Clark in Argentina

Baptism weekend for Cindy and Daniel. The two have now officially been confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and truly the light in their eyes has changed their countenances in a very real and detectable manner. This was my first time actually getting wet while dressed in white on my mission (we got pounded with rain a few weeks ago, hence the qualifier). I guess the change in pressure between the water and the air caused Daniel to have a bloody nose, which he impressively sealed and consealed so that nobody noticed as he went back to the changing room, and that none of the three sets of white clothing he had in close proximity magically became eternally stained with red splotches. Props. This week, I finally got fed up with Satan's efforts against the Lord through false doctrine and outside influence on our investigators and members. I guess that I kind of view myself as Captain Moroni in a symbolic but oh so active war on sin. I have expressed this in the past, but it wasn´t until this week that I truly felt the drive to correct this evil. I think that of all doctrines we deal with that negate the true majesty of the Lord´s gospel belongs to the J-Dubs. The notion that God exists, but that Jesus isn´t the Christ can only be derived from the father of lies. Prophecies and the doctrine of Christ saturate the scriptures, and the Spirit carries it home to our hearts, which is not as traceable, but infinitely more potent. However, His way of teaching includes building faith from what people already know, and not tearing down what has been edified in the past, and in general people that are set in other ways don´t listen to us, so we don´t really argue anyhow. Calling home was great, though short, as it should be. The family is doing great, and the phone companies across the world just love Mother´s Day for sure. 55,000+ missionaries calling home means a ton of phone bills. Also, the world would really be much happier if businesses would just make every brand compatible with each other. Elder Gimenez didn´t get to call for quite some time because the landline was of one company and the calling card of another. That´s just messed up. Oh, it all worked out in the end. We are slightly out of investigators. There is a couple who just witnessed the baptism of his mother, and now have started to work out marriage so that they can get baptized soon. Ah, the power of a good family member. Abuelo Lemos. I don´t know if I have mentioned him before, but we all love him to no end. He is hilarious, kind, rather forgetful, and has a heck of a good life under his belt. He played football professionally, worked as a bird scientist and has started a wonderful tree of a gospel oriented posterity through joining the church way back when. He will be deeply missed when we leave this area. Maybe I´ll just stay here my whole mission and just get really in to the loop in Arenales and Malvinas. Apparently, according to the sources of Elder Petersen´s dear mother, it´s one of the poorest areas in Córdoba. Huh. Never thought of it that way, but now it has become pretty obvious. That´s probably why I love it so much. The people give, and are very humble, as well as receptive to the gospel. Godspeed, all. Write me dear elders, por favor! Elder Lindsey

Two baptisms si o si this weekend. We´ve been teaching them for a while, and though they represent the large population of infatuated adolescents in the area, they don´t live together, smoke, drink, drink coffee or tea, nor do they believe that Mormons are 100% evil beings from another world. It´s taken a while for them to develop their spiritual testimony, but logistically it all makes sense, and the family of Cindy (la novia) has seen a great change in the both of them for the better since they've begun taking the lessons and going to church. This is a wonderful thing to see, and I am truly honored to be a part of their conversion story. I get to call home this weekend, so my house is utterly off limits. Don´t make phone calls in, nor visits to check up on the fam, and do not pass go or collect $200. Should you have an extra $200, though, that´d be great. As much as I have enjoyed knowing each and every one of the people outside of my dear family, let´s be honest; the celestial kingdom is organized by families, and my kids are gonna party hardy with my brother and sister while all of us chill at my parents house and tell anecdotes and eat prunes in twenty years. I had prunes once with Brother Walker at Lake Powell, and they were surprisingly delicious, and there is an abuelo in our ward that is the smoothest, most typical Argentine the world has ever known. Put those two images together, and old age doesn´t sound that bad, not even including the fact that I will be that much closer to going home to my Lord and seeing his merciful face with my own two little eyes after a long, well lived life. I traded one of my ties to Elder Gimenez for two ties that either get pulled off really well or eat it depending on the Elder. We´ll see how it goes, but the deal is made, so if I don´t like them I can burn them as tradition goes in the mission. Elder Van Loo did that last night, and I have a picture of him holding a flaming tie that rocks solidly. Ah, these days of being a missionary. Care free from the world, just worrying about the eternal salvation of thousands of people and having the responsibility of carrying it out. Good times. God gives personal revelation, and it´s really incredible how directly He answers our prayers. A lady this week told us that she didn´t believe that God exists anymore because He doesn´t answer her prayers and that He seems to pick favorites. This was really sad, but tragically flawed from a logical standpoint. Yes it´s true that God has favorites (namely those who actually listen and act upon that which they hear), but He makes everyone His favorite the instant we start to obey. She wasn´t obeying, and suffered accordingly, which stinks vehemently, but has to occur due to the irrevocable decree in heaven that all blessings come from obedience to the law upon which they are predicated. Sad day. We also had intercambios, and I went to a different area to work for a day. Elder Harris needs to be a future companion of mine, because the two of us are great together, and this is while we are newbies in a foreign country speaking a second or third language. We didn´t have a ton of lessons, but those that we did have were stellar, with the exception of the excommunicated bishop that didn´t want to admit that he might have been wrong in jumping steps in the churches offering system and paying for peoples temporal needs with tithing funds. The two of us were talking and all of the sudden I turned to him and said in my own beloved tongue that I didn´t feel like we should be there, and he agreed so we closed in prayer and high tailed it out of Dodge. I have only four weeks left with my beloved trainer, and this saddens me greatly. He really demonstrates a lot of patience with me and never gets mad at me for slipping up when I do, which feels like it occurs very often. He has been an example de diez for me, and couldn´t even dream of having a better trainer ever in my life. I hope that the Lord blesses him always and that my dweeb-like antics didn´t ruin him for good. Just maybe a transfer or two. P-day has come to an end. Farewell my long-lost and severely bored friends! Elder Lindsey (Linci according to the secretary of our branch)

