to write to our families for an hour and a half now! Woohoo! So that´s something to look forward to, right?
I got to meet a lot of people this last week, especially the members. I also found out that there is no piano player here in Ferrari, so I get to play the piano more often. Yay! It´s a little tougher right now because I haven´t played for so long (actually that´s a lie - I usually played for District Meetings in Luján), but I´ll just do my best. Hey, it´s better than just singing without anything right? Man, when the members here try to sing without a piano...you have no idea what it sounds like...can you say bleeding ears? Just kidding, but yeah it´s good to have a piano player :).
Our ward mission leader is so cool! He´s the nicest guy on the planet and is way excited to work with the missionaries. He´s an old guy and his name is Brother Mansilla, and I just love that guy! He was so nice to me on Sunday and gave me the biggest welcome out of everyone, and complimented me on my Spanish and really made me feel at home. Thanks to him, I had a really great Sunday. He´s a great guy!
I got to teach Principles of the Gospel for the first time in the mission - it was fun! I loved the teaching experience, and it was actually a little easier than I thought it would be. I wasn´t prepared or anything, but the teacher wasn´t there (actually, most the members weren´t there - they were delayed from their temple trip to Uruguay, so like no one was there), so I just had to do my best. We all learned a ton together though, and I really loved the experience. It was just a fun week in general!
I love missionary work! It´s hard at times, and sometimes I really miss you guys a lot, but I´m happy to be here learning everything I´m learning and meeting all the great people here in Ferrari. I know it´s the Lord´s work and He´s happy that I´m here. I´m really going to put an extra effort out to be more obedient to Him and show Him my love by working hard and obeying all that He tells me to do. I know this is His Church and man it´s a privilege to be part of His "royal army" as Pres. Hinckley put it.
I love my family and I hope you´re doing well! Send me some text messages if you can and I´ll write you back! I love my family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. Argentina has won all of her games so far in the world cup! Yeah! The President doesn´t let us work while a game is going on...with good reason. Man, it´s psycho when a game is going on. You wouldn´t imagine all the screaming, brewskies, and fireworks that are going on when a game is on and they score a goal...it´s fun to listen to! Yay Argentina!
Hey there guys! Thanks for the great pictures you sent me with your phones, and also for all the great letters that I received from you all - I´m glad to hear that things are going good and that you were able to prepare yourselves well for the awesome trip to New York City. That place rocks! You´ll have to tell me what you think of it when you get home again :)
I´m in Merlo right now - yeah! It rocks! It´s been a while since I´ve been in Merlo, so I´m happy. There´s lots of cool stuff here that wasn´t available in Luján, so I´m happy to be back where I started.
I got some money back from the offices, so I´ve been looking at buying a better coat and maybe a new bag to haul my books around in...what do you guys think? I also found a way sweet dictionary that´s enormous and has lots of words, and I´ve thought about buying that guy too. Let me know what you guys think :).
This week was really great! Elder Bush is an awesome Elder. I´ve really enjoyed my time with him, because we have lots of things in common and we´ve talked a lot and gotten to know each other over this past week. It sounds like he´s had similar experiences like what I have had from the mission, and we relate on a lot of stuff. Man, he´s got a way hot girlfriend! I told him I´m jealous, and he told me not to be because it´s better to head out without a girlfriend. I told him he´s right. He´s way cool! He told me about his family, his high school life, etc., and we´ve really talked a lot and have gotten to know each other better. From what I´m seeing right now, he´s the best companion I´ve had yet! He works hard but is a very cool guy, so I´m really enjoying my time with him.
Some other good news...we have permission to write to our families for an hour and a half now! Woohoo! So that´s something to look forward to, right?
I got to meet a lot of people this last week, especially the members. I also found out that there is no piano player here in Ferrari, so I get to play the piano more often. Yay! It´s a little tougher right now because I haven´t played for so long (actually that´s a lie - I usually played for District Meetings in Luján), but I´ll just do my best. Hey, it´s better than just singing without anything right? Man, when the members here try to sing without a piano...you have no idea what it sounds like...can you say bleeding ears? Just kidding, but yeah it´s good to have a piano player :).
Our ward mission leader is so cool! He´s the nicest guy on the planet and is way excited to work with the missionaries. He´s an old guy and his name is Brother Mansilla, and I just love that guy! He was so nice to me on Sunday and gave me the biggest welcome out of everyone, and complimented me on my Spanish and really made me feel at home. Thanks to him, I had a really great Sunday. He´s a great guy!
I got to teach Principles of the Gospel for the first time in the mission - it was fun! I loved the teaching experience, and it was actually a little easier than I thought it would be. I wasn´t prepared or anything, but the teacher wasn´t there (actually, most the members weren´t there - they were delayed from their temple trip to Uruguay, so like no one was there), so I just had to do my best. We all learned a ton together though, and I really loved the experience. It was just a fun week in general!
I love missionary work! It´s hard at times, and sometimes I really miss you guys a lot, but I´m happy to be here learning everything I´m learning and meeting all the great people here in Ferrari. I know it´s the Lord´s work and He´s happy that I´m here. I´m really going to put an extra effort out to be more obedient to Him and show Him my love by working hard and obeying all that He tells me to do. I know this is His Church and man it´s a privilege to be part of His "royal army" as Pres. Hinckley put it.
I love my family and I hope you´re doing well! Send me some text messages if you can and I´ll write you back! I love my family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. Argentina has won all of her games so far in the world cup! Yeah! The President doesn´t let us work while a game is going on...with good reason. Man, it´s psycho when a game is going on. You wouldn´t imagine all the screaming, brewskies, and fireworks that are going on when a game is on and they score a goal...it´s fun to listen to! Yay Argentina!
Jordan's June 21, 2010 letter
To the Family,
Hey there family! Hello from my new area of Ferrari in the zone of Marcos Paz, with my new companion Elder Bush who has five months in the mission! I received the news that both me and Elder Anderson were going to be transferred (sisters were put in our place in our area), and yeah, I got transferred to this area which is actually really close to my first area in Libertad (I´ve heard that every P-Day we go to Merlo to do internet and stuff like that - I´ll be back on stomping grounds!). I´m so happy! Elder Bush is awesome and he speaks Spanish really well - I´m very excited to work with him here and baptize as many people as we possibly can. The work is true and I know we´re going to do it.
Speaking of which...Dad, the mom of Elder Bush is named Amy Revill...do you know her? Elder Bush said that you two went to Lehi High School together. Crazy huh? Elder Bush told me that it´s a small world, and I agree with him :) awesome huh? Elder Bush is a rocking Elder!
Thanks for all your great pictures you sent me Dad! I had a blast looking through all of them. It looks like San Francisco is an awesome place! That´s crazy you even got to see Alcatraz Prison (that´s what it´s called, right?). I´m glad that you had a fun trip and that you were able to eat at lots of nice restaurants, also that Carson and Mom were able to have lots of fun times as well :) yay! That makes me happy to hear that you guys are all so well! I´m doing perfectly well and I´m really happy to be here in the mission and, as you said Dad, the weeks sure pass like days! I am very happy and thankful to hear that you guys are all doing so well.
This last week with Elder Anderson was really good - it wasn´t the best in numbers, but I had a good last week in Luján. I was still nervous a little walking around at night-time, because were still lots of youngsters walking the streets up to no good, but nothing happened! So all is well for me!
Today we had transfer meeting (that´s why I´m writing so late) and that was really enjoyable. I traded ties with a few people in the zone who I got along with.
Thanks for sending me another mini package! I got a letter from Cc today - thank you Cc! I´ll be reading it here shortly - I hope she got my letter (I loaded it with pictures).
I´m glad Carson is doing so well. I´ll keep writing him even if he can´t write back - I love writing my brother and best friend! I´ve done it every p-day since I got here, and I´ll keep doing it until I end the mission! (I only missed one day, the day I had to write Grandma Nuttall´s talk). Speaking of which, that´s crazy to think Carson has been dating a lot- it´s a lot different than when I was last with him before the mission! I´m glad he´s progressing so much in life, and I´m sure he´ll continue to do so as long as he stays true and firm on the Lord´s side. The Lord needs him in his royal army.
That´s about it for now! I don´t know much about my area yet, so I´ll give you details next week :) write me back if you guys get this in time! I love my Family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there family! Hello from my new area of Ferrari in the zone of Marcos Paz, with my new companion Elder Bush who has five months in the mission! I received the news that both me and Elder Anderson were going to be transferred (sisters were put in our place in our area), and yeah, I got transferred to this area which is actually really close to my first area in Libertad (I´ve heard that every P-Day we go to Merlo to do internet and stuff like that - I´ll be back on stomping grounds!). I´m so happy! Elder Bush is awesome and he speaks Spanish really well - I´m very excited to work with him here and baptize as many people as we possibly can. The work is true and I know we´re going to do it.
Speaking of which...Dad, the mom of Elder Bush is named Amy Revill...do you know her? Elder Bush said that you two went to Lehi High School together. Crazy huh? Elder Bush told me that it´s a small world, and I agree with him :) awesome huh? Elder Bush is a rocking Elder!
Thanks for all your great pictures you sent me Dad! I had a blast looking through all of them. It looks like San Francisco is an awesome place! That´s crazy you even got to see Alcatraz Prison (that´s what it´s called, right?). I´m glad that you had a fun trip and that you were able to eat at lots of nice restaurants, also that Carson and Mom were able to have lots of fun times as well :) yay! That makes me happy to hear that you guys are all so well! I´m doing perfectly well and I´m really happy to be here in the mission and, as you said Dad, the weeks sure pass like days! I am very happy and thankful to hear that you guys are all doing so well.
This last week with Elder Anderson was really good - it wasn´t the best in numbers, but I had a good last week in Luján. I was still nervous a little walking around at night-time, because were still lots of youngsters walking the streets up to no good, but nothing happened! So all is well for me!
Today we had transfer meeting (that´s why I´m writing so late) and that was really enjoyable. I traded ties with a few people in the zone who I got along with.
Thanks for sending me another mini package! I got a letter from Cc today - thank you Cc! I´ll be reading it here shortly - I hope she got my letter (I loaded it with pictures).
I´m glad Carson is doing so well. I´ll keep writing him even if he can´t write back - I love writing my brother and best friend! I´ve done it every p-day since I got here, and I´ll keep doing it until I end the mission! (I only missed one day, the day I had to write Grandma Nuttall´s talk). Speaking of which, that´s crazy to think Carson has been dating a lot- it´s a lot different than when I was last with him before the mission! I´m glad he´s progressing so much in life, and I´m sure he´ll continue to do so as long as he stays true and firm on the Lord´s side. The Lord needs him in his royal army.
That´s about it for now! I don´t know much about my area yet, so I´ll give you details next week :) write me back if you guys get this in time! I love my Family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Jordan's June 14, 2010 letter
June 14, 2010
Dear Family,
Happy Flag Day! Thanks for the cool pictures you guys sent me - I loved them! And also for all your great letters that you sent me :) they were awesome! And you guys really inspired me to be better, to be more obedient, and to work harder here in the Lord´s vineyard to bring as many of His children back to the truth as possible. Thanks for all your support and love!
We had lots of fun at Pizza Libre and at the Basilica. It was raining a ton today! I´m very happy I have Dad´s old trench coat, because it protects me a ton from being soaked! We first took pictures outside of the cathedral, and that was fun (a little hard to do with the rain - I didn´t want to get my new camera wet!). It was tougher because Elder Ibañez didn´t have a camera with him, because his last companion hauled the charger to it off with him, so I was switching our memory cards out a lot so he could get some pictures. It was really interesting to visit the place and to see how they do some things there. Man, Troy would have loved this place! The architecture is awesome, and there are like a million virgins from all over the world for people to see (I took pictures of lots of them). I´ll be happy to send you guys some pictures next week of how it all went!
I´m glad Heavenly Father protected us this week and that everything is alright.
Miguel Benavidez has decided once again that he wants to get baptized! Yay! We´ll be pulling out a baptismal date with him this week to get him into the waters of baptism as soon as possible. We are very happy for him and we know that this is going to help him and his wife and family out a ton, and that they´ll almost be a complete family of baptized members of the church! He´s an awesome guy and we´re very happy with this news :).
There´s another kid who wants to get baptized, but the tricky part will be getting permission from his mom and grandma, who share custody over him. We´ll see what happens - and pray lots - that they let him do it, but that might be a little bit of a battle, we´ll see what happens.
All is well in Luján once again! We´ll be working hard and doing our best. I love my family! Thanks for all your support and for helping me in all that you do, and I´ll be looking forward to your letters this next week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Dear Family,
Happy Flag Day! Thanks for the cool pictures you guys sent me - I loved them! And also for all your great letters that you sent me :) they were awesome! And you guys really inspired me to be better, to be more obedient, and to work harder here in the Lord´s vineyard to bring as many of His children back to the truth as possible. Thanks for all your support and love!
We had lots of fun at Pizza Libre and at the Basilica. It was raining a ton today! I´m very happy I have Dad´s old trench coat, because it protects me a ton from being soaked! We first took pictures outside of the cathedral, and that was fun (a little hard to do with the rain - I didn´t want to get my new camera wet!). It was tougher because Elder Ibañez didn´t have a camera with him, because his last companion hauled the charger to it off with him, so I was switching our memory cards out a lot so he could get some pictures. It was really interesting to visit the place and to see how they do some things there. Man, Troy would have loved this place! The architecture is awesome, and there are like a million virgins from all over the world for people to see (I took pictures of lots of them). I´ll be happy to send you guys some pictures next week of how it all went!
I´m glad Heavenly Father protected us this week and that everything is alright.
Miguel Benavidez has decided once again that he wants to get baptized! Yay! We´ll be pulling out a baptismal date with him this week to get him into the waters of baptism as soon as possible. We are very happy for him and we know that this is going to help him and his wife and family out a ton, and that they´ll almost be a complete family of baptized members of the church! He´s an awesome guy and we´re very happy with this news :).
There´s another kid who wants to get baptized, but the tricky part will be getting permission from his mom and grandma, who share custody over him. We´ll see what happens - and pray lots - that they let him do it, but that might be a little bit of a battle, we´ll see what happens.
All is well in Luján once again! We´ll be working hard and doing our best. I love my family! Thanks for all your support and for helping me in all that you do, and I´ll be looking forward to your letters this next week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Jordan's June 7, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there! I´m very happy to be able to write you all this week- this week was a whole lot better than every past week, without a doubt. We taught twice as many lessons as the week before and we completed with our contacts for the week (for the first time of the transfer) and we´ve found a bunch of new investigators who really seem to have a future in baptism here soon. I´m glad with how everything worked out and I know now that we just need to keep pushing onward when times get tough; everything will work out fine if we put our trust in the Lord and do our best to obey Him and do what He wants done :).
The "highlight" of the week was a General Authority (from the first quorum of the Seventy) who came to visit us. His name is Elder Marcos Aidukaitis from Brasil, and man he was awesome! I´d have to say that out of everyone who I´ve heard from in my time in the mission, he´s the guy I liked the most. I guess the reason would be because it was all about missionary work and how we can get baptisms, and he shared a bunch of stories with us about his mission and it seemed more like a learning environment than a talk. I was really motivated by what he said. One thing I´m going to work on is "thinking like God" - he was saying how in our time here we need to learn to think like Him and be centered on the work, and not be thinking about any other thing while we´re out working. I really liked it because that´s something that I know I could work on - sometimes it´s easy to get distracted by other things - and I tried it out and I really felt like I´ve had more success out here since I´ve started doing that. He is an awesome General Authority! I learned a ton of stuff from Elder Aidukaitis (and he´s a really tall guy too!).
The work is picking up a lot more too. There´s some things that are going much better, some things that aren´t as good - we found some really great people this week and we have been really excited getting them ready to get baptized. Sunday sure was hard though! We were praying lots that people could come to church, and to show our part to the Lord we started to look for people right at 8:00A.M. It was cold! And it was way early (and, at least hear in Argentina, there is basically no one outside at that time of day...EVERYONE was sleeping) for everyone, but we went around in search of investigators anyways. We passed by everyone, including those who said they were really excited in coming this week - and NO ONE was answering!! Some answered and said "it´s way early in the morning, we´re all asleep...there´s no way we´re going to church today." I was starting to get really bummed, because we´d made tons of plans and it seemed like it was all falling through. However, after paying for a remis and driving around a bunch...we got one kid to come with us to church!! Woohoo! And he was just getting ready to head off to another church with his family - they told him it was fine to go with us, though, so he came and enjoyed church with all of us. It was great! I was super happy and grateful to the Lord for the success that He blessed us with on Sunday. It was awesome!
I also gave my testimony up at the pulpit on Sunday, actually for only the second time in Argentina. I was nervous at first, but when I got up to give my testimony I realized that it was basically the same thing that I did with every person on the street every day out here in the field. I love it because my fear of the pulpit finally left me, and now I like going up there! It was a good experience and I was very happy to do it.
Everything else is going great - Elder Anderson and I are getting along great and enjoying the work here in Buenos Aires. I´ve been a little low on money - today I had to pay the light bill, and it seems like the guys in the offices gave us less money this month than last month. At least I have peanut butter and flour! I´ll basically just eat that all week because I don´t have money for anything else basically. And cereal! Yay for cereal!
Dad is the best Dad in the world! I´ll be very happy to be with you guys again, without a doubt. Some Elders talk like when they get home that they´ll want to be out of there fast again - I guess that´s their idea, but for me I´ll be happy to be with my family again and to have more family adventures together! And my coat is working just fine - right now I´m just using sweaters, and I´ve got jackets and my trench coat. I should be fine even for the coldest of days. Oh and I sent Carson´s email recently so he´ll be able to read it today if he gets the time :).
That´s it for now! I love my family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there! I´m very happy to be able to write you all this week- this week was a whole lot better than every past week, without a doubt. We taught twice as many lessons as the week before and we completed with our contacts for the week (for the first time of the transfer) and we´ve found a bunch of new investigators who really seem to have a future in baptism here soon. I´m glad with how everything worked out and I know now that we just need to keep pushing onward when times get tough; everything will work out fine if we put our trust in the Lord and do our best to obey Him and do what He wants done :).
The "highlight" of the week was a General Authority (from the first quorum of the Seventy) who came to visit us. His name is Elder Marcos Aidukaitis from Brasil, and man he was awesome! I´d have to say that out of everyone who I´ve heard from in my time in the mission, he´s the guy I liked the most. I guess the reason would be because it was all about missionary work and how we can get baptisms, and he shared a bunch of stories with us about his mission and it seemed more like a learning environment than a talk. I was really motivated by what he said. One thing I´m going to work on is "thinking like God" - he was saying how in our time here we need to learn to think like Him and be centered on the work, and not be thinking about any other thing while we´re out working. I really liked it because that´s something that I know I could work on - sometimes it´s easy to get distracted by other things - and I tried it out and I really felt like I´ve had more success out here since I´ve started doing that. He is an awesome General Authority! I learned a ton of stuff from Elder Aidukaitis (and he´s a really tall guy too!).
