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

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

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

Monday, March 1, 2010

Jordan's poor worn-out shoes (7 months out) and his new invention- a hot dog, egg, and bread sandwich. Hmmm....


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