Please send recipes!

Sorry for not writing earlier this week. I just didn´t feel like it, and though my companion really wanted to, I made a point to show him who is boss and we are doing it today. Or, maybe it´s just that in Argentina every other day is a holiday and the guy that owns the computer place didn´t open until I´m sure only half an hour after we were allowed to write two days in a row by pure happenstance. Bah Humbug. At least I didn´t have the same thing happen to me as Elder Gimenez. Monday was his mom´s birthday, and he hasn´t been able to write her until right now. ¡Ay no! Some very important things happened this week. Number one (an epithet given only to Boca and Instituto), I finally decided on my soccer teams. Everyone here has two because one has to decide between the big Buenos Aires teams and also among the local Córdoba teams. Boca is from Buenos Aires with bright yellow and just a regular blue as the colors, and Instituto resides in the Gloria and totes red and white. The clincher for picking Instituto was the grocery store in our area (Super Gloria, complete with a giant Instituto flag and a monkey). They feed me. What more can I ask? Number two, I ate a mango this morning, and it was rather delicious. It is really cold right now, so our pension is like a refridgerator, making it so that I had to wait a whole week until it was ready. Our one little heater for a spacious, not air-tight apartment and four people is a blessing, but gratefully another one is on the way. Really, more importantly, we had a rather glorious experience with a lady named Chola. She has been practically thrown out of every church she has attended at some point and time for something out of her control, and that ripped my heart out and brought to mind the scripture in Alma that tells Helaman to teach the people an everlasting hatred for sin and iniquity. Yeah, I officially hate the actions of some of the churches, though the people themselves for the most part really do intend well. Anyway, she came to the chapel with us just to check it out on Saturday, and she didn´t tell us until we went into the last room that ever since the moment that she entered she had felt a burning throughout her entire body. We testified that it was the Spirit of the Lord telling her that this church is true and the right place to be. She doesn´t have a baptismal date yet, but she has been deeply blessed by the gospel already. Speaking of actions that I abhor with all of my inner strength forevermore and refuse to quit fighting against, pardon my use of Spanish here, but I can´t express it well enough in English, and it doesn´t have the same effect. YO ODIO CUANDO LAS PERSONAS ENSEÑAN MENTIRAS Y USAN ESCRITURAS CORTADAS PARA DECIR COSAS QUE JESÚS NO FUE SALVADOR Y QUE JOSÉ SMITH NO FUE PROFETA!!!!! ADEMÁS, NO ME DIGA QUE DIOS NO ESCUCHA, PORQUE SIEMPRE ESTÁ GRITANDONOS PARA QUE NOSOTROS ESCUCHEMOS A SU PALABRA PORQUE ÉL ES TODOPODEROSO Y SABE TODAS COSAS QUE SON PARA NUESTRO BENEFICIO. Allí está. Basically, don´t lie to people when you teach, ever, for that is against the 10 commandments, and pray always with the understanding that God answers in his own due time. I have started to eat way better in two senses. I have struggled since my mystery surgery back in August of 2011 to eat large quantities of food as I was wont to do beforehand, which thing has pained my soul oh so much, but now my appetite has finally returned and I can´t stop eating at times. I haven´t been full for a week and a half. Also, I have started to eat healthier, including veggies and fruits in my diet instead of alfajores all day everyday. The Lord will help me to be healthier, but I need to put in my part to keep this good looking body in mint condition as is for as long as possible. My time comes. Elder Lindsey

Big E-mail!

