Hard times in the mission field

Well, this was an interesting week....

So, Malvina was going to get baptised, right, well, she can't. Her home situation (think...concentration camp and you're about there) makes her not able to come to church or be baptised until she gets out in January and moves to Bahia Blanca. Yeah, we're all looking forward to it.

No progress with anyone else, yeah, it's kinda odd. We had so many people say we could come buy this week that we kinda got overloaded and weren't able to focus on just a few people as usual. This is good, I really like having a bigger workload. We also went out to the tiny little town 30 minutes out (it's 7 x 7 blocks) and found 6 people in a few hours that are awesome. The church really isn't known out there (nor are the Jehovah's Witnesses or anything) and it was like a clean slate to work with. We are the first missionaries to go out there in...well, along time, I'm not sure exactle how long.

Yeah, a long week of walking alot, talking to alot of people, and many many shut doors. But, no guns, dog bites, or yelling.

Pday was good, we had a great chicken lunch, played basketball, yeah. 

Elder Ramirez is going to Bahia to get his Pat. Blessing, and is excited.

He is having problems, I'll let you know how it turns out, I wrote a long email to Pres this week.

Ok, finally got the photos up. There are...16 new ones, of the two baptisms, crossing the river, pictures of Patagones (awesome old spanish part of the city) and some random stuff)

Enjoy!

I honestly do love the people, Mom. Alot!

Ok, so we had to find a different internet place this week, and don't hace alot of time to email, but thanks for everything you wrote me, great to hear what's going on. I'm praying for all of you, thanks for the support, love, and the letters! I got the pack of letters this week, it was awesome.

Well, until next week, I love you!

Your missionary son and brother

Elder Joshua Wartena

Baptism

Dear Mom,

I have decided Gen Authorities are like super heroes. Yup, since last conference Elder Packer has become my favorite apostle. Well, talk wise at least. 

It could be harder, you could be a member in Argentina where the leadership sucks, there are nearly no members, and there are no morals! I'm not supposed to share negative stuff though, so we'll move on.

There are going to be pictures of our baptisms, actually no, we can't access the photos on ER's card for some reason....that's a problem.

Nate is getting braces, cool! 18 months, really? How long did Chris have his?

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA. I like the plan, my brothers should all be better than me. Each improve one year over the brother before. Talk about competitive...

Bomb, a paycheck...1 year later. Can you, like, pay tithing on that for me? You see, withdrawing dollars here in the amount of 7 would be a headache, then sending it without having it be stolen is unlikely.

 

Ok, baptisms, MARIA! YES; YES; YESª! FISTS IN THE AIR YES!

She is so happy! I mean, she is just...clear. That makes no sense, but you can tell something big happened.

Malvina probasbly won't be being baptised this week. Her home sisutation is...difficult. She is trying to get out and move to Bahia so she can be free (really weird situation) But is still great.

HAve a date planned for the 25 with Romina, a family member of a member if she gains her testimony. This is what we were instructed to do by the 70 (along with about 100 other things)

People from the Dominican rubplic have a very different accent. Story.

Knocking doors isn't the most effective way to work, but last week I felt like we really needed to do it, that we would find someone that morning. Well, my comp didn't feel the same way and was a pill the whole morning trying to do other things. (it's kinda hard at the moment, I'm looking forward to the next transfer to tell the truth)

Anyway, I knew we needed to knock Moreno, on the right side, and there would be somebody. Well, we knocked like 10 straight blocks to the house and no one let us in. So we go back to a lady who said we could come back later (it wasn't a very convincing ''come back'' but nonetheless) Her son let us in immediately and asked us to talk about religion and the church. ARgentina (the woman's name) had contact with sister missionaries in the D Rupublic years ago but someone was killed or something like that and she lost contact then moved here.

Ka-Ching. Enter us. Uruguayan and N. American teaching a Dominican Republican named argentina in Argentina in the area called America.
Romina and family. We had set a goal to find a family a certain day, and had one more person to go by, a family member of another member. It was getting late, the area was kinda dangerous (the gun incident area) and we were being careful. Well, they let us in, and bring out the BoM telling us how they used to know missionaries and went to churh before, but had to stop. She is great, he openly told us he's lazy and probably won't come.

I'll keep you posted.

Posted, post, mail, keep you posted...I feel like that connection has been made before...

The exciting stories of the week.

 

From the conference last week.

The trail of your faith is not the thing happening, it is how you choose to react to it. Ether 12:6

 

HA, the brothers sure have alot of faith in me. Tell them they better write me then! Nah, of course I would take care of them if you both died.