The work is picking up a lot more too. There´s some things that are going much better, some things that aren´t as good - we found some really great people this week and we have been really excited getting them ready to get baptized. Sunday sure was hard though! We were praying lots that people could come to church, and to show our part to the Lord we started to look for people right at 8:00A.M. It was cold! And it was way early (and, at least hear in Argentina, there is basically no one outside at that time of day...EVERYONE was sleeping) for everyone, but we went around in search of investigators anyways. We passed by everyone, including those who said they were really excited in coming this week - and NO ONE was answering!! Some answered and said "it´s way early in the morning, we´re all asleep...there´s no way we´re going to church today." I was starting to get really bummed, because we´d made tons of plans and it seemed like it was all falling through. However, after paying for a remis and driving around a bunch...we got one kid to come with us to church!! Woohoo! And he was just getting ready to head off to another church with his family - they told him it was fine to go with us, though, so he came and enjoyed church with all of us. It was great! I was super happy and grateful to the Lord for the success that He blessed us with on Sunday. It was awesome!
I also gave my testimony up at the pulpit on Sunday, actually for only the second time in Argentina. I was nervous at first, but when I got up to give my testimony I realized that it was basically the same thing that I did with every person on the street every day out here in the field. I love it because my fear of the pulpit finally left me, and now I like going up there! It was a good experience and I was very happy to do it.
Everything else is going great - Elder Anderson and I are getting along great and enjoying the work here in Buenos Aires. I´ve been a little low on money - today I had to pay the light bill, and it seems like the guys in the offices gave us less money this month than last month. At least I have peanut butter and flour! I´ll basically just eat that all week because I don´t have money for anything else basically. And cereal! Yay for cereal!
Dad is the best Dad in the world! I´ll be very happy to be with you guys again, without a doubt. Some Elders talk like when they get home that they´ll want to be out of there fast again - I guess that´s their idea, but for me I´ll be happy to be with my family again and to have more family adventures together! And my coat is working just fine - right now I´m just using sweaters, and I´ve got jackets and my trench coat. I should be fine even for the coldest of days. Oh and I sent Carson´s email recently so he´ll be able to read it today if he gets the time :).
That´s it for now! I love my family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Jordan's May 31, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there again! Today is going pretty good - I hope you guys are having fun with the family and all! We were going to have lunch with the other elders from Luján 1 at a pizza libre, but they never showed up. Well, first of all they never told me which one they wanted to go to...that was problematic! We went to the nearest one to the internet we were at (which is where I figured they usually went) but they never showed up. I´ll try and do something fun this afternoon to have a better day :).
This week was good! I had fun with Elder Anderson. We worked a lot and had better "numbers" this week. We were low on contacts which wasn´t good, and we´re still not perfect, but we´re getting better every week. I figure if we just keep improving every week, we´re on the right track. He is a really great Elder and he works well - I just need to work him better on his Spanish skills.
Elder Anderson is great though - he´s fun to work with and he´s never angry or upset by what goes on. That´s something I could learn. Sometimes it´s still easy for me to get frustrated at the work or at myself, or whatever kind of thing, so I´ll be trying to improve that. It sure is tough at times...it´s not easy, not at all. I´ll pray more to receive the strength I need to be calm and not get frustrated so easy, because man sometimes my head just hurts out here!
I got my map updated and everything! Now I have a good-working map to guide me around my area better. I am very happy about that. Also, with Daina...she moved!!!! Dang it! Her mom came in the night and hauled her off to live in another part of Luján - she is no longer in our area. The family she was living with sure was sad (me too), because man she is an awesome little girl and was really learning fast. We´re trying to get this family to contact Daiana´s mom to see if we can send the other missionaries over to continue teaching - we´ll see what happens. They live in my district-leader´s area, but they live waaaay far away, so we´ll be working around with that a little bit.
We don´t have any baptismal dates or anything right now. We´re still working with the people to see if we can find some possibilities, and it´s going pretty well so far! We´re finding great people, but man sometimes something comes up and they just bail out. I want to find the right people, so I guess I´ll just keep chugging away until I find them.
Congratulations Carson! Sounds like it was a successful graduation! I am very happy for you! I´m glad that you´re finally out of the "high-school realm" and off to bigger and better things, like shining your shoes for the military! That´s something I have to do out here every day as well. I´m extremely proud of Carson and all the accomplishments he´s having, and I know he´ll keep having them as he continues to work as hard as he´s doing. You´re my hero Carson!
The holiday last week was good – kind of crazy! But we ended it fun by ordering empanadas for lunch, so we were happy guys.
How was the Memorial Day party over at the Nuttall´s? Did you guys have fun? Tonight we´ll be ordering ice cream! I´m a happy Jordan- that´s something to look forward to tonight. What are you guys going to be up to? Something fun? Family activities? I hope you enjoy yourselves! Sounds like Carson really enjoyed himself this weekend - that was some serious partying! When I get home, I´m going to want to Nintendo it out with Spencer or something when he gets home, and with Kendall too - that sounds relaxing right now. But, for right now, I´ll just keep going at it here in the work.
I´m glad to be out here - I know the work is true, and I know the Lord is blessing you all for what I´m able to do out here. I have comfort in that hope of mine, because man I´ve gotten kind of frustrated lately. I´ll keep pressing on - the load just seems like a lot at times. I know the Lord will help me if I call on Him though - that I have found out here on the mission. He´s always there - we just need to call Him. I´m grateful for the Savior and His Sacrifice, and if we use it to our advantage He will bless us and we´ll always be happy.
I've got to get going. Ask Carson to share with you all my dreadful dog experience… the near-miss! I love you all very much and I hope you have an incredible day together with the whole family! Tell everyone I love and miss them and that I hope they enjoy their Memorial Day!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Dog bite (almost) story from Carson’s letter
I haven´t had anything spectacular happen lately, but man there are some devil dogs out here! We were clapping yesterday at a house and I noticed that the dog that was usually chained out there was cut loose....uh oh. Once I clapped this ferocious white dog lunged at me with its teeth, but I dodged him and aimed a blow with my proselyting bag (which failed to hit it). I just wielded it like a weapon and backed away slowly, then jumped quickly across a ditch where I would have the "upper hand". It nearly bit my companion because he was slow to jump the ditch, but luckily nothing happened. That was pretty insane. I´m hoping I never get bit out here, but we´ll see...I´ve had some near-miss situations recently. It is crazy
Hey there again! Today is going pretty good - I hope you guys are having fun with the family and all! We were going to have lunch with the other elders from Luján 1 at a pizza libre, but they never showed up. Well, first of all they never told me which one they wanted to go to...that was problematic! We went to the nearest one to the internet we were at (which is where I figured they usually went) but they never showed up. I´ll try and do something fun this afternoon to have a better day :).
This week was good! I had fun with Elder Anderson. We worked a lot and had better "numbers" this week. We were low on contacts which wasn´t good, and we´re still not perfect, but we´re getting better every week. I figure if we just keep improving every week, we´re on the right track. He is a really great Elder and he works well - I just need to work him better on his Spanish skills.
Elder Anderson is great though - he´s fun to work with and he´s never angry or upset by what goes on. That´s something I could learn. Sometimes it´s still easy for me to get frustrated at the work or at myself, or whatever kind of thing, so I´ll be trying to improve that. It sure is tough at times...it´s not easy, not at all. I´ll pray more to receive the strength I need to be calm and not get frustrated so easy, because man sometimes my head just hurts out here!
I got my map updated and everything! Now I have a good-working map to guide me around my area better. I am very happy about that. Also, with Daina...she moved!!!! Dang it! Her mom came in the night and hauled her off to live in another part of Luján - she is no longer in our area. The family she was living with sure was sad (me too), because man she is an awesome little girl and was really learning fast. We´re trying to get this family to contact Daiana´s mom to see if we can send the other missionaries over to continue teaching - we´ll see what happens. They live in my district-leader´s area, but they live waaaay far away, so we´ll be working around with that a little bit.
We don´t have any baptismal dates or anything right now. We´re still working with the people to see if we can find some possibilities, and it´s going pretty well so far! We´re finding great people, but man sometimes something comes up and they just bail out. I want to find the right people, so I guess I´ll just keep chugging away until I find them.
Congratulations Carson! Sounds like it was a successful graduation! I am very happy for you! I´m glad that you´re finally out of the "high-school realm" and off to bigger and better things, like shining your shoes for the military! That´s something I have to do out here every day as well. I´m extremely proud of Carson and all the accomplishments he´s having, and I know he´ll keep having them as he continues to work as hard as he´s doing. You´re my hero Carson!
The holiday last week was good – kind of crazy! But we ended it fun by ordering empanadas for lunch, so we were happy guys.
How was the Memorial Day party over at the Nuttall´s? Did you guys have fun? Tonight we´ll be ordering ice cream! I´m a happy Jordan- that´s something to look forward to tonight. What are you guys going to be up to? Something fun? Family activities? I hope you enjoy yourselves! Sounds like Carson really enjoyed himself this weekend - that was some serious partying! When I get home, I´m going to want to Nintendo it out with Spencer or something when he gets home, and with Kendall too - that sounds relaxing right now. But, for right now, I´ll just keep going at it here in the work.
I´m glad to be out here - I know the work is true, and I know the Lord is blessing you all for what I´m able to do out here. I have comfort in that hope of mine, because man I´ve gotten kind of frustrated lately. I´ll keep pressing on - the load just seems like a lot at times. I know the Lord will help me if I call on Him though - that I have found out here on the mission. He´s always there - we just need to call Him. I´m grateful for the Savior and His Sacrifice, and if we use it to our advantage He will bless us and we´ll always be happy.
I've got to get going. Ask Carson to share with you all my dreadful dog experience… the near-miss! I love you all very much and I hope you have an incredible day together with the whole family! Tell everyone I love and miss them and that I hope they enjoy their Memorial Day!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Dog bite (almost) story from Carson’s letter
I haven´t had anything spectacular happen lately, but man there are some devil dogs out here! We were clapping yesterday at a house and I noticed that the dog that was usually chained out there was cut loose....uh oh. Once I clapped this ferocious white dog lunged at me with its teeth, but I dodged him and aimed a blow with my proselyting bag (which failed to hit it). I just wielded it like a weapon and backed away slowly, then jumped quickly across a ditch where I would have the "upper hand". It nearly bit my companion because he was slow to jump the ditch, but luckily nothing happened. That was pretty insane. I´m hoping I never get bit out here, but we´ll see...I´ve had some near-miss situations recently. It is crazy
Friday, June 4, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Jordan's May 24, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there family! I´m happy to be writing!! Thanks a MILLION for all the wonderful letters and all the awesome pictures that you sent me this week!!! I loved the pictures with Carson and the cats. Man, I miss my cats! They look like they are very fluffy and happy, so I´m very happy about that. I´m glad my family is taking good care of my mangy cats! Give them lots of pets for me today :).
Today is a holiday in Argentina - I´m writing this letter inside of Carrefour, a big Walmart-like (or Target-like) store. They have way nice computers! The only bummer is that we can´t print stuff out, so I guess I´ll just have to go somewhere else to get that done. Because it´s a holiday NONE of the stores or internet places we tried to go to were open - and tomorrow is like Independence Day of Argentina. It´ll be their 200th anniversary of being a country. Wow!! Yeah, it´ll probably be a little tough to work, but I´m excited - there will be a big church activity the whole day long and we´re allowed to go, and it sounds like they´ll have lots of fun things going on and really yummy food...yay! It´ll be a happy Elder Jordan day :).
I´m so happy for Carson!!! Man, he rocks!! From what you guys wrote me it sounds like he got the coolest award out of all the kids there at scholarship night - that´s amazing!!! I´m sure happy for him. I love him and I´m glad he´s having so much success in his life. It´s what I´ve been praying lots about lately and I know Heavenly Father is blessing him!! I´m way happy for him - good job Cars! You are the man!!!
I´m so glad with all this great news you guys gave me - it really has lifted my spirits up more. This week, (and the week before), have been extremely difficult to work here. I´m trying to work hard and I´m trying to teach, but it just seems like everyone has been rejecting us lately. I want to teach but man, it just seems like nobody wants to listen at times. I was kind of depressed last night while we were working, because it seemed like everyone was just mad at us, didn´t want to listen, it had been raining a lot all day, etc. There was one person who was really nice to us, so I´m grateful for her. We´re going to pass by her house tonight to see if we can get a lesson in. I´m just really frustrated with how things are going right now. I´ll just pray for more strength and not to lose faith, because man it looks really easy to give up right now. I´ll keep working though, for sure.
Yesterday was District Conference (that´d be like Stake Conference). It´s different here - it´s way long! It started at 9 and ended at 1. I told some members how it is in the states and they were amazed. I thought to myself, "Yeah, it´s nice - a mini church meeting is nice to have once in a while- ha ha… lucky us!" It was a good experience though. President Benton and his wife were there, so it was fun to get to chat with them a bit.
No news on the package yet - I imagine it´ll come soon. I´ve also been discouraged with the offices a little bit lately - we haven´t received any pamphlets of the Restoration for like three weeks, and man it´s hard to teach other lessons without somewhere mentioning Joseph Smith, especially the Book of Mormon. I hope those guys get me those soon!! I also need to buy the church videos to show to people - they´re really cheap though, just 3 pesos each one (dirt cheap). Yay! I´ll be getting those soon I hope too!
There´s a girl named Diana from Paraguay who wants to get baptized. Yay! She is 8 years old and living with a member family - none of her "real" family are members, so we´ll need to teach her everything. We´re going to do it real simple, maybe even like draw pictures or something, to teach her the lessons. I asked my Zone Leaders and they told me the same thing - she´s so young we need to teach everything primary-level, so it shouldn´t be too bad to teach her. I´m excited though!!!
Miguel, the guy who was going to get baptized, doesn´t want anything to do with the Church right now. He answered us very frustrated and said we´re always welcome to pass by and teach his wife and daughters (who are all members), but that he´s not interested at all right now. From what it looked like, I think it´s probably because his new grand-daughter who was born just recently died. I´m not 100% positive, but I think that´s the reason. We´ll give him some time, because I still have hope that he´ll pull through ok eventually.
Thanks for all your great letters! I love you all very much and I will write to you again soon!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there family! I´m happy to be writing!! Thanks a MILLION for all the wonderful letters and all the awesome pictures that you sent me this week!!! I loved the pictures with Carson and the cats. Man, I miss my cats! They look like they are very fluffy and happy, so I´m very happy about that. I´m glad my family is taking good care of my mangy cats! Give them lots of pets for me today :).
Today is a holiday in Argentina - I´m writing this letter inside of Carrefour, a big Walmart-like (or Target-like) store. They have way nice computers! The only bummer is that we can´t print stuff out, so I guess I´ll just have to go somewhere else to get that done. Because it´s a holiday NONE of the stores or internet places we tried to go to were open - and tomorrow is like Independence Day of Argentina. It´ll be their 200th anniversary of being a country. Wow!! Yeah, it´ll probably be a little tough to work, but I´m excited - there will be a big church activity the whole day long and we´re allowed to go, and it sounds like they´ll have lots of fun things going on and really yummy food...yay! It´ll be a happy Elder Jordan day :).
I´m so happy for Carson!!! Man, he rocks!! From what you guys wrote me it sounds like he got the coolest award out of all the kids there at scholarship night - that´s amazing!!! I´m sure happy for him. I love him and I´m glad he´s having so much success in his life. It´s what I´ve been praying lots about lately and I know Heavenly Father is blessing him!! I´m way happy for him - good job Cars! You are the man!!!
I´m so glad with all this great news you guys gave me - it really has lifted my spirits up more. This week, (and the week before), have been extremely difficult to work here. I´m trying to work hard and I´m trying to teach, but it just seems like everyone has been rejecting us lately. I want to teach but man, it just seems like nobody wants to listen at times. I was kind of depressed last night while we were working, because it seemed like everyone was just mad at us, didn´t want to listen, it had been raining a lot all day, etc. There was one person who was really nice to us, so I´m grateful for her. We´re going to pass by her house tonight to see if we can get a lesson in. I´m just really frustrated with how things are going right now. I´ll just pray for more strength and not to lose faith, because man it looks really easy to give up right now. I´ll keep working though, for sure.
Yesterday was District Conference (that´d be like Stake Conference). It´s different here - it´s way long! It started at 9 and ended at 1. I told some members how it is in the states and they were amazed. I thought to myself, "Yeah, it´s nice - a mini church meeting is nice to have once in a while- ha ha… lucky us!" It was a good experience though. President Benton and his wife were there, so it was fun to get to chat with them a bit.
No news on the package yet - I imagine it´ll come soon. I´ve also been discouraged with the offices a little bit lately - we haven´t received any pamphlets of the Restoration for like three weeks, and man it´s hard to teach other lessons without somewhere mentioning Joseph Smith, especially the Book of Mormon. I hope those guys get me those soon!! I also need to buy the church videos to show to people - they´re really cheap though, just 3 pesos each one (dirt cheap). Yay! I´ll be getting those soon I hope too!
There´s a girl named Diana from Paraguay who wants to get baptized. Yay! She is 8 years old and living with a member family - none of her "real" family are members, so we´ll need to teach her everything. We´re going to do it real simple, maybe even like draw pictures or something, to teach her the lessons. I asked my Zone Leaders and they told me the same thing - she´s so young we need to teach everything primary-level, so it shouldn´t be too bad to teach her. I´m excited though!!!
Miguel, the guy who was going to get baptized, doesn´t want anything to do with the Church right now. He answered us very frustrated and said we´re always welcome to pass by and teach his wife and daughters (who are all members), but that he´s not interested at all right now. From what it looked like, I think it´s probably because his new grand-daughter who was born just recently died. I´m not 100% positive, but I think that´s the reason. We´ll give him some time, because I still have hope that he´ll pull through ok eventually.
Thanks for all your great letters! I love you all very much and I will write to you again soon!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Jordan's May 17, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there! Yeah, you guys are right - it´s another great week that really flew by fast! Man, that sounds like you guys all have a million things going on at once - between Carson´s West Point stuff, swimming, graduation from just about everything you can graduate from (ha ha… that rocks!)...it sounds like you´re really doing well though! Man, I´m sure proud of Carson. He´s the best brother ever, and I´m sure happy that he´s doing so well and accomplishing so many great things. I know he´ll have success in life, without a doubt.
Yep, I´ll get you lots of details about this week! Here they come!
So it was an awesome week - a little tough at times, but we were able to make it just through on time! First of all, because there weren´t many people on the streets on Saturday and Sunday (and a little bit Friday), we ended up "tracting" as Dad has done many times before on his mission. I sure was nervous at first - I´d never really done it, because usually there are plenty of people on the streets to talk to so we don´t have to worry about it. But, because of the cold here (it is starting to get cold, and I heard winter doesn´t even officially start until June 21st), there weren´t a lot of people. (Although I DID see basically an army of J-dubs on the street on Saturday...it was amazing how many there were out on the street.) I´ve gotten better at it now, though, and now I think it´s kind of fun! I guess it just depends on how the people act. If they´re nice, it´s all good, but sometimes they´re not...but that´s what makes it fun, right?