Fried bananas have changed my life. They cook really quickly, but are so full of flavor it becomes as close to an addiction without actually causing physical and mental attachment as is possible. Be careful. Also, homemade bread or that from the Panaderías located in the near proximity of my pension has been bought almost everyday since arrival, and whats more is that it is excruciatingly cheap and delicious. That doesn´t even take into account that the US Dollar is worth more than four pesos, meaning that five pesos of bread, or about three loaves, costs about a buck twenty or so. Heck to the yes please. Furthermore, herbal tea tastes great if you make it right and add just a tad of sugar to help the medicine go down, if you will. So far, manzanilla, or be it, chamomile is my favorite.

The work has exploded. We had yet another baptism and have about six or seven lined up and ready to go. I hope I don´t catch pneumonia from being in the font too often. That might impede the Lord´s work. On that note, I have a slightly fatal headache that kind of slowed my progress in filling in the 600 cubic foot hole in or Branch President´s backyard, as well as killing innumerable deadly scorpions with various gardening tools to prevent the untimely demise of one of my dear compañeros or Ward Members. We also sang full on belting Il Divo and like this music because that is the style of music that the family does rather well in fact, and I feel very much at home in their humble abode.

I really am starting to become very Argentine during my short, though awesome time in the country, and feel that when I leave this area, which will be in another transfer (six weeks) at the soonest, that I might say that I come from Las Malvinas Argentinas near Arenales and Monte Cristo because I blend in rather well. My soccer skills are much appreciated, though my aim has decreased throughout the years and takes its jolly good time coming back. Every P-Day at six thirty we do a Factura shootout to see who will get free Facturas from everyone else, and though I have yet to win, my abilities have refined themselves rather nicely over the past couple of weeks. That´s been a major plus in our relaxed Preparation Day lives.

I will send a truckload of pictures next week I promise, but the computer that I have this week lacks a port for my USB cable to attach my camera. Oh well.

I have grown extraordinarily in my spiritual dimensions this week, though there yet remain many a thing for me to correct and straighten out. I can be way more organized still, and getting ready on time has proved to be a struggle, though in part that is because of four people sharing one bathroom, making showers a two hour process. We had intercambios this week, and I went to work with one of the zone leaders in a more populated area, and to be honest, I am very happy with my trainer, Elder Petersen, and Arenales with its glorious countryside and sunsets, as well as the very amiable people that live here. The people in the city are much harder. I finally learned how to just listen to people and try to understand where they are coming from, which has helped immensely in our discussions as well as just being friends with people.

The only reason that I might want to leave is if the Lord were to call me back to the States at the end of my mission. Nothing before. I spend so much time just helping people that it really adds a lot of joy to my life. Try it, it´s fun.

1 Corinthians 15:29. Go do baptisms for the dead all the time. The temple rocks, and yáll have no idea how lucky you are to live within a few minutes or even hours of the temple. End of story.

Elder Lindsey

Big E-mail!

I spent a ton of time figuring out how my camera connects today, and some urgent business needed to relay itself to the Pres, so I will write the world next week in grand detail. I am alive, and played soccer, ate food, and slept after working my tail end off this week. God is good and always is on our side.
In Christ,
Elder Lindsey

Easter!

It´s P-Day again, and this week I find myself in Centro due to the President´s kindness of allowing us to visit on Elder Van Loo´s birthday. The computer place here is awesome. The walls are covered in gargantuan murals that depict events and characters from the Star Wars series, and made my day. When I look up, Darth Maul grimaces back down on me and my smile broadens significantly.

Our branch is having some scuffles right now, which I will not describe, but the branch President said it well in saying that he has felt the fires of the inferno when he came out of an interview in which the person slammed the door really loud upon storming out in disagreement. Really, the situation is petty, and the Lord can bring peace to the heart of anyone if they are willing to listen. The President asked us what we would do in the situation, and we responded that we really can´t give specific advice, though we can definitely exhort prayer and love, as well as patience, which is our message to everyone everywhere. Paul says that if you know that you have ought against your brother you should go to him and make things right before resting, and before coming to the altar. It´s hard sometimes, but just remember that the Savior underwent things that are so difficult that they cannot be borne.