Well, I think I have an email from Chris.  I am going to respond to him before I get off. But thanks again for the email, I love you all.

One last thing, we did service the other day, cleaning up a back yard. The member lady gave us lunch to take home and ''a little gift'' I am now a proud owner of a bottle of agrentine colonge...

 

Your missionary son and brother

Elder Joshua Wartena

Another week, another pday, what can I say?  He is serving the Lord and we couldn't be happier.  Please keep praying for his safety.

Signing off for now, 

The Mama

Baptisms

Dear Mom,


Oh man, you have no idea. Elder Eaton and I were talking about Costco muffins today and we both want a tray now...
So, I spent quite a bit of time on the UVU site looking at sholarships and such, so I have nearly no time this week.
But, I will tell you about the 3 baptisms we are going to have :D

Malvina, ok, I already told her story, the ex investigator who wants to get baptised and can now, she's still good.

Maria (Yup, miracles do happen) Has a date for the 11. WOOT! Sure, it's the anniversary of the World Trade Center, but hey...
Finally had a lesson with her friend (member) Hna Millan. Well, we pretty much did a great lesson on baptism (again) and ended with the commitment. She was about to go off on her usual excuses when Hna Millan (ok, this lady is awesome, but is a new definition for the word ''ditz'' just a few steps behind in the converstaion, which worked well in thsi situation because she didn't see Maria start to go in that direction) interuppts and says ''MARIA! You can get baptised!!!!! When are we doing it? Let's do it the 11th, Elder, can we do that, Maria, you're being baptised the 11th'' Well, this threw Maria off quite a bit (and us too) and she accepted very happily. She has no problmes being baptised, but apparently wanted someone else to make the decision for her right there.



Alberto. Ok, this is such a cheating baptism. He has been a member since 93 (with several years of inactivity) and his son is waiting for his mission call. Well, someone noticed that he is not on any list, has no number, and there is no record ANYWHERE. 
So, he has to be baptised again, and it counts for us. HAHAHAHA. 
First time I've giving all 4 lessons in under 30 minutes. Service this saturday.

So yeah, first few weeks of the transfer, baptism every week, looks pretty good.
And, zone conference (well, area conference with the new area pres.) next week, so traveling up to Bahia! Should be good.
Elder Ramirez is doing well...yeah. We're both fine health wise, might be going to a gym 3 times a week by our house this month, we'll see what happens. 
Ok, I have to go write pres, I love you all, thans for everything!

Your missionary son and brother
Elder Wartena






He is happier.  A baptism has a way of changing a missionary's attitude real fast. 


Signing off for now,
The Mama

The email to Dad referenced in the 8-25-2010 blog post

I went back over the blog post for Wednesday and I feel something is missing.  So, here I am back to set the record straight.

Josh referred to a gun episode that occurred last week.  I have decided to go ahead and post the email he sent to his dad so you can read the story for yourself.  It scared me, the mom, to pieces.  Here it is for your reading pleasure.

Dear Dad,

Freaking time...1 year ago I was...in the MTC. And my biggest problem was what seemed like an inability to learn spanish. Now I have 11 months left, am going into my 4th transfer with a latin comp and my biggest problem is the eternal salvation of souls in Viedma...

How times change

So, I'm just going to email you a rather interesting story in place of telling you and Mom about investigators.

It goes without saying that Mom does not need to know this happened? Deal? Cool.

We're just walking along down the big road from the ghetto part of our area. A group of drunks is off to the side of the road by some apartment buildings. This is not strange at all...happy hour doesn't really mean anything. They started yelling some stuff at us, once again, not uncommon. Then one of them pulls out a revolver and runs over. First thought, ''Ah, Crap''

Sticks it up against the back of my comp's head at tells him to stop. E. Ramirez didn't even flinch, told the guy we didn't have time, another time we'll come buy. Pretty much told him to buzz off. Something about E. Ramirez being a truck sized Uruguashen made the guy move to the white kid next to him. Well, throws an arm around me puts the gun against my head, and then sticks it down my collar to conveniently rest against my collarbone. ''What you doin? You with God, where you goin?'' Well, I didn't even think about what would be the best thing to do, honestly my mind was kinda stopped. I threw my arm around HIM and just started chattin it up. ''Just walking here man. Walking with you buddy, what you need, bro?'' (I knew there was a good reason for learning all those slang words in spanish!) He liked that, let me go with the assurance that he wouldn't do anything, we were cool and he liked us. I told him I liked him too and he walked away saying he was a child of the devil and repeating himself in a very drunk manner.