I had to pay the light bill for the apartment this last week - the apartment missionary gave me money to do it, but it cost more than expected. So I had to pay 40 pesos out of my pocket to get it covered. They´ll reimburse me for it, but for now I´m kind of hurting, because between that, being on divisions for two weeks, having to pay unexpected payments and stuff like that, I´ve been sucked dry of cash. And today I found a gas bill that the previous missionaries had tucked up on a shelf that´s overdue, and new ones in my mailbox...and I have to pay them...holy guff-balls. And now I´m going to have to pay a gas bill. I know I´ll get reimbursed for this stuff, but man I do not have money anymore and now I have to pull more off my personal card. I guess I´ll just pray harder and get it all taken care of asap.
Other than that, things are good. Elder Anderson is a great guy! I´m really enjoying working with him. He is from Apple Valley, California - he said it´s about three hours away from Mexico. He has an older sister who´s 23 working at a high school in West Jordan, and yeah! He likes baseball a lot and has fun MTC stories. I´m grateful for him and for his efforts in the missionary force. We´re working on his Spanish - I need to work on mine too - and on his contacting, because sometimes he´s nervous to do it but I´m helping him out lots. It´s fun to train! Sometimes it gets stressful because I have to handle everything, but I love doing it and I´m learning a lot. Training is awesome!
There is practically NO ONE in my teaching pool right now- that´s another reason I´m frustrated. I´m trying to do short discussions like mad to build my pool up again, because I really need new people. We´re starting to get something built up, but that´s our main objective right now. It was tough not working there in my area for two weeks - that kind of "eliminated" my pool of investigators. We´ve been clapping lots of doors lately because there haven´t been lots of people out on the streets, so that´s been fun. We´ve had some success with it, though, so I like it. The members here are really great too.
What are you guys up to? Something fun tonight? You have scholarship night tonight right? I hope all those things go well! Marsh is number one so he should be happy, and happy to go to Prom! That´s awesome :).
There´s another Michael Bublé song playing right now that Superband always played.. that brings back good memories.
I love you guys and thank you for all that you do! I´ll talk to you in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. Tomorrow I´ll be taking out some more money from my card to pay this bill - sorry. I´ll just take what I need to get things taken care of. And I´ll make sure they give me the money back that I spend on the bills. Yay!
P.P.S. Give the cats pets for me!
P.P.P.S. Love you more Mom!
Hey there! Yeah, you guys are right - it´s another great week that really flew by fast! Man, that sounds like you guys all have a million things going on at once - between Carson´s West Point stuff, swimming, graduation from just about everything you can graduate from (ha ha… that rocks!)...it sounds like you´re really doing well though! Man, I´m sure proud of Carson. He´s the best brother ever, and I´m sure happy that he´s doing so well and accomplishing so many great things. I know he´ll have success in life, without a doubt.
Yep, I´ll get you lots of details about this week! Here they come!
So it was an awesome week - a little tough at times, but we were able to make it just through on time! First of all, because there weren´t many people on the streets on Saturday and Sunday (and a little bit Friday), we ended up "tracting" as Dad has done many times before on his mission. I sure was nervous at first - I´d never really done it, because usually there are plenty of people on the streets to talk to so we don´t have to worry about it. But, because of the cold here (it is starting to get cold, and I heard winter doesn´t even officially start until June 21st), there weren´t a lot of people. (Although I DID see basically an army of J-dubs on the street on Saturday...it was amazing how many there were out on the street.) I´ve gotten better at it now, though, and now I think it´s kind of fun! I guess it just depends on how the people act. If they´re nice, it´s all good, but sometimes they´re not...but that´s what makes it fun, right?
I had to pay the light bill for the apartment this last week - the apartment missionary gave me money to do it, but it cost more than expected. So I had to pay 40 pesos out of my pocket to get it covered. They´ll reimburse me for it, but for now I´m kind of hurting, because between that, being on divisions for two weeks, having to pay unexpected payments and stuff like that, I´ve been sucked dry of cash. And today I found a gas bill that the previous missionaries had tucked up on a shelf that´s overdue, and new ones in my mailbox...and I have to pay them...holy guff-balls. And now I´m going to have to pay a gas bill. I know I´ll get reimbursed for this stuff, but man I do not have money anymore and now I have to pull more off my personal card. I guess I´ll just pray harder and get it all taken care of asap.
Other than that, things are good. Elder Anderson is a great guy! I´m really enjoying working with him. He is from Apple Valley, California - he said it´s about three hours away from Mexico. He has an older sister who´s 23 working at a high school in West Jordan, and yeah! He likes baseball a lot and has fun MTC stories. I´m grateful for him and for his efforts in the missionary force. We´re working on his Spanish - I need to work on mine too - and on his contacting, because sometimes he´s nervous to do it but I´m helping him out lots. It´s fun to train! Sometimes it gets stressful because I have to handle everything, but I love doing it and I´m learning a lot. Training is awesome!
There is practically NO ONE in my teaching pool right now- that´s another reason I´m frustrated. I´m trying to do short discussions like mad to build my pool up again, because I really need new people. We´re starting to get something built up, but that´s our main objective right now. It was tough not working there in my area for two weeks - that kind of "eliminated" my pool of investigators. We´ve been clapping lots of doors lately because there haven´t been lots of people out on the streets, so that´s been fun. We´ve had some success with it, though, so I like it. The members here are really great too.
What are you guys up to? Something fun tonight? You have scholarship night tonight right? I hope all those things go well! Marsh is number one so he should be happy, and happy to go to Prom! That´s awesome :).
There´s another Michael Bublé song playing right now that Superband always played.. that brings back good memories.
I love you guys and thank you for all that you do! I´ll talk to you in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. Tomorrow I´ll be taking out some more money from my card to pay this bill - sorry. I´ll just take what I need to get things taken care of. And I´ll make sure they give me the money back that I spend on the bills. Yay!
P.P.S. Give the cats pets for me!
P.P.P.S. Love you more Mom!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Jordan's May 10, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hi there again! Man, it was so good being able to talk to you all this past Sunday! I loved being able to talk to you and hear how everything is going on back home. Thanks for the picture of Carson - he is buff! I am a wuss...still a little "buh-blumpt". I´ll work on that for sure :). Thanks a million for your letters and for the great phone call. I know I am part of the army of the Lord and that it is a privilege to be out here. I think about all the young men in the church and that the average is that just 1 out of 4 end up going on a mission - it sure is a privilege to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and to help these great people here in Argentina. The mission is great!
So here´s the news.......I am now officially a trainer!!! I don´t have a companion still - I will be receiving a new fresh-out-of-the-MTC missionary tomorrow night. I have to report to Ramos Mejía at 1100am with the rest of the Elders and Sisters who will be training to be able to receive instructions on what we need to do, etc. So tomorrow I´ll have a new guy!!! I´m very excited. I hope I show him a good example of what missionary work is. I´ll do my best, pray hard, and work hard as I should to train my first missionary the best I possibly can. PS that´s the reason I didn´t write earlier today :).
Today was crazy! It was transfer meeting, and man it was awesome when my picture showed up on the slide show. My pic got moved over to the Senior Companion slot and in plopped in a picture of Moroni with the title of Liberty that says "Refuerzo" under it (that means reenforcement). Yay! Elder Sureda was so happy - he gave me a big hug and said he was happy for me, and I told him thanks again for being such a great trainer for me. My excitement for the mission definitely got a boost today! I´m excited! A little nervous, but very excited too.
It´s also been crazy in the fact that I had to haul my sleeping equipment today far away to another apartment (just for the night), I found out that my light bill is overdue (usually the mission pays for them automatically, but they gave me last-minute news that I have to pay it myself here in Luján and then get a reimbursement) which means I might not have electricity in my apartment when I get back (can you say cold? And no refrigerator?), plus I have all my laundry dirty because I couldn´t get it washed today, etc. Man, I´m kind of stressed, but I´ll eventually get it all done. It´s just kind of stressful at the moment.
I took lots of cool pictures! I can´t send them today, but I´ll make sure to send them to you tomorrow. Man, I also have a million letters to write to members from my other ward that I haven´t done...man, that´s kind of stressful too. Not that I don´t like writing letters, just that it takes up p-day time and sometimes it´s hard to do after writing like three or four. I´ll get them done, though, because from what Elder Reyes said that there are lots of people expecting letters in Libertad :) I´d better get writing away I guess!
I love you guys so much! I´ll be talking to you more this next week - sorry I wrote so late today. I would´ve written earlier if I´d had the time! I´ll be writing much more this next week, because I´m sure I´ll have lots of fun stories to tell you about concerning my new missionary man in the mission and I. The mission rocks! I hope you´re all well and I´ll be writing to you again in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hi there again! Man, it was so good being able to talk to you all this past Sunday! I loved being able to talk to you and hear how everything is going on back home. Thanks for the picture of Carson - he is buff! I am a wuss...still a little "buh-blumpt". I´ll work on that for sure :). Thanks a million for your letters and for the great phone call. I know I am part of the army of the Lord and that it is a privilege to be out here. I think about all the young men in the church and that the average is that just 1 out of 4 end up going on a mission - it sure is a privilege to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and to help these great people here in Argentina. The mission is great!
So here´s the news.......I am now officially a trainer!!! I don´t have a companion still - I will be receiving a new fresh-out-of-the-MTC missionary tomorrow night. I have to report to Ramos Mejía at 1100am with the rest of the Elders and Sisters who will be training to be able to receive instructions on what we need to do, etc. So tomorrow I´ll have a new guy!!! I´m very excited. I hope I show him a good example of what missionary work is. I´ll do my best, pray hard, and work hard as I should to train my first missionary the best I possibly can. PS that´s the reason I didn´t write earlier today :).
Today was crazy! It was transfer meeting, and man it was awesome when my picture showed up on the slide show. My pic got moved over to the Senior Companion slot and in plopped in a picture of Moroni with the title of Liberty that says "Refuerzo" under it (that means reenforcement). Yay! Elder Sureda was so happy - he gave me a big hug and said he was happy for me, and I told him thanks again for being such a great trainer for me. My excitement for the mission definitely got a boost today! I´m excited! A little nervous, but very excited too.
It´s also been crazy in the fact that I had to haul my sleeping equipment today far away to another apartment (just for the night), I found out that my light bill is overdue (usually the mission pays for them automatically, but they gave me last-minute news that I have to pay it myself here in Luján and then get a reimbursement) which means I might not have electricity in my apartment when I get back (can you say cold? And no refrigerator?), plus I have all my laundry dirty because I couldn´t get it washed today, etc. Man, I´m kind of stressed, but I´ll eventually get it all done. It´s just kind of stressful at the moment.
I took lots of cool pictures! I can´t send them today, but I´ll make sure to send them to you tomorrow. Man, I also have a million letters to write to members from my other ward that I haven´t done...man, that´s kind of stressful too. Not that I don´t like writing letters, just that it takes up p-day time and sometimes it´s hard to do after writing like three or four. I´ll get them done, though, because from what Elder Reyes said that there are lots of people expecting letters in Libertad :) I´d better get writing away I guess!
I love you guys so much! I´ll be talking to you more this next week - sorry I wrote so late today. I would´ve written earlier if I´d had the time! I´ll be writing much more this next week, because I´m sure I´ll have lots of fun stories to tell you about concerning my new missionary man in the mission and I. The mission rocks! I hope you´re all well and I´ll be writing to you again in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Jordan's May 3, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there! This letter probably won´t be QUITE as big as normal, because this week was basically just a little crazy but there weren´t a whole lot of cool events or anything that passed. I´ll do my best to write something good, though!
We´ve been traveling a TON this week - our areas are both next to each other, but when you combine the two together...wow!!! It is huge! There have been days when we´ve literally walked many kilometers in just one day, because of the different places we had to go. Elder Ibañez decided that it is like "Lord of the Rings", so he decided to be Aragorn, me Gimli, and the other Elder was Legolas. It was fun! Man, we´ve really walked a ton though...it´s been fun to have three as a companionship, however. It´s never really boring, which I really like.
The work is going well. I had my President interview this week and it went really well - he said he´s expecting a lot out of me, and that he´s proud of what I´ve been doing so far and just to keep pushing myself as a missionary. I sure love President Benton! He is a great man and I know he was called by the Lord, because he´s really been helping me out a lot this at this time in my life.
I wanted to talk about Carson in my interview with him, but I didn´t get the chance - he asked me how Mom was doing. I wanted to talk about Carson because (as I wrote in his letter just a little while ago) this has been really hard for me. This week has been the toughest emotionally for me to handle. I prayed and fasted a lot this week to get the strength to continue on, but there were moments where the last place I wanted to be was the mission. I love the work and I love serving the people, but man, I don´t want to see Carson go. I know I can´t do anything about it, and I´m very proud of him and his hard work, but it is hard for me to let go of him. I have the best memories with him, ever since we were kids - I did everything with him, and I was never ashamed of hanging out with him or including him in everything I did. I love my brother to death, because he is my best friend. It is very hard for me to see my best friend go away and know that he won´t be there with me like he was when we were younger. It has been extremely hard for me and still is. I´ll continue praying and fasting, because I need the strength to keep working out here. I need all the help I can get from my Heavenly Father. Cars, I just love you so much man. I´m so happy for you, just so sad to see you head off. I´ll always be rooting for you though, because I´m your number one fan! Just work hard and keep the Lord by your side, and I know you´ll be taken care of.
Besides that, the work is going good. I´ll do my best to keep my area afloat for one week more, until I get another companion to help me out here.
As with the package, that sounds great Mom! If there´s another CD of Motab you want to send, I could use it - whatever is possible. As for cocoa - I haven´t seen it here anywhere, not even in Walmart, so I´m not sure...I´ll keep looking. As for medicine, Sudafed I think would be prime - my nose is usually what bugs me when I get sick, and I´ve got plenty of Dayquil for now (and I found out they sell it here in the pharmacy! It just has a different name - I´ll call Sister Benton to find out what it is). Thanks so much for helping me out Mom!
Also, for Mother´s Day! Yay! I get to talk with my family for the second time in my mission! The plan is still 6pm (3pm your time) that I´ll be calling, so I hope you´ll be able to arrange things so that will work out okay.
I love you all so much! Thanks for all your support, prayers and love that you give me - I am a very grateful son and brother for all that you do. Sorry your egg exploded Carson- ha ha :) but other than that I hope nothing else is exploding! I love you guys very much and I hope to be able to talk to you soon! Have a great week family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there! This letter probably won´t be QUITE as big as normal, because this week was basically just a little crazy but there weren´t a whole lot of cool events or anything that passed. I´ll do my best to write something good, though!
We´ve been traveling a TON this week - our areas are both next to each other, but when you combine the two together...wow!!! It is huge! There have been days when we´ve literally walked many kilometers in just one day, because of the different places we had to go. Elder Ibañez decided that it is like "Lord of the Rings", so he decided to be Aragorn, me Gimli, and the other Elder was Legolas. It was fun! Man, we´ve really walked a ton though...it´s been fun to have three as a companionship, however. It´s never really boring, which I really like.
The work is going well. I had my President interview this week and it went really well - he said he´s expecting a lot out of me, and that he´s proud of what I´ve been doing so far and just to keep pushing myself as a missionary. I sure love President Benton! He is a great man and I know he was called by the Lord, because he´s really been helping me out a lot this at this time in my life.
I wanted to talk about Carson in my interview with him, but I didn´t get the chance - he asked me how Mom was doing. I wanted to talk about Carson because (as I wrote in his letter just a little while ago) this has been really hard for me. This week has been the toughest emotionally for me to handle. I prayed and fasted a lot this week to get the strength to continue on, but there were moments where the last place I wanted to be was the mission. I love the work and I love serving the people, but man, I don´t want to see Carson go. I know I can´t do anything about it, and I´m very proud of him and his hard work, but it is hard for me to let go of him. I have the best memories with him, ever since we were kids - I did everything with him, and I was never ashamed of hanging out with him or including him in everything I did. I love my brother to death, because he is my best friend. It is very hard for me to see my best friend go away and know that he won´t be there with me like he was when we were younger. It has been extremely hard for me and still is. I´ll continue praying and fasting, because I need the strength to keep working out here. I need all the help I can get from my Heavenly Father. Cars, I just love you so much man. I´m so happy for you, just so sad to see you head off. I´ll always be rooting for you though, because I´m your number one fan! Just work hard and keep the Lord by your side, and I know you´ll be taken care of.
Besides that, the work is going good. I´ll do my best to keep my area afloat for one week more, until I get another companion to help me out here.
As with the package, that sounds great Mom! If there´s another CD of Motab you want to send, I could use it - whatever is possible. As for cocoa - I haven´t seen it here anywhere, not even in Walmart, so I´m not sure...I´ll keep looking. As for medicine, Sudafed I think would be prime - my nose is usually what bugs me when I get sick, and I´ve got plenty of Dayquil for now (and I found out they sell it here in the pharmacy! It just has a different name - I´ll call Sister Benton to find out what it is). Thanks so much for helping me out Mom!
Also, for Mother´s Day! Yay! I get to talk with my family for the second time in my mission! The plan is still 6pm (3pm your time) that I´ll be calling, so I hope you´ll be able to arrange things so that will work out okay.
I love you all so much! Thanks for all your support, prayers and love that you give me - I am a very grateful son and brother for all that you do. Sorry your egg exploded Carson- ha ha :) but other than that I hope nothing else is exploding! I love you guys very much and I hope to be able to talk to you soon! Have a great week family!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Jordan's April 26, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there guys! Wow! Man, that´s a lot of stuff that happened this past week ! I´ll be writing about all of them here, don´t worry :) lots to talk about this week!
First of all, congratulations to Carson! (Carson was accepted at West Point last week- he will be leaving for boot camp the end of June.) Wow! That is amazing! And yeah, that´s a shock too - I wasn´t expecting it either. From all the reports I got from you guys, I was expecting that he was going to go to BYU too. Dang, I´m shocked too Mom and Dad! Man, I sure love Carson. I´m also very sad to hear that he´s not going to be home when I get home. I´m very happy for him, because that´s quite the achievement, and I support him in whatever decision he makes, but I´m going to be sad to not have him there when I get home. Mom, Dad - I sure love Carson, and I love you guys so much. I sure hope Cars is okay and that all goes well for him. I am going to miss him more than any other person in this world. But Carson, congratulations! I´m proud of you, and I know you´re a really hard worker and that you will continue having success if you keep working as hard as you are. Just make sure to meditate and pray hard for the decision you will make - I would include fasting in there too - to make the right decision. I´m sure you´ll make the right choice. You are the best brother I could ever have asked for Carson! I love you!
So Cars is going to be in boot camp in June? That is crazy - that is coming up very fast. I´m going to keep writing him every single week, though! I´m going to write him throughout all my mission, without a doubt. And Mom will be able to see New York! Yay! It is very cool, but definitely kind of expensive in places, that´s the truth. I remember buying a piece of pie that was 20 dollars! Dang...you can easily find yummy stuff in New York.
