Sunday, July 4, 2010

Jordan and Elder Bush in Ferrari, Argentina

Jordan and Elder Anderson at the Basilica

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!

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

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