Found out today from a member that he got taken away by the police that night after robbing a girl while the cops drove by. They let him go the next day... 

It wasn't scary at all, really. It was more of the ''I have a rock in my shoe'' annoyance.

But yeah, that's the exciting story of the week. The work is getting better (it couldn't really get much worse...) and you can read about it Mom's email.

Jeremiah was a bullfrog just came on in this internet joint...

Thanks for being of proud of me

Love you

Elder Wartena

Once again, that's all folks.  Enjoy life.  Smile often.  Eat dessert first

Signing off for now,

The Mama

Day in and Day out

So, the email speaks for itself.  

Dear Mom, 

Alright, you wrote alot, but I have a whole half hour to respond, so yeah.

Alright, I will tell you about the new people first.

Jose, ok so he really isn't new. We knocked his door, well, his family's door, he is in his low 20s last tranfer, but were never able to get ahold of him for a lesson. Wow, that's a run on sentence.

But this week we were passing by old investigators and had a strange sese of de ja vu knocking lidia's door. Yup, it was Jose's mom. Cool family, we talked with him about religion, explained the church, and talked about life in general and how the gospel makes it better. Not too interested in being actively religious, but we'll see.

 

Nancy thinks God placed us in her path to help her find him. That's a good sign. We're going over tomorrow night to teach her the plan of salvation. She's totally getting baptised.

 

Lucas, the son of a member, the brother of the leader of the evangelical youth group is coming to church this sunday. Because we are going to the ''mutual'' of his brother's church that we were invited to tonight. Should be interesting...

 

Malivina, an ex investigator who couldn't get baptised even though she loved the book of mormon and was in 2 ne or something. Is trying to get out of her house to move in with family in Bahia Blanca and wants another book of mormon and us to teach her.

Yup, she'll get baptised too.

 

The weather is grogeous. I'm almost at one year in argentina and am looking forward to the nearly tropical spring.

I left my planner (yes, we have missionary planners) from last transfer, and so can only remember the stuff to write about for the past few days. Oh, yeah, still here with Elder Ramirez. He's kinda bugging me to be honest, but I'll get over it. He's a good guy.

 

Health is good, I am still taking vitamins daily and working out alot. Really, you want to know about my acne? Well, it doesn't really exist anymore, the tell the truth. Guess I finally got over that. Or maybe the shock of having to use bar soap because you can't buy face soap here just killed my whole face.

Whatever!

 

I'm excited to see the house! You're all in school, growing up, changing the house, geez, I'm coming back to a different family...

 

So, you would ask the whole getting robbed question THIS WEEK and make me feel guilty for not telling you. So, go read Dad's email about the drunk who stuck a gun down my shirt.

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Well, the elder from Tres Arroyos is now out. Tres Arroyos is a completely sister missionary area now.

Oh...family videos...

 

That's about it, a good week. Well, a whole lot better of a week. Thanks for the email as always, love hearing about you all. Enjoy the summer, or what's left of it. I'm going to go put more pictures up on flickr, enjoy.

 

Love you all

Your missionary son and brother

Elder Joshua Wartena

Yeah!  That's it.  Love being a missionary mom.

Signing off for now,

The Mama

It can get rough out there in the mission.

Josh has come to a point in his mission where he is having a bit of a struggle.  The members are not interested in the church.  The people who live there in Viedma are not interested in the gospel.  He and his companion and the other 4 elders in this part of the mission are very secluded from the rest of the mission and feel kind of "alone out there".  The area is in need of many prayers.

So, to all the family and friends reading this blog, I give a shout out.  If you could please drop Josh a line or two of your love and encouragement I know it would mean the world to him.  He doesn't always have time to email everyone back, but he tells us how much he appreciates all the kind emails that have come his way.  He reads back through them when the times are tough.  He is working hard, obeying the rules, and loving the work.  Do you realize he has been serving for 13 months now?  Wow how time flies when you are on the Lord's errand.

Enough of me for one week, just read his email from today.

Alright!

Ok, so I already let you know that the computer is not letting me upload pictures, but I will steal my comp's in a minute to do it.

So, rundown of the week/things worth writnig about

1. Maria isn't getting baptised. Please don't ask why, it's still weird to me, and sucks. She thinks God is telling her to not be baptised at the moment, and is still reading all her crazy religious books from years ago, and is crazy. Doesn't help that she thinks we know, well nothing.

2. Jose doesn't want us over anymore. He was just using us to get a free bible.

3. We had the dist. activity! A huge plan of salvation activity. A whole...35 people were there, including the 10 missionaries.