So I´ve got some news for you! Elder Angulo...has been called to be the Secretary to the President! He got the call Saturday night, and left Sunday at 8pm. I miss him! Now I´m bunking with the Elders from Luján 1, and will do so for the next two weeks (until the transfer ends). Basically we´re going to work our two areas at the same time. Yeah, my head is kind of upside down too from all this, because it happened all so fast! So that´s my situation right now - I´m part of a three-some right now. I´m going to have to pack a suitcase today to bring to their apartment, because I´ll need stuff to last me for two weeks. I´ll be fine though, I´m sure :).
I´m feeling better physically! I did eat something bad last night, though, because at like 120am I barfed bad in the bathroom. My tummy wasn´t feeling very good, that´s for sure. But now I´m better! And I´m eating healthier and feeling better, so Mom, thanks for your great advice!
The other day I was walking and I started remembering when Dad would sing "Belly of Bread". That gave me some added happiness to my day! I love my Dad!
Tell Brother Hardman thanks for his great letter - and as for Sam, I can only write family with my email...so I´ll be okay without his address.
The zone leaders have been pressuring us to baptize, baptize, baptize, but it´s like hey, if the people aren´t ready they shouldn´t be baptized. I´ll just keep working hard and try to please the Lord, and that´s good enough for me.
Those are my stories for this week! And Dad, I know how you feel (not exactly, but from the aspect of a brother) with Carson. I love that kid, and I´m sad to see him go away. I´m happy that he´s having so much success, but I´m going to be a sad Jordan when I get off the plane and don´t see my brother there waiting for me. The mission has definitely made me give sacrifices, and he and you guys are the biggest ones of all. I treasured my time with him before the mission like gold. I love Carson and I´m definitely going to miss him when I´m back home again. At least he´ll be able to come home at Christmas time and at some other times, but man I´m going to miss him more than anybody. I love my brother!!!
That´s my report for this week - I hope you are all doing well. Thanks for your great letters, pictures, and love. I´m very appreciative for all of it. You are the best family in the world! I´m grateful for the Lord and His mercy with us, and I´m grateful I get to represent Him and help His children find happiness here in Argentina, happiness that lasts. I hope you´re having a great morning and that you´re all doing well! I love you guys!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there guys! Wow! Man, that´s a lot of stuff that happened this past week ! I´ll be writing about all of them here, don´t worry :) lots to talk about this week!
First of all, congratulations to Carson! (Carson was accepted at West Point last week- he will be leaving for boot camp the end of June.) Wow! That is amazing! And yeah, that´s a shock too - I wasn´t expecting it either. From all the reports I got from you guys, I was expecting that he was going to go to BYU too. Dang, I´m shocked too Mom and Dad! Man, I sure love Carson. I´m also very sad to hear that he´s not going to be home when I get home. I´m very happy for him, because that´s quite the achievement, and I support him in whatever decision he makes, but I´m going to be sad to not have him there when I get home. Mom, Dad - I sure love Carson, and I love you guys so much. I sure hope Cars is okay and that all goes well for him. I am going to miss him more than any other person in this world. But Carson, congratulations! I´m proud of you, and I know you´re a really hard worker and that you will continue having success if you keep working as hard as you are. Just make sure to meditate and pray hard for the decision you will make - I would include fasting in there too - to make the right decision. I´m sure you´ll make the right choice. You are the best brother I could ever have asked for Carson! I love you!
So Cars is going to be in boot camp in June? That is crazy - that is coming up very fast. I´m going to keep writing him every single week, though! I´m going to write him throughout all my mission, without a doubt. And Mom will be able to see New York! Yay! It is very cool, but definitely kind of expensive in places, that´s the truth. I remember buying a piece of pie that was 20 dollars! Dang...you can easily find yummy stuff in New York.
So I´ve got some news for you! Elder Angulo...has been called to be the Secretary to the President! He got the call Saturday night, and left Sunday at 8pm. I miss him! Now I´m bunking with the Elders from Luján 1, and will do so for the next two weeks (until the transfer ends). Basically we´re going to work our two areas at the same time. Yeah, my head is kind of upside down too from all this, because it happened all so fast! So that´s my situation right now - I´m part of a three-some right now. I´m going to have to pack a suitcase today to bring to their apartment, because I´ll need stuff to last me for two weeks. I´ll be fine though, I´m sure :).
I´m feeling better physically! I did eat something bad last night, though, because at like 120am I barfed bad in the bathroom. My tummy wasn´t feeling very good, that´s for sure. But now I´m better! And I´m eating healthier and feeling better, so Mom, thanks for your great advice!
The other day I was walking and I started remembering when Dad would sing "Belly of Bread". That gave me some added happiness to my day! I love my Dad!
Tell Brother Hardman thanks for his great letter - and as for Sam, I can only write family with my email...so I´ll be okay without his address.
The zone leaders have been pressuring us to baptize, baptize, baptize, but it´s like hey, if the people aren´t ready they shouldn´t be baptized. I´ll just keep working hard and try to please the Lord, and that´s good enough for me.
Those are my stories for this week! And Dad, I know how you feel (not exactly, but from the aspect of a brother) with Carson. I love that kid, and I´m sad to see him go away. I´m happy that he´s having so much success, but I´m going to be a sad Jordan when I get off the plane and don´t see my brother there waiting for me. The mission has definitely made me give sacrifices, and he and you guys are the biggest ones of all. I treasured my time with him before the mission like gold. I love Carson and I´m definitely going to miss him when I´m back home again. At least he´ll be able to come home at Christmas time and at some other times, but man I´m going to miss him more than anybody. I love my brother!!!
That´s my report for this week - I hope you are all doing well. Thanks for your great letters, pictures, and love. I´m very appreciative for all of it. You are the best family in the world! I´m grateful for the Lord and His mercy with us, and I´m grateful I get to represent Him and help His children find happiness here in Argentina, happiness that lasts. I hope you´re having a great morning and that you´re all doing well! I love you guys!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Jordan's April 19, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there family! I am really excited to be able to write you guys, because there are lots of good things I´m able to write about this week!
First of all, I got the package finally!!! Yay!! I got the Easter Bunny, the candy, and the sweater and the other good stuff that was inside. I just wanted to let you guys know so that you know I wasn´t robbed after all - just delayed! Thanks a million for those packages :) they were the best!
I spent over two hours cleaning the bathroom this morning! I "baptized" the bathroom with cleaner and water, and man it´s a whole lot cleaner now! The trick now is to maintain it - I´ll do my best on that. Man, it was tough...but it´s nice and clean now! Yay! I´ll finish up everything else between this week and next p-day, for sure.
Everything is going great over here. It´s finally cooling down a little bit - yay! I´m starting to feel kind of sick, though. My stomach and head hurt a lot right now - hopefully nothing worse develops. I´m going to head out to work anyways unless I feel like I´m going to drop down or something. I think I´ll be okay - I bought a soda to see if maybe it´ll help me. Hopefully it does!
Yeah Elder Angulo is the coolest! He´s kind of shy, but he´s way nice and a great teacher, and man I´m enjoying my experience with him. He´s a great Elder! And he´s a guitar player too! He told me he liked playing Joe Satriani songs before the mission. How cool is that?
Today we went to a supermarket called "Carrefour", which is like an Argentine version of Walmart (I think it´s from Argentina...not sure). Man, it´s kind of expensive! I heard they might raise our funds here in Luján, because literally things cost more to buy and stuff. I hope they do, because I didn´t buy a whole lot but it was still pretty expensive. I´m definitely going to do better with my budget in this area, because it´s easy to lose money.
After shopping, we came home, cooked lunch (we each had a plate of pasta with a hot dog on the side), I took an hour nap, then I got up to write some letters, got ready, and now I´m here finishing my email time. Yep! It´s been a good day. Oh and I studied some Spanish today too...that was good. I´ve gotten kind of frustrated with my Spanish, because I don´t like it when people say that they can´t understand me. I´m going to do everything in my power to get better at Spanish. It´s just so difficult at times - not so much because figuring out the sentences is hard- it´s the accent, because they use their tongue and their mouth differently to speak than how it’s used in English. For example, they open their mouth way wider to speak, and you have to put your tongue higher up in your mouth to get the accent. I´m doing my best, though :). I´ll pray more for help too.
This last week we had Zone Conference, and there´s a funny story that comes with it. So Elder Angulo and I took the train at like 630 in the morning. An hour later (after we´d passed the other areas and the other Elders from our zone had gotten on), we boarded another train to arrive where the zone conference was going to be held. We got split up into two groups - my companion was with some other Elders and I was with the Zone Leaders and one of the district leaders. We were all on the same car, but because of the quantity of people we couldn´t all be together and we got split up fast.
This is where the fun part comes in. So the train took off just fine, and after a while we arrived to the station where we needed to get off. The group with Elder Angulo got off just fine, but guess what happened with us? We tried to get off, but the people boarding the train pushed inside the car like a wild pack of animals, and we got trapped!!! We weren´t able to get out. The Zone Leaders were yelling for people to get out of the way, but nobody let us through, until eventually the doors shut and off went us and the train to another station!! Tartar sauce!
This was rather crappy, but we kept patient. We waited until we arrived to the following station, got off as fast and "forcible" as possible, then boarded another train going in the opposite direction to arrive where we should´ve gotten off in the first place. This we did; we got off, boarded the other train, and arrived just fine to the station where we were supposed to get off.
As we got off and gave the train guy our tickets, he said "woah woah woah..." and pulled us aside. He began to explain to us that we couldn´t pass through because we didn´t have the right tickets!!! When this happened, the district leader and one of the zone leaders got mad and started contending with the guy (I wish they wouldn´t have). They explained kind of angrily how we couldn´t get off and that´s why we were in the situation we were in. However, since they didn´t say it too nicely or try to calmly explain the situation, pretty much all the sympathy the train guy might have had flew out the window, and wrote us each out a nice, pretty ticket. It wasn´t horrible, but it was 10 pesos each person, and one of the zone leaders didn´t have money so I paid for his too. Dang it!!
To be honest, though, it was an adventure for me! I wrote about it all in my journal and taped the ticket inside - that way I´ll be able to remember it forever. I definitely learned a lesson, too - it´s best to always treat people and situations patiently, because at least if we do that, there´s just a chance that things can work out well for us.
So that´s my fun story for the week!
Also, there was a huge storm last night!! I took video of it - I´ll try to send it to you guys if I can. If it´s impossible, I guess I´ll show you after the mission. It was HUMONGOUS!!! I´ve never seen anything like it - I thought a tornado was going to form or something (because tornados happen down here too - there was one just like two days ago in another part of Argentina). It was so cool! I´ll be excited to show you all about it when I get home at least :) it was soooo cool!! Especially the lightning - and there was hail the size of my hand falling down! Wow! Yeah, basically we took cover, because what´s my umbrella going to do against hail the size of my fist?...probably not a lot. It was cool!
Another crazy story. My District Leader (different than the one who lost his cool at the station) almost got robbed the other day. They were walking around when this guy waiting around started to eye them or something like that. They kept walking by, when suddenly this dude pulled out a handgun and started to pursue them. Crazy! Luckily, they ran and ran until they found cover at a nearby recent-convert´s house. But yeah, he told us the story about how they´d been pursued by an armed robber (and my District Leader didn´t have any money on him...didn´t want to be caught, for sure.) I guess that´s good reason why I should stay in shape so I can get out of dodge when I need to!!!
So yeah! That´s my news for now! It was a great week! And also, we have a baptismal date of a great guy! His name is Miguel Benavidez, and he´s going to get baptized! He came to church and absolutely loved the classes, and without us saying anything he came up to us and told us he wanted to get baptized. Woohoo! It´s a miracle in my eyes, and I know the Lord is blessing us with those who are really prepared for the message of the Restoration. It truly is a blessing.
I love you Dad! I´ll be honest - I still miss the heck out of you guys. I love all my memories with you all, and I´m sure grateful for everything you´ve taught me and showed me in my life. Without a doubt, you are the best dad I could have ever asked for. I´ve learned tons from your great example in life, and I hope I can be as good of a guy as you are someday. Thanks a lot for all your talks you´ve given me and also Carson - those are priceless to me, and I´ll always be thankful for them. You´re the best dad in the world Dad! I love you and I love my family! I love Mom and Carson and miss them, and that I hope they´re all doing great. I´ll be working really hard this week for the Lord - I love the mission and I´m happy to be out here. It was tough getting out here, and to be honest I wasn´t 100% sure if I wanted to do it when I hit the MTC, but I know now that there is no other place I should be at this point in my life. I pray Carson will make the same decision - it´s a great step of faith, because you can´t "see into the future," but I know this is the work of the Lord and that I´m laboring with Him every day.
Hey Mom! Before I head off I´ll tell you...that I love you! I sure love my Mom! Know that I love you very very much and that I´m always praying for you guys and working hard for you all! I bought a chocolate bar in memory of my Mom. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful week! Give each other hugs for me and tell each other I love you!! I love you Mom!
Have a great night, have a great family home evening, and do some fun things as a family this week! I love the mission and I sure love all of you! Thanks for all of your support! Talk to you in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. Give the cats pets for me- thanks!!
Hey there family! I am really excited to be able to write you guys, because there are lots of good things I´m able to write about this week!
First of all, I got the package finally!!! Yay!! I got the Easter Bunny, the candy, and the sweater and the other good stuff that was inside. I just wanted to let you guys know so that you know I wasn´t robbed after all - just delayed! Thanks a million for those packages :) they were the best!
I spent over two hours cleaning the bathroom this morning! I "baptized" the bathroom with cleaner and water, and man it´s a whole lot cleaner now! The trick now is to maintain it - I´ll do my best on that. Man, it was tough...but it´s nice and clean now! Yay! I´ll finish up everything else between this week and next p-day, for sure.
Everything is going great over here. It´s finally cooling down a little bit - yay! I´m starting to feel kind of sick, though. My stomach and head hurt a lot right now - hopefully nothing worse develops. I´m going to head out to work anyways unless I feel like I´m going to drop down or something. I think I´ll be okay - I bought a soda to see if maybe it´ll help me. Hopefully it does!
Yeah Elder Angulo is the coolest! He´s kind of shy, but he´s way nice and a great teacher, and man I´m enjoying my experience with him. He´s a great Elder! And he´s a guitar player too! He told me he liked playing Joe Satriani songs before the mission. How cool is that?
Today we went to a supermarket called "Carrefour", which is like an Argentine version of Walmart (I think it´s from Argentina...not sure). Man, it´s kind of expensive! I heard they might raise our funds here in Luján, because literally things cost more to buy and stuff. I hope they do, because I didn´t buy a whole lot but it was still pretty expensive. I´m definitely going to do better with my budget in this area, because it´s easy to lose money.
After shopping, we came home, cooked lunch (we each had a plate of pasta with a hot dog on the side), I took an hour nap, then I got up to write some letters, got ready, and now I´m here finishing my email time. Yep! It´s been a good day. Oh and I studied some Spanish today too...that was good. I´ve gotten kind of frustrated with my Spanish, because I don´t like it when people say that they can´t understand me. I´m going to do everything in my power to get better at Spanish. It´s just so difficult at times - not so much because figuring out the sentences is hard- it´s the accent, because they use their tongue and their mouth differently to speak than how it’s used in English. For example, they open their mouth way wider to speak, and you have to put your tongue higher up in your mouth to get the accent. I´m doing my best, though :). I´ll pray more for help too.
This last week we had Zone Conference, and there´s a funny story that comes with it. So Elder Angulo and I took the train at like 630 in the morning. An hour later (after we´d passed the other areas and the other Elders from our zone had gotten on), we boarded another train to arrive where the zone conference was going to be held. We got split up into two groups - my companion was with some other Elders and I was with the Zone Leaders and one of the district leaders. We were all on the same car, but because of the quantity of people we couldn´t all be together and we got split up fast.
This is where the fun part comes in. So the train took off just fine, and after a while we arrived to the station where we needed to get off. The group with Elder Angulo got off just fine, but guess what happened with us? We tried to get off, but the people boarding the train pushed inside the car like a wild pack of animals, and we got trapped!!! We weren´t able to get out. The Zone Leaders were yelling for people to get out of the way, but nobody let us through, until eventually the doors shut and off went us and the train to another station!! Tartar sauce!
This was rather crappy, but we kept patient. We waited until we arrived to the following station, got off as fast and "forcible" as possible, then boarded another train going in the opposite direction to arrive where we should´ve gotten off in the first place. This we did; we got off, boarded the other train, and arrived just fine to the station where we were supposed to get off.
As we got off and gave the train guy our tickets, he said "woah woah woah..." and pulled us aside. He began to explain to us that we couldn´t pass through because we didn´t have the right tickets!!! When this happened, the district leader and one of the zone leaders got mad and started contending with the guy (I wish they wouldn´t have). They explained kind of angrily how we couldn´t get off and that´s why we were in the situation we were in. However, since they didn´t say it too nicely or try to calmly explain the situation, pretty much all the sympathy the train guy might have had flew out the window, and wrote us each out a nice, pretty ticket. It wasn´t horrible, but it was 10 pesos each person, and one of the zone leaders didn´t have money so I paid for his too. Dang it!!
To be honest, though, it was an adventure for me! I wrote about it all in my journal and taped the ticket inside - that way I´ll be able to remember it forever. I definitely learned a lesson, too - it´s best to always treat people and situations patiently, because at least if we do that, there´s just a chance that things can work out well for us.
So that´s my fun story for the week!
Also, there was a huge storm last night!! I took video of it - I´ll try to send it to you guys if I can. If it´s impossible, I guess I´ll show you after the mission. It was HUMONGOUS!!! I´ve never seen anything like it - I thought a tornado was going to form or something (because tornados happen down here too - there was one just like two days ago in another part of Argentina). It was so cool! I´ll be excited to show you all about it when I get home at least :) it was soooo cool!! Especially the lightning - and there was hail the size of my hand falling down! Wow! Yeah, basically we took cover, because what´s my umbrella going to do against hail the size of my fist?...probably not a lot. It was cool!
Another crazy story. My District Leader (different than the one who lost his cool at the station) almost got robbed the other day. They were walking around when this guy waiting around started to eye them or something like that. They kept walking by, when suddenly this dude pulled out a handgun and started to pursue them. Crazy! Luckily, they ran and ran until they found cover at a nearby recent-convert´s house. But yeah, he told us the story about how they´d been pursued by an armed robber (and my District Leader didn´t have any money on him...didn´t want to be caught, for sure.) I guess that´s good reason why I should stay in shape so I can get out of dodge when I need to!!!
So yeah! That´s my news for now! It was a great week! And also, we have a baptismal date of a great guy! His name is Miguel Benavidez, and he´s going to get baptized! He came to church and absolutely loved the classes, and without us saying anything he came up to us and told us he wanted to get baptized. Woohoo! It´s a miracle in my eyes, and I know the Lord is blessing us with those who are really prepared for the message of the Restoration. It truly is a blessing.