I have discovered the goodness of Aguila Alfajores, which are twice as much as a regular one, but merit in whole the money spent, everytime. Imagine really moist cake with dulce de leche (caramel on steroids), covered in non-waxy chocolate and sprinkled evenly with coconut flakes and about half the size of your fist. Maybe a little smaller. Or, imagine being able to get five loaves of bread for the equivalent of one American dollar, and it´s fresh every time. And then there is delicious ice cream that cannot even begin to be compared with that of America, due to the quality it has of being so much better. I genuinely feel for those of you who have never lived in Córdoba nor experienced the world of missionary life, and the food is the least of it.

We have many people investigating, and many more that will soon begin, even though they don´t quite know that yet. Last night we started to talk to a woman outside of her house, and it was after dark, which makes sense that she would be alarmed, so she started talking really loud to alert her son about the two men which would supposedly accost her. Enter Sebastian, a simple, loving, protecting son of about thirty years who has seen the way that the Savior changes lives and blesses the people. We then began to chat with him about what we do, and what he does, having an easy-going discussion at the end of our day. His mother seemed rather understandably frightened by us, and at first he was too, but upon further conversation he warmed up to us rather well and told us that we carry a great presence with us and thanked us for preaching the word of God to the people. We are also going back later this week. What a way to end the day.

Remember that that which comes from above is sacred, and must be treated so. Some things are not to be trifled with, including people´s self-esteem, the Lord´s word, and personal revelation. Never ever attack such things, and furthermore, never ever, nunca jamás, abuse the authority or stewardship which the Lord has given you, whether it be your body, your family, your calling, or your career, and especially when it affects the agency of others, for even God himself is required to honor our agency and created a glorious plan to uphold it while allowing us to be tested and become as Him. He is perfect, we are not yet perfect, but through Christ we will shortly become thus when He comes again to reign in the power and glory of the Almighty God.
With that very authority and responsibility which He has given me as a missionary and representative of His name and all He stands for, and in His name, I close this message with love and joy for all mankind, hoping that each one will be redeemed in Christ.

With all the humility that I know how to muster,

Elder Lindsey

The Scoop

Conference just has this way of lightening the burdens and worries of the world, lessening the grief and pain experienced, and giving the Lord´s insight to all of His children through the words of worthy, honorable men and women who study and pray long and hard to have the Spirit testify of Truth to this lost and confused world. God spoke to us this weekend, and I am ever so grateful that I had the chance to hear it in my own native tongue from the prophet himself. Richard Scott´s address on personal revelation touched my heartstrings and inspired me to seek the sweet Spirit even more so than I have been doing, and to immediately heed its promptings to witness and preach of goodness and light whenever possible. I hope that we all can do the same.

Somehow I made it for a whole month without mentioning Pritty. Mountain Dew, Sprite, Fresca, or any other citrus flavored drink should cease to exist to allow for the widespread deliciousness of Pritty. We drink this, Coca-Cola or juice from a mix at every meal without fail. The sodas here dominate those from the States, and I will probably find a way to either mail or pack some home to spread the word upon returning in 21 months. Dulce de Leche also brings much rejoicing and gladness to the hearts of many a person in this beloved country.

We had three or four investigators come to Conference, and an inactive member as well. I hope that the Lord has touched their souls as deeply as he has touched mine this weekend, because they will all be baptized and active very soon if it is so.

I find it very strange being seen as the tall one around. There are two people in my area that I have seen so far that are taller than me, and one of them is an Elder in my pension, Elder Van Loo, and the other is our Elders Quorum President. Other than that, I am the grandote. The people here are wonderful, though some of the saddest things that I have seen have been here. One of those is the man that walks around town plastered out of his mind and unable to function properly. His eyes have turned pretty yellow, and even with a limited knowledge of medical issues, I know that terrible livers can lead to that, and alcohol kills your liver faster than you can say zxcbnñkjhgfdsqwrtplsdjflghkzxczvbmpthgjlk. I pray for him often, because he really has gotten himself lost and far from the Lord, with very little hope for change due to a lack of conscious thought.

My new goal is to be a completely positive person, and to never put anyone down or draw them away from the Savior and His teachings. I have rediscovered the powerful influence of calming music and of a live, soothing voice on the effect of people´s hearts, and intend to use it more often to develop the Spirit´s tendency to abide with me, and my ability to bring it to others. May you find such a goal for yourself, always anxiously engaged in a good cause.

In Christ,
Elder Lindsey