4. Found a ton of new people (ok, like 5) who seem kind of interested. I will keep you updated.
5. Finally did it! we set up a table in the center of town with posters, books, etc, and started preaching as a district to everyone that walked by. Then a band started setting up to play in the plaza and we had to move to another plaza...in front of the giant catholic cathedral. Yeah...that was interesting. Alot of people who walked by crossed themselves after seeing us and would walk away muttering prayers whil looking at the church. A couple who declared themselves to be Athiestic Anti-Christs actually mad weird signs at us and our table, it was a good time! We're thinking about doing it weekly.

6. I made Cafe Rio smothered burritos for the district by hand, tortillas, everything. They were so good.....

7. Yeah...that's about it, a rather exciting/boring week.

What color is the house? Blue? Or did you stick with white?

Well, I am going to try and get those photos up. Keep swimming everyone, thanks for the emails, it's wonderful to hear how you are doing and what's going on. Chris, Nate, Matt, Ben, Jo, keep being good, listen to Mom and Dad, they know what they're talking about. 

I love you all!

Your missionary son and brother 

Signing off for now,

The Mama

August 11, 2010

DEAR MOTHER!

 

Wow, it was a week, let me tell ya.

Most exciting thing, we went over to Ezequiel/Luciana (young couple, he is recently reactivated, she wants to be a member, just turned 18, so they can get married, and they have a little 1 yr old.) We are trying to get them to move their goal date from the end of the year to...well, sooner. They are amazing, and love the gospel. Well, went over to give give a lesson on faith, ETH 12, and what we can do to show our faith (the time before we talked about the blessings of the family, etc.) Well, I ask Eze what he thinks he can do to show his faith, and he kinda gets quiet. Says, Elder, we already did something! We went down to city hall and got a date for Oct 23, we want to do what you  said. We want to be able to go to the temple and get sealed as soon as we can and have Luciana baptised so she can have the holy ghost and everything. We're trying Elder.

I wanted the hug the guy, I was so happy.

Then José, well, he read 2 Ne 31, then talked to us about the parts he liked most and how baptism really is a big deal, then asked about infant baptism, payed clergy, all the right questions, then asked us if we could tell him if a certain book was good to read or not. (I was expecting a Jehovah's witness book or something) He comes out with ''Jesus the Christ''. Yeah, we kinda sat shocked. Apparently the missioneries he lost contact with before gave it to him years ago and he recently found it again in a dresser.

Julio, we are still moving forward waiting for the wedding date/finalization of the papers, etc.

Really the exciting things to happen this week, those 2 things.

Oh, lie, almost died. I will let you know how the story turns out next week though, because part 2 takes place fri.

What else takes place friday? WEll, the group leader of a local evangelical church wants to discuss the existence of intelligence in spirits in the state between death and resurrection (psalms 6) and what exactly is a baptism for the dead as it says in 1 Cor 15. I'm thinking a nice time to teach the plan of salvation?

We have had more encounters with Jehovah's Witnesse/Evanglelists this week, it's been kinda ridiculous to be honest. And like, good ones, not the boring ones who just say, oh, may God bless you. No, people who actually know what they are talking about and want to attack the church. It's frustrating. Passes by about a hundred less actives and ex investigators and we're tired! The whole area is having trouble finding new people who are dispuesto a escuchar. It's ''one of those weeks'' where you work alot alot, then end just sad because no one wants the gospel. But, that is why they invented Gridos ice cream parlor/Pday. Hehehe.

No, it's good, just really trying to find new people. I feel great, just have to be patient. Yes, Mom, I am excersising. I have Elder Palmer's weights that I use daily, and am eating well and taking vitaminas encima.

We have someone in the ward with the last name of Salazar...uh huh.

 

Ugh, book buying, I had forgotten that horrible part of college. There is the place down by UVU that sells used textbooks, I usually got mine online, but I can't remember the site where I had an account. I remember it was a blue and white web page though...hmmmm. Pioneer books in Provov sometimes has them, and the bulletin boards in the admin. building on campus too. Ebay, amazon books, etc.

Good luck with English, bro. The man is crazy, really good, but crazy.

I would die being a missionary on temple square. I like space in an area. (I think that's why all of my areas have been GIGANTIC!)

But hey, that is about all I can think of to write. We're still doing well here, good and safe. Thanks for the email, nice to know how you all doing. I'm praying for you guys every day, keep smiling!

 

Love you all

Your missionary son and brother

Elder Josúe Warti