I love you Dad! I´ll be honest - I still miss the heck out of you guys. I love all my memories with you all, and I´m sure grateful for everything you´ve taught me and showed me in my life. Without a doubt, you are the best dad I could have ever asked for. I´ve learned tons from your great example in life, and I hope I can be as good of a guy as you are someday. Thanks a lot for all your talks you´ve given me and also Carson - those are priceless to me, and I´ll always be thankful for them. You´re the best dad in the world Dad! I love you and I love my family! I love Mom and Carson and miss them, and that I hope they´re all doing great. I´ll be working really hard this week for the Lord - I love the mission and I´m happy to be out here. It was tough getting out here, and to be honest I wasn´t 100% sure if I wanted to do it when I hit the MTC, but I know now that there is no other place I should be at this point in my life. I pray Carson will make the same decision - it´s a great step of faith, because you can´t "see into the future," but I know this is the work of the Lord and that I´m laboring with Him every day.
Hey Mom! Before I head off I´ll tell you...that I love you! I sure love my Mom! Know that I love you very very much and that I´m always praying for you guys and working hard for you all! I bought a chocolate bar in memory of my Mom. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful week! Give each other hugs for me and tell each other I love you!! I love you Mom!
Have a great night, have a great family home evening, and do some fun things as a family this week! I love the mission and I sure love all of you! Thanks for all of your support! Talk to you in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. Give the cats pets for me- thanks!!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Jordan's April 12, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Good morning! How are you all doing? Yay! I´m 20 years old now! And I´m 8 months into my mission! I had a great Birthday! My companion made me a flan for breakfast :) And the President called me to tell me happy birthday and sing to me with the whole "Mission Presidency", which was cool. My zone leader and district leader also called. For something yummy, I bought ice cream in the night that was very yummy. My companion and I got a half a kilo each, so there was lots of yummy ice cream to eat! Yay! It was a really good Birthday!!! And guess what else? With the rest of my birthday money, I bought some new speakers for my mp5 player :) and I bought a harmonica, so I can practice playing hymns in the apartment! I want to become a harmonica master in the mission field. I like it a lot!
My mp5 is still in the mission office, but they’ll send it to me tomorrow. I sure hope it´s completely loaded! And I put in a receipt for a fan I bought for our last apartment so I can get the money back :) It was a hundred pesos.
Yeah I got the birthday card - thanks Mom! I got my birthday package alright, with the Bible inside and the whoopie-cushion and stuff like that. I know for sure I haven´t gotten the Easter package yet, ...I have an idea though. Maybe the next time (whenever it is) you can try putting the Jesus stickers all over it the package? That´s what I´ve seen a lot of here, and usually nothing happens to the package if it´s got that all over it. It´s just an idea.
Thanks for your great letters, and also for the picture of Andrew and his band - that´s rocking! I wish I could do something like that, but unfortunately there´s not a "rock" portion of vibraphone playing (unless I buy one of the cool ones that you can basically make it sound like an electric guitar :).
I still don´t know which way is north. I´m going to buy a compass (a cheap one) maybe, so I can at least know that information. Besides that, I´m knowing my area little by little - I finally got a map so I can color it and study up a little better.
I´m just eating up the mission and really enjoying myself out here, especially with all of the people I´m meeting and the great opportunities I have here to serve the people! Man...the mission rocks!
This Sunday was my first time having meetings in the chapel here - it was great! As a ward, Luján 2 seems to be a lot stronger than Libertad. What´s funny is that Luján 2 is a branch, not even a ward, but that the Mel. Priesthood holders here are way stronger and more active...and the members seem to be pretty good too. It´s a good branch! I´m excited to help them grow and hopefully they can become a ward with the time that I have with them. That´d be the coolest!
I don´t get to play the piano here because there´s already people who play pretty good. I´ve found families who I know are way nice people. Want to know something else cool? There´s a guitar professor in our ward! And he´s young too - like 28 or something, and he teaches at a University. He was way interested to hear that I want to do the same as what he´s doing someday (teaching music.) It was really fun talking with him. We eat lunch with him every Saturday- yay!
My week was great! We had divisions with Luján 1, and I got to spend some time with Elder Fuentealba from that area. We had a great time and had some really good teaching situations, and I think he´s a really rocking Elder. It was a fun time!
This next week I think we´re going to head to the giant church Basilica. It is huge!!! It´s got huge gargoyles too. I´ll send you pictures when I end up going there!
I´m going to start trying to go to bed early and waking up at 6:00am so I can get more studies done in the morning. I want to become a better master of the doctrine, because I feel like I know some things right now but that I should know a lot more. I´m going to try and push myself a little more so I can teach more with the scriptures and with more power.
Speaking of teaching, it´s a lot different here in Argentina that what I though it´d be. I thought lessons would be like fixed appointments, going into their house, using lots of scriptures, etc., but I´ve found that here it´s mostly streetwork and contacting people and stuff like that. We still get appointments at times, but many times it´s just using pamphlets and talking to people in the streets. I thought that was interesting.
I need to do more with exercises, too- I was much better this last week because I used my stretchy band a lot, and I ordered the mission health guide which comes with the band so I can do more exercises to work out my whole body. I switched to using bands for my exercising, because I can get a pretty good workout with those things.
The Walmart here is a full-sized Walmart, but needs some American stuff (like peanut butter, hot cocoa...man, I want to buy more of that! It´s cold in the mornings so hot cocoa is good :). The Walmart is really good though, because you can see that the stuff there is high-quality - there´s not the risk of buying junk like in the other stores, because it´s all well-made there.
Dad! I liked your picture with your frosted shredded wheat. Guess what?...that doesn´t exist out here! Man, there´s so much stuff that were simple pleasures back home. I was thinking about Calvin and Hobbes this morning as I sipped my hot cocoa, and I sure wanted to read those!!
Other than that, all is well! I had a great birthday and now I´ve got 8 months in the mission! I love the mission and I love the Lord, and I´m grateful for all He has done for me and has done for my family as well! I pray for you all daily and ask Him to give you all happiness and peace in your lives. I sure love you all! Thanks for all that you do for me and I´ll be looking forward to writing you again in a week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Good morning! How are you all doing? Yay! I´m 20 years old now! And I´m 8 months into my mission! I had a great Birthday! My companion made me a flan for breakfast :) And the President called me to tell me happy birthday and sing to me with the whole "Mission Presidency", which was cool. My zone leader and district leader also called. For something yummy, I bought ice cream in the night that was very yummy. My companion and I got a half a kilo each, so there was lots of yummy ice cream to eat! Yay! It was a really good Birthday!!! And guess what else? With the rest of my birthday money, I bought some new speakers for my mp5 player :) and I bought a harmonica, so I can practice playing hymns in the apartment! I want to become a harmonica master in the mission field. I like it a lot!
My mp5 is still in the mission office, but they’ll send it to me tomorrow. I sure hope it´s completely loaded! And I put in a receipt for a fan I bought for our last apartment so I can get the money back :) It was a hundred pesos.
Yeah I got the birthday card - thanks Mom! I got my birthday package alright, with the Bible inside and the whoopie-cushion and stuff like that. I know for sure I haven´t gotten the Easter package yet, ...I have an idea though. Maybe the next time (whenever it is) you can try putting the Jesus stickers all over it the package? That´s what I´ve seen a lot of here, and usually nothing happens to the package if it´s got that all over it. It´s just an idea.
Thanks for your great letters, and also for the picture of Andrew and his band - that´s rocking! I wish I could do something like that, but unfortunately there´s not a "rock" portion of vibraphone playing (unless I buy one of the cool ones that you can basically make it sound like an electric guitar :).
I still don´t know which way is north. I´m going to buy a compass (a cheap one) maybe, so I can at least know that information. Besides that, I´m knowing my area little by little - I finally got a map so I can color it and study up a little better.
I´m just eating up the mission and really enjoying myself out here, especially with all of the people I´m meeting and the great opportunities I have here to serve the people! Man...the mission rocks!
This Sunday was my first time having meetings in the chapel here - it was great! As a ward, Luján 2 seems to be a lot stronger than Libertad. What´s funny is that Luján 2 is a branch, not even a ward, but that the Mel. Priesthood holders here are way stronger and more active...and the members seem to be pretty good too. It´s a good branch! I´m excited to help them grow and hopefully they can become a ward with the time that I have with them. That´d be the coolest!
I don´t get to play the piano here because there´s already people who play pretty good. I´ve found families who I know are way nice people. Want to know something else cool? There´s a guitar professor in our ward! And he´s young too - like 28 or something, and he teaches at a University. He was way interested to hear that I want to do the same as what he´s doing someday (teaching music.) It was really fun talking with him. We eat lunch with him every Saturday- yay!
My week was great! We had divisions with Luján 1, and I got to spend some time with Elder Fuentealba from that area. We had a great time and had some really good teaching situations, and I think he´s a really rocking Elder. It was a fun time!
This next week I think we´re going to head to the giant church Basilica. It is huge!!! It´s got huge gargoyles too. I´ll send you pictures when I end up going there!
I´m going to start trying to go to bed early and waking up at 6:00am so I can get more studies done in the morning. I want to become a better master of the doctrine, because I feel like I know some things right now but that I should know a lot more. I´m going to try and push myself a little more so I can teach more with the scriptures and with more power.
Speaking of teaching, it´s a lot different here in Argentina that what I though it´d be. I thought lessons would be like fixed appointments, going into their house, using lots of scriptures, etc., but I´ve found that here it´s mostly streetwork and contacting people and stuff like that. We still get appointments at times, but many times it´s just using pamphlets and talking to people in the streets. I thought that was interesting.
I need to do more with exercises, too- I was much better this last week because I used my stretchy band a lot, and I ordered the mission health guide which comes with the band so I can do more exercises to work out my whole body. I switched to using bands for my exercising, because I can get a pretty good workout with those things.
The Walmart here is a full-sized Walmart, but needs some American stuff (like peanut butter, hot cocoa...man, I want to buy more of that! It´s cold in the mornings so hot cocoa is good :). The Walmart is really good though, because you can see that the stuff there is high-quality - there´s not the risk of buying junk like in the other stores, because it´s all well-made there.
Dad! I liked your picture with your frosted shredded wheat. Guess what?...that doesn´t exist out here! Man, there´s so much stuff that were simple pleasures back home. I was thinking about Calvin and Hobbes this morning as I sipped my hot cocoa, and I sure wanted to read those!!
Other than that, all is well! I had a great birthday and now I´ve got 8 months in the mission! I love the mission and I love the Lord, and I´m grateful for all He has done for me and has done for my family as well! I pray for you all daily and ask Him to give you all happiness and peace in your lives. I sure love you all! Thanks for all that you do for me and I´ll be looking forward to writing you again in a week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Monday, April 5, 2010
April 5, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there! Man, I´ve got so much to write!!!! I´ll try to put it all in as fast as I can so I can chat with you guys easier :). Thanks for all your letters and all the pictures! I loved the Liam and Bailey and Brooklyn picture - you guys are so cute!!! So you know, Brian and Shelly (I hope I spelled it right), everyone LOVES the picture of your cute little kids!! I show them off to everyone and everyone always thinks they´re way cute. You guys are the best!!
Dad, your pictures rock! Looks like it´s really cloudy over there. I hope you guys are all doing great! It sounds like all is well from what I´ve gotten so far.
What a great General Conference, huh? Yeah, I loved it!!! And it was all in Spanish, and guess what´s cool? It was live too!! While you guys started at 10am, we started at 1pm. That means that our sessions on Saturday were 1-3pm, 5-7pm, and 9-11pm. Yeah, I was wasted at the end of the day because we were in that chapel for eleven hours...I was pretty tired. But it was awesome! It was great to have it all live. And guess what´s cooler? Several of the apostles, like Elder Richard G. Scott, wrote their talks in Spanish and even did the translation - WOW!!! Isn´t that awesome? We could still hear the voices of the prophets, speaking in a foreign tongue - I think that´s amazing if you ask me.
Yeah Mom, I loved President Monson´s talk too. I started to get sad as he talked about those kids and the one who died, and how the older one had his mission call there and everything. I also thought about Grandma Nuttall, and it was a pretty tough moment for me for a few minutes. I sure miss her, but I´m doing my best to work hard and bring her name honor as I serve the Lord. I want her to be proud of me :).
Lujan is beautiful!!! It is very pretty - there´s this HUGE church called the Basilica. IT IS GINORMOUS!!! We´re totally going to visit it this next p-day, because I want to get pictures and all taken in front of it and visit inside and all. I´m pretty excited.
My working area is partly city-like, with the other part with huge fields, some places with lots of crops, stuff like that. There are ridiculously large trees here that are very tall and very huge - that´s pretty tight. Basically this place is 100 times prettier than Libertad. Libertad was cool with the members, but the scenery was nothing. Just city stuff. So yeah! It is way more calm here as well, which is nice, with great members and great people.
The apartment is a MESS!!!!! Geez...but I´ve been cleaning it every morning for 30min each day (I´ll do my exercises this week but man I had to do it - it was disgusting), and today I´m going to put more hours into it to get it back into shape again. Thanks for your example Dad! I´ll send you guys a picture of my prowess here at the end :).
So we play soccer every Wednesday night with the kids of the branch here (this place isn´t a ward yet - just a branch, and we´re part of a district, not a stake - that´s the first time I´ve known church organization like this). It´s awesome to watch!!! Yeah, not to bash American kids, but like the worst soccer kid here basically blows away the kids I saw at Orem High by ten million miles. They are way great. There´s this really old guy who´s like 70 years old...and he is still playing!!! He was even showing up some of the youngsters, and knows some sweet tricks and was making goals. How cool is that? He´s a pretty rocking guy (huh huh) not a lot of 70-year-olds playing soccer here.
There are GINORMOUS spiders at the church - Mom, you know the spiders in Harry Potter? They look exactly the same, except their just the size of your hand as all. They were running around the church Wednesday night, and it was insane. They are everywhere! I´m going to try to catch one and take a picture...it´ll be rocking.
So what did Carson think about the talk in Priesthood who talked about missions and all that? I thought it was fantastic!! I sure hope he goes on a mission too, because that´s where he should be in a year or two, without a doubt. It´s such a great service. I´ll be honest, there have been days when I kind of wished I wasn´t out here. Days that are hard, people who aren´t nice, sometimes thinking about home more than I should, etc. But I´m sure glad I´m here. You guys should read D and C 72:2-5 together. They are very good verses.
I ate more fruit this week! Woohoo! And I ate more vegetables too - Mom, with vegetables, are they okay if they come from a can? Like corn and peas and stuff like that? It´s still legit right? If not, let me know :).
Unfortunately, I still haven´t received my Easter package :( man!!! I was waiting for it but it didn´t come this last Tuesday, so hopefully it comes this week. I want my little Easter bunny :) yay!! I´m sure glad you guys all enjoyed it, though! My companion and I talked together about what we did as families before the mission - he asked me if we did the egg stuff too, and I told him yeah and how we´d paint them, hide them, have fun times as a family, etc. It was great! I sure hope you all had a great Easter holiday and had fun as a family. And that we could all celebrate the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, and how because of Him we´ll all be able to live again and be able to be with Grandma Nuttall again :). Yay!!! For that, I am so grateful for my Savior and that He has given us that hope, and that this hope is available to all the world. It´s sure a privilege to be able to tell others about this great message.
A SWEET NOTE OF SWEETNESS!! There´s this lady in the ward from the United States!!! Her name is Judy, and she´ll be sending you guys a picture of my companion and I when we went to her house this last Wednesday. We have lunch with her every Wednesday. She is so cool! The note of sweetness is this - there is this awesome book that I was hoping that maybe would be a good Christmas gift this upcoming year? It´s called "Streetwise Spanish" by Mary McVey Gill and Brenda Wegman. She told me that you can buy it at Borders, so I thought that was cool. It´s got the stuff in it about Spanish that you don´t get from teachers, like how people "really" talk. I looked in it and it was awesome! It´s just an idea :) I think it´d be cool to have someday though for sure, whether it be on the mission or afterwards! Yay!
I will write a letter to my grandparents to thank them for the money they sent me - thank you guys so much!!! Man, you are the best grandparents in the world! Really, you are all helping me so much - the money will be well used, because I´m in desperate need of a back-pack, an iron to iron my shirts, and I´m looking into buying some exercise equipment to help me get in shape better haha. Thanks so much Grandpa Nuttall and Grandma and Grandpa Gammon! I love you all so much!!!
Well, that´s about it from Lujan - the report of Elder Gary Jordan Nuttall Hey guess what else? I´m going to have exactly 8 months in the mission when I write to you in a week! How awesome is that? The time is flying! I love you! Have a great week and I´ll write another huge email in a week!
Know that I love you all very much though, and that I hope you´re all doing great and that you´re all enjoying your day and, for Carson, that you´re enjoying your spring break as well. Yay! You are the best family in the world!!! I love you and I hope you all have an excellent day and an excellent week! I love you and we´ll talk to you in a week, when I´ll be 20 years old and have 8 months in the mission! Woohoo!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. And hopefully my Easter package comes this week - I´ll let you know if it does or not in a week.
P.P.S. Give the cats lots of pets for me!
P.P.P.S. I might buy a "smoking jacket" (bathrobe) here - they´ve got some in Walmart, and when it´s cold in the morning it´d be nice to have.
Hey there! Man, I´ve got so much to write!!!! I´ll try to put it all in as fast as I can so I can chat with you guys easier :). Thanks for all your letters and all the pictures! I loved the Liam and Bailey and Brooklyn picture - you guys are so cute!!! So you know, Brian and Shelly (I hope I spelled it right), everyone LOVES the picture of your cute little kids!! I show them off to everyone and everyone always thinks they´re way cute. You guys are the best!!
Dad, your pictures rock! Looks like it´s really cloudy over there. I hope you guys are all doing great! It sounds like all is well from what I´ve gotten so far.
What a great General Conference, huh? Yeah, I loved it!!! And it was all in Spanish, and guess what´s cool? It was live too!! While you guys started at 10am, we started at 1pm. That means that our sessions on Saturday were 1-3pm, 5-7pm, and 9-11pm. Yeah, I was wasted at the end of the day because we were in that chapel for eleven hours...I was pretty tired. But it was awesome! It was great to have it all live. And guess what´s cooler? Several of the apostles, like Elder Richard G. Scott, wrote their talks in Spanish and even did the translation - WOW!!! Isn´t that awesome? We could still hear the voices of the prophets, speaking in a foreign tongue - I think that´s amazing if you ask me.
Yeah Mom, I loved President Monson´s talk too. I started to get sad as he talked about those kids and the one who died, and how the older one had his mission call there and everything. I also thought about Grandma Nuttall, and it was a pretty tough moment for me for a few minutes. I sure miss her, but I´m doing my best to work hard and bring her name honor as I serve the Lord. I want her to be proud of me :).
Lujan is beautiful!!! It is very pretty - there´s this HUGE church called the Basilica. IT IS GINORMOUS!!! We´re totally going to visit it this next p-day, because I want to get pictures and all taken in front of it and visit inside and all. I´m pretty excited.
My working area is partly city-like, with the other part with huge fields, some places with lots of crops, stuff like that. There are ridiculously large trees here that are very tall and very huge - that´s pretty tight. Basically this place is 100 times prettier than Libertad. Libertad was cool with the members, but the scenery was nothing. Just city stuff. So yeah! It is way more calm here as well, which is nice, with great members and great people.
