Another Two??✌️
My second week in the field!!! This email shouldn’t be as long as last week’s, but still super busy and another 2 baptisms!!
A little bit more about Argentina/ Joaquin V. Gonzalez. Everyone and their dog has a dog. Like there are so many stray dogs it’s crazy, but most of them are chill. They just sit in the street and do nothing, but because of that there are some weird dog breeds. Like I saw a weiner dog with a German Shepherd’s head. There’s also a ton of dog crap everywhere, but I’m 98% sure I’ve yet to step in any. And dogs will have street fights over which dog will get their way, will another one if you what I mean. It’s insane.
Everyone told me that Argentines use the conjugation “vosotros” which is a dumb verb conjugation that really only the scriptures use. It’s basically saying “you all”, but here’s the thing. NO ONE USES IT. I STUDIED IT IN THE MTC FOR NOTHING. They, not even close to everyone and for some reason mostly kids, use “vos” which is the singular form of “vosotros” (so “you” instead of “you all”) and nothing the church gives helps learn that and its really only commands that people use it so I refuse to learn it. Also, the accent isn’t that thick here. Everyone said it would be the super wack Castillano lisp sounding Spanish, and while yes they use a “sh” sound when it is usually a “yuh” sound (as in ayuda or ella) , it’s not that bad, and that’s another thing I basically refuse to do.
This week wasn’t crazy eventful, so I’ll give some key events from the week before Friday/Saturday:
A lot of it was prepping for Zone Conference and our baptism on Saturday. We taught Ludmila and Guillermina, the 2 little girls we baptized, a ton. Their family is kind of difficult, however. The dad works a ton and will either be gone for a few days or like up to a month. The mom really has no motivation to do anything and she’s going through health issues. The older brother is a deadbeat druggie, the brother of similar age is either always sleeping or gone, and the older sister is chill. We are gonna try to teach her next. She lives with her boyfriend/husband (the relationships are weird here) and her kids at I think basically father-in-law’s house, and we were talking to him ,or at least I think it was him, and he told us that he was baptized 30 years ago but has since gone mega inactive and gotten into Coca por la Boca and such, so now we wanna teach him and re-dip him in the water.
We went to this one reference’s house by the cemetery and her 14 year old niece asked my comp and I if we have girlfriends back home so now we’re scared to go back.
We went to this lady we are teaching at and she wasn’t there so we talked to her basically son in law and when we left I saw 2-3 year olds playing with a dead cat.
We were talking to the Branch Secretary, who is the son of the Branch President and getting ready to go on a mission, and he was telling us he has a friend who is interested in the church and wants to get baptized, so we are wanting to teach him but he’s been busy.
We went to our friend Braian’s house to teach him. His family is going through a really rough time right now because the mom is about to die. When we went to his house though, him and his 2 friends were drinking wine (the drink of choice in this part of the world) and smoking, so my comp and I gave a pretty directed lesson about 2 Nephi 2:25-30, “… men are free to choose according to the flesh…”
We haven’t had money basically all week because my comp has no money, I had to buy tickets for two and back from Zone Conference and the Office Elders took forever to reimburse me and now they are SLACKING on their bi-weekly payments for everyone. Almost a week late, but it’s chill.
Lastly, today in church. A friend of one of the Branch Presidency counselors, came to church. I was excited to see him walk in because like, new person to teach, but then he was really loud and had a dog with him. He left early, to which, my comp and I helped walk him out and we learned he is a drunk schizophrenic.