The apartment is a MESS!!!!! Geez...but I´ve been cleaning it every morning for 30min each day (I´ll do my exercises this week but man I had to do it - it was disgusting), and today I´m going to put more hours into it to get it back into shape again. Thanks for your example Dad! I´ll send you guys a picture of my prowess here at the end :).
So we play soccer every Wednesday night with the kids of the branch here (this place isn´t a ward yet - just a branch, and we´re part of a district, not a stake - that´s the first time I´ve known church organization like this). It´s awesome to watch!!! Yeah, not to bash American kids, but like the worst soccer kid here basically blows away the kids I saw at Orem High by ten million miles. They are way great. There´s this really old guy who´s like 70 years old...and he is still playing!!! He was even showing up some of the youngsters, and knows some sweet tricks and was making goals. How cool is that? He´s a pretty rocking guy (huh huh) not a lot of 70-year-olds playing soccer here.
There are GINORMOUS spiders at the church - Mom, you know the spiders in Harry Potter? They look exactly the same, except their just the size of your hand as all. They were running around the church Wednesday night, and it was insane. They are everywhere! I´m going to try to catch one and take a picture...it´ll be rocking.
So what did Carson think about the talk in Priesthood who talked about missions and all that? I thought it was fantastic!! I sure hope he goes on a mission too, because that´s where he should be in a year or two, without a doubt. It´s such a great service. I´ll be honest, there have been days when I kind of wished I wasn´t out here. Days that are hard, people who aren´t nice, sometimes thinking about home more than I should, etc. But I´m sure glad I´m here. You guys should read D and C 72:2-5 together. They are very good verses.
I ate more fruit this week! Woohoo! And I ate more vegetables too - Mom, with vegetables, are they okay if they come from a can? Like corn and peas and stuff like that? It´s still legit right? If not, let me know :).
Unfortunately, I still haven´t received my Easter package :( man!!! I was waiting for it but it didn´t come this last Tuesday, so hopefully it comes this week. I want my little Easter bunny :) yay!! I´m sure glad you guys all enjoyed it, though! My companion and I talked together about what we did as families before the mission - he asked me if we did the egg stuff too, and I told him yeah and how we´d paint them, hide them, have fun times as a family, etc. It was great! I sure hope you all had a great Easter holiday and had fun as a family. And that we could all celebrate the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, and how because of Him we´ll all be able to live again and be able to be with Grandma Nuttall again :). Yay!!! For that, I am so grateful for my Savior and that He has given us that hope, and that this hope is available to all the world. It´s sure a privilege to be able to tell others about this great message.
A SWEET NOTE OF SWEETNESS!! There´s this lady in the ward from the United States!!! Her name is Judy, and she´ll be sending you guys a picture of my companion and I when we went to her house this last Wednesday. We have lunch with her every Wednesday. She is so cool! The note of sweetness is this - there is this awesome book that I was hoping that maybe would be a good Christmas gift this upcoming year? It´s called "Streetwise Spanish" by Mary McVey Gill and Brenda Wegman. She told me that you can buy it at Borders, so I thought that was cool. It´s got the stuff in it about Spanish that you don´t get from teachers, like how people "really" talk. I looked in it and it was awesome! It´s just an idea :) I think it´d be cool to have someday though for sure, whether it be on the mission or afterwards! Yay!
I will write a letter to my grandparents to thank them for the money they sent me - thank you guys so much!!! Man, you are the best grandparents in the world! Really, you are all helping me so much - the money will be well used, because I´m in desperate need of a back-pack, an iron to iron my shirts, and I´m looking into buying some exercise equipment to help me get in shape better haha. Thanks so much Grandpa Nuttall and Grandma and Grandpa Gammon! I love you all so much!!!
Well, that´s about it from Lujan - the report of Elder Gary Jordan Nuttall Hey guess what else? I´m going to have exactly 8 months in the mission when I write to you in a week! How awesome is that? The time is flying! I love you! Have a great week and I´ll write another huge email in a week!
Know that I love you all very much though, and that I hope you´re all doing great and that you´re all enjoying your day and, for Carson, that you´re enjoying your spring break as well. Yay! You are the best family in the world!!! I love you and I hope you all have an excellent day and an excellent week! I love you and we´ll talk to you in a week, when I´ll be 20 years old and have 8 months in the mission! Woohoo!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
P.S. And hopefully my Easter package comes this week - I´ll let you know if it does or not in a week.
P.P.S. Give the cats lots of pets for me!
P.P.P.S. I might buy a "smoking jacket" (bathrobe) here - they´ve got some in Walmart, and when it´s cold in the morning it´d be nice to have.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
March 29, 2010 letter- Transfer to Lujan!
Dear Family,
Hey there! I´m writing from my new area in Lujan, which is way far away from my last area. Everything is great! I had a little trouble packing my bags and got kind of frustrated - I had so much stuff they weren´t easy to close, but I finally managed to do it! And now I´m here with my new comp Elder Angulo from Chile, and all is well! And this email place is pretty nice...I think I´m going to like Lujan!
Lujan is way far away from my last area. I had to bring my bags to the offices, which meant that I had a good chance of getting shipped to country mission (that would be like ten hours away from my area), but luckily I was shipped to Lujan, which is still far away but not tons like that. But still, really far away. The area is cool, but there are no little maps that I can use to carry around and use to learn the area! I´m going to draw my own map I guess.
There´s a Walmart here!!!! Woohoo!!!!!! It´s far away, but I´m going to go there this next p-day. I´d like to go there to see if they sell some high quality things or not. I´m pretty sure they do. And our apartment is in like a middle-sized city, but there are bigger parts in other parts of Lujan. Yeah! And I´d be able to buy a coat if I need to. And yeah, at Walmart I´m going to need to buy a backpack to haul my stuff. My shoulder-bag doesn´t work very well when we have divisions and all that, because it doesn´t hold a lot.
So I lost my umbrella...that´s rather crappy news. I was paying for a taxi and I left it in the car, and I went back to look for it multiple times but the guy never returned it back, so either he took it or someone else who got a ride did. I feel pretty bad, because I know it was an extremely sweet umbrella, and that such items of quality aren´t really found here. I´m sorry I lost it :( I made the promise to myself that whenever I carry extra items like that, I’m ALWAYS going to put the strap around my wrist so that I´ll never leave without it again. I hope it doesn´t rain soon.
And the apartment is WAY dirty!!! Geez, I´m going to clean it up good. It´s a mess. I´ll need to buy some cleaning supplies, but those are way cheap. I´ll take the example of Dad and give it the "Dad treatment" today and during the week :).
That´s sweet with Michael Bublé! I wish I could see him live too - he has rocking music. You guys are lucky!!! Oh and thanks a million for the music - I left my MP5 at the offices so the guys there can load it up with music, and then after that I´m going to try again to download the music that you guys sent me so I can enjoy it (I love the classical CD Mom!!). Thanks so much for that stuff!!! I love you guys!! You sure do treat me nicely!
Other than that, it´s nice to be in a new area. I was able to get lots of people sign my book and take some pictures - yay! I´ll be sending you a lot of those pictures this next week. I´m sure going to miss a lot of them. There are some families, just as Brother Ahlander said, that have seen like 60 missionaries pass by so I was just another one, but others that were way sweet to me and that I have really good relationships with. Yay! I got all of the members like that to sign my book, and all is well! I´ll be writing them during the mission as well to keep in touch :).
The transfer meeting was good - 144 baptisms this transfer, so we lowered a bit. The last transfer we had 196, so we´ll work harder this transfer to try and get something like that.
I love you guys so much! Man Mom, I sure miss you :( and Dad too! And Carson! I sure love you all and I pray for you all the time and I hope you´re doing great. Thanks for everything you do for me, and for all the packages and all the support you give me - you are the best family in the world! Everything is fine with me and I´m really excited to work in this new area. I´ll work really hard so that you guys are all blessed a lot from the Lord. I love you and I´ll talk to you more in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there! I´m writing from my new area in Lujan, which is way far away from my last area. Everything is great! I had a little trouble packing my bags and got kind of frustrated - I had so much stuff they weren´t easy to close, but I finally managed to do it! And now I´m here with my new comp Elder Angulo from Chile, and all is well! And this email place is pretty nice...I think I´m going to like Lujan!
Lujan is way far away from my last area. I had to bring my bags to the offices, which meant that I had a good chance of getting shipped to country mission (that would be like ten hours away from my area), but luckily I was shipped to Lujan, which is still far away but not tons like that. But still, really far away. The area is cool, but there are no little maps that I can use to carry around and use to learn the area! I´m going to draw my own map I guess.
There´s a Walmart here!!!! Woohoo!!!!!! It´s far away, but I´m going to go there this next p-day. I´d like to go there to see if they sell some high quality things or not. I´m pretty sure they do. And our apartment is in like a middle-sized city, but there are bigger parts in other parts of Lujan. Yeah! And I´d be able to buy a coat if I need to. And yeah, at Walmart I´m going to need to buy a backpack to haul my stuff. My shoulder-bag doesn´t work very well when we have divisions and all that, because it doesn´t hold a lot.
So I lost my umbrella...that´s rather crappy news. I was paying for a taxi and I left it in the car, and I went back to look for it multiple times but the guy never returned it back, so either he took it or someone else who got a ride did. I feel pretty bad, because I know it was an extremely sweet umbrella, and that such items of quality aren´t really found here. I´m sorry I lost it :( I made the promise to myself that whenever I carry extra items like that, I’m ALWAYS going to put the strap around my wrist so that I´ll never leave without it again. I hope it doesn´t rain soon.
And the apartment is WAY dirty!!! Geez, I´m going to clean it up good. It´s a mess. I´ll need to buy some cleaning supplies, but those are way cheap. I´ll take the example of Dad and give it the "Dad treatment" today and during the week :).
That´s sweet with Michael Bublé! I wish I could see him live too - he has rocking music. You guys are lucky!!! Oh and thanks a million for the music - I left my MP5 at the offices so the guys there can load it up with music, and then after that I´m going to try again to download the music that you guys sent me so I can enjoy it (I love the classical CD Mom!!). Thanks so much for that stuff!!! I love you guys!! You sure do treat me nicely!
Other than that, it´s nice to be in a new area. I was able to get lots of people sign my book and take some pictures - yay! I´ll be sending you a lot of those pictures this next week. I´m sure going to miss a lot of them. There are some families, just as Brother Ahlander said, that have seen like 60 missionaries pass by so I was just another one, but others that were way sweet to me and that I have really good relationships with. Yay! I got all of the members like that to sign my book, and all is well! I´ll be writing them during the mission as well to keep in touch :).
The transfer meeting was good - 144 baptisms this transfer, so we lowered a bit. The last transfer we had 196, so we´ll work harder this transfer to try and get something like that.
I love you guys so much! Man Mom, I sure miss you :( and Dad too! And Carson! I sure love you all and I pray for you all the time and I hope you´re doing great. Thanks for everything you do for me, and for all the packages and all the support you give me - you are the best family in the world! Everything is fine with me and I´m really excited to work in this new area. I´ll work really hard so that you guys are all blessed a lot from the Lord. I love you and I´ll talk to you more in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Monday, March 22, 2010
March 22, 2010 letter
March 22, 2010
Dear Family,
Woohoo!!! Missionary work is the coolest thing in the world! Sometimes it´s hard, but it´s a blast - I love the mission.
So I´ve got some sweet news - there is a sweet awesome need-to-go-to-or-order-something Argentine shop opened up in Salt Lake City, that sells the SAME STUFF that I´m eating here in Argentina!!! How sweet is that? The meat, the facturas (mom would LOVE those!), dulce de leche that you guys have heard about...like everything! I´ll give you the address right now:
PAMPAS BAKERY
2156 Highland Drive (in the heart of Sugar House)
Mon-Th 8AM-7PM
Fri-Sat 730AM-900PM
1-801-738-8058
These guys are legit Argentines and they make stuff just how it´s done here in Argentina - I got hooked up with the reference from a member that actually lived in Utah for like a year and then came back to Argentina. Cool huh? I highly recommend the place - you guys will be able to taste the sweetness of Argentina! And they do delivery too, I believe :).
My deoderant totally rocks - the stuff you sent me that´s like a green stick stuff? Speed Stick? You should get me more if you can, because I love it! It works wonderfully :) Thanks Mom!
We have two rocking investigators right now, Bryan and Daniel, who are actually friends (we didn´t know that before). They are both 16 years old, both go to the same school and are classmates. Bryan is the son of a recent convert and Daniel is a friend who´s really excited about being baptized APRIL 10th!!!!! My birthday!!! WOOHOO! It´s too bad I´ll probably not be in the area (I´ll be in another I think), but it´s still rocking igual. (huh?) They are rocking guys, and I love them a lot. They are really respectful and are really interested in the Church, and we´re really going to work well with them and teach them the best we can. The Lord has truly blessed us with them.
So yeah, in a week I´ll probably be writing from my new area! We´ll see - the President told me that I´ll probably be heading out, but there´s a chance that I might stay one transfer more...we´ll see what happens. I´d sure love to stay! This is an awesome ward!
There´s this family we visited last night - their names are Patricia (mom), Tatiana (daughter), Milagros, Miguel, and Morena (in order of age - Morena is almost two years old) - they are so awesome! Poor little Miguel - he´s nine years old, and it hit him last night that in a week I´m not going to be here anymore (most likely). He gave me a big hug and started bawling a little bit. I felt bad for the poor little guy - I sure love Miguel! I love that whole family. The people here, especially the members, really do become your family out on the mission. I love them a lot!
It´s going to get cold. I´ll be alright though, now that I´ve got a jacket and sweaters from Mom! Woohoo! Yeah, the weather is definitely cooling down right now - it is officially the end of summer and right now we are in Autumn! So yeah, it´s cooling down a lot more… still not freezing, though, but it´s chilly in the mornings.
We were walking by the other day and this punk started threatening to fight me and saying a bunch of crap, but I just kept walking on with my companion. It was kind of a nervous moment, but I tried not to let anything get on my nerves and just kept pressing on. Nothing bad happened - if it did, that´s why we´ve got companions, right? I´m glad nothing has happened, and I feel bad that there are people who act like that. It also shows that there are definitely people in this world that have issues against Americans - it´s good advice to keep on your feet.
I´m successful only because the Lord is helping me. I pray all day long, way more than I´ve ever prayed in my life, for Him to be with me to help me in my teaching and to help me be a good representative of Him. I try to always be humble and recognize that I can do what I do because of Him. And I´m always praying for you guys all day long too :) Yay! I want to be an excellent missionary, and boy I want to teach as many Priests when I get home as possible to head on the mission. It was hard for me, but I´ll be able to testify to them that it´s something they need to do, and that they´ll be blessed for it. I sure hope Carson goes - I´m trying to help him get out here too.
That´s insane that Joey is married - congrats Joey! I´ll be excited to see you and your wife/family when I get home!
That´s about it for now! I love you guys a ton and I´ll be writing another big letter again in a week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Dear Family,
Woohoo!!! Missionary work is the coolest thing in the world! Sometimes it´s hard, but it´s a blast - I love the mission.
So I´ve got some sweet news - there is a sweet awesome need-to-go-to-or-order-something Argentine shop opened up in Salt Lake City, that sells the SAME STUFF that I´m eating here in Argentina!!! How sweet is that? The meat, the facturas (mom would LOVE those!), dulce de leche that you guys have heard about...like everything! I´ll give you the address right now:
PAMPAS BAKERY
2156 Highland Drive (in the heart of Sugar House)
Mon-Th 8AM-7PM
Fri-Sat 730AM-900PM
1-801-738-8058
These guys are legit Argentines and they make stuff just how it´s done here in Argentina - I got hooked up with the reference from a member that actually lived in Utah for like a year and then came back to Argentina. Cool huh? I highly recommend the place - you guys will be able to taste the sweetness of Argentina! And they do delivery too, I believe :).
My deoderant totally rocks - the stuff you sent me that´s like a green stick stuff? Speed Stick? You should get me more if you can, because I love it! It works wonderfully :) Thanks Mom!
We have two rocking investigators right now, Bryan and Daniel, who are actually friends (we didn´t know that before). They are both 16 years old, both go to the same school and are classmates. Bryan is the son of a recent convert and Daniel is a friend who´s really excited about being baptized APRIL 10th!!!!! My birthday!!! WOOHOO! It´s too bad I´ll probably not be in the area (I´ll be in another I think), but it´s still rocking igual. (huh?) They are rocking guys, and I love them a lot. They are really respectful and are really interested in the Church, and we´re really going to work well with them and teach them the best we can. The Lord has truly blessed us with them.
So yeah, in a week I´ll probably be writing from my new area! We´ll see - the President told me that I´ll probably be heading out, but there´s a chance that I might stay one transfer more...we´ll see what happens. I´d sure love to stay! This is an awesome ward!
There´s this family we visited last night - their names are Patricia (mom), Tatiana (daughter), Milagros, Miguel, and Morena (in order of age - Morena is almost two years old) - they are so awesome! Poor little Miguel - he´s nine years old, and it hit him last night that in a week I´m not going to be here anymore (most likely). He gave me a big hug and started bawling a little bit. I felt bad for the poor little guy - I sure love Miguel! I love that whole family. The people here, especially the members, really do become your family out on the mission. I love them a lot!
It´s going to get cold. I´ll be alright though, now that I´ve got a jacket and sweaters from Mom! Woohoo! Yeah, the weather is definitely cooling down right now - it is officially the end of summer and right now we are in Autumn! So yeah, it´s cooling down a lot more… still not freezing, though, but it´s chilly in the mornings.
We were walking by the other day and this punk started threatening to fight me and saying a bunch of crap, but I just kept walking on with my companion. It was kind of a nervous moment, but I tried not to let anything get on my nerves and just kept pressing on. Nothing bad happened - if it did, that´s why we´ve got companions, right? I´m glad nothing has happened, and I feel bad that there are people who act like that. It also shows that there are definitely people in this world that have issues against Americans - it´s good advice to keep on your feet.
I´m successful only because the Lord is helping me. I pray all day long, way more than I´ve ever prayed in my life, for Him to be with me to help me in my teaching and to help me be a good representative of Him. I try to always be humble and recognize that I can do what I do because of Him. And I´m always praying for you guys all day long too :) Yay! I want to be an excellent missionary, and boy I want to teach as many Priests when I get home as possible to head on the mission. It was hard for me, but I´ll be able to testify to them that it´s something they need to do, and that they´ll be blessed for it. I sure hope Carson goes - I´m trying to help him get out here too.
That´s insane that Joey is married - congrats Joey! I´ll be excited to see you and your wife/family when I get home!
That´s about it for now! I love you guys a ton and I´ll be writing another big letter again in a week! I love you!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
March 15, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey thanks so much for your letters! And the package!! I´m so grateful for you guys - you´re all the best! Thanks for taking care of me and helping me to keep on working out here in the mission field - I´m so thankful for everything! I was so happy when I got your letters and the packages - thanks a million!
That stinks about Carson´s computer being broken - hopefully you guys can get it fixed soon. Those computers are the best! Hopefully something can be done to save it so he can continue working with it more :).
(Gary told Jordan about seeing Jordan Rose playing with BYU’s pep band on t.v. last week.) I miss those guys in percussion - when I get back, it´s a shame that all of them will be gone. Gavin, Matt Slack, Jordan, Andrew Toleman...they´ll all be gone! I´ll have to see if I can get some gigs with Andrew Wangeman or something.
Everything is pretty good here in Libertad - I only have two more weeks here and then I´ll be transferred to another area! It´ll be a big surprise if I don´t get transferred, that´s for sure.
I wrote to Carson about some of the awesome weather we get here. The other day it was a clear sky at like 7 at night, but with this massive white cloud that had tons of lightning bolts shooting through it and everything. It was awesome!!! I´ve never seen stuff like that in Utah before, that´s the truth. Too bad I couldn´t take a picture - but then again, it´s hard to capture those moments well with a camera too.
And so you know, yeah, we´re using the new Principles of the Gospel book out here - called Principios del Evangelio en Spanish, right? I got one for myself so I can study out of it if I want to - I think it´s a really great book!
The work is going pretty good - we´ve got one kid with a baptismal date, but it´s for after this transfer so I won´t be around to see it happen. He´s got 16 years old and is a good kid, but we need to see how dedicated he is - he didn´t come to church and we confirmed a million times what time in the morning we were going to pass by, and we passed by two times but never answered. We´ll see if he holds out much more longer - I sure hope so! Everyone needs the waters of baptism, so I hope he´ll get the desires and interest to truly follow the example of Jesus Christ in his life.
Sorry my letter isn´t too huge this week - we´re still working hard, but right now we´re trying to find good people to get ready for baptism, because some people we thought would work out bailed on us so now we´re back to the drawing board in finding who could be possibilities out of the many that we´ve taught and talked with so far.
Thanks for all you are doing for me family!!! I love you all very much, and I´m thankful for your support you´ve shown me all this time. It´s an honor to be your son, Mom and Dad, and to be brother of the best brother in the world, Carson! I love the mission and I love the Savior, and I´m honored to be able to bear His name for two years. I love you and I´ll be writing another one of these in one week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey thanks so much for your letters! And the package!! I´m so grateful for you guys - you´re all the best! Thanks for taking care of me and helping me to keep on working out here in the mission field - I´m so thankful for everything! I was so happy when I got your letters and the packages - thanks a million!
That stinks about Carson´s computer being broken - hopefully you guys can get it fixed soon. Those computers are the best! Hopefully something can be done to save it so he can continue working with it more :).
(Gary told Jordan about seeing Jordan Rose playing with BYU’s pep band on t.v. last week.) I miss those guys in percussion - when I get back, it´s a shame that all of them will be gone. Gavin, Matt Slack, Jordan, Andrew Toleman...they´ll all be gone! I´ll have to see if I can get some gigs with Andrew Wangeman or something.
Everything is pretty good here in Libertad - I only have two more weeks here and then I´ll be transferred to another area! It´ll be a big surprise if I don´t get transferred, that´s for sure.
I wrote to Carson about some of the awesome weather we get here. The other day it was a clear sky at like 7 at night, but with this massive white cloud that had tons of lightning bolts shooting through it and everything. It was awesome!!! I´ve never seen stuff like that in Utah before, that´s the truth. Too bad I couldn´t take a picture - but then again, it´s hard to capture those moments well with a camera too.
And so you know, yeah, we´re using the new Principles of the Gospel book out here - called Principios del Evangelio en Spanish, right? I got one for myself so I can study out of it if I want to - I think it´s a really great book!
The work is going pretty good - we´ve got one kid with a baptismal date, but it´s for after this transfer so I won´t be around to see it happen. He´s got 16 years old and is a good kid, but we need to see how dedicated he is - he didn´t come to church and we confirmed a million times what time in the morning we were going to pass by, and we passed by two times but never answered. We´ll see if he holds out much more longer - I sure hope so! Everyone needs the waters of baptism, so I hope he´ll get the desires and interest to truly follow the example of Jesus Christ in his life.
Sorry my letter isn´t too huge this week - we´re still working hard, but right now we´re trying to find good people to get ready for baptism, because some people we thought would work out bailed on us so now we´re back to the drawing board in finding who could be possibilities out of the many that we´ve taught and talked with so far.
Thanks for all you are doing for me family!!! I love you all very much, and I´m thankful for your support you´ve shown me all this time. It´s an honor to be your son, Mom and Dad, and to be brother of the best brother in the world, Carson! I love the mission and I love the Savior, and I´m honored to be able to bear His name for two years. I love you and I´ll be writing another one of these in one week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Friday, March 12, 2010
Jordan's March 8, 2010 letter
March 8, 2010
Dear Family,
Hey there! I´m so happy for your letters - it sounds like it was a very good week! Even though there were some close moments, like when Carson almost missed his jazz festival! That´s cool that you were able to play so well- it shows that you really have lots of talents in music, and really you´ll be able to bless the lives of lots of people in your abilities in music. Even if you don´t want to do it as like a job, keep it up! It´s a great talent that you have, and it´s something that really blesses the lives of everyone around you, including our family. I´m glad you´re such a rocking bass player! Keep it up!
Thanks a million for sending me packages!!! I´m excited for them! My first two haven´t come yet, but I´m sure they´ll be coming either this week or the next - from what I hear, it´s usually like four weeks to get packages, so they should be coming soon! Yay! Thanks Mom and Dad! You guys are the coolest parents in the world, really!!!! I´m very excited :).
There´s some pretty sweet music here in Argentina - usually it´s stuff called Regatón, and I think it kind of stinks (because it´s like the Rap of Argentina and some other countries here too - maybe it´s all of South America), but the Tango and Salsa music, stuff like that, is awesome! It reminds me of working with Jay in the salsa band and learning with Ron in the world percussion class - it makes me want to play my congas. But for now I´ll just listen as I walk by and hit the congas when I get home!
No baptisms this week - we might be looking at a no-baptism transfer, which is a little bummer but we´re trying. One kid is named Luciano, and he´s a great kid and really getting ready for baptism, but he doesn´t have parental support. He really needs his parents at church (they are inactive, they´re actually his grandparents, they´ve started drinking and smoking, going to the Catholic or other churches at times, etc.). Yeah, it´s not the best situation with him. I talked with the Bishop about it and he said that this type of stuff has been going on a lot with them for years, and that the situation is that they´re offended at somebody or something in the church and that they don´t want to come back because of that. So what we´ll be doing with Luciano is teaching him still and bringing him to church, but we´re going to wait on the baptism so he can make the decision when he´s older, because right now if he got baptized he´d have the possibility of doing the same as what his grandparents are doing and that´d be bad. We´ll keep working with all of them to try and fix things up a bit.
The other two possibilities are Celeste and Daniel. Celeste is 18 years old and seems really good and interested, but her family is all Catholic and it´s kind of a problem. I called their house Saturday night to see if she was home and her mom answered me - she was really nice and told me to call in the morning because Celeste had left the house, so yeah I called in the morning and this time her grandma picked up. She told me nice and strong how they are Catholics and Catholic this and Catholic that, and that they (it really seems like "she") don´t want us to come in the house or anything. I told her that´s fine if they don´t want us in the home, and that we can visit outside and all is well. After that she just hung up. I was bummed after that, but we´re going to pass to see what Celeste has to say about it all. She´s 18 now so she doesn´t need parental approval to be baptized or receive the lessons, so we´ll see if she´s still interested or not. She had a baptismal date, but she didn´t come to church this week so we´ll have to push the date back a week if she still wants to do it.
Daniel is like a golden investigator from what we´ve seen - he is 15 years old, he loves the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon - he told us that they really help him feel better in his life and that he wants to be baptized. Woohoo! This is rocking, but he wasn´t able to come to church on Sunday because someone close to him died and he was at the funeral Sunday morning. So we´ll definitely keep passing by his house to see if we can keep him on the "path of righteousness" (as said in Emperor´s New Groove :).
One other is named Alma, and she is nine years old. Her mom is a member, so now we´re teaching her the lessons to see if she wants to get baptized. The dad, who doesn´t live with them, is Catholic, so we might be battling with that but for now things are looking really good, because we have some great member support in helping her make the decision. Yay!
Other than that, everything is pretty normal. I´m going around and getting people to sign my signature book, because in three weeks from today I´ll be in Ramos Mejía heading out to another area I think! So yeah, I´m doing lots of that too. Thanks for all your letters, love, and support! I love you very much and I´ll be writing another ginormous letter like this in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Dear Family,
Hey there! I´m so happy for your letters - it sounds like it was a very good week! Even though there were some close moments, like when Carson almost missed his jazz festival! That´s cool that you were able to play so well- it shows that you really have lots of talents in music, and really you´ll be able to bless the lives of lots of people in your abilities in music. Even if you don´t want to do it as like a job, keep it up! It´s a great talent that you have, and it´s something that really blesses the lives of everyone around you, including our family. I´m glad you´re such a rocking bass player! Keep it up!
Thanks a million for sending me packages!!! I´m excited for them! My first two haven´t come yet, but I´m sure they´ll be coming either this week or the next - from what I hear, it´s usually like four weeks to get packages, so they should be coming soon! Yay! Thanks Mom and Dad! You guys are the coolest parents in the world, really!!!! I´m very excited :).
There´s some pretty sweet music here in Argentina - usually it´s stuff called Regatón, and I think it kind of stinks (because it´s like the Rap of Argentina and some other countries here too - maybe it´s all of South America), but the Tango and Salsa music, stuff like that, is awesome! It reminds me of working with Jay in the salsa band and learning with Ron in the world percussion class - it makes me want to play my congas. But for now I´ll just listen as I walk by and hit the congas when I get home!
No baptisms this week - we might be looking at a no-baptism transfer, which is a little bummer but we´re trying. One kid is named Luciano, and he´s a great kid and really getting ready for baptism, but he doesn´t have parental support. He really needs his parents at church (they are inactive, they´re actually his grandparents, they´ve started drinking and smoking, going to the Catholic or other churches at times, etc.). Yeah, it´s not the best situation with him. I talked with the Bishop about it and he said that this type of stuff has been going on a lot with them for years, and that the situation is that they´re offended at somebody or something in the church and that they don´t want to come back because of that. So what we´ll be doing with Luciano is teaching him still and bringing him to church, but we´re going to wait on the baptism so he can make the decision when he´s older, because right now if he got baptized he´d have the possibility of doing the same as what his grandparents are doing and that´d be bad. We´ll keep working with all of them to try and fix things up a bit.
The other two possibilities are Celeste and Daniel. Celeste is 18 years old and seems really good and interested, but her family is all Catholic and it´s kind of a problem. I called their house Saturday night to see if she was home and her mom answered me - she was really nice and told me to call in the morning because Celeste had left the house, so yeah I called in the morning and this time her grandma picked up. She told me nice and strong how they are Catholics and Catholic this and Catholic that, and that they (it really seems like "she") don´t want us to come in the house or anything. I told her that´s fine if they don´t want us in the home, and that we can visit outside and all is well. After that she just hung up. I was bummed after that, but we´re going to pass to see what Celeste has to say about it all. She´s 18 now so she doesn´t need parental approval to be baptized or receive the lessons, so we´ll see if she´s still interested or not. She had a baptismal date, but she didn´t come to church this week so we´ll have to push the date back a week if she still wants to do it.
Daniel is like a golden investigator from what we´ve seen - he is 15 years old, he loves the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon - he told us that they really help him feel better in his life and that he wants to be baptized. Woohoo! This is rocking, but he wasn´t able to come to church on Sunday because someone close to him died and he was at the funeral Sunday morning. So we´ll definitely keep passing by his house to see if we can keep him on the "path of righteousness" (as said in Emperor´s New Groove :).
One other is named Alma, and she is nine years old. Her mom is a member, so now we´re teaching her the lessons to see if she wants to get baptized. The dad, who doesn´t live with them, is Catholic, so we might be battling with that but for now things are looking really good, because we have some great member support in helping her make the decision. Yay!
Other than that, everything is pretty normal. I´m going around and getting people to sign my signature book, because in three weeks from today I´ll be in Ramos Mejía heading out to another area I think! So yeah, I´m doing lots of that too. Thanks for all your letters, love, and support! I love you very much and I´ll be writing another ginormous letter like this in a week!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Monday, March 1, 2010
Jordan's March 1, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Hey there! Everything is going great, just so you know - we didn´t feel anything from the earthquake here in Buenos Aires, but yeah, I heard that a whole lot of people in Chile did! The Elders from Chile had the opportunity to call their families to make sure that they are all okay - from what I´ve heard, some of their families live really close to where everything went down, so we´ll hope that everything is alright and that there aren´t any problems with them. I´m sure the Lord is watching over them, because in every aspect He watches and blesses His missionaries and their families!!! :) :)
Thanks a million for your great emails - I was really happy to read them!! You guys always write the best letters in the whole world. I´m so grateful for your love and support for me in the mission, because I know there are many who don´t have such support (like the Elders who are the only members of the Church in their families). I´m sure blessed to have you as my family!!
Yesterday (Sunday) in Elder´s quorum they were talking about Elder Bednar´s talk from the last conference, about having strong relationships in the family and stuff like that. Franklin, the Elder´s Quorum President, asked me to share my experiences with you all with family home evening, because it´s a little different in the US than here (in some aspects, that is). I know we didn´t do it tons, but I told them about how much fun it was and all the great things I learned. I talked about all of you, and how it was fun to have lessons given by Carson or me, and Mom and Dad too, and that we´d learn good things from the scriptures and do a fun activity with the family afterwards, like buying ice cream or snowies. It brought back such good memories!! Everyone in the room was really happy to hear about how happy our family is and all the good memories for me that come from our Family Home Evenings. I´m very grateful for your great examples towards me, and for doing your great job in raising my brother and I. You´ve really raised us up in the light and in the truth!! (D & C 93:40).
So this week was good - we worked really hard, and had lots of success!! Our baptism fell through - the girl didn´t show up for the interview, and we called her and she told us that she didn´t want to get baptized any more, that she wants to keep drinking and drugging up and stuff, etc. So yeah, she´s kind of out of the picture now. We saw her yesterday and asked how she was doing, and she told us "Everything is great except I haven´t been baptized yet..."- that kind of fried my companion. He wasn´t very happy, but we told her if she needs anything just to call us. So yep!! No baptism, but that´s okay because it´s better that she does those things without the covenant right? If she would have returned back to all of that after being baptized, that would have been bad.
So I placed a new record in contacts!!! I did 56 contacts all by myself in one day - more than Elder Reyes has ever done, and my Zone Leaders were impressed by it. Not something to brag about, but I felt really good about that day - I did that and 12 lessons in one day. Cool huh?
And guess what else? I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish!!! Woohoo!!! I´m reading it over again to mark it up nice and good and really study it hard. I sure love the Book of Mormon. I know it´s the word of God and that it really brings us more peace and happiness than any other book on the earth. It is truly a wonderful book!!
We did a load of service this Saturday! Five and a half hours we used in helping Patricia (the lady with her kids who has a house made out of cement, planks of wood, and sheets of metal for a roof) in fixing up her house. It was a ward project, but only us and like eight other people showed up. We cleaned out a LOAD of garbage and nasty stuff - Mom, you wouldn´t BELIEVE the giant spiders, cockroaches (sp?), worms, and other crazy insects we found buried under this stuff!!!! There were some spiders big enough that they looked like animals, and there were lot of toads too. Isn´t that nasty??? I´m glad we helped her clean things out, though, because now it´s much more clean!!!! We´re doing this because eventually they´re going to build a new, clean house next to where the one they´re using right now is. Yay!!! We´re very happy for them and that they´re finally going to have a nicer house to live in. With the conditions that are coming (it´s starting to cool off now - yay!), it would be very hard on her kids, because they´re all pretty young and the living conditions right now that they´re in aren´t good. We´re grateful that we could help and that we´re going to continue helping them out.
Mom...I am so happy for you!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) Yay!!! You have social security now!! I´m so grateful for this news - that you don´t have to worry about working, but rather just worry about getting better and getting some nice rest. I´m so happy for you!! Heavenly Father is really blessing you and the family, I am sure of it. I´m grateful that you have this wonderful news, and that finally our patience and prayers are paying off!! Yay Mom!!!
As for packages, they get to me when they get here. We have District Meeting every Tuesday, and that´s when mail comes, so once the package gets here I will get it on a Tuesday without a doubt. That´s how the system works, both for mail and for packages. As to what I could use...with the cold weather coming, I could use maybe some hot cocoa!!! Or something yummy like that that´s hot :) :) yay!! And also some cold medicine - I got a cold and the best I could do for medicine was Halls. Maybe you could get me some Dayquil/Nyquil or Sudafed or something like that? Music would be rocking too (classical stuff), and possibly some Dr. Shoells - I´ll be sending you pics of my shoes here in a bit. Don´t feel pressured for any of this, but that´s kind of my list of stuff I need or want right now. Thanks mom!!! You´re helping me out so much I can´t even explain it!!
That´s awesome with the Olympics!!! And also with inviting Grandpa, Amy and Troy over - that´d be fun if I were there to enjoy it too!! I loved it when they could all come over to our house - it usually didn´t happen to often but when it did it was the best!!! I love you all so much!! And that´s sweet with all the Olympics - sounds like the good ol´ USA is rocking the house in the winter olympics!! Woohoo!!
I think that´s about all for this ginormous letter - sorry about writing so much. I love you all so very much and I hope you enjoy this letter!! That´s about everything that went on this week - it was insane!! I love you and I´ll write another one of these in week!!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Hey there! Everything is going great, just so you know - we didn´t feel anything from the earthquake here in Buenos Aires, but yeah, I heard that a whole lot of people in Chile did! The Elders from Chile had the opportunity to call their families to make sure that they are all okay - from what I´ve heard, some of their families live really close to where everything went down, so we´ll hope that everything is alright and that there aren´t any problems with them. I´m sure the Lord is watching over them, because in every aspect He watches and blesses His missionaries and their families!!! :) :)
Thanks a million for your great emails - I was really happy to read them!! You guys always write the best letters in the whole world. I´m so grateful for your love and support for me in the mission, because I know there are many who don´t have such support (like the Elders who are the only members of the Church in their families). I´m sure blessed to have you as my family!!
Yesterday (Sunday) in Elder´s quorum they were talking about Elder Bednar´s talk from the last conference, about having strong relationships in the family and stuff like that. Franklin, the Elder´s Quorum President, asked me to share my experiences with you all with family home evening, because it´s a little different in the US than here (in some aspects, that is). I know we didn´t do it tons, but I told them about how much fun it was and all the great things I learned. I talked about all of you, and how it was fun to have lessons given by Carson or me, and Mom and Dad too, and that we´d learn good things from the scriptures and do a fun activity with the family afterwards, like buying ice cream or snowies. It brought back such good memories!! Everyone in the room was really happy to hear about how happy our family is and all the good memories for me that come from our Family Home Evenings. I´m very grateful for your great examples towards me, and for doing your great job in raising my brother and I. You´ve really raised us up in the light and in the truth!! (D & C 93:40).