Friday:
We woke up at 1:45am to get ready for Zone Conference and to make our bus which left at 2:45am. We made it to the bus and slept the entire way. Some lady tried waking me up to ask for money but I played dead. We got to Salta and met with 2 other companionships in our Zone. We figured out that “Brenda Died”. Basically these 2 prostitutes stole some drugs and the druglord they stole from had them killed. It was the entire news that morning and the whole headline was “Brenda Murió”. We got some facturas which is this pastry that is absolutely BOMB. It’s like grandma’s Sopa Pias but with like some vanilla cream and/or jelly and they’re so good. We were the first Zone to the chapel, which there were like 6 zones cause of how small each zone is. I got to see Elder Nickle, my baby boy, again, and Zone Conference went really well! We got some good talks and mid food, I met a bunch of missionaries, which a ton are from AZ. One knows my cousin, Ashley, so if you’re reading this Ashley, Hermana Ferrel says hi. After Zone Conference, a bunch of Elders and I went and got Grido. Its like a mix between a Thrifty Ice Cream shop like Water and Ice (goated btw) and Dairy Queen. They don’t do blizzards, but have really good ice cream flavors and a bunch of items to choose from. We dropped off some Elders at the bus to go to their area, and then my comp and I had to wait like 4 hours for hour bus to leave at 8 again, but this time we could do stuff, so we got some pretty mid pizza from this guy who we talked to and he is an inactive member. We saw 2 homeless guys throw down, and while we waited. We started to think about games we could do for our family history activity we were gonna have the next day before the baptism. We couldn’t think of anything, so while we waited I did some family history and I learned some pretty neat stuff about my Curtis side, which I’ll get to later. We got on the bus, and got back to JVG around 11.
Saturday:
We both couldn’t sleep in the morning because there were like 25 mph winds outside and we both thought our roof was gonna come off. We didn’t do much because we had our activity at 4 and then the baptism immediately following. We went to the 2 girls house to have one more lesson with them and to make sure they were prepared for the baptism. We taught a few more people, and then we went and got some food from this member family. There were some amazing empanadas and they have definitely been my favorite so far. We went to the family history activity and when we got there we learned that the 2 girls had gotten there an hour early out of excitement. We had the family history activity which turned into basically a fireside about the importance of such and then we had a jeopardy game that my comp cooked up. After the activity we got ready for the baptism. The baptism was great! I still haven’t gotten into the water because the Branch President and his son were the ones to baptize the girls. Hopefully next time though I’ll be able to do it.
Thought:
So I wanted to talk a bit about what I learned about my family history search. I love learning about my ancestors and especially my dad’s side, idk why. But the coolest thing I learned was about my 4th great grandfather, Lyman Curtis. His family joined the church in 1832 when they were visited by Joseph Smith and his parents. Lyman knew Joseph personally, received a super cool blessing from Joseph, and was a bodyguard for Joseph Smith and Lyman and his brother, George, stood guard over the dead bodies after the martyrdom. He also did a bunch of other cool things I could give a talk on. Honestly, I could give a talk about any one of my grandparents on either side. They are all amazing with such cool history and I hope I get to meet and know more about each one some day.
But the scripture to go along with this is D&C 2:2/ 3 Nephi 25:6 / Malachi 4:6. They are all almost the complete same but I’m going with D&C 2:2:
“And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.”
These verses prophesy and highlight the need in these latter days for family history and temple work. Joseph Smith talked about how we fulfill this prophecy by:
“But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples … and going forth and receiving all the ordinances … in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead … ; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah” (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 472–73).
I pulled that quote from Elder Bednar’s “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn” talk from 2011. I love this quote because family history and temple work is needed for this last dispensation. There are countless people waiting on the other side of the veil for us to find them and do the sacred, proxy ordinances in the temples. President Nelson, may he rest well, spoke heavily about the importance of temple work and attendance. His first temple he announced as a Prophet was the temple that is now in my mission! I’ve spoken on my work in the temple before my mission and although a short time, I can testify of the words of Elder Bednar:
“As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.”
I want to say, and especially to my siblings, that family history and researching our ancestors is so cool! Everyone says they’ve heard all of the family stories, but after doing some research, that’s not even close to true. All of our family’s histories are so rich and it’s so easy during this day to research them with apps such as FamilySearch! The Lord’s work is hastening in these Latter Days but also, in Nelson’s words, its becoming increasingly difficult to survive spiritually. We must bind ourselves to the hearts of our fathers, so to speak, in the temple. My heart goes out to everyone in the states with what all is going on.
Please email me so I can hear about the cool, not depressing stuff going on at home! I love you and miss you all!
– Élder Curtis