So this week was good - we worked really hard, and had lots of success!! Our baptism fell through - the girl didn´t show up for the interview, and we called her and she told us that she didn´t want to get baptized any more, that she wants to keep drinking and drugging up and stuff, etc. So yeah, she´s kind of out of the picture now. We saw her yesterday and asked how she was doing, and she told us "Everything is great except I haven´t been baptized yet..."- that kind of fried my companion. He wasn´t very happy, but we told her if she needs anything just to call us. So yep!! No baptism, but that´s okay because it´s better that she does those things without the covenant right? If she would have returned back to all of that after being baptized, that would have been bad.
So I placed a new record in contacts!!! I did 56 contacts all by myself in one day - more than Elder Reyes has ever done, and my Zone Leaders were impressed by it. Not something to brag about, but I felt really good about that day - I did that and 12 lessons in one day. Cool huh?
And guess what else? I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish!!! Woohoo!!! I´m reading it over again to mark it up nice and good and really study it hard. I sure love the Book of Mormon. I know it´s the word of God and that it really brings us more peace and happiness than any other book on the earth. It is truly a wonderful book!!
We did a load of service this Saturday! Five and a half hours we used in helping Patricia (the lady with her kids who has a house made out of cement, planks of wood, and sheets of metal for a roof) in fixing up her house. It was a ward project, but only us and like eight other people showed up. We cleaned out a LOAD of garbage and nasty stuff - Mom, you wouldn´t BELIEVE the giant spiders, cockroaches (sp?), worms, and other crazy insects we found buried under this stuff!!!! There were some spiders big enough that they looked like animals, and there were lot of toads too. Isn´t that nasty??? I´m glad we helped her clean things out, though, because now it´s much more clean!!!! We´re doing this because eventually they´re going to build a new, clean house next to where the one they´re using right now is. Yay!!! We´re very happy for them and that they´re finally going to have a nicer house to live in. With the conditions that are coming (it´s starting to cool off now - yay!), it would be very hard on her kids, because they´re all pretty young and the living conditions right now that they´re in aren´t good. We´re grateful that we could help and that we´re going to continue helping them out.
Mom...I am so happy for you!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) Yay!!! You have social security now!! I´m so grateful for this news - that you don´t have to worry about working, but rather just worry about getting better and getting some nice rest. I´m so happy for you!! Heavenly Father is really blessing you and the family, I am sure of it. I´m grateful that you have this wonderful news, and that finally our patience and prayers are paying off!! Yay Mom!!!
As for packages, they get to me when they get here. We have District Meeting every Tuesday, and that´s when mail comes, so once the package gets here I will get it on a Tuesday without a doubt. That´s how the system works, both for mail and for packages. As to what I could use...with the cold weather coming, I could use maybe some hot cocoa!!! Or something yummy like that that´s hot :) :) yay!! And also some cold medicine - I got a cold and the best I could do for medicine was Halls. Maybe you could get me some Dayquil/Nyquil or Sudafed or something like that? Music would be rocking too (classical stuff), and possibly some Dr. Shoells - I´ll be sending you pics of my shoes here in a bit. Don´t feel pressured for any of this, but that´s kind of my list of stuff I need or want right now. Thanks mom!!! You´re helping me out so much I can´t even explain it!!
That´s awesome with the Olympics!!! And also with inviting Grandpa, Amy and Troy over - that´d be fun if I were there to enjoy it too!! I loved it when they could all come over to our house - it usually didn´t happen to often but when it did it was the best!!! I love you all so much!! And that´s sweet with all the Olympics - sounds like the good ol´ USA is rocking the house in the winter olympics!! Woohoo!!
I think that´s about all for this ginormous letter - sorry about writing so much. I love you all so very much and I hope you enjoy this letter!! That´s about everything that went on this week - it was insane!! I love you and I´ll write another one of these in week!!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Monday, February 22, 2010
"I'm singing in the rain...."
Buenos Aires has been flooding all last week- parts of the city have waist-deep high water. Thankfully, Jordan says in his area it only gets knee-deep. He's trashing his shoes, though! He thinks the lightning is amazing- much more spectacular than in Utah. He's loving missionary work in Argentina!
Jordan's February 22, 2010 letter
Dear Family,
Heyyyy!!!!!! It´s Elder Nuttall, now emailing in the internet kiosk near his apartment, while it is raining INSANELY heavy outside, and there are HUMONGOUS thunder claps that sometimes hurt my ears and shake everything, and last week I was in the middle of a flood that was way cool, and yeah!!! Basically, the mission is the coolest thing in the world - I´ve experienced lots of hardships and difficulties, but I am having a blast out here and there is no other place I´d rather be in the whole wide world. I miss you guys, but I sure love the people (especially the members) here and it is just so cool to be here out on the mission. I sure hope Carson goes on a mission! He would love it - go on a mission Marsh!!
Thanks a million for all of your emails - I am very grateful for them. I love long emails! It´s good to read about everything that you´re all doing and the many activities that are going on back home. Carson - WAY TO GO!! You got into BYU!! Go where you want to go (as directed by the Spirit, of course), but man, I´d love to see you go to BYU. I´m positive you´d still get a great military experience, but the environment of BYU is like that of no other school, in the fact that it is a wonderful environment with great students, awesome professors who rock at what they do, and it´s very safe, fun, and lots of gospel principles are taught. And it´d be sweet if we both went to the same school! Think hard about it, but if you want my vote it´s for BYU, haha, because that´d be the coolest!
Thanks for all the information - and guess what? In only five minutes of sitting here in the internet place, the streets are already filling up and flooding!! How awesome is that? The mission rocks. It´ll probably kind of stink to run back to the apartment, though. But fun too haha.
Thanks for all the info on the jazz festivals, on Carson and Kendall and Spencer hanging out (that is rocking news), for Gavin´s recital - hey Gavin, great job! I wasn´t able to be there, but my parents said you really tore up everything and even had some Stefon Harris in your recital...that makes your recital holy if you have Stefon in there haha. Great job man! I really miss the drums and the vibraphone, but man I´m so happy to be out here. The experiences that I´m having are priceless.
This week was great! I´ll start going through my list I´ve made here. First, a sister in the ward is going to buy me a mate cup and straw as a present from my first area! How sweet is that? They are such cool people - I´m very grateful for all of them.
Second, I´m going to need to do some shoe repairs here in a little. The insides are getting damaged pretty badly, so I might find a shoe shop and see if they can do something about it. I was also thinking - maybe in a future package you guys could send me a pair of Dr. Shoell´s inserts to put inside of my shoes? That would probably help me to walk without too many problems and all. They outsides are doing great, but the insides not so much. Also, it might be a good idea in a month or two to send some meds, because I got a cold and winter will be here in a few months, and it´d be nice if I had Nyquil and Dayquil to help me if I catch a cold. Let me know what you can do - this would be something to send in like two months, so yeah. Oh yeah, and a mini Spanish Bible would be rocking!!! Thanks Mom!
Also, classical cds would be tight too - whatever you guys have in classical music I´ll listen to, because right now I don´t have much music. I downloaded some music from the Mission, but something went wrong with the computer while it was downloading and I couldn´t download much, but I´ll try here tomorrow to see if I can try once more to put more music on there. I hope I can!
I cleaned the apartment really well today - yay!! I got up at 6:30, showered, then washed a LOAD of dishes, then pulled everything apart to sweep, cleaned off the kitchen surfaces, and when I get home I´m going to clean the bathroom. Hooray! I love having a nice, clean apartment - thanks again Dad for your great cleaning example!! I´m still being blessed from everything you taught me, and I think about you and all the days before my mission when you had Carson and I clean, and boy am I grateful for you and your example!! I´m starting to see how important it is to keep everything nice and clean, and I´m really being blessed from it and blessing my companions through your teachings. Thanks Dad!
Everything is pretty well with the work - this week we´ll have the baptism of Yohanna!! (pronounced Joanna in English) That is way cool. We had to work hard with her, because she was really down low. She´s gotten into drugs, smoking, drinking, and a whole lot more, but thankfully she´s really changed things around and is doing great, and she´s going to get baptized! Yay! She´s 16 years old and already has a sweet daughter Mía, who is almost 1 year old. Crazy, huh? Her boyfriend is in prison, but yeah they´re not hooked up anymore. We´re really excited for her and what she´s about to do this Saturday!
Some bad news is that Silvio, who got baptized this last month, has done a 180 turn for the worst. He is a Schizophrenic (however you spell that), and he has to take pills every night to be okay and be the good guy he really is. For some reason, he stopped taking the pills and started having attacks, and it´s really affected Maria and Carla (who also were baptized with him - I baptized Carla- my first baptism was her) and the rest of their family, because he basically destroys everything when it happens. They called the police on him once and he got scared when they came by, and thankfully started taking his pills again (at least for a while). And what stinks is now he´s hanging with his bad friends again, and he´s started smoking and drinking once again. I was really depressed to see that. At first I was a little afraid to say something about it when I saw it, but then I thought the simple phrase: "What would Jesus do?" So I told him about it and told him that I know that it´s hard, but that he has the power to stop smoking and drinking and that he shouldn´t be doing those things. I don´t know if he´ll actually do it, but I´m glad I stood up for the doctrines that I´m teaching and that I did as I believe Christ Himself would do if He were in my position. As a representative of Him, I shouldn´t be afraid to counsel against sin, right?
I´m learning to really have more respect for my sweet Mom, because I love you so much Mom!! I´ve seen lots of people here who have zero respect for their mothers, and really it breaks my heart when I see what some people do to their moms or how they treat their mothers. That´s something that I´m going to stand up for the rest of my life - no one should ever disrespect their mother, and we should all do our best to build our lives on gospel principles and love, so that great family relationships can be strong, loving, and enduring through trials. I´ve really gained a testimony of this as I´ve seen the situations of many families who, unfortunately, are broken right now. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ really does strengthen family relationships, and that all of us should always have respect for our parents.
The language is going great - I´m feeling really good about it. I´m going to try to get some extra studies in today so I can learn even more. I think I´m going to make P-Day like Language day, because man I want to be a master of the language!! I know I won´t be the complete master by the end of my mission, but I want to reach the highest potential in every category of the mission before I head back home. I just want to be a good missionary and learn as much as I can in the time that I´m here, because it´s wrapping up fast - I´ve already got less than 18 months here, which is way fast for me.
My studies are going great too. I´m in Ether in the Book of Mormon right now - yay! I´m going to finish it here soon and read it one more time, and then put my efforts into the New Testament so I can study up more on the life of the Master and His teachings. I´m really excited with all that I´m learning through my studies out here.
And so you know, my fan is okay. There is a part that doesn´t work anymore (it´s something that rotates to blow the air in different places - it´s kind of hard to explain), but the fan itself works fine still. I just put the moving part in one place where I like it, and then just use the fan. I´m glad I have that thing - there´s some nights where it would be unbearable to not have a fan. Oh and I also got a Vanilla perfume from Spain from a sister in the ward - I don´t know what I´m going to do with it, but I thought it was cool. Maybe I´ll spray the apartment with it if it smells bad or something haha.
Everything is way great out here!! Yeah! The mission rocks - sometimes it´s hard, when people don´t want to listen, when I´m tired or hungry or something else like that, but man everything I´m learning out here is way worth the time, and I´m very grateful to my Heavenly Father that I was born of "goodly parents" (the best family in the world, really) and that I was raised in the gospel and with all the blessings that come from the knowledge that we have. It´s such a great blessing! I love the mission and I love the gospel, and I´m happy that I have the chance to share it with others. I hope you´re all doing great!! It sounds like you are!! I love you and I miss you and hope you all have a fantastic week!! I love you family!!!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
Heyyyy!!!!!! It´s Elder Nuttall, now emailing in the internet kiosk near his apartment, while it is raining INSANELY heavy outside, and there are HUMONGOUS thunder claps that sometimes hurt my ears and shake everything, and last week I was in the middle of a flood that was way cool, and yeah!!! Basically, the mission is the coolest thing in the world - I´ve experienced lots of hardships and difficulties, but I am having a blast out here and there is no other place I´d rather be in the whole wide world. I miss you guys, but I sure love the people (especially the members) here and it is just so cool to be here out on the mission. I sure hope Carson goes on a mission! He would love it - go on a mission Marsh!!
Thanks a million for all of your emails - I am very grateful for them. I love long emails! It´s good to read about everything that you´re all doing and the many activities that are going on back home. Carson - WAY TO GO!! You got into BYU!! Go where you want to go (as directed by the Spirit, of course), but man, I´d love to see you go to BYU. I´m positive you´d still get a great military experience, but the environment of BYU is like that of no other school, in the fact that it is a wonderful environment with great students, awesome professors who rock at what they do, and it´s very safe, fun, and lots of gospel principles are taught. And it´d be sweet if we both went to the same school! Think hard about it, but if you want my vote it´s for BYU, haha, because that´d be the coolest!
Thanks for all the information - and guess what? In only five minutes of sitting here in the internet place, the streets are already filling up and flooding!! How awesome is that? The mission rocks. It´ll probably kind of stink to run back to the apartment, though. But fun too haha.
Thanks for all the info on the jazz festivals, on Carson and Kendall and Spencer hanging out (that is rocking news), for Gavin´s recital - hey Gavin, great job! I wasn´t able to be there, but my parents said you really tore up everything and even had some Stefon Harris in your recital...that makes your recital holy if you have Stefon in there haha. Great job man! I really miss the drums and the vibraphone, but man I´m so happy to be out here. The experiences that I´m having are priceless.
This week was great! I´ll start going through my list I´ve made here. First, a sister in the ward is going to buy me a mate cup and straw as a present from my first area! How sweet is that? They are such cool people - I´m very grateful for all of them.
Second, I´m going to need to do some shoe repairs here in a little. The insides are getting damaged pretty badly, so I might find a shoe shop and see if they can do something about it. I was also thinking - maybe in a future package you guys could send me a pair of Dr. Shoell´s inserts to put inside of my shoes? That would probably help me to walk without too many problems and all. They outsides are doing great, but the insides not so much. Also, it might be a good idea in a month or two to send some meds, because I got a cold and winter will be here in a few months, and it´d be nice if I had Nyquil and Dayquil to help me if I catch a cold. Let me know what you can do - this would be something to send in like two months, so yeah. Oh yeah, and a mini Spanish Bible would be rocking!!! Thanks Mom!
Also, classical cds would be tight too - whatever you guys have in classical music I´ll listen to, because right now I don´t have much music. I downloaded some music from the Mission, but something went wrong with the computer while it was downloading and I couldn´t download much, but I´ll try here tomorrow to see if I can try once more to put more music on there. I hope I can!
I cleaned the apartment really well today - yay!! I got up at 6:30, showered, then washed a LOAD of dishes, then pulled everything apart to sweep, cleaned off the kitchen surfaces, and when I get home I´m going to clean the bathroom. Hooray! I love having a nice, clean apartment - thanks again Dad for your great cleaning example!! I´m still being blessed from everything you taught me, and I think about you and all the days before my mission when you had Carson and I clean, and boy am I grateful for you and your example!! I´m starting to see how important it is to keep everything nice and clean, and I´m really being blessed from it and blessing my companions through your teachings. Thanks Dad!
Everything is pretty well with the work - this week we´ll have the baptism of Yohanna!! (pronounced Joanna in English) That is way cool. We had to work hard with her, because she was really down low. She´s gotten into drugs, smoking, drinking, and a whole lot more, but thankfully she´s really changed things around and is doing great, and she´s going to get baptized! Yay! She´s 16 years old and already has a sweet daughter Mía, who is almost 1 year old. Crazy, huh? Her boyfriend is in prison, but yeah they´re not hooked up anymore. We´re really excited for her and what she´s about to do this Saturday!
Some bad news is that Silvio, who got baptized this last month, has done a 180 turn for the worst. He is a Schizophrenic (however you spell that), and he has to take pills every night to be okay and be the good guy he really is. For some reason, he stopped taking the pills and started having attacks, and it´s really affected Maria and Carla (who also were baptized with him - I baptized Carla- my first baptism was her) and the rest of their family, because he basically destroys everything when it happens. They called the police on him once and he got scared when they came by, and thankfully started taking his pills again (at least for a while). And what stinks is now he´s hanging with his bad friends again, and he´s started smoking and drinking once again. I was really depressed to see that. At first I was a little afraid to say something about it when I saw it, but then I thought the simple phrase: "What would Jesus do?" So I told him about it and told him that I know that it´s hard, but that he has the power to stop smoking and drinking and that he shouldn´t be doing those things. I don´t know if he´ll actually do it, but I´m glad I stood up for the doctrines that I´m teaching and that I did as I believe Christ Himself would do if He were in my position. As a representative of Him, I shouldn´t be afraid to counsel against sin, right?
I´m learning to really have more respect for my sweet Mom, because I love you so much Mom!! I´ve seen lots of people here who have zero respect for their mothers, and really it breaks my heart when I see what some people do to their moms or how they treat their mothers. That´s something that I´m going to stand up for the rest of my life - no one should ever disrespect their mother, and we should all do our best to build our lives on gospel principles and love, so that great family relationships can be strong, loving, and enduring through trials. I´ve really gained a testimony of this as I´ve seen the situations of many families who, unfortunately, are broken right now. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ really does strengthen family relationships, and that all of us should always have respect for our parents.
The language is going great - I´m feeling really good about it. I´m going to try to get some extra studies in today so I can learn even more. I think I´m going to make P-Day like Language day, because man I want to be a master of the language!! I know I won´t be the complete master by the end of my mission, but I want to reach the highest potential in every category of the mission before I head back home. I just want to be a good missionary and learn as much as I can in the time that I´m here, because it´s wrapping up fast - I´ve already got less than 18 months here, which is way fast for me.
My studies are going great too. I´m in Ether in the Book of Mormon right now - yay! I´m going to finish it here soon and read it one more time, and then put my efforts into the New Testament so I can study up more on the life of the Master and His teachings. I´m really excited with all that I´m learning through my studies out here.
And so you know, my fan is okay. There is a part that doesn´t work anymore (it´s something that rotates to blow the air in different places - it´s kind of hard to explain), but the fan itself works fine still. I just put the moving part in one place where I like it, and then just use the fan. I´m glad I have that thing - there´s some nights where it would be unbearable to not have a fan. Oh and I also got a Vanilla perfume from Spain from a sister in the ward - I don´t know what I´m going to do with it, but I thought it was cool. Maybe I´ll spray the apartment with it if it smells bad or something haha.
Everything is way great out here!! Yeah! The mission rocks - sometimes it´s hard, when people don´t want to listen, when I´m tired or hungry or something else like that, but man everything I´m learning out here is way worth the time, and I´m very grateful to my Heavenly Father that I was born of "goodly parents" (the best family in the world, really) and that I was raised in the gospel and with all the blessings that come from the knowledge that we have. It´s such a great blessing! I love the mission and I love the gospel, and I´m happy that I have the chance to share it with others. I hope you´re all doing great!! It sounds like you are!! I love you and I miss you and hope you all have a fantastic week!! I love you family!!!
Love,
Elder Nuttall
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